Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 102: A Rare Judge With a Childlike Heart

The Lord of Civil Judgement¹ put away his judge’s brush in his sleeve and turned to the Lord of Martial Judgement beside him.

“There is a cultivator in the temple in the living world who has invited me to meet with him. I will take my leave for a moment!”

The Lord of Martial Judgement stopped writing and listened for a moment, but heard no sound. He then drew a line in front of himself with his brush. Ripples appeared before his eyes, showing the scene in the temple’s side hall.

A man in a green robe with wide sleeves was arranging offerings and pouring wine, and bowing to the statue of the Civil Judge.

At the same time that the Martial Judge raised his brush and make a brushstroke to see this scene, the other party seemed to sense something. painted the scene, the other party seemed to feel something. He raised his head and looked at the statue of the underworld official beside that of the Lord of Civil Judgement. His eyes seemed to meet the gaze of the two underworld Judges from across the boundary of life and death, causing both Judges to feel a chill in their hearts.

“The Lord of Civil Judgement should go by himself. I will keep an eye on the temple here in the meantime!”

Hearing these words, the Civil Judge stood up and, without saying anything more, bowed to the Martial Judge and walked out of the Rewards and Punishment Division.

In the side hall of the City God Temple, Ji Yuan felt something and glanced towards the statue of Martial Judge. He could vaguely sense some kind of gaze, and concluded that the underworld officials had most likely noticed him.

Sure enough, it didn’t take long for the invisible figure of the Lord of Civil Judgement to step out from his statue and land next to Ji Yuan. He wore ink-colored official robes and a black spread-wing cap,² and his black hair and beard showed the vicissitudes of his life.³

“My name is Ji Yuan. I apologize for disturbing you, but I hope you might overlook this transgression and take some time to speak with me!”

Seeing the offering of wine and the other party’s courteous attitude, the Lord of Civil Judgement’s attitude naturally softened. In addition, he truly could not clearly determine this other party’s intentions, so he naturally returned the greeting.

“Sir, you are too kind. If you have anything to tell me, please feel free.”

Ji Yuan smiled, thinking to himself that this Judge was indeed friendly, and gestured with his left hand toward the altar.

“Please have some of the offerings, Civil Judge. We can talk while we eat!”

The Civil Judge was also of a more casual nature. Upon hearing Ji Yuan’s words, he picked up a wine glass, sniffed it, and drank it all in one gulp. However, when he put the glass down, Ji Yuan could clearly see that there was still wine in the glass, but there was no fragrance of alcohol.

Ji Yuan smiled, and, with a wave of his hand, the remaining wine in the Civil Judge’s glass disappeared. As he refilled the other’s glass, he began to explain his purpose for meeting.

“I believe the Lord of Civil Judgement still remembers that there was a famous Zuo family in Juntian Prefecture?”

“Yes, of course I still have an impression of them. They were the best in the martial arts world, and had a great reputation.”

“Then, has the Zuo family ever produced any evil people who would offend the underworld?”

The Civil Judge replied after eating another piece of rice cake.

“That has never happened.”

Ji Yuan felt more at ease; if their ancestors had not made any major mistakes, it would naturally lead to a better outcome.

“On this subject, this Zuo family has some connections to me, so my visit this time relates to a private matter…”

Ji Yuan spoke slowly, telling the truth, though not the full story. He tried his best to express the thoughts of a cultivator who owed a favor to the Zuo family and wanted to lend a helping hand.

One was yin, one was yang; one human, and one ghost; together, they chatted with each other for a long time in the side hall of the City God Temple. On this rainy day, no other pilgrims came inside in the intervening time.

When the rain outside had stopped, the conversation ended naturally.

The Lord of Civil Judgement just listened and nodded frequently. Not only did he listen to Ji Yuan as he spoke about the Zuo family’s affairs, but he also occasionally chatted with him about other things. Although he couldn’t determine Ji Yuan’s background, he probed carefully during the conversation, and realized that this man was quite knowledgeable and open-minded; he must be a man of integrity.

What the visitor asked of the Civil Judge was naturally a piece of cake for him to accomplish, and wasn’t that big of a deal. In addition, he had a good impression of Ji Yuan by the end of their conversation, so he agreed readily.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Ji. The underworld of Juntian Prefecture will definitely take good care of the Zuo family. The virtuous people among the deceased Zuo family members will also be given priority in joining the underworld official ranks. Tonight, I will personally go and check in on how the Zuo family is doing now, and put them in their best suited positions!”

The Lord of Civil Judgement personally assured him, and Ji Yuan let out a sigh of relief. The key here was that he didn’t have to go to see the City God, so he hurriedly bowed again.

“Thank you for your patience and generosity. I will take my leave now!”

The Civil Judge and Ji Yuan were in a good mood after chatting for such a long time. Ji Yuan had even elucidated some difficult and complicated matters in the underworld’s judgements with witty words. The judge bowed in return.

“I will do my best!”

After Ji Yuan depart, the Civil Judge noticed that the number of pilgrims was gradually increasing as the heavy rain stopped. He glanced at the altar and, after taking away the remaining stack of cakes and half a pot of wine, he returned to the underworld.

After leaving the City God Temple, Ji Yuan let out a long sigh of relief, breathing the fresh air after the rain, and his whole body felt more relaxed.

‘Finally, I have finished everything. This is a rare opportunity to visit Juntian Prefecture, so I’m going to go satisfy my appetite!’

. . .

At midnight that night, on the banks of the Yuanzi River outside Juntian Prefecture’s capital city, the lights in neighborhood where the Yan family lived had already all been extinguished and everyone had gone to sleep.

The Civil and Martial Judges of Juntian Prefecture’s Rewards and Punishment Division had both arrived in this place.

Before they even grew closer, the two Judges had already sensed something strange.

They, as the local gods and ghosts, could sense some supernatural things in their respective territories. For example, when they looked at the Yan family’s neighborhood at this moment, the overall scene gave off a sense of brightness on this dark night.

It wasn’t that something was emitting light, rather the two Judges felt a sense of righteousness and clarity. Originally, the two Judges had come to visit the Zuo family together because they were curious about the relationship between the Zuo family and Ji Yuan, but now they were even more curious about what was inside.

“Let’s go and find out what’s going on!”

The two Judges moved forward together once more, and were soon close to the Yan family’s shop. However, when they arrived, an invisible ripple that not even the Judges could see clearly spread through the air. The two of them could faintly sense the power of the Tao within it.

They walked all the way to the main courtyard of the Zuo family, passing through the gate in the courtyard wall, and entered the main hall. A piece of calligraphy on a piece of rice paper that had not yet been brought into the city to be mounted and framed had been placed on an eight-immortals table. In the Judges’ eyes, it gave off a heavy energy. When they looked at it, the darkness of the night seemed to be almost transparent; there was no light, but it was bright.

Their eyes swept across the handwriting, seeing: May you have peace, stability, and health; may no evil harm you; stay determined and strive onward; your hard work will not be in vain! A gift for the descendants of Zuo!

“An edict!”

“An edict!”

The civil and military judges expressed their astonishment in unison, their tones expressing their rare moment of loss of control.

The Martial Judge looked to Civil Judge and said:

“Who was that person with whom you drank and chatted during the daytime? Could you feel how powerful he was?”

The Civil Judge tried to recall, and answered.

“I didn’t realize it at all. If it weren’t for his act of summoning us gods and vanishing the wine, he would have simply seemed…”

The Lord of Civil Judgement said this, paused, and looked at the Martial Judge.

“Like a mortal!”

“Hooo…”

Even though the Lord of Martial Judgement didn’t need to breathe, but he took a deep breath nonetheless, and recalled that glance through the boundary of life and death that he had caught during the daytime.

The two Judges looked at each other for a long time, before the Martial Judge seemed to suddenly remember something.

“The other day, the night patrol reported a strange incident. They said that a scholar who owned a stationery store in the city had obtained a supernatural piece of calligraphy. Even at night, the ghost officers felt like they could not look directly at it. Could this also be a decree left by the gentleman named surnamed Ji? “

“I think so!”

The Civil Judge carefully appreciated the calligraphy on the table once more, and couldn’t help but sigh.

“What excellent writing… This Zuo family is truly remarkable!”

“Hmph, even when this master left a decree, it is still subject to fate. Judging from the meaning of the words in this edict, if the Zuo family truly does produce an unfilial descendant who does not know right from wrong, it would violate the true meaning of the decree…

“It will be dealt with when the time comes!”

The Civil Judge laughed and stroked his beard. He sighed, then took out a special record book, and wrote in it with the judge’s brush: Zuo Family of Juntian Prefecture…

Inside the house, Zuo Boran and his wife were already asleep.

For some reason, Zuo Boran suddenly awoke at this moment. He could smell a faint fragrance, similar to the smell of sandalwood in a temple.

The edict actually allowed Zuo Boran, a common mortal, to smell the incense fragrance of divine power.

Zuo Boran felt that something was strange, so he put on his clothes and decided to go out and take a look. However, when he opened the curtain and walked out to the outer hall, which was only separated from him by a single wall, there was nothing unusual inside. The smell of sandalwood was even heavier.

“Strange, there’s no incense in our house…”

The two judges looked at Zuo Boran’s twitching nose, and looked at each other again.

“Could it be that this person can actually smell the incense power?”

“It must be the influence of the decree!”

The Lord of Martial Judgement suddenly smiled and said something to the Lord of Civil Judgement, and the latter gradually began to smile as well.

“We have worked together for so many years, it is rare for the Martial Judge to be interested in doing this. Okay, let’s proceed as you said!”

As soon as they finished speaking, the Civil and Military Judges actually took the initiative to reveal their spiritual bodies.

Two men wearing official ink-colored robes and spread-wing caps, one with a red beard and the other with a black beard, each holding seals and brushes, suddenly appeared in front of Zuo Boran, scaring him half to death.

“Oh my! You, you…”

Zuo Boran fell backwards, his hands outstretched and trembling slightly. He couldn’t speak.

Because the two people in front of him seemed to be shrouded in shadows, they seemed particularly terrifying. Even though Zuo Boran had martial arts skills, he was too frightened to speak.

“Hahahahaha… Don’t be afraid, Mr. Zuo, we are the Civil and Martial Judges under the jurisdiction of the City God of Juntian Prefecture. We were entrusted by a powerful master to come and record the state⁴ of the Zuo family.”

“Old man, old man, what’s wrong?”

A voice came from the inner room.

The Martial Judge smiled and bowed slightly with cupped hands to Zuo Boran.

“This matter is over, I will take my leave now!”

When he finished speaking, the Civil and Martial Judges turned around, walked out the door, and disappeared, leaving only Zuo Boran, sweating and gasping for air, half collapsed on the ground in an attempt to calm down.

T/n: tell me that the Civil & Martial Judges wouldn’t make AMAZING pranksters

1. Sorry if this gets confusing in the future, but I’m going to switch pretty evenly between “Lord of Civil/Martial Judgement” and “Civil/Martial Judge.” Each of the versions is the same person, but one is shorter 😛
2. Here is a list of hanfu headwear; based on the time period that the author most frequently draws from (a lot of the story elements reference the Ming dynasty), as well as chapter 58 of the manhua, the Futou is what is most likely being referenced, a headgear with 2 oval wings sticking out to either side, colloquially called “wushamao.”
3. i.e. salt & pepper hair
4. i.e. karma, status, etc.