Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 135: Strange Events In the Zhou Residence

[Content Warning: brief description of torture in the underworld. Starts at “The Head Official of the Punishments Division” and ands at “to replenish the underworld.”]

It took Yin Zhaoxian and Shi Yusheng a while to calm down. The owner of the stationery stand next to them laughed and spoke to them.

“The two of you are lucky. Anyone who dares to act like that in the Zhuangyuan Ferry is definitely someone that ordinary people can’t afford to offend. I didn’t even dare to warn you. Let’s leave quickly – or would you like to take a look at the stationery here?”

Still frightened, Yin Zhaoxian and Shi Yusheng repeatedly thanked the stall owner, then packed up their book packs and walked to the north.

When they arrived at the small pier on the far side of the wharf, they quickly spotted the awning boat. Ji Yuan was no longer wearing his straw raincoat and hat. He sat at the bow of the boat reading a book, looking even more elegant than the scholars passing by.

After seeing Ji Yuan, Yin Zhaoxian felt relieved. He quickly grabbed Shi Yusheng and the book pack on his back, squeezed through the crowd, and hurried toward the dock. Ji Yuan set down his book right on time.

“Mr. Ji, just now we…”

Ji Yuan reached out to stop Yin Zhaoxian.

“Alright, there’s no need to discuss this right now. Board the boat and let’s cross the river.”

Hearing his words, Yin Zhaoxian realized that Mr. Ji must already have known what was going on, so he stopped talking and got on the boat with Shi Yusheng.

Thanks to their experience on the boat from the previous day, the two of them adapted to the swaying of the awning boat much more quickly.

The boat left the wharf. Looking back, one could see the large ferries at the Zhuangyuan Ferry docks still waiting for passengers. One could estimate that the largest one would take another hour to depart.

As the boat moved forward, the view grew further and further away. The two scholars had the strange feeling that the Zhuangyuan Ferry was growing blurry with distance a little too quickly.

Ji Yuan rowed at the bow of the bat, watching the two scholars frequently glance back at the Zhuangyuan Ferry, and said with a smile.

“Master Yin, Master Shi, our boat is small, but we crossed first, so we have already taken the lead. Don’t look back, look ahead; the Capital Prefecture is before us!”

The two turned around at his words and were immediately surprised to find that they had almost reached the other bank.

The awning boat boat did not land at the big pier, but instead stopped at a smaller staircase to the side. After the two scholars stepped off of the slightly swaying deck of the boat and onto the shore, Ji Yuan bowed and bid them farewell.

“Master Yin, Master Shi, it’s only a dozen or so li to the capital. I wish you both success in the imperial examinations!”

Just as Yin Zhaoxian and Shi Yusheng returned the bow and said goodbye, the former suddenly remembered something, and rummaged around in his sleeves for a small black wooden plaque.

“Mr. Ji, this is…”

After a pause, Yin Zhaoxian glanced at Shi Yusheng, then stepped back onto the awning boat, leaned close to Ji Yuan, and whispered.

“Mr. Ji, this is something the Lord City God of Chunhui Prefecture asked me to pass on to you.”

Ji Yuan frowned and took it solemnly. He had been unable to notice the tiny wooden token filled with Yin energy in Yin Zhaoxian’s sleeves, perhaps because it had been drowned out by Yin Zhaoxian’s virtuous aura.

Once Ji Yuan took the wooden sign, Yin Zhaoxian went back ashore.

After the three bid each other another farewell, the two scholars walked towards the main wharf, where they could then charter a carriage to head towards the capital city of the Capital Prefecture. Meanwhile, Ji Yuan stood on the awning boat and took a closer look at the small wooden plaque.

It was made of a Yin wood, which recorded events by using objects that conveyed spiritual imprints. This method was the same as the one on the jade sticks Ji Yuan had borrowed from the Old Dragon.

‘What does the City God of Chunhui Prefecture want to see me about? ’

Ji Yuan pondered. He sat down and concentrated on calling out the information from the wooden plaque. Scenes of the underworld appeared in his mind one after the other, among which was the image of a serpent soul bound tightly in a dark red execution chamber.

The Head Official of the Punishments Division personally swung a red and black whip at the serpent’s soul, making it scream in extreme pain with each lash. At the same time, a ghost official used a knife to slice off its scales, and released an insect that would make people with trypophobia collapse, for it to bite into the flesh of the serpent soul that had lost its scales…

Even Ji Yuan felt numb at the sight. The screams of the serpent’s soul never ceased, but its pain didn’t end. The Head Official of the Punishments Division sneered, informing the serpent demon that it still had 120 lashes to go in its punishment, and its sentence could only be reduced if it confessed.

The worst part was that the snake demon had already confessed to everything it could say, and in the end, its sentence had only been reduced by 20 lashes. Its remaining punishment would last for half a year. Once it had run its course, the demon soul would no longer be able to hold onto its form and would dissipate, turning into Yin spiritual energy that would then return to replenish the underworld.

However, the torture of this demon’s soul was secondary; the main point was what the demon confessed to during its torture.

One of the supernatural features of this method of transmitting information through objects was that it could allow the viewer to finish incorporating a great deal of information in a very short period of time. It only took Ji Yuan a couple dozens of breaths in the outside world to finish reading through he contents of the Yin wood.

“Alas, for now I am powerless to affect things outside of Dazhen. City God Zhao, you think quite highly of me…”

Muttering some words under his breath, Ji Yuan shoved the wooden plaque into his sleeves, then picked up the oar, pushed off of the shoreline, and rowed back to Chenjia Village.

…

On the second and third consecutive day after the banquet, in the Underwater Palace of the Tongtian River, the Dragon Son Ying Feng received reports from the yaksha saying that the fisherman on the river could no longer be found. Ying Feng was so anxious that he couldn’t help but swim hundreds of miles over that section of the river personally, but in the end he still couldn’t find his father’s friend.

. . .

How could Ji Yuan not feel tempted to go for a stroll in the Capital Prefecture? However, unlike Yin Zhaoxian and Shi Yusheng, who went around looking for an ordinary house to rent while they prepared for the exams, he did not have any set goals, nor did he necessarily need a bed to sleep in. He simply wandered around the city, following his feelings.

Ji Yuan’s first impression was that the streets and alleys were orderly, the shops and houses were lined up in rows, and the roads and businesses were prosperous.

The main roads that crisscrossed the city were the noisiest parts, with the sound of carriages on wooden wheels rolling down the streets mixed with the shouts of hawkers and vendors. Merchants and tourists from all over the world gathered here. Not even Chunhui Prefecture’s capital could compare to this city.

The Capital Prefecture had a 81 neighborhoods, with a population of nearly 400,000 people, making it the undisputed capital of Dazhen.

In the busy city, Ji Yuan, who was just strolling around, suddenly felt something catch his attention.

On the street full of shops, an underworld daytime patrol was passing by, followed by two soul-binding messengers wearing tall hats and each holding an umbrella. They did not walk to the end of the street, but rather turned into a side alley.

Ji Yuan’s mind whirled. There must be someone here with a surplus of Yin lifespan¹ who was about to die, and the underworld was coming to take his soul!

This was something Ji Yuan had never seen before. Out of curiosity, he wanted to see what was going on, so he naturally followed.

Dodging the crowd of people on the street, avoiding the carriage traffic and horses, Ji Yuan quickly turned into the alley. Although he could no longer see the contingent from the underworld, with his supernatural eyes, he could detect traces of Yin energy with just a glance, so it wasn’t difficult for him to find the right place.

This neighborhood was “Jin’an Lane.”² Although the residences along this street were not as large as those of princes or aristocrats, the people living here were certainly either rich or nobility. At the very least, the houses along the street Ji Yuan was walking down were by no means small. Plus, this was in the capital city, where every inch of land was worth a lot of money.

After about the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Ji Yuan caught up with the ghost messengers of the underworld. They stood outside a mansion with the words “Zhou Residence” written on the gate.

The characters on the plaque were so large that they could still be distinguished even with blurred vision.

The underworld officials seemed to be waiting for something. Meanwhile, Ji Yuan opened his eyes wide and stared at the interior of the mansion from afar. He could vaguely make out the rising aura of the residents inside the mansion.

“Hmm?”

Ji Yuan suddenly noticed something unusual. He endured the pain and opened his eyes even wider. The aura of the Zhou residence suddenly became more vivid and sharp. Among these auras there was actually a hint of something supernatural, but he wasn’t sure whether it was demonic or some other aura.

At this time, the underworld officials probably realized that the time had almost come, and they all entered through the door one after the other.

Although the record books of the underworld could sense the conditions of the people recorded in them, they were not Books of Life and Death. It was impossible to know exactly when someone would die from the moment they were born. It could only sense a reduction in a person’s lifespan and their changes in fortune, luck, and karma. At the appropriate time, it could let the underworld officials know that an individual was about to die. It was somewhat similar to a vague fortune-telling method, but more intuitive.

Ji Yuan thought for a moment and used his dexterity to jump lightly into the Zhou residence.

In the bedroom of the large house in the backyard of the Zhou Mansion, a pale man in his sixties lay on the bed, surrounded by a circle of men and women. The atmosphere was very depressing.

“The doctor said I… I’ll just have these two days… After I die… the family business will be managed by the eldest son… Remember the family motto, don’t go against…”

The eldest son, who knelt beside the bed with red eyes, suddenly stood up and walked towards the door.

“Father! It must be that b**** who harmed you. You took her in for so many years out of kindness, but she repaid your generosity with hatred. I will never forgive her!”

“Yi Qing! Cough, cough…”

The dying man on the bed suddenly became agitated and shouted at his son.

“If you do this, you will be repaying kindness with enmity… she is part of our Zhou family!”

At this moment, the door opened, and a woman in white with white velvet flowers in her hair walked in. She walked straight to the bed, not even looking at the eldest son of the Zhou family.

The eldest son of the Zhou family had an expression full of anger just moments before, but now he immediately took a few steps back, seemingly fearful of looking directly at the woman.

The woman walked to Mr. Zhou’s bed and sat down, a trace of sadness on her face. She reached out her hand and gently stroked the old man’s cheek as he lay on the bed.

“I shouldn’t have come here today. If someone from the underworld sees me, they definitely won’t let me off lightly. But… we have loved each other for more than 30 years, so today I will accompany you for the last time!”

The woman mentioned thirty years, yet her face was still beautiful and youthful, with no signs of aging.

The old man, who looked like he was about to die, seemed have one final burst of vitality in this moment. His face became more rosy, and his expression brightened.

The others in the room seemed to have known about this for some time now, and they all moved away fearfully, not even daring to speak.

At this moment, two soul-binding messengers from the underworld entered on a gust of dark wind. However, he failed to notice anything unusual about the woman at the bedside.

One soul-binding messenger stepped forward and ordered the master of the Zhou family, “Zhou Niansheng, your life span has come to an end. Come with us!”

If it had been just him reaping the soul, there would have been no problem. However, there were two daytime patrol officers outside the door at this time. While the soul-reaping messengers were performing his duties, the daytime patrol officials also entered the room on a routine inspection of the Zhou Mansion. They were startled, and immediately focused their attention on the woman beside the bed, who looked back at the two underworld officials calmly.

1. “Yin lifespan” represents the life to be spent in the realm of the dead. Some have it, some go directly to reincarnation.
2. Remember what I mentioned all the way at the beginning (chapter 29 footnote 10)? The word “Lane” here can be used for “Square,” “Neighborhood,” or “Lane.”