30: Chapter 30 The Underworld Emperor's Roll Call

The next morning, the ancient and distant sound of a bell shattered the sea of clouds above Luofeng Mountain.

Inside the sleeping chambers, two translucent female ghost attendants were holding trays.

Before the bronze mirror, Pei Duo looked at her reflection: clad in a shimmering, flowing skirt patterned with red-gold clouds, her hair elegantly piled high. The youthful innocence of a university student was somewhat suppressed by this attire, replaced instead by an air of noble grace befitting a 'Little Princess of the Underworld.'

"Your Highness, this gold-inlaid jade hairpin was brought down by the late Consort Yang. His Majesty specially ordered someone to retrieve it from the treasury," the attendant whispered, gently inserting the hairpin into her hair. "It looks wonderful on you."

Outside the palace doors, Xu Mo and Lin Sa were already waiting like a pair of imposing door gods.

The current condition of these two was ridiculously excellent.

Last night's 'Imperial Feast,' which was comparable to a divine medicine, coupled with the night-long burning of the 'Calming Incense' reserved only for Underworld Marshal level beings, had completely transformed them.

Xu Mo's eyes, which had previously appeared somewhat gloomy from excessive scheming, were now frighteningly clear, and he seemed brimming with inexhaustible energy; Lin Sa felt as if she could now punch yesterday's self to death.

Looking at the passing patrol of Underworld Soldiers, Lin Sa's eyes held no fear, but rather irrepressible excitement—this was genuinely 'official backing'! She had hitched onto the right thigh and utterly won this round.

"Creeeeak—"

The palace doors opened.

Pei Fei stepped out. Today he was not wearing the complex and grand ceremonial robes, but only a sharply tailored, dark gold cloud-patterned black robe, cinched with a jade belt and worn over black boots.

He had shed some of the divine majesty that made one afraid to look directly at him, gaining instead a sharp, cool handsomeness.

"Awake?"

Pei Fei's eyes lit up as he looked at his refreshed sister, then naturally extended his hand: "Come, the weather is nice today. Brother will take you for a stroll in our back garden."

"We aren't taking the carriage?" Pei Duo adjusted the somewhat heavy hem of her skirt, feeling a little unaccustomed.

"Walking keeps us grounded," Pei Fei smiled casually. "And it lets you get familiar with the surroundings, so you don't get lost later."

The group slowly proceeded along the white jade imperial road.

Black and White Impermanence followed like two faint shadows, keeping a discreet distance of ten paces; further away, a fully armed honor guard of Underworld Soldiers trailed silently. The chilling aura caused all wandering ghosts and spirits along the path to instantly prostrate themselves on the ground, not daring to lift their heads.

After passing through several layers of palaces, the scenery ahead suddenly changed.

Instead of the expected eerie horror of ghostly wails and howls, it was a scene of busy orderliness, resembling a top-tier administrative hall.

Above the massive circular complex of halls hung four gilded characters: 'Six Bureaus of Merit Officials.'

Thousands of civilian ghost clerks, dressed in official robes of various colors, moved between the desks like precision gears. Countless scrolls emitting faint light automatically flew through the air for filing—the efficiency would shame a supercomputer in the mortal realm.

Xu Mo watched, dumbfounded.

In the instances of the Thriller Game, the rules were chaotic, twisted, and malicious. But here, everything was orderly and seamless.

Every stroke of the brush, every stamp of the seal, represented the absolute balance between the Yin and Yang worlds.

"This is the central nervous system of the Underworld," Pei Fei stood with his hands behind his back, as if introducing his own study. "When I first took over two years ago, this place was as messy as a vegetable market. I killed one batch and replaced them with another; only then were the rules established."

The casually spoken 'killed one batch' sent a chill down Xu Mo's spine, yet a surge of fervor welled up in his heart.

This was the true method of a ruler!

As they walked, Lin Sa suddenly pointed to a high platform on the left and exclaimed softly, "That... that uncle in the red robe, he has a crescent moon on his forehead! Is that..."

Everyone looked over.

Behind a desk piled high with scrolls, a Judge in a red robe, whose face was as dark as charcoal and bore a crescent moon on his brow, was frowning deeply, his vermilion brush slicing swiftly through annotations on a secondary register of life and death. He looked like the ultimate 'corporate slave' in the Underworld, working overtime.

"That is Bao Wenzheng," Pei Fei said casually. "He is the current Chief of the Investigation Department. His temper is still just as foul; last month he slammed the table at me over a public expense reimbursement issue."

Bao Wenzheng? Bao Zheng?!

Lin Sa's jaw nearly dropped.

In the mortal realm, he was a deity enshrined in temples and portrayed in television dramas; here, he was a department head whom His Majesty complained had a 'foul temper'?

As if sensing their gaze, Bao Zheng, who was busy dealing with overwhelming paperwork, looked up.

Upon seeing Pei Fei, the iron-faced, impartial Great Official immediately set down his vermilion brush and, across the layers of documents, bowed deeply with utmost respect.

There was no sycophancy, only absolute respect for his superior and for order.

Xu Mo felt his scalp tingle. This sense of reality, where history and mythology intertwined, was more shocking than any Hollywood special effect.

Every brick here, every god and ghost, was steeped in the five thousand years of Chinese heritage. Compared to this, those Western instances with only a few hundred years of history truly looked like a makeshift troupe assembled by a nouveau riche.

Passing through the administrative area, the terrain began to slope downward.

The surrounding temperature dropped sharply, and the air filled with a strong smell of rust and scorching. The originally bright lamps were replaced by eerie green phosphorescent fires. From the abyss churning with black mist in the distance, faint, piercing screams could be heard.

The sound was not human; it drilled straight into the crown of the head, chilling the very marrow of one's bones.

Pei Duo's face turned pale, and she instinctively shrank behind Pei Fei: "Brother... where is this?"

"The Eighteen Levels of Hell," Pei Fei stopped walking, pointing to the abyss ahead enveloped by the Red Lotus Karmic Fire. "The cornerstone of the Underworld's law. If one commits a mistake, one must pay the price."

As they drew closer, the visual impact increased exponentially.

Tongue ripping, oil boiling, mountain of knives... the tortures that only existed in legends were now displayed nakedly before their eyes.

Countless wicked spirits wailed on the instruments of torture, flesh and blood mangled, in an endless cycle.

"Ah!" Pei Duo cried out in fright after just one glance.

The next second, a warm, broad hand covered her eyes.

"Don't look," Pei Fei's voice sounded beside her ear, carrying a reassuring tenderness. "When your mind is stronger, Brother will bring you to examine these sins."

Although Pei Duo's eyes were covered, Xu Mo and Lin Sa saw clearly.

And in that churning cauldron of oil, Xu Mo witnessed a scene that made his soul tremble, yet felt inexplicably satisfying.

What was being fried in that oil pot was not just Eastern wicked spirits.

In the rolling, boiling oil, several blond, blue-eyed vampires with bat wings, along with a few massive werewolves, struggled in despair.

Their regenerative abilities were extremely strong; their flesh would be instantly fried and then grow back, only to be fried again, repeating the cycle.

Unable to live, unable to die.

"That is..." Lin Sa covered her mouth, looking fearfully at Black Impermanence beside her.

"Hmph, a bunch of reckless Western barbarians," Black Impermanence, Fan Wujiu, sneered softly, lightly tapping his Ghost-Wailing Cudgel against his palm, his tone full of mockery. "Scouts who snuck in during the chaos of the last God War. His Majesty was merciful and didn't let them be utterly annihilated; keeping them to add some flavor to the oil pot is making the best use of them."

At this moment, an indescribable sense of national pride rose in Xu Mo's heart.

What s-rank instance noble Earls? What arrogant Western myths?

Here, beneath Luofeng Mountain, they were nothing more than a plate of 'imported fried chicken' in the oil pot!

This was not just punishment; it was Pei Fei's cruelest declaration to all forces coveting the Chinese Underworld—Those who violate our territory, even gods shall be executed!

"Let's go. The big figures ahead are waiting for us."