The three of us stopped.
Bai Wuchang turned back with a smile, "Isn't this bad, Judge Lu?"
Who knew that Judge Lu just stared at the bottle of Moutai in Bai Wuchang's hand and didn't move.
He licked his lips and said, "No, no, no, it's okay... It's just a small matter! I can directly issue you a pass!"
Only those who have obtained the pass issued by Judge Lu can pass through the Eighteen Layers of Hell. Otherwise, it is very difficult to pass through.
At this time, Judge Lu had already come over. He reached out and snatched the bottle of Moutai from Bai Wuchang's hand.
After snatching the Moutai, Judge Lu eagerly poured the wine into the white porcelain cup and drank it with relish.
It's really interesting that he was conquered by just a bottle of Moutai.
Judge Lu then took out three pieces of iron from his arms. On the pieces of iron were written the word "Eighteen". These were the passes to the Eighteen Levels of Hell.
Now that we have the pass, we don’t have to enter the Eighteen Levels of Hell and can leave from the outer passage.
"Thank you very much, Judge Lu!"
Bai Wuchang took the pass with a smile, handed one to Hei Wuchang, and stuffed one into my pocket.
Then we prepared to leave.
But just when we had walked a short distance, Judge Lu suddenly called us.
"Brother Wuchang, don't leave in such a hurry, wait a moment!"
Although Judge Lu's voice was very soft, my heart still shuddered.
I turned my back to Judge Lu, and a thin layer of cold sweat broke out on my back. Bai Wuchang and Hei Wuchang did not turn around, and they looked at each other secretly.
I saw surprise in their eyes.
It seems that even the Black and White Impermanence did not fully understand Judge Lu's thoughts.
Who knew that before we turned around, Judge Lu came running up to us happily.
Joy appeared in his eyes. He grabbed Bai Wuchang's arm and said with a smile, "Thank you, brother. Are you leaving just like that? Please leave me a few more bottles of Moutai! One bottle is not enough!..."
Wow, I was shocked. It turns out that Judge Lu also wanted Moutai liquor.
Bai Wuchang turned his head with a smile and looked at Judge Lu with a pleasant look.
He smiled and said, "Well, then I'll leave two more bottles of Moutai for Brother Lu. But this stuff is very valuable, even I only got four bottles. I've already given Brother Lu one bottle, so don't say I'm not kind."
Upon hearing this, Judge Lu was already overjoyed. Not to mention two bottles, even half a bottle of wine would have been something he would have been happy to accept.
"Okay, okay, two bottles is fine, Brother Wuchang, you are so polite!"
Shamelessly, Judge Lu took the two bottles of Moutai that Bai Wuchang took out and quickly put them into his sleeves, as if he was afraid that someone else would snatch them away.
After a few brief greetings, the Black and White Impermanence took me away from Judge Lu.
Although the direction we were heading was not towards the "Eighteen Levels of Hell", it passed by the place where Judge Lu judged cases.
It was a place similar to a government office, and the hall was filled with ghost officials.
Those ghost officials are all subordinates of Judge Lu.
I also noticed that several ghosts were wearing shackles and handcuffs, kneeling on the ground and crying.
In addition to the ghosts kneeling on the ground, I also noticed that in a hot oil pan, there were two ghosts writhing and screaming in pain.
I was shocked and thought, it seems that the screams I heard earlier were Judge Lu punishing those evil spirits.
In addition to the writhing ghosts in the oil pan, there were also several ghosts tied up on a red-hot pillar made of some unknown material.
The bodies of those ghosts were covered with scars, and dark ghost energy was constantly being burned out of their bodies, disappearing.
Scattered in space.
I even noticed that the four limbs of a ghost were chopped off by a guillotine and separated from its soul.
Don't think that ghosts don't have bodies. You'd be wrong to think so. The underworld has its own way of dealing with ghosts, and although it looks cruel, it's very effective.
When I passed by, I heard a female ghost crying and shouting, "Don't hit me, don't hit me... Ghost officials, I will confess, I will confess everything. I cheated on my husband and killed my mother-in-law... My mother-in-law's body is hidden in the kang hole of our family's fire-heated kang..."
My goodness, it’s no wonder that the female ghost suffered such cruel punishment, it turns out she really has evil intentions.
"Stop looking and get out of here!"
Bai Wuchang reminded me.
I quickly quickened my pace and followed.
When we passed by the back hall of the government office, we happened to meet two ghost officials. The two ghost officials did not know the Black and White Impermanence, but after seeing the pass of Judge Lu, they automatically made way for us to pass.
Soon, we arrived at a black lacquered gate in the backyard of the government office.
In addition to the two ghost officials in front of the gate, there was actually a monster lying next to it.
It was called a monster, but in fact, it was just a "dog". The dog had black hair and black eyes, and it lay in front of a ghost official with its eyes closed.
But this is not the point. The point is that the "dog" actually has three heads.
When I saw this scene, my legs were shaking.
Good man, I have seen monsters before, such as the giant beast Taotie that stuck its tongue out of the red-painted coffin. But a three-headed "dog", such a weird and strange creature, is the first time I have seen it.
An idea came to my mind. I thought, could that "dog" have been irradiated? Just like the mutated monsters in the movies.
When we approached, the two ghost officials did not notice us, but the "dog" immediately stood up from the ground.
Its limbs do not look very coordinated. Simply put, its front legs are short and its hind legs are long.
I suddenly remembered the introduction in the Yin-Yang Soul Crossing Notes, which said there was a hairy monster with three heads, shaped like both a dog and a wolf, with short front two legs and long hind two legs.
The note called that creature "bad!", and an idiom was born out of it, called "****". In simple terms, the animal "bad" is particularly alert and cunning.
“Woof woof woof…”
The wolf started barking wildly in our direction, and the sounds coming from its three heads were different.
It feels a bit deafening.
The two ghost officials guarding the gate also noticed us.
One of the ghost officials must have known the Black and White Impermanence. He actually came up and greeted them with a playful smile.
"My two Lords of the Impermanence, why are you here in the Eighteen Layers of Hell?"
The ghost official who knew the Black and White Impermanence looked very slick. His slightly loose face was squeezed together when he smiled. He looked a bit malnourished.
“Woof woof woof…”
The wolf was still barking wildly, but its black eyes were not staring at the Black and White Impermanence, but at me instead.
I was so frightened that I stepped back a few steps.
Hei Wuchang stood next to me and gave me a hand.
"Be careful, don't fall. It's just a wolf, and you're so scared!" Hei Wuchang said coldly.
This guy might still be upset because I took away his Golden Crow Flute last night.
“Woof woof woof…”
The wolf continued to bark in my direction.
Another ghost official also went to the side of the wolf and shouted angrily: "Little wolf, be quiet. If you keep yelling, you will be killed later.
It’s time to eat meat!”
According to the notes, the wolf is very human-like.
But after hearing the ghost official's shout, the "wolf beast" cried even louder.
Bai Wuchang was afraid that the beast's barking would attract Judge Lu again, so he quickly showed his pass to the ghost official guarding the gate.
The two ghost officials didn't say anything.
The grinning ghost official let us pass after looking at our pass.
But as soon as the black lacquered door was pushed open and before we could take a step, the wolf standing there pounced on me and bit me without any care.
I was so nervous that I tried to dodge quickly.
But at this time, the dark energy on Bai Wuchang's body suddenly gathered, and he swung the mourning stick in his right hand towards the "狼", and the 狼 was hit directly.
The mourning stick is a high-level underworld weapon. When it hit the wolf-dog, it felt very uncomfortable and shrank back to the foot of the wall.
Hei Wuchang found the barking of the "狼" annoying and prepared to deal with it.
But Bai Wuchang stopped Hei Wuchang and said, "Okay, let's go through the passage first, don't waste time!"
The three-headed wolf didn't attack, but it kept barking!
The two bewildered ghost officials were also muttering in their hearts.
In the past, Bei was fine when guarding the gate with them, but why did he become so irritable today? He even barked at a walking corpse.
Although I moved just now, Bai Wuchang also explained it for me. He told the two ghost officials that I was dead, but my soul was still lingering in my body.
Without further ado, we hurried into the black lacquered gate.
When I turned around, I found that the wolf was still stretching out its three heads and barking at me.
"Stop yelling, bastard! ... If you yell again, I'll skin you alive!"
The smiling ghost official, perhaps in order to please the Black and White Impermanence, shouted at the wolf again, which made the wolf behave itself.
But even after the two ghost officials closed the door, the wolf was still barking in a low voice. The wolf's voice was unbroken and even more unpleasant than the howling of ghosts and wolves.
What we didn’t know was that not long after the black lacquered door was closed, Judge Lu came over here with a dozen ghost officials.
Perhaps because he had drunk a few cups, Judge Lu's face was a little red. However, because he had grown a lot of beard on his chin and the sides of his face, it was not easy to notice.
Glancing at the "wolf" huddled at the foot of the wall, Judge Lu couldn't help but frown and asked, "What's going on?"
The grinning ghost official hurried over and explained what had happened here.
After hearing the ghost official's words, Judge Lu thought of the previous incident with the Black and White Impermanence and couldn't help but ponder. He thought to himself, "Could that walking corpse be a living person?"
This idea was well-founded in Judge Lu's mind, because he left the three-headed wolf at the gate because he was afraid that a living person would sneak into the underworld and enter the next stop of the ghost, the Offering Pavilion.
If that were the case, it would be a dereliction of duty on his part.
The more he thought about this, the more worried Judge Lu became. If a living person really entered the next station and was discovered by the people in the Offering Pavilion, then his position as the judge of the Punishment Department would be in jeopardy.
Thinking about the previous actions of the Black and White Impermanence, Judge Lu was almost certain that the so-called walking corpse was a living person. However, he had taken advantage of the Black and White Impermanence, and if he exposed this matter, it would be very disadvantageous to him.
Shaking his head, Judge Lu said to himself, "This matter cannot be leaked!"
So he turned his head and said to the two ghost officials guarding the gate: "You two go guard the gate somewhere else. I will assign new ghost officials here... As for what happened today, don't talk nonsense. Just pretend you didn't see it!!"
(to be continued)
(End of this chapter) (End of this chapter)