The Transaction Between John Chou and Quentin Henderson Part 5

I quietly gazed at the small town not far ahead.

"Brother Zhang, there's no need to bring that up now. Times have changed."

We planned to head into the town first, find a place to settle down, and then discuss our next move. According to Allen Zhang, the territory of the Underworld Court isn't far from here. When Allen was wandering the Ghostrealm, he used his ghost soul to open several short-range sand rituals for transmission, just like this.

"They won't chase us out here, will they?"

I asked, and John Chou, who was walking ahead, shook his head.

"Not for now. Since they know where we came from, what they need to watch is Lady Ji by the River of Forgetfulness, not us."

"But you said before, the Infernal Judges don't trust Lady Meng. Why is that?"

John Chou smiled as he spoke.

"From what I've learned, Lady Meng was already there before New Hell fell."

In that instant, the three of us stopped, staring at John Chou in disbelief as his lips curled into a smile and he pointed toward the town ahead.

"Let's go inside first."

Once inside the town, I saw plenty of ghosts coming and going. The place was small, just a modest marketplace. Allen Zhang had been here before, so he led us straight to a tavern, picked a private booth on the third floor, and ordered several dishes and wine from the owner.

"Alright, John Chou, what you just said—where did you learn it?"

Jerry Li asked in confusion. John Chou nodded.

"Long ago, in Old Hell, the dead could never become human again. There were three levels: the upper level was Heaven, or Nature—a blissful afterlife for ghosts. The middle level meant working in Old Hell or living in one of its eight provinces, continuing a human-like existence. The lower level was for the truly wicked, condemned to Hell's torments. It was a simple system, but riddled with flaws and overcrowding."

"And what about Lady Meng?"

I knew all this from Zhang Qingyuan's memories. I was fully aware of everything.

"Don't rush. I have to explain these things slowly—first, we need to untangle some relationships."

John Chou continued. He had once visited the world of shadows—just once—using a memory echo. The situation then was dire: Emperor God had murderous intent toward Isabelle Frost. During that trip, he met Emperor God and learned other crucial things Zhang Qingyuan never knew.

Back then, Old Hell had a woman named Lady Meng, now known as Lady Meng. Her ghost soul was unique—it could wash away a ghost's memories. Such a power made the three rulers of Old Hell take notice, because even good ghosts in Nature retained their feelings and awareness. That led to something new in Hell: the Remnant.

Those who entered the upper level with their souls completely gone still retained fading consciousness. At first, these drifting Remnants didn't affect Old Hell, but as time went on, the Remnants flooded the place and began invading the minds of middle-level ghosts.

After this began, Emperor God and Phantom Sage chose to ignore it, but Sylvia Yan desperately sought a solution. Especially with the lower-level evil ghosts—when they died and turned to dust, their Remnants flowed into the eight provinces of Hell. That sparked conflict among the provinces, while Old Hell itself remained oblivious.

It was only after these large-scale conflicts erupted that Emperor God and Phantom Sage took notice and tried to suppress the Remnants. But because of Hell's nature, these Remnants couldn't be destroyed—Hell was like a giant magnet, keeping them trapped.

That's when Lady Meng appeared. The water she created, once drunk by ghosts, erased their consciousness. The rulers of Old Hell finally paid attention and let Lady Meng set up an institution called the Tower of Oblivion. Every ghost from the upper and lower levels entering Hell had to drink Lady Meng's Elixir to prevent Remnants from forming.

It took the rulers of Old Hell a long time to discover that the Remnants of evil ghosts from the lower level were being drawn out by the Remnants of good ghosts from the upper level.

Everything was peaceful for a while. The three rulers of Old Hell kept trying to do one thing: resurrect their father, the Wraithlord. Lady Meng repeatedly advised them to hand over the Wraithlord's soul to her so she could erase all his emotions and desires, which would kill any hope of resurrection. The three rulers refused her proposal.

After that, Lady Meng kept urging the three rulers not to resurrect the Wraithlord, but they ignored her and even got angry, refusing to listen.

Around that time, Hell became overcrowded, and a massive rebellion broke out in the eight provinces. As the rebellion intensified and the rulers struggled, Lady Meng arrived with a monk named Ksitigarbha, who claimed he could resolve the ghost problem.

At first, the three rulers trusted him and let Ksitigarbha conduct soul experiments in the Sanctuary Range. It worked—many ghosts who listened to his sutras dissolved into wisps of smoke and vanished. But this power shocked the rulers of Old Hell.

The vanished ghosts didn't turn into Hell's dust or enter Nature—they went somewhere else. Ksitigarbha said it was the Western Paradise.