The group of Skyward Legionnaires wielding long spears was about to advance, when suddenly Skylar Loft shouted from behind, "Wait! Wait! This is a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!"
The celestial general glanced at him, lifted his chin, and looked down at Skylar Loft with a snort. "And you are...?"
Skylar Loft stopped at a distance, straightened his robes, and cupped his hands in greeting. "Esteemed general, I am Skylar Loft from Crescent Star Cave, currently a guest at Golden Mist Cave on Avalon Mountain. This one here is an old friend of mine."
Another 'old friend'—the Monkey King felt a surge of unspeakable anger in his heart.
"Oh?" The celestial general gave a faint, mocking smile. With that massive scar on his face, the expression looked more like a grimace than a smile.
Skylar Loft slowly pushed aside two Skyward Legionnaires and stepped into the encirclement. He reached for the Monkey King's waist and drew out the Guest Pass, tossing it to the celestial general. "He is also an honored guest of Golden Mist Cave."
The celestial general glanced at the Guest Pass and tossed it back. "So it’s you, Skylar Loft. Tell me, isn’t raising all those spirits on Cloudrise Peak enough for you? Now you’ve come to Avalon Mountain to keep more monsters?"
Hearing this, the Monkey King's expression darkened even further.
Skylar Loft quickly placed a hand on the Monkey King's shoulder, giving it a gentle pat to calm him down. He grinned at the celestial general, "You jest, General, you jest. I simply enjoy making friends. Everyone on Cloudrise Peak is a friend of mine—how could you call it raising them?"
The celestial general sneered, "If it’s just a misunderstanding, then get lost. For the next few days, you’d best stay away from here. If you get hurt by mistake, don’t blame us. And you, Skylar Loft—mind your own business."
With that, he raised his head, spread his wings, and soared toward the warship. The Skyward Legionnaires hurried after him.
In an instant, the sweeping wind stirred up a cloud of dust, and soon only the Monkey King and Skylar Loft remained on the mountain path.
Skylar Loft gazed upward at the departing Skyward Legionnaires and muttered, "With the arrival of the Heavenly Army, even the flight restrictions on Avalon Mountain have been lifted. Heh, that’s quite some influence. Let’s head back, junior brother."
Turning around, he saw the Monkey King's face clouded with gloom.
"Hey, calm down, junior brother, calm down." Skylar Loft walked over and hooked his arm around the Monkey King's shoulders, chuckling softly. "They spend their days fighting everywhere, and their enemies are always spirits. How could they not be on edge when they see one?"
"Is that so? Then there’s no need to distinguish which spirits bring harm to the world and which do not? Not even ask their names, just attack? Is this the justice they claim to uphold?"
Skylar Loft could only smile helplessly and sigh, "Some things just can’t be explained."
......
The Underworld.
This was a place where sunlight never reached. In the pitch-black darkness, dozens of bluish ghost fires floated, burning silently.
The glow cast everything in an eerie shade of blue-green.
A vast, seemingly endless library stretched out, with towering black bookshelves dozens of yards high, looming like skyscrapers.
Lord Lao hovered in midair, his fingers gliding lightly as the thread-bound books on the shelves seemed to come alive, flying up and swirling in formation like a flock of wild geese.
In the air, the thread-bound books unraveled themselves, scattering as their pages sped past Lord Lao’s eyes in rapid succession, forming a serpentine trail.
Most pages held only a name and a date, but in Lord Lao’s eyes, these words transformed into complex runes, each one conjuring a dizzying array of fleeting visions.
Occasionally, a few pages were pulled aside to float nearby, but most re-bound themselves and returned to their place.
The Ten Judges of the Underworld, crouched nearby, watched this scene in utter bewilderment.
Lord Lao’s sudden arrival was rare enough, but even stranger was how he went straight to the Hall of Life and Death to inspect the Book of Life and Death without saying a word.
The Book of Life and Death is a supreme treasure of Heaven and Earth. Unlike in the mortal realm, where it’s said to be a single volume held by the Judge, here even the daily-checking Ten Judges of the Underworld have no idea how many copies exist.
The Book of Life and Death and the Hall of Life and Death are twin treasures, existing in the Underworld since Pangu created Heaven and Earth. Born of the Heavenly Dao, they predate even the Ten Judges of the Underworld by countless ages.
The Hall of Life and Death was vast and boundless, its bookshelves multiplying with the passage of time, sprouting new shelves on their own. And upon each shelf, the Book of Life and Death would naturally appear—every new shelf brought tens of thousands of new volumes, never lacking in all the countless millennia.
Everything recorded in the Book of Life and Death concerned the cycle of birth and death for all beings of the Six Paths—immortals, spirits, demons, humans, and beasts—none could escape its reach. Even Lord Lao’s name appeared within, though his lifespan was not listed.
The entries in the book were not, as mortal legends claimed, subject to the whims of the Judges—they were naturally generated, unchangeable by any hand. If there was an anomaly, it would correct itself.
All matters of life and death in the Six Paths were recorded within. For example, when Nezha’s lifespan ended but was extended thanks to Master Taiyi’s help in remaking his golden body, the Book of Life and Death naturally reflected this change.
In short, although the Ten Judges of the Underworld carried out their duties according to the Book of Life and Death, its records of the future were not always entirely accurate. The book would naturally adjust according to fate, but its accounts of the past were infallibly precise.
As for the so-called single volume in the Judge’s hand, it was nothing more than his personal notebook.
In truth, the real authority in the Underworld was not the Ten Judges as mortal legend held, but this very treasure. The Six Paths of Reincarnation played out upon its pages; the Judges were merely its executors.
But with so many volumes of the Book of Life and Death, could Lord Lao truly intend to inspect them one by one? The Ten Judges of the Underworld could not fathom it.
Even they had never undertaken such a monumental task.
At this moment, Lord Lao floated in the air, his gaze sweeping back and forth over the pages before him, filled with countless questions.
Who was it? Who silenced the Land Warden, and who spirited away the Canary’s soul before anyone else?
That lonely grave had clearly just been refurbished—by whom?
Was it the Stone Monkey? If so, then Crescent Cave at Spirit Peak is already under my surveillance—he shouldn’t be able to return. If not, then perhaps Master Sage Subhuti sent someone to repair the grave, silenced the Land Warden, and created the illusion that the Stone Monkey was no longer in Crescent Cave.
But Lord Lao’s true doubts lay elsewhere.
Who was pulling the strings behind the scenes, trying to shatter the Heavenly Dao?
Earlier, he had suspected Master Sage Subhuti, but now this required more consideration.
The Canary died because the Stone Monkey’s lifespan had not yet ended; her soul was not that of a vengeful spirit. If she did not report to the Underworld within forty-nine days, she would naturally dissipate and become a wandering soul. By then, even if one obtained her soul, it would be of little use.
What was certain was that the wandering soul must have been taken away before I found the hunter’s soul. Otherwise, since the two were not far apart, how could I have missed it? That was why, after finding the hunter’s soul, I did not question the Land Warden in detail. Who could have known... that I would miss the chance to solve the mystery.
If Master Sage Subhuti truly led away the Canary’s soul, then the Stone Monkey spent ten years reaching Spiritridge Mountain—did Master Sage Subhuti know of the anomaly in the Heavenly Dao before the Stone Monkey arrived there?
If that was the case, why didn’t he kill all the Land Wardens along the way to cover his tracks even more thoroughly? Or perhaps Master Sage Subhuti used illusion mist, and only after meeting the Stone Monkey did he search along the route and find the Canary, who had already become a wandering soul, and deliberately led her away to mislead me.
Why had the crack on the Stone of Heavenly Dao widened again? Didn’t that mean the soul had not yet become a wandering spirit?
Clues tangled together like a knotted skein, yet the conclusions drawn were completely contradictory. Which were true, and which were false?
Lord Lao, who had held the evolution of Heaven and Earth firmly in his grasp for tens of thousands of years, now found himself with a splitting headache.
Could it be... there was a second person behind all this? Another layer to the game?
For now, all that could be done was a thorough investigation of the Book of Life and Death. As long as the Canary had not become a wandering spirit, there would surely be some clue left within those pages!
As long as the Canary could be found, every riddle would be solved!