Quinn Shepherd's eyes widened in disbelief, his heart pounding with inexplicable shock. His jade pendant—was actually forged by Tu Bo, the Earth Sovereign!
This jade pendant was supposed to be a Keane family heirloom, something he'd worn since infancy. How could it possibly have been crafted by Tu Bo?
What connection did Tu Bo, the Earth Sovereign, have with him?
Or was it that he’d truly committed some terrible crime, and Tu Bo used the pendant to seal him?
But back then, he should have been just a newborn—how could he have done anything evil?
Besides, he had no memory of any such thing. And in Everpeace or High-Emperor Heaven, who didn’t know that Cult Master Quinn was upright and broad-minded? When had he ever done evil?
“The seal must have loosened.”
Lava Tu Bo continued flipping through the ledger and said, “Several gods and demons once tried to break the seal. Though they failed, the seal was loosened, and you nearly got out. It’s fine—I’ll reinforce it again in a bit.”
He read at an incredible speed, skimming through the record of Quinn Shepherd’s misdeeds in the Netherworld, and finally reached the last page. “In the ill-omened lands of High-Emperor Heaven, the Keane scion Fenix Greenwood used the Soul-Calling Rite to disturb Youdu, seizing forty-eight thousand souls and injuring Underworld Couriers…”
Quinn replied honestly, “It was me who performed the Soul-Calling Rite and drew forty-eight thousand souls from Youdu, but I wasn’t the one who hurt the Underworld Couriers. That was Marshal Lyle Wei, the Seven-Kill Star Lord. If you want someone to blame, blame him.”
Lava Tu Bo turned to the Underworld Courier and asked, “Was it really Marshal Lyle Wei, the Seven-Kill Star Lord, who injured the Underworld Couriers?”
The Underworld Courier, an avatar of Saint-King Tianqi, replied, “Marshal Lyle Wei’s name was indeed in the Book of Life and Death, but his soul was scattered twenty thousand years ago and erased from the registry. Youdu no longer has jurisdiction over him. This time, the forty-eight thousand souls escaped and the Underworld Couriers were injured because Fenix Greenwood reassembled Marshal Lyle Wei’s fragmented soul. So the karmic responsibility for injuring the Underworld Couriers falls on Fenix Greenwood, since he’s still alive and his name remains in the Book of Life and Death.”
Lava Tu Bo looked at Quinn Shepherd. “So the debt falls to you. Are you willing to accept that?”
“No way!” Quinn shot back.
“Put it on his tab, then.”
Lava Tu Bo said to the Underworld Courier, “We’ll settle accounts another day.”
Quinn’s face immediately darkened. “If you’re just going to blame everything on me, why even bother asking? Still, since Lava Tu Bo said we’ll settle this another day, maybe there’s hope.”
Settle accounts another day—not now. That meant Lava Tu Bo summoned him here just to ask about cause and effect.
Lava Tu Bo closed the thick ledger, looked down at the tiny Quinn Shepherd below, and asked, “Why did you disturb the order of Youdu and summon away the dead? Do you remember anything? Any scenes from Youdu flashing through your mind?”
Quinn looked blank, shook his head, and said, “When I was exiled—cast out of Youdu—I was only a month or two old, right? How could I have any memories of the Netherworld? As for summoning souls in High-Emperor Heaven, I only did it because I had no choice.”
He explained the cause and effect of using the Soul-Calling Rite, then stood there honestly, quietly awaiting judgment.
Lava Tu Bo’s gaze remained fixed on him, then suddenly asked, “Are you sure no memories flashed through your mind? Nothing you recalled?”
Quinn shook his head with a smile. “What could I possibly remember?”
“If you didn’t recall anything, then how are you so fluent in the language of Youdu?”
Lava Tu Bo kept staring at him, as if seeing through everything, and said slowly, “Mastering the tongue of Youdu allowed you to cultivate Netherworld arts and open the gate to demonic divine treasuries. Aren’t you curious why you can unlock the demonic treasuries?”
Beside him, the Underworld Courier said, “The demon race descends from Netherworld demon gods, so they can open demonic divine treasuries. Why can you open them too? Aren’t you curious?”
“Of course I’m curious!”
Quinn looked genuinely interested and asked, “Why can I open demonic divine treasuries and also godly ones?”
“Because you’re a descendant of Carefree Haven and also a being born in the Netherworld…”
The Underworld Courier had just started to explain when Lava Tu Bo cut him off. “He doesn’t need to know that, and we don’t need to explain. He’s here to answer questions, not to trick us into revealing secrets.”
The Underworld Courier realized and laughed, “He got me talking! This kid’s expression is just too disarming—I fell for it without noticing.”
Quinn blushed, embarrassed. “I was just curious because Lord Prefect mentioned it. I wasn’t trying to trick you—I’m only eighteen, just a kid…”
The Underworld Courier shook his head. “You really can’t tell he’s lying.”
Lava Tu Bo nodded. “That kind of cunning is learned, picked up from the living world. It’s not his nature, but now it’s become second nature to him.”
The Underworld Courier asked, “So how much of what he says is true, and how much is false?”
Lava Tu Bo seemed to know Quinn inside out. “When he described the cause and effect of the Soul-Calling Rite in the ill-omened lands, every word was true. After that, he seemed to say a lot, but in fact he said nothing—he was just asking questions and fishing for answers from us.”
The Underworld Courier thought it over and realized it was true.
Quinn sheepishly said, “I’m really not like that—just got some bad habits from the village elders. I honestly haven’t remembered any scenes from Youdu.”
“That’s the truth.”
Lava Tu Bo said, “The seal is still there. Only some language memory has awakened, but no experiential memories.”
Sweat beaded on Quinn’s forehead as he probed, “I’ve committed some killings before—will that worsen my punishment?”
“That’s not true—you’re just fishing for information.”
Lava Tu Bo said, “But what he’s asking isn’t a secret. You can answer him.”
The Underworld Courier replied, “Ordinary crimes in life are treated the same after death. Youdu isn’t a court of judgment, just where the dead return. Only those steeped in monstrous evil, or those who disrupt Netherworld order, are eaten by Tu Bo.”
Quinn let out a breath of relief. The Underworld Courier continued, “If your crimes are monstrous, you’ll be tormented by hellfire even in Youdu, suffering endlessly. Tu Bo eats those souls, taking their sins and hellfire upon himself. Disrupting Netherworld order—like keeping the dead from dying—means Tu Bo eats you too.”
(This section isn’t part of the novel. Skip.)
Quinn grew tense again. The Underworld Courier studied his face, then smiled with satisfaction. “But Youdu doesn’t interfere with the living world. You’re not dead yet, so we can’t punish you now. We’ll wait until you die.”
“Lord Prefect, you got tricked by his expression again,” Lava Tu Bo said.
The Underworld Courier was startled, then blurted out, “He was really asking if he’ll be punished for coming here this time. Impossible to guard against!”
Lava Tu Bo nodded, still watching Quinn’s face. “Don’t say anything for now. I’ll question him.”
Quinn obediently stood at attention.
Lava Tu Bo eyed his well-behaved stance, then decided to stay silent. He lifted a finger, and Quinn’s jade pendant floated up from his neck, landing gently in his palm.
Lava Tu Bo plucked a Nine-Bend horn from his head and drove it into the pendant, pressing down hard until the entire horn sank in and vanished.
Rings of firelight rippled from the pendant, gradually fading away.
The pendant floated back up, slipped around Quinn’s neck again, and hid under his clothes, resting against his skin.
Lava Tu Bo waved his hand. “I was here to check the pendant’s seal. Now that it’s secure, send him back. We’ll settle everything after he dies.”
The Underworld Courier hurriedly said, “But won’t he, after death…”
Lava Tu Bo shot him a look, and the Courier remembered he’d been told not to speak, falling silent. Lava Tu Bo’s body spun and sank into the magma, his voice echoing: “Don’t let anyone touch your jade pendant! Lord Prefect, when you send him back, don’t speak to him!”
Quinn called out urgently, “Tu Bo, can I see my mother? Please?”
Lava Tu Bo vanished.
Quinn stood there in a daze, feeling lost. After a while, he said, “I just want to see my mother. I’ve never seen what she looks like… Lord Prefect, do you know what she looks like?”
The Underworld Courier thought for a moment, then nodded.
Quinn looked at him with hopeful eyes. The Underworld Courier hesitated, clearly troubled, but finally said, “Tu Bo has ordered it—I can’t reveal anything more.”
Quinn asked excitedly, “Lord Prefect, is my mother still alive?”
The Underworld Courier hesitated. Quinn’s expression tugged at his heart, so he nodded and whispered, “Don’t ask any more—I’m already breaking Tu Bo’s orders by speaking to you. Come, it’s still before dawn in Taihuangtian. I’ll take you back to the living world.”
Quinn could only follow him onto the little boat, silent and withdrawn.
The little boat drifted out from the severed continent of Tu Bo’s Horn into the darkness.
Tu Bo’s true form was unimaginably vast—no one knew how tall, how large, how wide. The little boat floated in darkness for a long time before finally leaving the two winding Yellow Springs behind.
The Underworld Courier glanced around warily, occasionally raising the lantern to check the surroundings. He handed Quinn a yellow talisman. “Those after you won’t give up easily. Stick this talisman on your face—no god or demon will see your real face. Even if they do, it’ll be a fake, just like mine.”
Quinn pressed the yellow talisman to his forehead and sat still.
“Why not poke two holes in it?” the Underworld Courier asked curiously.
Quinn, utterly dejected, replied listlessly, “I’m not interested.”
The Underworld Courier laughed. “Childish.”
At that moment, the little boat suddenly stopped moving.
The Underworld Courier stood, lantern in hand, and said coolly, “You still haven’t given up?”
“Please, Lord Prefect, give us a way out!”
A voice echoed from the darkness, layered with countless others: “We only want his face, his identity in the living world! We don’t want his life now!”
The Underworld Courier replied icily, “You meddle too much. Leave now, or if my true form descends, you won’t even remain as ghosts!”
On the boat, Quinn quietly took out the Book of Life and Death he’d gotten from Kui Wu Shen, shining it into the darkness. He was shocked to see a name appear on its pages.
“Hehehe… So you slipped up after all…” The strange voice in the darkness faded away quickly.
The Underworld Courier glanced back, his eyes falling on the Book of Life and Death in Quinn’s hands. He sighed, “You’ve learned his true identity—and he’s learned yours. You’re using the Book of Life and Death from the Heavenly Court. There aren’t many of these treasures. He’ll soon track you down. Take care of yourself.”
Quinn was stunned, finally realizing where he’d slipped up.
(Author’s note: not part of the novel text, skip translation.)