253: working people

A burst of laughter erupted from the altar, and the Yin soldiers gathered in small groups.

A short Yin soldier leaned over the Soul-Suppressing Array, his hand almost poking into it. "A seventh-tier pill! It's comparable to the legendary low-grade immortal pills."

"Does this defective product even deserve that?"

Yin Shu leaned against a stone pillar, twirling his phone. The ghostly light from the screen made his fangs look cyan. "Look at how the pill toxin is crawling on it; what difference is there between this and the woodworms growing on that rotten-hearted locust tree in my hometown?"

"If I gave it to you for free, would you dare swallow it?"

Yin Hong poked half his face through the crowd, his pale, ghastly face flickering in the moonlight.

"I don't want to be queuing up to enter the Incense Offering Pool right after swallowing it. By then, even the Ghost King would have to ask me, 'Isn't a position in the Underworld good enough for you?'"

The crowd erupted in a chorus of boos.

Someone muttered, "It's a good thing it's a semi-finished product. If it were a real seventh-tier immortal pill, we'd probably have to ask His Majesty and the Goddess of Desire to carry the Soul-Suppressing Bell to suppress it."

"That's an understatement!"

Yin Shu scoffed. "The Soul-Suppressing Bells in the warehouse would shake until three of them snapped! We just finished exhausting a Demi-God Realm expert to death; if another seventh-tier pill spirit came along..."

He snapped his fingers. "I, this Centurion, would just lie flat and reincarnate. I'd be reborn as a little human girl, and maybe I'd even be able to latch onto Lord You Yu's thigh."

"You?"

Yin Hong laughed until his fangs rattled. "The speed at which a pill spirit escapes? Even the four Underworld Marshals would trip over themselves chasing it. Would it even be your turn to reincarnate???"

Before he could finish speaking, the dragon transformation pill inside the Soul-Suppressing Array shook violently. The black spots formed by the pill toxin actually mimicked a vivid "eye-roll."

This startled everyone into a fit of laughter, and even the ghost fire in the cracks of the stone slabs danced wildly along with them.

Hei Jing lowered his head, stroking his blood-stained suit, his fingertips pausing on his chest for a moment.

"Brother, the revenge has been taken."

Black Impermanence gazed at the bright moon, a gentle curve forming at the corner of his mouth. "It's a pity that even your soul was devoured, otherwise I would definitely have taken you to Yin Street to drink to our heart's content."

"Work's done, work's done! Big Sister is treating everyone to grilled gu insects!"

Niu Mengmeng strode over, carrying a steel fork. The cinnabar rope on her ponytail brushed against her cheek, glowing a vibrant red in the moonlight.

Ma Sanqiang immediately bristled. "Last time we had a team-building event, we ate what you recommended, and Yun Song and the others squatted in the latrine for three days."

"That's because their human constitutions are too weak." Niu Mengmeng retorted, hands on her hips. "This time, I guarantee you'll eat until you swallow your own tongues."

"Could it be that you took advertisement money again?" Ma Sanqiang narrowed his eyes, extremely suspicious.

"The three times you recommended the 'Tip of the Tongue: Ghost Market' series, it caused quite a few Yin soldier brothers to end up needing to see Ling Xi."

"Third Brother, this is slander! This Old Lady can sue you for defamation." Niu Mengmeng was so angry her face turned red, and she pointed at Ma Mian's nose in accusation.

The two of them bickered back and forth...

Bai Xuan gripped the array disk tightly, spiritual scripts glowing on his palm. "Let's search for Jiao Xiao's tracks first, then we can have our team-building meal."

He drew his fingers across the Soul-Suppressing Array, collecting the wilted dragon transformation pill into a jade bottle.

The pill inside curled into a ball, like a bristling house cat. "Jiao Xiao's nature is treacherous, and the Yin Flood Dragon Clan's 'Dragon Transformation' plan has been in the works for a thousand years... We must find out the truth about why she exited halfway through."

The wind swept the bone dust from the altar, brushing past everyone's feet. In the distance, the laughter and chatter of the Yin soldiers mingled with the moonlight.

Hei Jing looked at Bai Xuan's serious profile and suddenly felt that the smell of blood on his shoulders had faded a bit.

On this Yao Zui Cliff, there was finally the atmosphere of life belonging to the Underworld; although this "life" was ignited by the laughter of the ghost officials and the ghostly light of the pills.

Niu Mengmeng stopped bickering and patted Bai Xuan's right shoulder with satisfaction. "Sigh, the ghost-fire youth of the past has suddenly become sensible. Big Sister Niu is still a bit unaccustomed to it."

Bai Xuan stumbled from Niu Mengmeng's pat and looked at her with some helplessness. "Big Sister Niu, I've always been reliable, okay?"

"Besides, if I weren't reliable, the reputation of Black and White Impermanence would have been ruined by Ah Jing and me."

Hei Jing was suddenly looked down upon and felt a bit unhappy.

"Brother Xuan, am I very unreliable?"

Bai Xuan nodded seriously. "Only a little bit now."

"Waaah, I'm so sad."

Hei Jing made a mournful face, pinching the torn corner of his suit with his fingertips, deliberately putting on a pitiful expression.

Ma Mian "slapped" Hei Jing's head, interrupting his antics.

"Alright, the Secretary-General has already brought people to block the outside of Yao Zui Cliff."

He shook the phone in his hand, where the work group messages on the screen were still refreshing.

"Little Bai, just rest assured and join us for the team-building. This time it's permitted by the Secretary-General, and it's even being reimbursed by public funds."

Niu Mengmeng's eyes lit up. She shouldered her steel fork, her ponytail swinging in a cheerful arc.

"Public funds? That's great! I'll contact the insect banquet boss right now to add more dishes! Stuff like exploding centipedes and flame scorpions—give me ten portions of each!"

"Wait!"

Bai Xuan pressed his hand against the hot Underworld Marshal token at his waist, ripples appearing on the runes of the token.

"Yin energy fluctuation—thirty miles to the southeast, there is the aura of a fourth-tier Red-Clothed Ghost."

As soon as he finished speaking, Bai Xuan subconsciously pulled out his Soul-Snatching Chain.

"It's just on the way."

Niu Mengmeng's lips curled into an arc, gloating.

"Catching the fish that slipped through the net, then going to eat the grilled insect banquet—that's what I call the perfect off-work routine for a Underworld wage earner."

...

Ling Qi sat upright in front of Shang Wan Ning's golden phoenix carriage, her plain-colored cheongsam tightening around her slender waist.

The communication jade bracelet on her wrist shone with a cold light.

Behind her, the thirty-six lanterns of the honor guard lit up one by one.

The ghost fire flickered inside the glass shades, illuminating "Zhangwei Mountain" in shades of blue and purple.

"Commander Du, still no sign of Jiao Xiao?"

Ling Qi tapped the spiritual scripts on the gilded armrest, her gaze sweeping over a dead pear-soul tree on the edge of the mountain.

The withered branches swayed in the wind, making a sound like fingernails scratching against a wooden board.

Tudor knelt on one knee with a "swish," his armor clashing with a clang.

He stiffened his neck, his face under the golden mask turning red. "Reporting to the Secretary-General, the people below have turned the area for a hundred miles upside down, and we haven't even found a single scale of the Yin Flood Dragon."

Ling Qi lowered her eyes to look at the communication jade bracelet in her hand; the tracking talisman on it had long since dimmed.

She sighed softly, her fingertips brushing the silver hairpin at her temple.

She had thought that catching a branded sixth-tier Yin Flood Dragon would be easy, but who would have expected Jiao Xiao to vanish into thin air, leaving absolutely no traces.

The Imperial Guards of the honor guard stood on both sides, their gilded armor glowing with a cold, hard light under the ghost fire.

They had spent years in the Netherworld enjoying the best (and most idle) treatment.

Their magical artifacts were almost rusting into decorations, and they had finally waited for a task to apprehend a wanted criminal.

As a result, they had been busy all night but gained nothing.

Someone whispered, "We didn't even smell a fart from the Yin Flood Dragon," causing the guards to stifle their laughter—their shoulders shaking.

Tudor heard the commotion and turned to glare behind him.

It didn't matter that he turned his head, but the Netherworld bull horns on his helmet happened to catch the tassel of a lantern.

With a "crash," the glass lantern shade shattered.

The ghost fire "poofed" onto the cloak of a nearby Yin soldier.

The soldier jumped up, patting the fire while shouting, "Commander, are you trying to smoke Jiao Xiao out?"

"Silence!" Ling Qi tapped the armrest of the carriage lightly.