When Elder Wu first passed the forbidden technique to Joohyun, he reminded her a hundred times not to use it casually if her cultivation level was insufficient. In light of Joohyun's previous laziness in cultivation, Elder Wu was quite confident that this girl probably would never have the chance to use this forbidden technique. However, who would have thought that not long after she left the village, she had the guts to use the forbidden technique without permission?
It was too dangerous to rob people from Yanwang, so he himself dared not use it casually. When he sensed that the forbidden technique was activated in the Internet cafe, he was so angry he itched to knock the head of his troublesome granddaughter with his long stem pipe.
Two hours later, Elder Wu arrived at the airport from the Internet cafe. He figured the forbidden technique should be over, so he took out his phone and called Joohyun again.
As a result, one, two, three... there was always a busy tone on the other end of the phone.
"Wicked girl, don't tell me she really encountered a mishap?" Elder Wu frowned at a rare occasion.
Ghost messengers couldn't take away the soul of a living at will, but under special circumstances where a person interferes with the Underworld's normal process, ghost messengers could capture the soul of a living to the Underworld. They'd decided how to deal with him/her after interrogation and conviction.
In other words, if Joohyun's soul was captured by a ghost messenger, then within 24r hours, her body in the present world would fall into a coma. However, after 24 hours, the Underworld's verdict would come down. If her crime was more serious, her living soul would be stripped of its vital qi, then she would die.
Elder Wu calculated the time. It would take about two hours to fly from the airport to the capital, and he traveled to the airport from the Internet cafe for about two hours. He still had 20 hours left. He intended to go to the capital to see Joohyun's situation first. It was best if she was fine. If her soul was indeed hooked, he would have to run a trip to the Underworld. Although, he really didn't want to go to the Underworld again before his life came to an end.
"Dear passengers, flight MU2066 to Beijing is delayed due to weather conditions. We advise passengers to be patient." An airport employee announced a flight delay without warning.
"Flight delay?"
"I knew the flight would be delayed. Blame it on the bad weather today."
"So when can we fly, ah?"
"Let's wait for the thunderstorm to pass. Hell knows when it will pass."
Hearing the voices of the passengers next to him, Elder Wu got up and walked to the glass window of the lounge. He looked up at the thick clouds, estimated the duration of the thunderstorm, and then resolutely walked to the bathroom in the airport lounge.
Although Elder Wu was an exorcist and wasn't proficient at geomantic omen and divination, he could still figure out some general celestial phenomena. When observing the sky and clouds, Elder Wu estimated that the thunderstorm would take about 12 hours to pass. Even if the plane took off after 12 hours, there would be no time to bring Joohyun back even if he found her.
Elder Wu walked to the bathroom, looked for the innermost compartment, went in, and locked it.
Since he couldn't contact Joohyun, he'd better go to the Underworld first to find out what was going on. If Joohyun's soul wasn't there, then it didn't matter if he travelled to the capital later. If Joohyun's soul was there, then he'd better go early than late.
After making up his mind, Elder Wu put down the toilet lid, simply sat on it, closed his eyes, and muttered a mantra silently. When his soul was separated from his body, Elder Wu's originally sitting upright body suddenly leaned weakly against the partition of the bathroom, looking lifeless.
Elder Wu didn't dare to delay. He opened the Ghost Gate with his spiritual power and quickly went in. Although his soul wouldn't affect his body for a period of time, he was presently not at home, but at the airport. If the delay was long and ordinary people found his body, they would certainly mistakenly consider him a corpse. At that time, who knew whether they would call the police or send him to the hospital first?
From the present world into the Underworld, every ghost would first reach the River of Forgetfulness, above the river was the famous Naihe Bridge. Only after crossing the Naihe Bridge and drinking Meng Po's soup would they be eligible for reincarnation.
However, at this time, the Underworld wasn't like the legends in the world of the living. There were many wandering souls everywhere. The construction of the Underworld was also much more prosperous than that in the world of the living. Wandering souls lived in lake-view apartments on the shores of the River of Forgetfulness. If they had nothing better to do, they could go out shopping, and the lucky ones could also meet their ancestors seven or eight generations removed. Together, they would talk about the family's legends in those years.
"How come there are more houses than before?" Elder Wu came to the Underworld once 30 years ago, when there weren't so many apartments and shopping malls along the River of Forgetfulness.
"Have you bought the latest civil service reference book?"
"Yeah. We must carefully review this time. If we can't get into the civil service again, we will be reincarnated."
"Yeah, I don't want to reincarnate."
"..." Elder Wu finally knew why there was an increase in the number of houses in the Underworld.
Elder Wu went to the dead soul registry according to his memory and scanned the ghosts coming and going. When a certain propaganda reached his ears, his mouth immediately twitched.
(Dear residents of the Underworld, the Underworld has now launched a rare animal reincarnation project. Every reincarnation into a rare animal can be exchanged for a rich second generation, a peerless woman, and a peerless man in the next life. You can choose from the three gift packages.)
(If you survive long enough in the world of the living, you can get extra points if you want to take the civil service exam after death. Underworld residents, you're welcome to apply.)
"If I fail the civil service exam again this year, I will go and choose a rare animal with a short life expectancy to be reincarnated."
"I'm of the same mind. The one who was born as a Yangtze alligator before, ten points was added to his score, and he finally passed the exam."
"... " The ghosts nowadays have such unique ideas.
The so-called Dead Soul registry was actually a place where every ghost who entered the Underworld after death went to register. Dead souls should register, and so should living souls. Elder Wu had a clear plan in mind. He would first go and check if Joohyun's name had been registered. That way, he could determine if Joohyun had been brought to the Underworld. If not, then he could just turn around and head out of the Ghost Gate back. If she was in, then he'd have to find a way to see if he could save her.
If ghost messengers had brought Joohyun here, then there must be a record left. He only needed to check the records of living souls within these two hours to know if Joohyun had been captured to the Underworld.
It was just that a living soul was too conspicuous in the Underworld, so the moment Elder Wu entered, he cast a camouflage spell on himself to conceal himself. That way, he looked no different from a dead soul.
There were seven windows in the registration office. Six of them were for dead souls, and only the rightmost window was for living souls. Compared to the busy level of the other windows, this one was incredibly idle. The ghost messengers inside were lazily leaning on their chairs and playing with their cell phones.
"Hello, please, may I ask to see if my daughter is dead?" An old man ran to the window and asked.
"Elder Yang, why do you come to ask every day?" the ghost messenger replied with a tone full of helplessness.
"I think she's almost dead," Elder Yang said.
"Elder Yang, you shouldn't be too anxious. People would end up dead sooner or later."
"I'm not afraid she won't die. I'm afraid she won't die until I'm reincarnated. If that happens, there's no way I can beat her."
"I know she abused you when you were alive. This will naturally have a punishment system in the Underworld when she enters hell," the ghost messenger comforted.
"But if I don't beat her myself, I don't want to open my eyes after reincarnation ah!" Elder Yang said painfully. Who could understand the pain of dying without closing one's eyes and living without opening one's eyes?
Elder Wu observed quietly on one side for half an hour, and only then carefully walked forward.
"Hello, I want to register," Elder Wu said.
As soon as the registration officer at the living soul window looked up, Elder Wu immediately withdrew the camouflage spell on himself.
"Name." To make sure that he was a living soul, the ghost messenger then put down the phone in his hand and lazily turned on the computer.
"Zhang Hu," Elder Wu made up a random name.
"How did you enter the Underworld?" the ghost messenger asked.
"I'm a Celestial Master. I came to the Underworld to ask the Black and White Impermanence something," Elder Wu answered.
"Celestial Master? There aren't many Celestial Masters these days who can enter the Underworld with their living souls," commented the ghost messenger while tapping on the computer for a while. Then, he frowned and asked, "How come your name can't be found in the system?"
The Underworld's management of living souls was relatively lax because the reasons for the emergence of living souls in the Underworld were mainly divided into two categories. The first being the soul was mistakenly or accidentally hooked by the ghost messenger. Hence, the ghost messenger would naturally bring the living soul directly for registration. A living soul mistakenly brought into the Underworld radiated vital qi. With such a striking feature, a ghost messenger would discover it and bring the soul to register.
The second being the souls of Celestial Masters entering the Underworld. This situation was relatively rare. Moreover, the system of the Underworld had a registry for the Celestial Masterson earth. They just had to verify the name and then record it.
"It's my first time in the Underworld. How could my name be in the system?" Elder Wu feigned ignorance.
"You are here for the first time, so you don't know. Our Underworld has records of you Celestial Master in the world of the living. Whether you have been here before or not, I will have the information here." The ghost messenger said and checked again, "Your name's really not here."
"How come? Let me see," Elder Wu said and stuck his head inside.
The ghost messenger probably did not expect someone to impersonate a living soul, so without doubts, he directly turned the computer screen to him and said, "Look, your name's not here."
"Freeze!" Elder Wu took advantage of the ghost messenger's inattention and cast a freeze spell on him. The ghost messenger froze, unable to move.
Elder Wu scanned the surroundings and found that the ghost messengers in other windows were very busy, and no one noticed their side. Hence, he leaned forward, grabbed the mouse in the ghost messenger's hand and clicked to view the registration record of today's souls in the computer.
Thanks indeed to his stay in the Internet cafe for half a year. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't have known how to operate a computer. The last time he came, they obviously still recorded things in a notebook.
Elder Wu scrolled down. Today, there were only two registered souls in the entire Underworld. Also, both were brought mistakenly into the Underworld. After registration, they were sent back. Joohyun's name wasn't there.
That wicked girl wasn't captured? Did she perhaps successfully perform the forbidden technique? Elder Wu suddenly felt a sense of pride. She's indeed worthy of being my apprentice.
Elder Wu breathed a sigh of relief. Thinking that he had been in the Underworld for almost an hour, he decided to hurry back, lest he'd be discovered in the washroom. By then, the police might be alerted.
Elder Wu put the mouse back, raised his head to meet the horrified eyes of the ghost messenger he spellbound. He put the phone that the ghost messenger had just put down back into his hands, smiled and said, "My name is indeed not there. Continue playing on your phone."
Elder Wu advised and walked towards the registration office door without looking back.
The staff next to the living soul window turned his head and looked at his colleague next door. When he discovered him still playing on his phone, he bowed and continued working with envy deep inside. Who asked him to have no backing? Hence, no cushy job for him.
When Elder Wu turned to leave the registration hall, he cast another blindfold spell to conceal his vital qi and was trying to walk towards the Ghost Gate when he ran into two acquaintances head-on.
"Wu Li?" Black Impermanence recognized Elder Wu at a glance. "Lao Bai, look. Is that Wu Li?"
"..." Elder Wu thought, This is bad.
"That's right." White Impermanence swept a glance at Wu Li.
Black Impermanence handed the soul he hooked back to his sidekick and asked him to take it in for registration, and the two of them, himself, and White Impermanence, walked toward Elder Wu.
Black Impermanence looked Elder Wu up and down and asked, "You're finally dead?"
"..." I forgive you for failing to see through this old chap's recently researched camouflage technique.
"Have you registered?" White Impermanence asked and moved to go through his phone.
"Not yet." Elder Wu promptly spoke to stop him.
White Impermanence stopped from looking up his phone and stared at Wu Li in confusion.
"You guys also know that I... was... ahahaha... young and frivolous in my youth." Wu Li laughed dryly.
"You now know how to be afraid, that's why I told you to be restrained a bit from the very start," Black Impermanence quipped, "People will all die. They must pay the price for everything they did before death after they die."
"Aren't I regretting them now? That's why I'm wandering at the door." Wu Li was full of remorse.
"You can't put it off forever." White Impermanence said, "This is the Underworld. If you become an unregistered resident, then you really can only be a wandering ghost for life."
"Let me delay it for now." Elder Wu was between tears and laughter.
"Look at you." Black Impermanence patted Elder Wu's shoulder and said, "We brothers were just about to go for a drink after work, so we'll buy you a drink first and send you to the registry later."
"..." Frankly, I don't want to go. In fact, I can't go.
No matter how reluctant Elder Wu was deep inside, he was eventually dragged to the bar by the Black and White Impermanence.
"For the things you have committed before, you will definitely be sent to serve your sentence in the tenth level of hell when you are done registering. Come on, for the sake of our acquaintance, let's have enough to drink today." Black Impermanence drinks (????)?? Geez.
"D-Don't be so polite."
"Lao Bai, I'll buy the drinks. You'll sing later." Black Impermanence addressed White Impermanence on the side.
"Deal!" White Impermanence nodded without objections.
And also sing!!! Bloody hell...Will I be in the crematorium or in the hospital once I wake up?
Early the next morning.
The airport cleaning staff was doing her rounds, she found that the last toilet cubicle door was locked. She knocked on the door, but no one answered. Feeling doubtful, she lay on the ground to take a peek inside and found a pair of human legs.
"Ahhhhhhh... dead."
So the following morning, when Mother Chen returned the phone to Joohyun, the first call Joohyun received was from a city police station.
"Hello, may I ask what your relationship with old Mr. Wu Li is?" The police comrade asked.
"He is my grandfather. Did something happen?" Joohyun was puzzled.
"Mr. Wu Li was found dead in the bathroom of the airport this morning. It's suspected that it was an accidental sudden death. We're sorry for your loss." The police comrade said in a heavy voice, "We're asking the family to come and claim the corpse as soon as possible. Only after processing the formalities can he be sent for cremation."
"Wait... Don't cremate him just yet, ah." Joohyun was startled. "My grandfather won't die so easily."
"We need the family members to go through the formalities before cremating him. However, if the family members have objections to the cause of death, we can also let the forensic medical examiner conduct an autopsy," the officer added.
"Don't, don't... He might not be dead yet." Joohyun was almost scared to tears.
Grandpa, ah, what are you up to, huh?!!
The author has something to say:
Elder Wu: This isn't how I wanted to make an appearance.