Chapter 53: Blue Sky and Yellow Springs, Prosperous Chang’an (2/3)

At that moment, Judge Zhang raised his voice in a booming announcement:

“Welcome, the esteemed Demon-Subduing True Lord Zhong Kui! This humble official, Zhang Cheng, Chief Judge of the City God Temple.The Soul-Pacifying Division has come to greet you!”

“This humble official, Wang Qin, Chief Judge of the Soul-Reaping Division, also comes to greet you!”

Su Fu: “???”

Wait a minute, wasn’t this supposed to be the Supervisor’s doing?

How did it turn into… a grand reception for Lord Zhong Kui?!

She froze for a few seconds before suddenly realizing-

She had summoned Lord Zhong Kui’s spectral formation to appear. 

So if they said the True Lord was here… well, that wasn’t entirely wrong?!

Logically, if Lord Zhong Kui descended to the mortal realm, the City God Temple would indeed send officials to welcome him.

So… she had accidentally ridden on Lord Zhong Kui’s coattails?!

Seriously, this exam’s system was way too thorough!

Wait! 

If that was the case… maybe she could take advantage of this?

As Su Fu pondered, the two processions quickly merged and began marching toward them in a grand formation.

Everyone gazed at Su Fu with reverence-no, more accurately, at the towering phantom of Zhong Kui behind her.

But Lord Zhong Kui himself showed no sign of responding.

Su Fu cleared her throat awkwardly. 

“Judges, um… this isn’t Lord Zhong Kui in person, just a divine projection. Please forgive the misunderstanding.”

Honestly, she thought it was already incredibly generous of Lord Zhong Kui not to smite them all on the spot.

“Ah, I see!” Judge Zhang’s eyes gleamed. 

“Then you must be Lord Zhong Kui’s trusted aide! Could you be… the Night Patrol God?”

With Lord Zhong Kui’s phantom standing behind her, she was undoubtedly one of his closest associates!

Ah.

He immediately launched into a string of praises, “As expected of a great one! Look at how masterfully these underworld soldiers are deployed. Such a grand spectacle is truly rare!”

While speaking, he couldn’t help but steal glances at Zhong Kui’s phantom image, nodding repeatedly: 

“Your Excellency’s majestic aura remains undiminished from the old days…”

Su Fu: “……”

She had to admit defeat before such imaginative assumptions.

Well then, she might as well… ahem, borrow this identity for a while!

“Indeed, I am the Night Patrol Deity, Su Fu.”

Night Patrol Deities were generally responsible for patrolling at night, recording people’s good and evil deeds, reporting their observations to the underworld courts, and assisting true lords like Zhong Kui in judging rewards and punishments. 

Honestly, this identity suited her quite well.

“Exactly!”

At this point, Judge Wang seemed to recall something: 

“So that’s why! Did Lord Su ask the Supervisor to seek our assistance?”

“What assistance!” Judge Zhang immediately corrected, his tone carrying a hint of displeasure, “This is an honor to help relieve Lord Zhong Kui’s burdens!”

He turned to Su Fu, “May I ask what matter Lord Su wishes to handle? Within my capabilities, I shall spare no effort!”

Judge Wang: “……”

No wonder you’re the chief judge, Old Zhang! 

This mastery of language is truly unparalleled!

Su Fu had originally been worried about how to ask the City God’s office for help, but these people had already laid out the red carpet for her.

She smiled faintly: “Here’s the situation-the City God’s office spans both the mortal and spirit realms. Might I request passage to the underworld?”

“A trivial matter!” both judges exclaimed simultaneously.

Before Su Fu could say another word, the two had already exchanged glances:

What a perfect opportunity! 

We must make an excellent impression!

“Brother Wang, what do you think…”

“Brother Zhang means…” 

“Shall we make it grand?”

“Perfectly reasonable!”

After all, this was someone esteemed by Lord Zhong Kui-the arrangements naturally couldn’t be ordinary.

Besides, Lord Zhong Kui is the chief judge of the underworld isn’t he worthy of a grand passage?

Judge Zhang waved his judge’s tablet, immediately stirring up a chilling wind.

The ground split open with a thunderous crack, revealing a bluestone-paved path extending beneath their feet, lined with ghostly blue lanterns. 

Rather than being dark, the passage faintly glowed with golden radiance.

“This is……” Lin Mingxi and Jiang Qingyu stared in astonishment.

“The Bihuo Path!” Judge Wang puffed out his chest proudly, “This is the VIP passage of the Yellow Springs personally used by Judge Cui of the Underworld Courts to receive sages!”

Su Fu: “……”

Wait, I just asked for passage, and you opened the VIP channel?

Tsk, she could only say this was truly the prestige of Lord Zhong Kui!

Beside her, Lin Mingxi and Jiang Qingyu were already excited so this was the second way to enter the underworld?!

Lin Mingxi never imagined that the newly established City God’s office under Shen Yan’s reminder would have such capabilities-entering the underworld without having to die first.

Jiang Qingyu focused on a key point: 

If this was the case, wouldn’t their journey no longer count as smuggling into the underworld?

They might not even need to participate in the survival battle, since they were entering through official channels.

Hiss… watching others fight for survival while they spectated from the sidelines?

“Boss!” Lin Mingxi asked eagerly, “Shall we enter now?”

Had it been earlier, Su Fu would have nodded without hesitation.

But now she pondered thoughtfully-

Chang’an, the City God’s office, and the underworld-three realms interconnected and closely linked.

If this was the case…

She already had a third brilliant path in 

mind, beyond those two options!

So she said— “No.”

Did these sneaky bastards really think they could scheme against her and just walk away unscathed?

Not a chance!

With Lord Zhong Kui backing her, she wouldn’t even need the Proctor’s help; later she could visit the underworld whenever she pleased.

Just a word from her would suffice.

Under these circumstances, she decided to remain in the mortal realm… to overturn the cases! 

And thereby influence the underworld’s judgments!

She would turn every single case of these high-level examinees upside down, exposing their crimes for all to see.

Once the public condemned them, with both spoken and written denunciations…

Wouldn’t such massive backlash force the underworld judges to deliver harsher sentences?

Moreover, Paper B was a battle royale, and they were already illegal trespassers. 

If they were further burdened with the “heinous crimes” debuff, the negative impact would be so severe she couldn’t even imagine how much the difficulty would skyrocket!

They increased her difficulty before, didn’t they?

Heh, she’d return the favor tenfold!

Thought becoming ghosts meant they were done with the mortal world?

Tsk tsk, how naive!

Thus, Su Fu turned to the two judges and gave a slight bow. 

“Thank you both for your assistance today. However, I still have some worldly matters to attend to. May I request your help again after I’ve finished here?”

“I’ve truly troubled you today.”

Judge Zhang hastily waved his hands. “No, no! You flatter us, Lady Su!”

Judge Wang quickly chimed in, “Exactly! It’s our honor to serve Lord Zhong Kui and Lady Su!”

“Since Lady Su has pressing matters, I’ll retract the Bihuo Path for now.”

“Feel free to visit the City God’s Office whenever you need it!”

“Certainly.”

“In that case, we shall take our leave.” 

Judge Zhang waved his judge’s tablet, and the Bihuo Path dissolved into golden  motes of light.

Before departing, both judges couldn’t help but glance at the spectral figure of Zhong Kui behind Su Fu, offering a respectful bow before leading the underworld soldiers away.

***

Meanwhile, the observation room was dead silent.

The teachers were dumbfounded, staring blankly at the spot where the Bihuo Path had vanished and the retreating figures of the two judges.

Wait so this newly unlocked City God’s Office map had become Su Fu’s personal express lane?

She could visit the underworld whenever she wanted?

Zhao Wujie, rarely at a loss for words, stammered, “This… this is beyond reason!”

She could just summon the City God’s Office to pave her way?

Bai Li rubbed her temples. 

“This can’t be right. What was the point of Paper A? She can enter Paper B anytime now!”

What exactly were they even testing? 

The group was utterly speechless.

Indeed, with the City God’s Office as her personal gateway, entering the underworld was just a matter of saying the word.

As for Paper B’s battle royale…

Well, that was completely pointless now. 

She’d practically cleared it without even entering. 

With the City God’s Office at her disposal, why would she even need to participate in a battle royale?

“Shen Yan,” Mo Sanchou said gravely,  “Tell me the truth-did you actually give her special treatment?”

Given the current situation, who would believe she wasn’t cheating?

Shen Yan: “……”

“Trust my professional integrity—I didn’t!”

It used an exclamation mark to emphasize its innocence.

But…

It carefully reviewed the exam settings again, checking its firewall and all configurations. 

There really was nothing amiss!

“Ahem!” Helian Yue coughed lightly. 

“Everyone, let’s not wrongfully accuse Shen Yan. The skills bestowed by the gods aren’t something it can decide.”

“After all, who could have predicted it would summon the True Lord Zhong Kui!”

Who could have guessed that Lord Zhong Kui held such a high status in this exam paper?

No one saw this coming!

Upon hearing this, Shen Yan exclaimed: 

“!!! Merciful heavens!”

“But,” Bai Li mused while resting her chin on her hand, “why hasn’t she entered yet?”

“Honestly, she’s already guaranteed to pass Paper B at this point, right?”

“I can’t shake the feeling that she’s plotting something sinister.”

Zhang Yuanhua’s words dripped with venom: 

“…How much worse could she be compared to you chiefs from the various institutes?”

The moment these words were spoken, the atmosphere in the examination room grew subtly tense.

Everyone’s eyes darted around uneasily. 

Now that they thought about it, hadn’t it been Elai, Zongzheng Ye, and Su Luan who had been bullying Su Fu all along?

In contrast, Su Fu hadn’t actually done anything heinous—she’d just been diligently solving the case.

Ahem! 

Better not bring that up.

“Hey,” Mo Sanchou suddenly pointed at the screen, “look, Elai and the others have entered!”

***

At that moment, Elai had successfully stepped through the Gates of Hell.

[Congratulations, examinee Elai. You have successfully entered Paper B.]

[Current state: Soul form.]

Hearing Shen Yan’s reminder, Elai’s expression remained unchanged.

He’d guessed right.

Given his understanding of the Education Department’s twisted question-setting habits, it was impossible for a puzzle-based exam not to mess with them!

Making them investigate the culprit behind the examinee’s case?

He didn’t even need to think-the answer was obvious. 

The final conclusion would inevitably point back to themselves.

“Pathetic trick,” he scoffed.

As for how to enter Paper B?

Since the exam had explicitly stated that Papers A and B were connected, and the examinee themselves were the culprit, the only logical outcome was the culprit’s demise.

Thus, death was the sole solution.

Moreover, given that the Chang’an scenario involved supernatural elements, their deaths weren’t truly permanent-just a shift in their state of existence.

Now, everything had unfolded exactly as he’d predicted. 

His gaze swept across the eerie Gates of Hell.

With chilling winds howling and ghostly lanterns flickering, he roughly grasped the setup of this survival game undoubtedly, vengeful spirits from the case and some underworld officials would be involved.

No challenge at all.

Just then, two new souls entered the Gates of Hell. 

He glanced over-familiar faces.

“Lord Elai!”

Zongzheng Ye greeted him cheerfully, 

“Ah, as expected of Lord Elai! Following your lead was definitely the right move!”

His bloodline ability, [Fourth Perspective], was practically a cheat tool.

From the very start, he’d locked onto the movements of Elai, the most formidable figure in the entire exam.

The moment he saw Elai’s approach to solving the puzzle, he’d grasped the key.

But the answer was so shocking that even he was taken aback.

So, in the end, he tested it on Su Fu’s case. 

Sure enough, according to that vixen’s accusation, the culprit was the examinee themselves.

From there, everything else was  straightforward.

Even Su Luan had to admit that when it came to exam experience, Elai of the Sol Family held an overwhelming advantage.