Chapter Sixty-Three: Difficulty

At this moment, Su Yuanbai and his companions in the Bilu Prison were unaware of what was happening outside. When they heard Xie Miu'an mention that the Sea-Stabilizing Pearl of the Canghai Dragon Palace had disappeared, everyone except Su Yuanbai was visibly shocked.

“How could anyone possibly steal the Sea-Stabilizing Pearl from the Canghai Dragon Palace right under the noses of its shrimp soldiers, crab generals, and dragon sons and grandsons?” Duan Lingqi exclaimed in astonishment.

“That pearl was forged by the Divine Emperor during his western travels, when he refined the twenty-four Devas of the Buddhist pantheon into twenty-four Sea-Stabilizing Pearls, then merged them into one and presented it to the Canghai Dragon King to anchor the seas. The pearl is as heavy as the four seas themselves and radiates five-colored light. Even if someone managed to infiltrate the dragon palace, it would be impossible to lift that pearl,” Xi Chunxue said, eyeing Xie Miu'an with suspicion.

“You know such secrets of the Divine Emperor?” Xie Miu'an looked up at Xi Chunxue, coughed lightly, and chuckled.

Xi Chunxue fell silent.

“So the Jade Hua Immortal of the Langhuan Palace’s treasure, the Mountain Granary Book Pavilion, is indeed with you,” Xie Miu'an suddenly sighed.

“How do you know that?!” Xi Chunxue gasped in shock.

But Xie Miu'an was in no hurry to answer. Instead, he released the Soul-Guiding Banner in his hand. The banner floated in the air without wind and settled at the arched gate behind him, covering it completely.

“We all thought you were dead. Even I could not see your soul and believed you had been utterly destroyed. Yet how have you come back to life? Not even a ninth-grade celestial pill, the Immortal Execution Origin Pill, could kill you? Are you truly one of those Great Golden Immortals who have survived countless tribulations?” Xie Miu'an looked at Su Yuanbai and sighed softly.

“So it was you who tried to harm the Master!” Duan Lingqi had barely shouted before, when suddenly a white tiger with golden eyes leapt from the Soul-Guiding Banner. Fierce and murderous energy swirled around it; even as an apparition, its presence was overwhelming.

“If you, wicked flood dragon, had not left the prison days ago, you would now be another spirit within my Soul-Guiding Banner. Don’t you find this golden-eyed white tiger familiar?” Xie Miu'an watched Duan Lingqi obediently close his mouth, coughed a few times, and chuckled weakly.

“Hmm? Isn’t that the…” Duan Lingqi peered closer and finally recognized the golden-eyed white tiger—it was once a prisoner of this very dungeon! That prisoner had been terrifyingly powerful; if not for the Master’s intervention, he might have become the true overlord of the Bilu Prison.

“Yes,” Xie Miu'an coughed softly.

“So you killed and refined the souls of all the prisoners here twenty years ago?” Xi Chunxue hurriedly dragged the still-unconscious Qu Hancheng away, putting distance between herself and Xie Miu'an, who had just saved Qu Hancheng but now seemed extremely dangerous.

“Did you really think that the formation powered by that black crystal in the tunnel could teleport prisoners from Sanyu Island to the Twelve Provinces? That array was only for transferring magical artifacts and weapons,” Xie Miu'an replied with a faint smile.

“Twenty years ago was an auspicious day, a rare new moon when the sun and moon were both dark—nine nines to the utmost. Add to that this wicked flood dragon, who could have yielded a divine beast soul to help me become a Yin Spirit. Unfortunately, it just happened to enter his cell instead.” Xie Miu'an looked at Su Yuanbai and sighed, but his tone held no resentment, only a trace of regret.

“Didn’t anyone else notice?” Xi Chunxue asked in confusion.

“I am a ghostly warden, acting under the orders of the Fifth Hall’s Lord Yanluo. Who could possibly restrain me? And in my hand is the Soul-Guiding Banner, a treasure to guide suffering souls to rebirth. With such background and ability, what if anyone noticed? All they could do was imitate Shen Zhongzhu and vent their anger by killing any guards associated with me,” Xie Miu'an said with a soft laugh.

“So the prison guards’ revolt and the monster prisoners’ uprising were also connected to you?” Xi Chunxue cried in alarm.

“In essence, those two events were one and the same. The Bi Zhen Prison has stood for eight hundred and ninety-two years. For every flourishing bamboo in the Stone Bamboo Mound outside, there is a corpse buried below. Yet, as the saying goes, death is not the end; the soul and spirit linger. Humans have three souls and seven spirits—so do monsters. But monsters’ souls often merge as one, and some of these monster souls managed to escape the netherworld’s grasp and found me.” Xie Miu'an covered his mouth and coughed softly, chuckling as he spoke.

“Of course, back then I was just an ordinary prison guard, though in my spare time I dabbled in ghostly arts, sometimes lucky enough to summon a little ghost for fortune. When gambling with the other guards, I would win nine times out of ten. But that was the extent of it. I could not help those monster souls escape the netherworld’s grasp. At best, I might find them a good corpse to possess and see if they could thus transcend the cycle of rebirth—though that was up to their own fate. That is how the Stone Bamboo Mound came about.”

“Wasn’t the Stone Bamboo Mound already there eight hundred years ago?” Duan Lingqi exclaimed.

“Do I look like I’ve lived that long? My own lifespan would have ended early if not for the Lord Yanluo of the Fifth Hall beneath the sea approaching me all those years ago. Otherwise, I would have died seven hundred and ninety-four years ago,” Xie Miu'an replied with a faint smile.

“Why did the Lord Yanluo of the Fifth Hall seek you out?” Xi Chunxue asked, her brow furrowed.

“I wondered that myself at first—why me? Not only did he single me out, but he also made me a netherworld agent, erased my name from the Book of Life and Death, and put me in charge of gathering souls on Sanyu Island. Of course, at the time I still needed to find somewhere to sleep, for only with my soul outside my body could I guide spirits to the underworld,” Xie Miu'an said.

Xie Miu'an coughed a few times, the shadows beneath his eyes growing darker still.

“Until later, when he gave me this Soul-Guiding Banner.”

“Are you perhaps the beloved son of that Lord Yanluo? Not only did he make you an agent, but he erased your name from the Book of Life and Death and gave you the Soul-Guiding Banner too?!” Duan Lingqi finally could not help but blurt out. Such fortune was truly unparalleled in all the world.

“There were conditions, of course,” Xie Miu'an shook his head with a slight smile.

“What conditions?” Duan Lingqi asked. What could be worth such fortune?

“To kill him,” Xie Miu'an sighed, looking at the calm-faced Su Yuanbai.

“Then why did you kill Bi’an? And you haven’t explained the revolt of the guards and the monster prisoners either. I also very much suspect you’re involved in the disappearance of the Sea-Stabilizing Pearl from the Canghai Dragon Palace. And why am I being sent to this prison?” Xi Chunxue glanced at Su Yuanbai, then fixed her gaze on Xie Miu'an.

“It wasn’t I who killed him, but you could also say it was. The guards revolted because they were already monster prisoners; the monster prisoners rioted because they were guards. I switched their souls. As for the Sea-Stabilizing Pearl, it had nothing to do with me—or perhaps everything to do with me,” Xie Miu'an replied, his expression turning calm.

“What do you mean by that?” Xi Chunxue pressed, her brow tightly knit.

“Bi’an was killed by those cultivators. They wanted to stir up chaos on Sanyu Island. Ostensibly, their goal was to complete Lingyun Tower’s mission—burning down the Warden’s Treasury. But their true aim was the Sea-Stabilizing Pearl, because the Canghai Dragon Palace lies directly beneath Sanyu Island. And it was because I lured them here with the promise of the ninth-grade Immortal Execution Origin Pill. Without the Sancang Sea Boat, any attempt by those cultivators to cross the sea would have been noticed. Killing him—him—is too difficult,” Xie Miu'an gazed at Su Yuanbai and let out a long, heavy sigh.