Yu Feng walked slowly to Lu Chen’s side.
“I’ve heard of it.” Lu Chen gave a slight nod, his tone assured.
In truth, the moment he saw the second body, he had already guessed that possibility. And by the time he saw the fourth, there was no need to ask—this was unmistakably the Five Hells Ascension method.
“Oh, you know about Corpse Liberation Immortals? Go on, then—tell me what you know.”
Yu Feng thought Lu Chen might be bluffing, so he decided to test him with a question.
Lu Chen replied calmly, “Corpse liberation means one can abandon the physical body and ascend to immortality, or else leave no remains behind, using only a symbolic object—like clothing, a staff, or a sword—to depart this world and rise to heaven. This process is called corpse liberation, also known as the cicada’s molt. But the method we’re seeing here is clearly not one of those.
Rather, it’s a far more sinister branch of corpse liberation.”
“Keep going!”
Seeing that Lu Chen actually knew his stuff, Yu Feng grew even more curious.
Lu Chen narrowed his eyes slightly, his expression turning grave. “This method is called the Five Hells Ascension Corpse Liberation. It requires one to pass through five great hells: the Hell of Ice, the Hell of Scorching Fire, the Hell of Gut-Drawing, the Hell of Tongue-Ripping, and the Hell of Heart-Carving. Only after enduring all five can one achieve immortality. However, clearly, only four hells have been completed so far—the ritual isn’t finished yet!”
As his words fell, a sudden silence enveloped the room.
Lu Chen instinctively turned his head, only to find that Yu Feng had somehow stepped back two or three paces and was now staring at him warily.
“What’s wrong, City Lord?” Lu Chen was taken aback.
Yu Feng’s gaze was sharp as a blade. “You little brat—where did you learn all this? Your school would never teach such things. How can you possibly know this much? And don’t tell me you read it in a book—none of the books you could have access to would contain this kind of material.”
Lu Chen: “…”
Damn it. He’d accidentally revealed too much of his knowledge.
“Uh…” Thinking fast, he said, “Alright, I admit it—the King of Hell told me.”
“The King of Hell? Why would He tell you something like that for no reason?”
Yu Feng was usually not the suspicious type, but when he got suspicious, he was downright inhuman.
Lu Chen’s head started to ache. He hadn’t expected that showing off would actually land him in hot water.
Still, this wasn’t enough to stump him.
Lu Chen flipped his palm and produced an object, handing it over. “See for yourself.”
“What’s this?”
Yu Feng looked at the dark wooden plaque in his hand, which was carved all over with dense, eerie runes.
“Wait! These characters are… inscribed in both Yin and Yang script?”
Yu Feng’s body jolted.
“City Lord, you know about Yin script and Yang script?” Now it was Lu Chen’s turn to be surprised.
“Of course I do! I’m the lord of a city—a high-ranking official of the realm, a fifth-grade Great Spirit Master! You don’t take me for some useless good-for-nothing, do you?”
“Uh… fair enough.”
“Now tell me—where did you get this?” Yu Feng pressed.
Lu Chen straightened his expression. “Do you remember the S-rank mission I took before—the Rebirth Academy? This wooden plaque is what I obtained after slaying the Red-Clothed Malevolent Spirit. But compared to this current case, the corpse liberation method at Rebirth Academy was clearly more refined.”
“How so?”
Lu Chen pointed at the dark wood in his hand. “This is called Yin Thunder Wood—a rare treasure from the Netherworld and one of the Yin embryos required to become a Ghost Immortal. It’s extremely hard to come by. Someone inscribed related incantations on it and implanted it into the Red-Clothed Malevolent Spirit, guiding it to kill people and accumulate karmic sin. Once enough had been gathered, they intended to activate the spell, take over the spirit’s body, and seize the chance to become a Ghost Immortal.
But the characters on this plaque are engraved in both Yin and Yang script.
This shows that the person wasn’t aiming simply to become a Ghost Immortal.
According to the King of Hell’s speculation… this person intended to become a Ghost Immortal while still preserving their living human body.”
“There’s actually a method for that?” Yu Feng was stunned.
“The world is vast, and wonders never cease, City Lord.” Lu Chen smiled, then glanced back at the corpses. “Still, compared to Rebirth Academy, this corpse liberation method is far cruder. Even if it succeeds, the result would be the lowest level of Ghost Immortal—or at best, just an ordinary malevolent spirit.
In terms of raw power, it might not even be stronger than a Red-Clothed Malevolent Spirit.
At most, it avoids needing to recklessly create slaughter and absorb karmic sin.
And it can maintain its own existence.
Just barely managing to hold onto a faint wisp of ‘immortal’ aura.
If you want truly advanced methods, you’d have to look at Staff Liberation and Sword Liberation.
Those are what you’d call high-tier Ghost Immortal methods…”
“Alright, alright—I asked you to explain, not to give a lecture.”
Yu Feng cut him off in time. Glancing back at the forensic examiner, he tossed the plaque back to Lu Chen. “Come on, let’s talk somewhere else.”
The two left the gloomy morgue and found an empty office at the Southern City Government Office.
Yu Feng sat down with an air of authority and casually handed Lu Chen the file folder he’d been carrying under his arm.
“I’ve already taken on the mission for you. Take a look first.”
Lu Chen opened the file.
A mission notice came into view.
“A-Rank Mission: [Jiangdu City Serial Homicide Case].
Mission Background: Multiple serial homicides have recently occurred in Jiangdu City. Initial analysis suggests they may be linked to some kind of sinister heretical ritual.
Mission Requirements: Spirit Masters who serve the Netherworld or have good relations with the City God will be given priority. Those with relevant case-solving experience may proceed directly to the various government offices in Jiangdu to accept the mission.
Completion Rewards: 3,000,000 RMB in cash, 1,300 military merits.”
An A-rank mission.
Yet the military merits were as high as 1,300 points?
That was more than twice what most A-rank missions offered.
“City Lord, I’ve always wondered—why is there such a huge gap in military merits between missions of the same rank?”
“The value of military merits is determined by two basic rules. First, it depends on how much social impact the mission has. Second, it depends on how much impact it has on the imperial court.
Take Lady Zheng’s case, for example. Who is Lady Zheng? And who is Old Master Zheng?
Even though all lives are equal in value,
the value of what a life creates can still be ranked.
Do you understand what I’m saying now?”
“I see.” Lu Chen suddenly understood.
Below the notice were detailed profiles of the victims:
—”Zhao Dongyang, male, 35, nightclub manager. Died from abdominal evisceration and gut-drawing…”
—”Chen Xueli, female, 26, office worker at a company. Cold-natured, ruthless in her methods. Died from freezing…”
—”Pei Song, male, 30, unemployed thug. Bullied others, strong-armed the market. Died from burning…”
—”Xiang Tian, male, 55, scholar. Two-faced, disrespectful to the gods. Died from tongue-ripping…”
“Still one more—someone who has committed killing and will undergo the Hell of Heart-Carving.”
Lu Chen drew in a quiet breath.
What was called a Ren Xiao—in other words, a person guilty of heinous crimes.
—This “Five Hells Ascension” corpse liberation method,
in plain terms, meant finding five such scoundrels to serve as scapegoats, letting them endure the five tribulations in one’s place, in order to achieve Ghost Immortality.
Yu Feng nodded. “From the appearance of the first victim up until today, exactly twenty-one days have passed. In that time, one person has died every six days. At first, I had no idea this was happening—it wasn’t until three days ago, when the Southern City Government Office couldn’t handle the pressure anymore and reported it up to me. It was only when I saw the bodies that I realized something was off.”
With that, he let out a cold snort. “I’ve seen this kind of corpse liberation heresy in Xiangnan before. There are always some scumbags in this world who refuse to walk the right path and instead obsess over heretical arts, hoping to prolong their lives. But they don’t realize that even if they succeed in achieving Ghost Immortality through slaughter, they’ll inevitably face divine retribution sooner or later—and end up living a life worse than a ghost’s.”
Lu Chen caught a crucial detail: “One death every six days—that means the last victim will be killed in three days?”
“Mm. If six days is truly the key interval in this ritual, then the final victim will appear three days from now, subjected to the heart-carving punishment. But here’s the problem—all four of these people died in sealed-off environments, either at home or at work. And we’ve reviewed all the surveillance footage without finding a single suspicious person. It’s as if these four were killed by something out of thin air.”
“Are you saying, City Lord, that this isn’t the work of a human, but of a ghost—or even an extremely powerful one?”
“That possibility is very high. After all, surveillance cameras these days all have the ability to detect spiritual entities. Ordinary ghosts can’t hide, and even Red-Clothed Malevolent Spirits would leave behind traces.
That’s exactly why Red-Clothed Malevolent Spirits usually appear in suburbs, abandoned hospitals, or similar places—
and almost never operate in busy downtown areas.
Of course!”
Yu Feng shifted his tone: “We also can’t rule out human involvement…”
