Song Miaozhu quickly opened the envelope and read through it.
Notice of Joint Complaint Results
Regarding your complaint that "The SEIU lured spirits with benefits, planted ghost operatives, and maliciously spied on underworld intelligence," and "The SEIU and its subordinate ghosts engaged in underpriced sales of paper crafts in Yinshui Alley, intending to disrupt Fengdu's market, monopolize paper resources, and command the spirits," the investigation has confirmed the allegations to be true.
The following disciplinary actions have been taken against involved SEIU members:
1. Masterminds of this case are guilty of severe disruption of Yin-Yang balance.
- Offense: One count of "Eighteenth-Level Major Sin"
- Penalty: 20 years of remaining lifespan forfeited
- Names: Feng Ru, Qi Tai, Fan Guolong, Yan Dexing, Chen Guping, ...
2. Direct participants who caused serious consequences are charged with disruption of Yin-Yang balance.
- Offense: One count of "Twelfth-Level Medium Sin"
- Penalties:
- Living: 10 years of lifespan forfeited
- Ghosts: All illicit gains confiscated + fine of 1,000,000 hell coins + return to Hell to purge sins
- Names: Feng Jinwen, Yu Junhao, Wang Zhijie, Yang Jingxuan, ...
3. Direct participants with limited impact are charged with minor disruption of Yin-Yang balance.
- Offense: One count of "Sixth-Level Minor Sin"
- Penalties:
- Living: 1 year of lifespan forfeited
- Ghosts: All illicit gains confiscated + fine of 100,000 hell coins + return to Hell to purge sins
- Names: Dong Peiwen, Wang Dawei, ...
4. Indirect participants are penalized based on level of involvement.
- Offense: One count of First to Third-Level Minor Sin
- Penalty: Ghosts forfeit all illicit gains + fine of 10,000 hell coins + return to Hell to purge sins
- Name: Yang Qiming, ...
Additional Enforcement:
Effective immediately, all connections between ghost residences and the mortal realm are severed. Ghosts are no longer permitted to contact the living. (Further announcement pending.)
Reward for Reporting:
You may select one of the following:
A) Three-Year Tax Exemption Certificate (valid only for Anshou Hall, Yinshui Alley)
B) Hell Coin Check – 500,000 (redeemable at Tiandi Bank)
— Fengdu City Prefectural Office
"An Eighteenth-Level Sin..." Song Miaozhu shivered.
The Palace of Yama judged good and evil on an eighteen-level scale for both virtues and sins.
A sin of the Eighteenth Level meant being sent through all eighteen layers of Hell, spending eighteen years in each, suffering the full set of tortures at each level. Only after enduring every punishment could the sin be cleansed.
"With a mark like that, unless you've got a will of steel, you're not coming out of Hell alive," said Manager Liang.
"Even if your soul starts breaking down, the Soul-Locking Pearl forces you to stay conscious. Only after you've taken every punishment does the pearl release—and your soul completely disintegrates."
Manager Huang shook his head. "Just thinking about it is terrifying."
"The Prefectural Office didn't hold back this time," Manager Liang added. "Eighteenth-Level Major Sin aside, they even docked twenty years of lifespan for some, ten years for others. That's not just symbolic. If you're older, that's enough to drop dead on the spot."
"Considering this was a matter of disturbing the balance between Yin and Yang and threatening the reincarnation cycle, the underworld has every reason to be cautious. They've been burned once before by powerful cultivators, and now they're guarding the foundation of the realm more closely than ever."
Manager Hua, still shuffling her tiles, chimed in, "I didn't think they'd actually have the nerve to try and command the underworld's ghosts. That explains it. Even in the old days, when cultivators were far more powerful, none of them dared overturn the rules of the underworld."
"But isn't lifespan supposed to be undefined?" Song Miaozhu asked, confused. "Would cutting it really lead to death?"
"That's exactly why it's dangerous," Manager Liang explained. "Lifespan is tied to your physical condition. If your body is weak, your lifespan shrinks, but if you recover, it can increase again. However, the lifespan deducted by the underworld targets your body's source essence. That kind of damage can't be reversed."
"My guess is they're trying to stop these people from escaping judgment through cultivation. Once the underworld docks your lifespan, your cultivation base will collapse. No matter how skilled you are, you need a sound body to cultivate."
"Huh..." Song Miaozhu frowned. If she remembered correctly, the names listed as masterminds were the nine senior commissioners of the SEIU.
These were all high-ranking veterans from various national departments, many of whom took up their positions because of the spiritual resurgence, often holding multiple roles.
Take Feng Ru, for example—not only a commissioner, but also the SEIU's Director General.
Still, coming up with this kind of crooked plan meant they weren't exactly innocent. Miaozhu had warned them repeatedly, but they had just dismissed her as a lucky girl with ancestral blessings. Even when working together, they never treated her as an equal.
"It's the underworld ghosts I feel bad for," Miaozhu sighed. "Many of them truly had the nation's interest at heart."
At least the main offenders were living people. For the ghosts who weren't ringleaders, the punishments were lighter.
Still, having an evil mark would likely reduce their benefits going forward. Even their annual offerings might be adjusted based on these records.
In Fengdu, the more virtue you had, the better your afterlife. Too many sins, and even if you had skills to earn hell coins, you'd lose the right to own a shop or run a business.
"What's there to feel bad about?" Manager Liang replied. "Whether human or ghost, everyone has to face the consequences of their actions. Even if they were manipulated, they still bear some responsibility."
"And they're ghosts. 'No disrupting the balance of Yin and Yang' is clearly written in the Fengdu: A Handbook for New Ghosts. If they read it and ignored it, that's willful misconduct. If they didn't read it, that's on them. It's not like they're newborn ghosts from the Infant Garden."
"Good deeds and evil acts don't cancel each other out. Virtue is rewarded. Sin is punished. That's the natural law."
"Besides, the punishments are scaled by involvement and impact. If you barely participated, you just get a First-Level Minor Sin. That's easy to resolve. Everyone makes mistakes."
"Mm." Song Miaozhu nodded.
She hadn't seen Zhao Huoyan's name on the list, but several other SEIU team leaders and members with opened Spirit Eyes were included. Most of them had only minor offenses—first or second level.
They'd probably just followed orders from the central office to form ghost teams, but progress had been slow due to a shortage of qualified members.
Taking a Six Bamboo tile from Liang Fuyi's discard pile, Miaozhu laid down her hand. "Hu. Pure one suit."
"Haha!" Manager Hua grinned at the scene. "You looked totally distracted, but your luck's still holding strong!"
"..." Liang Fuyi pulled out a large gold ingot. "Old Huang, break this for me."
"Got it!" Manager Huang eagerly rubbed his hands together and brought out a thick stack of yellow paper money.
While they were busy exchanging ghost currency, Song Miaozhu quietly claimed her reward.
She didn't even hesitate—she picked the Three-Year Tax Exemption Certificate.
Given the revenue from her ghost shop, even a 1% tax would have cost more than the 500,000 hell coin check. For her, this was by far the smarter deal.
The other shopkeepers might not have earned as much, but their taxes weren't limited to 1% either. Over three years, they would have owed more than 500,000 in taxes too.
No wonder Manager Liang and the others said the lost business was more than made up for now.