Yuan Weiyuan was at a loss for words.
Privately contacting someone involved when the organization's stance on the matter was still unclear... it felt like a betrayal of the trust and training he'd received from the state. But he had a family to protect, and Song Miaozhu wasn't some irredeemable criminal. When it came to his own survival, his composure faltered.
Lou Junchi, who had no military background, felt no such conflict. He stepped forward.
"Master Song, we have a personal matter we'd like to consult you about.
"Both of us were involved in the recruitment and training of ghost operatives. Before we came here, the underworld already sent us dreams as punishment.
In mine, a ghost messenger said they would show leniency since I was only following orders and didn't fully understand the consequences. I'm being marked with one count of 'Level Six Minor Evil' and docked one year of lifespan. I want to ask, what does one count of 'Level Six Minor Evil' actually mean?"
Lou Junchi broke the ice, and Yuan Weiyuan finally overcame his own inner hesitation.
"The messenger in my dream told me that the ghosts in our team—because they knowingly committed wrongdoing—received an even heavier sentence. They were given 'Level Twelve Major Evil,' had their ill-gotten gains confiscated, and were fined one million hell coins. What does Level Twelve Major Evil entail?"
Gone was the arrogance they had shown earlier. Now they just looked defeated.
Song Miaozhu let out a breath. She was relieved they came with honest questions instead of threats, though her expression remained cold.
"Come in. I'll explain everything at once, so I don't have to write up the underworld's announcement later."
The two men barely sat down before Song Miaozhu began.
"A person marked with Level Six Minor Evil will, after death, be sent to levels one through six of the underworld. They'll have to endure punishment in each layer for six full years. Once in Fengdu City, their annual spiritual stipend will be lowered by six tiers.
Level Twelve Major Evil means punishment in the first twelve layers of the underworld, twelve years each. Their stipend will drop by twelve tiers.
The ghosts in your team are likely already in hell receiving their punishment.
Spiritual stipends in Fengdu are ranked from one to eighteen. Only those with eighteen tiers of virtuous deeds receive the highest allowance. If any of your ghosts had a stipend rank of twelve or higher before punishment, they might still have a shot at reincarnation after serving their sentence.
But if not, they'll come out of hell with zero or even negative rank. Without another source of hell coins to extend their spirit lifespan, they'll vanish into oblivion before ever getting a second life.
As for what happens in the eighteen layers of hell—you can look it up. I haven't been there myself, but the ghosts who went through it say it's worse than anything the books describe."
Lou Junchi pulled out his phone, searching "18 levels of hell." Tongue-ripping pliers. Finger-severing scissors. Barefoot climbs up iron trees. Boiling steam baths. Hugging flaming bronze pillars...
His hands trembled.
Six years per torture. And the accounts were supposedly milder than the real deal.
Yuan Weiyuan held it together better, but only slightly.
"Can they really survive that kind of punishment?"
"Ghosts aren't the same as the living. They've already died once. These punishments don't destroy the soul directly, but the pain can be intense. If they lose too much spiritual strength during the process, they can still be scattered."
"But don't worry—" Her smile was razor-thin. "—the underworld's prepared. Even if you try to 'suicide' mid-torture, the Soul-Anchoring Bead will force you to endure every second.
Afterward? Disperse if you like.
Even scattered souls don't go to waste. New spirits will be born from that energy eventually—just not as the same person."
Yuan Weiyuan & Lou Junchi: "..."
How is that reassuring?!
"No redemption?" Lou Junchi pressed. "If sins are recorded, so must virtues be. Can lifelong good deeds offset this?"
"Your ghost recruits had virtue too. Did it help? No.
Rewards for good, punishments for evil—no offsets.
Extra virtue only softens post-hell stipend cuts, making Fengdu slightly less miserable."
Song Miaozhu noticed how both men paled as she spoke. She sighed quietly.
In truth, most of the people and ghosts involved weren't the masterminds behind it. They were dragged into it. But the underworld doesn't care if you didn't know better. It punished them all severely, with little mercy, because the matter was too serious.
After a long silence, Lou Junchi suddenly asked, "You tried to stop the SEIU from doing this, didn't you?"
"Lou!" Yuan Weiyuan warned.
"Why shouldn't I ask? I just followed orders—now I'm branded a criminal!
Didn't you see? The big shots from headquarters are all in the hospital. They're worried about saving their own skins. If they won't give us an explanation, then I'll get one myself."
Yuan Weiyuan sighed—the same thorn pricked his conscience.
Lou Junchi turned to Song Miaozhu. "Master Song, tell us the truth."
"Of course I warned them. Why do you think Lingcheng's team isn't on the list?
Back when the SEIU was launching its contribution point marketplace, they wanted me to give them the exclusive rights to custom Fourth-Rank Paper Clothes.
The Paper Clothes I make are nothing like the ones they have in the shop now. Mine are priceless commodities in the underworld.
But their 'offer' was insulting. I refused.
Then they floated their theory: that the underworld's ruler might be a true immortal. They wanted my paper clothes as bargaining chips to probe hell's secrets.
I told them clearly—the underworld isn't ours to spy on, this is suicidal.
The underworld severed its connection to the living world after the last cultivation era. It was a deliberate act to stop cultivators from disturbing the balance of life and death. This kind of plan would harm not only themselves, but also the ghosts running errands in the underworld.
That's why I completely backed off after that.
But the Lingcheng SEIU chief couldn't override headquarters. They went to Master Zhang and Master Geng, who made bootleg Fourth-Rank Paper Clothes. They used them to bait ghosts into joining their network, promising access to contribution point rewards.
The ghosts then resold the paper goods in the underworld for profit. That stirred up a huge mess. Master Zhang and Master Geng? Both ended up with a 'Level Twelve Moderate Evil' on their records."
Song Miaozhu didn't hold back. She told them the entire story and read out the full list of punishments from the official underworld announcement.
She might have been one of the people who reported the issue, but she didn't believe that made her responsible for the others' fates.
If they hadn't been reported early, and the plan had gone even further, the punishment would have been worse. More people would have been dragged down with them.