Ye Jie and Nan Linghe came to Guangwang Palace, walked through the hall for a while, and soon arrived in front of a solemn and dignified palace.
The palace is towering into the clouds, with stairs paved with flawless white bones. Countless bone pillars rise from the ground, each carved with mysterious and profound patterns, exuding a grand and eerie atmosphere.
Gazing at the White Bone Hall in the distance, Ye Jie felt the fragment of a page in his arms move slightly. He spoke, "This is the Document Hall, the most heavily guarded area within Guangwang Palace. Three fifth-rank judges are stationed there at all times. The Book of Life and Death, which records all merits, is kept there."
Nan Linghe was a little confused: "Book of Life and Death? Is that the piece of paper in Brother Jie's hand?"
Hearing this, Ye Jie pulled out the torn page from his bosom. "This is just a torn page from the Book of Life and Death. Every Ghost Messenger tears off a torn page before taking up their post. With it, you can quickly confirm your status, consume Yin De, and conduct various inquiries. It can be considered a very useful tool."
Nan Linghe was surprised and said, "Every ghost messenger has to tear it up? Won't they tear up the Book of Life and Death so completely that only the skin will be left?"
Ye Jie smiled. "The Book of Life and Death is a divine artifact from the Underworld. It's a book that can never be read to its end, no matter how many pages are torn off. The Book of Life and Death in the Document Hall today is only one-tenth of its full power, and its purpose is more to record the increase and decrease of good deeds. Legend has it that the Book of Life and Death in its prime was a first-class artifact in the hands of the Underworld Emperor. It's a pity that it was destroyed in the end..."
After listening to Ye Jie's introduction, Nan Linghe's eyes also showed a bit of surprise: "If the Book of Life and Death is so powerful, how could it be destroyed?"
"This has to do with the Monkey King who broke into the underworld hundreds of years ago..." Ye Jie shook his head. "There are three first-grade divine artifacts in the world of documentaries: the List of Conferred Gods in Heaven, the Book of Time in the human world, and the Book of Life and Death in the underworld. Among them, the List of Conferred Gods can make a person an immortal instantly. Whoever's name is written on it will gain the cultivation level of a Black Iron Immortal, above the fifth level of the Conferred Immortal Realm. The Book of Time can modify human history, and anything written in it will become reality. The Book of Life and Death can determine the death of all living beings, even the True Immortals in heaven."
At the end of his speech, Ye Jie couldn't help but sigh: "Ever since the Book of Life and Death was destroyed by the Monkey King, its quality has long since declined. Now it has been divided into ten parts. Each of the Ten Halls of Yama holds a part of the Book of Life and Death. There are only two first-grade divine artifacts left in the world."
Ye Jie continued, "The Book of Life and Death was once a top-tier divine artifact. Even though it's now damaged, it still holds immense spiritual power. Every new Ghost Messenger can enjoy a spiritual baptism the moment they tear off the Book of Life and Death. Taking advantage of this baptism can slightly improve your cultivation. After you tear off the remaining pages of the Book of Life and Death, be sure to keep them close to you. The remaining pages aren't just for the Ghost Messengers of the Underworld. Losing them is a serious crime."
After listening to Ye Jie's instructions, Nan Linghe nodded repeatedly. The two of them came to the document hall together. Looking around, they saw that the surrounding scrolls were piled up like mountains. Books filled with words were stacked layer by layer, almost filling up the entire road. And among the layers of books, the busy figures of fourth and fifth-level ghost officials could be seen from time to time.
In the center of the Document Hall, a line of approximately ten people formed. Like Nan Linghe, these were wandering spirits who had passed the imperial examination and were preparing to become official ghost messengers. At the front of the line, at the long table where the judge sat, was the Book of Life and Death, which recorded the changes in one's good deeds.
After letting Nan Linghe go and line up, Ye Jie waited quietly on the side.
At the front of the team, wandering souls stepped forward one by one, selecting a page from the rapidly flipping, rustling Book of Life and Death and tearing it off. The moment they tore off the torn page, a burst of spiritual light emerged and quickly merged into their bodies.
The rising auras ranged in size, some as large as a washbasin, others as small as a thumb. After the auras merged with their bodies, the wandering souls displayed varying expressions. Some beamed with joy, looking completely refreshed, while others remained sullen, showing no sign of change.
At the back of the team, Nan Linghe stuck her head out to watch. She tried hard to memorize the movements of others, hoping that nothing would go wrong when it was her turn.
At this moment, a crisp sound of footsteps sounded behind Nan Linghe, followed by a hum of pride from the crowd:
"I never thought that the people who wanted to become ghost messengers with me would be such fools. You are of no use at all except wasting my time. Why don't you get out of the way?"
The sound naturally attracted the attention of all the wandering souls, including Nan Linghe. She turned and saw a woman in green clothes standing behind her, looking arrogant and glaring at everyone with a cold gaze. The woman's eyes held an unwavering confidence, and even the mere sight of her gaze made her feel inexplicably uneasy.
"Can I stand in front of you?" The woman glanced at Nan Linghe.
"Ah, why?" Nan Linghe was puzzled.
The woman in green pulled out a test paper from her bosom. On it was written Xie Xinyu, "Perfect Pass." She said with great satisfaction, "See? I got all the answers right in the imperial examination just now. How many did you get right?"
Nan Linghe glanced down at the test paper and said, "How impressive... I only got three questions right."
"Three? You didn't just get the first three right, did you?" The woman in green laughed mockingly. "Since you're not as good as me, shouldn't you give me your place?"
"Oh, so that's how it is..." Nan Linghe nodded, quickly gave up his seat, and stood behind the woman in green.
Even Ye Jie couldn't stand it any longer. He came to Nan Linghe's side and asked helplessly, "What are you doing?"
Nan Linghe tilted his head: "I'm making room for her."
Ye Jie put his hand on his forehead and said, "Of course I know what you are doing. I am asking why you are doing it."
"Because she answered more questions correctly than me?" Nan Linghe himself didn't know why, so he could only look at Ye Jie with a confused look.
"...That doesn't seem like a good reason, does it?" Ye Jie glanced at her. "The order of the team isn't based on how many questions they answered correctly, but on first come, first served. Since you got here before her, you should stand in front of her."
"Tsk..." Listening to Ye Jie's story, even the woman in green couldn't help but turn around and glare at him. "Let me tell you why. Because I am better than everyone here. The only meaning of your existence is to delay me from becoming a formal ghost messenger."
Ye Jie raised his eyebrows. "Why do you think so? Do you think that answering all the questions correctly in the imperial examination means you are better than others?"
Hearing this, the woman in green turned her gaze towards the Book of Life and Death in the distance, her eyes filled with complacency as she spoke, "I, Xie Xinyu, am well-versed in the I Ching and divination, and skilled in mathematics and feng shui. Who among these people can compare to me? Do you think she can be as good as me?"
Xie Xinyu glanced at Nan Linghe, and seeing Nan Linghe quickly shaking his head, she smiled with satisfaction, "When you tear off the torn pages of the Book of Life and Death, you gain a spiritual power baptism that is divided into nine levels. The strongest first-level baptism is enough to allow someone at the beginning of the first level to immediately reach the peak of the first level. The weakest ninth-level baptism is not even as effective as a low-grade spirit stone."
She looked around proudly and continued, "There are so many people here. It's extremely rare for one person to receive a fifth-level baptism. And according to the hexagram, the worst case scenario is that they can get a fourth-level baptism. What qualifications do you think these people have to be ranked ahead of me?"
Listening to her bold words, the people in the front row dared not speak out. As Xie Xinyu had said, they had no idea how to select the fragments that contained the most spiritual energy. After all, from the outside, the pages of the Book of Life and Death looked the same until they were torn off. They could only rely on luck, so how could they compare to Xie Xinyu's mastery of divination?
Seeing that no one responded, Xie Xinyu showed a complacent smile. At this moment, she heard a sound next to her ear that made her smile freeze.
"You can't say that. How do you know that the spiritual baptism you received is definitely the best? I can guarantee that there must be someone who has received a better spiritual baptism than you."
It was Ye Jie who had said this. Seeing someone dare to question her, Xie Xinyu was practically furious: "Who do you think has the ability to obtain a better spiritual baptism than me? Just relying on these wandering souls who can't even figure out math? I want to see who has that ability."
Hearing this, Nan Linghe looked around curiously, wanting to see who the person Brother Jie was talking about was.
Ye Jie reached out and patted Nan Linghe's shoulder: "That person is right in front of you."
"Just her?" Xie Xinyu snorted and looked Nan Linghe up and down, obviously not taking him seriously.
"Huh? Me?" Even Nan Linghe pointed at himself and looked at Ye Jie with a puzzled look.
Ye Jie was very sure of this, and said to Xie Xinyu, "Don't you believe it? How about making a small bet? The bet is the reward of 1,000 Yin De you will get if you answer all the questions correctly in the imperial examination. How about it, are you scared?"
"Do you think I'm afraid?" Xie Xinyu accepted the bet without hesitation. "Since you're so eager to give me a thousand Yin De, I'll have no choice but to accept it. I want to see how you, with your lack of mathematical knowledge, can select the best first-class baptism from the endless pages of the Book of Life and Death!"
After she finished speaking, she stopped talking and concentrated her mind and held her breath. During the time she was waiting in line, she allowed her mind to return to its most calm state, thus creating an advantage for the next step of selecting the remaining pages.
Meanwhile, Nan Linghe was also puzzled: "Brother Jie, why did you want to give Yin De to her?"
"What?" Ye Jie was helpless and had to explain, "I'm not sending her Yin De. On the contrary, she's sending us Yin De. Even though all the pages of the Book of Life and Death feel exactly the same, the spiritual power contained in each page is vastly different. She thinks she can get the best baptism because she has mastered Zhouyi divination, and she looks down on others. It's a perfect opportunity for you to teach her a lesson."
After listening to Ye Jie's explanation, Nan Linghe also showed a look of confusion: "Brother Jie, what should I do?"
Ye Jie, however, showed a confident look: "Don't worry, remember what I told you before? You don't need to think, just follow your feelings."
Hearing this, Nan Linghe smiled happily, it turned out to be so simple.
Soon, it was Xie Xinyu's turn to step forward. Under the gaze of the fifth-level judge, she stood in front of the Book of Life and Death, and turned the pages quickly and attentively, her movements gentle and dexterous.
To the surprise of the onlookers, no matter how hard she turned the pages, she could not reach the end of the book. Her eyes stared at the pages without blinking. There was clearly nothing on the pages, but what appeared in her pupils was a different scene. Through the surface of the pages, she seemed to see the spiritual power veins flowing underneath, and at the same time she was quickly divination and prediction in her mind.
“This is the page!”
Finally, after flipping through the book for about a cup of tea, Xie Xinyu's pupils shrank, and she accurately locked onto a page that looked unremarkable and had some yellowing marks on it.
She stretched out her hand and tore it hard. As the pages separated from the Book of Life and Death, a ball of spiritual power as big as a person suddenly emerged and poured into her body.
Seeing this strange phenomenon, the wandering souls who had just received the ghost messenger's order all showed incredible expressions. The spiritual power flowing into Xie Xinyu's body was far greater than that flowing into their bodies. Compared with the thumb-sized ninth-level spiritual power baptism, it was more than a hundred times more filling. For a moment, they were discussing:
"Is that the power of Zhouyi divination? The ability to select the pages containing the most spiritual energy... I've flipped through hundreds of pages, and none of them make any difference to me. If the judge hadn't urged me on, I could have stood here and chosen for a whole day and night."
"Now I understand why she is so conceited. If I had such ability, I would definitely be even more conceited than her."
"Looking at this, it's at least a third-class baptism. The person who made the bet with her is doomed to lose. That person can't tell fortunes, so how can he surpass her?"
After absorbing the spiritual energy that emerged from the Book of Life and Death, Xie Xinyu exuded a full aura, and his soul became much more solid. His strength jumped from the initial first stage to the late first stage. He couldn't help but smile with satisfaction:
"See? This is the benefit of the third-level baptism. Every ghost messenger only has one chance to receive spiritual power baptism. Now it's your turn. I advise you to quickly prepare a thousand Yin De."
Facing Xie Xinyu's ridicule, Nan Linghe's neck shrank like a frightened bird, and he looked at Ye Jie again. After receiving Ye Jie's affirmative look, he mustered up the courage and walked towards the Book of Life and Death.
Standing in front of the Book of Life and Death, Nan Linghe wanted to imitate Xie Xinyu's movements and quickly flip through the pages. However, as soon as he picked up the Book of Life and Death, his hand slipped and he dropped it to the ground.
In the back, Ye Jie's eyes widened. Not only him, but even the fifth-rank judge overseeing the matter couldn't remain calm. Xie Xinyu laughed even louder: "What the hell are you doing? If you really can't muster up any good deeds, it's not too late to admit defeat now."
"Oh... I'm sorry..." Nan Linghe hurriedly picked up the Book of Life and Death, no longer daring to flip through it randomly, and tore off a page.
Seeing this, Xie Xinyu couldn't help but shook her head: "I thought you were so powerful that you actually wanted to challenge me, who is proficient in Zhouyi divination. Now it seems that you can only do things recklessly. You'd better quickly prepare a thousand Yin De, haha... wait..."
Before Xie Xinyu could finish her words, the scene before her eyes left her dumbfounded, and she could no longer utter a single syllable.
As Nan Linghe tore off the page, vast spiritual energy rushed out from the Book of Life and Death. The surging spiritual power turned into undulating waves, wrapping her in mist. From a distance, it seemed as if she was in a dreamland.