Hell Emperor.

Chapter 408 Ina
As the warrior fell, the onlookers fell into silence. They could never have imagined that things would turn out like this.

It was thought that the warrior who was ready to die would inevitably engage in a shocking battle with the mysterious strong man, but the final result was beyond everyone's expectations.

The battle did begin, but it ended as quickly as it came. In just a blink of an eye, the two were determined to be superior. The mysterious strong man remained motionless, while the warrior got his wish and rested in peace.

Seeing this, everyone looked at Ye Jie with unusual eyes, and for a while they were discussing:

"Who is that strong man? When did such a person appear in Asuka City?"

"Could the one following him be a snow girl monster? I heard that snow girls only appear in snowstorms, and I have never seen one in person..."

"No matter who he is, to die at the hands of such a strong man, I think that warrior can rest in peace even as a ghost."

Listening to everyone's discussions, Ye Jie calmed down and slowly finished his practice. The noise this time was indeed a bit louder.

However, it can be considered a good deed to fulfill the warrior's last wish and let him die heroically in the duel.

The noise caused by the battle naturally could not be hidden from the priestesses who were maintaining the city's law and order. Soon, a team of priestesses in red and white clothes came over, and the onlookers consciously made way for them. Even the most noisy people became quiet at this moment and did not say a word.

Ye Jie glanced at everyone's faces. Their attitude towards the witch was more like piety than awe. They kept quiet not because they were afraid of offending the witch and being killed, but because it was a choice from the bottom of their hearts, as if it was the only right thing to do.

Ye Jie wanted to find Bai Zaoyu, who had just gone to report, among the priestesses, but the result disappointed him. Bai Zaoyu was not among these priestesses. The leader was a woman with a solemn face and deep eyeliner. Even the other priestesses were extremely respectful to her.

"Inai priest, this samurai who disturbed the order has been killed by others. His soul is still in his body. Peace has been restored in the city."

A priestess bent down and examined the dead warrior. After the inspection, she respectfully reported to the leader.

"Another samurai seeking death? Since the date of death was revealed, this kind of thing is not uncommon."

Inai stroked his forehead, his dark eyes revealing a bit of helplessness: "I remember there is a rule in the city that if you want to commit suicide, you can go to the duel arena in the city. How can you just find someone to challenge on the street? He actually found one... Really, even if your life span is about to end, don't cause trouble for the miko casually."

As he spoke, Inai's dark eyes turned slightly, and finally landed on Ye Jie, and he couldn't help but become a little more curious: "Looking at the family emblem on the samurai, he is clearly a samurai from the Soga family, with extraordinary strength. There are really few people in the city who can be his opponent. I wonder who you are? Why did you come to Asuka Castle?"

While Ina was looking at Ye Jie, Ye Jie was also looking at her. From the information collected before, Ina was the best ghost messenger in the Witch God Temple last year, so she naturally had the strength.

Ina's identity as the best ghost messenger symbolizes the face of the entire Witch God Temple. He is enough to represent the Witch God Temple and fight against the best ghost messengers of the other nine temples.

Coincidentally, last year Ye Jie was the best ghost catcher of the same period as her, but Ye Jie represented Guangwang Temple at that time, and she represented Wushen Temple. Ye Jie also missed the ghost catcher event because of Xia Wei's matter and had never met her.

Only one year has passed, Inai is still the best ghost catcher, but Ye Jie has become the King of Hell, in charge of the underworld. The gap in status between the two is no longer comparable.

Facing Inai's question, Ye Jie also used the Snow Girl as a shield: "We came all the way from Mount Paektu just to ask for an audience with the Red Veil of the Witch God Temple."

"Paektu Mountain... that is not an easy journey. You must have overcome many difficulties to get here."

Ina seemed to be thinking about something, and even his eyes when he looked at the two of them also became different.

At this time, a shrine maiden in the team seemed to remember something and stepped forward to report quietly. After Ina understood the news, he said to the two of them:

"Not long ago, the spirit of a shrine maiden sister came to the city and reported the attack on the shrine. She said that two kind-hearted people helped her to complete her revenge and worked together with her to eliminate the evil spirit that attacked the shrine. I guess the kind-hearted people she mentioned are you."

Ye Jie nodded and admitted what he had done before.

With this relationship in place, and the fact that they helped the warrior rest in peace, the priestesses looked at Ye Jie with a little more recognition in their eyes.

As if thinking of something, Inai's eyes turned cold, and he asked again: "I still have some questions about the Hyakuhaya Fish Maiden. How did she die? When she fought with you, was she as fearless and brave as she said?"

Ye Jie was silent for a moment. He didn't know how Bai Zaoyu reported to the Witch God Temple, but he thought that he did not report truthfully.

Bai Zaoyu did not die heroically in battle, but he lost his fighting spirit first, committed suicide, and then hid in a deep well, which is how he escaped by luck.

The Yama Palaces in various places have different punishment standards for those who covet the Heavenly Merit and commit suicide. Generally speaking, they will be punished to be a beast for three lifetimes. Only those who have unlocked the administrative option of "Heavenly Merit and My Merit" like Ye Jie and claimed the Heavenly Merit as their own will not be punished for committing suicide.

From Ye Jie's observation of the Witch God Temple, it is clear that suicide is not allowed here. Even if one dies, one must die bravely and with glory. Those who commit suicide will inevitably be severely punished after death.

Because of this, Bai Zaoyu chose to conceal the truth, and at the same time did not forget to beautify himself when reporting. He had been hiding in the shrine and had obviously not participated in the battle, but he still insisted that he had fought bravely against the evil spirits and was not afraid of sacrifice. He hoped to get away with it in this way and even get praise from the Witch Temple.

Ye Jie laughed in silence, but he didn't like to do anything that hurt others, especially since Bai Zaoyu had rowed the boat for the two of them all the way here, so he said:

"She behaved worthy of the title of witch, but due to her strength, she was no match for those evil spirits. However, she still tried her best to help us and avenged those sisters who died tragically at the hands of evil spirits. If it weren't for her, we would have no way to deal with those evil spirits."

"Really? But..."

Ina frowned, looking unconvinced. Ye Jie was able to kill a powerful warrior in an instant. His strength was amazing. How could he need the help of Bai Hayao, who had just become a shrine maiden not long ago?
Thinking of the incoherent and loophole-filled report by Hyakuhaya, Ina didn't believe it at all. He had to look at the Snow Woman beside him and asked her again.

The answer given by the Snow Girl was completely different from Ye Jie's: "She committed suicide and hid in a deep well, thus avoiding the attacks of the evil spirits. When we arrived, she pointed out the direction in which the evil spirits left, and then hid in the shrine until we killed all the evil spirits and returned."

Ye Jie opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he said nothing, and for a moment his face was filled with black lines. Xue Nu's answer was like selling Bai Zao Yu and lying about the situation, which was an aggravated crime and would be punished more severely than suicide. Why did she do this?
As expected, after hearing the snow girl's answer, Inai's face immediately changed: "This is absurd... So, not only did she choose to commit suicide, she also committed the taboo of coveting heavenly merit, and now she has lied about the situation and tried to deceive the master! It seems that she must be severely punished!"

Ina called the shrine maidens beside him and whispered a few words to them. Soon, the shrine maidens returned to the shrine in a rage. Judging from their looks, it was likely that Hyakuhaya was in trouble this time.

After asking about Baizaoyu, Inai's eyes looked at Xuenv with a little more recognition, but the look he gave Ye Jie was more scrutinizing and indifferent.

"Thank you for the information. You have done so much for the Witch God Temple. You are now qualified to meet the Red Veil... But before that, there is another matter to deal with."

Ina's eyes fell on the dead samurai and he whispered, "Soul return."

The next moment, the warrior's soul left his body and crawled up from the ground, looking no different from when he was alive.

Ina asked him, "Now that you have become a ghost, do you want to reincarnate or stay and do your part with your soul?"

The warrior said without hesitation: "Of course I will stay and let me become a heart-eating soul. I only hope that there will be a witch who can inherit my life's learning."

Inai smiled and nodded: "You have committed many murders in your life, and you don't have many good deeds. Becoming a Heart-Eroding Soul can also help you gain more good deeds, allowing you to be reborn into a better family in the next life."

The warrior shook his head: "I don't want to go to a better family, I just hope that I can still be of use to the master of the family in the next life."

After ordering the witch to take the warrior's soul away, Inai said to Ye Jie and the others, "Come with me, wait in the shrine first, and you will see the red veil soon."

After saying that, her cold gaze lingered on Ye Jie for a moment, and then she left without looking back. Ye Jie didn't know what to say when he was left there. As Bai Zaoyu's lies were exposed, he was also despised by Inai.

After Inai walked away, Ye Jie finally found an opportunity to ask the Snow Girl beside him: "Why did you do this?"

"What to do?" Xue Nu was a little confused and didn't understand what Ye Jie meant at all.

"Of course, you told the Witch Temple about Bai Zaoyu. By doing this, aren't you harming her? Have you been dissatisfied with her all along?" Ye Jie was confused.

The Snow Girl shook her head: "She helped me, not only pointed me in the direction, but also paddled the boat all the way to bring me here. Of course I am not dissatisfied with her."

Even Ye Jie was confused by her. "Why did you answer like that? Why don't you just follow my words?"

The Snow Girl was still puzzled: "But the actual situation is just as I said? Or did I remember it wrong? The actual situation is not like this?"

Ye Jie was speechless for a moment, frowning and said: "The actual situation is one thing, but you don't have to tell everything truthfully, right? She has no grudge against you, can't you help her?"

Now, Xue Nu understood what Ye Jie meant: "You mean... to let me lie?"

Ye Jie coughed dryly: "I'm not lying, I just said part of it and left part of it unsaid, letting those witches understand it for themselves. Anyway, whatever I say makes sense."

The Snow Girl looked at him, her cold eyes showing some clarity: "Isn't that still a lie?"

Ye Jie had no choice but to say, "Even if it's a lie, it's a white lie. You can help her avoid punishment by telling a lie, and make her life much easier in the future. If you are not full of resentment in your heart, I really can't think of any reason for you to ruin her show."

The Snow Girl shook her head: "I don't lie, only the human heart lies."

Ye Jie paused and was stuck there for a moment.

Indeed, no matter what excuse he made, in the matter of Baizaoyu, even if it was for her own good, even if it was just out of kindness in his heart, lying was lying, and this could not be changed. As a monster, the Snow Woman did not understand the complexity of the human heart, nor did she understand the purpose of lies. She would only tell the truth.

After thinking it through, Ye Jie couldn't help but sigh: "You can understand human emotions and know what it feels like to fall in love with someone, but you don't understand the lies people tell? I thought..."

After a pause, Ye Jie did not continue. No matter what, the Snow Girls were all monsters. It was indeed too difficult to expect monsters to understand the complex human nature other than love.

On the contrary, the Snow Girl looked at Ye Jie with a puzzled look in her eyes: "Why are things so complicated? Am I wrong? But those things clearly didn't happen, how can you say that?"

Ye Jie waved his hands helplessly: "Forget it... Let's not talk about this. Speaking of which, if Bai Zaoyu hid in the wilderness and became a lonely ghost, she might be able to escape and not have to accept the punishment of the greedy man. But now, she returned to the Wushen Temple to send us here, and she can't escape the punishment. If there is a chance, let's see if we can help her."

The Snow Girl glanced at him, pondered Ye Jie's words carefully, and suddenly said:
"We avenged her fellow witches, and she sent us here. Logically, our relationship should have ended. If she had reported the truth, even if she was punished, it wouldn't have been so severe. She chose to lie, and that's why she received a more severe punishment. This was her own choice, so why do you care so much?"

Ye Jie sighed and did not answer. The evil spirits that destroyed the shrine were released by Ye Jie in order to weaken the power of the Witch God Temple.

Even though he knew that releasing the evil ghost would cause many innocent people to suffer, Ye Jie still did it. Who would have thought that now that he came here and witnessed such a tragedy with his own eyes, he still felt sorry for it.

The reason why Bai Zaoyu chose to commit suicide was somewhat related to him. For this reason, Ye Jie couldn't bear to see Bai Zaoyu being punished while he remained indifferent. If there was a chance, he would still help her.

"That witch has gone far away, let's follow her."

Seeing Inai's back completely disappear, Xue Nu hurriedly called Ye Jie and quickly followed.

(End of this chapter)