I am a fairy in Journey to the West

Chapter 405 The underworld is ridiculed
Whether it's rescuing the herb gatherer from the wild boar demon or eliminating the filthy ghost that plagues the people, these are not the duties of a city god.

Because both the herb gatherer and the commoner had offered incense to the City God, Pei Jue felt obligated to help them out of this good karma.

However, the task of 'collecting wandering souls, capturing wild ghosts, and passing them on to the underworld officials' is entirely the job of a city god.

According to the laws of the underworld, the City God is required to periodically search for the wandering ghosts under his jurisdiction and transfer them to the various departments of the underworld.

The Golden Wheel Kingdom has been in great chaos for the past six months. Puyu City is also very close to Nissa City, the former capital of the Piyan Kingdom, so there are naturally many lonely ghosts wandering in the mortal world.

Therefore, when Pei Jue heard Zhuang Yan say that this was the duty of a city god, he immediately perked up and captured more than thirty wandering ghosts in just three days.

However, she had neither a shrine to the underworld nor any subordinate underworld deities, so she had nowhere to put these wandering ghosts she captured, and could only keep them all in her own secluded dwelling.

On the fourth day, seeing that the hermitage was filled with wandering ghosts, Pei Jue quickly found Zhuang Yan and asked, "What should I do if my hermitage is full?"

Zhuang Yan thought for a moment and said, "There are two ways."

Upon hearing this, Pei Jue quickly asked, "Tell me quickly."

Zhuang Yan said, "The first method is: all the underworld spirits are equipped with ghost-capturing tools. You can go to the underworld and ask for one."

"The second way is to find a cultivator who is skilled in crafting artifacts and ask him to craft a magic artifact for you to capture ghosts."

After saying that, Zhuang Yan looked at Pei Jue and said, "It's up to you to choose whichever you want."

"Is there even a question?" Pei Jue patted his chest and said, "I am the City God of Puyu City, appointed by the Golden Wheel King. Of course, I would go to the Underworld to obtain a magic weapon for capturing ghosts."

Pei Jue said to Zhuang Yan, "I will go to the underworld to obtain a magical artifact."

After saying that, Pei Jue flew out of the City God Temple, but soon returned. "Um... I have a question, do you know how to get to the Underworld?" Pei Jue scratched his head after saying that.

Zhuang Yan pointed to the ground and said, "Let's ask the local earth god for help."

Pei Jue suddenly realized what was going on, turned around and left again. Before long, Pei Jue arrived at the 'Shande Temple' in Puyu City. Outside the Guanyin Hall of Shande Temple, there was a small earth god temple.

Pei Jue used his magic to summon the Earth God.

The Earth God, seeing that it was a demon who had summoned him, asked with his hands behind his back, "Who are you? What do you want with me?"

Looking at the eighth-rank celestial official robes on the land god before him, as well as the divine light emanating from him and the divine power revealed in his every move, Pei Jue felt extremely envious.

She bowed respectfully and said with a smile, "Lord Earth, I am the City God of this city. I wish to go to the Underworld to handle some business. Please open the door for me."

Upon hearing this, the Earth God was taken aback and immediately said, "Impossible! The City God is a fifth-rank deity. You still have demonic energy and no divine light bestowed by the Jade Tablet of the Celestial Officials. Why would you impersonate the City God?"

Upon hearing this, Pei Jue hurriedly explained, "I am not impersonating anyone; I am indeed the City God personally appointed by the Golden Wheel King."

The local earth god understood. So this was a god who had not received divine mandate. Thinking of this, the earth god sneered and said sarcastically, "Since you are the City God, you naturally have the seal of the underworld. Why do you need to ask me, an earth god, for help to go to the underworld?"

Pei Jue did not detect the sarcasm in the Earth God's words, but simply cupped his hands and said, "I came here precisely to request these things, and I would be extremely grateful if the Earth God could help me."

The Earth God's gaze shifted, and a troubled expression appeared on his face. "Alas, this is a bit of a problem. If I open the gate to the underworld for you, I'll have to speak with those above."

Upon hearing this, Pei Jue's heart stirred. These words sounded very familiar. Being a clever person, she immediately took out five purple coins from her sleeve and handed them over, saying, "I certainly won't let you, the Earth God, work in vain."

The Earth God took the five purple coins, sighed again, and said, "Alright, but I can only send you in, not bring you out. You'll have to figure it out yourself."

Upon hearing this, Pei Jue's heart sank. He reluctantly took out five purple coins and handed them over, saying, "Thank you for your hard work, Earth God."

The Earth God then smiled and said, "This gate to the underworld will only be open for three hours. You must come out within three hours, or you will have to stay in the underworld."

"Good, good, good." Pei Jue was overjoyed and said, "Three hours is enough. Thank you, Earth God."

Afterwards, the Earth God used his divine power to open a gate to the underworld for Pei Jue, which led directly to the Yellow Springs. Pei Jue walked straight in and his figure quickly disappeared into a cloud of mist.

Upon entering the Road to the Underworld, an extremely chilling sensation instantly enveloped her entire body. At the same time, Pei Jue felt an immense, invisible pressure descending from above, completely suppressing her soul.

Fortunately, she was a wild goddess after all, and there were incense offerings from the human world. So at this moment, a spiritual light instantly shone on her body to protect her, making her feel much more relaxed.

The source of this protective aura is the power of incense offerings from the human world.

"Hey, who's over there? How dare you trespass into the underworld?" A sharp shout suddenly rang out, making Pei Jue tremble. She quickly looked up and saw a burly man with a bull's head and a human body carrying an axe, leading a squad of fully armored underworld soldiers.

Pei Jue stood there, extremely nervous. When the minotaur came into view, Pei Jue immediately cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "I am the City God of Puyu City, Jinlun Kingdom, Xiniu Hezhou. Greetings, fellow Daoist."

"The City God?" Ox-Head looked surprised upon hearing this, then looked at Pei Jue more closely before suddenly shouting angrily, "How dare you, a mere mountain spirit and wild god, not only trespass into the underworld but also dare to impersonate the City God?! Come here, quickly subdue him for me."

The surrounding ghostly soldiers immediately acknowledged the order and swarmed towards Pei Jue, their ghostly weapons slashing at him.

Pei Jue was shocked, but he had no choice but to raise his black iron spear to resist and resist the attack of the Yin soldiers.

Pei Jue, relying on his two hundred years of martial arts cultivation, managed to hold off the attack of more than thirty Yin soldiers, but those Yin soldiers kept coming up in waves.

Pei Jue became increasingly alarmed as she fought; the armor on these Yin soldiers was extremely hard, and even her Xuan Tie spear could not break through it.

Seeing that his ghostly soldiers were unable to subdue Pei Jue, Niu Tou shouted, "Step back!" The ghostly soldiers immediately obeyed and retreated one step in unison.

Then, the bull-headed man, wielding a giant axe, took two steps forward and, with a loud shout, swung the axe at Pei Jue.

Pei Jue sensed the sharp edge of the blade, raised his black iron spear to defend himself, and said solemnly, "Fellow Daoist, I am indeed the City God of Puyu City, personally appointed by the King of Jinlun Kingdom."

Ox-Head roared, "I am Ox-Head, the Underworld Marshal, a seventh-rank deity of the Underworld. Who are you to be my fellow Daoist?! You have not received a decree from Heaven, so you are just a wild god. Enough talk, I'm about to capture you to claim credit!"

As he spoke, the giant axe swung down, colliding with the black iron spear. A loud clang of metal rang out, followed by Pei Jue's cry of pain as his tiger's mouth split open, blood splattering everywhere, and the black iron spear in his hand flew out immediately.

The giant axe in the bull's head continued its downward slash with undiminished force, heading straight for Pei Jue.

Just as Pei Jue was about to perish under the bull-headed axe, a divine voice rang out: "Stop!"

The bull's giant axe stopped just half an inch from Pei Jue's head, and even the sweat on Pei Jue's forehead seeped onto the axe blade.

The next moment, the bull suddenly retracted its giant axe and looked back.

After the bull-headed creature retracted its giant axe, Pei Jue also looked over, wanting to see who had saved him.

Pei Jue's gaze fell upon a large group of people marching towards them.

It was a procession guarded by five hundred ghost soldiers, led by two fierce-looking ghost kings in full armor and with precious swords at their waists, who led a group of ghost soldiers to clear the way.

Behind the two ghost kings were six ghost soldiers carrying flags. The six flags were inscribed with the following words: 'Silence', 'Avoidance', 'Head of the Six Cases', 'Judge of the Underworld Law Division', 'In charge of the Book of Life and Death and the Soul-Catching Pen', and 'Fifth-Rank Righteous God Cui Gong, whose given name is Jue'.

Upon seeing these divine banners, even Pei Jue knew who had arrived: it was none other than Judge Cui, the top official of the Six Cases of the Underworld.

Looking over there, she saw a majestic and solemn deity dressed in the robes of a fifth-rank celestial official, slowly approaching from the center of the five hundred Yin soldiers guarding him, riding a black celestial horse.

The entourage then stopped in the middle of the road, and Ox-Head and the thirty-odd ghost soldiers immediately stepped forward to pay their respects and report on Pei Jue's matter.

At this moment, Pei Jue saw that Judge Cui's gaze had fallen on her, and her heart immediately became extremely nervous.

Before long, Niu Tou returned and went straight to Pei Jue, saying, "Lord Cui summons you to come forward."

Upon hearing this, Pei Jue quickly suppressed his nervousness and strode forward with Niu Tou. The Yin soldiers immediately parted to make way for him.

When Pei Jue arrived before Judge Cui, he didn't dare to look up. He simply cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "Pei Jue, the City God of Puyu City, pays his respects to Judge Cui."

Judge Cui glanced at Pei Jue, then said indifferently, "You're the hairy god Pu Yucheng who was just appointed by the King of Men?"

Pei Jue was overjoyed upon hearing this, not expecting that his name had already reached the underworld. He said, "I never imagined that Lord Cui would know my name. I am truly honored."

Judge Cui smiled faintly and said, "I only investigated your background because I saw that you had some offerings. Although you are a minor deity appointed by the King of Man, you have not received heavenly blessings and are not a true god. What brings you to trespass into the underworld?"

Pei Jue then told Judge Cui her purpose: this time she wanted not only a magical artifact to collect ghosts, but also the right to freely enter and leave the underworld.

Upon hearing Pei Jue's words, Judge Cui laughed. After laughing, he said calmly to Pei Jue, "I have already said that you have not received the Heavenly Blessing and are not a true god. The Underworld will not give you either of these two things. This time, your crime of trespassing into the Underworld will not be investigated. Go back quickly and do not repeat this mistake in the future, otherwise the laws of the Underworld will be merciless!"

As Judge Cui finished speaking, a chilling aura emanated from his words, sending a shiver down Pei Jue's spine.

Pei Jue was terrified, but still somewhat unwilling, and said, "Does that mean the City God appointed by the Human King isn't a City God?"

A hint of disdain flashed in Judge Cui's indifferent eyes, and Pei Jue felt a chill in her heart. Although Judge Cui did not say a word, she had already received a response.

Finally, Pei Jue tried to persuade him one last time, "Then what should be done with the wandering ghosts and spirits I've collected?"

Judge Cui said calmly, "At midnight on the fifteenth of each month, the underworld will send soul-collecting messengers to the City God Temple in Puyu City. At that time, you only need to hand over those lonely ghosts to the messengers."

After saying that, Judge Cui waved his hand and said, "Kick this hairy god out of the underworld."

Before Pei Jue could react, a group of Yin soldiers immediately stepped forward and used their killing sticks to lift her up. Then, a fierce-looking ghost king stepped forward and flicked his Yang-driving whip.

With a 'snap', Pei Jue felt a sharp pain all over his body, and then everything went black before his eyes, and he could see nothing at all.

When Pei Jue could see everything clearly again, he found himself in front of the local earth god temple outside the Guanyin Hall of Shande Temple in Puyu City.

She rolled up her sleeves and saw that there were bloody whip marks on both arms and her chest, causing excruciating pain.

She stood up with a grimace and looked toward the Yin Passage Gate opened by the Earth God. She saw the Yin Mist rapidly dissipating, vanishing completely in the blink of an eye.

Pei Jue was extremely disappointed. He never expected that the divine position he had worked so hard to obtain was nothing in front of those true gods.

Pei Jue returned to the City God Temple with a feeling of extreme disappointment, where Zhuang Yan was leaning against the temple door, quietly watching her.

In the instant his eyes met Zhuang Yan's, many thoughts flashed through Pei Jue's mind, including the idea of ​​giving up on becoming a god.

However, after only a few breaths, Pei Jue became determined again. She composed herself, calmed her emotions, regained her confidence, and then laughed heartily at Zhuang Yan, saying, "It's alright, it's alright, they will eventually accept me!"

But Zhuang Yan clearly didn't say anything.

(End of this chapter)