Chapter 9: Opening the Gate to the Underworld

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There was no other way; under these circumstances, Jiang Zhiyue had to resort to the Great Memory Restoration Technique. She had just raised her hand and recited an incantation when the female ghost howled toward the sky, “Hahaha, you will never find that wretched woman. If I cannot have her, then no one else shall.”

“Unbelievable, unbelievable! I never expected to encounter a true Taoist practitioner like you. I was so close to succeeding, yet I was thwarted. I refuse to accept this! I refuse!”

After speaking, the woman’s body rapidly swelled.

“Not good!”

Jiang Zhiyue cursed quietly and swiftly grabbed the unfortunate Pei Heng, pulling him before her as a shield.

With a loud bang, the female ghost shattered into fragments.

Fortunately, Pei Heng was tall and sturdy enough to block all the filth from touching them.

Although these were only phantoms, having them cling to one’s body would inevitably provoke a sense of disgust.

However, the Pei family father and son were not so lucky. Both were thoroughly covered and bent over, violently retching.

“Ugh~”

They kept vomiting, not forgetting Pei’s mother who had collapsed on the sofa. Pei’s father, ignoring the grime on himself, dashed forward and held her in his arms. “Wife, wife!”

After calling her a few times and seeing no response, Pei’s father looked at Jiang Zhiyue with hopeful eyes.

“Master, I know you truly have real skill. Please save my wife. If you can save her, I will agree to anything you want!”

Jiang Zhiyue went over to examine Pei’s mother carefully, then told Pei Heng, “Bring me what I asked you to prepare before.”

“Alright.”

As expected of a wealthy family, the items Pei Heng brought were all of excellent quality, and plentiful without stinginess.

Jiang Zhiyue instructed them to carry Pei’s mother back to her usual room. Then she quickly placed a copper coin in each corner of the room to form a soul-summoning formation.

Next, she painfully took out a slender stick of incense from her backpack and murmured, “Heaven and Earth, Yin and Yang. The Three Realms and Five Elements, heed my command.”

As her words fell, the incense in her hand spontaneously ignited without flame. A wisp of faintly fragrant smoke slowly rose.

Jiang Zhiyue inserted the incense into a bowl filled with raw rice and eggs at the foot of the bed. “Soul, soul, return swiftly.”

After a long while with no response, she awkwardly scratched her nose.

This shouldn’t be happening. She had already used her finest soul-summoning incense; no living soul could resist such an invitation.

Unless...

Unless Pei’s mother’s soul wasn’t lost by its own will but was being forcibly held captive.

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Gritting her teeth, Jiang Zhiyue bit Pei Heng’s middle finger, then took out a fresh talisman and dabbed it with the fingertip blood.

She clamped the blood-stained talisman between her fingers, recited an incantation, and pressed it onto her forehead.

Immediately, a portal shrouded in swirling black-gray mist appeared in the empty space within the room. Jiang Zhiyue strode through it and vanished.

The other two in the room gasped in shock.

Beyond the portal, a faint red light appeared, and Jiang Zhiyue followed it forward.

She had not expected anyone to dare hide a living soul in the Netherworld.

No wonder that female ghost had been so confident before self-destructing, claiming they would never find Pei’s mother’s soul.

But what she didn’t know was that while others might fail, Jiang Zhiyue could open the Ghost Gate.

After some distance, the red light faded at the entrance of a cave.

Jiang Zhiyue dispelled the formation guarding the cave entrance and fearlessly stepped inside. From afar, she heard a soft female voice muttering to herself.

“Oh dear, what material is this? So soft and warm, even better than wool. Since I have nothing else to do, I wish I had some needles so I could knit my son an extra garment.”

“Oh, if only I had a little grandson too, I could knit some warm little clothes and a soft little hat.”

“I’ve been tied up here for so long, sob sob, why hasn’t Pei Shao come to rescue me? Is the ransom too high for the kidnappers?”

“It’s so dark here, I wish it were brighter. Oh no, I made a mistake in the knitting, never mind, I’ll unravel it and start over.”

Hearing the name Pei Shao, Jiang Zhiyue knew she had found the right place; that must be Pei’s father’s name.

The cave was dim, with a white humanoid figure faintly visible inside.

Only the woman’s head and arms were exposed, her hands raised in front of her eyes, straining to see.

Recognizing her face, Jiang Zhiyue felt confident.

She approached and softly said, “Madam Pei.”

The sudden voice startled the woman, but upon seeing the young girl—a pretty little girl with a hint of innocence—Madam Pei relaxed.

“Little girl, are you an accomplice of the kidnappers? Has my husband come to ransom me? Please, help me untie this; it’s choking me.”

Upon seeing the bindings enveloping Madam Pei, Jiang Zhiyue gave her a strange look.

It was the silk of a Netherworld spider.

The Netherworld spider is a giant arachnid living in the Netherworld. Its web silk is pure white, soft, and resilient.

It can even serve as a low-grade spirit-binding rope, used to restrain lesser malevolent spirits.

No wonder she couldn’t summon Pei’s mother’s soul back. If she delayed a few more days, the silk would slowly consume her soul entirely, leaving no chance even to become a wandering ghost.

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However, upon seeing what Madam Pei was holding, even the well-experienced Jiang Zhiyue was impressed.

She gave Madam Pei a thumbs-up. “Madam Pei, you’re really something.”

Madam Pei appeared even gentler than Jiang Zhiyue had imagined. She looked at the item in her hands shyly.

“I’m sorry. You tied me up here, and I was so bored.

I happened to notice one thread was broken. Since I had nothing else to do, I wanted to use this time to knit a scarf for my son.

I learned finger knitting before and didn’t expect the finished product to look quite nice—white and soft.”

Jiang Zhiyue pinched the nearly finished scarf; the texture was excellent. “Could you knit one for me too?”

Madam Pei was truly a genius!

A scarf made from Netherworld spider silk was really soft, warm, and wouldn’t attract dust—no worries about it getting dirty.

More importantly, the material naturally repelled ghostly entities.

Low-level spirits would get stuck if they touched it, so ghosts would instinctively avoid it, making it a simple yet effective talisman.

But all these were souls—why wasn’t Madam Pei’s soul trapped by the silk?

Jiang Zhiyue pondered and guessed it might be because her natural lifespan was not yet exhausted; she wasn’t truly a ghost yet.

Seeing the little girl admired her handiwork, Madam Pei felt comforted.

“I can, but could you please let me go? Has my husband come to ransom me? I beg you, release me so I can return home. I can have my husband pay more.”

Faced with the innocent Madam Pei, Jiang Zhiyue cleared her throat twice. “Ahem, I’m the person the Pei family sent to rescue you. Don’t move. I’ll remove the silk binding you, then take you home.”

After speaking, she moved her mouth slightly and pointed casually. The silk obediently fell away from Madam Pei.

Quickly gathering the silk and holding it close, she grabbed Madam Pei’s arm and invoked a talisman.

In the next instant, they were back in the room where Pei’s mother lay.

Pei’s father anxiously stared at the bed, while Pei Heng stood nearby, curiously examining her.

Opening her eyes, Madam Pei saw Pei Heng’s face right in front of hers.

“Cough, cough, little Jiang, you scared me to death.”