Although the City God Temple was magnificent, it was, after all, just a temple on Temple Administration Lane, with a limited area. However, the area it occupied in the underworld was not similarly limited in size.

In fact, in addition to the administrative areas of the twenty-four divisions, the underworld also had various prison buildings and residential areas for the dead.

This strange marriage case was extremely rare in the underworld. After the City God passed his verdict, the Land God and Ji Yuan, accompanied by two judges from the underworld, sent the white deer girl to Zhou Niansheng’s temporary residence.

A temporary residence¹ did not mean that a residence was automatically arranged in the underworld; it was determined by the deceased’s grave in the world of the living and the objects burned for them by their family. The size and integrity of the grave, along with paper men and paper money, would affect the deceased’s underworld residence. Moreover, the underworld residence connected, to a certain extent, to the grave and memorial tablets in the home, and thus the spirit’s afterlife could enjoy sacrifices from future generations.

Zhou Niansheng’s body had not yet been buried, so there was naturally no underworld residence; thus, he was placed in the main hall of the Rewards Division.

The exciting scene of the husband and wife reuniting attracted many onlookers, including ghost officials and messengers. The judge then read out the City God’s verdict, and finalized the outcome of this whole matter. Not everyone was truly happy, but it could be considered a successful outcome.

When Ji Yuan and the Land God walked out of the underworld, a large white deer, seemingly asleep, floated along beside them.

As they looked to the east, they noticed that the sky had lightened, and it was almost dawn. Their time spent in the underworld seemed almost like a dream.

“Those who can become ghosts or gods are all people with noble morals. I have worked with the City God of the Capital Prefecture for nearly two hundred years, and this is the first time I have seen this side of him!”

The Land God and Ji Yuan walked together down the quietest and darkest streets of the Capital Province in this time before the dawn, with awe and inspiration in their voices.

Ji Yuan laughed.

“Why else would there be the saying, ‘if one has great virtue, one will be admired by ghosts and gods’?² Is it not because ghosts and gods value virtue, and are virtuous themselves?”

“Hahaha… Mr. Ji is right.”

With the conclusion of this incident, the relationship between Ji Yuan and the Land God had become very harmonious, particularly during the period of time in the underworld, when the two of them had forged a good tacit understanding of each other. They could be considered to have become friends, and were no longer standing on ceremony when they spoke.

As he walked out of the temple with the Land God, Ji Yuan could hear slight noises coming from in side. This was presumably the priests and temple stewards who lived in the temple and were getting ready to rise.

The crowing of roosters could faintly be heard throughout the city.

Ji Yuan bowed once more to the Land God to express his gratitude.

“Thank you for your help today, Lord Land God. I must also trouble the Land God to take care of the white deer’s body, so that Bai Ruo can return to her body regularly and stabilize it so she doesn’t die.”

The Land God tapped the ground with his rattan cane, and the white deer’s body immediately sank into the earth and disappeared. Then, he returned Ji Yuan’s bow.

“Mr. Ji, don’t worry. I will definitely not cut off your disciple’s foundation. A woman like Bai Ruo is destined to achieve enlightenment. It would be interesting to serve as her protector for a while!”

This is something that had been discussed in the underworld previously. Ji Yuan couldn’t stay in the capital all the time, and it was not convenient for him to carry such a large white deer’s body around with him. It would be even more inappropriate to keep it in the underworld. The most suitable place for it would be the Land God’s residence, where she could be looked after by the Land God himself.

From the perspective of the Land God, although the immortal deer was Ji Yuan’s mount, she was already partway to being his apprentice, and what Ji Yuan had done for her was truly fulfilling his responsibility as her master. Thus, he referred to the white deer as Ji Yuan’s “disciple.”

“In that case, I will take my leave first!”

“Goodbye, Mr. Ji. You are welcome to come back and chat with this old man anytime!”

The two bid each other farewell. Although they did not explicitly call each other friends, they had indeed forged a bond of friendship. They were both in a good mood.

He watched Ji Yuan walk away in a relaxed manner, the immortal sword hanging in the air beside his hand. From time to time, the sword would occasionally turn back on its own to look at him, and the Land God would smile back.

“This Mr. Ji had found a mount, but he still has to walk on his own two feet. This master is more like a father in that respect. How interesting, little deer, you are quite lucky!”

He muttered this last sentence to the ground where the white deer had just descended. Then, the figure of the Land God disappeared from in from of the Land God Temple.

. . .

Ji Yuan felt that he had done his best in settling the white deer’s dilemma without causing any conflict. Becoming friends with the Land God of the Capital Prefecture was a pleasant surprise.

However, Ji Yuan’s true reward was a white chess piece, representing the white deer. The piece had definitely been created in the underworld, a place saturated with yin energy,³ but it was white from the moment it appeared. There was no way of knowing whether it was due to the relationship between the couple, or due to the white deer herself.

As he walked down the avenue named Yongning Lane, Ji Yuan’s thoughts drifted to the moment the chess piece materialized.

At that time, he did not give the White Deer Girl many instructions. When he saw the white deer and her husband embrace each other, he had planned to leave with the Land God.

However, after Ji Yuan and the Land God had left the underworld, a white chess piece suddenly formed in his hand. Through the piece, he could vaguely see the White Deer Girl kneeling in the underworld and swearing to the engraved jade tablet in her hand: “I, Bai Ruo, will never forget the Lord’s kindness!”

This jade tablet had been lent to her by Ji Yuan. It actually originally belonged to the Old Dragon, and was a special cultivation method for monsters. Ji Yuan had borroed it to study, but he didn’t expect that it would actually come in handy.

The Old Dragon relied on his own thinking and deliberation to simulate cultivation methods for immortal beasts in his palace. Although it wasn’t an established orthodox method, it was close to it. Ji Yuan used his newly learned technique of conveying information through objects to modify it slightly.

With his eyes fully opened, Ji Yuan could perceive the flow of Qi very accurately. He also had his three-year experience in chess. It would have been extremely difficult to come up with a monster cultivation method from scratch, but it was not as difficult to refine the details based on the Old Dragon’s rich experience, and tailor it to the White Deer Girl’s transformed form. This was also combined with his previous experience of unlocking the dragon daughter’s heart, and a bit of the content from “Public Records of Emperor Zhengde.”

It was likely not more orthodox and effective than an authentic immortal beast training method from an immortal sect, but at the very least, her cultivation progress would be steady. He did this as a favor to allow the White Deer Girl to practice her cultivation, and so that she didn’t practice her own path and expose her identity as a false immortal deer, which would cause everyone a lot of trouble.

Of course, the spiritual aspect of the jade tablet also reflected Ji Yuan’s own expectations of her, and the hope that the white deer would reach enlightenment.

However, in the underworld, Bai Ruo’s understanding was completely different.

Mr. Ji’s use of jade tablet to pass on skills to her was both an opportunity and a test. She hoped that she could pass it. She did not dare to hope to become Mr. Ji’s true disciple, but she was willing to serve him as her master.

Although most monsters envied immortal beasts, they had great resistance to this path. They believed that immortal beasts had lost their freedom and become slaves. While for most monsters this was nothing more than a hypocritical mentality,⁴ it was nonetheless still a mainstream view held by many monsters. This opinion, however, was not shared by Bai Ruo.

. . .

At this moment in Ji Province, Desheng Prefecture, in the wealthy Wei Residence, everyone was anxious.

It wasn’t even light out yet, but the servants in the Wei Mansion backyard were all in a hurry.

“Boom!”

Thunder suddenly sounded in the gloomy sky, and several servants who were carrying buckets of hot water were so frightened that they almost fell down.

“Hurry up, hurry up, the delivery room is still waiting!”

Under the urging of the steward, the servant hurriedly picked up the bucket and cautiously rushed forward. As they crossed the backyard porch, a shrill cry of pain sounded from inside the house.

“Ah… uh…”

“Push, madam, push harder!”

“No… I’m running out of strength… ah…”

“Madam! Madam, I beg you, please push harder…”

The midwife’s voice in the delivery room was panic-stricken. Several men of the Wei family were silent outside. Wei Wuwei clenched his fists and paced back and forth. When he could no longer help it, he rushed into the yard and punched a tree, leaving a deep palm imprint on the trunk. Then he returned to the porch to wait anxiously.

The door to the delivery room opened, and a maid with a pale face came out carrying a basin of blood, and poured it into the yard. Then she carried the newly delivered bucket of hot water back inside the house.

Seeing this basin of bloodied water poured out, Wei Wuwei’s face turned ashen.

There had been no cries of pain from the woman in the delivery room for quite some time…

At this moment, the door to the delivery room opened again, and a midwife of about fifty or sixty years old came out with a pale face, and met Wei Wuwei’s anxious eyes.

“Mr. Wei… Madam passed out… Do you want to save the adult or the child?”

The midwife asked, trembling, and Wei Wuwei’s eyes widened.

“What did you say!?”

“Mr… Mr. Wei… Please don’t make things difficult for me… If you don’t make a decision now, it will be too late…”

Wei Wuwei lifted the midwife with his chubby hand. His face resembled that of a devil, and his roar drowned out the thunder.

“Both of them should be protected. If anything happens to one of them, you’ll be buried with them. Do you hear me? Protect both of them!”

The midwife was so frightened that she could not speak.

“Ah! Useless thing, come in there with me!”

Wei Wuwei couldn’t care less about her state, and rushed into the delivery room, still carrying the midwife.

“Patriarch! You can’t enter the delivery room!”⁵

“Patriarch!”

Faced with the two guards blocking his way, Wei Wuwei rushed in undeterred.

“Get out of my way. Why should I care about who the f*** is allowed in that room at this moment? I’m going to help my wife circulate her Qi!”

The two elders standing beside Wei Wuwei opened their mouths, but could not say anything to dissuade him. They let him go and he entered the delivery room.

“Shhhh… crash… shhhh…”⁶

A quarter of an hour later, the heavy rain was still falling as dawn broke, and the sound of a baby’s cries could be heard coming from the delivery room.

Wei Wuwei leaned against his wife, soaked in sweat and relieved. The midwife who delivered the baby kept bowing towards the door, and even the maid beside him breathed a sigh of relief.

“Congratulations, Mr. Wei, and Mrs. Wei, Mrs. Wei, it’s a boy!”

“I’m glad everyone is alright…”

Wei Wuwei sighed a little. In addition to the children he had with his wives and concubines over the last three years, he had a total of six daughters. Today, his wife had finally given birth to a boy. However, seeing his wife nearly at death’s door this time, he truly felt that it didn’t matter whether the baby was a boy or a girl anymore.⁷

1. The term used is “Yin House” since the underworld is pretty much “place of Yin”
2. The full proverb roughly translates to “high virtue makes dragons and tigers bow down, and great virtue makes ghosts and gods admire.” It’s unclear where this was sourced from, though it has apparently been referenced as a proverb in Journey to the West, so it’s not a new thing
3. If you remember, pieces that absorbed yin energy (like that ghost in the well way back at the beginning) are black
4. Lit. “mentality of sour grapes,” meaning belittling/dismissing something they desire but can’t obtain, usually out of envy or self-consolation. Comes from Aesop’s fable “The Fox and the Grapes.”
5. Based on my limited understanding: something-something “women only” something-something “delivery room has rules for entry…” If anyone is clearer on this than I am feel free to chime in. EDIT: thank you mindsystem for the info!
6. Sound of rain (NOT the sound of the house falling)
7. T/n: Awww good man

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read