Spirit Reaper - Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Deputy Underworld Emissary — It Was She Who Awakened Qin An

The parchment scroll slowly unfurled before Yu Wuyi, its blinding golden light forcing her to shield her eyes. Only when the radiance finally dimmed was she able to read the contents written upon it.

“Deputy Underworld Emissary belonging to Her Highness Yanluo…” Yu Wuyi murmured softly. She looked up at Qin An beside her, her face full of confusion. “Is this… asking me to work for you?”

“You could understand it that way.” Qin An nodded. Seeing Yu Wuyi’s slightly dazed expression, she curled her lips into a half-joking, half-serious smile. “If you’re unwilling, we could do it the other way… just like I mentioned before…”

“No, no, no! I’ll sign! I’ll sign!” Yu Wuyi waved her hands frantically. Following the instructions on the scroll, she bit her finger and pressed her blood-stained print onto the document.

The moment the final stroke was completed, a faint blood-red glow pulsed from the parchment, vanishing as quickly as it appeared.

Yu Wuyi felt her blood boil with a searing heat, yet the temperature around her seemed to plummet. She bit her lip and curled into a ball, not wanting Qin An to notice her distress.

Fortunately, this conflicting sensation of ice and fire lasted only a moment. By the time Yu Wuyi regained her strength, she was drenched in sweat, looking like a shrimp freshly pulled from a boiling pot.

“Your patience isn’t bad; you didn’t make a sound during the soul-binding.” Qin An raised an eyebrow, looking at the exhausted Yu Wuyi with a hint of novelty. She rolled the parchment back up and tapped Yu Wuyi on the head with it. “In my current state, I cannot manifest in the outside world for long. Therefore, until your first ‘business’ opens, I will remain within the jade pendant.”

“Remember, unless it is a life-or-death emergency, do not disturb my rest.” As she spoke, the jade pendant hanging from Yu Wuyi’s neck grew slightly warm in response.

Before Qin An’s silhouette fully faded, Yu Wuyi heard her say: “But before that, Yu Song must take you somewhere. Go back and find her after daybreak; I will be waiting for you there.”

…

Yu Wuyi was left alone in the room. She instinctively touched the spot on her head where Qin An had tapped her with the scroll.

Once Qin An left, the silence became oppressive. The ill-timed cawing of a crow outside sounded terrifying in the stillness.

“Qin An? Qin An?” she called out tentatively. But as time ticked by, her words fell on deaf ears; no one responded.

Even now, Yu Wuyi felt the entire situation was far too fantastical to be real.

How exactly had she let things spiral to this point? First, a female ghost dropped from the sky to marry her, and then she was foolishly lured into signing an Underworld version of a “beast of burden” labor contract…

University life hadn’t even started, yet she had already secured a government post in the Underworld. Yu Wuyi couldn’t describe her complex emotions; she only knew one thing…

Beauty is a dangerous distraction!

If Qin An had looked like those greasy, half-human-half-ghost creeps from before, there was no way she would have let her guard down so easily and been led by the nose…

“Aaaaagh! Yu Wuyi, you’re so spineless!” She collapsed onto the soft bed, frustratedly mussing her hair.

Perhaps the night’s events had drained all her strength, for not long after hitting the mattress, drowsiness surged over her until she was completely submerged in sleep.

…

When her consciousness returned, the sun was already high in the sky.

Yu Wuyi was pecked awake.

“Cluck, cluck, cluck—”

“Hiss! Ow, ow, ow! Stop pecking me, Sister Chicken—!” The sharp pain across her body, paired with the loud clucking in her ear, instantly chased away her sleepiness.

She shielded her face with her arms and struggled to sit up. Before her vision could clear, her brain registered the lingering, unmistakable stench of a chicken coop.

“What the…?” Suppressing the urge to gag, Yu Wuyi looked around. She realized she was lying on rough straw mats surrounded by a flock of hens.

She had spent the night sleeping in the chicken coop on the back mountain?!

Realizing this, Yu Wuyi instinctively sniffed her sleeve. Unsurprisingly, after a night of close proximity, she had been “marinated” in the scent.

Furthermore, her clothes had somehow reverted from the crimson wedding dress back to the short-sleeved shirt she wore when she first went up the mountain.

Having studied the lore of ghosts and gods since childhood, she knew what had happened. It was traditional for a ghost’s wedding chamber to be an illusion. Usually, ghosts would find an abandoned mountain hut, but why did it have to be…

Her own family’s chicken coop?!

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. That Qin An—not only did she take liberties with her from the start, but she actually left her alone in a chicken coop!

“Hey, Qin An! Come out! We need to have a serious talk!” Ghosts couldn’t move freely during the day, so Yu Wuyi’s courage had returned, showing none of her midnight terror.

She grabbed the jade pendant hanging from her chest. Even though she knew Qin An wasn’t currently inside, she still gave it an annoyed slap. “You’re a very inconsiderate ghost… just like those black-hearted bosses in novels…”

“Ow—!” A searing heat from her palm made her scream. She let go immediately, pouting and blowing on her burnt hand.

I won’t talk behind your back anymore, wahhh… Qin An can hear me…

Having been taught a lesson, Yu Wuyi behaved herself. She gathered her gear, which had been neatly packed at some point, and hurried down the mountain.

She still remembered Qin An’s parting words, but before taking action, she had to take a shower and scrub off that “chicken coop” smell.

…

After a seamless transition of going home and soaking in the bath, Yu Wuyi stepped back into the courtyard looking like a fresh, fragrant girl once more.

Drying her hair, she sat down beside Yu Song, who was resting on a stone stool. “Grandma, don’t you think you owe me an explanation?”

“Ahem… it was wrong of me to keep this from you,” Yu Song said with a bit of a guilty conscience. “But Wuyi, rest assured, Grandma would never hurt you. With Qin An by your side, no ghost can harm you.”

“I understand all that,” Yu Wuyi nodded. “But what is this ‘Deputy Underworld Emissary’ business Qin An mentioned? And she said I have to go somewhere—what’s going on?”

Yu Song was clearly prepared for Yu Wuyi’s rapid-fire questions. She took her granddaughter’s hand to calm her down and began to speak slowly: “It’s a long story…”

From Yu Song’s mouth, Yu Wuyi learned the whole truth. She never expected that the reason ghosts had coveted her for over a decade yet stayed away was all because of Qin An.

When Wuyi was five years old, she had accidentally awakened the long-slumbering Qin An in a mass grave—the Eleventh Yanluo, who existed outside the standard Ten Halls of Yanluo.

Though she was the Eleventh Yanluo, Qin An disliked the rigid rules of the Underworld. She rarely stayed in her palace, preferring to wander the human realm.

During her travels, she kept an ear to the ground. Seeing the increasing number of evil spirits appearing among humans, she realized something was wrong in the Underworld. An unknown power was constantly attacking the barrier of the Ghost Gate; the seals were crumbling.

Once the seals were broken and the Ghost Gate swung wide, the spirits would flood the human world uncontrollably, causing widespread calamity.

Urged by the Ten Halls, she prepared to return to the Underworld to strengthen the barrier. However, on her way back, she was ambushed by an unknown force. Left with only a breath of life, she hid in a mass grave and fell into a deep sleep.

That mass grave happened to be the one on the back mountain of Yu Wuyi’s village. By a twist of fate, Yu Wuyi’s blood awakened the sleeping Qin An.

Having just woken up, Qin An was still very weak and couldn’t manifest for long. She had to hide within Yu Wuyi’s jade pendant to recover, waiting for their wedding day.

As for why she had to marry Qin An, Yu Song explained that once the marriage contract was set, their souls were bound, which would accelerate Qin An’s recovery.

Because of Yu Wuyi’s “Extreme Yin” constitution, it was her destiny to be targeted by evil ghosts. This made her the perfect bait to draw out the mastermind attacking the Ghost Gate. Making her a Deputy Underworld Emissary—to capture evil ghosts and ferry virtuous souls—was the best possible choice.

Following Yu Song’s explanation, a heavy sense of responsibility settled in Yu Wuyi’s heart. She never thought her special constitution could play a key role in saving the Underworld.

She didn’t hate her Extreme Yin body quite so much anymore…

“But with my meager skills, if I run into a truly vicious ghost, won’t I be finished?” Yu Wuyi thought back to the ghost in red at the bar. Without Qin An’s jade pendant, she would have died a bitter death long ago. She suddenly regretted not studying Taoist arts more diligently…

“Don’t worry. When necessary, Qin An will lend you a hand. Even an injured Eleventh Yanluo isn’t someone just any small fry can touch.” Yu Song smiled and patted her shoulder. “Alright, Wuyi. Once you’re ready, it’s time to set off.”

“Set off? Where to?”

“To the Underworld. To the Eleventh Hall of Yanluo.”