Chapter 52: The Nether Ghost Road

After that, the two of us dialed the phone number of the deceased's family. His family rushed over shortly afterward to identify the body.

Upon inspection, the corpse's limbs were fractured and twisted, exactly as I had witnessed in the death vision. What surprised me was that, despite the severe state of decomposition, the body faintly maintained a posture of lying prone on the ground.

His face was nearly rotted away, with maggots crawling in and out of the decaying flesh. Yet, I could still see that his face was frozen in an expression of absolute agony.

Even more agonizing were his family members. At this moment, they were squatting beside the corpse, weeping with a grief that tore at the heart.

Finding the sound too heartbreaking to bear, I walked over to them. They were a middle-aged couple, looking relatively young, probably around forty years old. The deceased person was most likely their son.

I comforted the two of them, saying, "Uncle, Auntie, please restrain your grief. The dead cannot return to life."

Hearing my words, the middle-aged man raised his head, his eyes brimming with tears, and let out a couple of muffled sobs. Then, choking back his tears, he began to talk to me.

The deceased really was their son, only in his early twenties and just recently started working. This couple had not lived an easy life. Ever since their son was very young, they had gone away to work as migrant laborers, leaving the boy behind at his maternal grandparents' house.

Over the years, due to the heavy financial burden of sending their son to university, the couple had worked day and night without rest so that their son could amount to something. Being poorly educated, they only did odd jobs, meaning their wages were meager.

Because of this, they hadn't seen their son in five full years.

Last summer, their son finally graduated from university and secured a good job. During a phone call with the couple, their son declared that he would definitely rent a car to bring his parents in grand style to the city where he worked.

"Mom and Dad, you've worked hard for so many years. Now that your son has a job, you can safely hand this burden over to me. From now on, your son can bear the hardship alone."

These were the words their son had said to them before driving to pick them up. The couple had listened with eyes full of warm tears, thinking that better days were finally about to arrive.

Never did they expect that while their son was driving a borrowed car from a colleague to join them, and while the couple waited with joy and anticipation for their son to fetch them, such a tragedy would suddenly occur. In just a split second, everything was over.

Listening to the middle-aged man's account, my own blood churned uncontrollably. Recalling the death vision, their son had clearly not died from the initial vehicle impact, but that heartless driver, likely afraid of bearing responsibility, had actually driven over him a second time to crush him to death. Suddenly, a raging fury surged within me.

In an instant, this had destroyed not just a young life, but an entire family.

No wonder the couple was weeping like this.

"Sob, sob... Xiao Meng, Mom and Dad have come to see you. Wake up, please open your eyes and look at us..."

The middle-aged woman was now a mess of tears and mucus, weeping inconsolably. Finding the scene unbearable and unable to hold back any longer, I asked the couple, "Do you truly want to see your son one last time?"

As soon as those words left my mouth, their weeping stopped instantly. They hurriedly turned back to look at me, their faces filled with eager anticipation, and asked one after another, "Is that really possible?"

At that moment, Jin Yuan kicked me from behind and whispered, "Master instructed us that we are only here to retrieve the body, and we shouldn't meddle in other matters."

Ignoring Jin Yuan entirely, I said to the couple, "Of course it's possible. I can help you."

Upon hearing this, the couple dropped to their knees before me. "Thank you! Your immense kindness can never be repaid. Please accept our bow."

I hurriedly grabbed their hands to pull them up. "Uncle, Auntie, please don't do this. I cannot bear such a gesture. I am not just helping you right now; I am helping my own conscience. I simply cannot bear to witness this. If I stood by and did nothing now, I am afraid I would never find peace for the rest of my life."

After helping them up, they continued to sob softly.

Meanwhile, I racked my memory for the records within the Ghost Arts. Their son was already dead, and by now his soul had likely reached the Underworld. Summoning him back from the Netherworld would be exceptionally difficult.

First, I had to open a Nether-Ghost Path leading directly from the realm of the living to the Underworld; otherwise, once the gates of the Underworld closed, no ghosts could possibly escape. Second, I had to use the Soul-Summoning technique to call forth his ghost.

Amidst the couple's weeping, I began carefully opening the Nether-Ghost Path. Following the instructions in the text, I used tree branches to draw a giant talisman on the ground. This talisman was by no means simple; it was immensely complex. The only reason I was able to remember it was likely because my potential had been stimulated at that moment.

Drawing this talisman took me a full hour. Afterward, following the method prescribed in the book, I arranged a circle of candles around the perimeter of the talisman. The book gave no explanation as to why the candles were necessary.

When everything was set, I silently recited the gate-opening incantation: "Yin and Yang reverse, Heaven and Earth align, open the Nether-Ghost Path."

At that exact moment, the patch of ground where I had drawn the talisman turned pitch black.

Opening a Nether-Ghost Path is, in truth, an extremely hazardous undertaking. If one is even slightly careless, minor spirits from the Underworld will seize the opportunity to escape through the path. Furthermore, should the Nether-Soldiers of the Underworld discover it, they would undoubtedly come to the realm of the living to cause trouble for me. Right now, I was risking my very life to help them.

Seeing that patch of ground turn pitch black filled my heart with a surge of excitement. This absolute darkness represented the nether realm, indicating that through the talisman, I was now able to gaze into the underworld. The Nether-Ghost Path had been successfully forged.

Immediately proceeding to the next step, I held a cup in one hand and tapped it with a wooden stick. While chanting the soul-summoning incantation, I instructed the couple to loudly shout their son's name.

"Xiao Meng! Xiao Meng..."

Accompanied by their continuous cries, a chilling wind suddenly began to swirl around us, and from the area where I had drawn the talisman came the sounds of ghostly wailing and wolfish howling. Right at that moment, I saw a figure covered in blood, with a deathly pale face carrying a faint greenish-grey hue, appearing upon the pitch-black ground.

This person was precisely the one I had seen in the reenacted death vision.

Suddenly, the couple let out a cry of anguish and lunged toward the pale-faced figure. Then, the three of them stood together, weeping with heart-rending sorrow.

I quietly turned back to glance at Jin Yuan. The kid wasn't trying to stop me anymore; he just stood in place with a heavy frown. I said, "What are you scared of, you brat? If Liu Sui blames us when we get back, just tell him I did it, and it has nothing to do with you."

Jin Yuan looked at me without saying much.

By now, the couple had stopped crying and were talking to their son. Seizing the opportunity, I quickly walked over to them. Although the Nether-Ghost Path was open, it couldn't remain open for long, or the Nether-Soldiers would surely discover it. If that happened, not only would I be doomed, but their son would likely be cast into the Eighteenth Level of Hell.

While there was still time, I hurried to their side and said, "Uncle, Auntie, you've already seen him. There isn't much time left, and I need to ask him some questions."

Hearing this, the couple's expressions instantly turned agonizing again. At that moment, their son looked at me with his pale, pain-racked face and pleaded, "No, please, give me a little more time."

I shook my head at him. "That can be arranged, but I must ask you a few questions first. Do you remember the driver who killed you, or perhaps his license plate number?"