Chapter 41: The Final Days at Naranmud High School

On the empty rooftop, Li Xuan stood in place, his mind still in a daze.

Never in his wildest dreams had he expected that merely chanting the Incantation of the Lord of the Nine Prisons would actually summon Marshal Tianpeng. One had to realize that this figure held an exceptionally lofty status within Daoism.

It seemed that in the future, he should select the most ordinary duty-officers to summon.

Li Xuan used his gourd to put away all the items. The Mount Tai token and the Fengdu Treasure Guidance Seal had no obvious taboos requiring avoidance within the *Black Law Spirit Book*.

However, items such as the Nine Springs Edict, the Seal for Inspecting Ghosts and Gods of the Three Realms, and the *Black Law Spirit Book* could not be easily shown to people. When casting spells, he needed to avoid women and the like.

In particular, he must never let Buddhist monks and nuns see them, or retribution would surely follow.

The *Black Law* within the Fengdu lineage rejected Buddhism to the absolute extreme. One must not give monks a pleasant look, nor enter Buddhist temples, and certainly never bow the head to a Buddha; otherwise, one would be expelled from the Daoist registry, or in severe cases, meet death.

Yet these restrictions only applied to ordinary ritual judges.

Li Xuan possessed the Northern Emperor's special pardon personally bestowed by Marshal Tianpeng, granting him the authority to act as circumstances required. Still, he had his bottom line: for instance, maliciously usurping others' property, slaughtering the innocent, or willfully trampling upon the majesty of the *Black Law* and the Fengdu lineage.

Even if he argued until he was blue in the face, he would still end up entering the Iron-Encircled Mountain to suffer the eighteen varieties of cruel tortures.

Buzz...

The cell phone that had fallen to the ground was vibrating.

Li Xuan picked it up and heard Fang Xiaoyi's voice coming through, asking anxiously, "Teacher Li, your cell phone signal suddenly cut off just now, and no matter how many times I redialed, it was no use. Are you alright?!"

It must have been when Marshal Tianpeng appeared, sealing off the surrounding area entirely, which caused the loss of cellular signal.

Li Xuan replied, "I'm fine. Ruan Shiyin's matter has already been resolved."

Fang Xiaoyi's voice was filled with a sense of relief as she said, "That's simply wonderful."

The night was already deep, a little past eleven o'clock...

Li Xuan emerged from the school grounds to see Fang Xiaoyi supporting Ruan Shiyin's mother under a streetlamp. He managed a smile for Fang Xiaoyi, but had no idea what expression to use for the elderly woman.

The old woman's eyes were hazy with tears, as if she had sensed Ruan Shiyin's departure. Looking sorrowfully at Li Xuan, she asked, "Ah-Yin... was she eliminated by you?"

"No."

Li Xuan stated truthfully, "Ruan Shiyin's resentment had accumulated over a long time, and she had lost her rationality. I barely managed to hold my own against her and had no choice but to summon Fengdu ghosts and gods to assist, which resulted in the arrival of Marshal Tianpeng. Ruan Shiyin has been taken away. All the grievances and sins committed in the mortal realm will find their conclusion within Fengdu City..."

The living who create sins—whether through petty gossip or malicious rumors between neighbors—would descend into the Tongue-Ripping Hell after death.

Ruan Shiyin had wantonly slaughtered students of Naland Mountbatten College under the pretext of school rules.

The netherworld featured eighteen layers of hell; she would likely experience about half of them.

Regardless of whatever grievances Ruan Shiyin might have suffered in life, were the students not also wronged?

It was merely cause, effect, and retribution...

After Li Xuan and Fang Xiaoyi escorted the old woman back to her residence in Causeway Bay—

The two stood at the doorway, gazing through the alleyway at the narrow, rectangular night sky, remaining silent for a long time.

Hong Kong had weathered through fire and vicissitudes, experiencing eras of economic explosion, periods of economic depression, and times dominated by gangs of all sizes, thus bearing the deep scars of time upon its body.

This place was progressing rapidly, yet there were still quite a few people who, due to education, background, money, and various other reasons, remained trapped in past environments of poverty.

Take Ruan Shiyin's mother, for example.

Putting aside the affair with the principal.

The living Ruan Shiyin had been successful. She broke free from that chaotic and impoverished environment, relying on her own strength step by step to become the dean of discipline at the prestigious Naland Mountbatten College, a feat that commanded respect.

It was just that she had been too impatient.

And thus she destroyed herself.

In Li Xuan's eyes, had Ruan Shiyin not murdered innocent people, she would have been a pitiful and tragic character, qualified for salvation even if she descended into the netherworld.

Fang Xiaoyi was also melancholic, saying, "Auntie's condition is very poor. Now that Ruan Shiyin is gone, she will probably..."

On the way back, the old woman had cried for a very long time. No matter what, Ruan Shiyin was a piece of flesh torn from her own body. After crying herself to sleep, she had woken up again, relapsing into a state of senile dementia.

Li Xuan reached into his pocket and touched a bank card; this was the fifty thousand dollars of "operating funds" belonging to this mission.

He had not spent much. Excluding rent, meals, and taxi fares, over four hundred thousand remained.

This sum might seem large, but in places like the New Territories and Kowloon, trying to buy a private residence was a bit of a stretch, as prices ran around thirty to forty thousand per square foot.

Thinking of this...

He shoved the bank card into Fang Xiaoyi's pocket and said, "Tomorrow, I plan to submit my resignation to Principal Song Fen and travel abroad for a bit. There are over four hundred thousand on this card. I'd like to trouble you to use this money to help arrange the living conditions for Ruan Shiyin's mother, so the old woman can be more comfortable in her final days."

Such a large sum of money.

Fang Xiaoyi hurriedly waved her hands and said, "Don't leave this much money with me."

Pausing for a moment as it registered, she looked at Li Xuan in shock and said, "Teacher Li, you've only been at Naland Mountbatten College for half a month at most. If you leave now, those few delinquent boys haven't even finished their classes yet."

Li Xuan was also slightly taken aback. Leaving like this indeed seemed a bit irresponsible.

He looked at the black notebook that had appeared beside him and was even floating slightly in the air. It already indicated that the mission was complete, and he could return to the real world at any moment.

He wondered if the notebook could grant him a little more time, at least until the semester's classes were finished.

He actually rather enjoyed the feeling of being a teacher.

The black notebook seemed to sense his thoughts, flipping its pages a few times before displaying a few words: [Optional Mission: Complete a semester of teaching at Naland Mountbatten College.]

Quite considerate.

Li Xuan said a silent thank you in his heart.

The black notebook automatically rolled itself up and slipped into his pocket, feeling as light as a feather.

During the time that followed, Li Xuan stayed in the world of *The School on the Fire*, attending classes, practicing cultivation, researching the Mount Tai Earth Deity Daoism and spells of the Great Emperor of Mount Tai, while simultaneously studying the Daoist scriptures of the Fengdu lineage.

The two lineages of Mount Tai and Northern Darkness—the former's arts were primarily focused on life, death, and reincarnation, as well as the sins of the living, while the latter targeted ghosts, spirits, ritual judges, and netherworld demon kings.

Combining the two and developing them together was Li Xuan's goal.

This was also why, before fully mastering the Daoist scriptures bestowed by the Great Emperor of Mount Tai, he had still taken the "greedy" risk of borrowing the pretext of subduing demons and vanquishing devils to summon Fengdu ghosts and gods, attempting to acquire the Fengdu Daoist scriptures...

Because he knew that if the myriad realms were derived from real-world films, many terrifying events awaited him in the future.

...

Several months passed.

The semester came to an end.

In the school auditorium, the students had mostly dispersed.

The four-boy group stood in front of Li Xuan, their faces filled with reluctance to part.

Liu Zhuobin was the more emotional one. Thinking that he might never see Teacher Li again in this lifetime, his nose stung, and with a crying voice, he said, "Teacher Li, please just accompany us through our high school life. We will never find a teacher better than you."

After the incident with Ruan Shiyin, Li Xuan had not slackened in this job. Instead, he diligently prepared lesson plans and explanations, raising the academic scores of the four academic slackers by a significant margin...