The four spectral bailiffs following Young Master Liu pursued him like ravenous hounds, their feet barely grazing the ground, covering ten meters in a single flicker of movement. Young Master Liu knew there was no way he could outrun them. Seeing them about to catch up, he thought: whether I run or stay, I’ll be caught anyway. With a sudden resolution, he stopped dead. This halt caught the four spectral bailiffs completely off guard; they couldn't brake in time and all surged past him, forming a line directly in front of him. One of them, with a blue face and prominent fangs, roared at him, "Little ghost, come back with us quietly, or else…"

"This is for you!" Before the bailiff could finish his threat, Young Master Liu reached up, gripped the jade pendant hanging around his neck, and thrust it into the bailiff’s hand without a word.

"What? What is this?" This bailiff, surprisingly swift on his feet—good enough for a marathon gold medal—seemed remarkably slow in the uptake. Caught off guard by Young Master Liu's sudden stop just moments ago, he was now utterly confused by the object thrust into his hand. Sigh! He supposed spending too much time with the single-minded Ox-Head and Horse-Face had had some kind of subtle, corrupting influence.

"Just look and you'll know," Young Master Liu said, forcing a smile despite his wildly pounding heart.

"Brother, this brat is offering you a gift!" While the blue-faced bailiff was stunned, a smaller, shorter spectral bailiff nearby whispered conspiratorially, dangling a chain in his hand.

"A gift?"

"Yes, yes, yes. He must be begging you to let him off!" The little bailiff nodded his head so vigorously he looked like a pecking chick.

"Pah! Offending our Boss Niu and expecting to walk away alive? It'll be a blessing from your ancestors if we don't grind your bones into soup in the Eighteenth Level of Hell." The blue-faced bailiff puffed out his chest proudly, then his darting eyes glanced down, peeking at the slightly parted fingers holding the pendant. Damn it, you little whelp, don't you understand propriety? Is this how you offer a gift? If you’d slipped it to me privately, fine. But you’re doing this so blatantly, and with Big Brother Niu right here—do you think I dare accept it? Besides, these other little ghosts weren't exactly pillars of virtue; they were probably hoping to skim some off the top right now! Thinking this, the blue-faced bailiff looked around. Sure enough, three pairs of greedy eyes were fixed intently on his hand, their pupils wide and glowing faintly green.

While they were engaged in this silent power struggle, Young Master Liu was sweating bullets. What he offered was the Pixiu jade pendant that had saved him once before. He wasn't entirely sure if the pendant still held power, but having something was better than nothing! At this point, all he could do was try the desperate measure. My treasure, weren't you so incredibly mighty the night before last? You shone a light and scared off the ghosts. Please, your majesty, show your divine power just one more time, will you? Be a pal and help me out, huh? If this works, I’ll offer you three sticks of incense, the best wine and meat every day—I'll worship you like a father, no, closer than a father. You’ll be my own royal progenitor...

"What is this junk?" The bailiff peered closely at the object resting in his palm. His initial delight vanished. He had expected a dazzling gold ingot, or at the very least, a stack of (Underworld currency). Instead, he saw an ugly, yellowish hunk of broken stone. If it hadn't had a round hole threaded with a red cord, no one would have even recognized it as a jade pendant. The three spectral bailiffs surrounding him let out simultaneous sighs of disappointment; their windfall had turned into a pile of trash, much to everyone’s displeasure.

"You dare to toy with me!" The blue-faced bailiff roared, fury consuming him, and he hurled the jade pendant back at Young Master Liu.

"Oh no, no, it's not working, not working at all!" Seeing his only hope fail to produce even the slightest reaction, Young Master Liu felt a despair so profound he almost wept. As the bailiff’s throw came hurtling toward his head, he instinctively covered his face and scrambled to run again.

Just at that instant, a sharp, acrid smell of burning filled the air—like rice scorched into a crust at the bottom of a pot. A sizzling, tearing sound came from the blue-faced bailiff’s gripping fingers as the jade pendant burned them. Thin wisps of smoke drifted between his fingers, as if something had ignited. The blue-faced bailiff cried out in shock, releasing his grip with a sharp hiss. When he looked at his left hand, his eyes rolled back, and he nearly fainted. His entire palm had dissolved into raw, festering flesh, leaving only several stark white bones, five remaining, shriveled fingers, and a large hole pierced through the center of his palm. The jade pendant, along with its red cord, now coiled like a snake around his middle finger, swaying gently left and right. On the surface of the jade, a terrifying, ferocious beast had inexplicably appeared, resembling a lion, radiating scattered, brilliant light. Behind it, a Taiji symbol seemed to flicker into automatic rotation—faint, yet undeniably present.

The three bailiffs behind him erupted into chaos, spinning in place, clutching their chains, muttering incoherent complaints. None dared to move a step closer, let alone help their companion. After all, they had spent their entire existence serving in the Underworld, apprehending nothing but weak-willed souls, becoming thoroughly accustomed to bullying. Now that the situation had turned serious and they witnessed their comrade's gruesome fate, who would dare wade into such dangerous waters?

"ROAR————" The vividly lifelike Pixiu twisted its neck, dragging its entire body free of the jade pendant. With every inch it emerged, the pendant's radiance dimmed by the same measure. When it was completely unbound, hovering in mid-air, the jade instantly resumed its previous dull, lifeless appearance. All the brilliance that had shone from it now converged entirely upon the scales of the Pixiu. It raised its head and let out a roar that shook the heavens, sounding like rolling thunder—as if everything between heaven and earth was merely an object for its survey. In this place, only its existence truly meant existence!

The four spectral bailiffs were utterly stunned. The blue-faced one even forgot that his hand was still ablaze, smoking like a small tractor chimney. Young Master Liu’s mouth, wide open in shock, froze mid-gasp. He sank straight to the ground, speechless, his expression one of utter bewilderment.

Meanwhile, Ox-Head, who had been stamping his foot at Granny Fan, stopped abruptly. He swallowed hard, then swallowed again as he saw the Pixiu, easily three times his own size. With a clatter, the steel trident slipped from his grasp as his knees buckled, and he dropped to the ground.

If someone were to ask the blue-faced bailiff for the unluckiest moment of his life, he would undoubtedly answer without hesitation: Today! Despite frantically trying everything—fanning the flames with his clothes, beating them with the club in his hand—he could not extinguish the fire continually rising from his palm. He could only leap about helplessly, watching as the flames slowly crawled up his shoulders, chest, and limbs... Minutes later, the sound faded, and a pile of burnt ash and skeleton fragments dropped to the ground, shattering into pieces. A cold wind swept over, instantly clearing them away. The jade pendant, completely unscathed, flew back into Young Master Liu’s hand, still unassuming. The Pixiu took two steps back, snarled twice at Ox-Head as if issuing a warning, then its silhouette slowly faded, transforming into a dazzling white light that drilled back into the pendant.

"Boss... Boss!" The remaining three spectral bailiffs scrambled on their bellies to Ox-Head’s side, their words tripping over each other in fear.

"Goddammit!" Ox-Head slapped his forehead heavily, spun around, and fled.

"Boss, what about this kid?" a small spectral bailiff asked weakly.

"If you want your soul scattered to oblivion, you stay behind!" Ox-Head roared back over his shoulder.

"Boss!"

"For God's sake, what now?"

"You forgot your steel trident..." the three little bailiffs mumbled aggrievedly.

"I’ve lost my life, who cares about a stupid trident..." By the time he finished speaking, Ox-Head’s figure had vanished far across the other side of the Bridge of Helplessness, leaving only swirling dust in his wake.

"You guys... just now..." Young Master Liu pointed a finger at the only remaining trace of the blue-faced ghost on the ground, then pointed at the three bailiffs. He rubbed his eyes, then rubbed them again, absolutely refusing to believe what he’d seen. He’d thought the jade pendant might at least stall them; he never expected instant annihilation! Is this... is this really a jade pendant? It's faster than a Japanese cannon! If the Eighth Route Army had one of these each, we’d have liberated the country years ago!

"Don't... don't point at me, it wasn't my fault!" The bailiffs thought Young Master Liu was about to turn on them, and they immediately waved their hands frantically. If they could have urinated, they would have drenched their trousers right then.

"It was all that old Ox, he insisted on provoking you..."

"Run!" A moment later, the three Underworld "civil servants" followed their boss’s retreat and scattered instantly, leaving only Young Master Liu and the half-beaten Granny Fan staring at each other across the dust.