Chapter 173: The Origin of the Evil Crow

Chapter 173 -170: The Origin of the Evil Crow

The Evil Crow muttered in shock.

“I… How is there a Human Emperor’s Pardon in my soul?!”

‘I have a Human Emperor’s Pardon?’

‘This is the Human Emperor’s Pardon!!’

‘It’s the equivalent of an Immunity Token.’

‘But an Immunity Token can only be used in the Human World, while this Human Emperor’s Pardon reaches up to the Celestial Realm and down to the Underworld!’

‘How could I have a Human Emperor’s Pardon?’

‘Even King Yama, the Death God, and Hades would have to obediently send a mortal’s soul back from the Underworld to the Human World upon seeing this ‘Pardon’ character, glowing with golden divine light.’

‘Even the Western Emperor and Buddha would have to respectfully let their enemies go if they saw this ‘Pardon’ character—even if said enemy had slept with their wives and daughters!’

‘Of course, Buddha doesn’t have a wife.’

‘The Western Emperor… Hmm… I wonder if the Holy Mother counts.’

Even at a time like this, the Evil Crow was still lecherously thinking about things it shouldn’t.

It lowered its head and looked at its chest.

There was another ray of golden divine light, where the ‘Pardon’ character was faintly visible.

The Evil Crow’s eyes widened in utter disbelief!

‘I have another Human Emperor’s Pardon!?’

The Evil Crow murmured:

“No wonder, no wonder that old geezer Yama looks at me like he’s just spotted a Leopard-print Auntie, ready to devour me whole!”

‘There’s no telling how many Immortals, Demons, and Monsters covet this thing.’

‘Those powerful gods and demons all dreamed of the day the Human Emperor would personally write a ‘Pardon’ character for them, one imbued with his Human Emperor Qi.’

‘But the Human Emperor would never grant one without a world-shaking achievement to their name.’

The Evil Crow frowned.

‘A world-shaking achievement? Me?’

‘Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve never even met the Human Emperor!’

‘Hiss… unless the Human Emperor himself admires me, the great Evil Ancestor!’

After thinking this, the Evil Crow quickly shook its head and put its two wings together in a prayer-like gesture.

“Just kidding, just kidding! Your spirit in the heavens, His Majesty the Human Emperor, please don’t take offense!”

Although the Evil Crow called itself the Evil Ancestor, and it was true that the little guy had seen his share of glory in the Underworld, that little bit of glory was nothing in the eyes of the Human Emperor.

‘Lucifer dared to betray God and fight the Death God for territory. Pretty gutsy, right?’

‘But didn’t the last Human Emperor still chop off his head?’

‘And me? In the presence of the Human Emperor, I’m just some insignificant evil thing!’

The Evil Crow lowered its head, staring at the Human Emperor’s Pardon on its chest, its expression a mask of greed.

‘If I had sold this thing back in the day, how many brothels could I have bought?’

‘Hmm… I’d definitely watch the Divine Sister dance and have the Angel Sister serve me while wearing a maid outfit.’

As the Evil Crow had these lecherous thoughts, it gently touched the Human Emperor’s Pardon with its wing.

The next second, the Human Emperor’s Pardon erupted with divine light, and a terrifying pressure almost shattered its soul!

The Evil Crow screamed in terror:

“Not for sale, not for sale! I’ll worship you like an ancestor, I’ll perform a striptease for you every day!”

Only then did the Human Emperor’s Pardon quiet down.

At the same time, three fragmented scenes flooded into its mind.

The Evil Crow’s gaze turned vacant…

…

The first scene.

At night, a thatched hut was pitch black.

This was the home of a Junior Official.

The Junior Official’s rank was very low; he didn’t even have a formal grade. He was just a court veterinarian.

The country had been at war for years, and even some graded officials couldn’t afford meat, so he was very poor.

So poor he had no money to marry a wife, so poor he couldn’t bear to light his oil lamp at night.

As he drank his porridge, he was terrified. His hands trembled so much he couldn’t even hold his spoon steady, and he muttered to himself:

“His Majesty is in peril. I can’t just stand by. I have to go to the battlefield. I have to save His Majesty!”

After finishing his meal with trembling hands, he knelt under his bed and finally, in the darkness, fumbled for the deed to his thatched hut.

At dawn, the Junior Official used the deed to trade for a horse-drawn carriage and hire a driver.

The Junior Official was so afraid he couldn’t even grip the handrail to pull himself into the carriage.

The driver mocked him:

“You’re so timid. How can you possibly help His Majesty by going there?”

The Junior Official said with a serious expression:

“Dying for His Majesty is the path. It is loyalty. It is my duty!

My fear is a personal matter!

How can I abandon my duty for a personal affair!”

The driver fell silent and then said:

“Do you have a wife?”

The Junior Official clenched his teeth fiercely.

“If there’s a next life, I’ll visit the brothels every single day!!”

When he reached the battlefield, the Junior Official heard the clash of weapons and died of fright on the spot.

…

Tears flowed from the Evil Crow’s eyes as it murmured:

“How could he be so timid…”

Then, it saw the second scene.

…

「Outside the Yin Gate of the Underworld.」

A young man of noble bearing, accompanied by a devastatingly beautiful woman, stood beneath a large pagoda tree on Luoyang Slope.

The Evil Crow watched, as if viewing a movie, and its pupils constricted sharply!

‘Jiang Chaosheng? Daji?!’

‘No, that’s not Jiang Chaosheng!’

‘This young man who looks exactly like Jiang Chaosheng is wearing a black dragon robe. Even as a mere Ghost Soul, he radiates a terrifying pressure!’

‘Could it be… Jiang Chaosheng is his reincarnation?’

‘There’s no other explanation for why they look so alike!’

At this moment, the Yin Gate of the Underworld slowly opened, and a host of Yin Gods walked out, kneeling in grand ceremony before the pagoda tree.

The Evil Crow recognized the one in the lead.

He had a fair face and wore an imperial crown, with fragrant pouches protecting his ears. He was dressed in a wide-sleeved, long robe with a lotus-leaf lapel, and his feet were clad in boots.

‘King Yama?!’

King Yama kowtowed.

“The thirty-six legions of Yin Gods from the Underworld welcome the Human Emperor!”

The Evil Crow looked in disbelief at the young man who resembled Jiang Chaosheng.

‘The Human Emperor?’

‘This is the Human Emperor?!’

‘Jiang Chaosheng… is actually the Human Emperor’s reincarnation?!’

Just then, a fierce gale swept across Luoyang Slope, and the Yin Gods frowned as they looked into the distance.

They saw a handsome Angel descend.

But the Angel’s hair was disheveled, and his eyes were filled with brutality and resentment, as if he had just been through a fierce battle.

The thirty-six legions of Yin Gods tensed as if facing a formidable foe, a testament to the Angel’s terrifying power.

King Yama frowned.

“Whatever your business, depart at once! Do not disturb the funeral rites of His Majesty the Human Emperor!”

Lucifer crossed his arms, his expression arrogant.

“I came to the Underworld seeking passage to Hell.”

He glanced at the Human Emperor under the pagoda tree, snorted, and said contemptuously with his arms still crossed:

“You’re actually down to a single Ghost Soul?

Back when you killed the goddess I adored and slaughtered thousands of my followers, heh…”

Lucifer shook his head and chuckled lightly.

“Human Emperor, did you ever think you’d see the d—”

The Human Emperor’s figure suddenly vanished from under the pagoda tree.

The next second, he appeared in front of Lucifer.

Lucifer’s eyes widened in horror. Before he could even react, a fist grew larger and larger before his eyes.

“BOOM!”

Lucifer crashed to the ground, half of his head gone without a trace.

Even in death, he never would have imagined that the Human Emperor, with only a single Ghost Soul, could so easily blast his head apart!

The Evil Crow murmured:

‘King Yama did say that Lucifer met the Human Emperor on Luoyang Slope and got his head blown off with a single punch for running his mouth.’

In the scene, the Evil Crow suddenly saw the dull-eyed Junior Official walking over from a distance.

It was the same coward who had been scared to death.

Ox Head and Horse Face bellowed angrily:

“This impudent Ghost! How dare he disturb His Majesty the Human Emperor!”

The Human Emperor glanced at Ox Head and Horse Face, then at Lucifer’s corpse.

“The disturbance is done. What are you yelling for?”

The Human Emperor’s tone of voice was the same as Jiang Chaosheng’s—not lofty or pretentious, but simple and unadorned, like that of a common man.

Ox Head and Horse Face quickly kowtowed, saying in terror:

“We wouldn’t dare! When this wretch reaches the Underworld, we will first have him thrown into the cauldron of boiling oil thirty-three times!”

The Human Emperor walked up to the Junior Official. The Junior Official lifted his head, his eyes dull.

After ordinary humans become Ghost Souls, their consciousness gradually dissipates.

This Junior Official’s Ghost Soul had lingered on the battlefield for a long time. His consciousness had been battered by the aura of slaughter and had dissipated prematurely, leaving him to only instinctively walk towards the Underworld.

The Human Emperor patted the Junior Official’s shoulder, a warm smile on his face.

“They all betrayed me. Only you and Daji were willing to accompany me to my death.”

The Junior Official’s gaze remained dull.

The Human Emperor looked back at Ox Head and Horse Face and said coldly:

“You want to throw my number one war general into a cauldron of boiling oil? The nerve!”

Ox Head and Horse Face shrank back, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.

The Human Emperor gripped the Junior Official’s shoulders, his fingers tightening, and a golden divine light shone in his eyes.

“You suffered in this life. I have wronged you.

Don’t reincarnate. The Human World is too big, and I fear I won’t be able to find you.

I shall bestow upon you three pardons and gift you a Divine Body. Wait for me on Luoyang Slope.

When I return, you will continue to aid me in my great cause, serving as my foremost war general!”

First, three golden, glowing ‘Pardon’ characters shot into the Junior Official’s Ghost Soul.

Then, Lucifer’s body began to decompose. His bones and flesh sank into the earth, becoming nutrients for the large pagoda tree.

Next, a bird’s nest appeared on the pagoda tree. The Junior Official’s soul turned into a blue light and, lifted by the Human Emperor’s Magical Power, landed in the nest.

Finally, the Junior Official’s blue soul transformed into a small Crow and fell asleep in the nest.

…

The Evil Crow’s eyes were filled with sorrow, tears streaming down its face.

‘No wonder Ox Head and Horse Face were so good to me.’

‘No wonder my Hiding Device was hidden beneath the pagoda tree.’

‘No wonder… I was born on Luoyang Slope…’

Next, the Evil Crow saw the next scene.

…

「The world was a sea of chaos.」

The Underworld was gone. The gates to the Underworld were gone. Luoyang Slope was gone. The entire world had dissolved into chaos.

The Evil Crow awoke, dazed and confused. It didn’t notice that one of the Human Emperor’s Pardons on its chest was missing.

It flapped its wings, struggling to fly out of the chaos, and saw the magnificent Golden Era of the Tang Dynasty.

‘There was only one thing it wanted to do now!’

‘Visit the brothels!’

‘Visit the brothels with a vengeance!’

‘It didn’t even understand why it had such a fixation on brothels!’

The Evil Crow possessed a mountain bandit, took his money, and happily went to the brothels.

Just as it was happily enjoying the brothels, a magnificently dressed old man grabbed it and pulled it out from a crowd of Dancing Geishas.

The Evil Crow roared:

“Who the hell are you?”

The old man said with a chuckle:

“A certain gentleman asked me to come get you. He wants you to wait for him in an antique shop.”

The Evil Crow cursed at the old man while struggling.

The old man had many strange objects in his hands. He subdued it in a few moves and captured the Crow that was possessing the bandit’s body.

The Evil Crow followed the old man to an antique shop.

It raised its head and looked at the shop’s sign.

Antique Shop Zero.

The Evil Crow grumbled to itself:

‘What kind of douchebag gave this shop such a douchey name?!’

The old man led the Evil Crow into the antique shop and then ignored it.

The Evil Crow cursed angrily:

“Old man, didn’t you say someone asked you to get me?

Who is that person? Where are they?

Are you trying to fool Master Hei?

Do you have any fucking idea who I am?”

“I know. Of course I know who you are.”

The old man took out a broken rock and said with a chuckle:

“As for where that person is…

I just made a wish. I don’t know when the gentleman will arrive, so you’ll just have to wait a few more days.”

The Evil Crow’s eyes flew wide with anger.

“Are you nuts?! Making a wish on a broken rock!”

The old man stroked his beard.

“Ah, the items in this antique shop… they’re quite magical!

Little Master Hei.”

…

The three scenes ended.

The Evil Crow was already sobbing uncontrollably.

“You damn old fool, what do you mean ‘a few days’?!

This was clearly thousands of years ago!”

The Evil Crow paused.

“You did come to get me in the end. You had Yang Xiao and Xia Li come get me.”

Indeed.

The ones who retrieved the Evil Crow from the descendants of the Wang Family were indeed Yang Xiao and Xia Li, at Bai Litang’s Green Horse Manor.

Just then, the Evil Crow suddenly sensed something. It stared into the darkness in the distance, its eyes widening in horror.

“Holy shit! Yang Xiao? Are you fucking dying?!”

The Evil Crow yanked the Human Emperor’s Pardon from its chest and shot it out into the darkness.