“Mm…?!”

Bexia’s eyes snapped open. Above him was a crooked old tree, bare of even a single leaf, looking as if it had already died.

“You’re awake!”

A lazy voice sounded. Bexia jolted up like lightning and stared toward the source. It was a woman with her back to him.

“How’d a living man like you get into Hell?”

She turned around as she asked. Her face was stunning, a loose robe hanging off her body, two smooth long legs bare in the chill air. A long sash trailed from her waist to the ground. Her hair was piled up at the back of her head and pinned with three brush handles. What really caught Bexia off guard, though, was the long pipe in her hand. As she spoke, a thin curl of smoke drifted from her lips.

“Who are you? Why should I tell you anything?”

Her looks were eye‑catching, sure, but Bexia wasn’t the kind of guy who forgot how to walk the moment he saw a pretty girl.

“Heh. If I hadn’t saved you, you’d already be dead in the Yellow Springs.”

The woman smiled, then stepped up to him, her delicate face leaning in close as she spoke.

“What are you trying to do?”

Bexia watched her warily. She pulled back a little, took a long drag on the pipe, then exhaled. The smoke washed over him with a strange, faintly sweet scent, the same smell he’d caught on her when she leaned in.

“Ke-ke~”

She covered her mouth and laughed softly, then reached to her waist and pulled out a talisman slip. She waved it in her hand. “Only Hell’s envoys can get their hands on this. Did you bribe an envoy to sneak into Hell?”

“I didn’t bribe anyone. Lulumon said the Judge agreed to let me into Hell, that’s why I came!”

The words tumbled out of Bexia before he could stop them, and he suddenly slapped a hand over his own mouth. What he’d just said had slipped out without a shred of conscious control.

“You tricked me!”

Bexia glared at her, annoyed. Obviously there was something wrong with that breath of smoke she’d blown at him. Otherwise how could he have blurted out the truth like that?

“The Judge agreed to let you in? How come I never heard about that?”

The woman looked him up and down with amused eyes.

“You…”

Bexia suddenly snapped fully awake, stared at her, and blurted in shock, “Wait— you’re Hell’s Judge?!”

“What? I can’t be a Judge?”

“No, it’s just… Lulumon clearly said the Judge agreed to it…”

Bexia felt a wave of realization—and the sour feeling of being played. Thinking back over Lulumon’s words carefully, he found more and more holes. The more he thought about it, the more wrong it felt.

If the Judge had really agreed, why did Lulumon have to tag along?

That alone was off. And she’d kept warning him not to wander around. That was even more suspicious. Putting that together with the Judge’s reaction now, it was obvious: Lulumon had brought him into Hell while risking breaking Hell’s rules.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were the Judge.”

Bexia looked at the woman, then asked carefully, “Lulumon didn’t mean any harm. I can leave Hell right now. Please don’t punish her.”

“Leave?”

She looked him over from head to toe, took another pull on her pipe, and said, “I did save your life. If you just walk away like this, isn’t that a little too cheap for you?”

“Then what should I do?”

“How about this— treat me to a good meal and a good drink, and I’ll let you go back.”

Her words sounded a bit shameless, but they also felt pretty reasonable. After all, she had saved him. Treating her to a meal over that wasn’t outrageous.

“Wait, no!”

Something suddenly struck Bexia. He cried out, glanced around in all directions, then looked at the Judge with urgent eyes. “Your Honor, when you pulled me out, did you see anyone else with me?”

Afraid she wouldn’t recognize Bi Anghua, Bexia waved his hand and conjured an image of her in the air.

“This is…”

She stared at the picture in his hand, stunned for a moment. Then she gave him a long, measuring look before finally speaking.

“I didn’t see her… but I’ll have people keep an eye out.”

The Judge took a quiet drag on her pipe and shook her head.

“Thank you, Your Honor.”

“Call me Liu Yanxu. ‘Judge’ is just my job title.”

Liu Yanxu’s tone was casually carefree.

“Then I’ll call you Judge Liu.”

Calling her Liu Yanxu out of nowhere felt way too familiar. They’d only just met, and a Judge in Hell was anything but ordinary. In terms of rank, a Judge was basically second only to the King of Hell.

“Suit yourself.”

Liu Yanxu didn’t care in the slightest. She brushed past him and said, “What are you standing there for?”

“Oh.”

Bexia snapped back to himself and quickly fell in step behind her. All along the way, he was wrapped in the lingering scent of the smoke she exhaled.

“Judge Liu, please help find Bi Anghua as soon as you can. She’s just a kid, suddenly dropped in a strange place. I’m afraid…”

After walking for a while, Bexia still couldn’t stop worrying about Bi Anghua.

“Oh? Bi Anghua? A kid?”

Liu Yanxu didn’t look back, but she repeated his words.

“Her name’s Bi Anghua?”

“Yeah. She was apparently once a deity of the old Hell, but now she’s my daughter.”

“Your daughter?”

Liu Yanxu halted mid‑step and shot him a strange look. Then she turned away again. “Worrying won’t help. I’ll have people watch for her.”

As she finished, she closed her right hand in a loose grip and pulled a large calligraphy brush out of thin air. She lifted it and began writing in midair. After a few strokes, the glowing characters scattered into the empty space and vanished.