This feeling of looking up at her was very subtle, a déjà vu of sorts.

As if somewhere deep in his memory, at some point in time, a similar scene had once appeared.

Hua Jinyan frowned.

The distance grew farther and farther; he had to raise his head, look up. This feeling made him somewhat suffocated, as though she was getting farther and farther away from him. It was unbearable; he desperately wanted to fly to her side and stand shoulder to shoulder with her forever.

But...

It was as if Hua Jinyan’s heart had already climbed up to the top of the high tower, while his feet had taken root in the ground, firmly pinned in place, unable to move at all.

"I’m done!" Little Taotie let out a cheer.

Hua Jinyan jolted awake, pulling himself out of that vague yet stifling sense of discomfort.

Little Taotie silently pressed the last Gold Brick into place at the top of the tower.

The Gold Brick spoke human words: "Thank you."

The moment the words fell, the entire Golden Tower burst into a dazzling Golden Light. When the light faded, the gaps at the joints, which no one had filled, had completely vanished; the entire Golden Tower now looked seamlessly connected, cast as a single whole.

Little Taotie sat at the highest point of the Golden Tower and suddenly, a flood of images rushed into her consciousness.

The images came from the Underworld.

Groups of women in different clothing, clearly from different dynasties, were kneeling on the ground.

They seemed to be telling something.

Those who heard it were moved to tears; Lord Judge wiped the corner of his eye and sighed over something.

All the images were soundless.

At the very moment the Golden Tower was completed, it seemed to have connected to some extraordinary place, or some rift in time and space.

Little Taotie stared wide-eyed at scene after scene, as if separated by time and space, separated by thousands of miles, gazing upon those images from afar.

She saw those women step into Reincarnation one by one, each of them reborn, given a new identity, forgetting the sorrow and grief of the past. Then streaks of Golden Light, visible to the naked eye, shot toward her and merged into the center of her brow, disappearing within.

The scenes of childbirth unfolding before her eyes represented new life; they were joyous, worthy of celebration. Yet in an instant, the images abruptly shifted, returning to the Underworld.

Among those who had originally stood together with the women, several were now kneeling on the ground, seeming to recount their past. They were moved by their own tales, weeping bitterly. But this time Lord Judge wore a cold face, unmoved, his gaze full of indifference.

Even if the Spiritual Bodies kneeling on the ground cried their hearts out in regret, it could not change the fact that they had once taken life lightly, squandering the hard‑won chance to be born as humans.

Even though time had passed and circumstances had changed, even though their fleshly bodies had been destroyed, their Spiritual Bodies devoured, and their Elemental Spirits tormented and trapped for thousands of years, they could not be forgiven.

With a wave of his writing brush, Lord Judge condemned several of them to cruel punishment.

Several others, though they had taken life lightly, were spared because in life they had loved to do good deeds, practiced charity, and accumulated virtue. They were granted the chance to be reborn, but the possibility of returning as humans in this world was no more.

Some entered the animal realm; the best outcome was to become a nationally protected animal, while the worst was to sink into the fate of livestock, those ingredients raised for human consumption, destined to suffer the torment of slaughter and cooking.

When they were killed, the Spiritual Bodies lingering around those living beings would feel the pain. During the cooking, the agony continued unabated. Even when being torn into by teeth, the pain was still there, no lighter than the cruel tortures suffered in the Underworld.

Only after Lord Judge had arranged the destination of every Spiritual Body did he rest for a brief moment. Sensing something, he lifted his head, as though meeting a pair of eyes as brilliant as a sky full of stars.

In Lord Judge’s field of vision there appeared only this pair of profound and mysterious eyes, as if they could see through all things in the world, traverse time and space. That gaze of scrutiny seemed able to judge everything; all was encompassed within those eyes.