Surrounding people looked on with a sense of resigned understanding, as if everything were perfectly reasonable.

However, to Qin Ruqing, the order here seemed twisted and absurd, quite different from the chaotic scene she had imagined.

Due to this incident, the tea house began to close its doors to customers.

Qin Ruqing was certain that the closure had more to do with the red light and the so-called judgment than with the fight itself.

The situation didn’t end there; it triggered a series of reactions.

Nearby businesses also started closing down.

As night fell, Qin Ruqing found the nearest inn to Shengfeng Tea House and checked in.

The inn was quite small, more like a “bed and breakfast,” with only one or two rooms available for rent.

The owner, an elderly woman, served Qin Ruqing a steaming meal.

Despite Qin Ruqing’s cultivation level allowing her to go without food, the rich food culture in this world meant that cultivators still enjoyed pure, untainted spiritual food outside of their meditation.

The meal was excellent, and the elderly woman’s cooking skills were impressive.

Throughout the meal, Qin Ruqing chatted with her and learned that she had a son and a daughter, both cultivators.

Such a family setup was quite common in Sin City.

The conversation remained pleasant until Qin Ruqing mentioned the events at Shengfeng Tea House.

The elderly woman’s face changed abruptly.

She looked at Qin Ruqing with a mix of panic and urgency, clearly indicating that she didn’t want Qin Ruqing to continue discussing the matter.

Qin Ruqing closed her mouth and, after a moment of contemplation, said, “Is this topic a taboo and should not be discussed privately? If talking about it might bring trouble to the shop, you needn’t say more. I will not inquire further.”

The elderly woman looked into Qin Ruqing’s honest eyes, sighed, and returned to her seat.

“It’s not a taboo,” she said. “The shops around Shengfeng Tea House are closing out of fear of attracting trouble.”

Qin Ruqing asked, “Aren’t you afraid?”

The old woman answered, “I’m afraid, but not that afraid when I think about it. My two children have already entered the cycle of judgment, and as an old woman without any cultivation, the judgment standards aren’t that strict for us.”

This was why she dared to keep her shop open even after the incident at Shengfeng Teahouse.

Qin Ruqing picked out the key words, “What do you mean by ‘cycle of judgment’?”

She remembered the two troublemaking guests at the teahouse who were calm, even indifferent, about the judgment and guessed, “Is it possible to be judged multiple times? Since you mentioned a cycle, does that mean there’s no limit, and it goes on forever?”

The old woman shook her head, “I don’t know if it goes on forever. I only know that the highest number of judgments someone in the City of Sin has gone through is ninety-nine. Whether there’s more beyond that is unknown because that person died during the ninety-ninth judgment.”

So, ninety-nine was just the upper limit for an individual’s judgments, not the ultimate number of judgments.

Qin Ruqing was careful in asking questions, aware that this might involve the old woman’s family.

“Who conducts the judgment, and where does it take place?”

The old woman pointed in a direction, her eyes reflecting fear and dread as if pointing towards a divine place.

She said, “In the arena at the center of the City of Sin.”

After thinking for a moment, Qin Ruqing asked one last question, “Is it possible to avoid going to the arena for judgment?”

“No!” the old woman whispered, “Those who try to escape judgment are eternally haunted by hungry ghosts, unable to find peace even in death.”

…

The next day, Qin Ruqing went to the arena and encountered the old woman’s children returning home after their judgment.

Unlike the unruly troublemakers from Shengfeng Teahouse, who were reckless and malicious, the old woman’s children were timid and numb.

They were covered in wounds, but their eyes were dull and emotionless, as if they felt no pain and were detached from the world around them.

Qin Ruqing greeted them as they passed by, but they ignored her, heads bowed, and walked past her without a word.

Pausing for a moment, Qin Ruqing gazed at the arena in the center of the city.

The arena was the largest structure in the City of Sin.

Despite its name, it was not a place for entertainment or combat but a site for the residents’ judgment.

Qin Ruqing observed the arena for three days and found that those who entered for judgment fell into three main categories.

The first category: Those who had given up, knowing they couldn’t escape judgment or break free from the cycle, and began to indulge themselves.

Their actions were extreme, and their malice was evident, fitting the image of true sinners.

These people, like the troublemakers at Shengfeng Teahouse, had gone through many judgments, usually three to five times, sometimes more than ten.

Those who survived ten rounds of judgment were usually highly cultivated but extremely bloodthirsty and violent.

The entire city feared them.

The second category: Those who were terrified and viewed the arena as a monstrous threat.

Each entry into the arena required immense psychological struggle, and they emerged with expressions of relief and survival.

Based on Qin Ruqing’s guess, this type of person probably hasn’t gone through many judgments.

The third category, which Qin Ruqing called the “numb group,” was represented by the old woman’s children.

This group had varying experiences. Some had been judged as many as twenty times, reaching a state known as “total numbness,” while others, after just two or three times, had already fallen into complete despair, a state known as “lying flat.”

Summarizing her observations, Qin Ruqing realized that going through judgment in the arena was never a good thing.

Instead, it was a pit of despair.

Once someone fell in, it was almost impossible to escape.

After several days of observing, Qin Ruqing couldn’t claim full understanding, but she had a general grasp of the situation in the City of Sin.

If this city was real, it was likely an ancient city cut off from the present world, because it had its own set of rules and logic.

But if it was a creation of the Four Hall Trials, then perhaps there was a real-life prototype for this city.

The city’s residents were trapped in an inescapable tragic fate, subjected to judgment for various crimes.

Once judged, it was almost impossible to prove their innocence or escape.

The end was always death.

The only difference lay in how they died—whether it was in the arena’s judgment, by suicide, or from being haunted by hungry ghosts.

Rather than calling it the City of Sin, Qin Ruqing preferred to call it the City of Despair.

This was all the information Qin Ruqing could gather, but she still didn’t understand what the third trial of the Four Hall Trials, the Hungry Ghost Path, required her to do.

Was it merely to experience the storyline of the Four Hall Trials and gain some insights from it?

Or was it more challenging, such as helping the city’s residents escape the cycle of judgment?

Qin Ruqing continued to stay in the old woman’s guesthouse for another two days and confirmed that if she just waited around, no special “plot” would be triggered to give her a task.

All she could observe was the city’s absurd daily life.

On the sixth day of entering the City of Sin, Qin Ruqing decided to take action and try to enter the arena.

Clearly, the invisible order of the city was maintained by the judgments in the arena.

Without investigating the arena, she would never know the truth.

If the Hungry Ghost Path had no time limit, it wouldn’t be a problem, but Youlin had told her that the Hungry Ghost Path had a six-month limit.

If she didn’t get out within six months, she would be trapped in the city forever.

Obviously, after six months, she would become a true “resident of the City of Sin.”

Qin Ruqing thought entering the arena would involve some difficulties.

Maybe something or someone would block her and set a precondition.

But to her surprise, she entered directly.

As soon as Qin Ruqing stepped into the arena, a red light flashed on her body, marking her with something.

At the same time, a realization spontaneously appeared in her mind: she was about to be judged.

When this realization surfaced, the scene before her began to clear.

It was a ring-shaped, stepped judgment platform, and she was at the bottom.

At the top stood a judge with an indistinct face, impossible to look at directly, who began to announce her crime.

Her name was Ruqing, and in a secret realm, she encountered a powerful monster.

She was chased and had two escape routes: one leading to an ordinary village with a thousand people, and the other to her own family, which had over twenty skilled cultivators.

If the monster entered the village, it would surely massacre the villagers.

But if it entered her family’s territory, the combined efforts of the cultivators might offer a slim chance of survival.

In the heat of the moment, “Ruqing” quickly analyzed the pros and cons and chose the route leading to her family’s territory.

However, the monster was far stronger than “Ruqing” had imagined. Nearly all twenty cultivators were killed, and Ruqing, the hope of the family, survived.

Now, in the judgment court, “Ruqing” needed to prove her innocence to end the judgment and leave the court.

If she couldn’t prove her innocence, she would be thrown into the real arena to receive punishment.

Upon hearing her crime, Qin Ruqing’s heart sank completely.

This crime was like a cultivator’s version of the “trolley problem.”

Regardless of whether saving the villagers was a righteous act, the fact that she caused the death of her family’s cultivators was undeniable.

Based on this, she could never prove her innocence!

Is this why the city’s residents cannot escape the cycle of judgment?