Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Territory of Qingzhou

The alliance between Yun Sheng and the Old Demon Qiong was tentatively established. After chanting a Buddhist mantra, the bald young monk summoned a black wind, carrying Zhu Yan away with him.

"Now that the Path of the Underworld is open, the Right Envoy may recruit a few subordinates here to assist in sending wandering souls and ghosts into the Netherworld. This is the token of the Right Envoy. Its various divine powers will need to be studied by yourself!"

With that, Old Demon Qiong tossed out a pitch-black token. Xu Cheng hurried to catch it. It was not heavy, but it carried a trace of chill. The token was engraved with the two characters, "Yellow Springs."

He sent his consciousness into the token, and a flood of information poured into his mind.

Most of the information detailed the responsibilities of a Yellow Springs envoy, including the ability to grant wandering souls or the living the position of ghost messengers, so these ghost messengers could help Xu Cheng capture evil spirits and fierce ghosts.

"Left Envoy, where would be the best place for me to develop my influence?"

He couldn't proceed aimlessly like a headless fly, so Xu Cheng asked further.

Old Demon Qiong fell silent, calculating fate with his fingers. After a moment, he spoke: "The Right Envoy should head to Qingzhou, three hundred and twenty miles from here. That region is overrun with monsters and ghosts, and you can recruit several ghost messengers there as subordinates."

"You two, who wishes to accompany the Right Envoy?"

With that, Old Demon Qiong turned to Qing Shu and Chrysanthemum. The two exchanged glances, and then Chrysanthemum declared, "I am willing to follow the Right Envoy to Qingzhou!"

"Excellent! You must set out for Qingzhou at once." Old Demon Qiong handed Xu Cheng a map, pointing out the location of Qingzhou City. "You two must be cautious on this journey. I must oversee the situation here and may not be able to assist you in time."

"Understood. Let’s go, Chrysanthemum!"

Xu Cheng nodded, then summoned the wind of Yellow Springs, rising into the sky. Under the urging of his magic seals, his speed was astonishing.

Chrysanthemum’s travel technique turned his body into a black dot, his speed not much slower than Xu Cheng’s.

At the Unity Realm, their travel speed was at least ten times that of the True Qi Realm. The three hundred and twenty miles were traversed in just half a day.

As they neared Qingzhou’s borders, they descended. As Old Demon Qiong had said, the place was indeed overrun with monsters and ghosts. The sky ahead was shrouded in dark clouds, while behind them the sky was clear and bright—a strange sight indeed.

"Chrysanthemum, do you know what happened here in Qingzhou?" Xu Cheng couldn’t help but ask.

"It’s said the people of Qingzhou refused to submit to the rule of the Martial Emperor of Great Xia, and, led by the Great Zen Temple, prepared for rebellion. The Martial Emperor discovered this and, together with Marquis Wu Wen, led troops to massacre everyone here. The Great Zen Temple was utterly destroyed! All the temple’s magical texts and martial arts were taken by the Martial Emperor. Since then, the place has become a ghost town, and no one dares even speak of rebellion!"

Speaking of the Martial Emperor’s might, Chrysanthemum was full of awe. It seemed that the Martial Emperor and Old Demon Qiong were not so different after all.

One slaughtered cities for a thousand miles, one gathered souls into the Yellow Springs; one was an emperor, the other a Yellow Springs envoy.

"Let’s go in and have a look!"

Confident in their skill, the two plunged into the pitch-black domain.

The oppressive clouds weighed down, but for Xu Cheng, who had endured the baptism of the Yellow Springs, it was nothing. Chrysanthemum seemed little affected as well, following close behind.

As the two walked, a rustling sound accompanied their steps.

"Look, living people!"

"There are still the living daring to come here!"

"Let’s eat them!"

"Yes, yes!"

Whispered voices rose—it was a group of ghosts. Some were missing arms or legs, some carried their heads in their hands—a terrifying sight.

The ghosts, having agreed, began to surround them, green liquid—presumably drool—dripping from their mouths.

These creatures were the resentful souls and corpses of the dead fused together, forming terrifying monsters. They resembled the zombies from Xu Cheng’s previous life’s movies, though they possessed a bit more intelligence.

With a cold snort, Xu Cheng summoned chains of nether flame, binding dozens of ghosts. He then opened the gates of Yellow Springs and threw them all inside, silently reciting a sacrificial incantation. The ghosts vanished, and the Yellow Springs rewarded Xu Cheng with a black pill. Old Demon Qiong had only barely received such a reward after offering up an entire city’s worth of souls, yet dozens of monsters had earned Xu Cheng a similar prize?

Could it be that the Yellow Springs had hidden rules?

Xu Cheng’s series of actions left Chrysanthemum dazzled. He mused that, though the Right Envoy’s cultivation was far inferior to the Left Envoy, his methods were perfectly suited to subduing these monsters.

Imitating Old Demon Qiong’s way of swallowing the black pill, Xu Cheng began to absorb the pill with faint patterns etched upon it.

Once fully absorbed, he found that a complete set of magical runes had appeared in his body—a spell of the Yellow Springs Netherwater, one of the techniques required for the next magic seal.

Within a hundred meters, all ghosts had been cleared out. Their first battle was an easy victory, and Xu Cheng felt a surge of pride. He summoned some Netherwater into his palm.

The water resembled black mercury. A single drop fell to the ground, corroding a pit into the earth—an impressively potent effect.

He tested his spell by using the Little Xu Earth Alchemy on the ground, which emitted a faint yellow glow, the essence of Xu Earth. Dropping Netherwater upon it, there was no reaction.

This was merely an experiment to gauge his abilities.

At this point, Chrysanthemum had made up his mind to cling tightly to Xu Cheng. Though he could handle ghosts himself, he could not do so with such ease.

The two continued forward, soon coming upon a village.

The place was bustling with voices, and scarlet lanterns hung high—someone was getting married in this haunted place? Chrysanthemum and Xu Cheng exchanged glances and went inside.

"Come, come! Drink! Drink! Today is my grand wedding, I, Chen Dazhu, won’t let anyone leave sober!"

"Alright!"

At the wedding site, a ghost with a face crawling with maggots raised a bowl of wine to the crowd.

Looking closer, their dishes were nothing but maggots, scorpions, and centipedes. Such a group of ghosts holding a wedding—Xu Cheng cursed under his breath but decided to watch and see.

After a while, a slightly portly man escorted a bride with a red veil from behind the house.

"The bride is here!"

A ghost called out loudly. The ghost named Chen Dazhu lifted the bride’s veil; the bride’s body was less decayed than most, which explained the marriage.

"Right Envoy, aren’t you going to act?" Chrysanthemum whispered.

"What’s the rush? Let’s watch—I’ve seen people marry, but never ghosts."

Xu Cheng smiled.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" the ghosts chanted. Chen Dazhu pressed his lips to the bride’s, but the next instant, the bride bit off half his tongue.

"Ugh ah bah..." Chen Dazhu mumbled, unable to speak, as the surrounding ghosts stared in shock. The bride took the opportunity to run, heading straight toward Xu Cheng and Chrysanthemum.

On seeing them, the bride darted in the opposite direction, but the ghosts gave chase.

"Perfect, delivered right to my door!"

With that, Xu Cheng opened the gates of the Yellow Springs, sucking in the slower ghosts. Chains of nether flame bound those trying to escape, including the bride.

He sent them all into the Yellow Springs, except for the bride—everyone else was converted into rewards for Xu Cheng.

Once more, a black pill spun into Xu Cheng’s palm.