Chapter 1232: Sustenance for Ghosts
“Is it different from the architectural styles in ancient times?” Lu Yang chuckled as if he had heard something interesting.
“I-is it not?” Mu Baiyi felt uneasy at Lu Yang’s laughter. After all, this person is a prodigy from the ancient era and is best qualified to speak on the subject.
“Let’s talk while we walk.” Lu Yang smiled, signaling for Mu Baiyi to lead the way.
“This way.” Mu Baiyi gestured and led them to a riverbank.
The river mist grew thicker. A wooden boat was moored at the bank. Vice Creed Leader Shi Huagu untied it and ferried them across.
“This place is called the Oblivion River, also built according to Qin Haoran’s manuscripts. It surrounds Fengdu City, and one must be ferried across by a ferryman to enter the city.
“This river can detect whether passengers are carrying dangerous items. Of course, none of you need inspection.” Mu Baiyi added the last line to prevent the two from taking offense.
Large ghostly green lanterns floated on the river, matching the color of the ghost fires hovering above them, serving as illumination.
“It does have a bit of the right atmosphere,” Meng Jingzhou remarked casually, as if he were an expert on such things.
“Young Creed Leader Lu, where does Fengdu City’s architectural style actually come from?”
Rather than answering directly, Lu Yang brought up another question. “Creed Leader Mu, when do you think the ancient era ended?”
“After the ancient immortals turned the stars into continents, the ancient era ended, and the Midheaven Emperor-Lord established the Great Qian Dynasty upon the ruins.”
Lu Yang shook his head. “Wrong. Between turning stars into continents and the founding of the Great Qian, there was a gap of one hundred thousand years. During that time, a colossal force named the Ember Legacy Dynasty was born.”
“What?!”
Mu Baiyi, Creed Leader Chi, and Liu Zhen were all stunned. Even Shi Huagu, who was rowing the boat, nearly had his oar drop into the river.
There was a dynasty that spanned a hundred thousand years, yet none of us had heard of it.
“Do you remember I once said that the Heavenly Court and the Underworld existed side by side in the ancient era—one governing the living and the other overseeing reincarnation?
“The Underworld that presides over life and death and reincarnation was established during the Ember Legacy Dynasty.
“The Fengdu Ghost City your esteemed creed has built bears some resemblance to the Underworld.”
The Heaven Mandate Immortal, the Epoch Immortal, the Nine-Layers Immortal, Qing He, and Ao Ling had all lived through the Ember Legacy Dynasty. From their accounts, Lu Yang had pieced together that the Underworld was immensely similar in appearance to Fengdu City before him.
He wondered whether Qin Haoran had recalled the memories from his first life by chance or fully awakened them to create Fengdu City manuscripts.
Lu Yang leaned toward the former. If Qin Haoran had fully awakened his memories and still failed his tribulation, that would be ridiculous.
“So that’s how it is!” Mu Baiyi was convinced that he had made the right call by inviting the Heavenly Court Creed. Only they know such ancient secrets.
As the group disembarked, the grand, majestic ancient city of Fengdu was presented before them. It was solemn and carried an inexplicable sense of antiquity. Its aged feel was reflected not just in the architectural style, but also in the construction materials.
Lu Yang touched the wall bricks. “These weren’t just forged recently, right?”
“Good eyesight, Young Creed Leader Lu. While exploring tombs, we stumbled upon an ancient capital city of the Great Qian Dynasty and moved its bricks here to construct Fengdu City.”
“All of these bricks?”
“Yes, all of them.”
Lu Yang fell silent for a while. The Fengdu Ghost City’s size rivals that of the Great Xia’s imperial capital. If all its bricks came from another ancient capital, that capital must have been equally enormous.
Which Great Qian capital could be that large? You all probably unearthed the Great Qian’s imperial capital.
The city gates were as heavy as mountains. Shi Huagu pushed the wooden doors open.
Inside, ghostly figures of all shapes and sizes crowded the place. Some were two stories tall, while others were only the size of a palm. The ghosts numbered in the tens of thousands.
The city was decorated with crimson lanterns, and every ghost was adorned with colored banners to celebrate the Fengdu City Completion Ceremony. Although Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou knew that Mu Baiyi meant well, the scene of Fengdu Ghost City’s gloomy environment combined with the green ghost fires was extremely eerie.
“Starved Ghosts, the Five Rampaging Ghosts, Alluring Ghosts, Ear-Eye Ghosts...” Lu Yang considered himself knowledgeable about ghosts, but there were still many ghosts he couldn’t name or identify.
Mu Baiyi declared proudly, “Nearly all of the Great Xia’s ghosts are here.”
The Nine-Netherworlds Creed hadn’t always had so many ghosts. As their barbeque shops expanded throughout the world, the staff used spare time to recruit local ghosts into their creed, obtaining rewards based on the ghost’s cultivation level.
In their earlier impoverished days, this would have been impossible.
“We also built schools, restaurants, teahouses, and other places for the ghosts according to their needs. That’s enough for them to live here forever.”
Realization dawned upon Lu Yang. “Does that mean that Fengdu City was built specifically as a city for ghosts?”
No wonder the Nine-Netherworlds Creed has been so intent on building Fengdu City. It wasn’t just about faith.
“What do the ghosts eat?” As the saying goes, neither yin nor yang can grow alone. Although ghosts are extreme yin beings, they need large amounts of yang energy to sustain activity. This is why ghosts feed on yang energy from the living.
With so many ghosts in Fengdu City, the Nine-Netherworlds Creed can’t just capture people to feed them regularly, right?
“We have Creed Leader Chi to thank for that.”
Creed Leader Chi smiled humbly. “I only provided a bit of assistance. The main idea was yours.”
“Please take a look.” Mu Baiyi produced a lamp from behind him.
“A solar lamp?” Meng Jingzhou was puzzled. Don’t solar lamps counter ghosts?
“This isn’t an ordinary solar lamp.” Mu Baiyi flipped the switch.
The solar lamp glowed faintly, dimmer than the ghost fires above them.
“Ghosts consume yang energy, and the greatest source of yang energy in the world is the sun. However, the sun is too intense. Only Ghost Kings can move around under the sun. Ordinary ghosts could die upon contact and can’t absorb the sun’s energy.
“Meanwhile, solar lamps absorb the sun’s energy. Thus, I asked Creed Leader Chi to develop a dimmer version of the solar lamp. A lower brightness means less solar energy released, making it more absorbable for ghosts.
“It was originally just an experiment. I didn’t expect it to work.” Mu Baiyi smiled. He wasn’t confident before the attempt.
With the problem of sustenance solved, the Great Xia’s ghosts naturally flocked to seek refuge with the Nine-Netherworlds Creed.
The Radiant Sun Creed was happy to cooperate with the Nine-Netherworlds Creed and was even willing to provide solar lamps for free. Their creed’s mission was to spread the sun’s greatness. Now that even ghosts relied on the sun, it was a testament to the sun’s supremacy.
“In that case, will all these ghosts live in Fengdu City from now on?” Lu Yang asked. This is an unexpected harvest.
Ghosts are notoriously difficult to manage, a problem the imperial court openly acknowledges. Even the question of whether ghosts are entitled to human rights is hotly debated, with no consensus reached.
If all the ghosts settle here, that would be ideal.
“Not all of them will stay in Fengdu City. We still need ghosts to run the barbeque shops and research new products with the Radiant Sun Creed.”
“Can’t you use humans?” Meng Jingzhou asked.
Mu Baiyi waved his hand. “Humans need monthly wages; it’s too expensive. Ghosts only need yang energy.”