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Chapter 431 Clay Sculpture with Golden Seal
The nearby streets were already bustling with noise as numerous captains from the Exorcism Division and the Mountain and River Division sped in.

Regardless of whether it's useful or not, let's conduct a thorough investigation and wipe out all those little evil spirits lurking in the shadows!
Ma Tianshou was visibly relieved to see that Xu Yuan was alright.

Then she immediately pulled Xu Yuan aside: "Was it Bai Huahun who did it?"

The old man, of course, guessed it too.

The great evil spirits in the mortal realm have always been well-behaved, so why would they suddenly trespass into the mortal realm to kill people?
Xu Yuan nodded: "He's hiding outside my door, I suppose he's..." Xu Yuan guessed in a flash: "He's waiting for me to be killed by the evil spirits of the turbid world, and then he'll break down the door and steal my fate."

But Lord Xu underestimated Bai Huahun's pretentious heart, a young man who had achieved early success.

Bai Huahun originally wanted to control his speed, but just as he reached Xu Yuan's door, Xu Yuan was killed by the evil spirit.

He saw himself push open the door and enter before he died.

He revealed a victor's smile, then cut open his body and devoured his destiny... Little did he expect that as soon as he stepped outside the door, the infection would suddenly surge.

Then, a bunch of slimy, Thousand-Eyed Evil Eyes peeked out from the crack in the door...

He tentatively pushed the door, but the entire door was blocked by the eyeballs inside.

The subsequent changes were completely unexpected by Bai Huahun.

He couldn't bother with pretense anymore and, like everyone else, quickly cleansed himself of the infection.

The "slow and steady wins the race" destiny only guarantees that misfortune will always be one step behind me, but misfortune will not be absent.

By the time Bai Huahun had cleansed himself of the pollution, Xu Yuan had already escaped from the turbid realm and crashed through the floorboards.

Bai Huahun wanted to find out more, in case Xu Yuan was seriously injured, he would have a chance.

Then it was discovered that... regardless of Xu Yuan's condition, his own condition was extremely poor.

The great evil spirits of the mortal realm have entered the mortal realm, and the resulting contamination is extremely terrible!
Bai Huahun dared not linger any longer and turned to slip away, only to be caught by Xu Yuan's gaze from behind.

Ma Tianshou gritted his teeth, his anger flaring: "To actually instigate evil spirits from the mortal realm to infiltrate the mortal world, they are truly depraved and insane!"

By this time, all the other guests staying at the inn had also been checked and confirmed to be safe from any strange occurrences.

Miao Yu and Zhu Zhanmei came over together, clasped their hands in a fist salute to the old man, and said, "Sir, you must not tolerate this, otherwise the consequences will be dire!"

“I understand.” Ma Tianshou nodded, glancing at the three people before him: “You will come with me.”

All three are outstanding talents of the next generation, and there are some things that need to be known to them as early as possible.

Ma Tianshou no longer cared about the aftermath at the inn and led Xu Yuan and the other two westward.

It was still night, and after leaving the inn four streets away, the surroundings returned to silence.

A faint golden light can be seen emanating from between the rows of houses.

That was the door god driving away the restless evil spirits.

The four of them made their way through the darkness, and there were often rustling sounds around them. Something must have been awakening from its hiding place, wanting to pounce on them and suck their blood, but was suddenly "forced to calm down".

It obediently shrank back into the shadows and lay there.

The four of them didn't have time to deal with these petty scoundrels. Ma Tianshou walked in the lead and led them all the way to a grove of trees in the west of the city.

Xu Yuan's nose twitched slightly as he caught a faint stench carried by the night wind from the woods.

That was the smell of a rotting corpse.

“This is the mortuary built by the Luocheng government,” Ma Tianshou explained. “The mortuary is the closest place to the Zhuojian.”

Xu Yuan was a little confused about the logic behind this.

But looking at Miao Yu and Zhu Zhanmei beside them, they didn't really understand either.

Ma Tianshou circled around to the main gate of the mortuary. Without knocking, the door opened from the inside as soon as his footsteps sounded in front of the gate.

Behind the door stood a hunchbacked old man with gray hair. "Sir," he bowed to Ma Tianshou, "the city was in turmoil tonight, and there was also a big mess over there. I knew you would come, and I've been waiting for you."

Ma Tianshou nodded to him: "You've worked hard, brother."

Once inside, it was surprisingly clean and tidy.

The coffins were placed on benches, most of them empty.

There is no charitable institution in Shanhe County.

Even cemeteries are regularly subjected to rituals to purify and suppress evil spirits, in order to prevent strange occurrences.

Are there any mortuaries in Champa? Xu Yuan really didn't know.

He had been in Champa for more than half a year, but had never had a proper chance to explore the city.

Ma Tianshou glanced back at Xu Yuan and said, "Most large cities have such charitable institutions, and your Champa city also has one."

The purpose of building this mortuary was entirely to counterbalance the corrupt officials.

Xu Yuan looked around again and noticed some clues. There were some Taoist rituals set up in the mortuary to dispel the evil spirits and prevent the corpses here from turning into monsters.

“The mortuary in your city of Champa is still under the control of the government. You must take it back after you return this time.” Ma Tianshou pondered for a moment, then said, “How about this, I will write a letter and you can give it to the prefect of Champa when you return. He should obediently hand over the mortuary to you.”

"Thank you, sir."

As they spoke, the group walked to a large room at the very back of the mortuary.

The house is two zhang high and five zhang wide.

The interior was cold and damp. Although five oil lamps were lit, they could not illuminate the darkness.

The oil lamps were the size of large bowls, with wicks as thick as a thumb, and each lamp was about 80% full of oil.

But the light was suppressed by some unknown force, reduced to the size of a soybean.

Inside the room, dozens of old coffins were arranged in a way that, whether intentionally or unintentionally, resembled a memorial archway.

"The evil spirits of the mortal realm prefer to stay in the city."

"As we know now, they are able to rely on the turbid world to absorb the vulgarity generated by hundreds of thousands or even millions of people in the city."

"Able to consume all the emotions born from the tragedies within the city."

"But the benefits certainly don't stop there; we don't know about the rest yet."

"Therefore, those great evil spirits in the mortal realm have a tacit understanding with the imperial court. If the imperial court does not eradicate them, they cannot cause trouble!"

“If they break this ‘tacit understanding,’ then we must respond!”

Ma Tianshou took out a large seal from his bosom.

Xu Yuan was puzzled, as this seal was not Ma Tianshou's official seal, and its production was unusually rough.

Ma Tianshou held the seal in his hand. Xu Yuan moved closer to see it clearly and exclaimed in surprise, "Is it made of clay?"

The surface of that seal was coated with a layer of gold lacquer!
But it's made of yellow clay!
Zhu Zhanmei said in a low voice, "That is the golden seal of the City God Temple and the statue. If you pay attention, you will find that in all the City God Temples of the Ming Dynasty, the City God only has a statue, and no golden seal."

"Why?"

Ma Tianshou answered for Zhu Zhanmei: "Because if the City God holds the golden seal, he will have authority in the mortal world and can open the passage between the underworld and the mortal world."

Xu Yuan was even more confused: "If there is no passage, how can the souls of the living walk the road to the underworld?"

Ma Tianshou shook his head: "You didn't hear what I said clearly. When the soul embarks on the road to the Yellow Springs, it is the way from the mortal world to the underworld."

What I'm talking about is the passage from the underworld to the world of the living.

(End of this chapter)