Daily Intelligence: From Water Snake to Jinghe Dragon King

Chapter 193 Enjoying a long life in Xuanjian City, Drunken Soul Spring, Dead Man's Soup

Liu Qing helped them up one by one, gently comforted them for a few moments, and then excused himself, saying he had something to attend to. Not long after he left, he saw that some underworld officials had discovered them and come to settle them. Liu Qing was completely relieved and left.

The two walked slowly forward, and soon arrived at the gate of Xuanjian City along the official road leading to the City God's domain.

Ghost soldiers guarded the entrance. Yuan Datou and Liu Qing were outsiders. After explaining their purpose and paying the city entrance tax, they were allowed to enter the city.

Previously, it was the sacrificial realm, now it is the city god realm. Anyone entering the city must pay an entry tax. Liu Qing understands this, after all, the incense money paid in this entry tax is used to repair and maintain Xuanjian City.

Upon entering Xuanjian City, Liu Qing found it to be several times more prosperous than the area outside. The city ground was paved with underworld stones, without a trace of mud.
Shops, restaurants, teahouses, general merchandise stores, and other shops line both sides of the road. The ghosts living in the city are all dressed in fine clothes, their faces beaming with happiness. They wander around the city, shopping, taking walks, meeting up with friends from their past lives for a drink, or even playing hand in hand with their loving spouses after death. They are having a wonderful time.

Having arrived here, Liu Qing had some idea of ​​what was going on. The ghosts within the City God's realm were treated differently based on their good or evil deeds in life.

Those who performed good deeds and accumulated merit in their lifetime will be placed in Xuanjian City to enjoy their remaining lifespan in the afterlife; those who committed evil deeds and did not accumulate merit in their lifetime will be arrested and imprisoned.
Those who lived mediocre lives, neither good nor evil, were placed outside the city after death to continue their farming and fishing livelihoods until their lifespan was exhausted, at which point they were sent to the underworld to be reincarnated.

Liu Qing had heard rumors that a person has a lifespan in life (yang) and a lifespan in death (yin). The lifespan in life is governed by the Southern Dipper Star Lord, while the lifespan in death is recorded in the Book of Yin Lifespan held by the City God.

But whether it's the lifespan in the mortal realm or the lifespan in the underworld, both are governed by the Book of Life and Death in the underworld.

Leaving aside lifespan, the increase or decrease of lifespan for mortals is predetermined. Only cultivators like Liu Qing, or those who commit great evil or good in the human world, would have their lifespan increased or decreased.

Speaking of the lifespan in the underworld, each local city god has a book of lifespans corresponding to the beings in his jurisdiction.
After their lifespan expires, they are guided or captured to the City God's realm. They are not immediately sent to the underworld, but are kept in the form of ghosts.
Only after each person has completed their natural lifespan in the underworld are they sent to the netherworld for reincarnation.

Every living being has a lifespan in the afterlife after death, it's just a matter of how long. Those who accumulate good deeds in the afterlife have a longer lifespan, and those who don't have a shorter lifespan.

They will all be required to complete their lifespan in the City God's realm, but the treatment and duration will vary depending on the amount of merit they have accumulated.

Among them, the ghosts who accumulated the most good deeds in their lifetime also had the longest lifespans in the afterlife, ranging from several decades to hundreds of years, and some are even said to have lived for several hundred years.
Although only a few of these long-lived ghosts visit the City God's realm each year, the City God of Chang'an has existed for a thousand years, accumulating a considerable number over that time.

According to the rules of the underworld, ghosts whose lifespan in the underworld has not yet ended cannot be sent to the underworld for reincarnation. However, the Xuanjian City within the City God's realm, where they are housed, is only so big.

Faced with this large influx of long-lived ghosts that have gathered over the past thousand years, we cannot allow them to overwhelm Xuanjian City.
They had no choice but to agree to the demands of the various gods outside, recruiting them as underworld soldiers and officials, thus resolving the risk of Xuanjian City being overcrowded.
This provided another way out for these ghosts. After all, serving as underworld soldiers and officials for various deities, although they wouldn't be recognized by the Heavenly Court or granted divine positions from the start, could still allow them to gradually ascend to the divine path through the annual offerings from the gods.

Besides, these long-lived ghosts had grown tired of staying in Xuanjian City for so long. Serving as underworld soldiers and officials for the gods would also give them a chance to go out and see the outside world.

Therefore, whenever outside deities come to recruit ghost soldiers, all the ghosts in Xuanjian City who have long lifespans eagerly sign up.

Recruiting Yin soldiers and Yin officials in Xuanjian City is very popular, but you can't just set up a stage and post notices anywhere.

Recruiting is only permitted after reporting to the City God's office and obtaining permission from the underworld officials, judges, and the City God himself.

Upon arriving at the City God's Office in Xuanjian City, Liu Qing waited outside while Yuan Datou went inside to submit his application.

Liu Qing found the City God's office to be imposing and majestic, just like any other government office in the human world, guarded by underworld officials. A beast stood solemnly on either side of the main gate: a rooster on the left and a dog on the right.
These two creatures, a bird and a beast, are the reincarnations of a rooster that guides souls and a guard dog from the mortal realm. They are dedicated to distinguishing good from evil, punishing the wicked and rewarding the guilty. Their combat prowess is considerable, far surpassing that of the City God and other underworld officials.
This bird and beast correspond to the Golden Rooster Mountain and Evil Dog Ridge of the Thirteen Stations of the Underworld.

Beside the gatekeepers, along with their chickens and dogs, there is a screen wall with a couplet on it:
Good and evil will eventually be rewarded, right and wrong will eventually be distinguished by oneself. Horizontal inscription: Even ghosts and gods cannot be deceived.

Liu Qing nodded secretly. From the moment he entered Xuanjian City, he had seen that all the ghosts in the city were content, and the city, both inside and outside, was peaceful.
The two couplets also demonstrate the majesty of the City God in this place, and further highlight his diligence in governing, making the area he governs like a pure land on earth. This naturally arouses my curiosity about this City God.
Unlike some other gods who, taking advantage of the great calamities that befell humanity and caused chaos in the heavenly court, began to indulge in their own desires and commit many evil deeds.

He's a good god, after all.

After waiting for a while, Yuan Datou came out looking depressed: "Sigh, I really didn't expect that recruiting ghost soldiers would require the approval of the City God, and after approval, we still have to wait in line."

"I don't know why, but recently there have been so many external deities coming to the City God's realm to recruit Yin soldiers." Liu Qing thought for a moment and understood: "There is great chaos outside, and the aura of slaughter is obscuring the Heavenly Dao. Some of the deities have begun to turn from good to evil, and some small gods and mountain demons have come out to cause trouble. In order to protect themselves, the other deities can only recruit Yin soldiers to bolster their courage."

"Originally, with the Heavenly Court in place, they had nothing to worry about. Now that the Heavenly Court is obscured and its supervision is ineffective, no matter how much they cherish the offerings, they can only recruit ghost soldiers to save their lives."

"That makes sense. It seems we'll just have to wait a few more days."

"No rush. I have nothing to do these days anyway, so I might as well take a look at the scenery of Xuanjian City."

Suddenly, Yuan Datou's eyes lit up, and he said, "How about I invite Brother Liu to go out for drinks and meat, and let him experience the flavors of the City God's realm?"

"On the way here, I saw a tavern. The aroma of wine and meat filled the air, making my mouth water."

Liu Qing was naturally happy to accept the invitation from Yuan Datou to treat him to a meal.

The two arrived at the tavern that Yuan Datou had mentioned. The tavern had a white banner with two large characters written on it: "Dream of Death".

The name is derived from the idea of ​​living a life of drunken stupor, but since this is Xuanjian City, a dwelling place for ghosts, there is no "living a life of drunken stupor," only "dying in a dream."

Upon entering the tavern, a waiter greeted them. Since it was their first time there, the waiter served them the tavern's signature dishes and wines.
He had assumed that a meal and drinks would cost no more than a few dozen taels of silver, and that even though Yuan Datou was poor, he wasn't short of that.
Unexpectedly, when the food and wine arrived, Yuan Datou hesitated upon seeing their appearance and quietly asked the tavern waiter how much this table cost.
The tavern waiter said, "Guests, you're from out of town and may not know the prices in Xuanjian City, but this pot of Drunken Soul Spring wine is fragrant, sweet, and delicious. It's priced at fifty taels of silver."
"And then there's this stir-fried soul tongue, stewed vengeful bird, dry-fried ghost silkworm, cold-dressed ghost mushroom, plus a pot of bone ash soup for the dead. This meal for you two will only cost three hundred and fifty taels of incense silver."

Yuan Datou exclaimed "Holy crap!" and was almost startled by the prices.

Liu Qing didn't care about the price of the food and wine; he was quite curious as he examined the table of underworld dishes. The tongue used for the stir-fried soul tongue wasn't human, but rather the soul of a dead domestic pig.
Similarly, stewed resentful birds and stir-fried ghost silkworms are both dishes made from the spirits of birds and silkworm pupae that died outside.
The Netherworld Fungus wasn't from outside; it was collected from the mountains outside Xuanjian City.

The ghosts within the City God's realm are not all human; some are birds, beasts, fish, and insects. Birds, beasts, fish, and insects are born with two souls and four spirits, their minds are chaotic, and they remain so after death, ignorant and unaware, being used as food by human ghosts.

A dish is served in life, and it remains a dish in death. For birds, beasts, fish, and insects, life and death are truly a dilemma.

Liu Qing rolled her eyes at Yuan Datou and said that he should pay the bill himself after eating and drinking. Only then did Yuan Datou beam with joy and stop grabbing the waiter's collar and cursing him for being a rip-off.
The tavern waiter looked distressed at his torn clothes, almost in tears. Liu Qing, not expecting any money from Yuan Datou, had no choice but to pay him compensation.
Although the inhabitants of Xuanjian City are all long-lived ghosts with good living conditions, the City God's office cannot give money to every ghost.

After his death, his children and grandchildren were filial, never forgetting to burn incense on ordinary days and offering paper clothes and money on festivals. Life was not difficult in Xuanjian City.
But if the children and grandchildren are unfilial, or the family is poor, their deceased relatives suffer greatly, as they have no paper money, ingots, cloth, or paper clothes to burn.
Living in Xuanjian City, where prices are so high, is no easy task. Ghosts like the tavern waiter have no choice but to work for others to make a living.

As the waiter was leaving, he told Liu Qing that if he had known he would have such a long lifespan after death and live such a poor life, he would have burned some paper money and paper clothes for himself before he died, so that he wouldn't have no clothes to wear or money to use.

After the waiter left, Yuan Datou could no longer resist his cravings and began to eat and drink heartily.

While eating and drinking, he also looked at Liu Qing with a mischievous grin. Earlier outside the City God Temple, you bullied my incense-burning body, which prevented me from eating live food. Now that we've come to the City God's realm, let's see how you manage to eat dead food.

Liu Qing had long known that Yuan Datou harbored ill intentions.

In front of Yuan Datou, he picked up his wine cup, took a sip, and praised the aroma. He then picked up a piece of stir-fried soul tongue with his chopsticks, chewed it a few times, swallowed it, and scooped up a spoonful of bone ash soup, which he also drank with relish.

Yuan Datou was stunned. Did Brother Liu have such a heavy taste?

Little did they know, Liu Qing possessed a total of thirty-six divine entities within her body. What appeared to be swallowed from her mouth was actually fed to these entities.
It appears that Liu Qing himself is eating, but in reality, he is eating in a distracted state. Moreover, he eats and drinks a lot. There's nothing he can do about it, given that Liu Qing is prone to distractions.

After distractedly enjoying the food and wine, Liu Qing shared the taste with his true self, which is why he seemed to be enjoying it so much, astonishing Yuan Datou.
Liu Qing didn't tell Yuan Datou the reason, letting the old man say he wanted to treat him, but in reality, he was making Liu Qing pay for it himself.

(End of this chapter)