Many children, many blessings; the twelve ancestral witches forced marriages throughout the primordi

The Netherworld has just been completed.

The sky was a somber, dark red, and beneath our feet lay hard black earth. The road to the underworld in the distance was still unpaved and looked bumpy and uneven. But none of that mattered. What mattered was that this place was now under the control of the Witch Clan.

The Goddess Pingxin, formerly known as Houtu, is now hovering in front of the Six Paths of Reincarnation Disc. The ancestral witch's evil aura on her body has completely disappeared, replaced by a golden light of merit, making her look like Hongjun before he attained enlightenment, so sacred that people dare not speak loudly.

Lin Xuan sat on a large, protruding rock nearby, holding a small twig he had picked up from somewhere, drawing circles on the ground. He was planning the organization of the underworld.

"Hey, Fellow Daoist Styx," Lin Xuan called out.

The Styx Ancestor was huddled in a corner, clutching his two precious swords, looking utterly hopeless. Hearing Lin Xuan call him, he trembled, quickly forcing a smile that looked more like a grimace as he approached.

"Fellow Daoist Lin Xuan... oh no, Holy Father, please give your orders." Styx was now completely convinced. His sister had become a saint, a true saint at that, and in this underworld, her words were law. She could crush him like an ant.

"I promised you before, I'll give you a position." Lin Xuan pointed to the planning map on the ground with a twig. "This underworld has just opened, so it'll definitely be busy. I plan to establish ten courts of hell, each in charge of judging and punishing the various ghosts. The position of King Qin Guang in the first court will be yours."

Upon hearing this, Styx's eyes lit up. King Qin Guang? The name itself sounds powerful! The First Palace—doesn't that mean he's the boss?

"Thank you, Holy Father! Thank you, Empress Pingxin!" Styx straightened his back instantly. It seems this was worthwhile. Although half of the Blood Sea dried up, he'd gotten a high-ranking position, and he could hold his head high in the prehistoric world from now on.

"Don't thank me yet," Lin Xuan said with a smile. "There are still nine palaces left."

Styx's heart skipped a beat: "The remaining nine... who are these powerful figures?"

Lin Xuan turned and waved to the group of great shamans watching the spectacle from afar: "Xingtian! Kuafu! Xiangliu! Jiufeng! Come here! It's time to assign officials!"

Suddenly, a group of muscular, menacing shamans surrounded them.

Xingtian, carrying a large axe, asked in a gruff voice, "Thirteen Ancestral Witches, what are your official ranks? Can you fight?"

"Sure! From now on, you'll have ghosts to fight every day." Lin Xuan pointed to the Styx River. "From now on, you'll be colleagues. The Styx River is number one, you're number two, King Chujiang. Kuafu is number three... and so on."

As Styx looked at the group of great shamans around him, each two or three times his height and radiating an aura of "I want to punch someone," the smile on his face gradually froze.

Are these colleagues? This is clearly putting him on the hot seat! If these bastards are in a bad mood one day and drag him, the "boss," out to practice their skills, who can he complain to?

"What? Fellow Daoist Styx is not satisfied?" Lin Xuan raised an eyebrow. "How about we move you to the Tenth Palace? That's the Wheel King, responsible for sending ghosts to be reincarnated. It's an easy job."

"No, no, no! Satisfied! Very satisfied!" Styx shook his head like a rattle-drum. He was joking, of course. The First Palace was nominally the boss; if he went to the Tenth Palace, where the previous nine were all witch clan members, how could he possibly survive?

"Then it's settled." Lin Xuan made the decision. "Big brother, go back and pick some clever shaman soldiers from the clan to serve as ghost messengers. Get me all the Black and White Impermanence, Ox-Head and Horse-Face. Now that our Underworld is open for business, the service attitude has to keep up."

Dijiang, listening from the side, chuckled, "Sure! No problem! Our Wu tribe may not have much else, but we have a lot of people! Those who are injured and can't fight can be sent here to retire... oh no, to work!"

Lin Xuan stood up, patted the dirt off his backside, and looked at this gloomy yet hopeful land.

"There's something else," Lin Xuan said, his expression turning slightly serious. "Where are the Judge's Pen and the Book of Life and Death?"

With a wave of her hand, Lady Pingxin conjured a book emitting a faint glow and a jet-black writing brush in the air. These were the underworld's most precious treasures: the Book of Life and Death and the Judge's Brush.

"Here." Pingxin handed the things to Lin Xuan. "Little brother, you take them."

Lin Xuan didn't take it, but pushed it back: "Sister, you keep this. You are the Lord of the Underground Path, and this thing can only unleash its full power in your hands. However..."

Lin Xuan leaned close to Pingxin's ear and whispered, "Go back and cross off all the names of our Wu clan here. From now on, if anyone from our Wu clan dies, they'll go straight through the VIP channel, skip the Meng Po soup, and be reborn directly. You understand what I mean?"

Pingxin paused for a moment, then covered her mouth and laughed, her eyes full of doting: "You, you're full of clever ideas. Okay, I'll listen to you."

Although Styx hadn't heard what Lin Xuan said, he could tell from the siblings' cunning... no, their telepathic understanding, that they were up to no good. He shrank back, secretly vowing: from now on, in this underworld, I must keep a low profile and never mess with this family.

"Alright, everyone to your positions!" Lin Xuan waved his hand. "It's the first day of business for the Underworld, so everyone better be alert! Anyone who dares to slack off during working hours will have their blood offerings deducted for next month!"

"yes!"

The ten newly appointed Yama Kings (nine great witches and one Styx) roared in unison, causing much of the Yin energy in the underworld to dissipate.

In the distance, the first group of wandering ghosts who had been attracted to the scene saw Xing Tian standing at the entrance, a headless figure with a mouth on his navel and a large axe in his hand, sharpening his blade. They were so frightened that they turned tail and ran away.

"What are you running for!" Xing Tian roared. "Get back here! Line up! Register! Anyone who cuts in line, I'll chop them up!"

Lin Xuan nodded in satisfaction as he watched this scene.

This art style is very Wu ethnic.