Mobile City Travel Guide

Chapter 95 The People from "Above"

"From above? What do you mean?" Lu Chen couldn't help but ask.

Li Xin's expression changed instantly, and an unbelievable thought popped into his head.

Wait, could this be...?

Sure enough, the father and daughter's words confirmed his suspicions.

"We come from the human world, we are an ordinary family in the Great Qian Dynasty," the middle-aged man said. "My name is Chen Zhu, and my daughter's name is Chen Caiwei."

Li Xin's mind immediately started buzzing.

This time, it's not just the underworld, but also the human world?

Upon closer reflection, I realized I should have noticed something amiss much earlier.

After all, the spirits of the underworld don't appear out of nowhere; they must have a "supply channel."

The source of this is undoubtedly the human world. People in the human world experience normal birth, aging, sickness and death, and then turn into yin spirits that continuously flow into this underworld.

According to Chen Zhu, that "human world" is inhabited by mountain spirits and ghosts, and there are corresponding folk methods to subdue them and exorcise evil spirits.

However, there are no immortals or gods appearing in the human world, nor is there a cultivation system.

The human world is vast, with countless kingdoms and dynasties. Although the Great Qian Dynasty, where the father and daughter lived, had a population of tens of millions, it was not a major player among them.

"Is that so?" Li Xin pondered.

From this perspective, the human world is more like a folk world.

Even now, he is still in shock.

From a certain perspective, this should be considered a journey to a "dual world," namely the underworld and the world of the living.

Lu Chen, who was standing to the side, spoke up with great interest.

"There are countless kingdoms and dynasties? Then how many people are there in the human world?"

Chen Zhu looked somewhat blank, while Chen Caiwei, standing beside him, spoke up cleverly.

"According to this year's Ministry of Revenue's register, the population of the Great Qian Dynasty was approximately 60 million," she said. "However, the population of the territory occupied by the Great Qian Dynasty was less than one percent of the entire country."

"There are also the Han and Hu kingdoms in the northern grasslands, the numerous imperial dynasties in the Western Regions, the thousands of island nations in the South Seas, the many countries on the mainland, and the tribes and barbarians in the deep mountains and forests that are not recorded in the annals."

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"Based on this rough estimate, there must be ten million people in the world."

Upon hearing this, Li Xin and Lu Chen exchanged a surprised glance.

The ancients did not have the concept of "hundred million" as a number; they only used the term "ten million" to describe it.

Ten million is equivalent to a population of one hundred billion.

Thinking of this, Li Xin's eyes flickered.

Earth has a population of only a few billion, and it's almost overflowing. This world, however, has a population ten times that of Earth, meaning its territory is likely far more vast than Earth's!

Not only that, with such a large population, countless people are born, grow old, get sick, and die every year, and they will all become ghosts.

In other words, the underworld will also become "prosperous" because of the large population of the mortal world!

"By the way, why did you all come to the underworld for no reason?" he couldn't help but ask again.

The father and daughter exchanged a glance, hesitant to speak.

Chen Zhu, the father, sighed and waved to his daughter.

"Let me explain."

The Chen family, to which the father and daughter belonged, was once an extremely powerful force in the human world.

This family has been running a business for generations, smuggling souls from the underworld.

The souls that are led back to the mortal world by them can be reborn.

But this line of work is not so easy.

The underworld is a treacherous and dangerous place; a single misstep can lead to certain death.

To guide the souls of the dead, one must enter the Gates of Hell, cross the Road to the Underworld, and traverse countless perilous regions of the netherworld.

There are hundreds of tools and methods to prepare.

Such an outrageous act naturally commands a very high price; one person alone would cost tens of thousands of taels of gold.

At the same time, the price was terrifyingly heavy; every generation of the Chen family did not live past the age of thirty.

My great-grandfather's generation finally couldn't take it anymore and chose to retire from the criminal life.

They had accumulated a considerable fortune and were planning to live a peaceful life, but then came internal family strife, enemies coming to their door, and various forces seizing their wealth by force...

After a series of events, the Chen family's vast fortune was wiped out overnight.

A once prosperous and enviable family collapsed just like that, and its members scattered to the world.

The Chen family was originally a direct descendant of a clan, but after two or three generations, they lived worse than ordinary people.

In addition, with the current chaos of war among nations and the world in turmoil, countless people have been displaced and have no way to survive!

After much deliberation, Chen Zhu gritted his teeth and, in order to gain wealth and status, took his daughter back to his old profession.

During their conversation, Li Xin also noticed something unusual about the father and daughter.

Their faces and bodies were covered with a layer of grayish-white, semi-transparent paste, which had a pungent, unpleasant odor when smelled up close.

The other person probably knew what he was thinking and then explained.

"This is the Chen family's secret Yin Corpse Ointment. First, you need to obtain several corpses that have been dead for forty-nine days. Then..."

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"Alright, alright!"

Li Xin quickly waved his hand to interrupt him.

Actually, he could guess even without the other person saying it.

After all, the skill of smuggling souls to the underworld must be an extremely wicked and unorthodox method.

"By the way, who are you trying to smuggle this time?" he asked.

Chen Zhu was silent for a moment, then spoke.

"The Great Qian Dynasty is currently beset by internal and external troubles, and the court is divided into two factions that are fighting to the death."

"One faction consists of the current eight-year-old emperor and his maternal relatives who support him, while the other faction consists of former officials of the previous dynasty."

"My daughter and I work for the faction of former officials of the previous dynasty, and we are here to bring back the deceased emperor from the underworld for them."

"After the deed is accomplished, you will be rewarded with ten thousand taels of gold and appointed as a third-rank official."

After hearing this, Li Xin hesitated to speak.

He looked at the countless wandering souls on the road to the underworld, then at the father and daughter before him, and asked a question from the bottom of his heart.

"Sending someone to the underworld is a death sentence... Isn't this a terrible business?"

Chen Caiwei's daughter answered quietly.

"Poverty is even worse."

Li Xin paused for a moment, speechless.

Looking at the father and daughter in front of him, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

Since the other party has a way to sneak in, they must also have a way to return to the mortal realm.

I could simply ask them to lead the way so the Starfire could go directly to the mortal realm. That would make things much easier.

Upon learning of Li Xin's idea, Chen Zhu nodded.

"Yes, there is, but that road is difficult to travel."

Just as Li Xin was about to press for more information, Chen Caiwei spoke up again.

"Before returning to the mortal realm, we must first find the late Emperor."

Li Xin frowned.

"And where is that former emperor of the Great Qian Dynasty?"

Fengdu.

Li Xin was stunned.

Fengdu, according to legend, is the central place of the underworld, the place where billions of souls reside.

If one were to go there, who knows what kind of dangers await!

As the two sides were talking, the Starfire continued its journey, with ghosts and eerie creatures kneeling and prostrating themselves along the way.

"Could you take us there?" Chen Zhu asked, sounding somewhat expectant.

From his and his daughter's perspective, the Xinghuo was an amazing vehicle, capable of carrying people and resources, and protected by a statue of Zhong Kui.

If you ride in it, the difficulties and dangers on the road will be reduced by more than half.

After a long silence, Li Xin finally made a decision.

The Xinghuo ship can take the father and daughter, but it will only stop near Fengdu and will never go inside.

Li Xin will wait for the father and daughter for a maximum of two hours; after that, they will not be waited for.

In return, the father and daughter will guide the Starfire and help it find its way back to the world of the living.

"Don't worry, Lord Li," Chen Caiwei said. "As long as you take us to Fengdu, regardless of whether things succeed or not, we will tell you in detail how to return to the mortal realm."

Li Xin was taken aback at first, then nodded slightly.

This daughter is much more capable than her father.