I, the screenwriter, have experienced a resurgence of inspiration.

……

……

[@SmallTownStories: Let me give you an example of the difference between the City God and the Earth God. If your neighbor and their spouse are arguing every day, your chickens are missing, or your vegetables are stolen, you would go to the Earth God for these kinds of things.]

But if an evil spirit harms someone or a monster causes trouble, the local earth god can't handle it and you have to go to the City God Temple to file a complaint.

Only after the City God issues a warrant will the underworld officials arrest the person. Generally, the underworld also follows the principle of double jeopardy; a judgment made in the mortal world is no longer considered in the underworld. [Likes: 68.3; Comments: 11.0]

[@Half a Cup of Time and Half a Cup of Moon: And another thing! Do you know why the seventh day after death is the seventh day?]

Because after a person dies, they don't go directly to the underworld. The underworld officials first lead the ghost to the local earth god temple to verify their identity, and then to the city god temple to cancel their registration in the mortal world and register them in the underworld.

This round trip takes about seven days. Sometimes, the underworld officials will allow the ghost to go home for a final visit; this is called the first seven days after death. I just read this from another metaphysical blogger, and it sent chills down my spine. [Likes: 26.6; Comments: 3.4]

[@花花想吃烤串: Who passed the land exam?! I'm going to burn a stack of land registration cards for my deceased elders right now, so they won't take the wrong path.] Likes: 3.1 Comments: 2774

……

……

Song Mo read through them one by one, and reread the comments on "Many Stories in a Small Town" and "Half a Cup of Fleeting Years, Half a Cup of Moonlight".

In traditional legends and narratives, imaginative humans have automatically filled in all the details in their minds.

What she has to do is write these settings into the "rules".

—As for the examination of the City God.

At the end of the Song Dynasty, she originally thought it was just a random butterfly effect brought about by the land temples and city god temples she had placed in reality.

But now there are trending topics everywhere, as well as countless pieces of information related to "taking the City God exam".

This matter has gone far beyond the scope of "accidental".

Shen Nanshan is not the first.

Ding Huiying won't be the last one.

Throughout the country, many people, animals, and non-human beings may have received "exam notices" at this point in time.

The most interesting part of this matter is that she herself did not actively edit the script of "Examining the City God".

This script was formed spontaneously entirely based on the rules she had written.

By the end of the Song Dynasty, only the framework of the City God Temple and the Earth God Temple had been established. As for the subsequent rules—such as political review, examinations, ranking, and appointment—…

It seems that they all "grew" on their own within the framework she created, through some kind of force.

To put it more vividly, after the world's spiritual energy was restored, it began to fill in the gaps on its own.

That's so interesting.

This world is like a resource library that you can never finish digging into.

Song Mo thought for a moment, then opened the Lingjing APP and searched for "Shen Nanshan". Sure enough, the first result was a mission completion notification:

The follow-up investigation team will conduct follow-up work in accordance with Article 33 of the "Regulations for Handling Paranormal Events"... Volunteer points have been credited to individual accounts.

Song Mo stared at the time of death for a while—it happened to be the time of Shen Nanshan's exam.

Before she could even exit the app, Yu Songmian called:

[Late Song Dynasty! Did you see this? Trending on social media! The examination for the City God is real!]

The other person's voice was very loud, and they spoke so fast that it was almost impossible to hear them:

I didn't sleep last night because I was on the night shift. I saw the trending topics in the early morning, and then the Special Investigation Bureau's case closure notice came. Old Master Shen Nanshan is really gone!

This means he really did go to take the City God exam! The underworld really does exist! Then Meng Po (the goddess of forgetfulness) must exist too! Maybe even Ox-Head and Horse-Face, and Yama, the King of Hell! Wow! Just thinking about it is exciting! It's so amazing!

Song Mo did not respond.

Yes, there is, but the screenwriter hasn't finished writing the underworld setting yet!

Ox-Head and Horse-Face, and Black and White Impermanence do exist.

However, she did not intend to copy the mythological story to create the prototype of the underworld—just look at the corrupt judge that Emperor Taizong of Tang encountered in "Journey to the West."

With a flick of the judge's pen, decades of life were added to the lives of the living.

As for the King of Hell... she hasn't made him yet.

Let's also talk about classic landmarks like the Terrace of Longing for Home, the City of the Wrongfully Dead, the Eighteen Levels of Hell, and the Road to the Underworld—

The late Song Dynasty is like a homeowner facing renovations but not having enough money: those are all scriptwriters' ideas!

However, she only gave a soft "hmm" and did not dampen Yu Songmian's enthusiasm.

[It's unbelievable... Song Mo, when you told me that the old man was telling the truth when we went there that day, I was still a little skeptical. Now I feel so sorry for him.]

Yu Songmian's voice lowered slightly: "You've seen the obituary, haven't you? Are you going?"

"I might have something to attend to, so I won't be going to the memorial service."

"Ah...you have something to do? Okay, your profession is a bit unusual, it wouldn't be good if you ran into the underworld officials. I'll go with Qian Fang, and I'll say goodbye to the old man for you while I'm at it!"

At the end of the Song Dynasty, he exchanged a few more perfunctory words, a glimmer of light appearing at his fingertips, and the words flowed out naturally:

[Additional setting 1: City Gods and Earth Gods govern the affairs of the local yin and yang, and oversee matters concerning demons and monsters...]

[Consumes 500 Scriptwriting Points.]

[Supplementary setting 2: People have a lifespan in the Yang realm and a lifespan in the Yin realm. The lifespan before death is the Yang lifespan, and the lifespan after death is the Yin lifespan.]

When one's lifespan in the mortal realm ends, the underworld officials collect the soul. When one's lifespan in the underworld ends, one enters the cycle of reincarnation again... (Before the cycle of reincarnation begins, the soul temporarily resides in the realm between the mortal and the underworld.)

[Consumes 1000 Scriptwriting Points.]

[Supplementary setting 3: ...The term of office of the City God and the Land God is not fixed, and each term is twenty years.]

If the local deity commits evil deeds, the City God can submit a petition for punishment.

The City God is tyrannical, but the Land God can also exercise prosecutorial power, creating a system of checks and balances.

[Consumes 50 Scriptwriting Points.]

……

……

After hanging up the phone, Song Mo devoted himself to patching up the spontaneously formed script, "The Examination of the City God":

The supervisory relationship between the City God and the Land God needs to be set up in more detail.

Otherwise, if the power dynamics between the two sides become rigid, problems are very likely to arise.

So she added another sentence at the end:

[Supplementary Setting 4: The City God and the Land God monitor each other; major matters require joint signatures before being submitted to the emperor, consuming 30 scriptwriting points.]

After she finished writing, she stopped and examined it for a while.

The words gradually turned into tiny golden specks of light and disappeared into the air.

Song Mo nodded in satisfaction. That should be fine.

The existing mythological system was a reflection of the real feudal dynasties; what she wanted to establish was a completely different mythological system.

……

……

"grown ups."

Just then, the voice of the vengeful ghost Ah Yan drifted from behind: "The Ghost Festival is in the next two days!"

"Is that so?"

Song Mo turned around and saw A Yan, whose face was covered in blood and tears but full of expectation. After thinking for a while, he remembered the promise he had made to the twins:

"You two have been staying by my side all this time. Before, the player level was low, but now there are more and more professional players. Sooner or later, you will be discovered."

"Let's take this opportunity of the Ghost Festival to clarify your identities."

With a casual wave of her hand, more than a dozen pre-written draft copies appeared in the air, each cover shimmering with a faint light:

[Instance: Killing the River God (Physical Location: Neon)]

[Instance: The Mermaid's Curse (Physical Location: Italy)]

[Copy: The City God Temple Intern (Physical Location: China)]

[Instance: Serpent's Lament (Physical Location: Tyrande)]

[Copy: "Sacrificial Rice" (Location: South Korea)]

[Instance: Orchid Garden Fox Demon (Physical Location: China)]

Yes, at the end of the Song Dynasty, they planned to launch a massive wave of dungeon raids during the Ghost Festival.