Zombie Life Begins in Hongxi Village

"Hahaha, did I cross the line? I'm a soldier, and they were all invaders. Is it wrong for a soldier to kill them to defend his country?"

Lin Yi tilted her head, looking at the compassionate Buddha with undisguised mockery on her face.

"The mortal realm has its own affairs; you, benefactor, have used your extraordinary power to disrupt the cause and effect of the mortal world..."

"The souls of ten thousand have all entered the ghost banner, disrupting the order of reincarnation. This is not merit, but sin!"

The Buddha's voice remained calm, and the Buddha's light flowed slowly, yet it never approached Lin Yi. "Why not lay down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot?"

"As long as you cease your wanton killing and soul-stealing, this humble monk can guarantee that all past transgressions will be forgiven."

"Heh, let bygones be bygones?" Lin Yi gave Tathagata a deep look.

The Great Sun Tathagata of this world was somewhat different from what he had imagined—not that he was too strong, but rather that he was not as strong as he had imagined.

The Buddha gave him a sense of danger, but not a fatal one!

Even if a real fight breaks out, he may not necessarily win, but he is absolutely certain he can escape unscathed.

More importantly, Buddha probably wouldn't dare to start a war with him.

If he and Buddha were to fight without restraint, the entire Asian continent could be destroyed.

No wonder he spoke so weakly, not only did he not want him to hand over his soul, but he also planned not to pursue the matter further.

Imagine how domineering Tathagata was when he threatened Kuang Tianyou to fight Rahu to the death in the original drama, and he would use the Great Sun Tathagata Purification Mantra to destroy the world at the drop of a hat.

I didn't expect them to be so weak now. It turns out they're just bullying Kuang Tianyou because he's weak!

……

However, since Vairocana Buddha has appeared, it means that he has achieved his goal.

In this world, having ability alone isn't enough; you also need connections and influence.

This world is essentially governed by the three books of Heaven, Earth, and Man.

In the original drama, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva once said that countless world-destroying and world-creating events had already occurred before this era.

But gradually, the Heavenly Book developed its own selfish motives.

His selfish desires manifested as a desire to control everything—destiny!

Fate began to destroy the world at will, defying the rules, and even intentionally weakened and devoured the Book of Earth and the Book of Man, attempting to become the sole controller.

The Earth Book and the Human Book, as counterbalances to the Heavenly Book, are naturally not to be trifled with.

The Book of Earth, through the hands of the Kunlun tribe of the previous era, created the Pangu Gods, who were not subject to the control of fate, to be used as pawns in capturing destiny.

Although the world was destroyed by fate in the previous era, the Eternal Kingdom and the Pangu Clan survived.

The Book of Humanity created the concepts of reincarnation and Ksitigarbha, as well as Tathagata and Avalokiteshvara, who can purify everything and reverse time and space, as a glimmer of hope in critical moments.

The three parties scheme against and check each other, maintaining a fragile superficial balance.

But overall, it is the Book of Earth and the Book of Man who work together to deal with fate.

Lin Yi himself was originally a second-generation zombie of the Jiang Chen lineage, belonging to the Earth Book faction.

However, after absorbing the drought demon's essence blood as a plot reward, he automatically broke away from the Pangu system and escaped the control of the Three Books of Heaven, Earth, and Man.

Stepping out of the chessboard certainly brings freedom, but it also means he has become an "unregistered resident" disliked by all three factions.

He himself may not care, but Michelle, Ren Tingting, the unborn child, and his subordinates cannot.

They need connections and influence.

Therefore, he went on a killing spree, collecting tens of thousands of souls, disrupting the order of reincarnation, and drawing out the Buddha or Ksitigarbha.

As the saying goes, "murder and arson await amnesty," he wanted to negotiate with the Human Book lineage and secure a position as the God of the Underworld on their territory.

With the background of Ren Shu, his unborn child would have an extra layer of protection.

Most importantly, he didn't want to be forced to leave this world too early.

……

"If we let bygones be bygones, can you really pursue this matter?"

Having already made up her mind, Lin Yi's smile vanished, and her gaze suddenly sharpened.

"Your Great Sun Tathagata Purification Mantra may be powerful, but what use is it if it can't hit the target!"

You can try and see if your purification mantra purifies me first, or if I first turn your underworld's cycle of reincarnation upside down.

After a moment of silence, the Buddha's slightly closed eyes finally opened completely.

Two beams of golden light pierced the night sky and collided head-on with Lin Yi's dark golden pupils.

After a moment, Buddha slowly spoke: "You've gone to such great lengths, surely not just to debate cause and effect with this humble monk. What do you wish for? Speak freely."

"Didn't you just say you'd lay down your butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot?"

Lin Yi planted the Ten Thousand Ghosts Banner directly into the ground, without beating around the bush:

"I want to become the God of the Underworld, with the independent power to establish my own domain, free from the control of the netherworld and the commands of you, Buddha—"

The kind that obeys orders but not direct commands.

In exchange, I can promise to stop indiscriminate killing, try my best to be a good boy, and even help the underworld if necessary.

Give me a government position, and I'll nominally side with you. It's a good deal.

"Amitabha." The Buddha slowly closed his eyes.

Lin Yineng could sense that an invisible will was rising from the golden body of Tathagata, piercing through layers of void, and communicating with a more profound being.

A moment later, Buddha reopened his eyes, his tone more solemn than before:

"Ksitigarbha has agreed. You are hereby appointed as the King of the Underworld, and you may recruit ghosts and gods to establish the Underworld."

Although you are subject to orders but not summons, you must intervene if the underworld faces a great calamity.

"Of course, I wouldn't just watch my company go bankrupt," Lin Yi readily agreed.

The Buddha nodded, and his golden body transformed into countless points of light, dissipating into the night sky.

Then a blue light shot out from the void.

Lin Yi did not sense any danger, neither dodging nor avoiding, letting the light enter her brow.

The moment the light entered his body, a complex blue light appeared between his brows—

It was a circular, regular rune seal composed of countless tiny runes, with an ancient seal character engraved in the center, which was the character "冥" (Ming).

The mark appeared for only a moment before disappearing.

At the same time, a large amount of information about Hades' authority flooded into his consciousness.

He flew over a small town and saw the lifespan of mortals; the old man selling wontons on the street had three more years to live.

He saw the merits and demerits of living beings… He also saw the authority to communicate with the underworld—

With just a thought, one can open a passage to the underworld.

He can even bestow titles upon his subordinate underworld gods, and even alter the lifespan of mortals in the mortal realm and the lifespan of ghosts in the underworld…

……

"It's actually a divine office! I've finally entered the system!" Lin Yi almost burst into tears of joy.

"Dad, Mom, did you see that? I've become a civil servant in the underworld!"

He thought that Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva would at most give him a nominal title, like a "visiting professor," but he didn't expect to be given a real official position as a deity.

……

Lin Yi suddenly used her Hades powers to look at herself. She was shocked by what she saw.

"Wow!"

A murderous aura surged from his body, and overwhelming karmic power transformed into dark red karmic fire, swirling around him in layers, so thick it almost formed a lotus flower.

He killed more than 80,000 Japanese soldiers. Although he killed invaders, his act of collecting their souls disrupted the cycle of reincarnation and created enormous karma.

In any other world, someone burdened with so much karma would have been blasted to dust by the backlash of Heaven's will.

But the way of heaven in this world is destiny, and that bastard is probably hiding in some corner, too afraid to step forward and interfere.

The Ksitigarbha lineage will not pursue the matter—after all, he has already been recruited.

Lin Yi cursed inwardly.

Killing so many innocent creatures, not only do you not receive any merit, but you also incur karmic retribution.

Indeed, Heaven and Earth are ruthless, treating all things like straw dogs.

However, he is now Hades and has the authority to handle such matters, so this little thing is no problem for him.

With a thought, Lin Yi activated his Hades authority automatically, and a layer of blue light emerged from the mark between his eyebrows, erasing the karmic fire covering him layer by layer.

In less than three breaths, the karmic fire lotus that was about to take shape was completely cleansed.

There's nothing we can do; those with excessive privileges are just that capricious.

After the karmic fire was extinguished, Lin Yi finally saw the thick layer of blue human merit on his body.

The layer of blue light was so dense that it seemed as if he were wearing several layers of solid, glassy armor, completely enveloping his entire body.

This is a humanitarian act of gratitude condensed by the people of Guangdong.

During this period, he killed more than 100,000 soldiers, but objectively saved countless lives.

Although his original intention was to act out of spite and collect souls, human merit is calculated based on results, not motives.

If it weren't for the fact that his release of his natal corpse fire caused small-scale droughts in many places, his act of humanitarian merit might have been even greater.

With a thought, Lin Yi infused this layer of human merit into the Ten Thousand Ghosts Banner.

A blue light flowed into the banner like water.

The Banner of Ten Thousand Ghosts suddenly changed—

The original evil aura receded layer by layer, and the banner changed from dark red to a heavy raven-blue color, with the original red patterns being replaced by brownish-yellow.

The banners no longer bore the venomous murmurs and roars, but instead a solemn and dignified chorus of praise and celebration. One could also vaguely see the phantoms of countless people fleeing the flames of war and living in peace and prosperity.

If it is not used in public, no one would know that it is a heretical magic weapon that once devoured 100,000 souls.

Although its power hasn't changed much, its appearance is indeed several times better, and it's more resistant to righteous magic weapons.

"Calling it 'Ten Thousand Ghosts Banner' is no longer appropriate. Let's call it 'Human Emperor Banner' instead!" Lin Yi happily renamed the Ten Thousand Ghosts Banner.

……

He also kept the essence and spirit of tens of thousands of zombies that the Corpse Fire absorbed this time, intending to use it to train his subordinates' zombies.

For him now, the energy and spirit of ordinary people have little effect on him; he'd rather give it to his henchmen.

He's the King of the Underworld now. If he doesn't even have flying corpses or uncorrupted bones under his command, wouldn't that be a disgrace to the King of the Underworld?

King Ai of Zhou is still hovering at the peak of the Jumping Corpse realm, so this essence and spirit can be used to help it break through to the Flying Corpse realm. There's also the Water Corpse A-Qiang, and the recently acquired Extreme Yin Purple Zombie A-Fa...