Zombie Life Begins in Hongxi Village

Just as Lin Yi was about to go in, she sensed a flash of divine light coming from the alley to the side.

An elderly man, radiating divine light, led several spirits and deities at a brisk pace. Upon reaching him, they bowed deeply, their movements fluid and seamless.

"Greetings, Your Majesty the King of the Underworld! I am Zhao Yong, the local City God. I sensed Your Majesty's arrival just now and came to greet you. Please forgive me if I have been negligent."

Lin Yi glanced down at him.

"Zhao Yong? I'll remember that." Lin Yi nodded slightly.

Zhao Yong raised his head, his face displaying a perfectly measured, respectful smile:

"I have prepared a small feast in the City God's realm. Would Your Majesty, the King of the Underworld, do me the honor of joining me?"

To be honest, he was also a little uneasy.

Hades Acha had instructed all ghosts and spirits not to take the initiative to contact Lin Yi.

But Lin Yi's chief secretary had already come to him with the Underworld King's Decree to check his merit and demerit book, so he could no longer pretend to be deaf and dumb.

Even if His Majesty Acha finds out that he visited at this time, he cannot be blamed.

This new Hades is said to be a mass murderer of 100,000 people. How dare he, a mere city god, put on airs?

Lin Yi glanced around the mortuary.

In the courtyard, Shi Jian was being greeted by a group of Taoist priests, and it was clear that he wouldn't be able to finish his business anytime soon.

He simply nodded: "Then let's go take a look at your mansion."

Zhao was overjoyed and quickly led the way.

The City God's Domain is located directly below the City God Temple. The entrance is hidden behind the screen wall behind the City God statue, invisible to mortals. However, Lin Yi spotted the portal with its pale golden halo at a glance.

Stepping through the gates of the divine realm, a breathtaking view suddenly unfolded before my eyes—

The divine realm, covering more than 2,000 acres, is complete with flowers, trees, and shrubs. In the distance, you can even see a small lake, its surface shrouded in a thin layer of incense smoke.

Instead of the sky, there was a layer of pale golden light overhead.

Beyond the light membrane, countless tiny points of light can be faintly seen moving slowly.

That is the incense and prayers offered by the people of the surrounding towns, which are continuously flowing into the divine realm.

At the very center of the divine realm stands a magnificent City God's Palace, its layout similar to that of a City God's Temple in the mortal realm, but more than three times larger in scale.

The gate is painted vermilion, with a glazed tile roof. Two lifelike stone carvings of the mythical beast Bi'an stand in front of the gate, and a black plaque with gold characters hangs above the lintel—the City God's Mansion.

The ghost messengers in the mansion moved back and forth, and bowed to Zhao Yong when they saw him.

"This is His Majesty the King of the Underworld. Why don't you all pay your respects?"

"Greetings, Your Majesty the King of the Underworld." The ghost messengers and officials hurriedly bowed.

Lin Yi nodded, gesturing for them to get up.

Afterwards, Zhao led Lin Yi directly into the main hall, giving the seat of honor to Lin Yi while he himself sat at the lower end of the table.

Several ghost officials entered in single file, carrying platters of delicacies cooked with the power of incense offerings and prayers.

Honey-glazed osmanthus cake, sandalwood-scented vegetarian duck, stir-fried bamboo shoots, lotus root stewed with rare mushrooms, and a pot of divine wine, golden and clear, which steams as it is poured into a cup.

Lin Yi curiously picked up a piece of osmanthus cake and put it in her mouth.

The pastries melt in your mouth, unlike the cloying sweetness of ordinary food. Instead, they have a refreshing and pure taste, as if the richest autumn flavor under the osmanthus tree has been condensed into a small piece.

After swallowing, a warm current spreads from the stomach, transforming into the purest energy that is absorbed by the body.

He tried several more dishes, and each one surprised him—

The food in the divine realm was much tastier than he had imagined, not because of the seasoning, but because the ingredients themselves possessed a spiritual essence that mortals could not taste.

This was the first time he had ever eaten food from the gods, and to his surprise, it was actually quite good.

It seems we need to start hiring a chef soon, but the head chef for that little day can become a ghost ahead of time.

After a few rounds of drinks, Lin Yi put down her glass, her gaze falling on Zhao Yong, and spoke casually:

"I am very curious. It seems that among the local ghosts and spirits in Yun County, only you have taken the initiative to come and pay your respects to me. The others seem to treat me as if I do not exist."

The City God of Yun County even left the divine realm and disappeared without a trace.

Do you know why?

Zhao Yong's hand holding the wine glass trembled slightly, and the smile on his face froze for a moment.

He put down his cup, hesitated for a moment, and lowered his voice to say, "To be honest, all of this was ordered by His Majesty King Acha of the Underworld."

His Majesty Acha once issued an oral decree forbidding the spirits and deities of the southeastern region from taking the initiative to contact His Majesty.

However, His Majesty has already sent the Chief Secretary with the King of the Underworld's decree to retrieve the Book of Merits and Demerits. I hope His Majesty will not blame me for this visit.

He spoke as casually as possible, but inside he was terribly panicked.

As a minor city god caught between two underworld kings, the slightest misstep could lead to utter destruction.

Lin Yi listened without much expression on her face, but she felt both annoyed and amused.

Ah Cha, that woman, is really petty.

Isn't it just that she took the souls of 80,000 ordinary people in her jurisdiction?

As for letting all the ghosts and spirits in the area isolate him? He's already the King of the Underworld, yet he still acts like a petty woman.

But then again, no wonder that even though he's been the King of the Underworld for several days now, not a single local ghost or deity has come to pay him a visit.

He initially thought it was the local ghosts and spirits being impolite, but it turned out the root of the problem lay with Ah Cha.

Ah Cha was in charge of the southeastern region, and the ghosts and spirits of the entire Guangdong and Guangxi provinces and Hong Kong Island were under her jurisdiction. When she gave the order, her subordinates naturally dared not disobey.

Zhao Yongneng probably came because he was afraid Zhao would take his anger out on him.

"Never mind," Lin Yi said, too lazy to argue with Acha, and then asked another question that he had never understood.

"I heard from Ksitigarbha that Acha governs the southeastern region. What specific areas does the southeastern region refer to? How many Underworld Kings are there in the entire China?"

Zhao Yong glanced at him in surprise, not understanding how this newly crowned King of the Underworld could be so ignorant of even these most basic common sense facts.

Lin Yi noticed his gaze, and gave him a displeased look with a stern face. He couldn't very well say that Dizang hadn't told him, could he?

Zhao Yong shivered under his gaze, immediately sat up straight, and began to give a detailed introduction to the general situation of the underworld.

There were originally twelve Hades, but with Lin Yi added, there are thirteen.

Four of them are from the Huaxia region, including the Underworld King of Mount Tai, who governs the north.

The King of the Underworld, who governs the central and western regions, including the Central Plains.

There is Acha, the King of the Underworld, who governs Guangdong and Guangxi, Hong Kong and Kowloon, Taiwan, Hainan Island, and the Southeast Peninsula. There is also Lin Yi, the newly appointed King of the Underworld who does not yet have a fixed territory.

Among these four Chinese underworld kings, the Taishan underworld king, also known as the Taishan prefect, is the most mysterious.

He rarely appears in public, and few people have seen his true face. The spirits under his command are all extremely mysterious and hardly communicate with the spirits of other Hades systems.

On the contrary, Fengdu Underworld King, also known as the Fengdu Emperor, is the most powerful of the several Chinese Underworld Kings.

Because his jurisdiction spanned the entire Midwest region, with a large population and heavy affairs of reincarnation, he specifically petitioned Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva and appointed five deputies to assist in managing the affairs of the underworld. These are the Five Ghost Emperors in folk legend.

The King of the Underworld has tens of thousands of ghosts and gods under his command, including more than a dozen judges, the most famous of whom is Zhong Kui.

Most of the Taoist priests from sects like the Celestial Master's Mansion and Maoshan served under the King of the Underworld in Fengdu after their deaths.

Among them, the one who fared the best was Tao Zushi, the founder of the Maoshan School, who rose to the position of Southern Ghost Emperor, a position even higher than the Four Judges.

The system of Acha Hades is much simpler.

She always advocated keeping up with the times and disliked red tape. The system of the underworld would be constantly adjusted according to the social context of the time.

Her ghost messengers even used modified firearms, making them far more efficient than those in other Hades territories.

As for Hades outside of China—such as Izanami in Japan, Hades in Greece, and Osiris in Egypt—Zhao Yong had only vaguely heard of their names and did not know the specifics.

After listening, Lin Yi had a general idea of ​​what was going on.

He had originally thought that all the gods of the underworld were Chinese deities, but he didn't expect that Hades and Osiris were among them. The structure of the underworld was much more complex than he had imagined.

However, considering that even a pseudo-first-generation Hades like Acha can rank among the top twelve, the strength of the other Hades is probably just so-so, and many of them might not even be able to defeat the second-generation Pangu zombie.

The only two things to be careful about are the mysterious Lord of Mount Tai—if he's not mistaken, he should be the same Lord of Mount Tai from Soul Ferry.

And the most powerful and deeply rooted Emperor Fengdu.

"Alright, I have other important matters to attend to, so I won't bother you any longer. Thank you for your hospitality, Old Zhao." Lin Yi guessed that Uncle Jiu and the others at the mortuary had finished their discussion, so he stood up.

Zhao Yong quickly got up to see him off, saying polite things like, "Please forgive me for the poor hospitality."

Lin Yi walked to the entrance of the Divine Realm, then suddenly turned around and casually said as if she had remembered something trivial:

"I will take those people from the mortuary away later."

As for those ghosts who escaped during the Ghost Festival, I'll trouble you to capture them tonight.

Zhao Yong was taken aback for a moment, then quickly bowed and replied:

"These few wandering ghosts are to be left to me. Your Majesty, rest assured, all the escaped ghosts will be brought to justice before tonight."

He readily agreed verbally, but in his heart he was silently mourning for those in the mortuary.

This man is a butcher of 100,000 men. How could anyone who falls into his hands have a good ending?

As for those escaped ghosts, they had also failed in their own jurisdiction, and now that Hades had offered them a way out, they were naturally happy to do him a favor.

Lin Yi nodded, and his figure disappeared from the City God's Domain.