I fabricated myths to guide the revival of spiritual energy.

As the first rays of sunlight pierced through the clouds and shone upon the steel jungle of the new Chang'an City, the magnificent ghost city phantom that stretched across half the sky slowly disappeared as the night faded.

But the shock it left to all mankind was like dropping a nuclear bomb with a yield of hundreds of millions of tons into a calm deep sea, setting off a monstrous wave that was enough to overturn the entire understanding of civilization.

Just hours before, all of humanity was plunged into endless despair, believing that "physical exorcisms were ineffective" and that "humans were about to become food for ghosts." The ever-expanding underworld was like a Damocles' sword hanging over everyone's heads, ready to sever the continuation of human civilization at any moment.

Now, despair has been brutally torn apart.

That voice not only dispelled the chilling fog that lingered over the city, but also forcibly imprinted a new, extremely domineering yet incredibly reassuring rule into everyone's hearts—

The cycle of Heaven is real, and the netherworld exists!

Online, the previously dormant cultivation forums and major social media platforms exploded after a ten-minute server outage.

"The underworld! That's the legendary underworld! I knew it, I knew it!!!"

"Did you hear that? There's a vacancy in the Underworld! You can be made a god! After death, you won't have to become one of those disgusting, mindless monsters; you might even have the chance to enter the system and become a god who controls life and death!"

"My grandfather just passed away yesterday. He was a traditional Chinese medicine doctor who saved many lives. Wouldn't that count as a great act of merit? Could he become a messenger in the underworld?!"

Human joys and sorrows, fears and anxieties, underwent a dramatic reversal at this moment.

One second, they were utterly evasive about death and avoided the lingering souls wandering in the night; the next second, when they learned that death was not the end, but rather a rigorous and strict system with "promotion channels," their fear was greatly diminished, replaced by a complex emotion mixed with awe and fervor.

Gu Qing's deep gaze pierced through the layers of clouds, looking down at the boiling blue planet below.

On his retina, the system panel was performing an extremely frantic data calculation.

[Ding—Global understanding of the 'Netherworld' has been completely solidified!]

Panic, awe, hope, fervor... a complex mix of emotions is causing a high-dimensional transformation in the pool of faith!

The Yin-Yang principles of Earth have been successfully aligned.

Gazing at the pleasing pale blue indicators, Gu Qing's usually placid face remained completely expressionless. He was like a ruthless chess player, watching the pieces on the board precisely fall into the designated grids along the paths he had set.

"Verbal declarations alone are not enough."

Gu Qing tapped his fingertips lightly in the air. "If we want mortals to willingly follow the rules of the underworld and make those dead souls obediently report to the underworld, we must make them fully understand what is in the underworld."

"System, package the underlying logic and scene construction of 'Netherworld' into a subconscious image. In the form of 'Heavenly Decree,' send a 'version preview' to all living humans and souls lingering in the mortal realm."

[Command accepted. Pilot image, commencing projection.]

……

Earth, noon.

Whether it's high-ranking military officials holding a meeting at the headquarters of the 749 Bureau in New Chang'an City, or European civilians trembling in their shelters; whether it's Kunlun disciples flying through the clouds on their swords, or those evil spirits trapped in the "Yin Domain" who have lost their minds.

In that instant, all living things froze in motion.

Before their eyes, the scenes of the real world receded like the tide. In their place was an epic scroll, incredibly clear and grand, projected directly into the depths of their souls.

The scroll begins with a towering, dark city gate that seems to reach into the clouds.

[The Gates of Hell, a place of certain death, where the living and the dead are separated.]

Ancient and majestic Daoist sounds echoed in everyone's minds. Accompanied by these sounds, people seemed to pass through the colossal bronze gate, which exuded an endless chilling aura, from a first-person perspective.

Behind the gate lay a long, ancient path overgrown with scarlet spider lilies. The flowers bloomed without leaves, and the leaves grew without flowers, carpeting the road to the underworld like blood. On this road to the dead, countless blank-faced souls dressed in white were queuing up, trudging forward in a daze.

Immediately afterwards, the scroll turned.

A vast, murky underground river, teeming with countless snakes, insects, rats, and bloody remains, stretched between heaven and earth. Just a glance at that river was enough to instill a sense of terror that threatened to corrode one's very soul.

The River of Oblivion carries away all the sins of one's past life; the Bridge of Helplessness allows one to drink a bowl of Meng Po's soup.

People saw that, beside the stone bridge over the River of Oblivion, those who did good deeds were able to pass smoothly, drink a bowl of clear soup, wash away their past lives, and transform into pure light balls that plunged into the six bottomless giant whirlpools of reincarnation.

Those who committed numerous evil deeds in their lives and were filled with bloodthirsty aura were directly struck down by the invisible laws on the bridge and plunged into the churning River of Oblivion and Blood. They were subjected to the frenzied biting of copper snakes and iron dogs, letting out extremely shrill screams, and were never able to be reincarnated!

Seeing this scene, countless thugs around the world who had secretly committed wrongdoings or taken advantage of the chaos during the beginning of the cultivation era broke out in a cold sweat, their legs buckling as they knelt on the ground. The sense of judgment that struck their very souls was more terrifying than any human law.

However, that's not all the trailer has to offer.

The painting concludes with a shot of the magnificent and extremely imposing main city of Fengdu.

The ten towering Yama Palaces, each ten thousand feet high, resemble ten ancient divine mountains, suppressing the fortune of the entire underworld. However, within those palaces, the enormous thrones representing the ten Yama Kings are empty; on either side of the palaces, the positions representing the judges, the day and night wandering gods, and the Black and White Impermanence are also vacant.

Only boundless majesty awaits their master.

When the netherworld was first established, the six realms were empty.

Those who defended their country and died on the battlefield in their lifetime can become ghost soldiers, wielding long spears to suppress evil spirits.

Those who accumulated virtue and performed good deeds in their lifetime, and were selfless and impartial, can become judges of the City God, enjoying the offerings of incense and judging the good and evil of a city.

Those with deep-seated obsessions but who do not succumb to demonic ways, and whose hearts are as hard as stone, can transform into the impermanent, claiming souls and lives, unbound by the constraints of heaven and earth.

If one is a spirit or deity, one lives as long as heaven and earth, and patrols the land on behalf of heaven!

As the last line of golden characters, imprinted with supreme divine might, gradually faded from the depths of everyone's souls, this three-minute "script preview" came to a complete end.

The real world has regained its color.

But everyone's heart was pounding like a drum.

If the previous verbal announcements were merely a beacon in the darkness, then this soul-stirring "scene experience" lays bare the ultimate path to advancement in the entire cultivation era before all of humanity!

Immortality and the authority to patrol the heavens!

For ordinary cultivators, the path of cultivation is incredibly difficult. Reaching the Foundation Establishment stage is already one in ten thousand, and the Golden Core stage is an even greater dream. Life has an end, and even high-level cultivators can perish at any time in the face of heavenly tribulations and demonic beasts.

But now, someone is telling them that even if your physical body dies, as long as you meet the standards, you will not only not dissipate, but you can directly ascend to become a righteous god of the underworld who controls life and death!

What a blessing this is!

Inside the secret meeting room of the Jiangnan Branch of the 749 Bureau in Jiangnan City.

Lin Xiao, who had just escaped death from the extremely dangerous situation at the Third Hospital, was staring intently at the holographic projection device in front of him. His hands were trembling violently, and tears were welling up in his tiger-like eyes.

"Sir, what's wrong?" the adjutant beside him asked worriedly.

"Those who die on the battlefield may become ghost soldiers... those who are selfless and impartial may become city gods..."

Lin Xiao muttered these words to himself, then suddenly slammed his hand on the table, stood up abruptly, and the despair and despondency in his eyes vanished, replaced by an unprecedented fervor.

"We're saved! Jiangnan City is saved!"

He strode to the center of the conference room, surveying all the high-ranking generals and cultivators present: "Did you all understand the 'Heavenly Decree' just now? The Underworld is currently an empty shell; it needs administrators to maintain order!"

"The reason those vengeful spirits that turn into evil ghosts in hospitals can't be killed is because there's no higher-level law to suppress them. But what if... we humans ourselves become the underworld's messengers?!"

Upon hearing this, everyone in the conference room lit up.

Yes! Ordinary cultivators can't deal with the evil spirits in the underworld, but if it's the real "Black and White Impermanence" who hold the power of the underworld, carrying the soul-catching rope and the mourning stick, and they go to capture those wandering ghosts, wouldn't that be like official law enforcement encountering street thugs, a pure dimensional reduction attack?!

"Investigate immediately!"

Lin Xiao's voice became hoarse with excitement, "Immediately retrieve the files of all soldiers, police officers, and cultivators who died protecting civilians since the spiritual energy recovery! Also, the list of those highly respected, upright, and honest senior leaders!"

"Although they sacrificed their lives, their souls will surely remain in this world! If we were to select the first batch of City Gods and Underworld Messengers, the martyrs of our Bureau 749 would undoubtedly be the most qualified!"

It's not just 749 innings.

At that noon, all official institutions, cultivation sects, and even the top financial groups of the old era around the world were completely thrown into a frenzy of activity.

The tycoons discovered in despair that, according to the established rules of the underworld, money and power were nothing but worthless paper. The waters of the River of Oblivion wouldn't stop corrupting your soul just because you were a billionaire in life. Your good and evil deeds became the sole criterion for measuring your status after death.

Then, an extremely absurd scene unfolded.

Countless capitalists who once exploited the lower classes suddenly began frantically selling off their assets, establishing charitable foundations, and even personally going to refugee camps to distribute porridge, trying to forcibly accumulate "merit" for themselves before they died, so that they would not have to go to the eighteenth level of hell after death.

Meanwhile, military forces in various regions began holding extremely solemn memorial ceremonies in front of martyrs' cemeteries, attempting to awaken the heroic souls of those fallen soldiers with the most fervent faith and incense.

The world is bustling with activity, all for profit. But in the face of absolute divine authority and life and death, this profit is transformed into extreme obedience to the rules of Heaven.

……

As Gu Qing looked at the earth-shattering changes that had taken place on Earth because of the "script preview" he had released, a highly rational smile finally appeared on his lips.

He didn't care whether the wealthy were hypocrites or ordinary people did good deeds out of fear or greed.

All he cares about is the result.

"The faith is strong enough, and the anchor of the underworld has taken deep root."

Gu Qing lightly swiped his finger in the air, bringing up an extremely massive backend database. It was a list generated by the system after scanning all the dead souls worldwide using the law of causality.

"The infrastructure is in place; now it's time to issue the first batch of 'qualifications'."

His gaze swept quickly across the list of hundreds of millions of remnant souls, finally settling on an extremely special name enveloped in rich golden light.

The owner of this name was once the strongest shield of humanity's defenses, and one of the few people in Gu Qing's world who could be called "old friends".

"Old friend, you've been wandering the mortal realm long enough."

Gu Qing murmured softly, her fingertip pointing at that name.

"If you don't take the position of the first City God, I'm afraid no god or spirit in the world can keep order."