The next thirty years.
The two successors continued conscripting labor and building all sorts of strange religious structures. These buildings were disguised as Buddhist and Daoist sites, but every construction secretly involved live human sacrifices.
Tuoba Gui's son had considered putting a stop to it.
But he soon died a sudden death.
After his grandson ascended the throne, he could only continue this practice, which stirred widespread resentment and sparked rebellions.
Even though he knew it was ruining the dynasty's future.
Yet there was nothing he could do.
He even had to pretend to be a debauched ruler who was obsessed with seeking immortality and consulting the Buddha, taking the blame for everything.
There were benefits, however.
The leaders of every rebellion would mysteriously die, while the Southern Dynasties always failed inexplicably whenever they tried to march north.
Thus, little by little.
Rumors spread throughout the court that the current Imperial Family had Heaven's mandate upon them.
A few years later.
The emperor suddenly issued an order.
Under the pretext of expanding the Capital City's sewer system, he ordered deeper tunnels to be excavated beneath the city's existing drainage network. They crisscrossed one another and spread throughout the Capital City.
The cost was enormous.
The people of the Capital City complained bitterly.
However.
It was also from this time onward that rumors began circulating among the city's commoners about an "Earth Demon" causing trouble.
It was said that.
The Earth Demon lurked underground.
It could travel through soil and wait for a chance to devour living people. In the blink of an eye, it could consume an adult's flesh and blood, leaving behind only bones.
The incident caused a tremendous uproar.
Some said the excavation of the underground tunnels had disturbed the feng shui.
And attracted an evil entity.
Others