The Good Influence

Cècè helped Yu Ziqing out of the tunnel, and the people of the village had already come outside as well.

The Village Chief looked at Yu Ziqing, his eyes reddening slightly. He did not instruct anyone else, but stepped forward himself to support Yu Ziqing.

"Village Chief, is there anything to eat?"

"Yes, yes." The Village Chief nodded repeatedly, then glared at the foolishly grinning Er Han beside him. "What are you waiting for? Go!"

Someone immediately brought over tables and chairs, while others began making a fire and boiling water. They knew Yu Ziqing had a strange habit—he liked drinking hot water.

Old Yang walked over on four hooves, his expression somewhat complicated.

"Don't talk anymore. And don't worry. There's still a little food left in the village. There's definitely something to eat."

Yu Ziqing slumped down there, watching the villagers bustle around without a single person asking any extra questions. He could not help grinning.

This was the rule they had developed after becoming mutually dependent, as well as their unspoken understanding.

No one asked what he had been doing these past few months. No one asked how Cècè, who was supporting him, had come out of the Abyss of Despair.

The feeling was wonderful, because everyone trusted him unconditionally. Everyone also knew that the reason they had returned alive was Yu Ziqing. That was all they needed to know. They did not need to know anything else.

The Village Chief looked at Yu Ziqing with a face full of heartache and kept urging the kitchen aunties to prepare food.

Old Yang stood to the side and spoke to himself.

"I inspected it earlier. Ever since the mine fell into the void, all the Jinlan Mushrooms inside have withered.

"That's because this thing needs to be nourished by earth energy brimming with vitality. Once separated from the earth of the Wasteland, it naturally withers.

"It's the same with the Jade Tomb here. The Jade Tomb had been sleeping peacefully, waiting for the day when it could be nourished and revived by the vitality of a world. After falling into the void, there was no hope of revival, so of course it got angry.

"The power it had accumulated began erupting. It carried its place of slumber with it, and conveniently brought us back to the Wasteland as well.

"Ziqing, this time it was unavoidable. In the future, don't ever think about waking the one sleeping inside the Jade Tomb."

Old Yang did not avoid the others as he spoke, and everyone present heard him.

Yu Ziqing knew that Old Yang was worried. People were naturally curious. If you said nothing, others would let their imaginations run wild. If you explained, they might turn around and ignore it, or even say, "What's it got to do with me? That's all?"

This was to define what had happened.

This was simply what had happened. No matter how they investigated it in the future, this was all it could be. The King of Hungry Ghosts had fallen asleep, and no one was to argue otherwise.

The other villagers did not understand, but they were not afraid. The Hungry Ghosts had not harmed them, and neither had the King of Hungry Ghosts. Instead, they had brought them back to the Wasteland. The village had no bad habit of judging people by their appearance, so when they saw that huge group of Hungry Ghosts, they actually felt a sense of familiarity.

That was because those Hungry Ghosts might once have been villagers here. They were also the Starvation Ghosts who had once saved them.

But Old Yang was different from the villagers. It was not that he could not see through the matter. He had been scared witless. He feared that the slightest influence might cause something unpredictable to happen, so he immediately defined the matter.

Yu Ziqing bared his teeth slightly and glanced toward the Back Mountain.

The Jade Tomb was truly pitiful. It had let the villagers freeload on its power to nourish their bodies every day, and now it even had to shoulder the blame.

Good. It deserved it. After all, every existence capable of leaving behind a Jade Tomb had been a big shot in life.

With such a big shot sleeping in the village, this place would also be much safer.

Yes, that was what had happened. The King of Hungry Ghosts had done it all. It had nothing to do with me, Yu Ziqing.

Seeing Yu Ziqing look outside, Old Yang immediately added, "All the experts who came earlier have left. Some of them must have deduced the truth and no longer dared disturb the one sleeping inside the Jade Tomb. Don't worry. This place will be safe for a long time to come."

It would be safer than the Great Qian Imperial Capital.

Anyone with even a little strength would now fear approaching this place. The stronger they were, the more afraid they would be.

They could not afford to gamble, nor could they afford to lose.

Just thinking of the terrifying scene from before, Old Yang naturally thought of the first Dao Practitioner.

One level per day, exactly the same.

After ten days—not even eleven—it had already been enough to beat those three fellows carrying the State-Guarding Artifacts senseless.

If it truly reached the twelfth day, then most likely everyone would be finished together.

They had suffered heavy losses this time. According to their usual methods of handling matters, this place would probably be designated a forbidden land.

As for revenge, that was impossible. Revenge against whom?

If his guess was correct, what had happened here would immediately be classified as top secret. Most people probably would not know what had happened at all. At most, they would speculate whether another disaster like the Great Sun Descends had appeared on the Wasteland.

Most people would merely see, on the latest map of the Wasteland, an additional forbidden land certified by the three Divine Dynasties of Great Qian, Great Li, and Great Zhen.

Still, this place did indeed seem to be a forbidden land for Qi Refining cultivators...

That was not too outrageous.

Watching Cècè feed Yu Ziqing water, Old Yang shook his head. Ever since he had stopped being human and completely become a goat, the outrageous and unfamiliar things he encountered had truly grown more and more numerous.

He had once thought that the path he was taking now—a path he had never imagined—might be wrong. Now, instead, he felt that he had truly found the path belonging to him.

Especially after he had begun Body Refining and started transforming into a demon, that feeling grew stronger by the day.

The village returned to peace. Although it was colder now than before, everyone was delighted.

All the Jinlan Mushrooms in the tunnel had withered, and the village was also close to running out of food. In a few days, someone would have to go out in search of food. But for now, none of that had anything to do with Yu Ziqing.

He was the first person to receive care, a decision made personally by the Village Chief. Everyone approved of it, and whether Yu Ziqing objected or not would not affect the result.

In a side hall of the Great Qian Imperial Capital, Jian Zhen recounted the truth, while a historian beside him feverishly wrote everything down.

When the writing was complete, the historian opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of blood onto the freshly written history book. The blood transformed into one blood-colored Rune after another, imprinting themselves onto every character before slowly dissipating. From that moment onward, not a single character in it could be changed.

Beginning today, this was the unalterable truth recorded in history.

"Seal it away."

The Qian Emperor stood with his back to everyone and gave the order. Someone immediately took the history book away and sealed it. Ordinary people had no right to see it. Even if someone exhausted every means to read it, this would still be the truth.

An attendant escorted the historian away, carrying nourishing treasures bestowed as a reward.

Jian Zhen looked at the Qian Emperor's back and clasped his hands in salute.

"This old minister takes his leave."

"Master Jian Zhen." The Qian Emperor suddenly spoke. Looking at the map on the jade wall, he asked, "These..."

"This is the truth." Jian Zhen's expression was solemn as he abruptly cut off the Qian Emperor.

The scene of the King of Hungry Ghosts' aura rising without the slightest obstruction, climbing in a straight line, still surfaced in Jian Zhen's mind. He continued to feel chills throughout his body. He would not allow any understanding that might affect the outcome to emerge, because it could very possibly influence that sleepwalking King of Hungry Ghosts and make it do something they could not withstand.

The King of Hungry Ghosts had to fall asleep again, waiting through endless years before there was even the slightest possibility of waking again.

And those endless years might mean countless eras from now—perhaps it would have nothing to do with the descendants of anyone present today.

As he had said, if the Hungry Ghost clan existed, then so be it. The King of Hungry Ghosts had to sleep.

Jian Zhen raised his head and stared at the Qian Emperor. He could not allow the Qian Emperor to develop even the slightest inappropriate idea, no matter the cost.

"I understand." The Qian Emperor sighed. He extended one finger and touched the map on the jade wall, drawing a circle around the Wasteland. The area within the circle dimmed and transformed into a black spot.

Across the entire jade map, which covered a wall, there were dozens of black spots of various sizes. Some were even within Great Qian's borders. All of them were forbidden lands, but places comparable in size to the Wasteland were only three or four across the entire map.

Jian Zhen secretly let out a sigh of relief, saluted once more, and withdrew.

Great Li and Great Zhen also happened to accept Daoist Dragon Tiger's words and designate them as the truth.

But Great Li's side was somewhat different.

The woman in the phoenix robe had returned to the Great Li Imperial Palace. She propped her head up with one arm and leaned against the low couch, her thoughts unknown.

Beside her was a brazier. The ashes inside were piled high, while scarlet-gold flames burned within. After a moment, a half-bald Vermilion Bird crawled out of the ashes and floated in the flames, looking listless as it sank into slumber.

After a long while, she seemed to think of something.

"How many half-Blessed Lands are there within Great Li?"

"Your Highness, there is only one." The female official waiting nearby immediately replied, "There are quite a few Blessed Lands, but the formation of a half-Blessed Land requires a fortuitous coincidence. They are exceedingly rare, and their value is not high. The sole half-Blessed Land lies within Duke Lin's fief. Moreover, General Gongze is also a member of a collateral branch of Duke Lin's clan."

"Send a formal invitation. I'm going to visit the Duke's residence."

When Gong Ze was mentioned—the culprit who had blasted the Jinlan Mine into the void—she thought for a moment longer.

"That Jinlan Mine... Has anyone always lived there?"

"There were people there before. We traded Jinlan Ore with them twice."

"Before..."

The woman's brows knitted slightly. She naturally understood the implication.

"Go. Send someone reliable to keep watch at the Wasteland border and see whether any mortals from the Wasteland come out."

She felt that this matter was not so simple. Although she truly did not dare touch the King of Hungry Ghosts again, after returning, she had discussed it with several important figures from Lihuo Academy in the Heavenly Secrets Chamber. Those figures had clearly told her that if they had dared continue attacking at the time, there was a very high chance it would have caused an irresistible, world-spanning, destructive disaster.

They had also been lucky. Daoist Dragon Tiger had encountered the King of Hungry Ghosts in the void first and stopped them immediately after returning.

They even suspected that Daoist Dragon Tiger knew more hidden secrets, but after returning, he had not dared reveal a single word.

After thinking it over, she felt she needed to look at the matter from another angle. She thought of the mortals who had once lived in the Jinlan Mine, then remembered the scene she had seen while looking down at the earth when she returned from the Wasteland. She issued another order.

"Take my golden token, draft an edict from the Eastern Palace, and summon the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. Have him personally allocate provisions and relief supplies and go to the western Wasteland border to provide disaster relief. Ensure that the people there can all survive the winter safely this year and preserve next year's spring farming. Give him the authority to act as he sees fit. Then have the Western Desolation Army provide its full support. If even one person starves to death within western Great Li this year, he and the Great General of the Western Desolation will lose their heads."

Thanks to "No Name" for the ten-thousand coin tip, and thank you for your kindness and support.

I accidentally set the scheduled release to the wrong time last night and clicked a commonly used time without thinking, scheduling it for midnight. Still, it did not matter. Including today's update, I've written eight thousand characters.