"That's easily done. I've already made preparations!"
Li Ling readily agreed to the newly appointed City God's request.
Thus, religious assemblies were held throughout the Misty Wave Kingdom once more. Rich fragrances continued to suffuse every corner, bringing another group of incense-offering deities into being.
At Li Ling's suggestion, Zhao Bin promoted several Garrison Commissioners who had died in battle in one stroke, appointing them as clerks, Merit Officers, scribes, and constables. At last, the entire City God administration had taken shape.
Most were cultivators who had fallen in battle over the past few years, so this also gave their friends and relatives some consolation.
As Li Ling saw it, they were still Yin Spirits, little different in essence from Ghost Immortals.
This was because most Earth Deities belonged to the ranks of Yin Spirits. They had to receive celestial registers before becoming full-fledged divine immortals. Apart from the Heavenly Court appointments granted through those registers, the crucial distinction between wandering ghosts and divine officials lay in incense offerings and merit.
Evil ghosts devoured yin qi, sometimes even degenerating into creatures that fed on flesh and living souls. They occupied the lowest of the lower ranks.
Ordinary evil spirits and ghost wraiths, not yet utterly transformed into Corrupted Ghosts, occupied the middle of the lower ranks.
Then came newly formed ghosts. Though feeble, they retained a trace of lingering yang and occupied the highest of the lower ranks.
Above these were Grass-Head Gods who fed on incense offerings, along with Yin Spirits and Ghost Immortals whose powerful spirits allowed them to protect themselves with dharma power. According to the purity of their yin-yang auras, they occupied the lower, middle, and upper divisions of the middle ranks.
Those of the upper ranks were beings invested by the Heavenly Court, their bodies