"I suspect what these creatures of yin are doing isn't merely as simple as a ghost festival."
Du Changqing, a Jin Sect cultivator, snorted coldly. He was not the only one who felt this way; most of the human cultivators actually shared the feeling. Nor was it this particular ghost festival that had given them such an impression, but a hundred years of gradual, imperceptible influence.
The Daoist Sect had its suspicions, but yin and yang were separated, after all. This was something they had no way to verify.
What struck them most deeply was the attitude these Underworld Bailiffs and Underworld Soldiers took toward ordinary departed souls.
Over the centuries, the changes had come little by little. The kindly manner with which Underworld Bailiffs had once taken souls into custody had long since become a thing of the past, gradually evolving into the present treatment of them as slaves, pigs, and dogs. Especially at a grand occasion like the Shanyin Ghost Festival, even when the Underworld Bailiffs deliberately tried to conceal it, some things could not be hidden.
In the Netherworld, the vast numbers of departed souls meant as much to these Underworld Bailiffs as ordinary people in the living world meant to cultivators. Human cultivators, who had always upheld the principle of equality between cultivators and mortals, found the conduct of these Underworld Bailiffs rather displeasing.
Following this thread, it was not hard to judge how bad conditions in the Netherworld had become. The details might still be unclear, but the direction of the trend was unmistakable.
Gao Yunqi sneered. "These Underworld Bailiffs and Underworld Soldiers are harvesting yang energy on a massive scale, well beyond the bounds of normal cultivation. In terms of cultivation principles, there's a suspicion of pulling up seedlings to help them grow. I