Chen Zhou withdrew his gaze and took the Black Sludge Pond from his system storage. A black light orb the size of a fist floated in his palm.
Walking onto the main thoroughfare of the City of the Wrongfully Dead, Chen Zhou tossed the Black Sludge Pond toward the area outside the city.
The black light orb traced an arc through the air, landed outside the city walls, and vanished into the earth.
In the next moment, the entire City of the Wrongfully Dead began to tremble.
A massive fissure split the ground outside the city, and black sludge surged from the rift like a giant black dragon turning over.
The sludge poured out faster and in greater volume, forming a black river tens of zhang wide that encircled the city's perimeter.
The river water was as black as ink and extremely viscous. Bubbles of various sizes churned on the surface, releasing dense death qi as they popped. The paper people and zombie corpse guards standing sentry on the walls let out a series of comfortable sighs.
The sludge flowed slowly from upstream to downstream, moving like a newly awakened behemoth stretching its limbs.
Where the river flowed, death qi rose, forming a faint black barrier in the sky above the City of the Wrongfully Dead that enveloped the entire city.
Dark gold patterns flickered across the surface of the barrier, occasionally manifesting images of ten thousand ghosts in worship.
The citizens within the City of the Wrongfully Dead were all startled.
They poured out of their homes and rushed toward the city gates, staring dumbfounded at the black river that had appeared out of thin air.
“W-what is this?”
“A river? How did a river suddenly appear?”
“This is a moat!”
A white-haired elder suddenly shouted in excitement, “This is a miracle! It is a miracle bestowed upon us by the Great God!”
He fell to his knees with a thud and kowtowed toward the Bone Altar.
The surrounding citizens quickly realized the situation and knelt down in unison.
“The God has manifested!”
“The God has blessed the City of the Wrongfully Dead!”
“Bone God! Bone God!”
Tens of thousands of citizens knelt at the city gates, their voices thundering as they bowed toward the altar.
Standing by the altar, Chen Zhou felt the fervor of his believers through the faith network, and the corners of his mouth curled slightly.
He raised his hand and made a gentle pressing motion in the air.
The Black Sludge Pond suddenly surged, and countless black mud tendrils reached out from the riverbed. They climbed up the city walls, leaving behind dark gold patterns on the bricks.
Seeing the mud tendrils surge toward them, the believers in the city were not afraid; instead, they became even more excited.
At the points where the mud tendrils touched, they could clearly feel a sense of security, as if they were infants lying in their mother's embrace.
The children who often counted the eyes at the feet of the Nightmare piglet were the most excited.
“What a big river!”
“Are there fish in the river?”
“There must be! This is the river the Great God gave us. There must be many, many fish inside!”
“Can we eat them?”
“You can't eat them! This is the Great God's river; we must protect it well!”
The children chattered away. One bold child even reached out to touch the dark gold patterns on the wall, only to be scooped up and pulled back by a nearby paper person.
The phenomenon of the Black Sludge Pond lasted for about the time it takes an incense stick to burn halfway before it slowly subsided.
The river channel stabilized around the city, and the barrier fully formed. The dark gold light gradually faded, and the black sludge returned to its original state of viscous, quiet flow.
Chen Zhou withdrew his hand and turned back to the Bone Altar.
...
A few days passed.
During this time, two major events occurred in the City of the Wrongfully Dead.
First, Wenxin Hall was completed.
Lu Cheng and his craftsmen worked through the night, taking only two days and three nights to construct this Earth Grade building.
Wenxin Hall was located next to Gathering Fortune Pavilion, adjacent to the Myriad Herbs Life-Death Realm and Dingnai Hall. It was an octagonal, three-story pavilion.
With its flying eaves and carved beams, the building was a sight to behold. The Wenchang pagoda finial atop the roof reflected a warm glow at sunrise. Large windows lined all four sides of the building, inlaid with transparent spirit-light stones that filtered incoming light into a soft, warm yellow.
On the day of its completion, the entire Wenxin Hall suddenly emitted a long, low hum.
A visible burst of literary radiance shot into the sky from the pagoda finial. It exploded in mid-air, transforming into a sky full of golden light-points that showered down upon every corner of the City of the Wrongfully Dead.
When the light-points landed on the citizens, they felt their minds clear. Things they couldn't understand before were suddenly solved, and things they couldn't remember before were suddenly etched into their minds.
When the light-points landed on the cultivators who were training, they felt the flow of spiritual power in their bodies accelerate. Bottlenecks that had troubled them for a long time showed signs of loosening.
When the light-points landed on the children in the schoolhouse, they felt the characters in their texts become exceptionally clear as they recited. They could memorize most of it after reading it just once.
Standing before Wenxin Hall, Lu Cheng looked at the soaring literary radiance, a proud smile appearing on his exhausted face.
He wiped the black soot from his face and spoke to the craftsmen beside him.
“See that? That's the hall we built! It is the Lord's blessing. In the future, your sons and grandsons will be able to study and cultivate in this hall, and every one of them can become a pillar of society!”
The craftsmen cheered, their voices even louder than the humming of Wenxin Hall.
The second major event was that Hong Ling finally got a good night's rest.
After Duke Wen and his group of civil officials moved into the City Lord's Mansion, the efficiency of administrative processing in the City of the Wrongfully Dead increased several times over.
Under Duke Wen's guidance, Hong Ling made rapid progress, moving from her initial makeshift methods to learning systematic arts of governance.
Duke Wen taught her how to formulate laws, allocate resources, balance various factions, and handle sudden crises.
Hong Ling possessed a Linglong Heart, allowing her to learn and comprehend quickly. With the help of the former subjects of Purity and Filth—a group of experienced civil officials—the burden on her shoulders lightened significantly.
Previously, she had been doing the work of dozens of people by herself. Pulling all-nighters was a regular occurrence. When tired, she would just nap at her desk for fifteen minutes before continuing her work.
Now that Duke Wen and the civil officials were sharing the load, she could finally go to bed on time.
For the first time in two months, Hong Ling slept for a full twelve hours.
When she woke up, she lay in bed staring at the ceiling for a good while.
It had been so long since she felt this relaxed.
Then she rolled over, tucked herself tightly into her quilt, and slept for another two hours.
When she finally rose, she was full of energy, and the dark circles under her eyes had faded significantly.
Seeing her like this, Duke Wen stroked his beard and said with concern, “Now you finally look like a fifteen-year-old girl.”
Hong Ling felt a rare moment of embarrassment. Straightening her expression, she said, “Master, I have rested enough. Let us begin the official business for today.”
Duke Wen shook his head with a smile. He thought to himself that this disciple of his was good in every way, but she pushed herself too hard. If she could only have half of Tuantuan's laziness, he wouldn't have to worry about her so much.
Early this morning, meanwhile, Duke Martial was training the soldiers of the military department on the drill grounds.
The training was simple: formations, charges, encirclements, and withdrawals—a standard set of military drills.
Duke Martial stood at the edge of the drill grounds. His broad-shouldered, imposing figure was exceptionally prominent among the soldiers, and the scars across his face looked particularly fierce in the morning light.
“Faster! Faster! Faster!”
Duke Martial roared, “Move faster! At this speed, you won't even touch the enemy's backside on the battlefield!”
The soldiers gritted their teeth and sprinted with all their might. Though they were soul-bodies, they were still running until they were drenched in sweat.
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