Chapter 638: The Underworld Is Complete

“

Pft...”

A fish biting the hook interrupted Lady Calico’s verbal assault on the crane, making her quickly reel in the rod. It was a fat, juicy fish.

Lady Calico dropped the fish into the bamboo basket. Taking a look at the contents, she saw that the harvest was already quite plentiful. She tossed the basket back into the lake, and just like that, completely forgot about the crane. Her thoughts turned from fish to food, then from food to the Daoist. She couldn’t help resting her chin on her hand, staring into the lake, a trace of worry rising in her heart.

“Swallow, what do you think? How much longer until the Daoist comes out?” Lady Calico looked up at the swallow perched on the tree branch.

“I—I don’t know.” The sudden question caught him completely off guard.

“You’re so smart, and even you don’t know?”

“Th... Lady Calico, you’re even smarter than me, and you don’t know either, right?”

“You

are

smart.”

“...”

“Then tell me this, why doesn’t he starve even though he hasn’t eaten?”

“Mr. Song’s cultivation is profound, his divine powers vast. He’s nourished by the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, bathed in the essence of the sun and moon. Naturally, he won’t die of hunger.”

“But will he

feel

hungry?”

“...” This question really stumped the swallow.

“My cultivation is shallow, and my Dao attainments are meager. I haven’t reached that level. I only know that once a cultivator or spirit reaches a certain realm, they don’t need to eat or drink and won’t die of hunger or thirst.” The swallow spoke while thinking aloud, “But judging by how many powerful cultivators and spirits still eat and drink, they probably

do

feel uncomfortable when hungry or thirsty, right?”

“Hmm...”

“Especially at the beginning?” the swallow guessed. “Some people and demons with high cultivation start out needing food and drink, just like ordinary folk. As time goes on, they eat and drink less and less, and their diet becomes lighter. Sometimes they just eat fruit, spiritual fruit, or drink nectar, dew, and elixirs. My ancestor was like that.”

“Old Swallow Immortal!”

“Yes.”

“Keep talking!”

“Especially thirst,” the swallow went on, “Some immortals don’t eat, but still drink wine or tea. My ancestor was like that. He hardly ate, but brewed a pot of tea every day, and sometimes cooked wine.”

“Hmm...” Lady Calico fell into deep thought. The more she thought, the heavier her worry became.

“Lady Calico, you need not worry,” the swallow said, lowering his head. After a moment, he added, “Mr. Song has his work to do, and we have ours. As long as we do our part well, we just have to wait for his return.”

“Is that so...”

“Yes.”

“But I have another question.”

“What is it?”

“Why can this crane grow so big?” Lady Calico pointed behind her at the crane towering far above the trees, much bigger than the tallest tree. Then she looked up at the swallow, who appeared as just a small dot atop a snowy treetop. “And why are you so small?”

“That’s not hard to understand.”

“Hm?”

“Lady Calico, don’t you know? In this life, you won’t grow as big as a tiger.”

“...!”

Flap flap flap...

The swallow flapped its wings and flew away.

It flew a little farther and stopped, turning its head to look at Mount Ye in the distance, feeling something strange.

From early autumn to the cold winter, the second winter was almost over now. Over the past year or so, the Great Dao of Mount Ye had evolved infinitely in mystery and subtlety. Even outside Mount Ye, one could feel the extraordinary spiritual resonance here.

Countless deities in the heavens cast their gaze here from afar, and many newly transformed demons or newly awakened wild beasts and birds with emerging consciousness were attracted and gathered naturally. In contrast, those demons with higher Dao cultivation seemed to already know this was Fengzhou Ghost City, guarded by the Lord Yuewang Shenjun. Even if they sensed the mystery here, they dared not approach lightly.

However, recently, the internal realm of the Ghost City had grown increasingly mysterious and changed drastically, yet outside Mount Ye, all such mystery vanished. It was as if before their eyes stood an ordinary mountain. Even more ordinary than it had been a year and a half ago.

Perhaps the underworld was beginning to take shape,

the swallow thought.

Precisely because of this, the world inside Mount Ye was no longer contained within the mountain itself. This place was merely an entrance, which was why the internal mysteries could not be sensed from outside.

Rumble rumble...

Some sounds came from afar, and the swallow turned to look.

As expected, Lady Calico had finished fishing, found her verbal attacks less effective, and started fighting with the crane demon again.

***

Winter passed, and spring came again.

The Five-Directions Soil had vanished, and the Four Seasons Springs were completely depleted. Only the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and the essence of the sun and moon continuously flowed in from the outside world, shaping the structure and rules of this small world. Song You increasingly clearly sensed this small world was being constructed right before him.

This place depended on the outside world, yet was different from it.

Song You regained his perception of space and direction, his awareness of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and the essence of sun and moon, and once again touched upon the cycle of time.

Yet here, there were no distinctions of the four seasons. How did he know winter had passed?

It was because the subtle fragrance of the wax plum had faded. Song You had smelled this faint fragrance a total of three times.

At first, time and space were very blurred; the laws of the Great Dao and the essence of heaven and earth made it easy to lose track of time, just like when he had been on Yunding Mountain. He truly did not know how time passed. But later, everything gradually became clear again, and time passed relatively slower.

Song You began to understand that each time he smelled the wax plum fragrance, indeed a year had passed.

Yet he still had not opened his eyes. He was waiting, while also comprehending and cultivating. The last time he smelled the plum blossom fragrance was probably the winter of the sixth year of Da’an.

Now it was likely the seventh year of Da’an.

In Song You’s perception, it was a slow and steady process, but from the outside, it seemed more sudden. The underworld had successfully condensed. This was a world belonging to the souls of the dead.

In an instant, all the Ghost City gods and officials of the underworld sensed it, and the gods and Buddhas of the heavens were stirred.

There was boundless merit and infinite creation. The Daoist on the high platform had also opened his eyes.

Where he stood was now a vast world, extending upward with no end in sight, only profound darkness. There was no sun or moon, but a faint light. The horizon was limitless; below, faint ghostly lights flickered here and there. Some were pale green, some were light blue, and some ghostly were white. They were all far away, barely visible. On the ground, yin energy had turned into cold winds, blowing gently.

Even the stone pillar he had originally sat on had, at some unknown time, transformed into a towering mountain.

The mountain was straight and steep, like a gigantic stone stalagmite, perfectly slender and conical, tapering smaller and smaller toward the top. At the peak was a stone pillar flat on top, roughly the same size as where the Daoist had been seated before. From below, this mountain would surely be considered a scenic sight.

Looking down, everything was far away.

Even the original Mount Ye’s Ghost City had been expanded and torn into four parts, distributed in four different directions. The three palatial government offices that had originally been adjacent were now separated.

Song You bowed his head slightly before himself.

The mountain peak platform was not clean but cluttered with many items—some fish, meat, cooked dishes, and various scattered fruits, some already rotten. Most were likely brought before the underworld’s initial formation, while others had been delivered afterward. Due to changes in the world and its rules, these items no longer rotted or decayed here; instead, they gradually lost moisture over time, shriveling up.

There were even some items that hadn’t lost any moisture at all, as if they had just been delivered and placed there.

Song You saw a braised chicken resting on a dried lotus leaf, and a bowl of preserved egg and lean pork congee.

“...”

The Daoist waved his hand, and the chicken and congee flew over. He tore off a piece of chicken leg and tasted it.

It was cold, but he could tell it wasn’t the flavor made by Lady Calico.

Song You always chose high-quality spices when buying, so the aroma was purer, without many off-flavors. Moreover, Lady Calico had learned the complete recipe from him, using even more types of spices and with more precise proportions.

Most importantly, Lady Calico used more chili peppers.

Of course, it was also possible that too much time had passed, and the original spices Song You bought were used up. When Lady Calico repurchased them, she might have chosen cheaper, lower-quality ones, missing some spices.

He took another sip of the preserved egg and lean pork congee. It was also already cold.

This time he couldn’t discern much flavor. The meat was sparse, which was also unlike Lady Calico’s style.

“...”

The Daoist quietly stood up.

After being still for a long time, his body was quite stiff. Fortunately, he hadn’t fused with the stone mountain beneath him.

The suspended steps had disappeared without a trace, but the Daoist didn’t mind. With another wave of his hand, stairs automatically appeared on the stone mountain, winding down around it. There were thousands, maybe tens of thousands of steps.

He took a step, feeling a bit stiff. Then another step, which felt much more natural. After a few more steps, he was completely recovered.

Suddenly sensing something, he stopped. Song You turned his head to the northwest and immediately saw through the vast distance.

He faintly saw a flourishing wax plum tree, lush and verdant. Beneath the tree was a stone platform, with an ancient

qin

placed on it, and a figure sitting before it, looking up to meet his gaze.

“Thank you,” Song You said from afar, bowing slightly, then continued downward.

The original stone pillar platform had been dozens of zhang high. Now the mountain was at least ten times taller, and it was a true divine miracle. At the Daoist’s pace, winding down the mountain would have taken an unknown length of time, yet before long he had reached the foot.

Divine Lord Yuewang and the two Palace Lords were already waiting below, and not far off sat a monk in meditation.

“Congratulations on successfully condensing the underworld. Such creation brings boundless merit.”

“Your noble deed will ensure the underworld’s eternal consolidation.”

“Thank you, sir...”

Divine Lord Yuewang was carefree and unrestrained by nature, originally a free spirit of heaven and earth. Having been invited to preside over the underworld, he only offered congratulations. The Palace Lords, former top officials of Great Yan, were more bureaucratic, so their words differed from Divine Lord Yuewang’s.

After his death, Doctor Cai became a ghost, never a god, but was most familiar with the minds of underworld spirits and best represented them, so he was the first to express thanks.

“The underworld has been established. From now on, this world will no longer belong to the outer heavens and earth. It spans thousands of li and will continue to grow. The underworld ghosts no longer need to worry about having a place to dwell,” Song You said.

He added, “This entire mountain is a convergence of spiritual resonance. Every piece of stone can serve as a portal between the outer world and the underworld. I ask the Ghost Emperor and the Palace Lords to take some stones and send them to the various city god offices outside. From now on, underworld officials and ghost deputies, whether going out on official business or bringing ghosts back, can enter and exit through these city god offices.”

“Your considerations are thorough.”

“You could also take some more stones as tokens to distribute to the key officials of the underworld, so they can freely enter and exit the underworld,” Song You said, pausing briefly. “But the mountain rock is hard, and probably only the Ghost Emperor has the ability to excavate these stones.”

“Thank you.”

“I only happen to know this for now.”

Since Song You personally promoted the condensation of the underworld, he gained many conveniences and advantages. Many of the rules of this small world were either naturally known to him or understood through his reflections and experiences during this period. So he shared these with them first to help avoid detours and save their time in exploration.

But that was all he would say.

Though Divine Lord Yuewang was carefree by nature, he also had great Dao cultivation. Palace Lord He, a renowned prime minister and wise official, possessed wisdom beyond ordinary people. Doctor Cai was meticulous and careful—otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to practice medicine. Other matters didn’t need Song You’s reminders; they would consider them even more thoroughly than he could.

Song You withdrew his gaze and looked again toward the northwest, then asked them:

“What time is it now in the outside world?”

“It’s the autumn of the seventh year of Da’an,” Palace Lord He replied to Song You. “It has been exactly three full years since Your Excellency arrived here.”

“Three years already...” the Daoist murmured to himself, full of emotion.

Great matters truly took time. Even for a great cultivator, time could not be rushed. But this was already quite fast.

Without the State Preceptor’s intervention, the underworld might have taken a hundred or even several hundred years just to begin to condense, and from initial condensation to full formation could have taken decades.

The Daoist had greatly shortened the process.

“Where is my little child?”

“Lady Calico and the descendant of Swallow Immortal are both in the outside world. Originally, they often came and went, but after the underworld was successfully condensed, living beings of the yang realm are no longer allowed to enter or exit casually. Occasionally, when their souls leave their bodies or when the Ghost Emperor makes exceptions to invite them in, they still cannot stay long. After some back and forth, most of the time they stay outside,” Palace Lord He answered.

He continued, “However, the maid of the great demon in the northwest often accompanies them when they go out, so it’s not too boring.”

“Knowing that you’ve awakened, I have already sent someone outside to invite them,” Divine Lord Yuewang said.

“I see...” Song You nodded.

Originally, inside Mount Ye was only a small world condensed by him, modeled after a painted world. It was a kind of upgraded formation from Hezhou’s He Plains used to trap the Snowy Plains Demon King.

Though intended to shelter underworld spirits and ghosts, other beings could also enter and exit. Now, the underworld is a small world condensed by the natural trend of heaven and earth, created solely for the underworld spirits and ghosts. It is naturally unsuitable for living beings from the yang realm.

Song You himself felt no discomfort staying inside.

“Amitabha,” came the voice of the monk nearby. “Daoist Master, you should go outside and take a look first. Perhaps Lady Calico’s growth will surprise you.”

“I will take my leave now,” Song You said no more, nor did he linger. He took a step, and his figure vanished from the spot.