Who Let Him Cultivate?!
Chapter 1233 - 1232: Ghost Food Source

"Is it different from the architectural style of Ancient Times?" Lu Yang asked with a laugh, seeming to have heard something very interesting.

"Could it be... it isn't?" Mu Baiyi's confidence wavered at the sound of Lu Yang's laughter, considering that he was a true genius from the Ancient Times and the most authoritative on ancient architectural styles.

"Let's walk and talk," Lu Yang said with a smile, signaling Mu Baiyi to lead the way.

"This way."

Mu Baiyi gestured invitingly, leading everyone to a riverside.

The fog thickened in the river, and a wooden boat anchored on the bank awaited them. Vice Sect Hierarch Shi Huagu untied the ropes, ready to ferry the group across.

"This place is called Wangchuan River, built according to the manuscripts left by Qin Haoran. Wangchuan River surrounds Fengdu, and to enter Fengdu, one must be transported by the Ferryman to cross the river."

"This river can detect dangerous items among the possessions of its passengers. Of course, you all need not be checked," Mu Baiyi added quickly at the end, so as not to offend Lu Yang and the others.

Ghostly green large lanterns floated in the middle of the river, the same color as the ghostly flames lighting their path above.

"It does have its charms," Meng Jingzhou remarked offhand as if he was very knowledgeable about these things.

"Young Sect Master Lu, where did Fengdu's architectural style originate from?"

Instead of answering directly, Lu Yang posed a different question, "Sect Leader Mu, when do you believe the Ancient Times ended?"

"Clearly, with the Ancient Immortals turning stars into continents. After that, the Ancient Times ended, and the Mid-heaven Emperor Lord and others built the Great Qian Dynasty on the ruins."

Lu Yang shook his head. "That's wrong. The time between turning stars into continents and the establishment of the Great Qian Dynasty spanned a hundred thousand years. During these hundred thousand years, a massive entity emerged, known as the Fire Dynasty."

"What?!"

Both Mu Baiyi and Chi Sect Leader Liu Zhen were shocked, and Shi Huagu, rowing the boat, nearly lost his oar and fell into the river upon hearing this secret history.

A massive dynasty spanning a hundred thousand years was unheard of by any of them.

"Do you remember me saying that back in the Ancient Times, the Heavenly Court and the Underworld stood together? One governed the living, and the other the Reincarnation."

"The Underworld that governed life and death was established during the era of the Fire Dynasty."

"The Fengdu that your sect built, indeed, has some resemblance to the locales of the Underworld."

Yingtian Immortal, Time Immortal, Immortal Jiuchong, Qinghe, and Ao Ling had lived through the Fire Dynasty's era. Lu Yang had a general idea of what the Underworld looked like from their descriptions, which closely resembled Fengdu before him.

It was uncertain whether Qin Haoran had recalled memories from his first life by chance or had fully awakened them when he drafted the blueprint of Fengdu.

Lu Yang leaned toward the former; after all, if Qin Haoran had fully regained his memories and still failed to Pass Tribulation, that would be quite preposterous.

"So that's how it is!" Mu Baiyi was convinced that inviting the Heavenly Court Sect was the right decision, as only someone from there would know such ancient secrets.

Everyone disembarked, and the magnificent and imposing ancient city of Fengdu revealed itself, solemn and majestic, exuding an indescribable sense of antiquity.

This ancient feeling manifested not only in the architectural style but also in the construction materials.

Lu Yang touched the city wall and asked, "These bricks aren't newly made, are they?"

"Young Sect Master Lu has a keen eye; we happened upon the ancient capital city of the Great Qian Dynasty during our tomb exploration and used its bricks to construct Fengdu."

"All these bricks are?"

"All of them."

Lu Yang fell silent for a moment; Fengdu's scale was comparable to the Great Xia Imperial City. If the bricks used for Fengdu all originated from an ancient capital city, it meant that this ancient city was as large as the Great Xia Imperial City.

Which ancient capital city of Great Qian could be this vast? It seems you might have stumbled upon Great Qian's Imperial City itself.

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The city gates, as heavy as mountains, creaked open to reveal a dense multitude of ghosts within. Their forms varied widely—some as tall as two-story buildings, others merely the size of a palm, with their numbers reaching into the tens of thousands.

During the grand opening festival of Fengdu City, the streets were adorned with lanterns and banners, and large red paper was pasted on every ghost—although Meng Jingzhou and Lu Yang knew that Sect Leader Mu's intentions were good, the scene combined with Fengdu's dim environment and the green ghostly fires, looked incredibly eerie, no matter how one looked at it.

"Starving Ghost, Five Ghosts, Beautiful Ghost, Ears and Eyes Ghost…"

Lu Yang considered himself knowledgeable about various specters, yet there were many whose names he could not recall, and whose origins he did not recognize.

Sect Leader Mu introduced with pride, "The ghosts of Great Xia are almost all gathered here."

Originally, the Jiuyou Sect did not have this many ghosts, but with the proliferation of barbecue restaurants, employees would seek out ghosts in their spare time. If they were successful in recruiting them to the Jiuyou Sect, they would receive a considerable reward depending on the ghost's cultivation level.

This would have been entirely unfeasible for the previously impoverished Jiuyou Sect.

"Based on the needs of the ghosts, we have also established academies, taverns, teahouses, and other places, enough for them to live here indefinitely."

Lu Yang had an epiphany, "So you're saying that Fengdu City was specifically built for the ghosts to live in?"

No wonder the Jiuyou Sect was so intent on establishing Fengdu City; it wasn't just a matter of faith, but also this.

"What do these ghosts eat, then?"

As they say, without Yin there is no growth; without Yang, there is no life. Although ghosts were beings of extreme Yin, they still needed a significant amount of Yang Qi to maintain basic activities.

This is why ghosts would siphon off the living's Yang Qi.

With so many ghosts living in Fengdu, the Jiuyou Sect surely couldn't be capturing people regularly to feed them?

"That's where we have to thank Chi Sect Leader."

Chi Sect Leader smiled slightly, raising his hand modestly, "I've only provided a bit of help. The main solution was your own idea."

"Please take a look at this," said Sect Leader Mu, pulling out a lamp from behind.

"A solar-powered lamp?" Meng Jingzhou was puzzled, weren't solar-powered lamps supposed to restrain ghosts?

"This one is different from the ordinary solar-powered lamps."

Sect Leader Mu pressed the switch. The solar-powered lamp lit up faintly, not as bright as the ghostly fires above everyone's heads.

"Ghosts feed on Yang Qi, and if we talk about the largest source of Yang Qi, it has to be the Sun."

"However, the Sun is too strong. Only the King of Ghosts can operate under the Sun. Ordinary ghosts would perish at its sight and cannot absorb the Sun's energy."

"Therefore, the solar-powered lamp can perfectly absorb the Yang Qi of the Sun. I asked Chi Sect Leader to research a less bright solar-powered lamp. With lower brightness, the released solar energy would be less, and the ghosts could then assimilate it."

"I just wanted to try it out; I didn't expect it to actually work," laughed Sect Leader Mu, having been unsure initially.

Having resolved the ghosts' food source issue, the spirits of Great Xia would naturally flock to join the Jiuyou Sect.

The Yaoyang Sect was very willing to cooperate with the Jiuyou Sect, even offering to provide solar-powered lamps for free. Their creed was the promotion of the great Sun, and now even the ghosts had to rely on the Sun, which was sufficient to demonstrate the Sun's greatness.

"Does this mean that these ghosts will all live in Fengdu from now on?" Lu Yang asked, sensing an unexpected boon.

Ghosts were universally acknowledged as difficult to manage by the dynasty, and there was endless debate over whether they even had rights, with no consensus in sight.

If all the ghosts resided in Fengdu, it would be ideal.

"Not all will live in Fengdu. We still need ghosts to run the barbecue joints and to work with the Yaoyang Sect on researching new products."

"Can't you use living people?" asked Meng Jingzhou.

Sect Leader Mu waved his hand, "Using people would necessitate paying them a salary, which is too expensive. Using ghosts only requires providing them with Yang Qi."

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