Therefore, Xu Zhengyang's home seemed much quieter than in previous years during this year's Mid-Autumn Festival.
On Mid-Autumn Festival night, the family of three sat around in the spacious courtyard of their new house, eating mooncakes and fruit. They chatted idly about this and that, reflecting on their recent life, and casually, somewhat listlessly, admired the bright, jade-like moon high in the night sky.
The construction team has now completed the section of the project they contracted on the new North Ring Road in Cixian County. They are not in a hurry to let Xu Zhengyang take on other projects because the foundation work for the new primary school in the village has just begun. At the same time, Chen Chaojiang's old house has been demolished and is ready to be rebuilt.
The honest and kind-hearted Xu Neng worked diligently and conscientiously after becoming the foreman of the construction team. He managed the team steadily and reliably, working tirelessly every day and being meticulous in his calculations. His relatives, friends, and neighbors all held him in high esteem. Undeniably, besides his own sincerity and hard work, the personal qualities of his son, Xu Zhengyang, played a significant role in this respect.
Nowadays, no one in the construction team dares to disobey, or rather, no one dares to disobey. Why? Can you get such high wages working elsewhere?
Whether they are skilled workers or laborers, their daily wages are 15 yuan higher than those of other construction teams!
Countless people are now desperate to work for Xu Neng's construction team, but unfortunately, they are already fully booked.
Xu Zhengyang once suggested to his father that they simply register a construction company so they could take on larger projects in the future. Xu Neng, however, said, "We can only cook what we can handle. We don't have that much capacity; we'd just waste food if we couldn't finish it all..." Xu Zhengyang didn't say anything more. He didn't expect his father to earn much money now; as long as his father was happy and comfortable, that was more important than anything else. Why add any more pressure to his father?
As for her mother, Yuan Suqin, these days she either goes to the construction site to help out or stays at home doing housework. In her words, the house is bigger now, with more than a dozen rooms. She just cleans one room, and the room she cleaned a few days ago gets dirty again. She's too busy to keep up.
However, she is extremely enthusiastic about housework and is willing to let neighbors come to her new home to sit and eat melon seeds, watch the 42-inch LCD TV, and chat... a very typical rural woman.
Around 9 p.m., the family of three went to the outer room of Xu Zhengyang's bedroom, turned on the computer, and started a video call with Xu Rouyue.
The video shows Xu Rouyue's happy smile and Ouyang Ying's slightly apologetic and haggard face.
Yuan Suqin felt sorry for Ouyang Ying and offered a few words of comfort. Before Ouyang Ying could react, Yuan Suqin burst into tears, it was unclear whether it was from missing her daughter, feeling sorry for Ouyang Ying, or perhaps both.
Then Ouyang Ying started sobbing and crying, and Xu Rouyue tried to comfort and console her.
Xu Neng and his son sat helplessly to the side, shaking their heads and sighing. "Why are you crying on such a holiday? Women..."
Finally, the video call ended. After his parents left, nagging on and on, Xu Zhengyang turned off his computer, went to the inner room, lay down fully clothed, and briefly reviewed the things he had been thinking about over the past few days in his mind. Then he closed his eyes, left a trace of his thoughts in his mind, and with a thought, the City God descended upon the underworld.
At the end of the River of Oblivion, towering mountains stretch endlessly ahead, with several precipitous peaks rising abruptly from the ground, splitting the viscous waters of the River of Oblivion into three rivers with varying flow rates, like sharp axes.
That is the Sanzu River.
At the junction, precipitous peaks stand facing each other. Beneath layers of white clouds like cotton wool, the cliffs are covered with fiery red spider lilies. The ghosts that should have been noisy in the two rivers on the left are now silent and dare not utter a sound. From the cliffs, a faint, mournful wail can be heard, making the ghosts tremble with fear and dare not make a sound.
Above the clouds, the mountains are dotted with strangely shaped rocks, and ancient pines and cypresses stand tall, creating an exceptionally beautiful scene. If a few cranes were to fly by, adding a touch of life to the place, it would truly be the idyllic paradise of people's imaginations.
Xu Zhengyang stood on floating clouds, calmly gazing at the steep mountain peaks that suddenly confronted him. He silently recalled the records and descriptions of the Ming Nie Terrace that he had unearthed from old files in the Southeast Yama Palace.
After pondering for a long time, Xu Zhengyang stepped onto the right side of the cloud, facing the slow-flowing canyon of the Sanzu River. He slightly raised his right hand, extended his index finger, and pointed to the edge of the towering mountain peak below the clouds. At the same time, divine power surged and suddenly burst forth from his index finger, forming a clearly visible bright yellow pillar of light in the quiet and bright space of the underworld, like the beam of a flashlight, which spread further and further forward.
When the bright yellow beam of light reached the mountain, it had already formed a halo about two meters in diameter, illuminating the dark mountain with a dazzling light, as if the entire mountain had been illuminated by the beam of light.
Then, Xu Zhengyang slowly moved his right index finger to the left.
As Xu Zhengyang moved his index finger, the halo about two people in diameter also began to move to the left, and an unbelievable scene unfolded!
Even the countless ghosts in the River of Oblivion seemed to be attracted by this dazzling golden light, and they all looked up.
The beam of light moved, its tip resembling a suction cup. It forcefully pulled dark rocks out of the mountain, tugging them outwards little by little, like a giant's hand slowly drawing a sharp, blood-stained dagger from its prey; or like tearing a line from a piece of black clay.
The entire mountain was trembling, as if a beast in pain was convulsing.
There was no sound; everything was happening quietly. Only the mournful howls of a few evil spirits in the slow-flowing Sanzu River echoed from afar, mingling with the howls of resentment and pain emanating from the mountains.
On Xu Zhengyang's calm face, his brows began to furrow slightly. Then they furrowed more and more tightly, as if he were struggling more and more.
If it were a physical body, he would probably be drenched in sweat by now.
However, he did not stop and continued to pull the rocks out of the mountain. The speed was very slow, but there was no sign of him stopping.
The dark rocks were pulled out more than two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters) away, and the ghosts could finally see clearly that they were cylindrical, only slightly curved into an arc, stretching upwards.
Xu Zhengyang gritted his teeth and let out a long roar that reverberated for miles across the canyon. Even the clusters of white clouds floating above the canyon ahead trembled. The ghosts in the River of Oblivion and the River of Three Crossings were so terrified that they dared not move an inch, their faces filled with astonishment. It was at this moment that they finally saw the god standing in the clouds, his body radiating golden light, raising his hand and pointing towards the mountain. The golden pillar of light that could uproot mountains and tear rocks was emanating from his fingertips.
The mountain suddenly began to tremble more violently, as if it were about to collapse at any moment, crashing into the Sanzu River and blocking its slow flow.
The uprooted cylindrical rock, under the force of the pull, quickly stretched towards the opposite mountain peak.
One, one, one…
A dark, cylindrical boulder, over two meters thick, lies across the starting point of the Sanzu River in a slight arc, connecting the two central peaks and the surrounding mountains.
Xu Zhengyang withdrew his hand, his divine body trembling slightly. Then, with a thought, he disappeared from the clouds.
In the blink of an eye, Xu Zhengyang appeared in the main hall of the Southeast Yama Palace.
Xu Zhengyang plopped down behind the massive, dark wooden table, leaning back in his chair and breathing heavily, as was his habit. After catching his breath, he slammed his hand on the table, cursing, "Damn it, this really takes a toll on my divine power! If I'm going to finish building this Mingnie Platform today, I'm afraid I'll have exhausted all my supernatural abilities."
After he finished cursing, he realized that there was no one or any living being here, not even gods or ghosts, to listen to his complaints. So he sighed and pursed his lips, thinking to himself: Luckily I was prepared. Otherwise, if I had released my divine power without any preparation like last time, I might have fallen from the clouds and into the River of Oblivion today.
Yes, records in the Southeast Yama Palace state that when Yama first built the Mingnie Terrace, he used his great supernatural powers to pull ten-thousand-year-old Yin stones from the surrounding mountains, forming an archway across the confluence of the Sanzu River and the Wangchuan River, connecting the mountains. He repeated this five times, pulling out five horizontal stones, which he then used his divine power to construct a bridge, naming it the Mingnie Terrace. The Mingnie Terrace was imbued with the supernatural powers and intentions of Yama and his judges from various Yama realms, making it a supreme divine artifact. It possesses the ability to understand all spirits and can clearly distinguish the loyalty, treachery, good, and evil of ghosts…
Upon seeing these records, Xu Zhengyang felt that the Mingnie Platform must have required a great deal of divine power, perhaps even more difficult than building the Southeast Yama Palace. After all, this thing was built by the Yama Emperor. How powerful was the Yama Emperor? A rough comparison can be made: Xu Zhengyang was the City God of the human world, and after arriving in the underworld, he could act as the judge of the underworld. The direct superior of the judge of the underworld was the Eight Yama Kings, and above the Eight Yama Kings was the Yama Emperor.
This shows that Yama, the King of Hell, is quite a formidable figure.
Leaving aside the immense power of the divine artifacts, after the Mingnie Platform is built, it needs to be imbued with the divine will of Yama and the judges… Hmm, that's easy, just add the will of Xu Zhengyang, the City God. Because the spiritual energy required for a divine artifact is simply based on the rules set forth in the divine will.
Volume Four, City God, Chapter 196: The Judge of the Underworld is also him
Xu Zhengyang has always believed that practicality is more important than superficial projects.
Just like when he was trading millet. People of his age in the village and even the surrounding area thought that doing this kind of work was shameful and disgraceful. However, Xu Zhengyang said to people, "I don't steal or rob, what's shameful about it? Besides, we'd rather be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix..." And it was true. He earned more money trading millet than others, and it was much easier than working as a laborer on a construction site.
Therefore, Xu Zhengyang decided to build the Mingnie Platform simply, just enough for now. He didn't have enough divine power to expend on it, nor did he have time to accumulate enough before gradually using it up—a piecemeal approach… Xu Zhengyang couldn't bear to waste it. According to the records in the Southeast Yama Palace, the Mingnie Platform was indeed built very majestically, beautifully, and grandly. Xu Zhengyang was also willing to build the Mingnie Platform into a grand, solemn, and imposing platform, but the difference in power was stark. The one who built the Mingnie Platform was the Yama Emperor, possessing immense supernatural abilities, and was not on the same level as Xu Zhengyang.
The sheer size of the rocks pulled out by Xu Zhengyang's supernatural powers reveals that the Sanzu River stretches for over a hundred feet. Xu Zhengyang managed to pull out only two-meter-thick stone slabs; even if he managed to pull out five, they would only be ten meters wide, far from the magnificent scale described in the records.
In this underworld, who would comment on whether the Ming Nie Terrace is beautiful or not?
What's the point of such a grand vanity project? That's wasteful and shameful... After resting for a while in the Southeast Yama Palace, Xu Zhengyang flipped through the relevant files, confirmed the relevant legal provisions, and then with a thought, disappeared, instantly standing on the stone slab more than two meters thick that stretched across the mountains above the confluence of the Sanzu River and the Wangchuan River.
The dark, shadowy stone slabs, resembling a large serpent, arch slightly across three canyons.
In Xu Zhengyang's mind, the stone slab was likened to a large black eel, which was indeed ugly and unsightly. Even if one did not care about appearances, it was still too unpleasant to look at.
After a slight hesitation, Xu Zhengyang tentatively probed the black stone slab with his divine power, extending it outwards and gradually covering the entire slab, which was over a hundred feet long. Then, Xu Zhengyang frowned slightly, and with a thought, the information he knew began to be poured into the black stone slab little by little…
Next, Xu Zhengyang was shocked, as his divine power poured out uncontrollably. It flowed continuously from his body, surging into the entire dark, black strip. In an instant, the hundred-foot-long stone strip erupted with golden light, its brilliance dazzling, illuminating the previously tranquil, blue-green space with a blinding radiance.
The ghosts in the River of Oblivion and the River of Three Crossings below stared in disbelief at the sky above, wondering what terrible thing had happened.
Xu Zhengyang felt his entire divine body was experiencing a depletion and exhaustion of divine power. He wanted to withdraw his divine power, but he couldn't control its outflow at all. It was as if he was being drawn by a huge energy source, which kept surging out...
My consciousness began to feel drowsy, and I became somewhat confused...
When Xu Zhengyang awoke from his daze, he found himself still standing above the Sanzu River, surrounded by verdant pines and cypresses on both sides of the mountain, with clouds and mist swirling around him.
Looking down, I could still see the dark stone slabs beneath my feet, but... these slabs seemed to be very different from before.
The divine power I sensed was far more abundant than when I descended to the underworld to build this Mingnie Platform.
Xu Zhengyang was both surprised and delighted. His figure floated away, as if stepping on clouds and mist, leaving the black stone slabs behind. After walking several meters, he turned his head to take a closer look and was greatly astonished.
Wow, that's spectacular! It's a waterfall!
The dark stone slab, which was over a hundred feet long, was surrounded by wisps of white clouds. Below the stone slab, a faint, soft yellow light flowed downwards, as if the entire stone slab were a pipe. Countless small holes were drilled at the bottom of the stone slab, and the soft yellow liquid that flowed through the pipes spilled down from those holes.
Like a waterfall, or a beaded curtain, smooth and bright like silk, it cascades down, flowing straight into the end of the River of Oblivion, separating the River of Oblivion from the River of Three Crossings.
Although there was no sound, the scene was incredibly beautiful and spectacular!
Xu Zhengyang stepped diagonally down from mid-air, until he was a few meters above the surface of the River of Oblivion, beneath the soft yellow curtain. He stared intently, completely ignoring the ghosts floating in the River of Oblivion who were staring at him in a daze of fear.
Watching the ghosts floating past the curtain, Xu Zhengyang suddenly realized, "So that's how it is..."
Upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that the soft yellow light is merely an illusion, and the downward flow is also a misperception.
In reality, within the soft yellow light curtain lies the spiritual power of countless ghosts, filled with reverence, fear, and faith. As they pass through the curtain, they ascend upwards along its surface.
Xu Zhengyang was so happy that his mouth was crooked from smiling. Good, good! All this faith power belongs to me alone, no, to one god!
No wonder Xu Zhengyang was so happy. How many ghosts cross the River of Oblivion and enter the River of Three Crossings every day? Ghosts from several countries pass through here... This place is much bigger than the small city of Fuhe. Moreover, which ghost who passes through here dares to say that he still believes in atheism? He's become a ghost himself!
Without needing to calculate it in detail, one can tell just how abundant this divine power will be!
At this moment, Xu Zhengyang was so excited that he could only think one thing: He was going to get rich!
"My lord, my lord, I don't want to die! I want to go back..."
"My lord, please let me be reincarnated into a wealthy family in my next life."
"Sir, that bastard across the street is no good, you should kill him!"
"Sir, please don't make my wife find someone else! I'd rather die than be cuckolded."
...
No one knows which audacious ghost suddenly thought of praying to the gods, and then, like touching a hornet's nest, the ghosts in the River of Oblivion erupted in chaos, noisily praying to Xu Zhengyang for this and that.
Xu Zhengyang ignored the ghosts and stepped into the soft yellow curtain.
The curtain was only a little over half a meter thick and wide; after taking one step across, one would find oneself amidst mountains and the Sanzu River.
Xu Zhengyang knew that although everything seemed peaceful, if there were underworld ghost messengers stationed here, they would sense the messages coming from the dark stone slabs above, that is, the Mingnie Platform, and thus grab the ghosts who had committed evil deeds or even too many evil deeds in their lives and throw them into the middle or slow stream.
Unfortunately, even though the Mingnietai is an extremely powerful artifact capable of discerning the loyalty, treachery, good, and evil of all ghosts, it cannot directly capture evil spirits and throw them into the middle or slow streams. Instead, all kinds of ghosts drift downstream along the River of Oblivion, naturally flowing into the fast streams the most due to the varying speeds, with some also in the middle streams, but none in the slow streams.
Therefore, the existence of ghost messengers is necessary. Here, ghost messengers use a special net to catch ghosts, like fishing, to scoop up evil spirits one by one from the fast-flowing water.
Therefore, it seems that divine artifacts are not omnipotent, but one cannot do without them.
If the ghost messengers were to screen them one by one... they would probably be so exhausted that they would rather suffer in the slow flow of the Sanzu River than go on strike and quit.
The ghost messengers need special nets to catch ghosts, but Xu Zhengyang doesn't!
At this moment, Ming Nietai's thoughts were in sync with his. With just a thought, he could pinpoint which ghosts in the fast or medium streams should be thrown into the slow stream.
So Xu Zhengyang plopped down on the Mingnie Platform, pointing his finger at the fast or medium-sized streams below. Any ghost locked onto by his divine sense would immediately leap out of the river, uncontrollably soaring over the peaks and plunging into the slow-flowing canyons. Before even landing in the river, they would be swallowed by the towering waves, followed by a shrill scream.
Soon, Xu Zhengyang picked out hundreds of evil spirits one by one and threw them into the slow stream.
Goodness, this is going to be interesting...
The sounds of ghosts wailing and wolves howling echoed through the valley; it was too cruel.
Xu Zhengyang couldn't help but feel sorry for those ghosts. Oh, if only they had known this would happen... Thinking about how many ghost messengers used to stand here and do this job, day after day, it was not only boring and tedious, but they also had to endure such great torment. Just listening to the heart-wrenching screams every day was enough to make one's heart tremble.
No wonder they didn't assign benevolent ghosts as ghost servants, but instead chose evil ghosts; it's really not a good job.
Xu Zhengyang had only been working for a short while when he grew tired of it. With a thought, he disappeared from the Mingnie Platform and reappeared thousands of miles away in the Southeast Yama Palace.
As soon as it appeared, Xu Zhengyang was stunned. Why did the Yama Palace look different?
Xu Zhengyang couldn't quite put his finger on what had changed, but he felt that the entire Yama Palace had transformed. It no longer had that desolate and bleak atmosphere of the past. Although it was still lifeless, Xu Zhengyang felt a greater sense of fulfillment.