On Fuso Honshu Island, outside of Kyoto, a couple walked slowly.
The man had white hair, tall stature, and a handsome face. He was holding an umbrella for the woman beside him, who looked slightly young, petite, but had a mature temperament.
Both of them changed into Fuso’s local clothing, one black, and one white, and strolled along the road to Kyoto.
This season, the hibiscus cherry blossoms were in full bloom. On both sides of the road leading to Kyoto, the cherry blossoms carefully planted by the nobles in Kyoto bloom over the mountains and fields, forming a pink sea.
From time to time, they could see young men traveling together, or with the female family members, or with the oiran. Outside on the four islands of Fusang, the daimyos are already at war, but the atmosphere in Kyoto was still singing and dancing.
“This is the capital of Fuso, Kyoto.”
Walking on the road, Jiang Lan explained to Bai Qiuran:
“Because of High Plain of Heaven, although the various daimyos are conquering each other endlessly, they still respect the emperor in Kyoto. Therefore, this place has not suffered from the trouble of war. Only after the daimyo temporarily decides the victor, he will bring soldiers to Kyoto to hold a festival called [Shangluo].”
After a pause, she said again:
“But I heard from Kazama that civil strife took place here only a few years ago, and some daimyos brought soldiers here and fought endlessly in the city. For several months, the city was full of rebellious soldiers.”
“It is totally unclear that there has been a military disaster here.”
Bai Qiuran glanced at the spring light on the faces of those elder brothers.
“They are all rich people in Kyoto.”
After taking a look, Jiang Lan replied:
“In this era, ordinary people have a hard life, and there should be many farmers near Kyoto who don’t have enough rice to eat.”
“Sometimes, I have to admire our human race’s ability in arrogance and luxury.”
Bai Qiuran sighed.
“Do you want to take care of it?”
Jiang Lan looked up at him and asked.
“Take care of it? It’s not my turn.”
Bai Qiuran shook his head.
“Aren’t the daimyos out there ready to go all out? This matter should be taken care of by the victor among them.”
In the beginning, the gods oppressed the human race because the human race was invaded by foreign races, but now it was a civil war between humans, and Bai Qiuran had no position to interfere.
The power of the cultivator was like the gods to mortals. In front of them, no matter what kind of mortal army was, there was no difference. If the cultivator wanted to do good things, no evil person could stop him, but the opposite was also true. If the cultivator was degenerated and wanted to do bad things, no good person could stop him.
Therefore, in Nine Provinces and Ten Lands, the Righteous Alliance has always tried its best to avoid direct interference in mortal affairs. Recently, under his influence, the Evil Alliance has also had this trend.
And for a human country, this kind of cycle could also be regarded as a kind of change. When the upper level of the country decayed and the lower level overthrew them, although it was inevitable that it will fall into the next cycle, in general, the overall situation was constantly moving forward, spiraling upward.
The most important thing was that Bai Qiuran himself did not have the desire to be an emperor to rule the country and lead them to move forward, so it was best not to involve.
“I understand.”
Jiang Lan nodded and took his hand.
“Then please invite Senior Bai to take me to experience it. Over the past few hundred thousand years, although I have been sending my disciples to the lower realm for experience, I haven’t done it myself.”
“Okay.”
Bai Qiuran smiled and said:
“let’s go.”
In order to avoid trouble, Jiang Lan cast magic spells on both of them. Only high-level cultivators could notice their existence.
Holding hands and holding umbrellas, the two walked all the way into Kyoto and began to tour.
Different from other war-torn places, because of Fuso’s “Shangluo” rules, Kyoto still maintained its regular streets and houses. Although the faces of the people living inside were not very healthy, they were not hungry.
Those who didn’t have enough food to eat probably didn’t live in Kyoto.
However, this kind of serenity was only on the surface. When turning a street corner, Bai Qiuran and Jiang Lan saw some people around the door of a mansion. The two of them walked over curiously and found that the door of the mansion was empty. A row of straw mats was placed on the ground, and there were all dead people lying on them, men, women, and children. They were all pale and stiff, and they looked terrified before they died.
Several people wearing black top hats and white hunters were checking on the ground, and several samurai belted samurai stood near the mansion to prevent others from approaching.
Bai Qiuran glanced, then frowned and said:
“There is a negative atmosphere in these dead people.”
“More than a negative atmosphere.”
Wise Immortal, who hung around his waist pretending to be dead, said suddenly:
“That is obviously Yin energy.”
“Yin energy?”
Bai Qiuran asked:
“Is it the unique ability of the demons in this kingdom?”
“No, even if Fusang demons are doing evil, what they leave behind should be the demon energy.”
Jiang Lan replied:
“Since it is Yin energy, it means that the things that killed these people were not demons, but ghosts.”
“Odd, ghosts are okay…”
Bai Qiuran was a little surprised.
As the creator of the Underworld, he has fought Xue Ling for almost two thousand years. Bai Qiuran was very clear that in this world, the old saying “humans and ghosts have different paths” was not empty talk.
The work of the Soul Takers was not just to capture the souls of dying people and take them to the Underworld to judge before the reincarnation. They also bear the responsibility of catching ghosts.
People who suffered huge grievances before death would directly turn into ghosts that are as dangerous as the demons in this country. They usually take crazy revenge on those who killed themselves, but these behaviors were not allowed by the Underworld.
Because these ghosts, after killing their enemies, would devour the souls to strengthen themselves. Moreover, the regulations of the Underworld were hard laws – dead people must not interfere with the living. The sins of living people would naturally be settled by judges after death. This was not only the iron rule of the Underworld but also important for maintaining the balance between heaven and earth.
Therefore, after a person was transformed into a ghost, a Soul Taker usually quickly came to arrest such a ghost.
The current manager of this world was Xue Ling. Bai Qiuran knew very well that his degree of responsibility for his work can be said to be pathological. Occasionally, there may be one or two fish that slip through the net, but all men, women, and children of a city were killed? This kind of situation would never appear.
“Could it be because I trapped him before?”
Bai Qiuran muttered uncertainly.
At this time, the people who checked the situation on the spot also seemed to have finished their work. They wrapped the corpses in straw mats, then carried them into the car, and left here with the samurai. Before leaving, two of them turned their heads, and seemed to glance in the direction of Bai Qiuran and Jiang Lan.
“Those are Onmyouji.”
Jiang Lan introduced:
“They are cultivators in this country. They don’t ask about political affairs, and they bear the responsibility of eradicating all non-human disasters in this country.”
“Their cultivation level… why are they similar to mine?”
Bai Qiuran asked:
“Is there no one above the Foundation Establishment stage?”
“Those are all in the High Plain of Heaven, and those who are cultivated by the human race are called the present human gods.”
Jiang Lan explained:
“The population of Fusang is really too small.”
When Jiang Lan said this, Bai Qiuran also understood. He originally thought that Bai Li hadn’t taken care of the human race on this island, but after thinking about it carefully, it was because the population of Fusang was too small.
The combined area of these four large islands is far less than one of the Nine Provinces, and the population on it was even more pitiful.
The reason why the Nine Provinces and Tend Lands seemed to be able to build an organized world of cultivation, and even the immortal dynasty back then, are based on a huge population and geographic area. Cultivation has never been an easy task.
“Where are we going now?”
Jiang Lan held Bai Qiuran’s hand and asked:
“Are you going to investigate this matter?”
“Of course.”
Bai Qiuran replied after thinking for a while.
If this incident really started because he trapped Xue Ling, then he must be held responsible.