"Move quickly, move quickly! This place can no longer be stayed in."
"Wife, hurry home and pack up, we're going to hide in the countryside for a couple of months."
"Oh no, someone report this to the officials!"
"Liu San, go immediately to Miao City and report this matter to the Ming King Temple."
Upon hearing someone shout that a ghost disaster had arrived, the crowd instantly plunged into chaos, scattering in a panic.
Of course, there were a few astute commoners who separately notified the government and the Heavenly Dao Sect.
The Ming King Temple is a class of temples under the Heavenly Dao Sect, dedicated to the Unmovable Ming King, specializing in exorcising ghosts and eliminating demon ghosts.
Overnight, an astonishing number of more than a hundred people in the city died due to the mischief of demon ghosts, an incident of the supernatural that immediately caught the attention of all the major powers within the city.
The City Governor's Office treated the situation as if it were an emergency and continuously dispatched several Qi Refining Realm constables, each leading a team of Innate Constables to investigate the scenes.
At the same time, the Ming King Temple also sent a team of black-robed Taoist disciples into Chu State City, and Cultivation Families like the Gu Family and Wu Fangwang also moved upon hearing the news, each making targeted maneuvers.
Despite the frantic panic among the commoners in the city, Chu State City tended to experience supernatural disasters like mischief caused by demon ghosts every few years.
As such, whether it was the government's Miao City or Cultivation Families, they had long possessed ample experience in dealing with such events.
As long as the number of deaths didn't exceed ten thousand, to the ruling class, it honestly wasn't considered a significant matter. In fact, having a few ants perish every few years and causing a minor disaster or two could actually be advantageous for their own rule.
Naturally, this was a "tacit agreement" among the upper echelons, unknown to the commoners and even the middle and lower-tier powers.
A day quickly passed, yet the clues to the case were few and far between.
That day, the City Governor's Office, the Heavenly Dao Sect, and the Cultivation Families, the three dominant powers, suddenly exerted their strength together, forcefully suppressing the increasingly absurd rumors spreading in the main city and cutting off all news related to the incident.
Their undercover agents and Wind Carriers also covertly made their move, fabricating numerous hot news topics to divert attention elsewhere.
The recent citywide craze for 'Eastern Travel Record' undoubtedly provided an excellent focal point, and so various parties simultaneously and subtly helped fan the flames, making 'Eastern Travel Record' even more popular. The stories within the book quickly spread throughout the city and became the common talk of the townsfolk.
After thousands of years of continuity, the upper class had mastered the art of propaganda and obfuscation!
In East City Jing'an Square, a layer of Prohibition Barrier was erected in the underground secret chamber of a residential estate, the thin light wall shimmering with a faint black glow.
The chamber was dimly lit, and three shadowy figures sat on the edge of the shadow cast by the central round stone table, their faces indiscernible.
Then, a mild voice suddenly arose in the darkness, "Plague Daoist, how is the cultivation of your plague poison coming along?"
The shadows stirred, seeming to have innumerable tiny worm-like shadows creeping, "Hehe! It needs a bit more time. Five Wheel Wanderer, if you can't wait, we could initiate it now."
Five Wheel Wanderer looked towards the opposite shadow and spoke indifferently, "There's no need for haste. The Hungry Ghost that I released can hold out for a little while longer. Initiating the plague poison rashly won't deal a heavy blow to the Heavenly Dao Sect."
After speaking, Five Wheel Wanderer turned to another silent shadow and asked, "Elder Zi, the Divine Prison is on high alert. To avoid startling the snake, I hope the Sky Heart Sect can afford to wait a little longer until the Heavenly Dao Sect's attention is diverted."
"That's possible! But we can't delay more than two months at the latest. Otherwise, even I would have a difficult time explaining to our allies."
"Rest assured, Elder Zi, I definitely won't delay your important affairs. But can you deliver the Plague Demon Drum you promised a bit sooner?"
"Give me three days at most, and the Plague Demon Drum will certainly be delivered."
"Haha! In that case, I am at ease."
Just at that moment, the ghost body of Five Wheel Wanderer suddenly trembled, erupting a surge of black qi that boiled ceaselessly, instantly transforming into vicious ghost skulls that emitted piercing shrieks.
"Cough cough!"
Five Wheel Wanderer coughed once, his black robe billowing, and countless ghostly claws stretched forth from beneath the robe in an instant, seemingly sprouting numerous black hands that quickly grasped all the ghost skulls,
A flash of black light, and all the ghost hands had already retracted back into the robe.
Then, Five Wheel Wanderer explained, "I apologize for the amusement, two fellow Daoists. Just now, a couple of Hungry Ghosts suddenly lost contact."
Five Wheel Wanderer was not a living person but a Golden Core Ghost Practitioner notorious in Diancang Province. He had committed over ten heinous slaughters, and the number of mortals who died because of him far exceeded one million.
Ghost Cultivators are contrary to the Heavenly Dao and often do not fit within the world.
In the Tianzhu Realm, Ghost Cultivators are exceedingly rare. Zhao Sheng, reincarnated six times, had seen countless Evil Demons, but had rarely come across any pure Ghost Cultivators.
The truth is simple to express, yet very few are aware of it.
Because the Tianzhu Realm is precisely at the intermediate stage between 'existence' and 'destruction,' the world has not yet truly moved towards decay, thus not providing conditions for the birth of Ghost Cultivators.
The evolution of any world is inseparable from the four stages of 'formation, existence, destruction, and void.'
When a world is in the 'formation, existence' phases, the Heavenly Dao is vigorous and dominant, making it extremely difficult for Ghost Cultivators to emerge, leaving almost no space for growth.
However, in the 'destruction, void' stages, as the Heavenly Dao declines and the environment of Spiritual Energy deteriorates, the world gradually transitions from its positive aspect to its negative aspect—that is, the world slowly heads towards extinction.
During the end times, various monsters and demons, Evil Demons and ghostly creatures will arise as a result and become increasingly rampant and cruel to humanity as the world declines.