Ghost Realm River View Room 5

After mocking Xie Guijin, King Biancheng turned to Lord Beidou and said, "Lord Beidou, she's so foolish, do you really think she can advance business relations? However, I'm somewhat looking forward to it. Perhaps fools are lucky and she can really accomplish it."

Beidou Jun sighed and said, "Your Highness, I do not object to you punishing her. But we both know that she only has seven days left in the Ghost Realm. If you punish her now, she may not be able to complete the business mission, which will not benefit our Ghost Realm."

"Oh?" King Biancheng stood up, then swayed back down: "What does Lord Beidou suggest?"

"She is guilty and should be punished. Since there are only seven days left, and the second day is about to pass, leaving five days, why not give her three days to sell the house to various realms and break the situation where our ghost realm has no large-scale commodities to sell to other realms?"

Three days later, regardless of whether she has completed the task, she will have to come back to receive her punishment in the remaining two days. What is the proper course of action?

King Biancheng glanced at Xie Guijin, who was covered in cold sweat from the pain, and said to Beidou Jun, "You have a lot of confidence in her. If she can accomplish in three days what our Ghost Realm has failed to achieve for hundreds of years, she will be a great hero of our Ghost Realm. How could I possibly punish her?"

Beidou Jun chuckled and echoed, "Whether she can complete it is still unknown. Even if she does, her merits and demerits will cancel each other out, and she will be punished. I would like to ask King Biancheng to give me some face, how about it?"

"Fine, take them away," King Biancheng said, flicking his sleeve.

"Thank you, Your Highness," Beidou Jun led Xie Guijin and Xue Linchuan back to the main hall of the Fourth Palace.

Xie Guijin bowed to Beidou Jun to express her gratitude.

"No need to thank me," Beidou Jun turned away, refusing the courtesy, and waved his hand, saying, "It was Mingjia who sent me a message, asking me to protect your life. I have some connection with them, and now I'm repaying their favor. If you want to thank someone, thank them."

“I only asked Your Majesty to protect my life, but Your Majesty has just gone to great lengths to protect me. How can I not thank you? Please accept my bow.” Xie Guijin insisted on bowing in gratitude.

Beidou Jun asked curiously, "With your sharp tongue, why didn't you argue just now and willingly accepted the punishment?"

Xie Guijin bit her lip and remained silent.

Beidou-jun chuckled and said, "Let me guess, is it because you feel guilty for causing those little devils to be punished, so you are willing to accept the punishment?"

Xie Guijin was hit where it hurt, and her head drooped to her chest.

“You’re still so young,” Beidou sighed. “You feel uneasy because you can’t help the little devils escape their punishment, so you have to suffer the punishment and torture yourself along with them. You don’t need to have such high moral constraints.”

"You think those little devils are just ignorant children, but they've been ghosts for hundreds of years. How can they be real children? The reason they're willing to cooperate with you in causing trouble is simply because they want to do the same thing themselves."

Beidou Jun saw Xie Guijin look up with wide eyes and found it amusing. He continued, "King Biancheng punished them based on this point, not because they were misled by you. You shouldn't have such a heavy psychological burden. The Ghost Realm is the fairest place in the Six Realms where good and evil are rewarded. The punishments they received were what they deserved, not a bit more."

"You are just a mortal who came here by chance. Don't dream of saving the world. You don't have that kind of ability, nor should you bear such a great responsibility." Beidou-jun made the final decision.

Xie Guijin felt that Beidou Jun's words were like an axe, splitting the mountain of constraints in her heart into fine lines.

However, Xie Guijin couldn't quite grasp the exact nature of the splitting at that moment.

So she decided to put aside her feelings and insights for the time being and first clarify the questions in her mind. She asked the Big Dipper Lord, "May I ask Your Majesty, why didn't I die in the City of the Wrongfully Dead, and why did I kill so many vengeful ghosts? And how did the Mingjia know that I was in danger?"

"Don't you know that the 'Mingjia' plant once bestowed upon you its spirit, which can protect you in times of danger? The 'Mingjia' plant is an auspicious herb, and it has a natural killing power against evil spirits," Beidou Jun explained.

Xie Guijin was unaware that she was protected by the spirit of the Mingjia. Upon hearing this, she recalled the time she had played on the rapids with Xue Linchuan and the Mingjia that afternoon.

A new question arose, and Xie Guijin asked, "If I have the protection of the spirit of the Mingjia, Xue Linchuan should have it too. Then why was he bullied by the ghosts in the City of the Wrongfully Dead and turned into this state, completely devoid of his mind?"

“You’ll have to find the answer to that question yourself,” Beidou-jun said without replying. “Now you only have three days left. What should you do? What are the priorities? You need to think this through carefully.”

"Thank you for your guidance, Your Majesty," Xie Guijin bowed.

"That's all I have to say. You may leave," Beidou-jun waved his hand, ordering Xie Guijin to leave.

Beidou-jun looked at Xie Guijin's retreating figure with a headache, wondering what trouble Xie Guijin would cause the next time they met.

Unexpectedly, about an incense stick later, Xie Guijin requested an audience again.

Beidou Jun originally did not want to see him, but unexpectedly, the ghost messenger reported that Xie Guijin had come on official business.

That's strange. Xie Guijin has been causing trouble for the past two days. How could she have time for official business? Could it be that she just wants to talk the talk but not walk the walk?

The Northern Dipper King ordered the ghost messenger to let Xie Guijin in. She wanted to see what Xie Guijin was up to. If Xie Guijin still didn't know when to advance or retreat, she would punish Xie Guijin first without the King of Biancheng having to take action.

Xie Guijin held up a stack of documents and said, "These are the requests from ordinary beings in various realms who want to buy houses in the Ghost Realm, collected by my ghost messengers. Please take a look, Your Majesty."

The ghost servants in the palace took the document and placed it on the table in front of Beidou Jun.

Beidou-jun didn't translate, but just watched Xie Guijin and the others explain.

According to Beidou Jun's previous intention, Xie Guijin was to be sent as a messenger to various realms to contact the rulers of each realm to reach a preliminary agreement on buying and selling houses, and then the rulers of each realm would issue an order to mobilize.

Beidou Jun didn't believe Xie Guijin hadn't understood.

Seeing this, Xie Guijin said, "According to Your Majesty's wishes, in the long run, it will be better to maintain good cooperative relations with all sectors. However, I have limited time, so I have no choice but to take a different approach. I hope Your Majesty will not be offended."

"Your Majesty, rest assured, I only allowed the ghost messengers to contact five or six target beings in each realm. There was no large-scale spread, so it will not affect subsequent trade. Even if the rulers of various realms ask about it in the future, it is only proper for us to conduct market research, determine the feasibility, and then visit them," Xie Guijin added.

Seeing that Beidou Jun remained silent, Xie Guijin added, "Furthermore, the Ghost Realm has special functions, and I'm afraid we may not be able to meet all the housing demands of various sectors. It's always good to find out first, to know ourselves and our enemy. Your Majesty might as well take a look first. If we can determine where we should build our houses and what they should look like based on these demands, then I can make further plans."

Beidou-jun nodded upon hearing this, and then began to flip through the documents. She flipped through them very quickly, saying as she did so, "A fairy from the celestial realm who longs for the mortal world wants to buy a house in the ghost realm to circumvent the heavenly rules, but that won't do. The ghost realm is not a shelter; things like that are not allowed."

"A nine-tailed fox from the demon realm wants to buy a house next to Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva to listen to Buddhist teachings?" Beidou-jun looked at him with a "what the heck?" expression and said decisively, "That won't do either."

“And this one, wanting to live near the Yama Palace and even requesting to enter the palace to witness the Ten Kings of Hell’s judgment,” Beidou Jun pointed with his finger, almost tearing the paper: “That’s even more unacceptable, we absolutely cannot disrupt the normal order of the ghost realm.”

After a short while, after Beidou Jun's selection, only seven or eight of the requests in the stack of documents could be met.

Xie Guijin breathed a sigh of relief; she had thought that only two or three would be enough.

Beidou Jun picked up the selected document and said to Xie Guijin, "You will come with me to see the Emperor of Fengdu."

"Huh?" Xie Guijin was used to reporting through the hierarchy in modern times, but she never expected that she could go directly to see the highest official in the underworld.

Beidou-jun led her outside: "Don't be afraid, just tell me what you think."

Xie Guijin stared blankly and said "Oh," then followed behind Beidou Jun, and as if in a dream, she saw the Emperor of Fengdu.

Beidou Jun spoke a few words first, then pushed Xie Guijin out to explain in detail.

Xie Guijin composed herself, instantly switching into professional mode, and gave a clear and concise report, while also outlining the current challenges that needed to be addressed, such as house selection and the permissions of the purchasing beings in the ghost realm.

Upon hearing this, the Great Emperor of Fengdu solemnly declared, "This is a matter of great importance and requires the summoning of all the ghost officials for discussion."

After a cup of tea, the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak, the Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha, the Five Ghost Emperors, the Ten Kings of Hell, the Four Judges, the Ten Underworld Marshals, the Six Heavenly Palace Masters of Fengdu, and the Seventy-Two Departments of Ghost Officials of the Underworld all arrived.

"Say what you just said again," the Emperor of Fengdu commanded Xie Guijin.

Xie Guijin was a little excited and nervous to see all the powerful figures in the underworld at once. She took a deep breath, clenched her fists, and repeated herself in a steady voice.

After listening, the powerful figures, except for Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, began a heated discussion and finally decided to build the houses along the banks of the River of Oblivion. Five houses would be built initially, with one sold to each realm in the early stages, and the houses would be expanded later according to the actual situation.

Each house is priced at 60,000 ghost coins and is built uniformly by the ghost realm, with a uniform style.

Those who reside there are only permitted to stay on the outskirts of the Ghost Realm near the residence. They are forbidden from entering the Ghost Realm itself, interfering in its internal affairs, observing trials and tortures, disturbing the water ghosts of the River of Oblivion, picking the spider lilies along its banks, and so on...

As Xie Guijin listened to the ghost officials listing more and more things that were forbidden, she realized she had been wrong.

She had previously thought that the Ghost Realm had difficulty engaging in trade with other realms because other realms considered the Ghost Realm unlucky, but now it seemed that this was not entirely the case.

After all the ghost officials had finished saying what they considered essential, the Great Emperor of Fengdu said, "Let's settle on these for now. If there are any other issues after the house is sold and the residents move in, we can add more."

“What the Emperor says is very true,” the ghost officials nodded in agreement.

Xie Guijin swallowed hard, then forced a smile and said, "I wonder what you gentlemen think is the selling point of this house?"

Looking at the cold faces of the bigwigs, Xie Guijin forced a smile and asked, "So, why is this house able to attract beings from other realms to buy it, and what needs of theirs can it satisfy?"

The hall was completely silent, and combined with the unique atmosphere of the ghost realm, it was truly terrifying.

"My lords, if we don't have something to attract homebuyers, this business won't succeed," Xie Guijin said, bracing himself for the worst.