Nether

"Speaking of which, this time in Yujun Mountain, I met a young man who could control silver butterflies. Do you know who this young man is?"

The spiritual communication array was originally bustling with noise and activity, but as soon as Xie Lian said this, it suddenly became silent.

Xie Lian had anticipated this kind of reaction.

He waited patiently. After a while, Ling Wen asked, "Your Highness, what did you just say?"

Mu Qing said coldly: "He just said that he met Hua Cheng."

Finally learning the red-clothed boy's name, Xie Lian felt strangely cheerful. He smiled and said, "So his name is Huacheng? Hmm, that name suits him quite well."

Hearing his tone and words, the priests in the spiritual communication formation seemed speechless. After a moment, Ling Wen coughed lightly and said, "This... Your Highness, have you ever heard of the so-called Four Great Evils?"

Xie Lian thought to himself, "Shame on me, I only know four names."

He said, "I'm ashamed to say I've never heard of them. May I ask what the four evils are?"

Ling Wen said, "Your Highness, please remember these four evils: 'Black Waters Sinking Boats, Green Lanterns Wandering at Night, White Clothes Wrecking the World, Bloody Rain Visiting Flowers.' These refer to the four demonic kings of the ghost world that are a real headache for both the Upper and Middle Heavens."

If a person goes up, he becomes a god; if he goes down, he becomes a ghost.

The gods and immortals in heaven opened up the heaven as their residence, separating themselves from the human world, looking down on the mortal world from a high position, and being above all living beings.

However, the so-called ghost world has not yet been separated from the human world.

Demons and ghosts share the same land with people. Some lurk in the darkness, while others disguise themselves as humans, mingle among the crowd, and wander among the people.

Lingwen finished introducing the third of the Four Pests and continued:

"Your Highness, the silver butterfly you saw on Yujun Mountain is also called the Death Butterfly. Its owner is the last of the Four Great Evils, and the one the world least wants to provoke today: 'Blood Rain Scholar,' Hua Cheng."

The name Huacheng is definitely fake, and the appearance is definitely fake too.

Because according to the rumors, he is sometimes a moody and rebellious teenager, sometimes a gentle and handsome man, and sometimes a beautiful female ghost with a vicious heart. He can be all kinds of things.

The only thing that is certain about his true identity is that he is dressed in red, often appears in bloody storms, and silver butterflies chase around his lapels and sleeves.

As for his origins, there are countless versions. Some say he was a deformed child, born without a right eye, so he suffered from bullying since childhood and hated the world;

Some say he was a young soldier who died fighting for his country, and his soul is unwilling to resign;

Others say he is a fool who is suffering from the death of his beloved;

Others say he's a monster. The most bizarre version is said—just said.

It is said that Hua Cheng was actually an ascended priest. However, after ascending, he jumped down and became a ghost.

However, this is just a legend that is not widely circulated. It is unknown whether it is true or not, and not many people believe it.

In short, the more divergent opinions there are, the more confusing it becomes.

Although the rumors are basically correct.

Xie Lian was just thinking about the silver butterfly. Listening to Ling Wen's introduction, he asked inexplicably, "When I met Hua Cheng, there was a lot of mist around him that could transform into objects. Could it be that Hua Cheng can also control these?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the spiritual array fell silent again.

After a while, Lingwen's voice came: "Your Highness... have you been having bad luck lately?"

Xie Lian thought to himself that I must be unlucky, and asked in confusion, "What does this mean?"

Ling Wen said, "If I'm not mistaken, the fog you saw was not created by the Blood Rain Scholar, but by Ling Yun, another ultimate being besides the Four Great Evils, and the only female ultimate ghost king to date."

"That Ghost King had no experience training in Tonglu Mountain, yet he was able to fight Huacheng and Heishui simultaneously and defeat them honorably. He usually wears purple robes and is surrounded by spiritual mist. If someone didn't know him well, they would definitely mistake him for a priest. Even General Pei Ming considered him a colleague."

Everyone except Xie Lian knew the unspoken words.

He almost caught it.

To this day, Yunfan Valley still implements the price increase measure in Minguang Hall.

[The general folds his sword and leaves the room.]

“…”

“…”

That's right, this incident has become Pei Ming's black history.

Lingwen coughed lightly and continued the introduction.

The mist is created by Ling Yun's silver fan, "Xiao Wu," which is powered by energy rather than force, and is currently wielded by her alone. Her primary weapon is the longsword "Mo Li," which can transform into a hairpin.

The rumored Ling Yun actually revealed his true face in front of the priest.

The reason is that she is too lazy to pretend.

Ling Yun's personality seemed rather... eccentric, and she was very powerful, with her birth details still unknown. Furthermore, the Yunfan Valley she founded was also the Ghost King with the closest economic ties to the Upper Heaven.

He has a good relationship with Heishui Chenzhou and Xueyu Tanhua, and occasionally gathers them for fights.

When she was mentioned, the first thing that came to the minds of all the priests was - money scam!!

The transaction was clearly fine, so how come there was a problem when I checked it a few days later?!

It’s no use being careful!

According to the Lingwen Palace, she has cheated tens of millions of merits from Xianjing over the past few hundred years.

It is estimated that the record of hundreds of millions will be broken in a few years.

After Xie Lian heard the description of her, he felt a sense of familiarity.

Very familiar.

Xie Lian recalled the silver hairpin that had been put away but had inexplicably disappeared.

Ling Wen finally finished his speech after a long while. He seemed to take a sip of water and said, "So, Your Highness, you should be more careful. After all, the last time someone was targeted by two Ghost Kings at the same time was several hundred years ago."

To be precise, it was the green young man who was beaten up by the group.

Xie Lian agreed, but in his heart he felt that the two men would not hurt him.

After all, those silver butterflies and the cat didn't look dangerous.

At least that's how it seemed to him.

All in all, the first blessing he received after ascending back to heaven should be considered completed in this way.

I have said it before, all the merits of fulfilling the vows during this trip to Junshan will be counted on him.

After putting everything together, making various concessions, and with the secret help of the Su Sheng Palace, 8.88 million merits is almost there.

Xie Lian was free of debt and felt light-hearted. His heart was clear and bright, and he felt comfortable and happy. He was full of energy and decided to be a good god.

It would be best if I could become half-friends with all the priests.

Although the spiritual communication array in the Heavenly Palace is quiet, it is also bustling with shouts when it is busy. Usually, when the priests are in a good mood or see something interesting, they will talk about it in the array and make a few jokes in moderation.

Although Xie Lian couldn't tell who was who, he listened silently.

But he couldn't just remain silent, so after listening for a long time, he would occasionally say something gentle:

Prince Xianle: [I read a beautiful poem and wanted to share it with you.]

Prince Xianle: [A very effective little secret for treating back and leg pain, I'd like to share it with you.]

Prince Xianle: [Just saw a little health tip: Don't eat apples and □□ together! It will cause poisoning! Everyone, please pay attention to your diet.]

Unfortunately, every time he sent out these carefully selected and beneficial contents, there would be silence in the spiritual circle.

Xie·The young old man of eight hundred years·Has generation gap·Lian: The little prince of silence is me!

Only Lan Yunqing would show up occasionally.

Susheng: [This little poem is indeed very interesting.]

[Sounds very useful, but your highness can save it for treating back pain and leg pain for now.] Save it for your future self.

Susheng: [That makes sense! But does expired marijuana become less toxic or more toxic?]

Later, Ling Wen couldn't help it anymore and said to him privately: "Your Highness, although the things you sent out in the spiritual array are very good, even a priest who is hundreds of years older than you would not send them out."

Xie Lian: “…But General Susheng is very interested, huh?”

Ling Wen said, "Perhaps it's because it was His Highness who sent this message. In any case, it would be better for His Highness not to send it."

Xie Lian couldn't help but feel a little depressed. Why was he like an old man who couldn't keep up with the times?

But later he put this problem behind him and was no longer depressed.

But there is still a problem: up to now, no one in the world has built a new palace or temple for him.

As a priest who had ascended to heaven three times, he did not have a temple or a believer to worship him. This was really embarrassing.

However, it was only the other priests who were embarrassed for him; Xie Lian himself still felt that it was okay.

And one day, he suddenly had an idea: "If no one wants to support me, then I should be able to support myself."

The priests didn't know how to respond.

Who the hell has ever heard of a priest offering sacrifices to himself?

What's the point of being a God being so miserable!

Xie Lian was already used to the silence whenever he spoke, and thought it was fun to entertain himself in this way. Once he made a decision, he jumped down to the human world again.

…

Hua Cheng silently used the Undead Butterfly to monitor the spiritual formation. When he heard that Xie Lian was about to descend to the mortal world, he quickly went to the back of the Paradise Hall to make preparations.

When he rushed over, he brought a gust of wind, which covered the face of Mo Qiuyan who was rubbing against the surveillance camera.

“…”Why are you running so fast? !

Mo Qiuyan followed and soon saw the Ghost King, who was feared by all three realms, picking and choosing among a pile of red clothes.

"This one makes me look more energetic." Although he was speechless, Mo Qiuyan still picked one from the sea of ​​red.

Fortunately, Huacheng does not have a straight male aesthetic and his outfit is very normal.

Then a certain flower frantically changed her appearance in front of the mirror, trying to create a good image that would please Xie Lian.

When Mo Qiuyan finally saw the other person's appearance: Wow, what a spirited young man.

And put on eye makeup.

…

This time, he landed in a small mountain village called Puqi Village.

With the help of the enthusiastic villagers, Xie Lian quickly tidied up the situation and had time to continue his daily work - collecting junk!

Xie Lian was handsome and had an air of immortality, which gave him an advantage in collecting scraps. In less than half a day, he had collected a large bag of scraps.

On the way back to Puqi Village, he saw the cart he had found earlier in the village, so he negotiated with the old man and got a ride.

Looking at the large package he had harvested, Xie Lian hugged an old blanket and used it as a cushion under his body.

"Opening a temple costs money, but collecting junk makes money. It turns out that ascending to heaven is not as good as collecting junk~"

When I got on the cart, I found that there was already a person lying behind the tall pile of straw.

The man's upper body was hidden behind the haystack, with his left leg raised and his right leg crossed. He seemed to be lying there taking a nap with his arms as a pillow, looking very relaxed and contented.

Xie Lian was quite envious of this comfortable posture.

The pair of black boots were tightly fitted to the slender and straight calves, which was quite pleasing to the eye.

Xie Lian recalled what he had seen that night under the veil on Yujun Mountain. He couldn't help but take a few more glances, confirming that the boots didn't have a silver chain hanging from them. He wondered what animal's hide they were made of, and thought, "Whose young master has escaped to play?"

He found a comfortable place to sit beside the straw, and suddenly felt something beside him. He turned around and saw a black and white cat curled up in the corner and taking a nap.

The cat's back was pitch black, its belly and limbs were white, a typical "dark cloud covered with snow" look. It wasn't dirty at all, and looked like a domestic cat.

Noticing Xie Lian's curious gaze, the cat opened its eyes, glanced at him, then yawned, jumped onto the haystack next to Xie Lian's head, and looked down at him from above.

The cart was swaying slowly on the road. Xie Lian, wearing a bamboo hat, took out a scroll and prepared to read it.

He never paid much attention to any news circulating in the outside world, but because he had failed many times, he thought it best to catch up.

The ox cart swayed for an unknown amount of time as it passed through a maple forest.

Looking up and around, he saw the green fields and the bright maple leaves, with a hint of mountain wildness and the refreshing grass scent that was refreshing to the heart. It was extremely intoxicating, and Xie Lian couldn't help but be slightly stunned.

When he was young, he practiced in Huangji Temple, which was built in the mountains. The whole mountain was covered with maple forests, shining like gold and blazing like fire.

In this situation, it is inevitable that some thoughts and memories come to mind. After looking at it for a long time, he lowered his head and continued to read the scroll.

He looked for a long time before lowering his head to continue reading the scroll.

The first thing I saw when I opened it was a line of words that read:

Prince Xianle ascended three times: God of War, God of Plague, and God of Rags.

“…”

The cat behind him meowed, causing Xie Lian to look back.

Xie Lian shook his head and said, "Well, actually, if you think about it carefully, there isn't much difference between the God of War and the God of Tatters. All gods are equal, and all living beings are equal."

At this moment, a chuckle came from behind him, and a voice said, "Really?"

The young man said lazily, "People naturally like to say that all gods are equal, and all living beings are equal. But if that were true, the gods and immortals wouldn't exist at all."

The sound came from behind the straw stack on the cart. Xie Lian glanced back and saw the young man still lazily lying there, with no intention of getting up. He probably just casually interjected, then smiled and said, "You have a point."

He turned back and continued to look at the scroll. It was written at the bottom:

Many people believe that, as the god of plague, Prince Xianle's handwriting or portrait has the power of a curse. If it is posted behind someone or on the front door of a house, it will bring bad luck to that person or household.

“…”

This kind of comment makes it difficult to tell whether it is talking about God or ghosts.

Xie Lian shook his head, unable to bear to read any more comments related to himself. He decided to first learn about the various priests in the current celestial realm, so as to avoid being confused about who was who and being disrespectful.

Seeing the water master, he couldn't help but wonder again: "Shui Hengtian?"

After a moment, the young man who was lying down answered his doubts.

Xie Lian smiled and said, "I see. Thank you for your explanation." He paused, finding the young man's conversation amusing, and added, "My friend, you know quite a lot despite your young age."

The young man said, "Not much. I have some free time. I just look around when I have some free time."

Among the people, you can see a lot of mythology booklets everywhere, all of which tell stories about gods and ghosts, from big grudges to trivial matters, some true and some false.

It wasn't surprising that this young man knew so much. Xie Lian put down the scroll and said, "Well, my friend, you know a lot about gods, but do you know anything about ghosts?"

The young man asked, "Which ghost?"

Xie Lian said, “Blood Rain Seeking Flowers, Huacheng. And Purple Mist Fairy Chaos, Lingyun.”

Hearing this, the young man chuckled twice and finally sat up. He turned his head, and Xie Lian's eyes suddenly lit up.

The young man, about sixteen or seventeen, was dressed in red maple leaves, his skin white as snow, and his eyes bright as stars. He glanced at him with a sidelong smile. He was exceptionally handsome, yet there was an inexplicable wildness in his expression. His black hair was tied loosely, slightly askew, making him look extremely casual.

The two were walking through the fiery maple forest. The maple leaves were dancing and falling, and one of them landed on the boy's shoulder.

He blew gently, blowing away the maple leaves. Then he looked up at him and said with a half-smile, "What do you want to know? Just ask."