Hong Ling did not step forward until all instructions were given.
With a solemn expression, she bowed deeply toward Chen Zhou.
"Lord, the core area of the provincial capital is now under complete control."
"Shitou is leading a team to clear the remaining black spots in the outskirts; we expect to be finished within a day."
"As for the surviving mortals in the city..." Hong Ling’s tone grew heavy.
"The number is extremely low. According to our count, there are fewer than a thousand people in total."
"Most were hiding in dry wells, cellars, or hidden chambers. They are still conscious, but they are deeply shaken."
"The situation in the outlying towns is slightly better. Although they were affected, they were far enough from the imperial city to avoid being directly caught in that god-like battle; ten thousand survivors remain."
"However, people are in a state of panic and order has collapsed. They are in urgent need of comfort and governance."
Chen Zhou nodded slightly.
Hong Ling looked up, a trace of difficulty appearing in her eyes as she continued, "The living are easy to settle; we only need to open the granaries and provide reassurance."
"But... the biggest problem here lies with the ghosts."
She pointed toward the drill grounds.
There, the yin winds howled and black mist obscured the sky.
"For five hundred years, the provincial capital enforced draconian laws. Between human sacrifices and the harvest of sinful karma, the number of commoners, prisoners, and even low-level officials who died here exceeds ten million."
"These souls harbor immense resentment. Bound by sinful karma and lingering obsessions, they cannot enter reincarnation on their own."
"They are currently all detained at the drill grounds, but their numbers are so vast that there is a risk of losing control."
Hong Ling expressed her concern, "If left unchecked, they will turn into malevolent ghosts and bring disaster to the surrounding areas."
"But if we were to destroy them all..."
She did not finish her sentence.
If they were to kill them all, how would they be any different from the Yin royal family who treated human life like grass, or the greedy and cold-blooded judge?
Furthermore, the vast majority of these souls were merely pitiful victims of a tragic era.
They were exploited in life and used in death. If they were denied even a chance at reincarnation, their fate would be far too bitter.
This was a difficult problem.
Chen Zhou did not answer immediately.
His black robes fluttered gently in the wind as he looked toward the drill grounds, deep in thought.
Indeed, they could not be left alone, nor could they simply be slaughtered.
His current identity was not just the Lord of the City of the Wrongfully Dead, but the architect of a new order for Gloomlight Province.
Since he had seized the godhead and slain the judge, he had to handle this mess properly.
Chen Zhou began to walk, slowly heading toward the highest point of the palace ruins.
He approached the Star-Picking Pavilion, where Yin Wudao once held sacrificial banquets to welcome the Golden Buddha, though it was now halved and broken.
His black robes trailed on the ground, silent and weightless.
Seeing Chen Zhou move, Wu Hai and Cangming stopped their bickering, and Huo Dou and the little pig ceased their scuffling.
The crowd instinctively cleared a path and followed behind him with respectful expressions.
Chen Zhou ascended the broken walls and looked out.
The once-prosperous provincial imperial city was now a scene of devastation.
Palaces had collapsed, streets were shattered, and the scorch marks of battle covered every inch of the land.
Toward the drill grounds, two figures—one black and one white—could be seen driving thousands of malevolent ghosts toward this location.
Ten million lost souls brought a sky-piercing resentment, and the sounds of ghostly wailing were unending.
Chen Zhou watched quietly for a moment.
The wind brushed past, ruffling the corners of his clothes.
"In my name, I command the Yin-Yang Decrees."
Chen Zhou slowly raised his right hand. The space before him rippled slightly as the Judgment Whisk manifested automatically, hovering in the air and emitting a hazy, pure light.
The whiskers of the whisk moved without wind, as if writing something.
Chen Zhou's black robes billowed, and the phantom of the Golden Dragon of Merit slowly emerged in the void behind him.
"Roar—!"
A low and distant dragon roar echoed through the world.
Ten thousand rays of golden light shone, warm and vast.
A massive phantom of a judgment platform materialized before Chen Zhou.
"Hear me, Gloomlight provincial capital."
"For five hundred years, because of the schemes of the false god, the judge, the crimes of the Yin Ghost Dynasty, the greed of the officials, and the cruelty of the laws, ten million beings have died wrongfully. Their souls have no home, their resentment has accumulated, and they wander here."
"This is not your fault, but the crime of the times and the fallacy of the laws."
As his voice fell, the boiling resentment from the drill grounds seemed to calm for a moment.
Many dazed souls looked up blankly toward the high platform.
"As the God of the Way of Humanity, since I wield the decrees, I shall find a place of return for you."
The whisk transformed into a brush, writing vigorously in mid-air.
Golden characters appeared one by one against the horizon.
Radiance flowed within the eyes of the golden dragon as it scrutinized the ten million souls below.
The lives, deeds, karma, and obsessions of all the ghosts were written and categorized one by one at that moment.
Under the gaze of the golden dragon, the ghosts began to separate automatically, forming four distinct camps.
The categorization was quickly completed. Chen Zhou opened his eyes, a golden light flashing within them.
He looked at the first group of ghosts, which was the largest, occupying a full seventy percent of the total.
Most of these ghosts had sorrowful faces and wore tattered clothes.
Some were commoners who had starved to death, some were civilians who had been wrongfully executed, and some were laborers who had died of exhaustion.
The sinful karma they carried was extremely light, almost non-existent.
Their obsessions were also the simplest.
A lingering attachment to life, a refusal to leave their families, and a final bit of resentment toward an unjust world.
"You suffered in life and were homeless in death. To be shrouded in resentment is truly a cause for pity."
Chen Zhou’s voice softened slightly.
"Now, by the Divine Path Authority, I shall wash away your resentment, dissolve your obsessions, and open the path to reincarnation."
"This place is the Star-Picking Pavilion, the highest point in the provincial capital. It was originally a place to observe the stars and pay respects to heaven and earth."
"Today, I shall use this place as a Yin-Yang boundary marker to determine the destination of ten thousand souls. It shall be renamed the Looking-Home Platform."
As he spoke, the rubble and ruins beneath Chen Zhou’s feet suddenly began to shift.
The Ghost Domain expanded, and death qi swept up the stones, gathering them rapidly.
The broken wall, which was only a few dozen feet high, continued to rise and extend under everyone's astonished gazes, finally being reshaped.
Shattered bricks and stones returned to their places, collapsed structures re-solidified, and broken stairs spiraled upward.
In just a few breaths, a trapezoidal platform a hundred feet tall, ancient and solemn, appeared in the center of the imperial city ruins.
The high platform had stairs on all four sides. The top was flat and vast, with faint clouds swirling around the edges.
"Ascend this platform, take one last look at the mortal world, and then go to your rebirth."
As the words fell, the golden dragon shadow behind Chen Zhou roared toward the heavens. A massive dragon claw reached out and gently tore at the dark, cloud-covered sky above the imperial city!
Rip!
The sky split open.
A vortex emitting a soft white light appeared within the rift.
The ghosts of the first camp felt the summons. The resentment on their bodies dissolved, revealing their original, simple soul forms.
"Thank you... thank you, Lord..."
"I can go home now..."
"Finally free, sob..."
Innocent souls, cleansed of their resentment, detached from the ground one after another and turned into streaks of pure light, flying onto the Looking-Home Platform.
They paused on the platform to take one last look at the land that had carried their pain and struggle—one last look at the ruins that were once familiar but were now strange.
Some sobbed quietly, some sighed wordlessly, and some wore smiles of relief.
Then they turned around and, like raindrops falling upward, threw themselves into the vortex in the sky and disappeared.
For a time, it was as if a serene, reverse rain of light was falling over the imperial city.
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