Infinite Professions

Chapter 336 - 176: Recruiting Soldiers (3)

Soon, a group of wandering ghosts were led into the temple by the junior clerk.

"Pay respects to the Land God!"

The ghosts entered the temple hall and saw a splendid sight. On the central altar, a Divine Being sat elevated, bathed in golden light, exuding an aura of divine majesty. Their hearts instantly filled with fear, and they all knelt down to pay their respects to the Divine Beings.

"Rise!"

Shen Hex raised an empty hand to lift everyone up. After observing them, he found that they were all ordinary Yin Souls, not malicious spirits.

This was expected; malicious spirits are fierce and unreasonable, hard to control, and naturally could not be recruited by him. These were just ordinary Yin Souls.

However, as wandering ghosts without incense offerings, they were inevitably on the path to becoming malicious spirits, otherwise, they couldn’t survive the exhaustion of their Yin life to reincarnate.

Shen Hex looked around and noticed many Yin Souls with very illusory forms, a result of not receiving incense offerings for a long time, only consuming their own soul power.

Without further ado, Shen Hex spoke, his voice resonating heavily: "Are you willing to join my temple and serve me as constables?"

"We are willing, we are willing!"

The ghosts heard this, and dared not refuse, bowing their heads in agreement.

"Since you are willing, from today onwards, you shall be constables in my temple. You must uphold the laws of Yin and Yang, protect the villagers, vanquish malicious spirits, and never overstep your bounds. Do you understand?"

"Understand, understand!"

The ghosts heard this, and nodded their heads vigorously.

Shen Hex nodded and did not offer further warnings, but directed his gaze toward one among them.

She was a young maiden, about sixteen years old, rather beautiful, appearing not as a typical village woman, but rather a lady from a noble family.

A lady of a noble family, yet left exposed in the wilderness, becoming a wandering ghost, without anyone to take her body back—there must be a reason behind this.

Shen Hex straightforwardly asked, "What is your name and what has brought you here?"

"Your reply, Divine Monarch!"

The maiden bowed respectfully: "My name is Nie Qian, I hail from Jinyang Prefecture. I was returning with my parents to visit relatives, but unexpectedly encountered robbers on the way. My parents were killed, and my maid and I fled, but in panic, we fell into the ravine, ultimately resulting in our bodies lying in the wilderness as wandering ghosts. Thankfully, the Divine Monarch’s mercy led us here."

Indeed, a lady of a noble family, speaking with clarity and coherence.

"I see!"

Shen Hex nodded: "Remember the place where your bodies lie buried. Tomorrow, I will instruct people from the village to search for them and collect your bodies, to be buried in Little Huang Village, where you will receive incense offerings."

"Thank you, Divine Monarch!"

Upon hearing this, everyone bowed deeply, their gratitude flowing.

Incense offerings require either remains or a spiritual tablet connecting to the Divine Position of a Yin Residence.

After all, energy conservation means you can’t have your family in distant lands provide incense offerings to you. The distance is too great to withstand the consumption, and there is no means to transfer it.

Not to mention vast distances, even a few hundred miles are hard to transfer. Previously, when Shen Hex arrived at Little Huang Village, he couldn’t enjoy incense offerings from the Song Family, it was only after they moved and began to worship at the Land God Statue in Little Huang Village that he could enjoy the offerings.

These wandering ghosts can’t establish a statue, collecting their remains and providing a spiritual tablet is just enough.

Even so, the ghosts are filled with gratitude, generating some shadow merit, which Shen Hex absorbed through the peak of the Azure Cloud.

Yin Souls are also souls, able to provide incense merit, though much less than that offered by the living.

However, every little helps, so various Divine Beings also protect Yin Souls in their jurisdiction, such as in Jinyang Prefecture City, where there are many Yin Souls working for the people.

Shen Hex in the future also intends to do this. When people from Little Huang Village die, as long as their Yin life is not exhausted, he will provide protection to prevent them from becoming malicious spirits.

"Divine Monarch, I have something to say, but I’m unsure if I should!"

After everyone finished kneeling, Nie Qian spoke again.

"Oh?"

Shen Hex looked at her: "What is it?"

Nie Qian said solemnly: "After my maid Qing’Er and I died as ghosts, we searched for my parents’ Yin Souls but couldn’t find them or the household servants. Instead, we encountered a group of malicious ghosts resembling the robbers. We sisters had to scatter and flee, and eventually, only I escaped to the Divine Monarch’s jurisdiction."

"Malicious ghosts?"

"Robbers?"

Shen Hex’s gaze sharpened, showing a look of contemplation.

At this moment...

"Divine Monarch, I know a bit about those robbers’ origin."

At this moment, another wandering ghost raised his head, an old ghost with white hair and beard.

"Oh?"

Shen Hex looked at him: "What is their origin?"

"They are the minions of the Lanruo Old Demon!"

The old ghost spoke in a grave tone, revealing a shocking piece of news.