On the Avenue.

Chapter 304: Lin She (seeking votes at the beginning of the month)
In Xijing, the Minister of Rites Yan Guzhi sat in front of the main hall of the Ministry of Rites. Below him were almost all the officials and clerks of the Shanglinyuan Prison. They were performing various spells to summon souls, demand souls, fix souls, and ask for directions, but they could not find anyone.

Yan Guzhi frowned.

It is clear that more than 600 candidates fell into the underworld along with the Xianqiao blessed land, but no one was found alive or dead. It would have been fine if they were all peasants, but the key point is that among them there were also high disciples of the Taoist holy land such as Guo Daozi and Jinlu Taoist.

What’s more important is that Zhang You is also among them!
Zhang You is a member of the Zhang family and will inherit the position of clan leader in the future. If such a person dies in this exam, his position as Minister of Rites will be over.

"Xia Fanghe and Xia Shouying, two bastards!"

Yan Guzhi cursed inwardly and urged Shanglinyuan Supervisor to think of another solution.

Shanglinyuanjian was in charge of animal husbandry and sacrificial supplies, and usually provided for ghosts and gods. It was the government office responsible for liaison between the world of the living and the world of the dead. It had a low status but was extremely important.

Shanglinyuan Prison usually sacrificed animals to ghosts and gods to open the door to the underworld. When the kings and nobles died, the underworld officials would usually notify them in advance and give the dying person ten days to half a month to deal with the aftermath. They could even bribe the underworld officials to find a position in the underworld for the elderly in their family.

Because there are many sacrifices on weekdays, the ghost messengers are also happy to deal with Shanglinyuan Prison.

In the square below, people brought many pigs, horses, cows and sheep and set up an altar. The incense was burning brightly and green smoke was rising slowly, filling the air.

Sacrificial offerings such as pigs, horses, cattle, and sheep were brought to the altar. Soon, ghosts emerged from the green smoke to enjoy the offerings.

Several petty officials stepped forward and questioned the ghosts and gods, one by one, about the whereabouts of the scholar who was trapped in the underworld.

After enjoying the sacrifices, the ghosts and gods were still rude, swearing and cursing, but they also answered all the questions of the clerks.

——A man who has eaten the sacrifice should be grateful. Since he has enjoyed the sacrifice, he should naturally give something in return.

After a long time, the clerks of Shanglinyuan Prison sorted out the information they received and presented it to Zuo Jianzheng. Zuo Jianzheng quickly flipped through it, then immediately ran to Yan Guzhi, presented it to him, and bowed, saying, "Please read it, sir."

Yan Guzhi opened the document, and Zuo Jianzheng said, "Sir, we have searched for the whereabouts of 644 candidates in total and searched their souls, but we couldn't find their souls. We asked the ghosts and gods and found that 217 of them have died, and 427 are still alive. The ones that you are focusing on, Taoist Jinlu, has passed away, but the others are still alive."

As Yan Guzhi read, he asked, "Where did they fall? Why can't they summon souls?"

"My lord, the place those ghosts and gods said they were going to is not the territory they are in charge of. It belongs to the second hell, an abandoned place. They have no right to enter it."

Zuo Jianzheng said, "They also said that ghosts that fall into there basically have no chance of coming out. Even ghosts like them dare not go in, because there are things in there that are more terrifying than them. Necromancer spells are basically useless, and they can't summon the souls there. Once you enter there, there is no chance of survival."

Yan Guzhi felt a chill in his heart, his eyes trembled, and he asked in a hoarse voice: "Is there any other way?"

Zuo Jianzheng shook his head slightly: "We have tried all the possible methods, there is no other way."

He hesitated for a moment and said, "I heard that there is a person named Granny Sha among the wanderers. She is proficient in soul magic and is unparalleled in the world. She was the first wife of Xiang Yunfei, a doctor in the Ministry of Personnel, but was later divorced. Maybe she has a way."

Yan Guzhi said: "Hurry up and ask someone to invite Lord Xiang! Also, after all, they are all scholars who came to Beijing to take the imperial examination. We can't let them die in a foreign land. Keep summoning his soul until he is summoned back!"

Zuo Jianzheng bowed, walked down the stone steps quickly, and shouted to the officials of Shanglinyuan Jian: "Continue to summon the soul!"

Then he called a clerk and ordered, "Go to the Ministry of Personnel immediately and invite the doctor Xiang Yunfei to come."

The clerk left in a hurry.

Not long after, Xiang Yunfei, a doctor from the Ministry of Personnel, came to the Ministry of Rites and met Yan Guzhi. Yan Guzhi asked, "Sir Xiang, can you invite Sha Qiutong to help us search for the candidate who has been lost in the underworld? I know you are in a difficult situation, but this is a serious matter, so please don't refuse."

Xiang Yunfei bowed and said, "Sir, I have no connection with Sha Qiutong anymore. I don't know where she is now. Even if I want to ask her for help, I can't do anything."

Yan Guzhi smiled and said, "Wasn't she talking and laughing with you outside the examination room of my Ministry of Rites a few days ago?"

Xiang Yunfei was shocked, dumbfounded, and stammered, "That woman does look a bit like Sha Qiutong, but Sha Qiutong is already over sixty years old..."

Yan Guzhi said: "She is Sha Qiutong, also known as Soul-Searching Rakshasa Granny Sha. She was originally an official in Shanglinyuan Prison and was the clerk of Shanglinyuan Prison. You got married and had a son, but later you divorced her. Now, I don't know what magic she used to make herself younger and deliberately get close to you."

Xiang Yunfei was stunned.

After a long while, he came back to his senses and shook his head, saying, "I don't know where she is. If you can find her, I will come forward to persuade her."

Yan Guzhi frowned slightly and immediately asked people to search for Grandma Sha's whereabouts.

As time went by, Granny Sha was not found. The officials of Shanglinyuan Prison tried every possible way but failed to find the whereabouts of those scholars.

"Master Yan, the 364 officials of Shanglinyuan have been searching for 13 consecutive days, day and night, and are now too tired to continue."

The left and right supervisors came together to see Yan Guzhi and begged, "If we continue searching, someone will die! Please show mercy and let them rest for a few days before continuing the search!"

Yan Guzhi looked down and saw that the officials of Shanglinyuan were exhausted and could hardly continue. He could only say, "Take a rest for two days."

Zuo Jianzheng hesitated for a moment and said, "Sir, to be honest, I think even if I look for them again, they won't be alive. There are many ghosts and monsters in the underworld, and it is extremely dangerous. The Yin Qi is heavy. Even if they can escape from the ghosts and monsters, their own cultivation will be eroded by the Yin Qi, and their bodies will decay. Even if they are rescued today, I'm afraid they will be useless."

The corner of Yan Guzhi's eye twitched, and he thought of Zhang Fuzheng's serious face, and gritted his teeth and said, "If he's alive, I want to see him in person. If he's dead, I want to see his body!"

The left and right supervisors had no choice but to retreat.

Two days later, Shanglinyuan Prison regained enough energy and continued the search.

At the same time, people from Xiexiu Pavilion and Fuzheng Pavilion kept sending people to Shanglinyuanjian and the Ministry of Rites to inquire about the news and ask whether the missing juren had been found.

As news continued to come in, the expressions on the faces of Shui Xuanzhi, Qin Su and others gradually relaxed.

"The longer it takes, the lower the chances of survival."

Qin Su smiled and said, "It has been half a month. I am afraid that these scholars have turned into bones in the underworld. It is a pity that their bones by the Wuding River are still the people in the dreams of young girls. Their relatives don't know that they have died in the underworld yet."

Other officials of the Fuzheng Pavilion also sighed.

"Since Chen Shi and Zhang You died in the underworld, the young master is almost certain to win." Master Tang said with a smile.

Shui Xuanzhi said sternly: "How can you gloat over someone else's misfortune? Don't ever say that again!"

He paused and said, "It won't be long before the Ministry of Rites stops the rescue and the results of the imperial examination are announced. You will definitely be the first in the imperial examination. In another half a month, the palace examination will be held. It is not easy for you to get the first place. Everyone, you must build momentum for you as soon as possible!"

Everyone nodded.

Dou Qi, the chief priest, asked: "Shui Changshi, after being trapped in the underworld for so long, can you come back alive? If they suddenly appear at that time..."

"It's impossible to come back alive."

Shui Xuanzhi said calmly, "Even a Mahayana being like me would have a hard time staying alive in the underworld. The underworld is full of ghosts and gods, monsters and demons, and it is strange and unpredictable. No one can survive in the underworld for more than a month, not even me! What's more, most of the candidates who fell into the underworld this time have not yet achieved their primordial spirits, let alone beheaded the three corpses."

He smiled slightly and said, "Their three corpse gods will absorb Yin energy and become stronger and stronger, which will destroy the foundation of their Dao. Even if someone can come back alive, their Dao foundation will be destroyed and they will be useless from then on. Why worry about it? The underworld is more terrifying than you think!"

In the underworld, a bluestone road was paved in the air, extending forward. Below, the black pot was carrying Chen Tang at a rapid speed.

On the bluestone road, Granny Sha, who seemed to be in her twenties, stood at the end of the road, the bluestone under her feet continued to move forward.

She regained her youth, and her blood and energy were abundant and vigorous. In the past, her blood and energy were dry and she dared not waste them so extravagantly. Now, despite squandering them, her cultivation had improved further, and she had the momentum to make a breakthrough.

The two people and the dog have been running in the underworld for more than ten days. Granny Sha has been helping Chen Tang determine the location.

Hei Guo helped them to kill the ghosts and monsters they encountered along the way and they were invincible.

The underworld is too big, and it is not easy to find someone. However, Grandma Sha divided the underworld into nine areas, so the location can be determined quickly.

However, when she summoned Chen Shi's soul, she found that Chen Shi and others were not in District 9.

These days, she was running around in the underworld, mainly using the nine-district longitude and latitude to locate Chen Shi's position in the underworld. She suspected that there might be a second layer of space in the underworld, and used this to determine the exact location of this space.

She had offended many masters in the underworld. When she showed up this time, many underworld officials came to hunt her down, but they were stopped by Chen Tang and Hei Guo.

The strange thing is that in recent days, the number of evil spirits chasing them has become fewer and fewer, and finally they simply stopped chasing them.

But in the underworld they visited recently, there were no ghosts, ghost messengers, or monsters. It was very desolate everywhere. The earth was pitch black and the sky was gray, with no other colors.

"Chen Tang, Hei Guo, stop! He should be nearby!" Granny Sha suddenly said.

Upon hearing this, Hei Guo immediately stopped and looked around, only to see that the place was filled with dusk and desolate, with huge dead trees everywhere.

Each dead tree is so thick that it takes dozens of people to surround it.

Chen Tang jumped off the black pot's head, looked at the trees carefully, and said, "It's the Bodhi tree, the Buddhist tree of enlightenment. It is said that the Buddha Shakyamuni attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree and became a Buddha."

The bluestone slabs under Grandma Sha's feet were still being laid forward. In the dead woods ahead stood an ancient temple of grand scale that exuded an ancient atmosphere.

Chen Tang and Hei Guo followed and when they arrived in front of the temple, they saw the plaque of the ancient temple hanging crookedly on one side, with the words "Ksitigarbha Temple" written on it.

"The one enshrined here should be Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva of Buddhism."

Chen Tang said, "This Bodhisattva went deep into the Buddhist hell and rescued his mother's ghost many times. He also made a great vow to save all those who are trapped in hell."

The two men and the dog entered the temple and saw the skeleton of a giant dog crawling on the ground. Hei Guo barked twice at the giant dog's corpse.

There was only a shrine in the temple, but no statue, and the statue had been smashed to pieces.

"Chen Shi and those scholars are nearby! But they are not in the same underworld as us."

Granny Sha looked around, took out two cushions and spread them on the ground. She sat on one of them and said, "Xiaotang, I will use magic to send our souls to another underworld. Then Black Pot will protect us and keep us safe. You sit down."

Chen Tang sat opposite her.

The spirit of the Emperor's daughter appeared behind Granny Sha. She stretched out her hand, and the ground under the two of them seemed to disappear, replaced by a clear spring.

Chen Tang looked down and saw that the cushion had turned into a lotus in the clear spring. They were now sitting on the lotus. Looking down along the lotus stem, they saw the clear spring constantly gushing upward. The spring water went deep into the ground and was extremely clear, as if it had come out from another time and space.

"My magic is called Linshe."

Granny Sha said, "Relax and worship your spirit."

Chen Tang followed his instructions and raised his spirit, then heard Granny Sha's voice.

"The so-called She is a house or a place to live. The body is the She of the soul. Since we cannot enter another world, we should abandon our original She and descend into the She of another world as souls, so that we can have a body and move independently."

Granny Sha activated her magic spell, and Chen Tang was amazed to see all kinds of talismans he had never seen before appearing all around him, constantly evolving and changing.

His talisman skills were inherited from Chen Yindu, who left several books on talisman compilation and talisman creation treasure book at home. He taught himself half and sought advice from Chen Yindu and Creator Xiaowu half, and learned the contents of the two books.

In this whole world, there are only a handful of people who can surpass him in attainment in talismans!

There are not many talismans in this world that he has not seen before, but there are many talismans that Granny Sha used when she cast the spell this time that he has never seen before.

"Sister Sha, what kind of talisman is this?" Chen Tang asked.

Granny Sha glanced at him and said, "These are some soul-related talismans that I created. They are the magic that I created. Xiaotang, do you know why your father likes Chen Wu more? You are knowledgeable and well-informed, surpassing many of your peers, but you lack pioneering spirit. You are more suitable for learning, and you have too little of your own. In this respect, you are far inferior to Chen Wu, even worse than your father, and even worse than me."

Chen Tang didn't say anything.

He learns everything very quickly, and can master it immediately, but it is a bit difficult for him to create new spells or talismans.

But Creator Xiaowu is another kind of person. He can always come up with many strange and bizarre spells to win Chen Yindu's favor.

Suddenly, Grandma Sha's magic exploded, and the two people's souls suddenly sank, as if they had passed through countless time and space, and a white light kept spinning in front of their eyes.

Chen Tang only felt his soul shake violently, as if it hit something, and he hurriedly stabilized his body.

"Quick, quack, quack!"

A green-faced, fang-toothed ghost next to him looked at him with confusion and asked, "Quack?"

Chen Tang was shocked and said, "I don't understand..."

However, as soon as he said this, it turned into: "Quack, quack..."

What’s even stranger is that he actually understood it!

He looked at himself hurriedly, and found that he had turned into a green-faced, fang-toothed monster!
At this time, another ghost came, carrying a fork with a human corpse hanging on the fork. He was only wearing a pair of rags and waved to Chen Tang.

Chen Tang hurried over and asked tentatively, "Mother-in-law?"

The ghost punched him hard on the head and shouted angrily, "Call me sister!"

"Sister." Chen Tang readily followed suit.

"Come with me!" said Grandma Sha, lifting her trouser waist with her left hand.

Chen Tang followed her and couldn't help but said, "Sister, there is a person hanging on your fork."

Granny Sha asked, "Does the clothing on this corpse look familiar to you?"

Chen Tang looked at him carefully, his heart beating wildly: "He is a candidate for the imperial examination!"

Granny Sha tugged at her trousers and said, "When I entered this room, I found it carrying the body of the scholar. This means that Xiao Shi and the others should be nearby!"

She suddenly grabbed a ghost and asked, "Quack, quack?"

"Quick, quack, quack, quack!"

Granny Sha said to Chen Tang, "It said that the thing that fell from the sky is over there! Let's go over there!"

Chen Tang was greatly encouraged, and the two of them rushed over quickly. After a while, they found the Xianqiao blessed land, but there were no living people in the blessed land.

They walked out of the blessed land and searched everywhere. At this time, they met a ghost god who was shepherding sheep. The ghost god's feet were huge wheels, and his flesh and blood grew on the wheels. His body was tall and majestic.

Granny Sha stopped and asked, "Quack, quack?"

The herding ghost god raised one arm, pointed at the Buddhas in the distance, and said, "Quack."

Granny Sha said goodbye to the ghost, tugged at her trousers, and took Chen Tang to chase after him, saying, "He said the grass went into the mountains. It's too dangerous there, so he didn't go there to graze."

Chen Tang was worried. The two of them went deep into the Buddha Mountain. Eyes popped out from the Buddhas' bodies, looking at them curiously.

Granny Sha caught the ghost monk who jumped out of one of the eyes and interrogated him. He was surprised and said, "Alive! He said Xiao Shi and the others are still alive!"

She tugged at her trousers, rushed over excitedly, and said with a smile: "They have been in the underworld for so long, and they are still alive!"

——Great chapter, please give me your monthly vote at the beginning of the month!
(End of this chapter)