Chapter 595

The paper attendant led Yang Weida to the Listening Ghost Pavilion and gestured for him to stand at the entrance and wait a moment.

Yang Weida's face was expressionless as he hurriedly nodded, but anyone could see his nervousness.

He stood at the entrance, and after only a few breaths, the paper attendant received instructions, took the initiative to push open the door, and gestured for Yang Weida to enter.

Yang Weida swallowed a mouthful of saliva and straightened his collar before stepping into the Listening Ghost Pavilion with a heart full of trepidation and tension.

Earlier, when the Mourning Music Youling suffered a surprise assassination attempt, the Listening Ghost Pavilion had been almost completely destroyed.

However, the White Paper Xiancheng side immediately mobilized great effort to help the Mourning Music Youling rebuild this place.

Because they comprehensively changed the defensive arrays and the like, it made this place even safer than before.

The Mourning Music Youling summoned the male concubines who were being evaluated for promotion here one by one.

Yang Weida entered the Listening Ghost Pavilion and saw the Mourning Music Youling, and was just about to bow and pay his respects.

The Mourning Music Youling sat cross-legged behind the desk, but did not look at him, only lightly plucking the scorched-tail zither on the table.

The zither sound was clear and bright, instantly reaching the depths of Yang Weida's heart; he immediately received a thought from the Mourning Music Youling, instructing him that there was no need for formalities, to sit down directly, and just listen to the music.

Yang Weida nodded repeatedly and obediently followed suit.

The Mourning Music Youling plucked the strings with two fingers, playing lightly; the zither sound was monotonous and empty, like a deep well without waves.

Seven yellow jade bells rang out in succession.

The first bell sound was like cracking ice, the second bell sound was like rotting leaves withering, the third bell sound was like dripping spring water...

Yang Weida was soon immersed in the music, unable to extricate himself.

He "saw" the bronze lamp flame on the table suddenly twist, turning into a panicked human face.

He "saw" his own shadow reflected on the blue bricks suddenly twist and stretch, dancing wildly.

He even "saw" the cold moon in the sky, with countless fierce ghosts climbing all over his body, constantly scratching and gnawing at his body and mind.

Yang Weida was personally on the scene, and the Mourning Music Youling's expression became increasingly serious.

All the illusions dissipated in Yang Weida's heart, finally turning into a sense of powerlessness and weakness that enveloped his entire body and mind, making him feel extremely exhausted, wishing only to lie on the bed and sleep for three days and three nights without moving.

The Mourning Music Youling's fingers trembled slightly, plucking the final note.

Yang Weida received a hint again, telling him to leave quietly without making a sound.

Yang Weida had many doubts in his heart and really wanted to know if he had passed the review, but he dared not ask; he lowered his head, backed away, and left the Listening Ghost Pavilion silently.

In the Listening Ghost Pavilion, only the Mourning Music Youling remained sitting cross-legged.

A clear breeze blew, and outside the pavilion, the bamboo forest rustled, blowing the female cultivator's three thousand strands of black hair into slight motion.

The Mourning Music Youling sighed.

Wen Ruanyu turned out from the back hall: "How was it?"

Ever since the Mourning Music Youling was assassinated twice, her safety had become the top priority in the city's defense. This time, the White Paper Xiancheng side was also worried that assassins had mixed in among the male concubines, so they arranged for Wen Ruanyu to protect the Mourning Music Youling.

Yang Weida was led into the city by Wen Ruanyu, and the latter was acting on the instructions of the Mourning Music Youling, so he attached great importance to Yang Weida.

This time, Yang Weida had risen suddenly, ranking first on the leaderboard and revealing his edge.

The Mourning Music Youling sighed: "His background is clean; he is indeed a traveling cloud merchant from the Flying Cloud Kingdom. Coming to the City Lord's Mansion this time to voluntarily act as a male concubine is because he wants to use this status to become a favored person."

Wen Ruanyu nodded: "Whether he is a friend or an enemy is not the key. The key is, is he the key person you divined, the savior for White Paper Xiancheng to survive the ghost tide this time?"

The Mourning Music Youling shook her head slightly: "I cannot be sure."

"However, his yang qi is indeed vigorous; he is the number one among this batch of male concubines, and he deserves the name."

Wen Ruanyu then asked: "How does he compare to Jin Yangzi?"

The Mourning Music Youling said: "Jin Yangzi is a true disciple of the Seven Feather Alliance and possesses the incomplete bloodline of the Three-Legged Golden Crow; how could Yang Weida compare?"

Wen Ruanyu pondered: "In my view, if Yang Weida is this key person, he is very likely the new owner of the Golden Swallow Fork. Only by using the Golden Swallow Fork can he gush out massive amounts of yang qi to help the City Lord reconcile enough yin qi."

"Yang Weida is ultimately just a Foundation Establishment cultivator; this is the way I have thought about it,"

"that he is most likely to help our White Paper Xiancheng."

The Mourning Music Youling: "Judging from the current conditions, your guess is the most likely. But divination and the truth are often not that close."

"I still cannot be sure that Yang Weida is the key savior."

"Therefore, we must keep more hope and allow more possibilities to appear so that we will not miss the true key person."

Wen Ruanyu nodded, quite agreeing with these words of the Mourning Music Youling.

Hidden Yang Separate Mansion.

As soon as Yang Weida returned, he was subjected to questioning.

Everyone wanted to find out the detailed process of the Mourning Music Youling's review to make it convenient for themselves to pass the review.

Yang Weida himself did not know the accurate result, so facing the inquiries, he patted his chest directly, showing full confidence, saying that he had already passed and it was effortless.

His words were a mix of truth and falsehood, with the focus placed on the miraculous efficacy of his own divine medicine.

If the male concubines wanted to find out the inside story, they had to at least buy a box of divine medicine from him.

"Regardless of whether I passed or not, just based on this big sale, coming to White Paper Xiancheng this time was definitely not a loss!" Yang Weida had broken even, and his mindset was much more composed.

Unlike Ning Zhuo did not follow the crowd.

For him, he had absolutely no interest in being promoted to the three courtyards.

Unlike Ning Zhuo prepared to reveal his identity immediately after contacting the Mourning Music Youling, let her perform divination, and then he would immediately ride the Ten Thousand Mile Wandering Dragon and leave this place of right and wrong.

Underworld.

Water Burial Valley.

The Valley Master, Old Man Gray Bone, looked impatiently at the visitor: "City Lord, the favor I owe you was already settled by the last divination."

In the Underworld, anyone who could be called a City Lord must be the master of a prefecture, holding a high position and great power, which was no small matter.

This was because within a prefecture, there were often multiple immortal cities, which were equivalent to the monarchs of the mortal world!

The Underworld City Lord nodded: "That is indeed so. Old Gray, do not worry; I have come this time not to ask you to perform divination, but to request another important matter."

Old Man Gray Bone was slightly stunned, then immediately pinched his fingers to calculate: "You want me to confuse a certain calculation?"

The City Lord admitted frankly: "Exactly so."

Old Man Gray Bone: "I do have a technique called 'Covering the Hexagram with Robber Ash,' which can achieve the power and effect of confusing calculations."

"However, the price of this method is high, even more so than when I repaid your favor before."

The City Lord then took out an object: "Old Gray, what you care about most is your fate. I know that confusing calculations rarely consumes fate. As for the price, I wonder if this object can offset it?"

Old Man Gray Bone's gaze had already been attracted by this treasure material: "Is this the turtle shell of a ten-thousand-year-old mysterious turtle?"

"Exactly so," the City Lord said.

Old Man Gray Bone was silent for a moment before saying: "This treasure material is indeed enough. But to have me perform the 'Covering the Hexagram with Robber Ash' technique, I must borrow the robber qi and turn it into ash to succeed."

The City Lord was surprised: "You want to collect the robber qi of the ghost tide?"

Old Man Gray Bone chuckled: "City Lord, there is no need to tell such lies; it would just waste our time."

"Others might not know, but how could I not?"

"This ghost tide is caused by you going against heaven and trying to refine that Heavenly Ghost Skull. The entire White Paper Xiancheng is kept in the dark, becoming your helper in sharing the heavenly condemnation."

As soon as these words were spoken, the City Lord's face immediately became solemn, his gaze sharp, staring at Old Man Gray Bone.

Old Man Gray Bone was not afraid and continued: "If you want me to confuse the calculation, you must let me contact the source of the disaster and collect the robber qi. It is precisely this kind of robber qi that can deeply affect all the cultivators in the disaster."

"Apart from this, there is no other way."

The City Lord fell into silence.

To survive heavenly condemnation and soothe heavenly wrath, the best method was blood sacrifice.

White Paper Xiancheng was the blood sacrifice site that the City Lord had determined many years ago!

However, White Paper Xiancheng was easy to defend and hard to attack, and the core of the current city defense was the Mourning Music Youling.

The City Lord joined forces with the City Overturning Alliance and attacked many times, but two assassination attempts failed to kill her; multiple attempts to attack from inside and outside were all calculated in advance by the Mourning Music Youling and successfully destroyed.

As a result, the Mourning Music Youling was a thorn in the side of the City Lord and the City Overturning Alliance, and they wanted to get rid of her quickly!

Confusing the calculation, although the price was huge, the situation had already required the City Lord to act this way.

After a long time, the City Lord stared at Old Man Gray Bone and spoke slowly: "Very well."

One day later.

Dining Hall.

Unlike Ning Zhuo sat upright, watching the old spirit chef cook the underworld meal in front of him.

As usual, after Unlike Ning Zhuo finished the underworld meal, his belly was bulging, making it difficult for him to move.

Accompanied by digestion, his soul foundation officially broke through the barrier of a thousand times that of an ordinary person.

"Stinky brat, you are already a thousand-person soul." The old spirit chef faced Unlike Ning Zhuo and immediately noticed a trace of aura overflowing from Unlike Ning Zhuo's soul.

Unlike Ning Zhuo smiled slightly: "Thanks to your help, Senior."

The old spirit chef snorted coldly: "Stop flattering me! You can achieve this, firstly because you are willing to spend merit points to specifically order my underworld meals; secondly, because the Xiancheng policy has been adjusted, releasing many precious resources. If it were normal times, it would absolutely not be possible."

Unlike Ning Zhuo nodded: "I know, the ghost tide has been attacking the city for many days."

The old spirit chef shook his head: "It's not just for this reason. Lord Mourning Music Youling encountered an assassination attempt before and ate my spirit food to heal her injuries. Therefore, I was able to get these rare ingredients. Anyway, it's all cooking; Lord Mourning Music Youling is the main body, and you are just an extra."

"Don't think that the Hidden Yang Separate Mansion released so many precious ingredients just for you. Consider yourself lucky; you caught a tailwind!"

Unlike Ning Zhuo said "Ah": "So that's how it is."

His heart stirred: "Senior, you say this, do you want to take care of me, so that when I see Lord Mourning Music Youling later, I should thank her?"

This time, the male concubines were being promoted to the three courtyards, and Unlike Ning Zhuo was among them.

This afternoon, it would be his turn to see the Mourning Music Youling.

The old spirit chef nodded: "I am an old man of White Paper Xiancheng. It is not easy for this immortal city to be maintained until today. In this, Lord Mourning Music Youling has paid a lot. Especially now, the City Lord has to self-seal."

Unlike Ning Zhuo remembered these recent battle achievements and nodded in agreement: "That is indeed so."

The old spirit chef looked at Unlike Ning Zhuo seriously: "Burnt-hemp brat, you are the first among the male concubines to eat my underworld meals for so many consecutive days. Consider you have resilience!"

"You are also a person from the village outside the city; White Paper Xiancheng is your home."

"Are you interested in accepting my inheritance and becoming a spirit chef? In the future, you can cook for yourself, stay here, gain the appreciation of the City Lord, Mourning Music Youling, and other lords, and change your life."

Unlike Ning Zhuo was surprised: "This... to tell you the truth, Senior, I want to go out more and travel the world."

"Hmph." The old spirit chef looked displeased, but still took out a jade slip and a token.

"Spirit chef is one of the hundred arts of cultivation, and it has its own schools and rules."

"I will give this inheritance to you; do not pass it on casually. Whether you learn it or not is up to you. But if you learn it, you must remember that you are a person of the Dark Cuisine School, and you must promote this school in the future!"

"The jade slip contains my cultivation methods, recipes, cultivation insights, etc. The token indicates our school and your identity. In the future, when participating in the Hundred Kingdoms Culinary Competition, this will be the admission ticket and competition ticket."

Unlike Ning Zhuo did not expect that after eating underworld meals for so many days, he would unexpectedly

obtain a spirit chef inheritance.

Don't look at the old spirit chef being fierce, but he actually appreciated Unlike Ning Zhuo very much.

Having many skills is no burden; the smart and studious big-headed teenager thought for a while and then agreed seriously.

Not long after he left the dining hall with the inheritance jade slip and identity token, he was led by a paper attendant.

Unlike Ning Zhuo followed the paper attendant to a house in a separate mansion and, with the help of the teleportation array inside, came directly to the Listening Ghost Pavilion.

Standing outside the door, he rubbed his mechanism ring a few times; the latter did not react, which made Unlike Ning Zhuo feel exceptionally at ease.

After waiting for a few breaths, he saw the paper attendant push open the door and gesture for him to enter.

Unlike Ning Zhuo entered and saw a female cultivator sitting upright behind the desk, her hands resting on the zither, motionless.

The door closed behind Unlike Ning Zhuo.

Unlike Ning Zhuo cupped his hands and spoke, stating the reason and his identity, but the Mourning Music Youling had no reaction.

Unlike Ning Zhuo raised his head in doubt, just about to observe, when he heard Sun Lingtong shout: "Wrong! The situation is wrong!"

"Little Zhuo, the Mourning Music Youling is already dead!!"

"What?!" Unlike Ning Zhuo's hair stood on end, and he was terrified.

He hurriedly rushed forward to investigate at close range.

The Mourning Music Youling had no signs of life; she was actually dead!

Sun Lingtong: "This place is not suitable for staying long; let's run quickly..."

Before he finished speaking, the alarm bell rang loudly, and the defensive array of the entire Listening Ghost Pavilion was activated, imprisoning the space and locking Sun and Ning firmly here.

"Enemy attack, enemy attack!"

"Someone has assassinated Lord Mourning Music Youling again."

"I want to hack the murderer to death!"

The next moment, a large number of city guards rushed over, surrounding the Listening Ghost Pavilion heavily.