Master of Strange Dao

"It said that not even the flames could kill it."

"What a joke, there is nobody in this world that can't be killed, be they human or god. As long as the method is right, and the power is sufficient, they must die!"

Inside the flames, the body of the locust god gradually turned into nothingness.

In the end, only an imprint remained, a locust imprint, still within the flames, being scorched by the fire. The locust imprint struggled incessantly, screamed incessantly, but showed no sign of being destroyed.

Looking at the insubstantial locust imprint, Yu Ziqing suddenly thought of the question he'd once asked Yang.

Can it be eaten?

The moment this thought emerged, the Yin God suddenly opened its eyes.

Yu Ziqing stepped forward, grabbed the locust imprint, and stuffed it directly into his mouth.

In an instant, a locust larger than the Yin God itself appeared before the Yin God.

The Yin God opened its gaping maw and, without waiting for the locust to struggle, bit off its head and swallowed it down.

This time, the locust imprint's screams were even more harrowing, and Yu Ziqing felt, for the first time, an aura of fear—the creature was afraid and despairingly howling.

However, the Yin God seemed to be enjoying its meal immensely, its eyes red with eagerness, almost as if it couldn't wait to hog it all to itself.

Having completely devoured the locust, including crunching its legs in its mouth as if they were crispy bones, it stubbornly refused to waste any part.

After finishing the meal, the Yin God contentedly closed its eyes and, with a swollen belly, sank into a deep sleep.

Yu Ziqing looked at his own hand, overwhelmed with shock.

This wasn't right. Why could he eat the last remaining imprint of the locust god, which should have been its very core?

Even raging flames could only make it scream incessantly but could never destroy it.

Why could he eat it up?

Why did he even have the thought that he could eat it?

Yu Ziqing temporarily pushed aside the chaotic thoughts in his mind and looked towards Nie Shuang.

"You should be able to sense it by now, the locust god is dead, and your obsessions should have dissipated.

Are you willing to transform?"

"I can sense it, as long as I'm willing, I could transform into that hungry ghost, and even eat again.

But by nodding my head, I'd no longer be a subject of Dadui, right?"

"You can't exactly say that. I'm at least the County Magistrate of Dinghai City, oh, and I'm still the County Magistrate of Jiayin City. Following me, you're technically being demoted, but I suppose you don't care about the rank, do you?"

"You're right, I truly don't care about the rank. However, I can't agree to this, even if Dadui no longer exists." Nie Shuang said, smiling as he directly addressed the issue.

"Have you ever thought that one day, Dadui might reappear?"

"That's something for the future. At least now, I can't leave Dadui; if I do, I would no longer have the face to return. My father taught me from a young age to stay loyal to Dadui.

Even if it means death, I will not sever ties with Dadui. As long as I exist, Dadui exists.

I won't gamble on whether there will be others with the same idea as me, but I have to be the last one left."

Nie Shuang spoke plainly and calmly.

Yu Ziqing felt a complex emotion inside. He wasn't sure how Nie Shuang had guessed that Dadui no longer existed, but it didn't matter now.

Honestly, Yu Ziqing thought it was a shame, he felt it was a waste for someone like Nie Shuang because, just based on the records in "An History Book," Dadui of the Late Period didn't seem to deserve someone like him.

But these thoughts were what he'd kept to himself; he would not say them aloud, nor would he use them as reasons to persuade Nie Shuang.

It would be disrespectful to Nie Shuang.

Towards the Dadui of the Late Period, Yu Ziqing dared to spit and curse, but for people like Nie Shuang, he felt he had to show some respect.

"Alright, I respect your choice."

"Thank you." Nie Shuang gave a bow to show his gratitude, his expression solemn. He glanced at the starving ghosts surrounding them, none of whom wished to transform: "You should all follow Lord Qing."

"My Lord, we won't go either!"

"Right, we also won't leave; we only recognize you, My Lord."

One of the starving ghosts stepped forward and bowed deeply to Yu Ziqing.

"We are grateful for Lord Qing's benevolence. We could die nine times and still not repay you. However, please forgive us; we have followed Lord Nie all our lives, through life and death.

Lord Nie even starved to death before us, using his body as a vessel, transforming himself into a talisman to seal the locust god. Even though he became a starving ghost, he still stood with us to fight side by side at this place.

Even if we were to die and cease to exist, we could not just abandon Lord Nie and leave.

Please forgive us, Lord Qing. All we can do is thank you for your help, and thank you for your kindness."

As he spoke, the starving ghost knelt down with a thud, and bowed three times deeply to Yu Ziqing.

Yu Ziqing was startled and hurriedly went to help him up.

But the starving ghost was stubborn and refused to stand.

Behind him, a dense crowd of starving ghosts, with even more arriving, all knelt and bowed their heads to the ground. They used this most expressive way of gratitude to thank Yu Ziqing, and to apologize to him.

Nie Shuang looked at the dense mass of starving ghosts behind him with a complicated expression.

"You all... why trouble yourselves so?"

Yu Ziqing looked at these people and felt he had been a bit rash.

He waved his hand towards the sky.

"Yang, come back. It's alright..."

To this very moment, he had not sensed the appearance of a single hungry ghost, which proved that none of the truly bound here was willing to transform.