Master of Strange Dao

The girl eventually starved to death and turned into a hungry ghost, filled with wrath. Not only did she slaughter the buyer, but she also caught up with the Human Traffickers and tore them apart alive in front of some people.

The matter was investigated and clarified, but how to handle it remained a problem.

Although Dali still had a distinction between servants and commoners in name, trafficking was expressly prohibited, and the Human Traffickers, as the main perpetrators, were certainly subject to execution.

Moreover, this case touched upon another issue: just a few years ago, the Crown Prince of Dali had been engaged in disaster relief in the West, with the main policy being to at least ensure no one starved to death.

Allowing someone to starve like this under Dali's policy and the attitude of the authorities was deemed even more reprehensible than the Human Traffickers themselves.

If someone starved to death in a village or town, it would be treated as a heinous crime to be investigated, starting with the village chief, who would face flogging, and even the higher-ups in the towns and counties could not absolve themselves of responsibility.

In past years, the population in the western regions of Dali was actually quite small, and governance was mediocre, but in recent years, no one had starved to death.

Intentionally starving someone still counted as a death by starvation and was considered a stain.

Thus, the ghost killing was overlooked, and the nature of the case was redefined as malevolent individuals intentionally starving people to death.

This case led to a series of discussions.

On the whole, everyone supported officially including hungry ghosts in the Law Code.

Those who disagreed held no prejudice against hungry ghosts themselves but thought that hungry ghosts had not been assimilated as citizens of Dali.

They approved of assimilating hungry ghosts as citizens but opposed including the entire race of hungry ghosts in the Law Code.

Wen Lingyou also contributed to this because he had long wanted to conduct research.

He wanted to understand how hungry ghosts devour Devil Thought and hunt Devils.

If he could comprehend this, they might even be able to create a new Dharma Method specifically targeting Devils.

But currently, there were almost no open studies of hungry ghosts because the risk of failure was too great, and no one dared.

With Langya Institute's past failure as a cautionary tale, no one at Lihuo Institute dared either.

It couldn't be done stealthily, but if relations with Jinlan Mountain were good, even Qing Ziyu would become a scholar at Lihuo Institute.

Even if it were only in name, it would still count.

Then, collaborating with some strong and intelligent hungry ghosts for research would be much easier.

Wen Lingyou naturally knew that forcibly capturing hungry ghosts would be too easy, but what could be learned from uncooperative little hungry ghosts?

It would be better to directly collaborate with people from Jinlan Mountain.

First, bring Qing Ziyu over from Jinlan Mountain, then discuss other things later.

Both sides were quite satisfied now; as they turned their backs, they each discreetly pursued their own agendas.

A month later, a group set off, heading straight for Dingmao City.

This time, sneak attacks were ineffective, and a direct confrontation was inevitable.

As they traveled, Jia Shisi kept Yu Ziqing company at the back, constantly relaying some matters to him.

This was at Yu Ziqing's strong insistence.

As they arrived in Dingmao City, from afar, they saw the sky above it, resembling two fragmented skies overlapping.

One part was night, the other part day.

In the wilderness outside Dingmao City, they could also see many people migrating, all of them ordinary folks.

They saw many people walking on the road, eating something unknown nonstop.

Jia Shisi and Yu Ziqing hovered in the air, watching the migrating crowds below, their expressions complex.

"I had tried many ways, but never thought the simplest solution lay in Dadui's now nonexistent filth."

"Forget the rest, there's plenty of filth," Yu Ziqing said, handing a filth bucket to Jia Shisi.

Jia Shisi took the filth bucket, considering the source of this object, momentarily unsure if Yu Ziqing's words were questionable.

He put away the filth bucket and saluted Yu Ziqing.

Just then, a terrifying aura arose within Dingmao City in the Divine Country.

That aura was abyssal, oceanic, far exceeding the Ninth Tier Peak.

Then a Divine Power transformed into Divine Light, soaring into the sky.

A nine-story tower floated up from the ground, and the light on that weathered nine-story tower began to vanish rapidly.

The entire nine-story tower seemed thoroughly polluted, darkness devouring the light, and Divine Power began to convert and disappear.

Emperor Dui walked out of the nine-story tower, dressed in a deep blue robe, holding the Dadui Jade Seal in his left hand and a black Short Stick in his right. The top of the Short Stick was the skull of an Exotic Beast.

As the skull opened its mouth, it let out a wild laugh.

In an instant, the last trace of Divine Light on the nine-story tower was extinguished.

The tower transformed entirely into deep black; with no Divine Light, Demonic Qi began to spawn, and on the roof edges, Devil Fire abruptly ignited.

The pillars and windows began to reveal numerous faces in agony, some despairing, some terrified.

The originally splendid, glorious Divine Palace had completely transformed into the Devil King's hall.

The character "Earth" on Emperor Dui's forehead burned with Devil Fire, and his expression became unhinged, laughing wildly at the approaching people.

"You have come, all of you, good, Jia Shisi, you're here too, excellent."

Beside Emperor Dui were three other formidable foreign cultivators and several residual Ninth Tier incense fire cultivators within Dingmao City.

They looked at the dozen or so Ninth Tier individuals flying toward them, yet none showed fear; instead, their expressions were calm, as if witnessing a group of doomed souls.