Starting from the folklore forum, making up town objects

Chapter 393 Draft of the Gates of Hell

Chen Xin had previously issued a task called "Underworld Guidance" regarding the expansion of the underworld's recruitment.

But Chen Xin quickly suspended that mission.

As for the reasons, one is that Chen Xin's energy was diverted to various events.

Another reason is that Chen Xin cannot know what the underworld messengers are thinking, and does not know what their purpose is in joining them.

Before the showdown between the underworld and the Bureau of Investigation, Chen Xin had never worried about such a thing.

Because nobody cares about the underworld.

However, as the local government became increasingly high-profile and its actions gained more influence, people with ulterior motives inevitably emerged.

During his first meeting with all the underworld officials, Chen Xin identified two spies from other organizations.

Keep in mind that there were only twenty underworld officials at that time!

Two of them, or one-tenth of the underworld messengers, are traitors.

It is foreseeable that if Chen Xin does not suspend the mission of guiding others, the proportion of traitors will increase, and then all the underworld officials will be spies from other organizations, which will be quite interesting.

Chen Xin is not a true deity of the underworld, and the underworld he established in the netherworld is not a true underworld.

Ultimately, he was just an imitator, lacking the true power of God.

Therefore, he did not want to waste his energy dealing with infighting.

So he cut it off.

But things are different now; he has a seam mark!
The abilities of the Ghost Slave Ancestors were sewn onto the mirror, and the Ghost Heart and Ghost Eyes could do things that Chen Xin couldn't do before.

Furthermore, the Yama-level artifact in his possession can now also control the sub-artifacts.

In this way, when recruiting underworld officials, one only needs to have the candidate walk in front of a mirror to immediately know their composition.

Chen Xin even gave the mirror a name.

The Mirror of the Heart!
Of course, there are always those who can maintain their true selves even under the illusion of the Mirror of Inquiry.

But it doesn't matter, as long as the other party still has the talisman, Chen Xin can see everything the other party does.

If the other party dares to rebel, everything he obtains from the underworld will become his death warrant.

That's why Chen Xin had the idea of ​​continuing to expand enrollment.

As for whether expanding enrollment is difficult?
For the underworld officials who are currently desperately lacking in good karma, expanding recruitment is just a task.

Chen Xin summoned Jiu Ri and explained his intentions.

Immediately, a previously seen quest appeared in the quest log of the Three Mountains outpost and in the cloth dog of the underworld messenger.

A mission to guide beings from the underworld!

However, the content is slightly different from the previous guidance missions.

Those who successfully guide the underworld messengers will not only receive the title of 'Underworld Guide', but will also receive one hundred merits for each messenger they guide.

Then there's the title of 'Guide to the Underworld'.

Previously, this title did not offer any substantial rewards, but this time, Chen Xin has endowed it with different benefits.

Anyone who guides more than one person but less than ten will receive the title of 'Underworld Guide', and all their merits in the Underworld will be reduced by 10%.

Anyone who guides more than ten but less than one hundred people will receive the title of 'Underworld Guide' and will have all their merits in the Underworld reduced by 20%.

Anyone who guides more than 100 people will receive the title of 'Ferryman', and will have all their Yin virtue consumption in the Underworld reduced by 30%, and will also receive an exclusive talisman.

Yin De consumption refers to the amount of Yin De consumed by all exchange-type projects.

As for that 'exclusive talisman', it was an idea of ​​Chen Xin's.

In the future, Chen Xin will provide special underworld officials with exclusive protective items, so that their status in the underworld can be discerned simply by looking at the protective items they hold.

Once this type of talisman is successfully compiled, Chen Xin will not make it available for exchange.

It will be like a stand-in paper cutout or sticker, only offering the finished product for exchange, without providing the production method.

Furthermore, it can only be redeemed by specific groups of people, such as 'Ferrymen', 'Envoys of Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil', 'Inspectors', or even the future 'Local Deities of the Three Mountains'.

In this way, it can be considered as an incentive for the underworld officials.

This is a future vision; there's no rush now.

As for whether there are any restrictions or a recruitment cap for this recruitment mission.

Of course there is.

Currently, there are nineteen underworld officials. According to the crow formation of the Crow Feather Raincoat, a maximum of thirty-six people can form a 100,000-crow formation. Therefore, Chen Xin plans to expand the total number of underworld officials to one hundred and eight when recruiting the first batch.

Similar to the Bureau of Public Opinion Research's Thirty-Six Heavenly Generals Branch Bureau and Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends Branch Bureau.

The limited quantity of the Raven Feather Raincoat remains unchanged, with only thirty-six people allowed to obtain it at each garrison.

Currently, there are no requirements for obtaining the Raven Feather Raincoat; any underworld official will be issued one.

But once the 108 underworld officials stationed at the Three Mountains have become familiar with the situation in the underworld, these 36 crow-feather raincoats will be distributed according to their ranking.

The ranking is based on a simple criterion: the amount of accumulated merit points!

This accumulated merit doesn't start accumulating after joining the underworld; instead, it's reset and recalculated every quarter. This way, later underworld officials can see a glimmer of hope in obtaining the Raven Feather Raincoat.

Of course, Chen Xin will also record all the good deeds accumulated by each underworld official since joining the underworld, which will be the basis for promotion.

Once the recruitment of the 108 underworld messengers for the Three Mountains Garrison is complete, Chen Xin will begin to renovate the 'Ancient Town Garrison'.

Because the ancient town has a large habitable area, Chen Xin will appropriately increase the number of underworld officials.

As for whether the underworld officials would recruit all their family members into becoming underworld officials, Chen Xin didn't care.

If he really had that ability, Chen Xin wouldn't say anything.

The key question is whether their family members can pass the test of the underworld.

Chen Xin will not restrict the underworld officials from helping those who are about to be assessed, but as long as the officials provide assistance, Chen Xin will increase the difficulty of the assessment, or increase the number of vengeful ghosts to be eliminated, or the number of supernatural events to be resolved.

In the past, one might only need to kill one vengeful ghost to join the underworld, but if one carries a talisman lent by the underworld officials, one might need to kill ten vengeful ghosts or even more malevolent spirits to join.

If you can pass the test, it means you are indeed capable, and becoming a ghost messenger is certainly within your reach.

This is Chen Xin's consideration regarding the potential for increased enrollment.

Seeing that the mission would be issued on the 9th, Chen Xin paid no attention to the restless underworld officials, but returned to his room and began to study the compilation of the Ghost Gate.

Since having the idea of ​​compiling the Ghost Gate, Chen Xin learned about the situation of the Yin and Yang region and the Yin and Yang rift from the Bureau of Public Investigation, and then learned about the situation of guiding the gods of the turbid world from some folk organizations.

Later, due to the appearance of the Zhenyin Seal, he gained some understanding of the Netherworld through the Tongyou Seal.

While I wouldn't dare say I have everything under control, I am definitely the person among humans who understands the underworld, the netherworld, and the gods of the turbid world the most!

Of course, if Chen Xin wants to continue to find out more about the Netherworld and the Underworld, he can continue.

But the further you go, the more time you'll need to invest. It's like mining minerals; once the surface minerals are gone, you have to go to the Earth's core, and the difficulty increases exponentially.

The time spent and the rewards were somewhat disproportionate.

Therefore, Chen Xin decided not to wait any longer. He planned to use his existing knowledge to improve the compilation of the "Gate of Hell" and solve problems as they arose!
Perhaps, if he had compiled it in enough detail and with enough care, the "Complete Book of Town Objects" might have filled in the gaps in Chen Xin's knowledge.

Thinking this, Chen Xin took out the few sheets of paper he occasionally jotted down information about the Gates of Hell.

The marks of writing and drawing on the paper also foreshadowed Chen Xin's growth and experiences during this period.

Initially, when Chen Xin planned the Gate of Hell, his core function was to communicate with the underworld, and then he would add other functions on top of this ability.

But after the discovery of the Netherworld, the situation became complicated.

The Gates of Hell must connect to both the underworld and the netherworld.

This is very difficult to compile!

The compilation of talismans cannot be baseless or based on mere imagination.

It must be attached to a specific ghostly event, or have played a specific role in a specific event involving ghosts.

It is impossible to create something successfully through imagination alone.

Therefore, in order for Chen Xin to compile the story of the Gate of Hell, he needed to find an event involving ghosts and spirits that was connected to both the underworld and the netherworld.

So far, the only event that best fits this condition is the Ghost Slave Master's attempt to sneak into the Netherworld using an illusionary body!
Unfortunately, the main components are the protective objects and seals, and Chen Xin cannot compile a protective object using the capabilities of the "Complete Collection of Protective Objects" alone.

Therefore, the concept of "Lord of Ghosts" cannot be used.

Besides the Lord of Ghosts, there are other events, but they are less significant.

For example, there are events such as the organization of divine messengers guiding the will of the gods of the turbid world to descend into the mortal world, and people with ghostly hearts guiding the birth of the master of ghost slaves.

However, Chen Xin was somewhat uncertain whether these events simultaneously satisfied the elements of being associated with the underworld and the netherworld.

If the subsequent compilation fails, Chen Xin will consider abandoning the Netherworld option and simplifying the Ghost Gate!
First, create the Gate of Hell, and then add related abilities to it through other means, such as using the Netherworld Seal to connect the Gate of Hell with the underworld. This is also a method.

Of course, that's all in the future; it would be even better if it could be compiled into a book!

The above is the most crucial step in compiling the "Gate of Hell".

However, there's no need to rush this step. Chen Xin can first finish collecting and organizing the information on how to add abilities to the Gate of Hell before taking this step.

Besides its core function of connecting the underworld and the netherworld, Chen Xin also wants the Gates of Hell to have many other functions.

For example, ghosts that have passed through the Gates of Hell can be sent to different underworld regions, or directly to the Netherworld Hell (a hell forged by the seal, such as the Copper Pillar Hell).

To acquire this ability, Chen Xin had been searching for relevant folk knowledge, hoping to find corresponding folk sayings or items and then integrate them into the Gates of Hell.

But it has not been found.

However, some folk items related to swallowing and absorbing ghosts were found.

As for why it wasn't found, it's because what Chen Xin was looking for didn't exist in ancient times!
Folk items and legends are mostly passed down from the ancients. But how could there be talk of the underworld or the netherworld in ancient times?

There may have been yin energy at that time, but there certainly hadn't been any yin-yang rifts or doors yet, so there was no such thing as yin-yang or netherworld.

Naturally, no corresponding folk customs would have been passed down.

Therefore, Chen Xin's idea cannot be realized by relying on folk knowledge!
Chen Xin initially felt sorry about it, but after the seam mark appeared, he no longer felt sorry.

Since the Gates of Hell cannot inherit this ability when it is created, could we use the Seal Seal to sew those 'doors' leading to the underworld onto the Gates of Hell?
They are all doors, all leading to the underworld. After being stitched together, the probability of their abilities merging is very high!

If they could be perfectly integrated, giving the Gates of Hell the abilities of those 'gates,' wouldn't that fulfill Chen Xin's vision?

If this problem still can't be solved, Chen Xin still has the Tongyou Seal!
However, the Tongyou Seal is still more troublesome than directly sewing on a 'door'.

This is one of Chen Xin's ideas about the Gates of Hell.

Another point is about the ability of the Gates of Hell to deter evil spirits in the corresponding area after they appear in the mortal world!
In Chen Xin's vision, the Gates of Hell should possess qualities such as 'leadership'.

Just like the hyena queen in a pack of hyenas, or the male lion in a pride of lions.

Chen Xin hoped that once the Gate of Hell appeared, all the ghosts and spirits within its influence would obediently submit and be unable to resist!
Regarding this ability, Chen Xin had seen some folk sayings, such as that the roar of a tiger or the sound of thunder could scare away evil spirits.

Chen Xin could add relevant elements to the "Gate of Hell" when compiling the text.

For example, one could work on the design of the gates, carving tigers on the gates or adding tiger-related materials such as tiger bones.

Or perhaps they used lightning-struck wood or similar materials to decorate the Gates of Hell.

Chen Xin needs to try all of these things.

Afterwards, Chen Xin would first use these folk sayings to compile some talismans containing the roar of tigers and thunder. If successful, it would be feasible to add them to the Gates of Hell!

This was Chen Xin's initial idea.

Recently, Chen Xin had another idea.

This kind of deterrence should not only deter evil spirits, but also deter humans!
The reason for this idea is largely because when the talisman is at a low level, it cannot cause harm to ordinary humans and cultivators.

If there weren't more means to deter and subdue humanity, it would be interesting if the underworld were destroyed by humans.

Therefore, as a gateway to the underworld, it should be an existence that ordinary people cannot look directly at.

In this respect, it can also be associated with tigers and thunder.

The roar of a tiger affects more than just ghosts; in reality, many people who hear a tiger's roar at close range have experienced their bodies stiffen.

Therefore, regarding the tiger, a more appropriate explanation needs to be chosen.

Of course, deterrence alone is not enough; some ruthless measures should also be added, which Chen Xin needs to refine later.

This is yet another idea.

Furthermore, there is the ability to guide one through the gates of hell. This ability is purely auxiliary, but it is an indispensable one!

When the yin energy in the yin realm reaches a certain level, it will break through the yin realm, thus creating yin-yang cracks in the yang world.

In Chen Xin's vision, all the rifts between the living and the dead will be sealed off, leaving only the Gate of Hell as the passage between the living and the dead!

In this way, yin energy will inevitably accumulate in the underworld. If the gates of hell are to be completely separated from yin and yang, they need to have the ability to channel and release yin energy.

But if it's just about channeling, then it's no different from the existence of cracks.

Doing so will also bring a lot of yin energy to the mortal world, leading to the proliferation of ghosts and spirits in the mortal world.

Therefore, during this process of channeling, the yin energy should be consumed!
However, Chen Xin did not yet have a good idea on how to consume Yin energy.

The idea of ​​releasing yin energy into the land of cherry blossoms and turning it into a land of ghosts is a preliminary one.

After all, Japan quite approves of the practice of diverting the blame eastward; in fact, they do it quite often!

Chen Xin wrote and drew, putting down all the information he had gathered during this period on paper.

After finishing writing everything, Chen Xin looked at the messy drafts in his hand, a strange light flashing in his eyes.

……

(End of this chapter)