Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 327 The Underworld's Unofficial Employee "Walking the Wanderer"

This mentions that in the underworld, besides ghost cultivators, there is another type of "unofficial employee" who is a living person and is also called "walking the impermanent".

The so-called "walking the impermanent" refers to the living people using the method of their souls leaving their bodies to work for the officials of the underworld. They are generally concentrated under the mid-level officials of the underworld in various immortal cultivation civilizations. This group can use certain means to "legally" (the law of the underworld) travel between the mortal world and the underworld in order to work for the underworld or the underworld.

However, it's highly unlikely that an ordinary person would do this kind of work.

Because those who travel through the underworld are either those with extremely weak or yin-like birth charts, or low-level cultivators with limited aptitude who cannot advance further. Only in this way can they withstand the negative effects of long-term travel to the underworld. Otherwise, the ghostly and yin energy accumulated over the years would be enough to kill them many years earlier.

If placed in a cultivation world with normal spiritual energy concentration, the status of "walking the impermanent" would be roughly equivalent to a low-level unofficial civil servant, without the benefits of social security and housing fund. No proper cultivator would do it, but some mortal families who are neither high-ranking nor low-ranking would consider it, and some have even developed a way of making a living by "walking the impermanent" that has been passed down from generation to generation.

In short, this profession is generally looked down upon, which is why "walking the dead" is not common.

Just think about it, if "walking the path of impermanence" has so many benefits, then all the major cultivation sects and forces would probably be fighting tooth and nail for it, so how could ordinary mortals possibly have a chance!

But the problem is...

Isn't this world still a cultivation civilization with a normal concentration of spiritual energy?

This martial arts and cultivation world is still in the stage of spiritual energy revival. Not only is the concentration of spiritual energy thin, but there are only a few cultivation sects. Among them, only the White Stone Immortal Sect is a force that openly recruits disciples. Unfortunately, it recruits disciples irregularly, and no one knows when the next recruitment will be. Those who missed it have been regretting it for months!

It's not a good chance for the White Stone Immortal Sect. If you want to go to the other only White Stone Immortal Dao University that recruits people, not only are the requirements high, but they're not recruiting right now either. The last time they recruited was before the Lunar New Year! It's even harder to get into than the White Stone Immortal Sect!
Therefore, given that everyone is desperately trying to squeeze into a power where cultivation is possible, if a special "underworld civil service exam" were held, it would be hard for anyone to refuse, right?
Ghost cultivators are cultivators too!
However, the key issue is that while expanding the manpower in the underworld, it is also necessary to ensure the seriousness of the underworld. If just anyone can participate in this kind of "underworld civil service exam", or even if just anyone can take office after passing the exam, wouldn't the underworld be in chaos?
Therefore, under these conditions, it would be difficult to release the news directly and publicly conduct the "Underworld Civil Servant Examination" like the White Stone Immortal Sect held the Immortal Fate Conference.

We need to find a way to keep the news of this opportunity within a small group without affecting the fairness of the selection process, while also ensuring that the candidates are as close as possible to the required personnel standards.

Ever since He Yu finished complaining, Zhang Chengdao has been pacing back and forth in front of He Yu, his brain working at high speed.

Until suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him, and he clapped his hands: "I've got it!"

Meeting He Yu's curious gaze, Zhang Chengdao excitedly introduced, "How about this, we expand the underworld with a group of 'walkers of death,' ghost cultivators and underworld messengers. In addition to comprehension, perseverance, and cultivation aptitude, they also need to be literate and have some knowledge of criminal law..."

"How about this, we can directly poach low-level civil servants from various countries... no, I mean, those low-level officials. We can select those with good character, decent abilities, and excellent qualifications, give them an 'assessment opportunity,' and if they pass, they can become 'outsourced' workers for the underworld, working as temporary employees for us. If they do well, they can not only accumulate merit, but also be promoted to permanent positions after death. It's a win-win situation!"
"Although it may be a bit troublesome at the beginning, and we may need to personally screen candidates and give them assessment opportunities as appropriate, once we have more manpower, we can adopt the 'mentoring' model, divide people into superiors and subordinates, give seniors a certain number of slots, let them select suitable talents, and then we will conduct a final assessment together!"

"Moreover, this method can minimize the cost of training talent. For example, whoever recommends the candidate will be responsible for mentoring and training them. If crimes such as dereliction of duty, embezzlement, or corruption are found, both superiors and subordinates, as well as new and old 'employees,' will be punished. This increases the cost of crime while also reducing training costs, allowing newcomers to get started as quickly as possible!"

As Zhang Chengdao spoke animatedly, he couldn't help but touch his slightly chilly neck. He Yu's eyes lit up upon hearing Zhang Chengdao's words—such a detailed plan was indeed very feasible!
But then he frowned and muttered, "While it certainly achieves multiple goals at once, for some reason, it just sounds a little strange..."

How can you not be upset! All the work patterns and disciplinary measures were arranged, but no compensation was arranged!
"Ahem, the only issue worth discussing is how to pay these 'outsourced' 'walkers of death'..."

Zhang Chengdao coughed twice as a reminder.

First of all, it's impossible to distribute gold and silver; that would be too blatant of poaching talent.

But issuing "merit" certificates is utterly useless—it's just an empty promise; who knows if it will ever be honored? It lacks the motivation to get everyone to work actively!

Once the question was raised, He Yu fell into deep thought.

It's impossible to just promise some vague "merit," paint a rosy picture, and then expect people to work themselves to the bone for the government during the day and for the King of Hell at night, right? That sounds too capitalist!
“Hmm, there’s another way,” Zhang Chengdao thought for a long time, glanced at He Yu who was still racking his brains, and decided to bring over the “points-for-rewards” system from modern games. He said, “We can design a set of ‘tokens’ among the underworld officials, such as ‘work points’ or ‘underworld points’ or something like that. You can call it some kind of money or some kind of currency, as long as it’s not called ‘underworld currency’…”

After firmly rejecting an abstract name, Zhang Chengdao continued, "Then, prepare an exchange warehouse where everything can be exchanged using specific 'tokens.' As long as these items are things that ordinary people can hardly access, whether they are elixirs or rare treasures, the grade doesn't need to be too high. Just ordinary spiritual materials and herbs, or even the most ordinary low-grade Qiankun bag, can give those cheap cattle... cough, those 'walkers of the world' a lot of motivation to work!"

"Fellow Daoist Zhang..."

He Yu glanced at Zhang Chengdao, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back. Although he thought the idea was excellent, he had a strange feeling that if Zhang Chengdao designed it this way, it might diminish his merit.

If the laws of this world have the concept of "merit"...

Well, even if it doesn't actually damage one's "merit," He Yu still felt emotionally that such an action was somewhat inexplicable...

Zhang Chengdao was speaking enthusiastically when he turned his head and saw He Yu's troubled expression. He was quite puzzled and asked, "Hmm? What's wrong?"

He Yu took a barely perceptible deep breath and praised with a smile, "Ah, it's nothing. Fellow Daoist Zhang truly has many ingenious ideas. I admire you."

……

(End of this chapter)