Xu Qing did not deceive Zuo Zixiong after all.
Indeed, in the Underworld River, there is someone who holds a grudge against the current Emperor. If Zuo Zixiong could subdue him today, the Dayong dynasty might survive a few more years.
Unfortunately, Zuo Zixiong missed his last chance to directly confront the greatest 'traitor' of the Jin Sect.
Otherwise, there might have been one more corpse inside the Bone Temple today.
Xu Qing had long anticipated that a person of such integrity would not easily turn against a friend or someone who had shown him kindness.
Even knowing that the other party might harbor hostility towards the Imperial Court he was loyal to, Zuo Zixiong would not choose to clash with weapons unless it was the final moment.
"A fine horse will suffer most when born at the wrong time..."
Xu Qing manipulated the Paperman to bury Zuo Zixiong's coffin in the desolate grave where the Transition Coffin lay.
From this moment, Zuo Zixiong was effectively withdrawn from the game on the Underworld River, or perhaps he had merely evaded the crushing wheels of history.
As for the day Sect Leader Xu, who often forgets such matters, suddenly remembers this coffin and the Dayong general within is revealed to the world again, who can tell what his feelings will be...
In the days that followed, Xu Qing continued his training in an orderly manner, spending each day either tailing the Skull Ghost Soldiers alone or acting as a military doctor at the Eight Banner Marshals' camp.
Said to be a military doctor, he was essentially a scavenger collecting the skeletons of fallen soldiers.
These skeleton soldiers had no headaches or fevers, and even with broken limbs, they felt no pain. Yet with Xu Qing, the corpse collector, joining them, the entire army's morale noticeably improved.
The reason was simple: because of Xu Qing's promise to 'bring their bones back to the mortal world, to be buried in the earth of the mortal realm.'
Home is where the roots are, and in old age, one desires to return home.
Compared to the Underworld River, the mortal world was their true home.
With Xu Qing's promise in place, every soldier under the Eight Banner Marshals faced death fearlessly.
The Corrosion Demon King had never witnessed a fallen dynasty exude such a spine-chilling aura!
And the instigator, Grand Sect Leader Xu, was diligently cleaning and preparing the skeletons of those soldiers in the back.
Occasionally, with time on his hands, Xu Qing would turn his attention to the Withered Bone Post.
Recently, a new Paper Mache Shop had appeared in the ghost market of Withered Bone Post. This shop not only collected the corpses of Skull Ghosts but also zombies and the bodies of the deceased.
No one knew who the mysterious shopkeeper behind this new shop was. The attendants who received customers were always several Papermen with smiling faces drawn with a Vermillion Brush.
These Papermen did not speak, maintaining a fixed smile, and whenever a ghost questioned what items the shop sold, the Papermen would produce a palm-sized conch.
The conch was quite marvelous, producing a human-like cry to advertise the shop's business clearly and even acting as the Papermen's mouth to pick fitting phrases for dialogues with patrons.
However, the shop's opening schedule was just as unpredictable and mysterious as its origins.
Sometimes the shop would disappear for three to five days, other times it would remain open for several consecutive days.
The Papermen treated this Paper Mache Shop as a mobile stall, folding the paper shop like carrying a coffin for burial whenever they intended to close, and leaving Withered Bone Post wrapped in the paper store's remnants.
...
Horses passed by the window, and seasons flowed like water.
In the blink of an eye, half a year passed, during which the Golden Simurgh pecked at grains of rice to mark the days.
When he set out, Xu Qing promised, he would return to the mortal world in as short as a year and as long as three to five years.
In the corner of the paper sedan, the Golden Simurgh amassed a pile of rice. Today, on a whim, it pecked at the glutinous rice grain by grain, counting them carefully, and when it reached three hundred, it excitedly ran to Xu Qing to gesture.
In the Underworld River for half a year, not a single worm had entered its stomach; it was like being in prison, and the Golden Simurgh felt as if it had lost weight!
However, after hearing the Golden Chicken's claim, Xu Qing turned back to question it: "The Underworld River has no days or nights, how can you count that 300 days have passed?"
The Golden Simurgh replied it was intuition, its innate sense, just like it knew when to crow each day.
Xu Qing raised an eyebrow and said, "Can crowing in the mortal world be the same as crowing in the underworld? Here, the sky remains unchanged year-round; how do you know your biological clock is not erratic?"
The Golden Simurgh stuttered, unable to answer, while Xu Qing timely spoke, "You're just a chicken, without even an almanac, how can you calculate accurately? Compared to monsters, humans are still the best at counting days. Rest assured, I've kept track!"
The Golden Simurgh asked, "How long have we been in the Underworld River?"
Xu Qing replied, "Thirty days, exactly one month."
"..."
The Golden Simurgh was silent for a moment, then asked, "How much food did you bring?"
"Not much, less than a hundred thousand stones. Rest assured, the Cat Immortal Hall never starves its employees."
After Xu Qing said this, the Golden Simurgh in the paper sedan stared at the bags of grains that seemed never-ending, remaining despondent for a long time.
At that moment, it finally understood what humans meant by living like a year.
...
Meanwhile, in the Ghost King Mausoleum, akin to a refugee camp, there was equally a Ghost King living day like a year.
Ever since the mausoleum was overturned, the Misfortune Ghost King became a solitary emperor, in dire straits.
The Ghost King Mausoleum had been constructed by master craftsmen, consuming countless resources. Despite the Misfortune Ghost King's desire to restore and rebuild the mausoleum, he didn't know where to start.
Not to mention, he no longer had subjects to command!
Well, not entirely; shortly after the destruction of the Ghost King Mausoleum, the Misfortune Ghost King managed to find a surviving Eunuch amidst the ruins.