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"Hell... there is war as well?"

This time, even the youthful Judge felt puzzled, unable to help but mutter to himself...

"There is..."

A deep voice arose behind the young Judge, prompting him to turn around in surprise.

"Old Liu?"

He was very familiar with this person, the current chief Judge of Yunzhou Hell Ruler, who was said to be the Family Head of the mighty Liu Family just three years ago.

In Lyuzhou, he had caught the eye of the City God, who promoted him steadily.

Later, due to Yunzhou’s Hell Ruler being too young, they needed an experienced hand to assist and thus transferred him over.

His own ability to serve here as a Judge of Hell was all thanks to the cultivation from the man before him.

The young Judge quickly paid his respects, "Weren’t you in Lyuzhou?"

"Hmm, I just came back with the City God. Now we’re about to start arranging a major event."

"Old Liu... What exactly is going on? How can there be wars in Hell?" The young Judge was truly puzzled.

In his view, Hell could be considered the most peaceful place, where every evildoer was judged before being admitted; they would either be imprisoned or sent for early reincarnation, without the right to stay behind.

This meant that most people residing in Hell had good characters.

Moreover, everyone wanted to accumulate virtue and good deeds, with a harmony that was even more pronounced than Jiangnan’s sunny world.

How could such a place have wars?

"Are you very confused?" Old Liu spoke up, "Hell seems so peaceful, yet continuously expanding its military readiness. Starting two years ago, any high-ranking members of the Warrior Army who died in battle would be recruited into the Hell military department to become Ghost Generals. Normally, they have an incredibly idle life, maintaining the order of Hell and occasionally assisting Wandering Gods in capturing particularly vicious Evil Spirits. Such people, clearly, are not needed in abundance—Hell is very peaceful with rare instances requiring military leaders to maintain order. Nowadays, there are not many Evil Spirits in Jiangnan. Even when there were rampant zombies and Resentful Spirits everywhere, we didn’t need so many Ghost Generals.

Now that Jiangnan is so utterly tranquil, why are they expanding the recruitment so rapidly? "

"Yes..." The youth also nodded, "I also feel that the military expansion in Hell is somewhat illogical."

As a Judge, he knew these Hell Ghost Generals still required training and underwent strict evaluations—it was clearly a stance preparing for war!

"Actually... there has been war in Hell before. Although it was only once and lasted for a short time, I remember that scene vividly."

"There was?" The young Judge was even more confused. He had never heard of it!

"It should have been half a year ago... during the time in Lyuzhou," Old Liu said with a reflective smile, "The situation was severe, and I was called back to Lyuzhou then. At that time, we were in the process of reclaiming West Sea for Jiangnan, and it was organized by Lady Ziyue."

"Reclaiming West Sea?"

He had heard that after the death of Princess Chang Siao Mingyue, West Sea had become a city without a master. At that time, under the slogan of clearing up the zombies in West Sea and saving the citizens within, Jiangnan boldly launched an invasion.

However, since the prominent member of the Shen Family and the Princess were no longer in this world, the masterless city of West Sea had almost no resistance.

In less than a day, it was said that Jiangnan had completely occupied it, and the army of one million zombies in West Sea City was utterly annihilated!

But what does this have to do with Hell? Isn’t that a battle in the living world?

"You were not there at the time, and those who participated in that battle were Ghost Generals from Lyuzhou. There’s hardly any communication between the seven states’ Hells, so it’s normal that you haven’t heard about it. At that time, Hell was actually extremely perilous..."

"Perilous?" The young Judge grew even more puzzled as he listened.

"You were born into a Sorcerer Family, so you should have heard that people must go to the Path of Yin and Yang after death, right?"

"Yes!" The young Judge nodded. This was what he considered the most miraculous part of Jiangnan; elsewhere, when people died, even if one possessed immense Divine Skills, they could only become Evil Ghosts on the Path of Yin and Yang, or food for the spirits of Evil Ghosts.

But only in Jiangnan does the afterlife have such order. .. and human governance.

"Our Lyuzhou’s hell was seized by Lord Chen Qing," said the young Judge, his voice laced with amazement.

"Now, Lord Chen Qing is the King of Qin in Jiangnan.

All territories we occupy, including the Jiangnan fief, have their respective hells.

But if we expand outside, it will be different.

Once we expand, the barrier between hell and the Path of Yin and Yang will open! "

The young Judge was shocked at this revelation!

He had seen the barrier of the Path of Yin and Yang before, with evil ghosts swarming outside it, hating everything inside to the bone. That barrier... was going to be opened?

"Yes, opened..." Old Liu said with a smile, "When I heard the news, I was just as scared as you are, nearly to death.

Back then, the breach in hell was toward the direction of the West Sea City.

Each conquered place meant we expanded our territory in hell by an inch.

But it also meant that evil ghosts could invade!

"At that time, every Ghost General had to defend against the invasion of evil ghosts. Thankfully, there weren’t many powerful evil spirits near the West Sea; we struggled to hold on, but Lord Xu Hu didn’t make us wait for long.

It’s said that masters from the Dragon Palace also came to our aid.

In less than a day, we recaptured West Sea City and solidified our occupation there. "

"So now we have Lyuzhou’s hell... that was won at a great risk!"

Upon hearing this, the young Judge finally understood.

He cautiously said, "You mean, Old Liu, that whenever Jiangnan expands externally, we must open the barrier to the Path of Yin and Yang?

And we also have to resist attacks from the evil spirits of the Path of Yin and Yang until we occupy the corresponding spot in the world of the living? "

"You catch on fast!" Old Liu immediately responded with a wide grin.

"So that means..." the young Judge suddenly turned his gaze towards the direction of Southeast County, "Jiangnan... is going to war?"

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"Why choose the southeast direction?"

Chen Qing felt extremely confused by this suggestion from Zi Yue at first.

"Southeast County connects to the Southern Barbarians’ territories.

To the south of that, it has potential rivaling the North Pole," Zi Yue explained softly.

"The more desolate the land is, the more demons there will be, and after the Earth Spirits awaken, these demons will grow at an unprecedented rate. If left unchecked, they could swell in just a few years to form terrifying natural disasters. But if we control those places from the start, the demons could become the best sources of vital essence, which would benefit the revival of the Dragon Palace. Surely, we can’t put all our bets on the North Pole alone, can we? "

"You’re eyeing the South, but aren’t you afraid of encountering those sealed monsters?" Chen Qing asked, curious.

The sealed monsters he referred to were those solo player-terrorists who had been sealed away for being too powerful, including the one Chen Qing had encountered previously.

"Actually, it might be possible to make contact," Zi Yue suggested instead. "The guild players’ influence is immensely powerful, and their arrival is now almost unstoppable. Since that’s the case, we should unite all the forces we can, even if it means reaching out to those dangerous solo players."

"Moreover, the southeast is the least risky. If we act quickly enough, we should be able to avoid the four kings currently on the Path of Yin and Yang!"

"The four kings, huh..." Chen Qing murmured.

When the second version of the Path of Yin and Yang was revived, it was those four Ghost Kings. Originally, there were ten in the lore, but for various reasons, only four remained, including the still not fully revived Ghost King Xiang.

The other three each guarded one of the Central Plains’ locations of fate energy.

The first was Tiandu, the ancient capital of the six human dynasties, a place brimming with vibrant destiny. Chen Qing remembered it was protected by the oldest and foremost Ghost King, King Qin Guang.

The second was the former realm of the Sorcerer Dynasty, Four Saints City, which gathered the most brilliant fortune of the human Sorcerer civilization and was home to the oldest sorcerer spirits, guarded by King Song Di, whose Ghost Sorcerer army was one of the toughest to deal with in the second version!

The third place of destiny was this newly established country of Great Jin, which now seemed to be the objective of both King Chu Jiang and King Gui Xiang.

Opposing forces clashed, and Chen Qing had seen spirits from both sides fighting numerous times at that location.

Given the current scale of hell, facing any side would be difficult; they could only choose relatively less risky locations. As Zi Yue said, Southeast County might seem ordinary, but it was a relatively safe choice.

But Chen Qing knew, there was also a troublesome existence in Southeast County...