"Could the heavens be turning upside down?"

These tidings came one after another, delivered by the Tongyin Meng family. They held no territory among the ten surnames, yet were most deeply entwined with the underworld. Ordinarily, matters were handled by burning paper prayers or sending ghost messengers across the yin-yang divide. But when the Meng family's patriarch was unreachable and the message urgent, they would send down these specially raised servants.

These servants were unlike any other. They were raised in the manor, given spouses and stipends, spared from heavy labor. But when urgent matters arose, they would be bound with ropes and weighted with scales, holding the patriarch's name card, and drowned in a well.

Carrying the patriarch's name card, the servant would arrive at his side.

The Meng family was benevolent, raising dozens of such servants, yet for years, none had been used.

Who would have thought that this time, over a dozen would descend at once? How many troubles must have occurred above?

The Meng family patriarch could not believe it!

Yanzhou was the Meng family's domain, the location of their ancestral home. For generations, the Meng family…

Forget wandering Jianghu demons; even mad city gods or those from the other nine surnames would behave themselves in Yanzhou. Who would dare set fire to Yanzhou's prefectural city, next to the Meng family's ancestral temple?

"You…"

The Meng family patriarch reacted swiftly, immediately grasping the problem's core. He looked at the two evil entities on the stone platform with disbelief, gritting his teeth: "You have accomplices causing trouble above?"

"Such audacity!"

"…"

"You're the audacious one!"

At that moment, Hu Ma, standing on the stone platform, met his gaze, sneering coldly: "I said this was none of your Meng family's business, yet you insisted on interfering. Now, are you prepared for a fight?"

"You… dare threaten to fight the Meng family?"

Only then did the Meng family patriarch truly begin to take seriously this evil entity that the Meng and Zhang families had lured into a trap.

Faced with the evil entity's harsh words, he should have laughed, mocking its overestimation. But facing those cold, fierce eyes, he inexplicably felt a chill.

He suddenly recalled what he had just said: "Someone the Meng family can't afford to offend…"

He hadn't taken those words to heart earlier. Who in this world could the Meng family not afford to offend? With the ancestor present, the Meng family feared none, not even the other nine surnames!

But realizing the looming crisis and the situation spiraling out of control, he suddenly remembered: the Meng family truly dared not provoke everyone. Twenty years ago, the Meng family had given the Suppression Bureau to the Hu family because they feared those evil entities, unwilling to bear that burden…

His heart trembled, growing heavy.

…

…

Above, chaos had indeed erupted.

No one knew why, but overnight, so much had happened.

Tushan Prefecture, Meng family lands, Youzhou, Chenzhou, Yuzhou – each location had a City God, guarding its territory, its authority inviolable. Even vagrant spirits, upon entering a City God's temple, had to kowtow, serving and praying, hoping for the City God's protection in this chaotic world.

But in the City God temples of these locations, news of demonic disturbances spread overnight.

People could not imagine where so many audacious demons came from, breaking into City God temples, slaughtering incense burners, or splattering the City God's golden statue with dog blood and feces, or beheading the golden statue, or stripping off the gold leaf and rushing to the pawnshop…

The City God's golden statue received incense offerings in the mortal realm, and those enshrined in the City God temples were all gold statues authorized by the Yi Dynasty.

Whether defiled or destroyed, the golden statue might not kill the City God, but its impact was undoubtedly enormous.

So much so that the City God would lose its foundation, suffering a great loss of vitality. Rebuilding the golden statue and receiving incense offerings again would take an unknown amount of time.

As soon as this happened, it spread throughout the north and south, alarming the Tongyin Meng family's Inquiry Hall official, who slammed the table in shock, exclaiming, "How can it be so absurd?"

"Those City Gods each possess great Dharma powers. Are they all dead, allowing demons to destroy their golden statues and kill their incense burners?"

"Lord Official, please investigate. Several City God Lords have been urgently summoned to the City of Wrongful Deaths!"

"Some City Gods, though demons entered their temples, opened their Dharma eyes and scared them away…"

"Those whose golden statues were destroyed were precisely those who were not in their temples."

"…"

"Urgently summoned?"

Even the Inquiry Hall official did not react for a moment: "The Emperor is gone; who can summon the City Gods?"

"It's… the Patriarch…"

Hearing this, even the Inquiry Hall official was shocked: "The Patriarch is always prudent; how could he do such an overstepping thing?"

He dared not ask further, but his doubts deepened: "This matter is too strange. Even if someone harbors malicious intent, how can they target the scourges within our Negative Spirit Sect among so many City Gods in the world?"

"…"

He reacted quickly to this sudden and bizarre situation, immediately grasping the key point: "The Underworld Palace!"

"Quickly send someone to the Underworld Palace to check the Yin Seal Register!"

"…"

Summoning little ghosts and riding on yin clouds, the Negative Spirit Hall officials set off, rushing to the Underworld Palace, only to be utterly dumbfounded upon arriving.

The heavily guarded Negative Spirit Underworld God Palace was empty. The clay statues of the City Gods had been pushed over. The guards had been slaughtered, forming a small mountain. The Yin Seal Register, enshrined on the incense table, had been stolen, leaving only a note:

"Having heard that the Tongyin Meng clan are contemporary heroes, recruiting City Gods from all lands to their command, I have come to experience the Meng family's spirit. I engaged in friendly discussions, wielding knives and debating swords with everyone, but unfortunately killed them all. Tell the Meng family, the taste was very good, prepare a few more for me next time!"

"…Respectfully submitted, Burning Blade!"

"…"

The Inquiry Hall official was furious upon hearing this. All the dead were his subordinates. He instantly slammed the table: "Burning Blade, what kind of ghost is that? And he even left a smiley face? …And the handwriting is so ugly!"

Amidst his shock and anger, he also reacted: "This is not right; some demon has been targeting the Meng family. They know the Underworld God Palace well and took the Yin Seal Register; this is not something that happened overnight. It must have started long ago!"

"Quickly report to Yanzhou!"

"…"

"…"

"It seems the earlier preparations were not in vain!"

At the same time in Mingzhou, Miss Red Wine, in charge of the overall situation, was flipping through a booklet bound with gold Xuan paper.

Her expression was cold as she said, "Old Bai Gan is a reliable brother. He is willing to risk entering the City of Wrongful Deaths, so we must prepare what he wants us to prepare. Reincarnators have the highest priority; this is no joke. Have the others contributed?"

"They have all contributed. Life and death are at stake. Although they don't speak seriously, they don't hold back."

The young man beside her, holding a knife, laughed: "He wanted us to investigate Noble Zhang and the Meng family, but didn't specify what to investigate. Of course, we must start with the important things."

"The Noble Zhang family has high status; the most important thing should be the legendary dragon lair. It's difficult to find in a short time. But the most important thing for the Meng family is this Underworld God Palace, said to have been built to rebuild the underworld."

"This place is not difficult to investigate. The Meng family is ambitious and doesn't hide it too much. They even allow the common people to burn incense. I just went to have some fun and killed a few lackeys."

"I originally planned to burn down the Underworld God Temple, but seeing the importance of this Yin Seal Register, I took it back."

"…"

"Indeed important."

Miss Red Wine nodded and said, "Everyone knows the Meng family is issuing incense decrees on a large scale, enshrining local gods and recruiting City Gods, ambitious but unknown to the end. But now that we have this Yin Seal Register, we at least know which City Gods are within the Meng family's circle."

Burning Blade said, "It doesn't seem like much. Many within the ten surnames know, but what can they do to the Meng family?"

"Knowing is useless, but it depends on who has it in their hands."

Miss Red Wine closed the booklet and said, "Has the person who went to Guazhou to investigate the hungry ghost matter returned?"

"They returned long ago!"

Burning Blade nodded and said, "It was Old Gao Liang who went, bringing back many important items, fully confirming the connection between the Guazhou City God and the Meng family. Our Anzhou people are reliable!"

"That's right!"

Miss Red Wine said, "We started handling matters long ago. When Anzhou reincarnators were playing the Jianghu at a high level, they were still waiting for official approval!"

Saying this, she wrapped up the booklet, invited General Golden Halberd, and said, "Send it all to… Old Bai Gan!"

"He will find it useful. Not all reincarnators only know how to fool around; some have already reached very high levels!"

"…"

With everything arranged, she finally relaxed and laughed, "What about the others who are going to stir up trouble?"

Hearing this, Burning Blade immediately became excited: "Too many people are willing to do this kind of work."

"Brother Mendaolv directly led troops to attack Yanzhou. Of course, he may not actually fight, but the commotion has frightened too many people. Those who are loyal to the Meng family are all moving, resulting in an empty rear. It's easy to see who belongs to the Meng family; there's no fear of finding the wrong person."

"There are also those who went to destroy City God temples, succeeding in several places, but some were beaten out as soon as they entered the City God temple, fleeing with their heads in their hands. They are now gritting their teeth, determined to get their revenge."

"And in Yanzhou, several brothers joined forces, sneaking in with five hundred fire crow soldiers, already proclaiming that if they can't burn down the Meng family ancestral temple this time, they will call other reincarnators 'Daddy' in the future…"

"…"

Miss Red Wine couldn't help but smile, sighing softly, "Too bad…"

"There are still too few reincarnators who are skilled; otherwise…"
Chapter 1 What Is Going On