Chapter 219. Middle East Journey (1) : Ma’at’s Feather and Anubis, God of Death

     The Yan Mountains are one of the famous mountain ranges in China.  

     What makes them most renowned is their strategically advantageous geographical location. Whether in ancient or modern times, this area has been a fiercely contested battleground, witnessing numerous large and small-scale wars.  

     The Yan Mountains and their surrounding areas are rich in rivers, especially along the southern foothills, where waterways weave through the shadows. The central location of the Beijing-Hebei Branch of the New Underworld lies precisely in these southern slopes of the Yan Mountains.  

     The Underworld is not underground but nestled among the verdant mountains and clear waters. If an ordinary person were to enter, they would likely be terrified, because they would see countless translucent ghosts floating about, drifting up and down.  

     Wang Xue rubbed the goosebumps on her arms, hesitating between moving forward or retreating. She was starting to regret coming here out of curiosity.  

     Ji Li understood at a glance. “These free ghosts must be lingering in the mortal world due to unresolved attachments. They’ve been identified as ordinary people or good souls, and have a certain degree of spiritual freedom.”  

     Most of these free ghosts have incomplete consciousness, enduring the constant erosion of dark spiritual energy, forever trapped in a moment of sorrow or suffering. Remaining in the mortal world is not a good thing for them.

     Talented individuals with light-element abilities often come here to help them, but it’s not with aggressive light spells that would scatter their souls. Too much light spiritual energy would harm their primary souls. Instead, the assistance focuses more on soul-soothing and supportive abilities.

     Due to the large number of Buddhist devotees, sincerely chanting Buddhist scriptures also has a certain effect.

      Suddenly, a blackwood clarinet appeared in Wang Xue’s hand, and she began to play Mozart’s last work, “Requiem.” She loved all good music.  

     The melody was deep and slow.  

     Some ghosts paused their restless drifting as they listened, some relaxed their furrowed brows, and others drifted unconsciously toward the sound. Gradually, they grew more and more transparent, their colors fading… until they thinned into nothingness, dissolving into the air.  

     This was not their souls being destroyed. These spirits lacked full consciousness. Even Ye Mo’s psychic abilities couldn’t detect them. Only those with dark-affinity talents could observe them carefully with the naked eye.  

     Necromancers could sense them but had no power to control them. This was the natural self-preservation mechanism of their primary souls, ensuring they remained relatively safe in this world.  

     These invisible primary souls drift through the world like the wind, wandering until they find a suitable vessel(“po”) to reincarnate into.  

     Generally, the souls of sentient beings and non-sentient creatures are fundamentally different, each self-contained. However, due to special circumstances, such as uneven spiritual energy distribution, soul fusion, damaged core souls, or species extinction. Rare exceptions may occur.  

     Wang Xue’s music alone sent about ⅙ of the free spirits in the mountains into peaceful passing.  

     Among the remaining free ghosts, a very small number are capable of thought and have relatively complete memories. These are either survivors or possess dark-element talents, with the latter having the potential to embark on the path of ghost cultivation.

     Some of these ghosts also put forward some management suggestions, such as being allowed to “go out for some air” during festivals like the Hungry Ghost Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, and the Winter Clothing Festival. Especially so that the surviving modern-era spirits could see present-day China and understand what communism truly is.  

     Currently, this proposal has not been approved.

     The reason is that the New Era Underworld has not yet been officially announced to the world. Even few survivors know about it. Before resolving the crisis of trust, the Underworld must first establish itself.

     They continued deeper into the mountains.  

     In the center of the underworld surrounded by mountains is a relatively open valley, which is guarded by people with dark talents and a small number of ghost cultivators. It is also the core of the underworld – a gathering place for evil spirits.

     Many ghosts are tormented day and night by the inner demons triggered by dark spiritual elements, much like a hell. They are confined here to prevent them from causing harm outside and to stop the emergence of super evil ghost cultivators.

     Ye Mo and the others met the head of the Beijing Underworld branch, along with his two chief underworld enforcers. One was a dark-affinity survivor with Curse ability, while the other, appeared to be ghost cultivator, judging by his attire before death, he resembled an ancient general.

     “The country faces a severe shortage of talent. Whether human or ghost, anyone willing to serve the country and its people can join the civil service,” the director explained.  

     Indeed, the Underworld had recruited many enforcers from Ghosts awakened in places of extreme yin energy or feng shui burial sites. After assessing their consciousness and imparting socialist values, along with mutual agreements and resource exchanges. Some ghosts took up roles as underworld enforcers.  

     Their primary duty was to guard the Underworld, though some also took on the task of guiding ghosts in collaboration with police, doctors, and nurses—granted the privilege to venture outside when needed.  

     Of course, not all the undead ghosts awakened from ancient times were powerful or capable of ghost cultivation. Even those with strong dark-affinity talents often carried deeply ingrained ideological issues. Until these were resolved, they could at most serve as underworld enforcers, never qualifying for higher administrative roles like Judge of the Underworld.  

     The government had meticulously detailed plans for the Underworld’s development.  

     Ye Mo couldn’t compensate them for a Ji·Yanwang·Li, but she could collaborate to provide extensive auxiliary support.

     Their offerings ranged from spirit guidance to underworld infrastructure including equipment resistant to light, yang energy, and lightning, equipment to attract lingering wisps of consciousness, tools to identify ghost cultivators, cultivation-boosting devices and elixirs, soul-soothing music to aid ordinary ghosts’ peaceful passing, and large-scale arrays to suppress malevolent ghost, among other things.

     The only genuinely difficult part is the identification of good and evil in the primary souls. Dark energy wasn’t a definitive indicator, memory fragments proved unreliable for judgment, and neither laws nor morality offered 100% accuracy. Even combining all methods still yielded errors.  

     Currently, numerous “neutral spirits” existed, a category Ji Li had just successfully defined through an innate necromancer’s discernment. Higher-tier necromancers could classify spirits with greater precision, making it nearly impossible for ghost cultivators to evade his detection.  

     Ye Mo:  …This sounds a bit difficult? 

     “It’s not entirely impossible,” the Beijing Underworld Branch Judge responded. “What we lack is a Judge’s Pen capable of discerning good and evil, or a Book of Life and Death, both of which are recorded in the Survivors’ App Mall as semi-divine artifacts.”  

     “Semi-divine artifacts.” Ye Mo’s eyes lit up momentarily before dimming again. “The ones in the Survivors’ App Mall must be incredibly expensive.”

     Even if they pooled all their points together, they still couldn’t afford a single semi-divine artifact. If they could, they would have bought one long ago, divine and semi-divine artifacts are unique in nature.  

     “Exactly, completely unaffordable,” the Beijing Branch Judge nodded. “The main dungeon where the Book of Life and Death is located has already been encountered by someone as early as their second dungeon run. We’ve been monitoring team dungeons, but those are entirely random. However, during your Irish Town II dungeon, we uncovered something: because most of the strong survivors had entered team dungeons, several real-world dungeons in Egypt ended in failure.”  

     Wang Xue gasped. “Real-world dungeons… failed?”  

     “Yes. All the survivors attempting them died, resulting in complete failure. This causes the contents of the dungeon to spill into the real world. For example, if a tomb dungeon fails, zombies and ghosts armies might emerge and wreak havoc.”  

     Ye Mo seized the key point: “And this is related to the semi-divine artifacts, the Book of Life and Death and the Judge’s Pen?”  

     “Egyptian mythology also has similar semi-divine artifacts—the Feather of Ma’at, the Goddess of Justice,” said the Beijing Underworld Branch Judge. “According to ancient Egyptian legends, after death, the god Anubis would weigh the deceased’s heart against Ma’at’s feather. Souls heavier than the feather would be punished or devoured by demons.” @^[1]in Egyptian mythology Ma’at played a crucial role in the “Weighing of the Heart” ceremony in the afterlife. After death, a person’s heart was believed to be weighed on a scale … Continue reading

     “Reportedly, many of Egypt’s failed dungeons are death-related. The country is now in complete chaos, tourism has halted entirely, and they’re seeking international aid.”

     As a nation with growing global influence, it was no surprise that China’s Supernatural Investigation Bureau received such a request.  

     Given the Underworld’s current challenges, they hoped Ye Mo could make a breakthrough in this area. Practical experience in real-world dungeons would be ideal, even if they couldn’t obtain the actual Feather of Ma’at, creating replica equipment would still be valuable.  

     The Bureau proposed a commissioned mission: Ye Mo or Ji Li would travel to Egypt’s pyramids in the Middle East.  

     After brief consideration, Ye Mo’s team agreed. However, final negotiations with Egypt were required, so they returned to Majing Hutong for several days or rather, several days of intense preparation.  

     Five days later, “Maria’s Shop” released a new batch of products. Though the quantity was smaller than before, the profits in points were higher, allowing them to purchase more spirit stones and energy cores.  

     To the disappointment of survivors worldwide, Maria’s Shop did not reopen for a second sale. By then, Ye Mo and her team were already deep in research, studying ancient Egyptian myths.  

     Well, the first thing that can be read from Western mythology is chaos, unregulated chaos, to the point where you might even doubt the intelligence of these gods.

    A week later, the Supernatural Investigation Bureau notified them that it was time to depart.  

     The team heading to Egypt consisted of Ye Mo, Ji Li, and Wang Xue. Watson, after handing them a pile of potions and vials, declared he wouldn’t be joining the adventure. He’d stay home refining medicines and cultivating while awaiting their triumphant return.  

     The trio boarded a flight bound for the Middle East. Ancient Egypt’s territory once spanned modern-day Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Israel, Palestine, and beyond, though the pyramids were concentrated mainly in Egypt and Sudan. Their first destination: Egypt.  

     But before their plane could even descend into Egyptian airspace, they were attacked by a giant eagle over three times the size of their aircraft. A single gust of wind sent them into a nosedive.  

     Then, the Bureau agents realized the plane seemed to have been swallowed whole by something. Everyone remained unharmed—except for Ye Mo, who had vanished without a trace.  

     Just as panic began to set in, Wang Xue calmly explained to them: “No need to worry. We’re inside the Flying Tiger Beast Armor.” At last, their nervously suspended hearts settled back into place.  

     But–

     “Beast Armor?”

     The intelligence division of the Supernatural Investigation Bureau had heard rumors about puppet beasts and demon armor, but their collaboration with Ye Mo had only involved puppet beasts. This was their first direct encounter with Beast armor.  

     Under these circumstances, Wang Xue offered no further explanation. Leading them out of the plane, they found it suspended midair by countless vines in the center of a cozy, if somewhat cramped, room.  

     The moment they landed, the floor beneath them heaved violently.  

     Fortunately, most were elite survivors with their own methods to steady themselves. Even the few ordinary agents tagging along for experience, received assistance from the survivors.  

     At what appeared to be the front of the room, Ye Mo sat perched on a vine-suspended chair, manipulating the Flying Tiger Demon’s movements with her psychic energy as it clashed with the colossal eagle.  

     Through several massive screens, they could piece together a 360-degree, unobstructed view of the battle.