"King Hollowbelly, if you want money, come out!"
Vivian Maple shouted loudly. Hundreds of meters below our feet, the viscous water had already begun to rise.
I began to understand the three rules for entering the city. Making money was all to satisfy King Hollowbelly's endless hunger; he constantly needed to consume money. No flying was allowed because if someone brought money into the air and he couldn't eat it, the gastric juices in his belly would churn and go berserk, swallowing both the ghost and their money if they got caught.
The ban on private fighting was to prevent the ghosts that generated money from being killed. Prohibiting hiding wealth was to stop them from secretly taking money out of here.
Below, it was already like a viscous lake, with houses submerged. The water kept rising toward us. At that moment, Ray Lin took out his Ten Directions Annihilation and suddenly hurled it at the water below.
With a boom, accompanied by a violent swirl of ghostly energy, the gathered water was instantly blasted apart, splashing in all directions with a thunderous roar. Once it hit the ground, it immediately seeped in and vanished, destroying some of the buildings below.
"Wait, why wasn't the money at Hollowbelly Manor eaten?"
I asked in confusion. Ray Lin looked toward Hollowbelly Manor in the distance, where the piles of money hadn't diminished at all—those were the offerings brought by ghosts every month.
I quickly flew toward Hollowbelly Manor. After landing inside the palace, I carefully examined the wealth here—it really hadn't decreased.
While the entire city was in chaos, everything in Hollowbelly Manor remained normal. I asked the wealthy people locked in their villas—services like internet, electricity, even those from the living world were all functioning normally. Only the city itself was abnormal.
But we can't enter those villas. If we force our way in, the ghosts inside will die instantly.
I quietly examined the ground here. The only possibility is that King Hollowbelly can freely switch between the world inside his belly and the world of the underworld, converting everything here back and forth. It's truly incredible. Some Blue Wraiths can do this too, transferring things from reality into their own ghost domains, and then back out again.
But such a massive scale isn't easy to achieve. Using a ghost domain to devour real things consumes a huge amount of ghost energy.
"Is it the Domain of the Dead?"
I muttered in confusion. This is something all ten Hell Marshals should be able to do. It’s more advanced than a ghost domain—a power unique to the Yanluo. They used the Domain of the Dead to create hell itself. I’ve already seen hints of this in the world of shadows, and when I visited Lord Tai Shan’s space, I became even more certain.
The problem now is how to drag King Hollowbelly out of the Domain of the Dead and find his true body.
Waiting isn't a solution. Although King Hollowbelly wants to devour that money, only then will his stomach acid rise. Zifeng and Ray Lin are keeping watch on the other side. If he doesn’t come out himself, there’s nothing we can do.
The city has completely fallen into panic.
"Can you help?"
I muttered. A power within my body was stirring restlessly. The Heavenly Soul seemed to sense something, but he refused to come out. I sat down on the ground and closed my eyes.
In a daze, I entered my instinctual space.
"It's greed, Qingyuan. This place is full of intense greed for money."
The Desire Ghost spoke up immediately. I nodded and looked at a patch of white not far away. The Heavenly Soul was indeed there, so I walked over.
"What do you actually know? If you know something, tell me."
"I asked Origin, you know? The ghosts imprisoned here, except for those who fled in from the outer edges of the underworld, are all consumed by overwhelming greed. That greed manifests as a craving for money."
I nodded. The Heavenly Soul floated up, and a bright white space appeared above us. I followed him in, entering the vast sea of trees once again. We landed on the top of a towering tree, hundreds of meters tall.
"What do you think is the greatest desire in the living world?"
I shook my head. I had never thought about it.
"It’s the desire for material things: to eat well, use fine things, live well, dress well. Since ancient times, everything has revolved around food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. Only after the invention of currency did society and civilization emerge. If a person doesn’t eat or drink, they’ll die. To survive, in ancient times, people hunted and lived in groups, sharing everything. But everyone is different—wisdom and strength vary, so there’s always superiority and inferiority, high and low."
A tree appeared before my eyes. Everything the Heavenly Soul described was on this white tree, which was still a sapling, with few branches or leaves.
"When the bare minimum is guaranteed, people start to diverge. People from different regions compete for prey to survive. But humans aren’t beasts, so barter was born, which later evolved into currency transactions. Once basic needs were stable, all sorts of desires emerged. Back when Yin Chou taught us, you really weren’t paying attention, were you?"
I let out a sound. Aside from what I saw in memories, I really couldn’t recall those things. The Heavenly Soul laughed, pointing at the white tree before us, now beginning to sprout branches and leaves.
"So the most terrifying desire in this world is the desire for money. There’s no end to it. As long as people exist, it will never die out. That’s what makes it so frightening."
I gradually began to understand.
"Is this what turned King Hollowbelly into what he is now?"
The Heavenly Soul nodded.
"His endless greed for money has long made him a slave to it. Take a good look at the pixiu atop the palace—you’ll find something there."
As the Heavenly Soul spoke, my body vanished from Origin’s space. He looked at me with concern.
Regaining consciousness, I glanced at the pile of wealth beside me—it hadn’t diminished. Something occurred to me, and I immediately left the palace, flying to the top and landing on the enormous pixiu.
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A mass of ghost threads spilled out, wrapping around the pixiu statue. I closed my eyes and tried to sense something, but felt nothing.
Gradually, I sensed something—just a faint trace. I followed that feeling and released my instinctual power.
"Coexist..."
In a trance, I saw a vermillion-lacquered gate, two tall red lanterns hanging above, two large double-happiness characters, and a commotion inside.
A delicate young man stood at the doorway, looking lost and hollow. He wore a faded black robe, his body as if petrified.
With a creak, a young maid came out from inside, her face anxious as she glanced nervously behind her, afraid of being caught. After stepping out, she called out.
"Xudu, our lady asked me to tell you—there is no fate between you in this life."
The maid quickly handed a beautiful hairpin to Xudu.
"Miss said you should keep this. If there’s a next life, perhaps you’ll fly together then."
After the maid finished speaking, Xudu let out a desolate laugh, laughing again and again. He raised his head, wanting to cry but unable to, utterly heartbroken. The night grew darker, yet Xudu still stood at the gate, refusing to leave.
"So what if you have money? So what if you don’t?"
After those two short sentences, Xudu left the mansion, wandering aimlessly, not knowing where to go or what to do.
This was a small city. Xudu was a poor scholar. His parents had worked themselves to death to pay for his studies, but they passed away just as he was about to take his exams. Yet Xudu never achieved any good results—not to mention becoming an official, he couldn’t even get a minor post.
To survive, he moved from the countryside to the city and became a teacher—not starving, just barely scraping by. It was then that he met a wealthy young lady. They fell for each other under the moon and flowers, but it came to nothing.
A month ago, Xudu learned the young lady was to marry. For him, it was as if the sky had collapsed. He did nothing, said nothing, until a few days ago when he couldn’t bear it anymore and burst into the mansion, causing a commotion. He was beaten and thrown out onto the street.
With no money or power, in an age of corruption and bribery, there was no way out. Nor was he a literary genius, unlike the poets people talked about—nobody cared about him.
He owned nothing, had no capital for business, no connections or money for bribes to get a government post, and his frail body couldn’t handle farm work.
Teaching might be his last hope, but the students at the school didn’t like him. He was stubborn and rigid; behind his back, they called him a blockhead.
Xudu never mentioned anything to the school’s owner. Even when it came to recruiting students, everyone racked their brains to bring in more, while he just watched from the side, living a monotonous life with no hobbies—teaching, going home.
No friends, no lover, nothing at all around him—it was as if fate itself had closed every path.
Xudu stopped. A faint fragrance drifted by, snapping him back to reality. Lively sounds came from the riverside brothel. He looked over—though it was so late, the place was still bustling.
For the first time in his life, Xudu touched the savings he’d struggled for months to accumulate and walked into the brothel.
That night, Xudu indulged himself in the brothel, drinking and reveling until dawn. He staggered out the next morning, reeking of alcohol, pockets empty.
"Come again, sir! Last night was such fun. Xiao Mei thinks you’re not entirely without means."
A seductive, beautiful woman called out behind him—the most beautiful in the brothel. Xudu ran away, desperate to forget the madness of last night, running and running.