Chapter 647: An Unexpected Surprise
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With a flick of Yang Haoran's finger, text coalesced from Yin Qi appeared before his eyes.
Slowly, his expression began to change.
This time, the Underworld Iron Tome conveyed an order issued by the Underworld Office, which introduced adjustments regarding Underworld officials submitting souls.
Effective immediately, Underworld officials can submit souls to the Underworld at any time. The Underworld has established dedicated counters, allowing souls to be submitted and corresponding rewards claimed, regardless of when an official arrives.
Previously, Underworld officials in the mortal realm would submit souls to the Underworld only at the end of each year, with all officials submitting collectively. This change made things vastly different from before.
Yang Haoran did not know why Underworld officials in the mortal realm previously submitted souls once a year. As for why this change was made, and why dedicated counters were established in the Underworld, the order provided a detailed explanation.
The explanation essentially stated that with the world now in chaos, the death toll in the New Beginning Realm would rise sharply, and the number of Wangling guided by Underworld officials would increase accordingly. If the old regulations were followed, each Underworld official would accumulate a massive backlog of souls.
Furthermore, submitting souls uniformly at the end of each year, if the quantity became excessively large, would also significantly increase the workload for the relevant departments in the Underworld, creating unnecessary trouble.
Another point was that to survive in these chaotic times, personal strength was crucial. If Underworld officials could submit souls at any time, they could also exchange them for Soul Pills in the Underworld at any time, thereby promptly increasing their strength. This would only benefit Underworld officials, with no downsides.
Only after carefully reading this order did Yang Haoran wave his hand, dispelling the text formed from Yin Qi.
In his opinion, the Underworld Office making such changes was also a good thing. This way, he could submit souls whenever he wished, no longer having to wait until the end of the year as before.
With another finger flick through the air, Yin Qi once again formed text above the Underworld Iron Tome.
This message, however, surprised Yang Haoran and also brought him a pleasant surprise.
To better equip Underworld officials to cope with the current chaotic times, the Underworld Office decided to issue a subsidy to each official. This subsidy consisted of the Soul Pills most needed by Underworld officials; each official would receive ten Soul Pills, to be collected personally from the soul submission counters in the Underworld.
Ten Soul Pills were undoubtedly a huge sum for ordinary Underworld officials, equivalent to several years of their salary. Even for Yang Haoran, who could refine Soul Pills himself, ten Soul Pills were by no means a small amount in his eyes. After all, he couldn't just refine Soul Pills whenever he wished; he also needed souls to do so.
Precisely because ten Soul Pills were also not a small sum for him, a pleasant surprise arose in his heart upon seeing this order.
To put it plainly, these ten Soul Pills were freebies. How could he not be happy?
Furthermore, the current situation was precisely when Soul Pills were scarce. Both he and his Night Watchers needed the support of Soul Pills.
“Issuing ten Soul Pills to each Underworld official—the Underworld Office truly went all out this time,” Yang Haoran said, a smile appearing on his face as he couldn't help but exclaim.
The sheer number of Underworld officials across the entire Underworld Office was astonishing; distributing ten Soul Pills to each was indeed an astronomical figure.
However, Yang Haoran believed the Underworld Office was wealthier than he imagined. What he considered an astronomical figure might be nothing in the eyes of the Underworld Office's high-ranking officials.
With no further messages from the Underworld Iron Tome, Yang Haoran put the tome back into his independent space, then pulled out his phone, preparing to call Xu Meijing.
Xu Meijing must have also received the same order, but it was unknown whether she had read the message in time.
He wanted to call Xu Meijing to ask when she planned to go to the Underworld to collect these ten Soul Pills: whether she would go immediately, wait until the situation stabilized a bit, or wait until the next time she submitted souls. They could arrange a time to go together, not only to look out for each other but also to deepen their bond.
Finding Xu Meijing’s number, Yang Haoran dialed her directly. To his surprise, the call didn’t go through.
Upon closer inspection, he realized his phone had no signal at all.
His phone had never experienced a lack of signal before, but now, of all times, it had.
He frowned slightly, thoughts stirring in his mind, though he wasn’t certain. So, he turned his phone off and then restarted it. No miracle occurred; the phone still had no signal.
Yin Qi surged in his hand, and a new phone appeared. This phone was a backup he had bought, so that if his main phone was damaged in battle, he wouldn't be without a communication device.
However, his phone hadn't been damaged yet, so this backup phone had remained untouched in his independent space.
He tore open the packaging, took out the phone, then removed the SIM card from his old phone and inserted it into the new one. He connected it to power, turned on the phone, and still, there was no signal.
Seeing this, Yang Haoran didn’t try again, knowing that further attempts would be meaningless.
“It seems this day came sooner than I imagined,” Yang Haoran muttered to himself. “It's hard to say if these phones will ever be useful again in the future. It would be great if the Underworld's phones could also be used in the mortal realm. ”
Yang Haoran spoke to himself. He didn't discard the phone; instead, he reinserted the SIM card into the old one and placed the new phone back into his independent space.
Although the phones were temporarily unusable, they might not necessarily return to normal after some time. So, he still put them away, though he knew very well that this possibility was slim.
Unable to contact Xu Meijing, he could only give up for now. However, he guessed that Xu Meijing wouldn't immediately go to the Underworld; after all, the situation was too chaotic, and Ancheng was far more turbulent than Lecheng. She likely couldn't free herself.
Therefore, Yang Haoran decided that once the situation stabilized a bit, he would take some time to visit Ancheng and discuss the timing of their trip to the Underworld with Xu Meijing.
With a decision made, Yang Haoran temporarily set the matter aside. Taking advantage of the daytime, when demons and ghosts weren't as rampant as at night, he prepared to select some of his existing souls to refine into Soul Pills.
Just then, however, he sensed a sudden power fluctuation emanating from outside the Mountain River Grand Array. In addition to the power fluctuation, he also detected a considerable amount of Demon Qi.
The appearance of this Demon Qi first brought to Yang Haoran’s mind the cat demon from yesterday. When that cat demon fled yesterday, it had left him with harsh words, so it wasn't impossible for it to come seeking trouble now.
However, he soon dismissed this conjecture, for he sensed the presence of the Death God Pendant on this individual, and this Death God Pendant had even been imbued with his Spirit Power.
This person had entered the Mountain River Grand Array, and the array had not obstructed them. Yang Haoran's expression remained unchanged; he thought it must be Bai Xue returning.
Sure enough, within just a few breaths, Bai Xue appeared outside the study, then weakly walked in and found a place to sit down.
There were no bloodstains on Bai Xue, and she appeared to be unharmed, but her expression was extremely weary.
Yang Haoran, a faint smile on his face, unhurriedly brewed a cup of tea for Bai Xue before speaking with a chuckle, “Last night must have exhausted you. ”
“Exhausted isn’t even the half of it,” Bai Xue complained weakly. “I was running around all night, one task wasn’t even finished and another came up. I was so tired I nearly vomited my snake gall. ” She then picked up the teacup and took a small sip.
“Given the current situation, as Lecheng’s Spirit Police, this is unavoidable for you,” Yang Haoran said with a smile.
“Sigh, I’m afraid I won’t be Spirit Police for much longer,” Bai Xue sighed, speaking with a hint of regret.
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