Master of Strange Dao

"I hate, even in death, I will become a Fierce Ghost to take revenge. My family was harmed; if I don't avenge them, I won't be at peace even in death!"

"Why does that wicked villain get to abuse and murder us just because he is the son of the Capital Commandant?"

"Why, why does death still turn me into a ghost..."

"It wasn't me who did it. Why am I being killed? What an injustice..."

Yu Ziqing, upon touching the bridge, heard countless voices screaming in despair around him.

Hatred overwhelming, desperate and helpless, resentment sky-high...

Every voice seemed to contain a fierce intensity that was hard to calm.

They were too numerous to count; logically, so many screams together should only become chaotic noise, yet Yu Ziqing could hear every shout.

This massive amount of information, he felt, was just so-so.

Furthermore, he followed the direction of the screams, extending all the way.

He seemed to see, amidst the haze, a scene unfold.

He saw a thin and fragile scholar Fierce Ghost, eyes bleeding, standing before dozens of graves, gazing at the text written in fresh blood on wooden planks acting as tombstones, screaming sorrowfully to the sky.

He saw a female ghost distorted by immense resentment, limbs twisted, her eyes turned into bloody holes, her clothes tattered, crawling out of a dry well, with resentment so strong it blocked sunlight from touching the well's surroundings.

He saw a hanging ghost with a twisted neck and dangling tongue trying to hang itself again.

He saw, in a dark, damp cell, a ghost covered in wounds, missing its lower half, dragging its body with its arms, repeatedly proclaiming its innocence.

Frame after frame, flashing before his eyes like a lantern.

Various ghosts, at the moment they turned into ghosts, all seemed to manifest before Yu Ziqing.

Yu Ziqing's eyes were deep, countless flickering images reflected within his pupils, their speed so fast they transformed into eerie light, enveloping his eyes.

With one hand holding the bridge, the hideous little black figures on the bridge's piers seemed to relax, lifting their heads to gaze at Yu Ziqing.

Laughing or crying, they watched Yu Ziqing; initially malicious intent, gradually faded away unwittingly.

Yu Ziqing saw the reasons and sorrows behind each type of ghost represented by every little black figure; the most intense emotions were seen first.

The most unknown sufferings were witnessed, the unanswered screams of despair heard.

Those little black figures nodded in unison, expressing respect for Yu Ziqing.

Even though Yu Ziqing did nothing, just saw and heard.

For many ghosts, that's already enough.

The demands were really humbled into dust.

Many, after becoming ghosts, die with unclear reasons, full of regrets dying once more.

What they seek is merely to be seen, to be heard, so their stories aren't completely buried in dust.

Yu Ziqing quietly watched countless images; more and more until he could no longer empathize.

Because there were too many, all kinds, so many he couldn't react at all.

As the images and sounds began to slowly fade, Yu Ziqing seemingly stood upon the bridge.

He walked through it; on both sides, the little black figures nodded in indication, causing the ghosts they represent to reveal many images.

Upon reaching the missing part of the bridge, it was as if a program error; flashing continuously.

The root cause was Yu Ziqing forcibly renaming the Evil Ghost, and the other Divine Dynasty felt it was trivial to give face, deciding it forcefully.

From then on, Evil Ghost became Hostile Ghost.

Sadly, years of sediment formed Evil Ghost.

Yu Ziqing extended a hand, touching the flashing spot that seemed stuck.

In an instant, the flashing ceased; the missing area fully exposed before him, in unprecedented clarity.

He saw part of it as damaged, jagged edges visible, while other parts seemed missing during the construction, with smooth, natural gaps.

Yu Ziqing touched the gap, words surfaced in his mind.

Starving ghosts.

Unlike the previous overwhelming resentment, the first thing felt at the gap was a sense of fulfillment and liberation from starving ghosts turned hungry ghost after receiving almsgiving.

Forever unable to eat, with endlessly mounting hunger, unable to seek life or death, escalating.

Under such torment, the greatest obsession would undoubtedly turn into seeking relief over time.

The most helpless is seeking death's release; the ideal is to find food, even to the point of solving the madness-inducing hunger.

Yu Ziqing now personally experienced starving ghosts' transformation into hungry ghost.

Entirely different from other ghosts.

Starving ghosts were substantial non-existent, in everyone's concept, starving ghosts vanished, or rather, became a transient state of turning hungry ghost.

No little black representing starving ghosts could appear on this bridge.

Moreover, this bridge fundamentally had no place for hungry ghosts, nor did it have the status to bear the name of the hungry ghost clan.