The lower city of Zuoqiu City is roughly a rectangle, with Zemen on the left and heavily guarded, while Numen on the right is a lax and casual posture. As far as I could see, there seemed to be a door at the very front, the deepest part of the cave.

"Is there a door up front too?" I pointed to the distance and asked Zhao Laodao.

"Yes! There is also a door at the bottom of the low-lying cave at the front, called the lower door! Zhao Laodao pointed to the farthest point directly opposite the door, where an archway could be faintly seen, "But it is only a symbolic gatehouse, and at the end of the door is another yin vein, which can go all the way down to the underworld!" ”

"Why aren't there walls built over there?" I asked.

Zhao Laodao smiled and replied, "Maybe there was before, but now it's completely unnecessary." The underworld will only send people once a year, and they will leave after taking the Yin Yuan who paid tribute. Moreover, normal commercial contacts have been established between the underworld and Zuoqiu City, and the relationship is no longer hostile! ”

"In this way, Zuoqiu City is equivalent to a vassal city of the underworld?"

"Well, the word 'vassal' is inappropriate." Zhao Laodao shook his head and disagreed with my comment, "Zuoqiu City does not rely on the underworld to exist, but there has been a truce between the two sides for a long time. ”

"Is it possible to renew the war?"

"Perhaps. But for the time being, neither side has any intention of resuming the war, and is in a delicate balance. ”

"Understood."

"Let's go, don't waste too much time, we're not here for sightseeing today! The bazaar below is where we come here to get down to business! After a brief introduction, Zhao Laodao reminded me, and then raised his feet and walked down the steps.

The upper and lower towns are connected by a hundred steps, which are very spacious and not too steep, and it is not a problem to walk two caravans side by side. Descending the stairs is a large square square with markets on the left and right, and a circular building in front of the square.

Zhao Laodao said that it was a gladiatorial arena, and it was similar to the stadium in the sun. It's just that the stadium in the yang world is to watch people and people play, and the gladiatorial arena in Zuoqiu City is to watch people and ghosts, ghosts and ghosts do life and death gladiatorial battles, which is more exciting!

I followed him, my eyes still looking around, watching with interest at the awe-inspiring subterranean city.

Yin City is deep underground, the sun can't shine, and the ventilation is inconvenient, so it can only rely entirely on ghost fire lighting. On the cave wall and stone pillars, there is a large ghost fire lamp burning at intervals, and the ghost fire lanterns are also lit in front of the market, the yin house, and the yang house below, reflecting the whole city in a green and faint halo, making it a "green city".

For ordinary people, this kind of light may not be bright enough, but for ghosts and those of us who have long been accustomed to dark night and ghost fire, it is completely enough.

I suddenly noticed that some kind of creature was constantly wriggling rapidly on the ceiling, walls, and stone pillars, which seemed very eerie. I couldn't see it clearly from a distance, but when I got closer, I realized that it was actually a man riding a long worm swimming around on it!

The men were dressed like the guards I had just seen, except for an extra pair of helmets. Most of the horses under them are giant multi-legged worms, and some are riding giant spiders.

Zhao Laodao said that it was the city guard, who patrolled on the roof of the cave. Their duties are to check and maintain the ghost fire lamps on the cave walls and stone pillars, regularly renew the ghost fire charms, and keep an eye on the security situation below.

In addition to the castle guards and ghost fire lanterns, there is also a large clock on the roof of the cave. What is written on the clock is not Arabic numerals, but 12 big characters of "Zi Chou Yin Mao Chen Si Wu Wei Shen You Xuhai". A ghost fire moves slowly along the circular dial wheel, acting like a watch hand. In this way, all the people and ghosts can see the current time as soon as they look up.

An underground river gushed out of the cave wall behind the upper city, meandered down, and after a circle around the lower city, it flowed into a crack next to the Zemen. I walked to the river and scooped a handful of water with my hands to taste it, it was cold and cold, but the water was quite clean.

This is the only source of living water in the Yin City, mainly for the living to drink. Standing by the river, you can also smell a fresh smell, which indicates that some of the fresh air also burrows into the underground world with the flow of water, which plays a certain role in ventilation.

I walked all the way and looked around, and before I knew it, I followed Zhao Laodao into the market on the left. There is no sun in the underworld, and there is no way to judge east, west, north and south, only up and down, front and back, left and right. Therefore, the Yin City is generally centered on the large square under the steps to determine each direction. The market on the left side of the square is simply called the Left Market.

The main shops in the left market are those opened by Yin Shu, but the customers are mainly ghosts. In fact, from the moment I stepped into the lower city, I discovered this: there are too many ghosts in the Yin City, but there are very few Yin cultivators!

I asked Zhao Laodao what was going on?

He said: "In Zuoqiu City, there are 100,000 people and ghosts together, but in fact, more than ninety percent are ghosts!" It is said to be a yin city, but it is actually more like a ghost town! ”

"Where did all these ghosts come from?"

"Most of them are wandering ghosts caught from the sun, and a few are 'refugees' who escaped from the underworld!"

"Ghosts and refugees?" I couldn't help but laugh.

"It's some restless reincarnated ghosts who have escaped from the team halfway, or evil ghosts who have tried their best to escape from the dungeon purgatory!" Zhao Laodao shrugged his shoulders and said noncommittally, "Zuoqiu City is not good at this, and all ghosts are taken in, so it is what it is now!" ”

"What does it look like?" I wondered, "Isn't that nice?" ”

"Okay? Hehe, you can keep up with me, don't run around! After a while, you will be in trouble if you encounter a roadblock and robbery! Zhao Laodao smiled inexplicably and teased.

"Highway robbery? Not so exaggerated, right? ”

"Not an exaggeration at all! There are so many ghosts, and you can't manage them with just a few hundred city guards! Zhao Laodao's expression didn't look like a joke. He also patted the sword on his back and said to me, "Do you think I brought this down for decoration?" Do you see which Yin cultivator didn't have a guy on him? ”

I'll take a closer look. Sure enough, almost all the living people, whether they were walking merchants, men moving goods, or shopkeepers who opened shops, or carrying swords on their backs, or wooden sticks and talismans by their side. Under the prosperous and orderly business order, there are also various dangers of instability.

As we spoke, there was a commotion in front of us in front of the crowd and ghosts!

Zhao Laodao stood on tiptoe very experienced, craned his neck to look ahead, and then quickly pulled me into a nearby leather store.

The owner of the leather shop did not react very surprised when he saw us suddenly running in, but naturally dropped his work, picked up a wooden ruler behind him, and grabbed a talisman and ran to the door of the store to stand. It seems that he is ready to protect his shop from the disturbance outside.

But the situation is not that serious. After the pedestrians on the road took refuge on the side of the road, several ragged imps hurriedly ran over. I saw that they were not holding weapons in their hands, but were holding several buns, and one in their mouths.

After the imps ran over, it was a fat man in an apron who was shouting right behind. With a kitchen knife and a rolling pin in his hand, he shouted, "Don't run! The people in front of me help me stop them! These damn little imps come to steal my buns every day! I'm going to hack them to death! ”

But everyone else is watching the jokes, it's none of their business, and no one wants to meddle in this kind of thing. The owner of the leather shop saw that everything was okay outside, so he went back and put away the wooden ruler and the talisman, and went on with his work.

I asked Zhao Laodao: "Does the city guard care about this kind of thing?" ”

Zhao Laodao just smiled: "It's just a few little ghosts who steal buns to eat, and the city guards won't care about such trivial things." However, if the owner of the bun shop catches the little ghost, he will definitely call the city guard to deal with it! ”

"How?"

"In Zuoqiu City, people and ghosts live together, and the laws of the yang world don't work, and there are only a few simple city rules to follow:"

"First, ghosts are never allowed to kill. After all, Zuoqiu City is still a dungeon built by Yin cultivation, and the living still have privileges. If a ghost dares to kill someone, or cause serious injuries, he will definitely be severely punished. Generally, they are first caught and stripped of their souls as punishment, and then they are beaten to pieces! ”

"What if a man kills a ghost?"

"The second rule of the city rules is that if a person kills a ghost without a reason, he will also be whipped, confiscated and expelled. But if the ghost is at fault first, people can be justified in fighting ghosts! In a situation like the one just now, although the ghost who steals something is not condemned to death, it can be sentenced to the shopkeeper as a slave by the ghost secretary! ”

"Raising ghost slaves? But what if the store doesn't want to keep it? ”

"If the store doesn't want to take it back and raise it for yourself, you can hand it over to the Ghost Affairs Division to take it away, and the same membership is not a slave, and it may be pulled to the right market to sell later!"

"There's still a ghost slave trade here?" I was slightly taken aback.

"Yes! There are too many people, and there are too many ghosts, but there is no such thing as ghost power here! ”

"What if the ghost kills the ghost?"

"Hehe, no one really cares about ghosts and ghosts!" Zhao Laodao said disapprerovingly, "The places in the city that are assigned to ghosts to live have their own ghost bosses, and all the rules are decided by the ghost boss." Unless they make too much noise, the Ghost Division will intervene. ”

"What else is in the city rules?"

"And the most important one: the people and ghosts of the whole city must obey the command of the city lord in an emergency, and there will be no mercy for violators!"

"So domineering?"

If I can understand the first few points, I'm afraid this one is a bit unreasonable!