"What about those without a pulse?" Lou Yangzi asked.
Lou Xiaoxiao, still engrossed in the formation diagram, merely hummed in response, not truly listening.
Lou Yangzi walked over to the dining table in the corner, opened the food containers, and began to plate the delicacies one by one.
Braised pork knuckle, large plate of chicken, assorted cold cuts...
The aroma wafted out, quickly filling the entire room.
Lou Xiaoxiao, who had been intently studying the formation diagram moments before, was instantly pulled back to reality.
In the blink of an eye, she leaped from the table covered in blueprints to the dining table.
She reached out, about to grab the braised pork knuckle.
Lou Yangzi: "Wash your hands."
"..."
Lou Xiaoxiao's outstretched hand froze. She glanced at him, quickly grabbed a pork knuckle, and stuffed it into her mouth.
Before he could say anything else, she dashed off to wash her hands and then rushed back.
The pork knuckle was already half-eaten.
Her mouth was smeared with sauce.
Watching this scene, Lou Yangzi felt as if he were seeing the little girl from years ago, who used to live in the side courtyard.
Every time he told her it was time to eat, she would devour her food ravenously, as if she hadn't eaten in three days.
After finishing the pork knuckle and cold cuts, Lou Xiaoxiao's stomach was half-full.
She drank a couple of bowls of congee before feeling completely revitalized.
"Did you ask me something just now?"
Lou Yangzi handed her a handkerchief and slowly said, "Those people without pulses, did you do it?"
"Mm-hmm..." Lou Xiaoxiao replied.
"Why did you start doing this?" Lou Yangzi inquired.
Lou Xiaoxiao wiped her mouth and continued eating the large plate of chicken.
"Because there are always people who desire immortality."
Since ancient times, there had been no shortage of those who pursued immortality.
Especially after the Heavenly Gate closed and the cultivation sects declined.
The path to immortality became even more arduous for people.
While becoming a ghost allowed one to continue 'living,' a ghost's body, much like cultivation, would eventually perish unless one reached a certain extreme.
For most people, this was an impossibility.
Only a select few, the truly exceptional, could reach the highest echelons.
Lou Yangzi pondered for a moment, then something occurred to him. "Is it those few at the top?"
Those in the Lou family's upper echelons were not all powerful.
The 'people' within had diverse characteristics.
Some were skilled in planning, while others had made significant contributions and were founding members during the city's establishment.
Lou Xiaoxiao nodded. "Mm, something like that."
"How did you do it?"
"Currently, it's still in the process of gradual improvement."
Lou Xiaoxiao explained her initial ideas to him.
"It's roughly about stitching the soul and the physical body together, but there are still many difficult points... Using a human body, it's easy to die midway."
"And after a person's body dies, it usually decays. How to keep it from decaying and ensure it functions normally, that's something to consider..."
"However, if this succeeds, there are many benefits."
Lou Xiaoxiao finished the large plate of chicken and licked the seasoning off her fingers. "For example, one can directly see and capture ghosts."
"Even those who haven't cultivated can inflict a certain amount of damage on ghosts. Their strength increases, and they become less susceptible to injury."
However, to successfully modify it, it seemed necessary to improve the quality of both the physical body and the soul.
Otherwise, they might die before the modification was complete.
Lou Yangzi listened quietly.
After she finished, he couldn't help but look at her. "You haven't modified yourself, have you?"
"I haven't," Lou Xiaoxiao shrugged and said.
"Those guys wouldn't allow it. If something unexpected happened to me midway... they would be more anxious than I am."
After all, this was related to their ability to achieve immortality.
If they could remain immortal, the Lou family would forever belong to them.
No, even the entire Bai Di City... or other imperial cities.
In this world, only those who lasted until the end held the power.
The power to write history.
Lou Yangzi propped his chin with one hand and looked to the side.
His expression seemed somewhat bored. "Being human is also quite good..."
Why did these old men always want to stir up trouble?
As he was thinking, his arm was poked.
Lou Xiaoxiao poked him with her chopsticks. "Don't you want to achieve immortality? If it succeeds, perhaps it will open up a new world."
"Will humans then be called 'immortals'?"
When humans become omnipotent and immortal, could the mortal realm be called the Heavenly Realm?
Lou Yangzi glanced sideways at her. "Probably."
Immortality...
Wouldn't that mean his dream of living a life of leisure would be shattered?
There would likely still be regrets.
Lou Xiaoxiao finished the last two bites of food, dropped her chopsticks, and stood up.
She stretched her body, her dark blue long dress taut, outlining the girl's slender and beautiful figure.
"Time to get to work."
Lou Yangzi looked at her dark blue skirt. Why had this girl started wearing dark clothes?
...
...
"So that's it... is this the original origin and form of the living dead?"
Inside the King of Hell's Palace.
Lou Yangzi stood on the path of stars, marveling inwardly.
He knew what those forbidden arts were, and he knew the method of creating living dead.
But before this, he had never recalled how these things came into being.
In his memory, he only recalled that a genius seemed to have appeared in the Lou family.
If everything was indeed done by Lou Xiaoxiao...
Lou Yangzi suddenly had a bad premonition.
Moreover, he didn't know if it was his imagination, but he felt that this starry sky was becoming colder and colder.
As he was thinking, he heard a cold snort.
"Hmph! It really is her!"
Lou Yangzi:?!
Lou Yangzi was startled and quickly strode forward.
He hoped that other turns of events might occur later.
The scenes on both sides played out one by one as he moved.
...
...
Days passed.
The number of people without pulses in the Lou family gradually increased.
Until one day, several months later, Lou Xiaoxiao's research finally achieved initial results.
At that time, Lou Yangzi had just finished receiving ghost envoys from the underworld along with other members of the Lou family.
Bai Di City, being bestowed with techniques by the underworld, was actually more like an auxiliary staff of the underworld.
Backing the underworld, facing the mortal realm.
But not entirely belonging to the underworld, nor entirely belonging to humans.
After seeing off the ghost envoys, Lou Yangzi and the others had just returned to the main courtyard of the Lou family.
They received news that Lou Xiaoxiao had entered the Lou family's high-ranking positions.
Although it was still the lowest rank, she had managed to get in.
Lou Yangzi had a rough idea of why. Lou Xiaoxiao had been busy with that project lately.
Ignoring the others' feigned congratulations, Lou Yangzi turned and went to the room where Lou Xiaoxiao was.
"You're back?"
As soon as he entered the room, he heard Lou Xiaoxiao's voice.
Lou Yangzi turned around and was stunned.
The room was illuminated by oil lamps.
Lou Xiaoxiao sat at the dining table, guarding a table full of dishes.
Her proud eyebrows were filled with a hint of joy.
"You..."
Lou Yangzi was stunned for two seconds. "You actually didn't eat it. Did you eat it beforehand?"
It wasn't that he was overreacting.
Whenever Lou Xiaoxiao saw food, didn't she always devour it?
This time, she could actually guard a table full of food without eating it?
How strange, how strange.
Lou Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes. "If you don't know what to say, don't say it."
It was a rare occasion she wanted to celebrate.
"I've entered the Lou family's high-ranking positions."
After Lou Yangzi sat down at the table, Lou Xiaoxiao said with her chin slightly raised.
Lou Yangzi: "Mm, I just heard."
"I will go even higher."
"Mm."
"So high that no one can treat us as pawns."
"..."
Lou Yangzi looked at the person in front of him. The girl was wearing a dark blue dress, her long hair tied up in a simple bun.
Her clear, cold eyes sparkled in the lamplight.
Lou Yangzi: "Mm."