"It's fine, this is the mortal realm, so you can't see it. Once we reach the Underworld, you will." This was my experience; after crossing the Bridge of Helplessness, without needing the Qi Sensing Technique, one could see the approaching train and the long-robed ferryman on it.
Upon entering the City God Temple, I exchanged pleasantries with the Judge. He was undoubtedly one of Wu Zhao's subordinates. It seemed that the entire Judge system was aware of my good relationship with Wu Zhao. He asked me to put in a good word for him with Wu Zhao, as he wished to be transferred to a City God Temple with better financial prospects if the opportunity arose.
"Aren't all City God Temples the same? Do they vary in profitability?" I asked, confused.
This Judge Li was quite straightforward and didn't beat around the bush. He revealed a secret of the Judge system: many deceased's relatives, through various channels, knew that the City God Temple was the first checkpoint to the Underworld. After a family member passed away, they would preemptively come to the City God Temple to offer sacrifices and bribe the Judge, hoping he would assign a good location during the transmigration process.
Judges couldn't decide if the deceased would go to hell after entering the Underworld (that was determined by the system, which even King Yama couldn't alter), but for ordinary ghosts who weren't destined for hell, the Judge, while registering their identities, would designate which station they would disembark at.
Different stations corresponded to different cities in the Underworld. Some cities had better living conditions, akin to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, or Shenzhen, while others were naturally worse. Families naturally wished for the deceased to have a better life in these first-tier cities, thus they would often bribe the Judges.
However, the problem was that not many people in the mortal realm knew this secret, or rather, many who did treated it as superstition and didn't believe it, so they wouldn't offer sacrifices to the Judges. The closer a City God Temple was to a city, the fewer "superstitious" people there were, and thus fewer offerings, making these temples less profitable.
Conversely, in the vast rural areas, there were more "superstitious" people. Since they were only spending paper money on offerings, there wasn't a significant financial loss, so rural City God Temples tended to be more prosperous.
After listening, I was deeply impressed. I never expected such a small City God Temple to involve sociology, economics, psychology, and so many other complex fields.
"Old Li, if I burn more money for you..." I patted my waist. To visit the Underworld, one certainly needed Underworld currency. When we passed the paper money store earlier, the fox demon had "exchanged" ten billion spirit coins for both Bingbing and me. They were all genuine, but I wasn't sure if this money could be spent if we brought it directly into the Underworld.
"If I burn some money for you, Old Li, can you send us to the most prosperous city?" I asked.
Old Li clicked his tongue. "Lord Wu, are you insulting me! I would still try to profit from the two of you? I'll definitely send you directly to Fengdu City!"
"Fengdu City?" Zheng Bingbing frowned, looking at me. She wasn't very familiar with the Underworld yet.
Well, to be honest, I wasn't very familiar with it either. But I knew that Fengdu City was the equivalent of the mortal realm's Beijing.
"Then thank you, Lord Li!" I still pulled out a few bills from the spirit coins and placed them on the desk.
Old Li pretended to refuse for a moment, but then used his sleeve to cover the spirit coins and swept them into the drawer below.
"Distinguished sirs, remember this: after crossing the Bridge of Helplessness and boarding the ferry, disembark at the seventh station, which is Fengdu City. Do not listen to the ferrymen; their words are unreliable!" Old Li instructed.
Bingbing, to confirm, asked if the first stop after boarding was the first station, and the seventh stop was when the seventh time the ferry stopped.
The Judge confirmed this, stating that the departure station wasn't counted; it was zero.
This involved the mathematical definition of "zero," which was quite complex, and Old Li didn't explain it to us in detail.
In any case, we understood.
We entered the Ghost Gate behind the City God Temple. Before us was the usual dim, yellowish scene. There was no distinction between day and night here; it was always this color.
We couldn't see anything, and Bingbing became a little uneasy, tightly gripping my arm. I couldn't discern the direction either, so I activated the Qi Sensing Technique. I saw a ghost's aura about a kilometer away, with vague structures nearby, likely the tea stall and the Bridge of Helplessness.
Leading Bingbing over, there was no wind in the Underworld that day, and it was unusually quiet. With every step, the subtle sounds of walking on a road could be heard, which was a bit unnerving.
"Brother..." Bingbing whispered, "Why do I keep feeling like there are many people watching us from within this thick fog..."