Noisy! Raucous!
Zhou Ming's consciousness was swept up in countless clamoring, chaotic consciousnesses. Every moment, his sense of self was being frantically assaulted, threatening to become one with this Chaos.
In reality, those tens of thousands of people who died were simply dead; they weren't resurrected in Zhou Ming's mind.
Their Souls were absorbed by Zhou Ming, and what existed here now were merely residual thoughts, split from Zhou Ming's consciousness based on their memories from life.
It was as if Zhou Ming had developed an extremely severe case of multiple personality disorder, splitting into tens of thousands of personalities at once, each with corresponding life experiences and perfectly complete personas.
However, in contrast, Zhou Ming's gains were not as great as he had imagined.
The Souls of tens of thousands of people only barely allowed Zhou Ming's Soul foundation to reach the level of eight hundred human Souls!
This was because ninety-nine percent of these tens of thousands of people were ordinary individuals in life: vendors, farmers, servants, tenants... Most were illiterate, living monotonous, repetitive lives day after day, passing through life in a muddle. The few who had a rough understanding of martial Dao were already considered to have lived relatively good lives.
Such ordinary people had pitifully weak Soul strength. Even a fright could damage their Souls, leading to a serious illness that required quiet recuperation to slowly recover. Mental strain and melancholy could further deplete the body and even shorten one's lifespan.
These fragile, tiny Souls required two to three hundred of them to increase Zhou Ming's Soul foundation by the equivalent of one person's.
Actually, this was already quite good.
In the original work, when the protagonist obtained the Heaven and Earth Secret Realm, Soul Shaking Mountain, he learned that its former owner, in order to cultivate Guts Gu, would control large numbers of foxes to die on Soul Shaking Mountain, using their Souls to irrigate the mountain. It would take nearly ten thousand wild foxes to produce one Guts Gu.
The Soul of an ordinary human, no matter how small, is still much stronger than that of an ordinary beast.
Furthermore, Zhou Ming's direct Soul Devour involved far less consumption than the process of cultivating Guts Gu on Soul Shaking Mountain.
Of course, the price was that he had to accept all of the Soul's Impurities as well.
'The Souls of ordinary people are too fragile. If I only knew the Soul Devouring Refining Scripture and relied on devouring the Souls of ordinary people to increase my Soul foundation, it would be pure suicide.'
Zhou Ming's will, amidst the tens of thousands of personalities, sighed softly and spread his arms.
'Fortunately, I also know the Hell Soul Cleansing Scripture!'
Boom! Rumble! Rummble rumble!
The entire consciousness space suddenly experienced a violent tremor!
The heavens and earth were dim, black smoke billowed, a cold wind howled, and majestic mountains rose from the ground. Mountain ranges swelled like giant Dragons extending in all directions, and a massive river flowed around the high mountains with a gurgling sound, rushing towards the endless unknown distance.
The river water surged, turbulent and powerful, with countless wandering Souls and wild ghosts struggling in the water, swept by the great waves, involuntarily moving downstream, forever floating and sinking in the river.
In the sky, six enormous whirlpools slowly appeared, casting down six beams of light that landed on the peaks of the tens of thousands of meters high mountains, slowly rotating.
The consciousnesses of tens of thousands of people were awed by this sudden, drastic change in heaven and earth. The deafening clamor quieted, and the crowd cowered, terrified.
Then, they heard booming footsteps. From the deep black mist, two giant figures, tens of meters tall, emerged. Their muscles were bulging. One had a bull's head and a human body, holding a steel fork. The other had a human body and a horse's face, holding a wolf-tooth club. Each step they took on the ground left a deep, giant pit, as if an earthquake was rumbling.
Some people, seeing this terrifying scene, felt their legs go weak. The ground shook, and they collapsed. More people prostrated themselves, kowtowing like pounding garlic, not daring to look up.
Then, they heard the two terrifying, ferocious devils speak, their voices rumbling like a bolt from the blue, deafening.
"Horse-Face, why are there tens of thousands more wandering Souls and wild ghosts here?"
"How would I know? To find out, we'd have to check with the Judge to see if some natural or man-made disaster occurred somewhere."
"What a bother. These lone Souls and wild ghosts don't look like people from the Central Plains. They're probably savages and ignorant commoners from some barbaric, undeveloped land. There's no need to send them into the six paths of Reincarnation for rebirth. Just push them all into the Underworld River and let the Yellow Springs dissolve their Souls!"
The words of the two fierce giant devils immediately scared the tens of thousands of people out of their wits.
So they were already dead!
That mountain was the legendary Yin Mountain, the river was the Underworld River, and those six beams of light and six giant whirlpools in the sky were the six paths of Reincarnation from myths and legends!
They had fallen into Hell and were about to be pushed into the Underworld River by Bull-Head and Horse-Face, their Souls Flying Away and Spirit Scattering!
Japanese culture was deeply influenced by the Central Plains, with many cultural elements directly transmitted from there. Therefore, the Japanese were equally familiar with the concept of the six paths of Reincarnation and the Underworld.
Some people couldn't bear it and burst into loud, sorrowful sobs. Others continuously kowtowed, begging Bull-Head and Horse-Face to allow them to Reincarnate. Even bolder individuals took to their heels, attempting to flee the place.
For a time, Chaos reigned, a cacophony of noise. Let alone tens of thousands of people, even tens of thousands of ants gathered together would be an incredibly chaotic scene.
Bull-Head and Horse-Face were annoyed by the noise. Horse-Face impatiently slammed his wolf-tooth club onto the ground with a boom, creating a three-meter-deep giant pit.
Those who tried to escape only felt a blur before their eyes, and then found themselves back among the crowd, greatly alarmed and terrified, believing it to be a Divine Ability of Bull-Head and Horse-Face that prevented their escape.
In reality, all of this was an illusion constructed by Zhou Ming using the Hell Soul Cleansing Scripture. The Yin Mountain, Underworld River, and six paths of Reincarnation were all fake and could not harm these wills in the slightest.
If he were to cast such an illusion in the outside world or on others, it would be extremely difficult for the Hell Soul Cleansing Scripture to achieve this, consuming so much Soul Power that Zhou Ming would be unable to sustain it.
But this was within Zhou Ming's own mind. Those tens of thousands of people were actually all Zhou Ming himself. In essence, it was equivalent to imagining various scenes in his head for self-amusement, which made it a very simple matter.
Only these two, Bull-Head and Horse-Face, were played by Zhou Ming alone, but he couldn't simultaneously sway the minds of tens of thousands of people.
And those who wanted to escape couldn't, because they were inherently confined to the consciousness space. How could they escape to other places?
"You ants, where do you think you're running to!"
Bull-Head's copper-bell-like eyes widened, and Horse-Face's horse-like face stretched long. Black Qi billowed around the two giant monsters, and countless lone Souls and wild ghosts emerged from the black Qi, screaming incessantly.
The entire scene was eerie and terrifying, utterly horrifying, causing people's hearts to shatter with boundless fear.
"Quickly enter the Underworld River! Don't waste our time, my brother and I!"
Bull-Head's voice boomed as he raised his tens-of-meters-long steel fork, ready to sweep that large expanse of Souls into the river.
For a time, screams, cries, and pleas for mercy were endless.
"Wait."
Just then, a grand voice filled with compassion rang out, and Bull-Head's movements immediately paused.
In the gloomy darkness of Hell, a warm golden light slowly began to shine.
Countless people looked towards the golden light and saw a hundred-meter-tall Bodhisattva, with brilliant golden light behind him, a compassionate face, a solemn and dignified appearance, and lotus flowers blooming with each step, walking towards them.
"Greetings, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva!"
Bull-Head and Horse-Face, the two devils who had just been incredibly ferocious, now put away their grim expressions. Under the golden light, they even took on a solemn and reverent air, respectfully saluting Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva.
"Bodhisattva!"
"It's Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva!"
"That's great, we're saved! Bodhisattva is merciful, please save us!"
"Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, please save us!"
People prostrated themselves before Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, continuously begging for his grace.
Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva's face was compassionate and serene. His gaze swept over the crowd, and he nodded, saying, "These people have a tragic origin. They died tragically in a natural disaster on the overseas Fusang Island, and thus fell into Hell, suffering the pains of Reincarnation."
"This is their fated tribulation and cannot be easily changed. However, since they have suffered such a great calamity, they should not be made to suffer even more."
"Bull-Head, Horse-Face, send them to the six paths of Reincarnation. Let them be reborn into a good family and enjoy a lifetime of peace!"
This Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva was, of course, also played by Zhou Ming himself.
When the tens of thousands of people heard this, knowing they wouldn't suffer the pain of Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, and then heard Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva say he could choose a good family for them to Reincarnate into, they were overjoyed and kowtowed even harder, continuously shouting, "Bodhisattva is merciful!"
Bull-Head and Horse-Face feigned hesitation, then said, "Since it is the Bodhisattva's command, Bull-Head and Horse-Face shall obey. All of you, quickly rise and follow us on our way!"
The crowd again offered countless thanks and chanted scriptures non-stop. Watching Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva suddenly disappear, and the golden light in the sky recede with him, they then quickly got up and, in a vast throng, followed Bull-Head and Horse-Face towards the boundless Yin Mountain.
In a daze, it seemed they walked for a long time, yet it also felt like only a moment had passed. In this world shrouded everywhere in black mist and Chaos, the concept of time had become completely muddled. Only the colossal six paths of Reincarnation appeared before their eyes.
Bull-Head and Horse-Face stood before a giant whirlpool, beckoning to the crowd while shouting loudly.
"Quickly enter this path of humanity, Reincarnate into a good family, and enjoy a lifetime of glory and wealth! If you miss the time, you will be cast into the animal Dao, to be a cow or a horse in your next life, slaughtered and eaten by people!"
The crowd dared not delay, jostling and pushing to jump into the giant whirlpool, each face bearing a wonderfully happy smile, filled with beautiful aspirations for the next life, disappearing into the whirlpool.
"It's done." Watching this magnificent scene, Zhou Ming let out a sigh of relief.
The purpose of him expending so much effort to put on this play was to make these thoughts believe they had Reincarnated, and with their obsessions dissipated, they would naturally vanish.
'After all, they are ignorant commoners. With their minds undeveloped, they are easy to deceive, believing deeply even to their deaths, whether in this life or the next, it's always like this.'
'However, not everyone will be so easily fooled.'
As more and more people entered and dissipated into the 'human Dao,' a very small number of remaining individuals looked hesitant, as if contemplating whether they should jump into the so-called six paths of Reincarnation.
There were also some who were either defiant, silent, or sneering, with no movement from their feet.
These people, either well-traveled and mature in mind, or diligently cultivated the martial Dao and possessed firm wills, were not so easily fooled.
Even if they jumped into the 'six paths of Reincarnation,' if they harbored doubts in their hearts, their obsessions would not dissipate, and their thoughts would still persist.
These stubborn individuals would require other methods to deal with.