Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 272 The Gate of Hell

The conclusion wasn't hard to guess. Even those who came in later had been there for half a day, but they hadn't found out anything. There were just too many strange things happening in the village, and some people had their own guesses.

However, Lu Mao'er was indeed the first to bring it up, and whispers immediately broke out around the campfire.

"I don't know about you gentlemen, but at least I started practicing martial arts to protect my people."

Lu Mao'er said, "My tribe is located south of the Golden Sand Kingdom. Every year, we have to pay a lot of gold sand to the Golden Sand Kingdom. But even so, we are often treated unfairly. Not to mention the wolf packs that roam the desert, always looking for an opportunity to bite off a piece of our tribe's flesh."

"Some time ago, I heard about the White Stone Immortal Sect, so I came all the way from the distant desert to cultivate immortality and then return to the desert to better protect my people."

"However, before arriving at Baishi Mountain, I wandered around the Daxing Mountain area and discovered that the disciples of the Baishi Immortal Sect often left Baishi Mountain to investigate other places for any unusual situations..."

"Like the legendary Grand Princess of Xiao Kingdom, who once punished a county because the county magistrate used the name of a demon to wantonly harm the people..."

"And within this 'Trial Array,' every immortal and deity has their own responsibility, such as the Peach Blossom Goddess protecting Peach Blossom Village, and the City God Bao protecting this place..."

"Actually, it's not hard to see what the White Stone Immortal Sect is doing, and it's not hard to guess what's going on..."

"The so-called 'key to success' is actually closely related to what we choose to do."

Lu Mao'er's words made a lot of sense, and even Jiang Wanli seemed to be deep in thought.

After a long while, Jiang Wanli looked at Lu Mao'er's quinoa-colored skin in the firelight and her long eyelashes, and couldn't help but blurt out, "You speak the Central Plains dialect so well..."

Lu Mao'er: "..."

While everyone was analyzing the various theories, Zhu Ye and Shi Yizhi had gradually adapted to the state of being "ghosts".

Contrary to their expectations, the village wasn't filled with ghosts.

After leaving the backyard of the Peach Blossom Goddess Temple, I didn't encounter a single one along the way.

Even when passing by the Peach Blossom Inn, all they could see was Du Chongshan hunched over the table and Wang Shanren fast asleep on the table, as if the things that had frightened them earlier had never existed.

Two people... no, they should be two ghosts. The two ghosts floated silently on the road until a red light flashed on the compass in Zhu Ye's hand.

The Yin-Yang Eight Trigrams compass is a ritual implement, and it can also be held by ghosts.

Magical implements and talismans can be possessed by ghosts. The difference is that talismans are lighter and can be carried directly, but magical implements need to be offered in front of an incense burner. In this way, the ghost being offered can obtain a "virtual body" that cannot be discerned by the naked eye of ordinary people. It works the same way. Jiang Wanli can even see the physical appearance of the Yin-Yang Eight Trigrams Plate at the same time to guess what Zhu Ye and Shi Yizhi encountered.

Of course, the downside is that if the ritual implements placed in front of the incense burner are taken away, the compass on Zhu Ye's side will also disappear.

At this moment, Jiang Wanli stared in shock at the red-tinged pointer on the compass, and his body began to tremble again.

Lu Mao'er kindly said, "If you feel cold, why don't you sit by the campfire?"

Jiang Wanli pointed tremblingly at the compass in front of the incense burner and said, "No, no, no, it's them, they encountered a vengeful ghost..."

……

Zhu Ye and Shi Yizhi looked at the red figure on the riverbank from afar, both with solemn expressions.

Shi Yizhi tilted his head and said, "Should we step back first?"

Zhu Ye nodded: "Don't act rashly, step back first."

The two carefully moved towards the riverbank, slowly backing away until the red figure disappeared back into the water and the compass needle returned to its bronze color. Only then did they breathe a sigh of relief.

Although they successfully traveled to the underworld and learned a lot of information from Hua San Niang, the two of them still didn't have a good method for "catching ghosts".

After walking through the underworld, Shi Yizhi tried it again and found that although he could hardly use his true energy anymore, he was not completely powerless. He could use his true energy to infuse his fists and feet to a limited extent and unleash moves with lightning. Although it was far less powerful than the moves he used when he was alive, it was not completely useless.

Therefore, Shi Yizhi thought that perhaps he could try to persuade him with kind words first, and if that didn't work, he could beat him up and take him away.

The "ghost-catching" method was somewhat crude, but how to "find the ghost" became another problem for the two. First of all, they definitely couldn't go to the bamboo grove cemetery.

The ghosts there are different from the ghosts who normally stay in the mortal world. The grave is the only "entrance" for ghosts to enter the mortal world. Moreover, only they can use their own grave. Having a grave means having incense offerings, so they can live smoothly in the underworld. These ghosts are actually relatively "honest" ghosts. They will not easily harm people. They will only roam around their own graves around midnight every day and return to the underworld before dawn.

This is why Hua San Niang directed them to the graveyard to look for things that had been eaten by ghosts. As long as the graves have incense burning normally, there is no danger.

Secondly, the red-clothed ghost by the river should definitely not be caught.

Although that ghost was visibly a huge "achievement," the compass needle, which had just turned blood red, clearly told the two that this ghost was not easy to deal with, and they might even lose their lives!

The two circled the main road of the village, but found nothing ghostly. Zhu Ye said with some annoyance, "There are only so many people in this village. You can find out who died just by walking around. There don't seem to be any funerals lately. Maybe there aren't any wandering ghosts in the village..."

After pondering for a moment, Shi Yizhi suggested, "Didn't Hua San Niang say that the reason this method could get her to speak to the City God was because the City God was short-handed and the ghost messengers were too busy?"

"Why don't we just go ask the ghost messengers and see if they can lend a hand? Maybe that will work."
"And didn't Hua San Niang say that besides people becoming ghosts after death, who become ghost messengers because of their merits or high moral standing, there are also some 'underworld messengers'? Those 'underworld messengers' can also be done by living people, called 'walking the path of death,' so we..."

Hua San Niang did indeed say that "ghost messengers" are a type of underworld messenger, but underworld messengers are not only ghost messengers; there are also living people or earth immortals who do this job.

Few living people do this because constantly traveling to the underworld can significantly impact one's lifespan.

However, there are many earth immortals who act as underworld messengers—earth immortals are not immortals, but cultivators who follow the path of incense offerings and deities, including ghosts, demons, spirits, and humans.

The most common are local earth gods. Although they do not directly intervene in the affairs of the underworld, they are responsible for monitoring whether there are any ghosts or abnormal phenomena lingering in the mortal world.

There are also some special local deities, such as the Peach Blossom Goddess. In truth, she may not have attained immortality, but she is revered as a deity because she receives offerings from the people.

Local city gods and their subordinate judges and impermanent beings are both earth immortals and ghost immortals. However, in addition to ghosts, there are also some demon cultivators and spirits under the city god's command who are eager to "enter the department".

After these demon cultivators and spirits were given "positions," they became earth immortals, able to gather under the City God's throne and receive offerings. Their daily work was much the same as that of ghost messengers, and they were collectively referred to as underworld messengers.

The meaning of "Shi Yizhi" is to openly and honestly ask the ghost messengers if you need any help.

Such behavior, which not only brings no benefit but also shortens one's lifespan, is something no fool would do. However, Shi Yizhi and Zhu Ye were truly at their wits' end. One wanted the "key to pass the level," and the other wanted to solve the problem of the mountain lord, so they had no choice but to get together, discuss it, and make a decision.

Although the underworld is difficult to enter and exit, it is not difficult to find.

Below the earth shrine in each place lies the entrance to the underworld.

The land shrine in Taoyuan County is located in the backyard of Taoyuan Inn. It is a small stone shrine standing under a willow tree, and inside is carved a kind-looking old man with a cane.

When the two found the shrine, there was a plate of peaches in front of it, but the incense in the incense burner had burned down to just a little bit.

Shi Yizhi and Zhu Ye exchanged a glance, then crawled one after the other under the stone niche.

As you descend, the surrounding scenery changes.

The surrounding area was filled with a strong yin energy and a ghostly aura. The ground beneath my feet had turned reddish-brown, and what I could see was a desolate wilderness that seemed to stretch endlessly. But when I looked up, I saw a familiar view above me—the entire Peach Blossom Inn with its courtyard, along with that small stone niche, was hanging upside down in the sky!
Shi Yizhi even felt that if he jumped hard, he might be able to touch the eaves that seemed within reach.

No, it's not so much that they were hanging upside down, but rather that they and Zhu Ye were hanging upside down. The scenery above them was the normal scenery of Peach Blossom Village, but the area around them was chaotic and blurry, and they could only see a few feet in front of them.

The path where the two stood was narrow, only wide enough for three or four people to walk side by side. To the left and right, there was only a thick, eerie fog, and nothing could be seen.

Hua San Niang didn't say what was inside the thick fog, and Zhu Ye and Shi Yizhi certainly wouldn't be so foolish as to go in out of curiosity.

The two walked along the reddish-brown dirt road deeper and deeper, and after walking for an unknown amount of time, they finally saw a magnificent city gate.

Because the light was so dim, it was hard to see how far the city gate stretched. However, because there were many braziers placed inside the city gate, the shape of the city gate could be vaguely seen by the light of the braziers.

Two large red drums were placed on the city gate, and two ferocious giant beast heads were embedded in the city wall. The city tower had double eaves, and the outer wall of the city tower was also embedded with those ferocious beast heads. Overall, it looked more magnificent than the city gates of ordinary passes.

As the two approached, they saw a plaque hanging under the city gate, with the three characters "Gate of Hell" written in a vigorous and powerful style.

(End of this chapter)