Chapter 181: Descent to the Underworld

　　The car drove away from the desolate mountain, gradually heading back to the city.

　　Jia Half Immortal sat in the car, moved to the point of tears in his eyes.

　　"Three years! A whole three years, Lu boy, do you know how I've spent these three years?"

　　"I couldn't stay in one place for too long and had to keep moving. I never had a good night's sleep, never had a full meal."

　　"I couldn't take a ride anywhere, or else there would definitely be a traffic accident. I had to rely on these old legs of mine, my poor legs... It feels damn good to be in a car..."

　　"Half Immortal, stop beating around the bush, just tell me!" Lu Fei had been holding back the whole way.

　　The mountain path was treacherous; if one focused on talking, they couldn't focus on walking. They had no choice but to descend the mountain first and talk in the car slowly.

　　Who knew that this old man was extremely long-winded.

　　"Talk, talk, of course, I will talk." Mr. Jia, the Half Immortal, held the bone dice with his withered old hands, adjusted to a comfortable position, and then began to speak slowly.

　　"Three years ago, your grandfather came to me for a trip to the netherworld."

　　"What for?" Lu Fei asked immediately.

　　"He wanted me to take him to the netherworld to inquire about something. This is actually nothing unusual; I help people on their trips to the netherworld, although it costs more to take someone down there."

　　"Your family has countless treasures at the Sinisterium Pawnshop, so money isn't an issue for your grandfather."

　　"I made the necessary preparations and took your grandfather down. The initial process went smoothly, and your grandfather found the person he needed to talk to."

　　"However, I don't know what they discussed. I vaguely heard something about a key to a temple gate."

　　"It seems like the negotiation fell through."

　　"Your grandfather pulled me to run, and I saw a black, murky thing chasing us. We barely managed to get back."

　　"I thought it was over, but from that day on, my luck took a turn for the worse."

　　"Later, I remembered that while we were running, that thing seemed to grab me, and I must have been tainted by its filthy energy."

　　Lu Fei's eyes were wide open, with a lot of questions on his mind.

　　"What are those things?"

　　"I can't explain it clearly, but they're just a mass of dark, dirty stuff. Whoever gets touched by it, their luck turns bad!"

　　Jia Bannian tightened his grip on the bone dice in his hand.

　　"Then who was the person my grandfather found?" Lu Fei asked again.

　　"I don't know, but the other party was also a living person in the netherworld. The soul of a living person is fundamentally different from a ghost, and I could tell at a glance," Jia Bannian said.

　　"A living person?" Lu Fei was startled, "You mean, my grandfather and the other person met in the underworld through a down yin method?"

　　"That's right." Jia Banxian nodded slightly.

　　"What kind of matter would require them to specifically go to the underworld to discuss?" Lu Fei frowned, "And what about the temple gate and the key?"

　　After hearing so much from Jia Banxian, Lu Fei was even more confused.

　　"Lu family boy, I suddenly remember, there's one more thing." Jia Banxian squinted his eyes and continued, "That person went to the underworld by himself."

　　"He went to the underworld by himself? So, he is also a down yin practitioner?"

　　"On the contrary, he is not a down yin practitioner. There are two situations for someone who can go to the underworld by themselves: one is innate, where they can reach the underworld just by sleeping."

　　"And the other one?"

　　"Through cultivation, they can project their soul and enter the underworld. To achieve this state, one's level of cultivation must be at a certain realm. Lu family boy, even your grandfather couldn't do anything about that person, so you definitely shouldn't mess with him."

　　"I just want to find my grandfather." Lu Fei took a deep breath, "Senior Jia, are there any other characteristics of that person besides these?"

　　After thinking for a moment, Jia Banxian said, "He should be left-handed; a person's soul would retain the habits of the body... There really isn't anything else. After the Lower Yin, I never saw your grandfather again."

　　"Thank you!" Lu Fei nodded vigorously, silently keeping these characteristics in mind.

　　A highly skilled practitioner, left-handed, and able to control dirty things with impure energy.

　　Grandfather and this person discussed something in the underworld, mentioning the key to the temple gate, and then went to look for the sheepskin map.

　　Clearly, both the temple gate and the key are related to the sheepskin map.

　　Wan Chunhui from Tianlong Auction House mentioned that others were also looking for the map, and perhaps that person was the one who discussed matters with Grandfather.

　　So, the key is still the map.

　　"Young man from the Lu family, the Xuanmen world is vast. What you see on the surface is just a small part; many powerful figures are actually hidden beneath the surface," Jia Banxian looked at Lu Fei and reminded him.

　　"You've only been in the Jianghu for a short while, so you're still quite green. Don't act impulsively!"

　　"Thank you, Senior. I understand. You got into trouble because you helped my grandfather. Don't you blame us?" Lu Fei asked calmly.

　　"This is a deal, what's there to blame? Dealing with the filthy things of the underworld as a yin-walker is inherently a dangerous job." Immortal Jia waved his hand nonchalantly, "Just like your Sinisterium Pawnshop, when you receive hot-to-handle evil objects, would you blame the customer?"

　　Lu Fei's impression of this slovenly old man changed instantly.

　　"By the way, Senior, since you are a yin-walker, you should be able to read yin symbols, right?"

　　"Why do you ask this?" Immortal Jia was a bit puzzled.

　　"I received an evil object with yin symbols carved on it. Since I can't understand the meaning of the yin symbols, I can't figure out the purpose of the evil object."

　　"I know a little about them and can help you take a look. However, objects with yin symbols are extraordinary, they are either extremely inauspicious or extremely auspicious!"

　　Immortal Jia's old eyes gleamed with shrewdness.

　　"How did you come across such a rare item? I don't think it's that simple!"

　　"It doesn't matter at all how I got the item; as long as Senior Immortal Jia can help me, I will surely offer a generous reward," Lu Fei said with a smile.

　　Immortal Jia turned the human bone dice, pondered for a while, and said, "I certainly want my payment, but I don't want money. What your grandfather gave me is enough to make me live comfortably for the rest of my life."

　　"What does the senior want?"

　　"An evil object!"

　　The car drove back to Jiang City, just as dawn was breaking.

　　The breakfast stalls by the roadside were already set up.

　　After a night of hard work, the three of them were both tired and hungry, so they decided to have breakfast before returning to Sinisterium Pawnshop.

　　They pushed open the door.

　　Lu Fei first let the little black dog back into the yard and poured out dog food for it.

　　The little black dog opened its mouth like an excavator and started eating voraciously.

　　"Oh, Lu family boy, this dog of yours is really something! It's completely black, not a single stray hair anywhere, black head, black body, black tail, black paws, and even a black tongue! A genuine five-black dog!"

　　By this time, it was fully light, and Jia Banxian noticed the puppy, squinting his eyes in amazement.

　　"This is a naturally born spirit dog that wards off evil! The so-called black dog blood that can exorcise evil refers to this kind of dog. Ordinary black dogs are not effective at all."

　　"Really? That's truly finding a treasure!" Lu Fei raised his eyebrows in pleasant surprise. When he adopted this puppy, he didn't think much about it because the little one's mother was a German Shepherd.

　　Could it be, inherited from its father?

　　"Many cultivators want such a five-black dog, but it's too hard to find. Not only is their sense of smell sharp, but using the blood of this kind of black dog to draw talismans doubles the effectiveness of the talisman..."

　　Before Jia Banxian could finish his sentence, the little black dog paused in its eating, lifted its head and glared at Jia Banxian, its dark eyes revealing a murderous intent.

　　"I'm not keeping it for its blood! Hu Zi, open a can for the little guy."

　　Lu Fei quickly pulled Jia Banxian aside.

　　"Senior, this way, let's go and see the Yin Talisman first."