Mountain and sea lantern

Chapter 578 A Useful Person
Having roughly understood what she meant, Alan replied, "Yes."

Then we proceeded according to plan.

After the eight people arrived in Yaoshan City, Alan followed the original plan and placed some of them around the inn, while the other group was placed directly in the inn where the ring was located. He took two adjacent rooms to keep watch nearby.

Shi Chun, who was guarding the room, had been observing the area around the inn where the ring was located. Because the city was inhabited by both humans and demons, he could not make the comparison he wanted without having a clear understanding of the original living conditions.

Once the eight more demon cultivators arrived, Shi Chun knew that his judgment was correct and that the ring was indeed problematic.

He didn't linger there; he left the inn and headed out of the city.

The woman in red, who had been carefully sensing with her eyes closed, quickly realized that he was about to leave the city. She suddenly opened her eyes, her gaze filled with doubt, "How did he know that the people were already in place?"

Alan, who was waiting in the wings, asked in confusion, "Your Highness, what's wrong?"

The woman in red said, "Shi Chun has left; he must be heading out of the city."

Alan exclaimed in surprise, "So fast? Our people just arrived, and he's already found out?"

The woman in red pondered and said, "That's the reason. I've sensed the environment around here. His eyesight isn't enough to directly observe the arrival of the eight people. It seems that there really are accomplices nearby assisting in the observation. Someone must have informed him. This is probably why we were exposed last night."

Alan immediately reminded her, "Your Majesty, if someone reports the news, his accomplices will definitely be observing near the inn. With your magical powers, can you identify them? If you can, our people can keep an eye on them."

The woman in red pondered for a moment and said, "Let's give it a try. Anyway, that guy has left the ring and can't be located. It's basically impossible to keep track of him now."

After speaking, he closed his eyes and personally examined the area where the ring was located...

Once outside the city, Shi Chun rode his wind-scaled aircraft directly into the sky, landing temporarily in the vast green fields where he met Wu Jinliang.

Upon meeting, Wu Jinliang immediately asked, "Well, is it confirmed?"

Shi Chun nodded, "That's right, we fell into that woman's trap. It was all because of that ring. We were caught off guard and ended up in trouble."

Wu Jinliang patted his chest, "That was close, thank goodness you have supernatural abilities..." He paused, his expression turning serious, "Spring, now that you can pinpoint our location, the person who handed over the Soul-Reversing Tree to Granny Qi before, could they be being watched? We need to contact Granny Qi's side immediately and tell them to suspend their operations. We need to get them to find a way to get rid of the Soul-Reversing Tree that we worked so hard to find. I'll contact Bai Qiru right now."

He then took out the mother-child talisman, intending to send a message.

Shi Chun pressed down on his hand and shook his head, indicating, "No need to stop. If they've got their eyes on us, they've got their eyes on us. Just don't let Granny Qi find out. Let them continue. If the handover of the Soul-Reversing Tree is really exposed, we'll have to pretend we don't know anything."

Wu Jinliang said in surprise, "More than a hundred trees, this is the largest batch of Soul-Reversing Trees. The material manifestation of the Soul-Reversing Trees left by A-Xun is basically gone. Who knows if we can still find them? Since they have already discovered them, why should we pretend to be reserved?"

Shi Chun released his hand, tapped his chest, and said with an unusually heavy expression, "The damage to the Soul-Reversing Tree is no longer important. What I'm more worried about now is whether the matter of entering the Underworld has been located and discovered. That's the real trouble."

Why are they only observing and not taking action? What are their intentions? We have no idea.

We need time to figure out the other party's intentions, to figure out whether that woman is targeting us for personal or business reasons, to figure out if we're overthinking things, to figure out if there's room for compromise, and to figure out if there's room for cooperation.

If the Soul-Reversing Tree is truly exposed, then don't hide your true intentions. Only by making the other side feel that they still have our tail between them and can drag us out at any time will they have the patience to continue observing.

If they discover that we are showing signs of escaping, the situation could quickly spiral out of control.

Are we going to hide forever? Even if we are to hide, we should at least wait until we complete our experiment to travel to and from the underworld, and until we are certain that we can escape through the underworld. It won't be too late to reveal ourselves then.

Wu Jinliang sighed after hearing this, "If the Soul-Reversing Tree is really being targeted, and we don't get Granny Qi to make a clean break in time, if the other side follows the trail, Granny Qi's side might be exposed."

Shi Chun: "It's still unclear how much the woman in red knows. If things really come to the point where there's a price to pay, the Bai family has to face it. No one is deliberately trying to harm them. Before Granny Qi decided to get involved, she should have known that if things got out of hand, she would have to face the consequences."

Wu Jinliang: "Won't this implicate Huang Yingying, and then the entire Golden Rat clan?"

Shi Chun looked around at the heart-wrapping grass swaying in the wind. "We ourselves are all going with the wind, and we even have to be prepared to be trapped in the underworld for the rest of our lives."

Wu Jinliang sighed, "Forget it, let's find a place to continue the experiment. Damn it, they won't follow us this time, right?"

Shi Chun: "It's still unclear whether that woman acted for personal or official reasons. That ring might still be useful. You should discuss with Governor Xiao how to handle the aftermath."

Having said that, he unleashed his Wind Scales, which swept up Wu Jinliang and a large bag, and they flew away into the sky.

They dared not go to the old testing grounds anymore. This time, they went much further, even venturing out of the Shenshan's sphere of influence.

After finding a secluded and sparsely populated place and checking to make sure there were no problems, Wu Jinliang used his earth-遁术 (earth-遁术 is a type of magic that allows one to escape underground) to sink into the ground with them.

Deep underground, another unfortunate coyote died, the only good thing being that it was given a whole corpse.

The old method was used: Wu Jinliang burned the coyote, and Shi Chun caught the smoke and directed it to the coyote's carcass.

A moment later, the void black hole opened again, and Shi Chun once again flashed into it. Upon landing, he found himself in that eerie, dark world, surrounded by darkness and no one.

Shi Chun quickly took out the mother-child talisman and contacted Lao Changtai: Where are you?

Lao Changtai immediately replied: Boss, I'm still waiting for you where you came in last time, I haven't left.

Shi Chun understood. He had been waiting for him until the next day, and he didn't even know where he was now, as the lighting conditions were indeed difficult to observe.

However, his right eye ability allowed him to vaguely see a figure on the mountain diagonally opposite, and he immediately replied: "Make some light so I can see."

Soon, a golden light appeared in his left eye, the light coming from the figure on the opposite mountain.

Shi Chun immediately sent a message: I see you. Look at the light over here.

He then put away the mother and child talismans and took out a sandalwood gold flame for illumination.

The light on the opposite mountain peak vanished quickly, and a figure flew rapidly toward them.

When the person landed in front of him, it was none other than Lao Changtai, dressed in white.

The thought of seeing each other again, even though it hadn't been long since they parted, still made Lao Changtai quite excited. He cupped his hands and said, "Chief..." But then, noticing the dazzling flames, he quickly reminded him, "The Underworld Messengers have been a bit sensitive to this area lately. This light might attract them."

Shi Chun: "It's alright, come out with me first."

His method wouldn't allow him to stay here for long, so this isn't a good place to talk either.

He then tried to grab the other person's arm and take them away together.

Lao Changtai grabbed his wrist and said seriously, "Boss, are you still coming in? If you are, I'll talk to Lao Xi first and ask him to make arrangements at a suitable time so that you don't run into the underworld messengers searching here. If you come in now, the underworld messengers will definitely come to search later. I've already run into them before."

Shi Chun understood his meaning, looked around, and asked, "What about in three hours?"

"Okay." Lao Changtai immediately took out the mother-child talisman, sent a message to Lao Xi, and nodded after receiving the reply: "All done."

Shi Chun dared not linger, so he immediately pulled him away and flew off together into the interdimensional passage in the void.

Back in the other cave, Shi Chun casually drew his sword and cleaved the bundle of golden threads in two with a single strike, instantly causing the void to vanish into nothingness.

Then he quickly used his right eye's special ability to observe his surroundings for any problems, fearing that he was being targeted again.

"Hehehehe." Wu Jinliang's cheerful voice rang out as he pulled Lao Changtai up and down, "Grandma, why are you dressed like this? You look like you're in mourning."

This nickname was given to Lao Changtai by his old acquaintances in private, and it is a homonym for "Lao Lao".

Lao Changtai was stretching his limbs, enjoying the comfort of the mortal world, when he heard this and became happy. He immediately pulled up his headscarf and introduced, "This is not an ordinary piece of cloth. It can block the invasion of yin energy as much as possible."

After tidying up the scene, Shi Chun gestured for people to sit down and, after taking the lead, asked, "Judging from that, is that Lao Xi still useful?"

Lao Changtai immediately nodded repeatedly and said, "It works well. The boss really has a keen eye. The person you introduced has been a great help. As long as the money is right, he is really bold. I have never seen anyone more honest than him in the underworld."

Recalling that dark face, Wu Jinliang chuckled, but couldn't help asking curiously, "You mean, everyone else isn't greedy, but he is?"

Lao Changtai: "It's not that others aren't greedy, but he was the most audacious. However, there was a reason for it. His family of nearly twenty people suffered a great calamity, and he was the only one left who was away on a business trip. In order to prevent his family members from being reincarnated hastily, he kept their souls in place, which required money to clear the way. He borrowed a lot of money for this."

Wu Jinliang asked suspiciously, "What does it mean to prevent family members from being reincarnated after they die?"

Lao Changtai tightened his handkerchief and said, "It means exactly what it says. It's not that he won't allow it, but he doesn't want his family members to be reincarnated hastily. He says his family members haven't had a good life with him in this life, and he wants them to be reborn into a good family to enjoy a better life in the next life. But this thing really costs money. You think about it, even in the underworld, it's a matter of defying fate. It's not something just anyone can afford. Last time, the boss gave him a million, right?"

Shi Chun nodded. "That's right."

Lao Changtai couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head, "You two are really something, one dares to give, and the other dares to take. Meeting the boss is quite lucky for him."

They call that kind of money "liang". Lao Xi's salary is already considered relatively high, only a little over a thousand liang per month. But if you want to bribe your way into a good reincarnation, you need about 100,000 liang. Given his salary, you can imagine how much he would have to swindle money everywhere. When he got lucky, he met the head of the household, who immediately solved the problem of reincarnation for ten people in his family.

So he was very fond of the chief, often asking when he would arrive, whether there was anything else he could do for him, and even asking him to tell the chief not to be shy and to let him know if he needed anything. There was no other way; the spirits of seven people in his family were still hanging there, waiting for him to deal with them.

These words left Shi Chun speechless. He had noticed from Lao Xi's reaction that the Six Realms Exchange Ticket was valuable, but he hadn't expected it to be this valuable. A mere Earth Immortal-level Netherworld official only received a monthly salary of 1,000 liang, yet he was given 80 years' worth of salary. It was indeed a bit too extravagant.

Wu Jinliang couldn't help but laugh and asked again, "As far as we know, the currency used for exchange across the Six Realms is ancient coins. The Underworld didn't use this kind of currency before it was sealed off. Why are we using ancient coins again now?"

(End of this chapter)