Twin female zombies come to the door: My lord, please have mercy!

Sitting in the shadows of the corridor, Leng Yue heard Lin Ye's analysis, and a deep ripple appeared in her crimson eyes.

As a drought demon, she held a deep-seated awe for those beings who stood at the pinnacle of the corpse path.

Ayougu was originally squatting at the door playing with ants.

After listening to Lin Ye's story, she threw away the branch in her hand and walked quickly to the octagonal table.

The Miao girl's face was deathly pale, even her lips had lost their color.

"Manager Lin, I warned you long ago that that place is very dangerous. Even our people don't dare to go near it easily."

Ayougu braced her hands on the table, her voice trembling.

Lin Ye turned to look at her: "What exactly is the situation with this place?"

Ayougu swallowed hard and spoke.

"Our Miao villages have a taboo passed down orally from generation to generation of high priests."

"Deep in the Ten Thousand Mountains, there is a canyon cursed by the Grim Reaper. That place is the final graveyard of all the poisonous insects in our Miao region."

The silver ring around her neck made a soft, tinkling sound.

"Before their lifespan is about to end, the poisonous creatures in the mountains will be summoned by some mysterious force."

"Swarms of centipedes, venomous snakes, and toads would instinctively crawl into that canyon to die. For thousands of years, countless corpses of these venomous insects have rotted in the soil."

"The soil there is so toxic that if you just grab a handful, it could kill a fully grown elephant."

Ayougu gripped the edge of the table tightly.

"Beneath that canyon lies the Cave of Ten Thousand Gu Demons. If a living person goes in, even their bones will be corroded into yellow liquid by the poisonous miasma."

A long silence fell over the hall.

The sun was still shining brightly, but the people around the octagonal table felt a chill run down their spines.

A deadly feng shui formation combined with a highly poisonous cave.

This journey was a perilous one, with no chance of survival.

Lin Ye did not back down.

He took out the small bronze box, blackened by lightning strikes, from a hidden compartment in his tactical backpack.

"Old Bai, put away the old books on the table."

Lin Ye placed the bronze box flat in the center of the Eight Immortals table.

Bai Yu quickly stuffed the precious county gazetteer archives back into the cardboard box and stepped back two paces.

Lin Ye's fingers gripped the clasp of the bronze box.

"Click".

The lid was lifted.

A strong, pungent smell of aged preservatives mixed with the stench of corpses filled the hall.

At the bottom of the bronze box, the severed finger, wrapped in gold foil, lay quietly.

Lin Ye didn't reach out to touch it. The moment he removed the lid, the withered, bluish-black severed finger was directly exposed to the bright midday sun.

A sudden change occurred.

The severed finger, upon contact with the intense yang energy in the air, was not scorched by the sun's extreme heat; instead, it resembled an enraged wild beast.

"Click! Click-click!"

The blackened nail tip of the severed finger extended forward by half an inch right in front of everyone.

The fingernails were curved like hooks, sharp and gleaming with a cold metallic sheen.

It rubbed against the bronze box base with a harsh sound, yet its fingertips still pointed firmly to the southwest.

"Bring me a mirror," Lin Ye ordered without looking up.

Fatty Wang quickly opened a drawer in the cabinet, pulled out an ordinary Bagua mirror that cost a few dozen yuan on the market, and handed it to Lin Ye.

Lin Ye held the edge of the Bagua mirror and slowly brought the mirror surface close to the severed finger.

It was still half a foot away from the severed finger.

"Bang!"

A crisp sound.

The glass mirror in the very center of the Bagua mirror shattered without warning.

Countless shards of glass were scattered on the wooden table.

The mirror stand, made of die-cast brass, was completely blackened by an invisible malevolent aura within just three seconds, emitting a strange, burnt smell.

"What a terrifying aura!"

Bai Yu gasped and retreated several steps.

"It's just a severed finger that, after two thousand years, can still shatter modern magical artifacts."

Lin Ye threw the broken Bagua mirror into the trash can and casually closed the lid of the bronze box, shutting out the menacing aura.

He turned his head and looked at Fatty and Bai Yu.

"Faced with this level of evil land, the yellow paper and ordinary cinnabar we usually use are simply not enough. We must make a major purchase of equipment before entering the mountains."

Lin Ye pulled over a sheet of white paper and a ballpoint pen from the table. The pen tip scratched across the paper as he quickly listed a long procurement list.

He slapped the first order in front of the fat man.

"Fatty, you're in charge of buying up all the rice from the major rice shops in the old town."

"Prepare fifty catties of aged glutinous rice that is over fifty years old. Remember, it must be plump grains that have been dried in a dry cellar. Do not accept a single grain of damp or moldy glutinous rice."

Lin Ye continued writing the second line.

"Go to the slaughterhouse in the suburbs and find me black donkey hooves that are over thirty years old."

"You need the front hooves, and the hair on the hooves cannot be shaved; they must retain their original earthy smell."

The fat man took the order and nodded repeatedly.

"Leave it to me. I'll pay them extra to search overnight, and I guarantee I'll gather the money for you by tomorrow morning."

Lin Ye then handed the second form to Bai Yu.

"Old Bai, you have connections in the antique business. Only you can find this item."

Bai Yu looked down at the paper, which only had six words written on it.

Five Emperors' Corpse-Suppressing Coins.

"The fake copper coins on the market that are made by sand casting brass to look old are completely useless against this kind of ancient evil object."

Lin Ye stared intently at Bai Yu.

"I want a genuine set of coins from the five emperors: Shunzhi, Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, and Jiaqing."

"These five copper coins must be genuine originals that were buried with the deceased, absorbed the earth's energy in the underground palace of the tomb, and were brought out of the ground by the tomb raiders."

Bai Yu adjusted his glasses, fully aware of the difficulty of this task.

"These original copper coins, tainted with the resentment of the dead, are not accepted by antique shops. Only tomb raiders on the black market have them in stock."

Bai Yu folded the form neatly and stuffed it into his pocket, his tone solemn.

"Don't worry, Mr. Lin. I'll contact a few familiar gangs and spare no expense to help you gather these five coins."

Lin Ye patted Bai Yu on the shoulder with satisfaction.

"Besides magical artifacts, modern survival gear is also essential. That demonic cave is full of miasma and poisonous insects, so a full set of gas masks is indispensable."

"High-powered explosion-proof flashlights, high-strength polymer climbing ropes. Lao Bai, can you find a way to get me a few sets of military-grade portable oxygen circulation equipment? Ordinary filter cartridges can't withstand the toxic soil of Miao territory."

"No problem, I'll get the equipment application for the scientific research trip sorted out within two days," Bai Yu readily agreed.

Two capable logistics officers received their assignments and got to work.

The fat man drove the van out of the backyard and headed straight for the various black markets in Jiangzhou City with Bai Yu in tow.

The funeral parlor returned to tranquility.

Sunlight streamed obliquely into the room through the glass doors.

Lin Ye sat at the octagonal table, not looking at the mountains of ancient books and archives.

He closed his eyes, mentally rehearsing the perilous nature of this trip to Miao territory.

Ayougu walked to the table, looked at the small bronze box that was sealed shut, and swallowed hard.

"Manager, are you really planning to take that monster's finger into the mountains? What if it comes back to life halfway there?"

Lin Ye opened his eyes, his eyes revealing a resolute determination to destroy the old and establish the new.

"It is the best guiding compass; that immortal bone is calling to it. If we want to find the true entrance to the Underworld Palace, we must carry it with us."

He stood up and walked into the shadows of the corridor.

Leng Yue stood there quietly, her gaze always following him.

Lin Ye reached out and grasped her cool, delicate hand.

"My lady, this trip to Miao territory is likely to be a tough battle."

Leng Yue grasped his hand in return.

On her stunningly beautiful face, a smile that seemed to defy the passage of time blossomed.

"Wherever my lord goes, I will go; even if it means facing mountains of knives and seas of fire, I will pave the way for him."