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

At 2 PM, in the old city of Jiangzhou, at Panjiayuan Antique Street.

On a late autumn afternoon, there were few pedestrians on the antique street.

The locust leaves on both sides of the road were scattered all over the ground, making a crisp cracking sound when stepped on.

The streets were lined with stalls selling fake antiques and cheap jade.

The vendors leaned listlessly against their stools, dozing off.

Fatty Wang got out of the taxi and tightened the collar of his jacket.

He walked through the bustling outer street, following the route he remembered, and made his way through a secluded alley.

Deep in the alley, hangs a dusty wooden plaque that reads: "Half-Immortal Hall".

The armchair in front of the shop was empty, and the door was half-closed.

The sounds of Peking Opera arias drifted out from inside.

The fat man took a deep breath, pressed the boning knife at his waist, and mustered his courage to push open the door and go inside.

The shop was dimly lit.

A strange smell, a mixture of cheap sandalwood and moldy old wood, filled the air.

A gaunt old man wearing a yellowed Tai Chi uniform was lying on a rocking chair with his eyes closed.

He wore a pair of round-framed sunglasses and was fiddling with two shiny walnuts in his hands.

An old radio sat on the coffee table next to it, playing the story of "The Empty City Stratagem".

"Master Chen!"

The fat man strode over to the coffee table and shouted at the top of his lungs.

He kept Lin Ye's instructions firmly in mind that he must not be weak in his imposing manner.

The old man was startled by the shout and almost dropped the walnuts in his hand.

He pulled down his sunglasses, revealing a pair of narrow eyes that gleamed with shrewdness, and sized up the fat man.

"Who do we have here? It's just the lackey of the Lin family boy from Taiping Street."

Chen Banxian snorted coldly, put his sunglasses back on, leaned back in his rocking chair, and spoke arrogantly.

"What, did your boss strike it rich and send you to my little temple to collect protection money?"

The fat man didn't waste any words.

He pulled the yellow paper package directly from his pocket and slammed it hard on the solid wood coffee table in front of Chen Banxian.

"Snapped!"

A muffled thud.

Chen Banxian's initially dismissive expression froze the moment the yellow paper package touched the table.

A cup of piping hot tea on the coffee table had a thin layer of ice crystals forming on its surface at a speed visible to the naked eye.

A chilling aura of death from the underworld, penetrating the yellow paper seal, filled the entire room.

It was as if Chen Banxian had a spring under his buttocks, and he suddenly sprang up from the rocking chair.

His movements were so swift that he didn't seem like an old man on his deathbed at all.

"This aura...this is..."

He scrambled to the coffee table, his hands trembling, and carefully peeled back a corner of the yellow paper covering.

When that pitted, dark ore came into view.

Chen Banxian gasped, staggered back three steps, and slammed his back against the antique shelf, making several fake porcelain pieces rattle loudly.

"Fragments of floor tiles from the City of the Wrongfully Dead?!"

Chen Banxian's eyes, hidden behind his sunglasses, stared wide-eyed like a dead fish, and his voice became sharp and distorted due to extreme shock.

As a successor of the Lushan School, he spent half his life struggling in the quagmire of metaphysics.

He had only seen a few words about this kind of peerless Yin creature, which was tainted by the ancient laws of the underworld, in the most core ancient books and diagrams of his sect.

"Your boss... actually brought something out of that place alive?!"

Chen Banxian's gaze towards the fat man completely changed.

What kind of monster is that young man named Lin Ye?

Not only can he unleash the lost Pure Yang Thunderfire, but he can also move freely in and out of the legendary underworld ruins!

Seeing Chen Banxian's utterly shocked expression, the fat man's confidence surged to its peak.

He pulled up a chair, sat down, crossed his legs, and, mimicking Lin Ye's unhurried tone, began to speak slowly and deliberately:

"Old Chen, don't make a fuss. This broken rock is just a tip from my brother for asking for directions."

"Asking about travel expenses? Which route does Mr. Lin want to know about?"

Chen Banxian swallowed hard, but he couldn't take his eyes off the piece of ore.

If this thing falls into his hands, it would be enough to increase the power of his Lushan magic by a whole level, and he might even be able to break through the bottleneck he has been in for many years!

The fat man wiped the smile from his face, leaned forward slightly, and lowered his voice:

"My brother wants to buy some information. Where is the Yinshan Sect's stronghold in Jiangzhou, and even the entire Jiangnan province, hidden?"

This statement came out.

Chen Banxian's withered cheeks twitched suddenly, as if he had heard some terrible taboo.

"The Yinshan Sect? You...you're looking for the Yinshan Sect's core stronghold?"

The old man waved his hands repeatedly, shaking his head like a rattle drum.

"No, no! Boss Lin is confused! Those people are a bunch of mad dogs, and the Yinshan Ancestor they worship is extremely evil."

"I heard you just lost one of their outer elders last night. You're trying to lay low now, yet you're deliberately courting death?"

"I dare not take this stone, nor will I sell the information. You should find someone else!"

Chen Banxian knew all too well how terrifying the Yinshan Sect's retaliation could be; compared to this priceless Netherworld ore, he valued his life more.

The fat man was furious when he saw that the old fox was about to back down.

He suddenly stood up, unzipped his jacket with a "clang," pulled out the menacing boning knife stained with dark red blood from his waist, and slammed it hard onto the coffee table!

"Bang!"

The blade sank about an inch into the solid wood tabletop.

A fierce and malevolent aura, formed from the slaughter of countless lives, erupted within the cramped pawnshop.

The fat man's eyes widened, and his fleshy face trembled slightly with rage.

He was perfectly playing the role of a fugitive at that moment.

"Old Chen, my brother said you have to take this stone whether you like it or not! If you don't cough up something useful today, I'll use this butcher's knife to bleed you dry first!"

Under the oppressive aura of menace, coupled with the intimidating presence of Lin Ye's mysterious background, Chen Banxian completely cowered.

He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and slumped into a chair in despair.

"Enough, enough... I'm afraid of you bunch of evil spirits."

Chen Banxian looked around, as if afraid that someone might be overheard.

He leaned closer to the fat man, his voice so low it seemed to betray his secret.

"Blackwater Town".

"Seventy miles west of Jiangzhou, in Heishui Town, there is an abandoned No. 44 paper mill, where there is an underground sewage facility built on a mass grave."

"Several core protectors of the Yinshan Sect are secretly preparing a grand formation called 'Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts' there."

Chen Banxian stared intently at the fat man, his tone filled with extreme warning:

"Tell Boss Lin! They've laid a trap there. Their trump cards go far beyond just a few walking corpses. Going there is a nine-out-of-ten chance of death."

The fat man pulled the boning knife from the table, wrapped it up again, and tucked it back into his waistband.

He pushed the bag of Netherworld Ore in front of Chen Banxian, a smug smile on his lips.

"Nine deaths and one life? Old Chen, you underestimate my brother. Just wait and see. After tonight, the Yinshan Sect will no longer exist in the metaphysical world of Jiangnan Province."

After saying that, the fat man turned around, pushed open the wooden door, and strode into the late autumn sunset.

The setting sun lengthened his shadow.