Lu Shan Jun’s plan to escape from the underworld was simple. Since it was already sumr, the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month would soon be approaching.The gates of the underworld in Laoyang Prefecture would open for the Ghost Festival.1
If soone perford a sacrificial ritual for a ghost on this day, the ghost could receive a Yin talisman, which would be implanted into its body, allowing it to exit the gates of the underworld and enjoy the offerings in person, and even see their family.
Long before infiltrating the underworld, Lu Shan Jun had already paid several people to give offerings to Lan Ningke after dark on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month. Because he had paid a substantial amount, the sacrifices could be a bit more elaborate.
On the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, the people had had hired indeed set up tables for their offerings in their hos or in so alleyways.
Thus, Lan Ningke escaped the gates of the underworld without serious incident. As for the Yin talisman, it was swallowed by Lu Shan Jun shortly afterward. Although the underworld sensed it and ca looking for him almost imdiately, how could ordinary underworld officials find Lu Shan Jun, who was hiding in a ghost and was concealing his aura?
One day late in the seventh lunar month, the weather was unbearably hot, but the head of the Dong family of Laoyang Prefecture brought his wife and second son out of the city and went to the grave of his eldest son.
The servants took out the offerings from the food boxes and baskets one by one, and placed them in front of Dong Bicheng’s tomb. Madam Dong, with her gray hair, personally arranged the papercraft silver ingots and various paper coins with her maids.
When everything was nearly ready, the servants lit the candles on the candlesticks, and set the paper coins and paper ingots afla.
Madam Dong looked at her husband with slightly redenned eyes and nodded to him.
Patriarch Dong, with his full head of silver hair, took out a carefully folded note from his pocket and unfolded it. His lips trembled slightly before he spoke.
“My son, that Cao Shangfei is dead. This morning, soone claid the two thousand taels in reward from my Dong family. I personally went to see the thief and asked the coroner to examine him repeatedly. I also invited so of the victims from our prefecture who witnessed the incident. They can all confirm that it was Cao Shangfei himself. If you hear of this in the afterlife, know that you can rest in peace!”
After saying this in a hoarse voice, Patriarch Dong placed the note in his hand into the burning pile of paper money and set it alight.
“Brother, that Cao Shangfei was mutilated and turned into a human pig. He was still alive when he was brought to Laoyang Prefecture, but he seed to have been scared out of his wits. Even so, he still responded when asked certain questions, so were able to confirm that it was Cao Shangfei without a doubt. We had been asking around for so long but hadn’t been able to find any news about him. It turned out he had gone into hiding and was now running a brothel. A leopard can’t change its spots; he was still as despicable as ever…”
Dong Biheng clenched his fists and said angrily.
“He had been living in the neighboring prefecture all along, but this ti he finally got what he deserved—beheaded like a human pig in a slaughterhouse. I’ve never seen that before, brother, you really should have seen it, hahahahaha…”
Dong Biheng smiled as he loosened his clenched fist, symbolizing the resolution of a knot in his heart.
The day’s events reminded the Dong family elders and their second son of the pain of losing their son once again, but the death of Cao Shangfei was cause for celebration. At this mont, the Dong couple felt both lancholy and relief.
The two elders were naturally heartbroken by Dong Bicheng’s death, but they were also very worried about their second son, Dong Biheng, who was now an adult. Since childhood, he had always liked to pester Dong Bicheng to take him out to play.
The death of his elder brother not only caused great distress to the Dong family elders, but also deeply affected Dong Biheng. Since then, he had been practicing martial arts diligently every day. Although he has never ntioned anything special, the Dong family elders were very worried that Dong Biheng would try to find Cao Shangfei to take revenge. If sothing unexpected happened, the Dong family really would not be able to bear the pain a second ti.
Fortunately, the Heavens were rciful,2 and Cao Shangfei ultimately died.
However, the two elders of the Dong family and Dong Biheng probably did not expect that Dong Bicheng already knew about Cao Shangfei’s death long before they paid their respects to him.
There was no way around it: Dong Bicheng was now a candidate to be an underworld official. Through Ji Yuan’s connections, the underworld administration imdiately brought him out of the Ghost City.
As a result, when Cao Shangfei died and was taken to the underworld, he just so happened to be led directly to Dong Bicheng. Truly a twist of fate…
At this very mont, Lu Shan Jun was already on his way to the northern border of Dazhen.
Although it was Lan Ningke who had taken the initiative to request the killing of Cao Shangfei, Lu Shan Jun was quite happy to do so. Moreover, the reward of two thousand taels of silver was definitely no small amount. It was enough for an ordinary person to live on for several lifetis.
However, for soone like Lu Shan Jun who had no lack of gold or silver, the two thousand taels were rely icing on the cake. If it had been given to Ji Yuan, even with Ji Yuan’s current temperant, he would probably have been quite happy for so ti.
…
Luoqing City, a prosperous city in the northwest of the country of Zuyue, was an extrely important city for the country. Its prosperity surpassed even that of the capital, and it was known as “Louqing of the West,” with Zuyue in the east.
Historically, dynasties that originated in the land of Zuyue had often used Luoqing as a secondary capital, or even the main capital.
Yan Fei and Niu Batian currently resided in a small mansion outside the bustling city.
The mansion was rather small, with only four or five wings. The outdoor garden was planted with various vegetables and fruits, as well as grapevines, jujube trees, and other fruit trees. Apart from the fruit trees, the vegetables and fruits were all simply sown from seeds in a rough manner, left to grow and die naturally on their own. They didn’t even weed the garden. The plants would be picked if they bore fruit, or the fruits would be bought when there were none.
The manor was very close to Luoqing City. If one wanted, even an ordinary person could reach Luoqing City in less than half an hour. For Yan Fei and Niu Batian, it would be even easier.
Over the years, the two had traveled to many places in the country of Zuyue, but Luoqing was the place where they had stayed the longest. Not only was it the most comfortable place to live, more importantly Niu Batian insisted keeping Yan Fei there.
From Niu Batian’s own words, it seed he had developed feelings for all the girls in the city’s brothels.
Besides constantly practicing martial arts, Yan Fei would also occasionally ask Niu Batian to take him to find so ghosts or even so weaker monsters to practice on. rely sparring among fellow martial arts masters was no longer enough for Yan Fei.
While ordinary people might have had difficulty finding these things, Niu Batian, being a highly skilled monster, found them without much trouble.
As for why Niu Batian always hung out with Yan Fei, a martial artist, it was partly because they had been sworn brothers for a long ti, and their relationship had grown closer; it was also partially because he had initially decided to help Yan Fei avert a calamity, so he naturally stayed by his side.
After all, even if Yan Fei could reach the Innate Realm, the lifespan of a mortal martial artist was still only a few decades. That tiger demon surnad Lu would have to arrive before he died, right? For Niu Batian, these few decades were a perfectly acceptable amount of ti to wait. Besides, it would be quite interesting to travel around with Yan Fei.
That morning, Niu Batian woke up with a yawn.
“Ah… Whew… I slept so well…”
The Old Bull straightened up, rubbed his face, and twitched his ears. He could hear clothes rustling and the sharp whistling of a long sword cutting through the air in the garden, and knew that Yan Fei had already gotten up to practice martial arts.
However, at this mont, his right eyelid started twitching. The Old Bull blinked hard, but it didn’t stop. He then rubbed his face again and it finally cald down.
He twisted his body and got out of bed, yawning as he walked to the stone table in front of the house, where Yan Fei had already brewed tea.
Niu Batian picked up a teacup, poured himself a cup, and, without caring whether it was hot or not, downed it in one gulp, tea leaves and all. He drank several cups before stopping, and then rubbed his right cheek and eyebrows.
After Yan Fei finished practicing his set of kata, he wiped his sweat and walked towards Niu Batian.
“Brother Niu, you’re awake?”
Niu Batian frowned and rubbed his right cheek, clicking his tongue repeatedly. Only when Yan Fei sat down to pour tea did he look at him and speak.
“Brother Yan, I keep having the feeling that sothing bad is about to happen to . My eyelids keep twitching. Do you think I should stay away for a while so as not to implicate you?”
Niu Batian’s words actually made a lot of sense. No matter how lacking he was in ntal fortitude, he was still a cultivator, and his spiritual perception was far beyond that of ordinary people. Unexplained eyelid twitching was very abnormal.
Yan Fei shook his head.
“Brother Niu, there’s no need for that. You said before that you would help fend off the tiger demon. If you’re in trouble, why should I run away? That’s absurd. Although I’m just a mortal with ager martial arts skills, I’m easily overlooked because of that. I might just be able to help in so way. Besides, an eyelid twitching isn’t necessarily a bad sign…”
As Yan Fei spoke, he glanced at the red mark at the corner of Niu Batian’s eyes that hadn’t yet faded.
“Perhaps Brother Niu has rely overindulged in lust and is sowhat weak, or perhaps it’s a sign that your money is running out?”
Niu Batian was stunned for a mont, then took out a silk pouch from his robes. He shook it, and only a few copper coins jingled. This money pouch was not his, it was Yan Fei’s.
“Uh…hahaha…Brother Yan is right. Money is just an external tool, it will co back soon. We can just go kill so more fools, and then we’ll have so more.”
Niu Batian smiled awkwardly and placed Yan Fei’s money pouch on the table. As for his own, it was long gone.
“By the way, Brother Yan, what should we eat today? The roast lamb you cooked last ti was quite good. How about we have it again today? Let’s roast a lot this ti!”
For the Old Bull, besides his necessary cultivation, his life in the mortal world fully embraced the activities of “eating, drinking, and having fun,” as that was what made life colorful for him.
“Haha, Brother Niu, this fat sheep cost 150 coins per head…”
“Okay, forget I said anything, forget I said anything.”
The Old Bull interrupted Yan Fei. he was about to change the subject when he suddenly frowned again, looked around the manor, twitched his ears, and sniffed the air.
“Brother Niu, what’s wrong?”
“Brother Yan, soone’s coming. No, it’s not a person. Although it’s very faint, that acrid sll is sothing no human could have. It can’t escape my nose. I just don’t know if they’re coming for you or for !”
Niu Batian said with a cold laugh, and stood up from his seat. Yan Fei also subconsciously stood up, following the Old Bull’s daze into the distance.
In the distance, a figure appeared at the end of the path outside the manor, slowly walking towards them. In hardly any ti at all, they soon approached the vegetable garden outside the mansion.
“Brother Niu, do you know him?”
The Old Bull shook its head slightly.
“I don’t recognize him, but people like that old hag are good at changing their appearance, so he might be one of our enemies. Or maybe he’s ‘the one’ who has finally arrived for you.”
Neither of them made any move. They watched as Lu Shan Jun walked to the outer edge of the courtyard wall and stood there. He did not cross it, but rather asked a question.
“Gentlen, does the Flying Swordsman Yan Fei reside here?”
Yan Fei squinted at Lu Shan Jun.
“I do live here, but nobody knows that I am Yan Fei. Who are you, sir?”
The man standing outside the fence bowed elegantly and smiled.
“My na is Lu Shan Jun. Nearly twenty years have passed, and I have co to pay my respects.”
“Good heavens, you’re that tiger demon?”
Before Yan Fei could speak, Niu Batian spoke up, his body radiating a powerful and monstrous aura.
The Hungry Ghost Festival, the day when spirits are believed to co out from the lower realm to walk amongst the living. Similar in concept to Día de los Muertos. Lit. “Heaven had eyes”
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