"Just right, I can also ask this generation's Land God and Land Goddess how the Black City God managed to escape."
Thinking about going to the capital, Qin Ye couldn't help but talk to himself.
Afterward, Qin Ye clicked on the LoL ranking match to continue playing, waiting for Zhang Feng to help him sell some gold and silver jewelry to get money for buying a plane ticket to the capital.
———
Time passed quickly.
That night.
Capital, 749 Headquarters, Conference Room.
Lin De looked at the various reports submitted to him, rubbing his temples from time to time, his eyebrows never relaxing from beginning to end.
"We need to arrange reinforcements for the Dragon Lock Well over there."
The speaker was the head of the logistics department.
At this moment in the conference room, besides Director Lin De, there were also high-level officials from the logistics, research, and finance departments.
One of the Ten Grandmasters, Elder Zhang, had already been deployed to handle a first-level emergency occurring in various locations.
"Let Yue Wang go to Dragon Lock Well then." The finance department head suggested.
Director Lin De nodded. "I was thinking the same. By the way, is the spirit medium arranged?"
Mentioning Yue Wang, Director Lin De's expression became even more serious. He had already received the report on the Fengdu incident this afternoon. Since the matter involved the underworld, he did not dare to be careless and immediately ordered the bureau to contact a suitable spirit medium.
"It's already arranged." The logistics department head responded at this moment and continued.
"I initially wanted to have a spirit medium from the Northeast, one who worships the Northeast Masters, perform the Yin-walking ritual. But considering the Taoist traditions there, Yin-walking would also involve the Northeast Masters, so instead, I found a spirit medium from the Fujian-Guangdong area."
As soon as he said this, Professor Chen from the research department glanced at him.
"You found Granny Xia?"
"Yes." The logistics department head confirmed.
Hearing this, Professor Chen nodded in agreement.
"Inviting Granny Xia to perform the Yin-walking ritual is indeed a good choice. I used to study Yin-walking and invited Granny Xia as well. Although her power isn't at the top level, when it comes to the skill of Yin-walking, she ranks in the top three in the entire Great Xia."
The logistics department head followed up. "That's exactly why I invited Granny Xia. To be honest, when someone in my family passed away before, I also sought her help to communicate with the dead through Yin-walking."
Just as they were talking, a phone call came in. The logistics department head picked up the call. After finishing the conversation, he looked at Lin De and the other three.
"Speak of the devil—Fujian South Sub-bureau just informed me that Granny Xia is ready to begin the Yin-walking ritual."
He ordered a subordinate to turn on the conference room screen.
Immediately, a video call connected to the sub-bureau appeared on the screen.
There, Granny Xia and the sub-bureau officials were in a spacious room, where various ritual tools and materials had been prepared.
"Director Lin, I heard you want me to perform Yin-walking because something went wrong in the underworld?" Granny Xia spoke in a calm tone.
She was an eighty-year-old woman who, at first glance, seemed like just an ordinary blind old lady.
"Yes." Director Lin De said solemnly.
"I think Brother Cai should have told you about the Fengdu County matter. This time, we would like you to take a trip to the underworld to check the situation."
Receiving Director Lin De's confirmation, Granny Xia's face showed a hint of realization.
Without hesitation, she said, "If it's the underworld having problems, that makes sense."
She didn't keep them in suspense and explained. "Recently, my peers and disciples who conduct spirit medium work have encountered situations where they couldn't summon spirits, and sometimes they couldn't even enter the underworld."
"I even asked my peers from the Northeast about it and found that they were experiencing the same thing. Initially, we planned to wait a few more days to observe, as sometimes during special periods—like the Ghost Festival or a lunar eclipse—this can happen."
"Besides, 2024 is also a Yin year, so the underworld would be busier than usual. But now, it seems we were too optimistic."
Lin De rested his hands against his nose, his eyes flickering with thought. He hadn't expected that inviting a spirit medium would yield this additional piece of information. Now, based on Granny Xia's words, it was almost certain that something was wrong in the underworld.
Lin De spoke. "Please, Granny Xia, try to see if you can perform the Yin-walking ritual now."
"I'll try. It shouldn't be a big problem. I prepared in advance because I anticipated difficulties in performing the ritual." After speaking, Granny Xia was helped to sit at the ritual table.
Then under the watchful eyes of the audience, Granny Xia picked up a bowl of rice on the table, casually scattered it, and began the Yin-walking ritual.
She chanted in an ancient Minnan dialect that no one understood.
"From the East, I invite the Eastern Supreme Emperor of Purity; from the South, I invite the Longevity Emperor... I humbly ask to cross from Yang to Yin... I, Zhang Cuihua... knock on the gates of the underworld, one knock... two knocks..."
At this moment, from Lin De and the others' perspective, Granny Xia seemed to be having an epileptic seizure, continuously slapping the rice scattered on the table.
From time to time, sweat appeared on her forehead, her brows furrowed, and she used various strange objects prepared on the table.
Despite her strange actions, no one looked away; they all stared at her intently.
Meanwhile, in Granny Xia's perspective.
After a difficult process of Yin-walking, her blind eyes, which had been in eternal darkness, now saw light. It was as if a door in front of her was slowly opening, with a dim glow shining through the cracks.
She regained her vision. In her sight, or rather, her soul, at this moment, had crossed the boundary between Yin and Yang and finally entered the underworld.
In front of her, it was the same scene Yue Wang had seen inside the Ghost Gate.
The surrounding environment was dark, with ghostly fires flickering from time to time. A Yellow Springs Road paved with yellow soil and green stones extended far ahead.
The road was long. It seemed endless. In her spirit state, Granny Xia wiped the imaginary sweat from her forehead.
"This old body has been tormented, but I finally made it into the underworld."
She felt no fear at all. Even though the eerie atmosphere around her sent chills down one's spine, she was far too familiar with Yellow Springs Road, having walked it for many years. There was nothing to be afraid of.
In fact, rather than fear, she was more puzzled.
"Strange, why isn't there a single spirit on the road?"
On Yellow Springs Road, there were no wandering spirits of the dead, not even a single underworld officer or ghost soldier in sight. The entire road was eerily silent, like a curfewed street in ancient times.
It should be known that Yellow Springs Road is the path for souls from the mortal world to enter the cycle of reincarnation.
And people die every day in the mortal world. There should be spirits on every branch of Yellow Springs Road.
Granny Xia's face grew serious. Being unable to enter the underworld through Yin-walking was still normal. But an empty Yellow Springs Road? That was far from normal.
"Did I underestimate the severity of this situation?" She faintly realized.
The issue in the underworld might not be just a small problem. And at the same time, she understood, why the Ghost Queen, Yan Zhi, wanted the 749 Bureau to investigate personally.
If the Ghost Queen had simply described this scene, no one—not even herself, an experienced spirit medium—would have believed it.
With this thought in mind.
Granny Xia followed her memory of Yellow Springs Road and walked forward, determined to visit Fengdu City in the underworld and find out exactly what was going on.
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