Lu Shanjun's plan to escape from the underworld was very simple, because it was already summer and July 15th would be here soon. After some time, on the day of Ghost Festival, the gates of the underworld in Laoyang Prefecture would be opened.
If someone offers sacrifice to a ghost on this day, the ghost can receive a Yin talisman that is injected into its body, and then leave the gates of hell to enjoy the sacrifice up close, and also see its family.
Long before sneaking into the underworld, Lu Shanjun had already paid several people to offer sacrifices to Lan Ningke after dark on July 15th. Because they were paid enough money, the sacrifice could be a little grander.
On the 15th of July, the people who had been invited previously set up tables for sacrifice at home or in some alleys.
In this way, Lan Ningke managed to escape from the gates of hell without any danger. As for the Yin Talisman, it was swallowed by Lu Shanjun shortly afterwards. Although the underworld found him almost instantly after it sensed it, how could Lu Shanjun, who had collected ghosts and concealed his aura, be found by an ordinary ghost messenger
One day in late July, the weather was unbearably hot, but the head of the Dong family in Laoyang Prefecture took his wife and second son out of the city and went to the tomb of his eldest son.
The servants took out the tributes from several food boxes and baskets one by one and placed them in front of Dong Bicheng's tomb. The gray-haired Mrs. Dong personally fiddled with the paper silver ingots and various paper money together with her maid.
When everything was almost ready, the servants lit the candles on the candlesticks, as well as the paper silver ingots and paper money.
Mrs. Dong looked at her husband with slightly red eyes and nodded to Mr. Dong.
Mr. Dong, with a head full of silver hair, had a solemn expression. He took out a carefully folded notice from his arms and unfolded it. His lips trembled for a moment before he spoke.
"Son, Cao Shangfei is dead. This morning someone took away the 2,000 taels reward from my Dong family. Dad went to see the thief himself and asked the government coroner to check repeatedly. He also invited some of the victims who had witnessed the incident to come to our government. They all confirmed that it was Cao Shangfei himself. If you know this, you can rest in peace!"
After saying this in a hoarse voice, Mr. Dong placed the notice in his hand into the pile of burning paper money and lit it.
"Brother, Cao Shangfei had his limbs cut off and turned into a human pig. He was still alive when he was sent to my Laoyang Mansion, but he seemed to have been frightened silly. Even so, he still responded when asked some questions, and it was confirmed to be Cao Shangfei. I have been asking for so long but still can't get any news about him. It turns out that he has changed his name and started a brothel business. He is still as despicable as ever..."
Dong Biwu clenched his fists and said angrily.
"He had actually been in the neighboring mansion the entire time. But this time he finally got the punishment he deserved. He was beheaded in a human pig jar. But I've never seen that before. Brother, you really should have seen it. Hahahahaha..."
Dong Biwu smiled and loosened his clenched fists, which also symbolized the untying of a knot in his heart.
Today's events reminded the two elders and the second son of the Dong family of the pain of losing their son again, but Cao Shangfei's death was a happy one. At this moment, Mr. and Mrs. Dong felt a little lonely and a little fortunate.
The two elders were naturally heartbroken by Dong Bicheng's death, but they were also very worried about their second son. The second son, Dong Biwu, who is now an adult, liked to pester Dong Bicheng and ask him to take him out to play since he was a child.
The death of his brother not only made the two elders of the Dong family very sad, but also deeply stimulated Dong Biwu. Since then, he has practiced martial arts diligently every day. Although he never mentioned anything special, the two elders of the Dong family were also very worried that Dong Biwu would find ways to seek revenge on Cao Shangfei. If there was an accident, the Dong family really could not bear the pain a second time.
Fortunately, God has mercy on us, and Cao Shangfei died after all.
However, the two elders of the Dong family and Dong Biwu might not have expected that Dong Bicheng had already known the news of Cao Shangfei's death long before they paid tribute to him.
There was no way out. At this time, Dong Bicheng was already a substitute ghost messenger. Thanks to Ji Yuan's relationship, the underworld immediately brought him out of the ghost town.
As a result, Cao Shangfei was taken to the underworld after his death, and he ran into Dong Bicheng directly. It was really a narrow road for enemies to meet...
At this moment, Lu Shanjun was already on his way to the northern border of Dazhen.
Although it was Lan Ningke who took the initiative to ask for the killing of Cao Shangfei, Lu Shanjun was also very happy to do it. What's more, there was a reward of two thousand taels of silver, which was definitely not a small amount of money, enough for ordinary people to eat for several lifetimes.
However, for someone like Lu Shanjun who has no shortage of gold and silver, two thousand taels is just icing on the cake. If it was given to Ji Yuan, even with Ji's current personality, he would probably still be happy for a while.
. . .
Luoqing City, a prosperous city in the northwest of Zuyue State, is an extremely important city in Zuyue State. Its prosperity is even greater than that of Zuyue State’s capital, and it is known as the Western Luoqing and Eastern Yue Center.
In history, dynasties born in the land of the ancient Yue Dynasty used Luoqing as their secondary capital or even their capital many times.
Yan Fei and Niu Batian were living in a small manor outside the prosperous Luoqing city at this time.
The manor is not big, with only four or five houses. The garden outside is planted with various vegetables, fruits and other fruit trees, as well as grape vines, jujube trees and other fruit trees. Apart from the existing fruit trees, the seeds of vegetables, fruits and melons are scattered in a rough way and left to fend for themselves, without even weeding. If there is anything to pick, they are picked, and if there is nothing to pick, they are bought.
The manor is very close to Luoqing City. If you want, even an ordinary person can reach Luoqing City in less than half an hour. Not to mention Yan Fei and Niu Batian.
Over the years, the two of them have traveled to many places in Zu Yue. The one who stayed the longest was Luo Qing. Not only was it comfortable to live there, but the key was that Niu Batian insisted on dragging Yan Fei to stay here and refused to leave.
In Niu Batian's own words, he had developed feelings for all the girls in the brothels in the city.
In addition to practicing martial arts all the time, Yan Fei would occasionally ask Niu Batian to take him to find some ghosts or even some insignificant monsters to practice with. The mere competition between martial arts masters was no longer enough to satisfy Yan Fei.
It is not easy for other people to find these things with their naked eyes, but Niu Batian is a monster with profound cultivation, so it is not difficult for him to find them.
As for why Niu Batian has been hanging out with the warrior Yan Fei, on the one hand it is because they have been brothers for a long time and their relationship has been getting better and better, and on the other hand it is because he decided to help Yan Fei avoid disaster at the beginning, so naturally he has been following him.
After all, even if Yan Fei could enter the innate realm, the lifespan of mortal warriors was only a few decades. The tiger demon named Lu had to come before that person died. For Niu Batian, he could wait for these decades, and it would be very interesting to travel with Yan Fei.
Early that morning, Niu Batian woke up from his bed yawning.
"Ahh... huh... I slept so comfortably..."
Lao Niu straightened up, rubbed his face, moved his ears, and could hear clothes fluttering and the sharp whistling of long swords cutting through the air in the garden. He knew that Yan Fei had already gotten up to practice martial arts.
But at this time, his right eyelid began to twitch. Lao Niu blinked hard, but still couldn't stop it. Then he rubbed his face, and then it calmed down.
He twisted his body and got up from the bed, yawning and walking to the stone table in front of the house, where Yan Fei had already made tea.
Niu Batian turned over a teacup, picked up the teapot and poured a cup. He didn't care whether it was hot or not, and drank it all together with the tea leaves in one gulp. He drank several cups before stopping, then rubbed his right cheek and eyebrows.
After practicing a set of moves, Yan Fei wiped the sweat off his face and walked towards Niu Batian.
"Brother Niu, are you awake?"
Niu Batian frowned and rubbed the right side of his face, making "tsk tsk" sounds. When Yan Fei sat down and poured himself some tea, he looked at him and said.
"Brother Yan, I'm wondering if something bad is going to happen to me recently. My eyelids are twitching non-stop. Do you think I should stay away for a while to avoid getting you involved?"
Actually what Niu Batian said made a lot of sense. No matter how young he was, he was still a cultivator after all. His spiritual perception was far beyond that of ordinary people. It was very abnormal for his eyelids to twitch for no reason.
Yan Fei shook his head.
"Brother Niu, there's no need to do that. You said before that you would help me fend off the tiger monster. If you're in trouble, I should avoid you? That doesn't make sense. Although I'm a mortal with little martial arts skills, I'm easily overlooked. Who knows, I might be able to help. Besides, eyelid twitching isn't necessarily a disaster..."
Yan Fei said this and looked at the red mark on the corner of Niu Batian's eye that had not been washed away.
"Maybe Brother Niu has been overindulging himself and is a little weak, or maybe it's a sign that his money has run out?"
Niu Batian was stunned for a moment, took out a silk bag from his arms, and shook it, only the sound of sporadic copper coins could be heard. This purse was not his, but Yan Fei's.
"Uh... hehe... Brother Yan has a point. Money and possessions are only external things that can be returned quickly. We can just go kill some fools and we'll have some."
Niu Batian smiled awkwardly and put Yan Fei's purse on the table. As for his own money, it was long gone.
"By the way, Brother Yan, what are we having for dinner today? The roast lamb you cooked last time was really good. How about we have it again today, roasting more this time?"
For Lao Niu, in addition to the necessary spiritual practice in the world, he must also implement the four words "eat, drink, play and have fun", so that life can be colorful.
"Haha, Brother Niu, this fat sheep is 150 cents each..."
"Okay, just ignore it. Just ignore it."
Lao Niu interrupted Yan Fei and was about to talk about something else, but suddenly his brows furrowed again, he looked around the manor, moved his ears and sniffed.
"Brother Niu, what's wrong?"
"Brother Yan, someone is coming. No, it's not a person. Although it's very faint, the burning smell is not something that a human can have. It can't escape my nose. I just don't know if it's coming for you or for me!"
Niu Batian said with a sneer and stood up from his seat. Yan Fei also stood up subconsciously and looked into the distance following Lao Niu's gaze.
Faintly, a figure appeared at the end of the path outside the manor, walking slowly towards this side, and in a short while it had approached the vegetable field outside the manor.
"Brother Niu, do you know him?"
Lao Niu shook his head slightly.
"I don't know her, but people like that bitch are good at changing their appearance. She might be one of our enemies. Or maybe your boyfriend has arrived."
Neither of them made any move. They watched Lu Shanjun walk all the way to the outside of the inner circle fence and stand still. He did not step into the fence, but just stood there and asked.
"You two, does the flying swordsman Yan Fei live here?"
Yan Fei narrowed his eyes and looked at Lu Shanjun.
"I do live here, but no one knows that I am Yan Fei. Who are you, sir?"
The man standing outside the fence gate bowed politely and said with a smile.
"I am Mr. Lu Shan. I have come to visit you after nearly twenty years."
"Good fellow, are you the tiger demon?"
Without waiting for Yan Fei to speak, Niu Batian spoke first, with a demonic aura and powerful momentum rising from his body.