Xiang Nan picked up Joohyun and Lisa at the Ghost Gate. After taking the two to register as a living soul, they found a coffee shop selling tea.
What? Are you asking why there's a coffee shop?
The Underworld even had a cafe, so what was unusual about the tea business?
Lisa surveyed the tea in the jars somewhat curiously. He sensed a faint spiritual power in the tea and vaguely realized the role of these teas.
"Has the Underworld developed into this?" Joohyun was very surprised since she entered the Underworld, "It's exactly the same as the world of the living."
"It's still a little different." Xiang Nan explained, "The spirit tea we ordered is the first-class tea here, so it looks no different from the tea in the world of the living, but in fact, most of the food in the Underworld is only slightly spiritual, but bland."
"Bland? I see." Joohyun then weighed a little, and then asked again, "How much does a cup of this flavorful tea cost?"
"Based on the real-world conversion, such a cup of tea is about 100,000 yuan," Xiang Nan answered.
"Poof!" Joohyun was so scared she just spewed a few drops of tea. She quickly covered her mouth with her hand. A small cup for 100,000 yuan; then that mouthful she sprayed would be equivalent to several thousands ah.
Lisa looked on in amusement. He took out a napkin and handed it to Joohyun, while politely saying to Xiang Nan, "Thanks for your generosity."
"Don't mention it. Don't mention it. You guys come once in a while," Xiang Nan said with a smile.
"How can we do that?" Joohyun hurriedly shook her head and said, "A civil servant's salary is not high. When we go back, I will burn more paper money for you."
"It's okay actually," Xiang Nan said meaningfully. "My salary may be small, but my extra income is good."
"..." Joohyun and Lisa instantly fell silent. The civil servants of the Underworld were so evil...
"Ahem..." Joohyun felt that it was inappropriate to continue this topic and changed the subject, "We came here to find my grandfather. Has he come out of the Underworld?"
"I have been working outside for some time, but I have not heard about the Perfected Wu's return from the Underworld," Xiang Nan replied.
"Then is there a way to check? My grandfather appeared in our dreams last night. I think he should have come out from the Underworld," Joohyun said.
"Then he should have come out from there. Let me ask my colleagues in the housing management office to find out if he had come to the River of Forgetfulness to register and apply for real estate," Xiang Nan said.
Aside from being separated by 3000 miles of water, there was also a barrier between the Underworld and River of Forgetfulness. After death, if ghosts wanted to appear in dreams in the world of the living, they usually would go to the River of Forgetfulness, which had no barrier. It was precisely because of this that Xiang Nan believed Elder Wu had returned to the river, hearing Joohyun say that Elder Wu entrusted them with dreams.
Xiang Nan called a ghost messenger at the Housing Management Office. The other party replied that Elder Wu did not register and apply for a temporary residence in the River of Forgetfulness. Xiang Nan was stunned for a moment, and then called the Household Registration Administration. The ghost messenger from the administration said that if Elder Wu still wouldn't register, they would drag his name into the blacklist of the office. He reminded him that once he was blacklisted by the administration, his lodgings and reincarnation would be subjected to restrictions.
"......" The management of the Underworld was also quite strict.
Lisa: "If we can't find news about grandpa in these two places, does it mean that he's still in the Underworld and has not come out?"
"It's quite possible." Xiang Nan exclaimed, "As expected of Irin's grandfather, it is awesome he could give dreams to the two of you through the barrier."
"Awesome, my ass." Joohyun felt suddenly grumpy. "He somehow entrusted a dream to us last night. He clearly wants us to come here. As a result, we came, but we couldn't find him. What is this called??"
"Perhaps..." Lisa guessed very reasonably, "Grandpa wants us to go to the Underworld to find him."
"The Underworld?" Joohyun turned her head and asked Xiang Nan, "How do we get into the Underworld?"
"Well... Except for a few extremely special ghost messenger errands, other people who want to enter the Underworld must have Mingwang's permission." Xiang Nan said awkwardly, "And... It seems... There has never been a precedent for a living soul to enter the Underworld."
"In other words, all we need is Mingwang's decree to do so?" Joohyun completely ignored the second half of Xiang Nan's sentence.
"Yeah." Xiang Nan nodded.
"How do I get his decree?" Joohyun asked.
"..." Are you guys still planning to go, huh? Xiang Nan wiped the sweat on his forehead and said, "You can't apply for Mingwang's decree without a major accident."
"How can this be?" Joohyun was disappointed.
The Lord of the realm naturally wouldn't just meet anyone who wanted to see him. This didn't surprise Lisa. He pondered for a moment and asked, "Is there a ghost messenger who can go in and out of the Underworld at will?"
"Yes..." Xiang Nan immediately responded to Lisa's question, "Black and White Impermanence."
Fortunately, it isn't Niu Tou and Ma Mian!
This was Lisa and Joohyun's common thought after hearing Black and White Impermanence.
Although Lisa and Joohyun had excellent cultivation, they couldn't stay in the Underworld for a long time. After they found a way, they immediately left the cafe and went to the tavern that Black and White Impermanence often patronize.
Black Impermanence and White Impermanence were very recognizable. The solid-colored suit of the two people, one black and one white, was eye-catching, not to mention the strong cold aura around them.
"Are you Black and White Impermanence?" Lisa was still thinking about how to greet them appropriately rather than politely, but Joohyun ran ahead and asked them directly.
"Yo! Isn't this Xiao Wu's granddaughter?" Black Impermanence immediately recognized Joohyun.
"Yes, yes, Xiao Wu's granddaughter." White Impermanence couldn't help but spit out a dirty word halfway through, "Why is it so awkward to say Xiao Wu?"
"Xiao Wu?" Joohyun really couldn't associate the low-key, weak, and cute Xiao Wu name with her grandfather.
"It's all that awful old Wu Li's fault," Black Impermanence scolded, "He's a handful of years old, but he's still pretending to be young, that old bastard."
Although Joohyun also admitted that her grandfather was a bad old man, she couldn't allow others to berate him. When she heard Black and White Impermanence's scolding, her cheeks immediately puffed up in anger. She said, "My grandfather is only 70 years old, but who knows how many thousands of years old you are? What qualification do you have to say that my grandfather is a bad old bastard? You guys dress so young. You're the ones pretending to be young."
"..." Black and White Impermanence exchanged glances. As expected, she was from the Luoshan Sect, no doubt about it.
"Irin..." Lisa was taken aback when Joohyun quarreled with Black and White Impermanence. They were in the Underworld, and Black and White Impermanence were well-known supernatural beings for a long time. Starting a fight with them was asking for a beating.
In fear that Joohyun would suffer, Lisa hurriedly walked forward, blocked her behind him without a trace, and then apologized to Black and White Impermanence, "Venerable Hei, Venerable Bai, Irin is quick-tempered, but she meant no harm. I hope Your Excellencies will excuse her."
"Lisa?" Black Impermanence asked White Impermanence, "He's named Lisa in this life, right?"
"Yes," White Impermanence replied.
"It's really hard to recognize him since he suddenly lost his evil qi."
"You said it."
Isn't it a little weird for you guys to talk about the party involved right in front of him?
Fortunately, the two didn't chat for too long. Black Impermanence then asked Lisa, "Are you here to find Elder Wu or Mingwang?"
What do you mean? Lisa was rendered speechless by his unexpected question. It's reasonable to say he was here to find Elder Wu. Why did Black and White Impermanence think he wanted to find Mingwang?
"We're here to find grandpa and Mingwang, too," Joohyun answered.
"Heh, interesting." Black Impermanence was excited, and gossiped with White Impermanence, "This disciple took a liking to someone's apprentice, and her master fancies his master's daughter. This generation is a bit messy ah."
"It's indeed messy," White Impermanence nodded.
"What did you say?" Joohyun was confused.
"You guys want to go to the Underworld, right?" Black Impermanence guessed.
"Yes," Lisa replied.
"Do you want us to take you in?" White Impermanence also guessed.
"Yes." Lisa bowed a bit. "I wonder if it's convenient."
"There's no need for you to do that." Black Impermanence said, "If you want to go, stand on the Naihe Bridge and shout twice. Mingwang will open the barrier for you."
Black Impermanence's instructions for the two stunned them. Joohyun was completely baffled. Can Third Brother open the barrier with just two shouts?
Meanwhile, Lisa reacted after a moment of bafflement. Combined with what Black and White Impermanence said earlier, he already had a certain guess about Mingwang's identity, although he found it a bit unbelievable.
"Thank you both." Lisa thanked Black and White Impermanence after he figured things out.
"You're welcome." Black and White Impermanence had been polite to Lisa from the beginning to the end.
"Let's go." Lisa pulled Joohyun and headed out.
"Third Brother?" After coming out of the tavern, Joohyun looked in puzzlement at Lisa. Black and White Impermanence have not yet promised anything. Why did they come out?
"I probably know why Grandpa is looking for us." If Mingwang was really the person he guessed, Lisa already knew of the possible plot development that would follow.
Thinking of the follow-up that would likely happen, Lisa was a bit teary-eyed. What the hell was this?
Despite Joohyun's confusion, she had complete trust in Lisa, so she just followed him and walked to the Naihe Bridge.
One River of Forgetfulness and the six karmic realms of reincarnation; the Naihe Bridge was divided into two directions, symbolizing the six karmic realms of reincarnation. Because Meng Po's soup was still boiling after Elder Wu overturned it, the two did not see Meng Po on the bridge.
Lisa led Joohyun and stood on the bridge. He looked at the transparent barrier on the other side of the river and exuded a pale golden soul power without warning.
"Third Brother?" Joohyun glanced at Lisa in surprise. Didn't she instruct Third Brother not to use his power at will before they came here? Why did he suddenly use his soul power?
The moment the pale golden soul power touched the barrier, a golden light suddenly lit up from the barrier, and finally formed a golden spiritual bridge spanning between the Forgotten River and the Underworld.
"What's this?" Joohyun looked at the golden bridge of light beneath her feet and stared in awe.
"Let's go." Lisa didn't explain either. He took Joohyun's hand and lifted his legs onto the golden light bridge. Where the two passed, the golden light disappeared and finally stayed within the boundary of the Underworld.
Lisa did not stop. He followed the spiritual power perception all the way to Mingwang's residence. The black iron door opened with a bang the moment Lisa approached. Lisa's face twitched unnoticeably. He raised his legs and walked in. When they passed through the courtyard and entered the hall, he saw a familiar back.
"This disciple pays my respects to Master." Lisa's eyes trembled. When he figured out that the Underworld Lord was really his master, he was so excited that he almost shed tears.
Although Joohyun was confused about the turn events, she also followed suit and paid her respects.
"Get up." Mingwang turned around and looked at the disciple with mellow soul power but not the slightest trace of evil qi. The millenniums of reincarnation finally resolved it, then all his efforts were not in vain.
However... Why did he fall into this girl's hands every single reincarnation???
Why is Third Brother's master looking at me so strangely? Joohyun blinked in confusion.
After the shock of the sudden meeting passed, Lisa began to catch up with his master.
"Master, how did you become the ruler of the Underworld?" In his impression, his master has always been indifferent to fame and fortune. Against all expectations, his master ran and became an official, and also became the ruler of the Underworld.
"It's not all because of you." Mingwang felt uncomfortable just thinking about what had been bothering him for millennia.
"Me?" Lisa was surprised.
"You probably don't know. The first time you were reincarnated after your death was a miserable one. You only lived for five years before ending up in the Underworld," Mingwang narrated, "Thinking about it, at that speed, even if you have reincarnated every five years, I don't know how long it would have taken to get rid of the drought demon's evil qi. I kept thinking about how to get you a good reincarnation. It so happened that there was a shortage of City Gods in the Underworld at that time, plus I had some merits, so I sought this position."
"I originally just wanted to go through the back door and arrange somewhat better parents for you." Speaking of being a City God: "As a result, I sat as a City God again and again and unknowingly got promoted and became the ruler of the Underworld."
"..." Lisa was both touched and speechless, "It's been hard on you, Master."
"Don't mention it!" Whom could he tell his millenniums of heartache?
Lisa wanted to say something else, but a sudden noise erupted outside. Afterward, a clear young voice shouted from outside, "Miaomiao, Miaomiao... Come out, listen to my explanation."
"Who's that?" Lisa looked at Mingwang in bafflement.
"Ignore him. It's just a hateful kid, a toad wanting to eat swan meat," Mingwang said.
A toad wanting to eat swan meat; Lisa was flabbergasted. Xiang Nan seemed to have said that grandpa fell in love with Mingwang' daughter. Could it be...
Before Lisa had time to think about it, he heard another shout from outside, "Miaomiao, when I gave you the Soul Summoning Bell, everything I said was sincere. I, Wu Li, can swear to God."
Soul Summoning Bell? Wu Li? Joohyun suddenly stood up from her seat: "Grandpa?"
Joohyun was pleasantly surprised, and her body responded faster than her brain. She ran out, pushed the dark door open, and met a handsome, clear-eyed boy ecstatically.
Who's this??
"Irin, when did you get here?" Caught off guard by the sight of her granddaughter, Young Wu also froze.
"O-Old man?" Joohyun was dumbfounded. This teenager's silhouette indeed vaguely resembled her grandfather a bit.
"No...cough..." Young Wu reflexively wanted to protest her Old Man title, but when his granddaughter called him Old Man, he seemed a little powerless to refute.
"It's really you, whoa. How did you become like this? What are you doing here? Who is Miaomiao?" Joohyun shot him a series of questions.
"Ahem..." Young Wu reddened with embarrassment.
He has been doing silly things for a period and didn't mind being seen, but when his granddaughter chanced upon it, even his iron-like face couldn't really withstand it.