Chapter 34 Opening the Yin Road

Xie Xun glanced at him, then calmly stepped on Fu Qinghuai's foot under the table.

Instead of dodging, the latter used the tip of her shoe, which had been stepped on, to wrap around his ankle. Under the cover of the tablecloth, the two shoe tips were ambiguously intertwined.

Xie Xun froze, his ear tips instantly turning a light red. He glared at Fu Qinghuai, embarrassed and annoyed, only to meet a pair of smiling, peach-blossom eyes.

"Xunxun stepped on me and it hurt so much."

Fu Qinghuai leaned closer and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear, a triumphant smile playing in his peach blossom eyes, "But if it's Xunxun's foot, she can step on it for as long as she wants."

"It would be best to... step on it barefoot."

He whispered those last words close to his ear, like a seductive fox spirit.

Xie Xun tried to pull his foot back, but it was only entangled more tightly. He glared at Fu Qinghuai warningly, but the other only intensified his actions, hooking his ankle under the table and gently rubbing it.

Just then, Ah Can suddenly interjected, "Speaking of which, Brother Xie, have you heard of the Liu family? There's been a lot of talk about them in Hong Kong circles lately."

Xie Xun's eyes flickered for a moment, then he took the opportunity to pull his foot back and asked seriously, "Which Liu family?"

"That's the Liu family, the one whose ancestors were supposedly triad bosses. They've now gone straight into real estate, but they still have a lot of influence in the underworld."

Ah-Can lowered his voice, "Their entire ancestral hall is filled with old lanterns, and there's some eerie thing enshrined inside, but no one has ever seen what it is. Recently, for some reason, the Liu family seems to be secretly collecting all sorts of supernatural objects, causing quite a stir in Hong Kong."

Upon hearing this, Xie Xun glanced at Fu Qinghuai, who then smiled and placed a piece of garlic pork rib into his bowl.

Liu Xiuyuan's expression seemed somewhat solemn, clearly recalling the haunted house of the Liu family from the previous night.

Since they both have the surname Liu, it's hard not to make connections.

"The Liu family will appear at the Ghost Market in three days. I really want to trade something that came from the underworld."

Ah-Can said mysteriously, "Moreover, a ghostly path leading to the underworld has been infiltrated into the ghost market, the kind that even the living can go through. It's said that the Liu family specially opened it up for that transaction!"

"The Liu family has indeed been making frequent moves lately,"

Liu Xiuyuan frowned even more, and after a moment of contemplation, he looked at A-Can and asked, "But how exactly did you find out about this?"

"Online! Master, you won't believe me, just look!"

Ah-Can took out his phone, swiped the screen, and handed it to Liu Xiuyuan. "Look, these two encrypted sections, Xuanmen Chigua and Gangcheng Yiwenlu, have been the subject of much discussion lately."

Liu Xiuyuan put on his reading glasses and started looking at it. Seeing Xie Xun's curiosity, A-Can took his phone and searched.

Before long, they found several of the anonymous posts that Ah-chan had mentioned earlier.

[Subject: The Liu family has been frantically buying up bronze mirrors from before the Republic of China era, and they even require the mirrors to have a red plum blossom mark on them. This is really strange.]

[38 replies to post #23: Not just bronze mirrors! Last week they bought eight military compasses from the War of Resistance against Japan from my shop. The needles all pointed southwest and wouldn't move. I wonder what big thing they're up to.]

[Subject: Last night I witnessed the Liu family covering a moving box with a black cloth in the back alley; I could smell the stench of a corpse as I passed by]

Xie Xun frowned as he looked at the post. Fu Qinghuai leaned forward and abruptly tapped one of the comments.

[Post #168: Their housekeeper came yesterday to order a spirit banner, requesting that the cloth be dyed with soil from a century-old grave. Is this to open a path to the underworld?]

[169 Reply to 168: It's more than just sending off ghost banners! My uncle works at a funeral home, and he said the Liu family smuggled three bodies of people who died violent deaths last month, and even drove peach wood nails engraved with the birth dates and times into the hearts of each body. This is clearly an attempt to use a forbidden technique of resurrection!]

Xie Xun's fingertips trembled slightly as he swiped the screen, a chill running down his spine. After quickly browsing through the posts, he opened another one.

[Subject: Chanting sounds have been coming from the Liu Family Ancestral Hall every night recently, but they are reciting the Rebirth Mantra backwards, which doesn't sound like they are trying to help the deceased. What sinister thing are they trying to do?]

[10th floor replying to 7th floor: My grandma said this is going against fate, using evil magic to forcibly keep the spirit in the mortal world]

"Resurrection... defying fate..." Liu Xiuyuan's face turned pale. "Who is the Liu family trying to bring back to life?"

Fu Qinghuai suddenly chuckled and raised an eyebrow at Xie Xun, "It's not a resurrection."

Seeing that the latter was instantly intrigued, he was in a great mood and waited for the latter to continue asking him questions. However, Xie Xun just stared at him without saying a word.

Xie Xun didn't ask, so he deliberately didn't say anything, and continued to look at him with a smile.

Under the table, Xie Xun suddenly took his hand, clearly wanting to know more.

Fu Qinghuai was pleased and condescended to say slowly, "The Liu family wants to use living souls as sacrifices to reshape the physical body of an old monster trapped at the boundary between Yin and Yang."

As soon as these words were spoken, a loud crash of something heavy falling to the ground came from outside the window, startling the group. Curses immediately erupted from downstairs.

"Who is it? Putting flower pots on the balcony! How inconsiderate!"

Xie Xun withdrew his gaze and was about to continue scrolling down the screen to see the follow-up replies when the page, which had been discussing so enthusiastically, suddenly went blank, and the constantly loading screen flickered.

Finally, only the five large characters "This post does not exist" remained in the center of the screen.

He refreshed the entire forum in defiance, only to find that all posts related to the Liu family had been erased, and even the discussion about the Yin Banner, which had been updated just half a minute ago, had disappeared without a trace.

"What happened?"

Ah-Can's voice trembled slightly. "There were three hundred replies just three seconds ago, and suddenly they all disappeared?"

The speed of their actions suggests that the person behind this is very concerned.

Fu Qinghuai should know the inside story about who the Liu family intends to revive through the Yin Road.

Xie Xun glanced at him, put down his phone, and didn't continue the discussion. Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit tense, Liu Xiuyuan took the initiative to change the subject.

The atmosphere at the dinner table eased considerably in an instant.

Xie Xun, however, had no appetite; the shrimp dumplings in his mouth tasted like wax.

"Xunxun, eat more."

Fu Qinghuai acted as if nothing had happened, and proactively placed a piece of deboned fish into his bowl, his smile still incredibly irritating. "Why are you looking at me? Does Xunxun think it tastes better to eat while watching me? Well, I guess I am quite a sight to behold."

Xie Xun's lips twitched a few times, feeling utterly speechless.

I've seen narcissists before, but I've never seen anyone this narcissistic.

He looked away irritably, stopped thinking about anything else, and focused on eating.

It was already evening when Xie Xun came out of Liu Xiuyuan's teahouse. He politely declined the other party's offer to stay overnight, as he was not used to staying in other people's homes and planned to find a hotel on his own.

However, after searching on Meituan and other travel apps, he found several hotels with good reviews, but all of them said they were fully booked for the day.

Remembering his unlucky constitution, Xie Xun understood and didn't care much. He packed his luggage and planned to go back to the cheap hotel he hadn't had time to stay at before and make do for a few nights.

Even the receptionist at that small hotel told him apologetically, "Sir, unfortunately, the last room has just been booked."

Just as Xie Xun was standing on the street, pondering whether to try his luck in a more distant place, Liu Xiuyuan called.

Upon hearing about Xie Xun's predicament, he laughed heartily on the other end of the phone.

"I happen to recall a place, an old-fashioned hotel in Kowloon Walled City. The facilities are a bit outdated, but the location is convenient and the price is reasonable."

He paused, then continued, "It's just... there are occasional unsavory rumors circulating about the shop, supposedly some disturbances at night. But for you, young friend Xie, that shouldn't be a big deal, right?"