Leaving the operating room, I shared my concern with Yaoyao. After listening, she furrowed her brow. "Why didn't you say anything earlier? If you had, there would have been no need to take this risk."
"I only thought of this layer of complexity after Bingbing woke up. Do you also think there's a possibility?"
"I didn't think there was an issue at first, but hearing you say it, this possibility feels increasingly likely..."
"So what do we do now? Dig out the demon core?" I asked.
Yaoyao shook her head. "It's too late for that. Her situation is different from yours. Daji and Diana's demon cores were temporarily stored in your body, but now Bingbing has merged with the demon core. It has become Bingbing's 'human core.' If we dig it out, Bingbing will die..."
"I know that, but Bingbing is a Yin Messenger. She's not afraid of death," I reminded her softly.
Yaoyao pondered for a moment, then her eyes lit up. "So, this is your backup plan, right?"
I lit a cigarette. "Regardless, I don't think King Miao can outsmart me."
"Then you should hurry and find that Li Yuanba. If Bingbing is 'occupied' by Yuwen Chengdu, we can then kill her with peace of mind and revive her later," Yaoyao's proposed plan was completely logical.
Indeed, the immediate priority was to go to the underworld and make a backup of Li Yuanba. If Bingbing was fine, that would be best, effectively adding a powerful fighting force to our side. Even if we fell into King Miao's trap and were used by him, it wouldn't matter. We had a backup plan and were willing to "kill Bingbing" to thwart King Miao's scheme.
Bingbing couldn't go, so I had to go alone. The most reliable way to handle this was to ask the King of Hell directly. The destination was still Erqi City.
Erqi City was the counterpart to Shangjing. Little Slave and Bao Bao could accompany me, providing support.
After dinner, one human and two ghosts set off towards the City God Temple of Babao Mountain and entered the underworld with practiced ease.
I first used the Swift Wind Technique to borrow two horses in Erqi City and had the cavalry deliver them to pick up Little Slave and Bao Bao. After arranging for them, I went to the West Palace to meet the King of Hell.
Upon arriving at the western palace, I was struck by how similar it was to the West Garden where Emperor Yang of Sui was strangled. I even suspected that this temporary palace in Erqi City might also have been designed by Wang Shichong in the underworld.
Sima Dekan was still there and asked me how things were, whether I had revived Yuwen Chengdu. I said no. He patted his chest. "That's good, that's good. That god of slaughter is too terrifying!"
Sima Dekan led me to the King of Hell. This time, she wasn't wearing formal attire, looking as though she had just come from court. She had removed her outer robes and was wearing only her plain inner garments, seated in the back hall, precisely in the spot where Yang Guang had been killed, and where Yuwen Chengdu's demon core had appeared.
I felt a little uneasy about this and mentioned it to the King of Hell when I reported.
"Oh? You mean I might also be strangled to death here?" the King of Hell chuckled.
"If you gave me a hundred guts, I wouldn't dare think that," I laughed. "But it's better to be careful. At least from a feng shui perspective, your position is the White Tiger within the White Tiger sector, carrying very heavy malevolent energy. How about we find you a different place to reside?"
The King of Hell paused, then smiled softly. "Esteemed Official Wu, you are unaware that in the underworld, the theories of the five elements and four directions are the exact opposite of the mortal realm. This is not the White Tiger sector, but the Azure Dragon within the Azure Dragon sector. It is most auspicious!"
So that was the explanation? Ah, I understood. No wonder many houses in the underworld seemed to face away from the sun, or were at an angle to it, with very few "facing south."
Interesting. In the mortal world, whether it's houses or tombs, facing south is considered ideal, consistent with feng shui principles.
In the underworld, it's the opposite; facing north is auspicious.
I gained some insight. Afterward, I inquired about Li Yuanba's whereabouts. The King of Hell stated she had never heard of such a person. However, she asked Sima Dekan to summon the Minister of Revenue, who might have heard of him, as he had the entire roster of the netherworld, even if he was a demon, he had used a human name before.
Soon, the Minister of Revenue entered the hall. Sima Dekan introduced him as an official named Qian, whose name I hadn't heard before, possibly not very famous in history.
The King of Hell asked if Li Yuanba could be found in the records.
Minister Qian pondered for a moment and said, "Your servant recalls catching a glimpse of that name about two hundred years ago."
What a memory, to remember a glimpse from two hundred years ago?
"It seems he was... in Mangshan, living as a bandit," the minister added.