Mysterious mirror hanging high

A few months later, Jing Yu, who was sitting cross-legged in the cave and breathing in spiritual energy, opened his eyes and saw a brown wooden communication talisman lying quietly beside him.

He picked up the communication talisman, and with a quick thought, he understood the contents clearly. He muttered to himself:

"This is the first time a merchant from the Netherworld has arrived so soon?"

After saying that, he turned into a streak of light, escaped from the cave, and soon arrived at the agreed location in the communication talisman, and saw Gu Ming who had been waiting there for a long time.

"Fellow Daoist Xuan Jing."

A flash of light passed by, and it turned out to be a jade slip thrown by Gu Ming. The man said:

"Your [identity] in the immortal world has already been prepared. Your birthplace, family, and the sect you cultivated in... everything has been arranged perfectly. Unless someone scrutinizes it closely, no one can find any fault."

Gu Ming added, "But if you yourself are searched by a high-level cultivator, then there's nothing you can do... Of course, if you really get to the point of being searched, I'm afraid your life will be in danger, and whether your identity is exposed or not won't matter."

"You can keep this identity jade slip and read it slowly. While you're there, go do some field research... Our target this time is a small realm in the lower realm, called the [Guyuan Realm]."

Gu Ming took out a golden treasure shuttle. Jing Yu saw it clearly and felt vaguely that he had seen this treasure shuttle somewhere before.

Seeing Jing Yu's curious gaze, Gu Ming patiently explained, "This is the [Boundary Breaking Golden Shuttle], which can ensure we can safely pass through the barrier of the Immortal Realm."

"So that's it!" Jing Yu suddenly realized. He remembered that he had exchanged a treasure called [Small Boundary-Breaking Golden Shuttle] in the [Six-Line Star Palace]. This [Boundary-Breaking Golden Shuttle] might be a higher-level item.

The two of them hid in the treasure shuttle. The light and shadow around Jing Yu changed, as if he was in a glittering space, surrounded by constantly flowing golden sand. It felt quite magical.

Gu Ming raised his hand, and some puppet insects the size of a thumb flew out of his sleeves and scattered all over the inside of the golden shuttle. Soon these puppet insects were trapped in the flowing golden sand and seemed to be expelled from the golden shuttle.

"Directional puppet worm, used to determine direction."

Gu Ming casually said, "Generally speaking, there are some stable spatial passages from the Immortal Realm to the Lower Realm, but most of these passages are controlled by some powerful forces, or are supervised by the high and mighty Immortal Courts and Demon Courts. If you want to use these stable spatial passages to reach the Lower Realm, you have to pay a hefty fee per person."

"Our Chamber of Commerce is a small business, so we definitely can't take these obvious spatial passages. So we have to take some risks and take the [small path] with a lot of spatial turbulence."

Jing Yu was speechless after hearing this: "Is that dangerous?"

"It's okay, actually." Gu Ming said with a smile, "Our Chamber of Commerce is extremely experienced in this area, so there's no need to worry about your life. But if you're unlucky, it's not impossible to get lost in the spatial turbulence for dozens or even hundreds of years."

"There's no other way. To lower costs, we have to take some risks."

The next moment, the [Boundary-Breaking Golden Shuttle] burst out with a dazzling golden light and instantly disappeared from the spot.

Not long after, a golden treasure shuttle appeared in a chaotic and unknown place. Gu Ming inside the treasure shuttle breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and said with a smile:

"You're lucky! I didn't get lost in the spatial turbulence for too long this time. It seems you're a man of great luck! When I first went down to the mortal realm to do business, I encountered a rare spatial storm that scared me half to death."

Jing Yu looked inward, silently gazing at the three different-grade [white], [blue], and [purple] colored [Avoiding Misfortune] Life Beads embedded in the [Chanxuan Life Plate] on the back of the Xuan Mirror in his Dantian. He forced a smile.

"Fellow Daoist Gu's ability to control the shuttle is truly exceptional."

"This is the border between the Immortal Realm and the Dark Realm. We are about to enter the Dark Realm."

"But before that, we need to wash away the [immortal aura] from us."

After saying that, Gu Ming took out a jade bottle and tossed it to Jing Yu: "Apply the spiritual liquid inside to your entire body. Remember to apply it to your Nascent Soul Dharma Image as well. Then wait for three hours."

Then, while applying the paint, Gu Ming explained, "Whether a cultivator was born and raised in the Immortal Realm, or a cultivator who ascended from the lower realms, after spending some time in the Immortal Realm, they will inevitably be contaminated with immortal energy..."

"This kind of immortal energy isn't anything special in the Immortal Realm, but for the many [Outer Realm Demons] living in the [Dark Realm], creatures imbued with immortal energy hold a fatal attraction to them."

"If you don't apply this spiritual fluid to completely wash away the immortal energy on your body, and then rashly escape into the dark world... you will be attacked crazily by those monsters."

Jing Yu poured out a little spiritual fluid and sniffed it, then suddenly asked, "Is this also part of the cost-cutting measures?"

"nature."

Gu Ming chuckled to himself, "The most important ingredient in this spiritual fluid is a spiritual spring called the [Mortal Transformation Spring]. The water from the Mortal Transformation Spring doesn't have many other uses besides washing away auras. It shouldn't be considered extremely precious, but because the conditions for its formation are extremely harsh and it can't be moved, its price has been artificially inflated."

"Although the demand for the [Netherworld] is low, for some people... especially those elderly cultivators who want to return to their roots, it is truly a necessity. The vast majority of the [Mortal Transformation Spring] is controlled by powerful forces, and our Chamber of Commerce only has a very small amount of [Mortal Transformation Spring], which is why we can do this business."

Gu Ming continued, "Now, Xuan Jing, you understand why our Wanjie Chamber of Commerce, a mere Mahayana force, can also do business with the Wanjie Merchants, right?"

"I dare to guarantee that even if a force at the level of an immortal were to engage in this business, as long as they don't have the [Transformation Spring], they will definitely lose everything."

"Even for our Chamber of Commerce, after cutting costs in so many links, whether we can make a profit is still unknown."

Gu Ming sighed, "For example, this trip we're taking to the lower realms is 99% likely to be a loss... But there's no other way. A new merchant going to the lower realms for the first time must be led by an experienced merchant. Otherwise, they won't understand the many twists and turns involved and could easily suffer a huge loss."

After three hours, Jing Yu felt that the last trace of his [immortal energy] seemed to have disappeared. Sure enough, he saw Gu Ming nodded and said:

"That's all right!"

"Next, we just need to enter the [Dark Realm] and follow the [Guyuan Realm Road Sign] provided by the Chamber of Commerce to descend to the [Guyuan Realm]."

He casually asked, "Xuan Jing, didn't you provide the [Dao Benchmark] of your hometown's small world to the Chamber of Commerce? It is said that a specific Dao Benchmark of a small world can be exchanged for a full 10 million treasure coins."

Jing Yu's mouth twitched: "That's not the case."

A hint of admiration flashed across Gu Ming's eyes. "Fellow Daoist, you are quite clear-headed in this regard... In fact, few merchants can withstand the temptation of ten million precious coins."