In this yin vein outside the slave gate, the yin qi is particularly dense. The stairs are still just forming a mist-like gaseous diffuse everywhere, but when they reach the bottom of the stairs, the density is even higher, and it has already taken on the form of a liquid, and I don't know what kind of situation it will be after entering the yin veins?

Walking down the steps, my whole body was soaked in the yin veins, but my clothes were not wet, and even my breathing was normal. Still, the dense yin qi like a liquid hindered my movements. I'm getting sluggish, I'm too slow to walk, I'll have to swim over, or grab the snail by the back and let it carry you there.

The speed of the big snail is not fast, but it can maintain its original speed after entering the Yin vein, which is not slow compared to humans. The fourteen ghost servants were not too affected, and moved freely. They are virtual bodies, and it is natural for them to enter and exit the yin veins, so they are needed to guide the forward path of the snail herd.

However, not all ghosts feel at ease in the Yin veins. This is not only the only way to go to the outer Yin City, but also the most important Yin Yuan production area in Zuoqiu City, and the labor force that produces the Yin Yuan is all ghost slaves!

The Yin veins are very wide, but except for the passage in the middle, both sides are full of ghost slaves with collars around their necks, and they are chained one by one. These ghost slaves all sat with sad faces, closed their eyes and mouths and didn't dare to say a word, and some of their bodies were still trembling slightly, as if they felt very uncomfortable.

Occasionally, one of them finally opened his mouth and spit out a yin element. Immediately, there was a ghost gang next to him who went over to take Yin Yuan away, and at the same time made a note on it in the account book. And the ghost slave who has completed the task can rest on the spot, take out some simple ghost food from his injuries to eat, and temporarily recover his grievances. It is likely that after a while, it will continue to struggle to condense the Yin Yuan.

I've heard Cao Zhe say before that an ordinary ghost slave can only condense one Yin Yuan a day. If properly rested and replenished, up to two can be condensed. Therefore, these ghost gangs who domesticated ghost slaves and engaged in Yin Yuan production were all profitable transactions. It's just that such a profiteering ghost secretary can't let go of the opportunity to exploit it, and the tax collection is very heavy!

In this way, the caravan moved slowly in the yin veins, and along the way, you could see the ghost slaves sitting on both sides. Roughly calculated, there must be at least 20,000 ghost slaves "mining" on my trip alone, and the economic strength of Zuoqiu City can be seen.

The stone walls in the yin veins are inlaid with a kind of fluorescent stone. This special ore will emit a green light as long as it is in a place with yin qi, and the denser the yin qi, the brighter the luminosity it emits. The ghost fire in the yin veins can't be lit, so they can only rely on this to illuminate.

After walking a kilometer or two, the ghost slave was finally no longer visible in the yin veins. After walking for a few more kilometers, I finally saw another staircase at the end, and it was upward. The caravan walked up the steps and left the long Yin vein. Entering the Yin veins before gave me the feeling of entering the water, but now it is coming out of the water.

Outside the exit of the stairs was pitch black, and there was no one here to light a ghost fire or inlaid fluorescent stone on the stone wall to illuminate us. The men who accompanied us quickly lit a ghostfire lantern on the back of each large snail to illuminate the path under our feet. And Bu Ye, who was sitting at the front, threw a ghost fireball far ahead from time to time to explore the way. When the fire hits the ground or a stone wall, it will burn for a few minutes, barely enough for an entire caravan to pass through.

Out of the Yin Vein, we enter a large cavern, and from here there is a desolate underworld. Luckily, the underground caverns near Zuoqiu have been explored before, and there are signs at every important fork in the road.

"Left Hill City →"

"Hanging Lou Town →"

"Black Salt City →"

At a three-way intersection, I saw a sign like this, with three arrows pointing in three different directions. The arrow that says "Zuoqiu City →" points in the direction we came, while the arrow that says "Hanglou Town →" points diagonally upward.

The ghost fireball thrown by Bu Ye illuminated the scene in that direction, and it was a steep upward slope full of boulders. Thus, the whole caravan began its difficult climb.

However, such signposts are not always correct. Kong Jian, who was walking with me, said that these street signs were often tampered with by nearby ghost bandits in order to lure the caravan into their ambush circle. Therefore, in addition to reading the street signs, you have to rely on experienced veterans to lead the way.

Because they have been walking on these mature trade routes for decades, they can even remember each route and judge which direction they should go just by observing the nearby terrain and landforms.

The terrain of the underworld is indeed very complicated, and almost any kind of terrain will be encountered. Sometimes there is a big deep pit or cliff in front of you while walking, and you can only rely on the Bu Ye who leads the team in front to find it in time, and then bypass it along the edge. Such deep pits and cliffs are often accompanied by strong winds blowing upwards at the same time, and walking on the narrow edge path is definitely terrifying.

The presence of deep pits and cliffs means that there will definitely be steep slopes on the way up. It's just that one is at the top of the cave and the other is at the bottom of the pit. Climbing is the most tiring for people, especially in the natural terrain there are no artificially chiseled steps in advance, so you can really only rely on "climbing" to go up!

But the most tiring thing is probably the "Boulder Jungle"!

The Boulder Jungle is just a figurative metaphor for the kind of terrain that is full of boulders. Walking on this terrain requires repeated climbs up and down, or walking around boulders, which is severely slowed down. Moreover, while we are tired, we must always be on guard against ghost bandits or monster attacks that may appear at any time. This terrain is a great place for an ambush.

When the caravan reached noon, they only stopped and hastily ate some dry food carried on the snails' backs. People eat dry pancakes with water, and ghost servants eat air-dried white caterpillars that swell up again after soaking in water. According to them, the white caterpillar tastes pretty good!

This white caterpillar is actually not much different from the caterpillar on the tree in the yang world, it is just a natural feminine thing. Then it is simply marinated in the method of ghost meal and then air-dried, it becomes a very delicious and convenient dry food, ghosts like to eat, in fact, people who have practiced Yin Gong can also eat it when they are very hungry.

The ghost eats dry food to replenish his grievances, to ensure that he can maintain a strong mental state during a long journey, and to avoid getting confused and leading the big snail into a deep ditch in the ground while walking. However, if necessary, the ghost will not starve to death if he does not eat, and can give the scarce dry food to the living.

Bird meat especially likes to eat white caterpillars, and always finds a few of those ghost servants to eat from time to time. The ghost servants couldn't stand being softened by him, so they had to give up one or two white caterpillars in exchange for their own ears to be clean.

In fact, as a bird meat scatterer in charge of logistics and baggage, he can take the opportunity to take out a little more to fill his stomach when distributing food. But he actually behaved very well, and every time he took out something from the snail's back, he had to register it in his small ledger, and he couldn't make any mistakes. No wonder Buyeken relieved himself to take care of the logistics and bookkeeping.

I don't know whether to admire his serious and rigorous work attitude, or to despise him for taking advantage of small advantages?

Bu Ye is also really dedicated!

Under his leadership, the caravan rested very little along the way, and it didn't last long, and basically kept moving forward. After walking all day, he sat on the back of the snail and pinched his fingers, estimated the hour, and finally stopped at about eight o'clock in the evening, and ordered to camp on the spot and make food.

Bu Ye's approach is naturally not very flattering, and many dart masters and buddies often complain privately in the second half of the team, complaining that they have spent too much time on the road and too little time to rest. Someone else secretly accused Bu Ye and said: "He can sit on the back of a snail without walking, how do you know how hard it is for us to walk continuously on two legs for such a long time?" ”

But complaining is complaining, but no one dares to openly oppose Bu Ye's decision, or he says stop when he stops, and he says he will leave. When I was camping, I was naturally arranged by him to stir-fry and cook, while the others chose a safe and flat place nearby to temporarily unload the goods on the snail's back.

Fifteen large snails had been crawling between the rugged and steep underground burrows with heavy cargo all day, and it was time for them to relax and rest.

The camping site is near an underground stream. There are no rocks here, it's all soft soil, and if you want to cook rice and stir-fry, building a stove is the first problem. It was the first time I had done this kind of work in the field, and I had no experience, so I asked how to get bird meat.

He shrugged his shoulders and said, "We usually set up a shelf with a few swords and iron guns, and the pot is hung on top and the fire is baked underneath. What else could it be? ”

"If you hang the pot up like this, you can only use boiling, and you can't fry vegetables." I questioned.

"What else could I do? Lao Gu used to cook some rice porridge, noodles and bean soup, and he had never seen him stir-fry. ”

"Then do you want to make do with it in the future?" I smiled wryly.

"You're a professional chef, it's up to you!" He kicked the ball back to me.

I shook my head, still deciding to figure it out on my own. At this time, I saw the pots and pans that had been taken out, and I suddenly had an idea. Hey, Master taught me this method when he taught me the Ruyi Shovel before, why don't you give it a try?