I didn't wait for Lao Liu to answer and patted Hei Ye Xiao on the shoulder, "Hei Ye Xiao, take Lao Liu back to the Central Region. If I'm not mistaken, Nangong Zhen should have returned to the Central Region."

"You go find Zhao Yuezhu and have her take you to Nangong Zhen."

"No matter what it takes, you have to get Nangong Zhen to cooperate with us to deal with Jiang Chen. Go now!"

Ye Yang and I accelerated at the same time, passing Lao Liu, and rushing towards the Demon Region.

Hei Ye Xiao suddenly stopped, and without asking Lao Liu if he agreed, he carried him on his back and ran back.

Hei Ye Xiao returned to the edge of the Central Region and put Lao Liu down, but Lao Liu stood there without moving.

Hei Ye Xiao said anxiously, "Lao Liu, the Hall Master wants you to contact Zhao Yuezhu, why aren't you doing it?"

Lao Liu shook his head and said, "The Lord asked me to contact Zhao Yuezhu, not Yueying Dao."

"The Samsara Holy Lord is using the martial world as a chessboard to gamble with the Heavenly Dao. Who can guarantee that Yueying Dao isn't a pawn in his hand? Now, who can tell what Yueying Dao's true purpose is?"

"But..." Hei Ye Xiao hesitated, "But, if we don't contact the owner of the inn, Nangong Zhen, who can deal with Jiang Chen?"

Lao Liu said, "Me not contacting Yueying Dao doesn't mean I can't contact Nangong Zhen."

Lao Liu closed his folding fan and took three yellow incense sticks from his backpack. Pinching the ends of the incense sticks with his left hand, he waved his fan with his right hand, cutting the three incense sticks diagonally before lighting them and inserting them into the ground.

Even Hei Ye Xiao couldn't tell what Lao Liu was doing.

Lao Liu explained, "This is a secret signal between the Divine Hand Explorers, called 'Borrowing a Blade' (Jie Dao). It's specially used in secret realms to invite deceased Divine Hand Explorers to help."

"Hopefully, it can find Nangong Zhen!"

Hei Ye Xiao said in surprise, "You know Divine Hand Exploration techniques?"

"No!" Lao Liu said, "I just know some martial world anecdotes. I had a feeling that the Lord and the others might enter some secret realm. So I did some homework in advance."

"I couldn't find the Divine Hand Exploration techniques, but I found some secret signals between Divine Hand Explorers! Borrowing a Blade is one of them."

Divine Hand Explorers enter and exit secret realms to explore ancient secrets, often with a slim chance of survival. Many outstanding Divine Hand Explorers are buried deep in the secret realms, and their souls are imprisoned within.

Later Divine Hand Explorers, if they discover the marks of their predecessors, can use the Divine Hand Explorer's secret signal to summon the other party's ghost to help them.

The Divine Hand Explorer lending the blade also has to pay a certain price, it just depends on how they trade.

When Lao Liu's burning incense was halfway down, a layer of mist suddenly rose in the distance.

When the thick mist rushed towards the two of them like a torrent, Hei Ye Xiao subconsciously raised his palms and assumed a defensive posture.

Lao Liu reached out and grabbed his wrist, "Don't move!"

As soon as Lao Liu said these two words, they were surrounded by mist. With Hei Ye Xiao's eyesight, he couldn't see anything more than a meter away.

Soon after, Lao Liu saw a glimmer of light in the mist.

It looked like someone was holding an oil lamp and slowly walking towards them.

The light moved until it was about two or three meters away from them before stopping.

Hei Ye Xiao and Lao Liu could only see a little light flickering in the air, but they couldn't find or see what the person holding the oil lamp looked like.

The person holding the oil lamp stood there silently for a few seconds, then suddenly turned around.

The light, like a ghost fire, was blocked by him and disappeared.

Lao Liu hurriedly said, "Friend, please stop! I have something to say!"

The man said coldly, "You are not Divine Hand Explorers, I don't need to say anything to you."

If I had been there at the time, I would have told Lao Liu that the person's voice was Nangong Zhen.

Lao Liu smiled and said, "Friend, why be so fixated on my identity? Martial world assistance emphasizes exchange. We have things that each other needs, why can't we cooperate?"

"Haha..." Nangong Zhen laughed, "What big words. You and I have never met, how do you know what I want?"

Lao Liu said, "May I ask if you are the owner of the inn, Nangong Zhen?"

"This old man is!" Nangong Zhen replied, "However, I don't need anything to trade with you. Considering that you have some connection with the Divine Hand Explorers, I won't make things difficult for you, you can leave!"

Lao Liu shook his fan and said, "What if I told you that I have the Yellow Springs Archives (Huangquan Mi Dang)?"

Nangong Zhen heard about the Yellow Springs Archives and turned around abruptly, "Do you know the consequences of playing with this old man?"

Lao Liu immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Before this, Lao Liu had no confidence in persuading Nangong Zhen at all. Just like Nangong Zhen said, he really didn't have anything to trade with Nangong Zhen, let alone borrow Nangong Zhen's power to deal with Jiang Chen.

The reason why Lao Liu mentioned the Yellow Springs Archives was entirely a gamble.

He knew that what Divine Hand Explorers were most interested in were the treasures left behind in myths and legends.

The Yellow Springs Archives were exactly something from legend.

However, Lao Liu didn't expect Nangong Zhen's reaction to be so great.