Jiang Cheng had heard of crossing the Bridge to the Underworld. Put simply, it meant borrowing outside forces to reach the underworld. Things like candles, paper offerings, and paper ingots went without saying; they also needed some rough white paper used by paper effigy shops, old bamboo strips, a basin of water, a bronze mirror, and other items.
Li Bai explained that they needed these things to build a paper bridge, then place a basin of water beneath it. The two ends of the bridge would represent the worlds of yin and yang. That was why crossing the Bridge to the Underworld had another, more direct name: the Soul-Delivering Crossing.
They would perform the Soul-Delivering Crossing at the third watch, when yin and yang converged. As long as the Fatty could carry Gao Yanqing across the bridge on his back, Gao Yanqing would never be able to turn back, and the Fatty would have passed his trial.
It sounded simple, but the danger involved was obvious. Jiang Cheng and Zhang Qizheng agreed that Zhang Qizheng and the others would gather the items they could use that night, while Jiang Cheng took the Fatty to Wu Family Lane in the west of the city to look for clues.
Since the Fatty was involved, Jiang Cheng couldn't feel at ease leaving things to Zhang Qizheng and the others. He decided to have Li Bai and Yao Shunyu go with them, too. Li Bai had considerable knowledge of the occult arts, and with her there, nothing too serious would go wrong.
Of course, they would do all of this without letting the Fatty know.
After they finished talking, everyone dispersed again and began a more thorough search of the funeral home. Jiang Cheng took the opportunity to secretly make a brief written record