Shen Bing thought for a moment and said, "Bring him up."
Li Xiao turned and went downstairs. Shen Bing put Little Nine into his inventory, then tapped the Teleportation Talisman and teleported to Hell again.
Arriving on the riverbank in Hell, Shen Bing released Little Nine, climbed onto his back, and said, "Little Nine, follow this river upstream. Make it quick!"
Shock filled all eighteen eyes on Little Nine's nine heads. "Master, what is this creepy place? Why does everything around here feel so sinister?"
Shen Bing said calmly, "It is indeed a place for ghosts. A place where ghosts live."
Goosebumps instantly rose all over Little Nine. "This... couldn't be Hell, could it?"
The fear in his voice was unmistakable.
Shen Bing slapped him on the back. "Damn, have some backbone! You're the Nine-Headed Worm! You're someone who dared to fight Great Sage Sun for three hundred rounds... er, a demon, rather. And you're afraid of Hell? Didn't Great Sage Sun turn the Underworld upside down back then? Why are you chickening out?"
Little Nine said bitterly, "Master, how is that the same? Hell used to be a realm unto itself, but it was actually governed by the Heavenly Realm. Both the immortals and the Buddhists had representatives in the Underworld. Back then, it was merely a subordinate power. But the Heavenly Dao withdrew, and the Gate to Hell closed. Although neither the Heavenly Court nor the Buddhist Kingdom has issued a definitive statement about this, rumors have long circulated in private that it was entirely the result of the workings of the Heavenly Dao. Who knows what the Underworld has gone through since then?"
Seeing how serious Little Nine looked, Shen Bing couldn't help giving a wry chuckle.
The way he put it, it sounded as though the