Otherworldly Merchant

The moon hung high. Cool breeze brushed over. Baisha Village was really beautiful at night.

But such a beautiful night scene was scary at that moment.

Li Mazi moved stiffly in front of me. I followed behind him. There was no one but us on that broad street.

We walked like that all the way out of the village. I didn’t know what I should do at that moment.

When we walked past the old shaman’s house, I especially turned around to check her house. I was taken aback seeing two opaque white eyes gazing at me through the slit of the door.

Those pair of eyes were malicious and indignant. I could imagine that the old shaman was gnawing her teeth in anger.

I couldn’t help but take in a deep breath. What did she want? Early today, she said that she wanted to release us. But now, she had looked at me like that. 

Did she change her mind? Does she know my plan?

The more I thought about it, the more I felt that it had all gone wrong.

Making up my mind, I came and knocked on her door. I wanted to ask what she wanted to do after all.

The old shaman didn’t avoid me. She directly opened the door. Her white, murky eyes gazed at me as if she hated that she couldn’t eat me alive right now.

“Why? Why?” She screamed. “Die. You all must die!”

After yelling at me, the shaman slammed the door shut.

I was scared. The old shaman had said that not just to threaten me. 

She knows my plan and that I was plotting against her. Damn, I have to explain to her!

I knocked on the door hard but the old shaman didn’t pay any attention to me. At that moment, I heard commotions from the houses behind me.

Curiously, I turned around to check. The scene in front of me chilled me to the bone!

Almost at the same time, all the houses of the village opened their doors. Shadows walked out from them, one after another.

They all wore cold faces and their moves stiff. After walking out of the house, they followed behind Li Mazi, making a long line.

Under the cold moonlight, I could see those silhouettes clearly. They were all the men in the village.

I understood at that moment that it wasn’t just one person wreaking havoc in that village. It was both the old shaman and the young widow!

But I didn’t understand how these two had teamed up in all this.

In the desolate village, a dozen stiff-moving men were rolling their eyes, walking on the street. It was a scary sight!

Niu Dazhuang was leading that group! It seemed the beefy man couldn’t escape this calamity, either.

Goosebumps rose on my skin. I didn’t know where they wanted to go. But I knew it wasn’t anywhere nice.

Looking at Li Mazi going further away and that direction, I realized something and jumped up in fright. 

They are heading to the lake outside the village!

In their current condition, if they fell into the lake, there would only be one result. They would drown themselves. 

What should I do now? What should I do now?

I was restless like an ant running around in a hot pan. There was nothing I could do.

If you want to untie the bell, you need to find the one who tied it...

I knocked on the door harder, screaming. “Madam, please, can we talk? Will you really achieve what you want after killing those folks? Please think about it twice.”  

The old shaman wasn’t bothered by me. I heard someone chanting.

However, it didn’t feel like the Buddhist merciful prayer. It sounded like the buzzing voice from hell that tingled people’s scalp.

“Those stupid villagers should die. They deserve to die. Every single of them,” an icy-cold voice spoke behind me.

It sounded like the young widow living at the entrance of the village.

I was aghast. 

The young widow is here, too?

However, when I turned my head to see, I saw it wasn't the young widow. It was a villager. He was staring at me with his tongue stuck out. He looked like a man who had hung himself to death, and he seemed ready to jump on me.

Being startled, I hurried to avoid him, watching him cautiously.

I knew the man was being controlled by the young widow’s magic. I told him, “Tell me, what have they done that made you treat them so maliciously? Even if they’ve made a mistake, you don’t need to eradicate them, right? They do have a family, a wife or children to feed. You want to destroy the entire Baisha Village?”

“Listen to me. As long as you let them go, no matter how big your resentment is, I will take justice for you!” I screamed.

If only I had Li Mazi here in his sane state of mind, it would have been so easy. Using my speaking talent to persuade these people was as difficult as finding the way to heaven.

Since I understood my capacity, I didn’t provoke them any further, the man snorted then continued to follow the line, moving forward.

I could stop one or two of them, but how would I deal with such a long line? I had to focus on the root of the matter.

I knocked harder on the shaman’s door. “If you don’t mind, ma’am, would you want to tell me your story? I feel it shouldn’t go on this way.”

Before I finished talking, the old shaman opened the door. She stood at the entrance, looking at me from her doorway, talking naturally. “You don’t understand. If you knew the whole story, you would support me…”

She finally agreed to talk to me.

I understood clearly that it was my only chance. I tried to hit the iron when it was still hot. “Nobody was willing to give you justice in the past. Today, let me do that! Good deeds and evil deeds, everything will be repaid. But if you walk on this path, you will receive the fruits of your evil. The sea of sorrow is borderless. Please, turn around, the shore is right behind you.”  

“Mother, don’t listen to him.” The young widow was now standing behind me. She was crying and was so struck with emotions that her hands were shaking. “They deserve to die! All of them! Recall my father’s death and what we’ve encountered, their deaths wouldn’t be enough to compensate for the wounds we have had to bear.”

She called the shaman ‘mother’!

It seemed their stories were far more complicated than I had imagined.

The old shaman smiled bitterly. “Forget it, it’s the past. Everything is gone. Young man, you’re right. We need someone to give us justice.”

The young widow stomped her feet angrily, looking kittenish. It seemed she didn’t dare to go against her mother’s wish. She walked into the house.

I looked back at the villagers. The shaman told me, “It’s okay. Whether they live or die, let God decide! You shouldn’t be anxious as there is no point to it, you will just waste your time.”

I gritted my teeth and stomped my feet. I had made up my mind. I stopped thinking about the other folks and got into the house, sitting down opposite to the old shaman.

The shaman poured me some water. The young widow threw me a fierce look and ignored me.

The shaman took out something white from her pocket. I focused and found that it was the kneecap.

The kneecap was weathered, and the dense fibers could be seen.

However, its surface was rubbed smooth and shiny. I could tell its owner had taken good care of it by rubbing it every day.

The white kneecap radiated some faint light, which looked a little dazzling. It seemed the bone didn’t just reflect the light but it could emit some light itself.

The old shaman looked at the young widow. The young widow complained, “You’re old and you’ve lost your mind.”

However, eventually, she got off the shaman’s bed and took out a clay jar from underneath it, placing it on the table.

I studied the small clay jar and found some strange drawings on the jar’s body. The lines were rough as if they were drawn by a kid. However, I could still recognize the drawing depicted a pair of legs.

And, except for that, it didn’t look different from any other pottery items.

However, as it was smoked black on the surface, I could see it had received a lot of worship.

The old shaman took a sip of water and smacked her tongue. Then, she started to tell me her old story.