Otherworldly Merchant

“That’s correct,” said the old man. “This military classic belonged to the number strategist of the Han Dynasty, Zhang Liang, and it’s been passed down in my family for ages. This thing is very special, and it’s been with me for seventy years. That’s why I have not encountered any big calamity until now. According to my ancestors, the spirit dwelling in the book specializes in dealing with disrespectful young people. That’s why I thought about using it to give this city law enforcement officer a lesson.”

“Then, why did you need to diverge the water stream and flood his father’s grave?” I asked.

“Actually, in the beginning, I didn’t want to use the ‘Three Strategies of Huang Shigong.’ I just wanted to flood his father’s grave, which would make his father come back and teach him a lesson himself. However, this kid didn’t change. He returned to the streets to bully the poor peddlers. Also, he relocated the grave. That was when I thought about using the book to show him his mistakes,” the old man explained.

Everything was clear now. No wonder Li Mingming’s father had come to him to teach him a lesson.

Then, after his father left, a white-bearded old man came instead.

“Everything is your fault!” Li Mingming was enraged. “My dad rested in peace, and you disturbed him on purpose!”

“I had no choice as your father didn’t teach you well! I wanted to make your father return so that he could teach you again. I wanted to see if you would change. I saw that you haven’t been bullying the peddlers these past days, so I came here to retrieve the ‘Three Strategies of Huang Shigong,’ but I didn’t expect to bump into you guys.”

“So you think that everything will be alright if you take the book away?” I coldly looked at the old man. “The souls living inside otherworldly items exist because of the obsession they hold onto. They don’t have a sane mind. Since you’ve used the book to curse Li Mingming, the soul inside won’t stop until he dies…”

I recalled the white-bearded man who had warned the grave master in his dream. Needless to say, it was the spirit living in the book.

From what he said, I knew he wouldn’t stop until Li Mingming was dead!

The old man was startled. “What do you mean? Are you saying that the spirit inside the book is evil and wants to kill this kid? That’s impossible. If this spirit is evil, how come nothing happened to me during all these years I’ve had the book? My ancestors have never said anything about it, either.”

I smiled reluctantly. “Without any Yin energy to stimulate the book, no matter how long you’ve kept it, it won’t cause any trouble. Since Li Mingming’s father’s grave was flooded, his resentful energy rocketed, and the soul living inside the book was awakened.”

Li Mingming glared furiously at the old man. “Look at what you’ve done!”

The old man didn’t want to appear weak. “You’ve done this to yourself. If you had shown respect for your elders, you wouldn’t have encountered this calamity!”

I got a headache from listening to their quarrel. I immediately stood between them. “All right, all right, the urgent thing to do now is to see how to take care of the otherworldly item. You guys are just wasting time by quarreling.”

I guessed the old man also felt a little guilty as he asked me how he could help.

It was good that we had the owner of the otherworldly item on our side. At least, we wouldn’t be in mortal danger.

“That’s good then. You’ll join us tonight. With you being present, I think my success rate will be higher.”

The old man agreed.

I had come up with a solution that I thought was suitable. If the spirit wasn’t going to stop until he saw Li Mingming ‘die,’ then I would make him see Li Mingming’s death.

We didn’t directly go home. Instead, we went to the food market to buy a rooster, one kilogram of rice, a butcher knife, and a bunch of miscellaneous items. We needed to use these things tonight.

Everything was prepared. We just had to wait for the spirit to show up at night.

The old man and Li Mingming seemed to dislike each other a lot. They quarreled for the whole time, which irritated me quite a bit. I had no choice but to ignore them.

At the moment, they were having a debate on whether city law enforcement officers should confiscate things on the street. The old man supported the families and the peddlers, while Li Mingming had his officer’s point of view about protecting the city’s image. They had a good debate, so good that they almost punched each other in the face. I had to jump in and stop them.

The old man asked me, “Who is right in this situation? You see, I’m just an old man. I don’t have any particular skills, and I don’t have a piece of land to grow things on. Having some rice in my bowl is already a problem. If you don’t allow me to have a small stall to sell food, then I will die of hunger. Will government officers be happy if we die of hunger?”

“This is a city and if the peddlers and vendors are everywhere, it will affect the traffic and the city’s appearance. Also, what about the people who rent a front shop to do their business? How could they be content if you occupy the space? Would this city grow any further? Would this country continue to thrive? It would become a feudal society, wouldn’t it?” Li Mingming snapped back.

“I don’t care and I can’t care about the city’s image or the country. I can only care about that if my stomach isn’t empty. Anyway, if we can’t ensure our welfare, how would that be any different from a feudal society?”

In such a situation, everybody had their point of view. This sort of dispute has been around for a long time, yet no one has solved it yet. These two guys were representing one of the biggest contradictions in current China. Even if their dispute was solved, it wouldn’t change the minds of others.

Night came.

Under the hazy moonlight, I stood by the window, looking at the lavish, feasting, and pleasure-seeking city. I felt the chills brought by the wind and pitied the laborious people out there.

It was all about surviving. For just a bowl of rice, someone had to work from sunrise to sunset. Yet, there were people ready to deprive them of their livelihood. This world was really cruel.

A mass of dark clouds quietly drifted over, which made the moonlight only partially visible.

It was the moment when Yin and Yang intertwined, ready to take each other’s place. As the old proverb said: When Yin was at its weakest, it would flourish. This moment was the time when the Yin energy was the most vigorous. It was possible that the ‘Three Strategies of Huang Shigong’ might take action!

I placed the book by the window and let the foggy moonlight shine over it. The old man and Li Mingming were also ready.

Li Mingming held a red thread. One end was tied to his leg, while the other end was tied to the rooster’s neck. Then, he cut his finger and smeared the blood over the rooster’s eyes. Then, he hugged the rooster and held it in front of his chest.

The old man held up the butcher knife. After scattering all the rice around the room, he nervously shrank in a corner.

I nodded at Li Mingming, who started to walk around the living room. Every time he took a step, his feet pressed on the rice.

As he walked, he also counted the number of steps he took.

I told him to take exactly thirty-six steps, which was the number of steps of the Big Dipper. This could protect him, more or less.

“One, two, three…” He carefully walked around the room, holding the rooster, which was as still as a corpse. However, its pair of red eyes now glowed in a faint red light.

“Thirty-four, thirty-five, thirty-six……”

He had walked in a circle like this around ten times, but everything was quiet. Nothing strange had happened yet.

However, soon after, something strange did happen. At his 17th circle, when Li Mingming counted to thirty-four, his two last steps were merged into a long stride. This meant he had walked only thirty-five steps this time around.

“Don’t move!” I yelled out to Li Mingming immediately.

Li Mingming stood still, not moving in the slightest.

At the same time, the rooster Li Mingming was holding began to kick its legs. The rooster’s eyes became misty and blurry. Its head dropped then lifted as if it was pecking rice.

I immediately turned to check the ‘Three Strategies of Huang Shigong.’

The book was now covered in a layer of mist. The layer was thin but it had some red tints. Eventually, the mist started to spread in the room.

I took a deep breath as I knew that the spirit in the book was about to show itself!