Otherworldly Merchant

Huangpu Street was deserted. It was in the suburban area where vendors set up their stalls to do business.

Since it was around midnight, there were no vendors within sight. Although professional janitors cleaned the place every day and the streets looked clean, the smell of swill still lingered in the air.

I walked along Huangpu street to find No. 18. Eventually, I found it at the corner of the street. I walked forward and knocked on the door.

I knocked for three or four minutes, but no one opened the door.

Is that granny even home...? My patience was running out, so I directly kicked the door open.

The moment the door opened, I saw a shadow rush toward me. Then, a beam of light flashed in front of me, vanishing right after that.

What’s happening?! I was startled and backed off.

However, the light flashed in front of me again. Under the dim street light, I was freaked out to see that it was a machete!

I gawked in shock. If that machete were to hit me, I would die for sure!

I saw the machete aiming at my forehead, and as I couldn’t avoid it in time, I instinctively raised my arms to shield my head, hoping this could save my life.

Right after, I felt an ice-cold thing touch my arms.

The machete came with a strong wind, and I was afraid it would directly chop both of my arms off.

However, as I waited for the blade to cut into my flesh, I heard an ear-piercing shrill.

I was bewildered and lifted my head to see.

A blue sword had blocked the bloody machete. The blood on its blade made it look even scarier.

The person holding the machete was unexpectedly that granny. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her mouth moved as if she was constantly chanting something.

I looked to the other side and saw Chuyi holding a blue sword. Luckily, he showed up right on time. Otherwise, I would not have lived long enough to see another day.

Chuyi snorted, “Trying to steal another soul? You’re overestimating yourself!”

He yanked his hand with a lot of force and made the old woman stumble. Then, he moved forward and attacked her with his sword.

The granny’s face turned pale. She screamed and hastily brought the machete to shield herself; she was able to deflect Chuyi’s sword.

The granny kept muttering something the entire time. Although I couldn’t hear what she was chanting, her low voice seemed to resonate in my head. My head buzzed, just as if thousands of mosquitoes were flying inside it, and my consciousness started to blur.

“Damn it!” Chuyi’s eyes flashed with a cold light. He pressed forward with his offensive. This time, the old woman wasn’t able to resist his attack. The machete slipped out of her hand and landed on the ground. The long sword was directly placed at the woman’s throat.

Still, the granny didn’t stop chanting.

Chuyi was enraged. He directly pushed the sword into the woman’s mouth. However, he didn’t go too deep and used the tip of his sword to open her teeth. That would stop her from incanting her spell.

As soon as her voice stopped, my mind became clear, and the pain was gone. However, the blurry feeling was still there.

“Block her mouth!” Chuyi ordered.

I knew what was happening. That old woman was using her spells to confuse me. That was why my soul was shaken, and my head became dizzy. I didn’t have any bit of strength to resist.

If she continued to chant her spell, my soul would leave my body.

I was infuriated. I didn’t expect that a harmless-looking granny like her would have such a wicked heart.

I didn’t waste time and got a piece of cloth to block her mouth.

However, the old woman was really stubborn. She glared at me and shook her head harder in an attempt to get rid of the sword.

Chuyi shouted, “Don’t move! If you keep wiggling, I will stab you to death!”

“Die!” The old woman screamed as she jerked her head.

Chuyi couldn’t react in time. He was unable to retract his sword, so the tip of his sword directly pierced through the woman’s throat, which jutted out of her nape.

Blood bloomed like a red rose, covering her whole body.

I gasped, and my hand holding the cloth shivered.

What did she choose to kill herself instead of telling us the truth? 

Chuyi sighed. He retracted his sword, then wiped the blade on the woman’s clothes. He turned to look at me. “Are you okay?”

I nodded and looked at the woman. I still felt shocked. “Why did she do that?”

Chuyi shook his head. “I don’t know.”

All of a sudden, my head buzzed in pain. My body swayed, and I couldn’t stand on my feet.

Chuyi was startled and immediately checked around.

I quickly took out the Peach Soul Flower and held it in my hands.

I knew that my soul was unstable, and I felt as if someone was trying to take it away. I didn’t think much and activated the Peach Soul Flower. I wanted to use the strong Yang energy of the flower to protect my soul.

The Peach Soul Flower was very powerful. The moment I activated the flower, I felt my soul become much more stable. However, the buzzing sound in my mind still made my head throb in pain.

Soon after, Chuyi spotted the culprit and roared angrily, “Stop!”

Then, he lifted his sword and dashed after that person.

I tried to pull myself together to look. I saw a person hiding in the house opposite us. Under the dim light, I could only see a vague figure. Since Chuyi had spotted him, he no longer tried to lure my soul out. Instead, he turned and escaped into the darkness, disappearing from our sight.

After a while, my soul stabilized. However, I still had a terrible headache. I sat by the granny’s dead body and waited for Chuyi to return.

Chuyi returned not long afterward. From his disappointed face, I knew that he couldn’t catch the other party.

I was still scared and looked at him. “These people are really fierce. They can even take the corporeal soul out of a living person…”

Chuyi shook his head. “Actually, you were already affected by their Soul Seizing Spell. That spell eroded your soul’s resistance. They just needed to entice your soul a little and your soul would have left your body on its own.”

I was startled. “Since when was I affected by that spell?”

Chuyi said, “You touched those red scarves, didn’t you? Those red scarves carried the spell. When you touched them, the Soul Seizing Spell affected you. I saw it in your eyes.”

I was startled. No wonder he had stared at my eyes back then. He had noticed that the Soul Seizing Spell was affecting my body.

Chuyi told me, “I didn’t tell you because I wanted to trace the source and find the person who wanted to take your soul.”

I see. Everything that happened tonight was part of his plan...

We had parted ways to create a chance for the enemy. Then, he didn’t pick up the phone on purpose when I called him so as to avoid alerting the other party.

Chuyi had sneakily followed behind me the entire time, and when the granny showed up and threatened my life, he jumped in.

It was lucky that I had kicked the door open. If I hadn’t done that, the old woman would have had more time to chant the Soul Seizing Spell. If the spell was activated, my soul would have been taken away from my body. At that point, not even Chuyi would have been able to put my soul back into my body without strong side effects. Even if I didn’t go crazy, I would have been disabled for life.

This was no joking matter, and it had been extremely dangerous.

My heart shivered in fright. At this moment, I really missed Yin Xinyue. I had almost parted from her forever. My heart ached when I imagined her crying every day and mourning my death.

I regretted becoming an otherworldly merchant. This wasn’t the kind of life I wanted.

However, there was no use in regretting things now. If I quit, the heavens would punish me, and that punishment wasn’t something I could shoulder. It was also the reason many Daoist priests left society and went to live in the mountains even though they were full of dangers.

Anyway, the main culprit had now run away. On top of that, we were in trouble with a murder crime…

Although there was a camera somewhere that could help testify that we had defended ourselves, we still killed a person. Even for a self-defense case, we would have to spend a few years in jail if it was deemed that we had used excessive force.

I wanted to call Fengshen Nana to ask if she had any way to take care of the situation without letting anyone know, but Chuyi had already called a number from his phone.

It seemed he was talking to a very powerful official. After exchanging several words, he hung up.

I could hear the man on the other end continuously assure Chuyi that they wouldn’t arrest him.

I had underestimated Chuyi. His circle of connections was much bigger than mine.

“Let’s go!” Chuyi said as he looked at me.

I tried to get on my feet and clutched onto my head. The pounding pain in my head made me panic in agony with every step I took.

Chuyi gave me a pill and asked me to swallow it. I felt much better afterward. Later on, I learned that it was just a common tranquilizer that anyone could buy at any big hospital. It wasn’t some sort of magical pill.

On the way back, I asked Chuyi, “What should we do now? We’ve alerted the other party, and they will become even more discreet now. It’ll be troublesome to find them again.”

Chuyi answered, “We just need to wait for them to show themselves. I know what to do next.”

I was startled. “Do you already have a solution?”

He halted and looked around. “You recently visited this place, right?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I delivered one of the souls to a family nearby. It’s that house over there.”

Chuyi nodded and took me to that place.

Eventually, we reached the south-west corner of the house, and Chuyi showed me a stone tablet on the wall.

The stone tablet had a row of words that read, ‘Mount Tai’s Shigandang.’ [1]

Chuyi said, “Do you see it? This is the problem.”

The words inscribed on the stone tablet weren’t anything special. It was some sort of custom in China.

According to the legends, Shigandang was a powerful mountain god that lived on Mount Tai. It hated evil spirits as if they were its archenemies.

As such, people believed that if they put a stone tablet with the words ‘Mount Tai’s Shigandang’ carved on it on their walls, their houses would be protected from evil spirits. Many villages had this sort of stone tablet at home, and the government had listed it as one of their important cultural heritages.

However, I couldn’t understand how a little stone tablet could create such a big mess...

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shigandang