Otherworldly Merchant

When we returned, we saw Ms. Wu curled up on the couch. She was staring at the stone tablet without blinking.

I asked her, “Did anyone come?”

“Just now, a man knocked on my door. I looked through the peephole and saw that he was a stranger.”

Since we had warned her earlier, she didn’t open the door. However, the man didn’t want to leave, and Ms. Wu had to call the apartment’s security to drive him away.

“Well done, Ms. Wu. If you had opened the door, we can’t even imagine what might have happened.”

Ms. Wu went to the kitchen to get some food for us while Chuyi took out the corpse wax we had collected. He told me to find some sheets of thick paper. He then rolled them into tubes in the size of candles and started to stuff the corpse wax into the tubes with his bare hands.

Soon after, he had created six candles made of corpse wax.

At the same time, Ms. Wu brought us breakfast, which consisted of hot dogs and hamburgers.

The hotdogs were the same shape and color as the corpse wax candles... I lost my appetite after looking at the food.

Earlier, I went to the washroom to wash my hands, but the corpse’s smell still lingered. It made me feel nauseous.

Anyway, we decided to wait until nighttime. Chuyi’s plan was to wait for the other party to come to us.

The culprit had made use of the stone tablets, and as long as we threatened the spirit inside the tablet, it would backfire on its user. Once the culprit’s life was in danger, they would have no choice but to come to us and beg for mercy.

While we were waiting, we got news that a waste transfer station not far from the school district was burned down. The thick smoke rolled up and even expanded to our apartment building. The air was now filled with a burning smell.

Later on, a building guard told us that the horrible fire had burned four or five staff members who worked in the waste transfer station.

Coincidently, the police found some accessories that belonged to the cement factory owner’s daughter, the girl who had gone missing several days ago, in that place. The big fire had helped the police discover some clues related to a kidnapping case. That was surely interesting!

Only Chuyi and I knew that the mysterious flame was ignited by the young lady’s ghost. Those people wouldn’t come clean even after their deaths.

I vaguely saw a girl hover inside the thick smoke. She smiled at me then disappeared into the rolls of smoke. Before she disappeared, she bowed to bid us farewell.

“Chuyi, do heaven and hell exist? That girl has killed some people, so will she go to heaven or be damned to hell?”

Chuyi sighed with emotion, “Only God knows the answer.”

The night quickly came. Chuyi asked Ms. Wu and Xiaoqing to stay in the bedroom. They were instructed not to leave the room, no matter what happened.

Chuyi put a big rock on the stone tablet and lit up four corpse wax candles around it. He then placed a wok above the rock and turned off the lights in the living room; only a small night lamp was left lit.

The small night lamp released a weak light that allowed us to vaguely see the big black wok.

Chuyi stood by the wok. He reached out one of his hands and placed it on it. Then, he began muttering something.

I held the Sirius Whip and waited next to him. As soon as the black wok became too troublesome for Chuyi to manage, I would assist him.

This time, our opponent was definitely strong. Otherwise, Chuyi wouldn’t have been hurt earlier.

The atmosphere in the room was tense. The closed space was now filled with the smell of corpse wax, and I felt very anxious.

At first, only Chuyi’s mumbling filled the room. Soon after, strange things started happening. We heard a clanging noise, which was created by the big wok. It was vibrating and hitting the glass tea tray.

I stared at it with rapt attention.

The big wok shook harder and harder. It felt as if someone had grabbed it and was shaking it like crazy. The light from the corpse wax candle pierced through the slit of the wok, which allowed me to see a shadow. The shadow walked back and forth in the black pot.

Chuyi’s hand shook as the wok vibrated, and cold sweat rolled down his forehead.

“Come help me.” Since the wok was shaking harder and harder, Chuyi had to use all of his strength to keep it in place. Green veins had appeared on his face. I knew he couldn’t resist for a long time.

I rushed toward him and placed both of my hands on the wok.

The moment my hands touched the wok, I felt an intimidating force coming from it. The power from the wok was like a shock of one hundred thousand volts; it ran through my arms and numbed me.

At the same time, I could feel my soul trying to escape my body again. I couldn’t hold it in. My head buzzed, and I had a terrible headache.

This wok didn’t only bring physical harm, but it also attacked one’s soul!

I could only bite the tip of my tongue and spit blood onto my palms in an attempt to ease the attack. However, it didn’t do much. I had to coil the Sirius Whip around my neck and hold the handle in my mouth to weaken the effects of the mental attack.

Yet, I was still too weak. Although I was supported by the Sirius Whip and the tongue blood, my strength was quickly draining. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to hold it for much longer.

Chuyi looked pale and exhausted; he couldn’t even open his eyes. It did not look like he could stand it for much longer.

The moment I couldn’t put up with it anymore, Chuyi roared, “Break!”

Then, the black wok broke as if it was a rice cracker.

As soon as the wok broke, I saw a dark shadow flee from it, heading toward a corner.

The corpse wax candles stopped burning, and the noisy room quickly quieted down. The only sounds remaining were the sounds of our heavy breathing.

Despite having a head-splitting headache, I redirected my focus to the general direction of the shadow.

The curled up shadow slowly stretched. Seeing the scene, I was somewhat startled.

It had a humanoid form, but its size was several times bigger than a normal person. Its head touched the ceiling, and its feet stomped on the ground as it stared at us with its red eyes.

I took a deep breath. What the heck is that? How could this thing be so tall?

I held the Sirius Whip and knew that I couldn’t dodge this battle. I raised the whip and prepared myself for a deadly fight.

However, Chuyi stopped me. He sat down cross-legged and started mumbling something.

The giant shadow also muttered something, which produced a series of strange sounds. I heard a hoarse and rough sound, like an animal’s roaring.

After a long moment, Chuyi opened his eyes. He asked me to take down the talisman at the entrance and open the door.

I was startled. Chuyi wants to release this spirit?

Chuyi gestured at me and asked me to do as he said.

Reluctantly, I ran to take off the talisman and opened the door.

The shadow immediately stormed out. It left with a strong gust of cold wind, disappearing in the corridor shortly after that.

Chuyi immediately took out a compass and called out, “Let’s go after it!”

Then, he bolted out.

I stormed into Ms. Wu’s room and yelled, “Close your door carefully and stick the talisman back on. Do not get out of your house!”

Afterward, I dashed away and followed Chuyi.

When I caught up to him, I asked, “Chuyi, why did you release that spirit?”

“That’s Mount Tai’s spirit. Without the suppression of the stone tablet, you and I aren’t its match. It was forcefully sealed inside that tablet, and now that it’s free, it will definitely retaliate against the person that sealed it. If we follow it, we will be able to find that person.”

I nodded and followed him out of the apartment building.

The compass guided us to a remote, small forest behind the building. Not long after we stepped into the forest, we saw a red halo. We then heard a bestial roar and a human scream.

If I wasn’t wrong, the culprit was there. My guess was that the spirit was attacking him.

Chuyi put his compass away and took me toward the area. We stormed forward.

When we came near, we saw a young man wrestle against a giant shadow. Although he tried his best, he was forced to retreat again and again. He couldn’t put up with the attacks any longer.

The spirit was very powerful, and there was no way an ordinary sorcerer like him could resist it. Shortly after, the young man was pressed on the ground.

The spirit was like a ferocious tiger and used its body to crush the man. Even though the young man didn’t have any visible wounds, his consciousness gradually weakened, and his body started twitching.

I knew that the spirit was about to drag his soul out of his body.

In the end, the young man couldn’t endure it and raised his voice. He called out for help.

Chuyi didn’t say anything and jumped out of the woods.