Otherworldly Merchant

The uncle said hastily, “Okay, okay, I’ll listen to you.”

I nodded. “All right, let’s go to check.”

On one hand, I wanted to go there to see if we could help them solve this case. On the other hand, I wanted to see if the uncle was telling the truth about his mother sending him a message in his dream.

I was really skeptical, though. How could a ghost tell someone the address of my antique shop through a dream?

We rode on busses for the whole day and had to switch vehicles several times. When it was nighttime, we reached a town near the uncle’s village.

As soon as we arrived at the village, the uncle called his family to send a tractor to pick us up. We then spent two or three hours on the bumpy path until we reached the uncle’s remote village.

It was 10 PM and the village had a gloomy and quiet atmosphere. Cicadas sang from time to time, joined with the cries from frogs. I guessed a lake was nearby because we heard the sounds of fish jumping and plopping. Although the wind blew through the mountain, it was still blazing hot.

Almost all the villagers were sleeping. Only one house had lights on, where a baby’s cries could be heard.

The uncle said, “That’s my house. Mr. Zhang, Mr. Li, please come in!”

As soon as we reached the house, a thick flow of Yin energy blew in my face. I couldn’t help but take in a deep breath. This flow of Yin energy was too strong; it chilled me to the bone.

The child’s whines made us feel a mix of emotions. We also heard a woman crying and a man shouting.

Needless to say, they were the uncle’s son and daughter-in-law; they had a headache due to the child’s crying.

A simple canopy tent was put up in the courtyard, and the coffin was placed underneath it. It was positioned on the ground, and I didn’t spot anything strange about it. However, I still could feel strong Yin energy coming from it.

This grandma had died while filled with resentment. Otherwise, the Yin energy wouldn’t be this strong.

I approached the coffin and knocked on it with my finger. I wanted to see if there would be any movements. The uncle thought that his grandson’s cries would disturb me, so he asked his son and daughter-in-law to take the baby outside.

I glanced at the baby. He was crying so hard that he couldn’t even breathe properly. If things became more serious, the baby would cry out all of his Yang energy, going into shock or even dying. I’d have to shoulder a great sin if that happened.

Even if I didn’t kill him, he would have died because of me.

I turned and walked to the young woman and asked her to let me see her baby.

She hesitated for a while then shook her head. “No, it’s okay. My son’s having an upset tummy. I’m going to take him to the clinic and feed him some medicines later…”

I knew she didn’t believe in my capabilities. Nowadays, not many young people believed in the supernatural. This young woman was dressed nicely and held a smartphone in her hand. Since she was a well-educated person, I understood why she didn’t believe in me.

I gave a wry smile but still kept my eyes on the little boy. The boy looked pale, and his whimpering seemed to come from his stomach. It was because a wisp of Yin energy was blocking his throat.

If an adult had a wisp of Yin energy blocking their throat, they would feel very comfortable, let alone a baby.

The uncle fumed, “Let the grandmaster see him! Is this the time to be so concerned about science or non-science?”

Although the young woman looked angry, she didn’t dare to go against her father-in-law’s will. She held the kid and reluctantly walked towards me.

I took out the Peach Soul Flower from my bag, tying a red thread to one end and the other around the baby’s neck. The Peach Soul Flower had strong Yang energy, so it could expel the Yin energy in his throat.

As soon as I tied the thread around his neck, the boy burped and stopped crying. His bright eyes looked at me as he smiled.

The young woman was overjoyed. She held the boy and got on her knees, crying, “A miracle… This is a miracle! Grandmaster, I’ve been to many clinics before, but none of the doctors could help him. I was desperate and didn’t know what to do…”

I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry. Why were all the members of this family kneeling in front of me?

I pulled her up. “No need to thank me. It’s my job to take care of those in need. This Peach Soul Flower can only protect you from the Yin energy for a while. In order to be safe, you should leave this place. Go to your mom’s place.”

The woman was grateful and repeatedly thanked me. Eventually, she left with the boy.

The uncle was stunned. He didn’t expect that I was this skilled. He continued to beg me to help him.

I nodded. “If I can help you, I will do it. You don’t need to beg me.”

I walked around the coffin. Although the strong Yin energy in the courtyard came from the coffin, I didn’t feel waves of energy exuding from it when I came close to it. It was very strange. I checked the coffin from top to bottom but couldn’t find the cause.

Feeling helpless, I could only ask the uncle to open the coffin for me.

The uncle looked like he was struggling.

“Uncle, are you worried about something? If you don’t open the lid, I won’t be able to see the situation there.”

He explained, “It’s not that I don’t want to open the coffin, but every time we’ve opened the coffin, something strange happened. I think we should invite all the strong men in the village to increase the Yang energy here. I think it could help subdue the coffin.”

I shook my head and explained, “Grandma died just a few days ago, and a lot of Yin energy is exuding from her body. I’m afraid that her soul will vanish if it collides with strong Yang energy at this moment.”

The uncle still looked worried. “But in case something goes wrong…”

Li Mazi couldn’t stand it anymore. “Let’s just open it. Why are you talking so much nonsense? Since we are here, we know how to protect ourselves.”

Then, Li Mazi went to lift the coffin lid.

The uncle gave up. He stepped forward and helped Li Mazi lift up the lid of his mother’s coffin.

Strangely enough, the moment the coffin lid was lifted, the dog that the family had tied to the gate started to bark.

Then, all the other dogs in the village followed. They barked crazily.

As soon as the dogs began to bark, the children in the neighborhood also cried and pitched their voices horribly…

I immediately stopped Li Mazi and the uncle. I told them not to open the coffin fully. That slit was enough.

The uncle worriedly looked at me. “Is… Is there a problem?”

It was definitely strange how the dogs were barking and how the children were crying in the entire village.

I nodded and said, “Yeah, the barks and cries at midnight are signs of a Ghost King melting a soul.”

“A Ghost King!” Although the old man didn’t know what a Ghost King was, the name was enough to scare him. He anxiously asked, “What’s a Ghost King? Is that the King of all ghosts?”

I shook my head. “A Ghost King is just a powerful ghost. It’s one level higher than ordinary resentful ghosts.”

“But Ghost Kings rarely stay in our world. Most of the time, they have to perform their duties in Hell. Only when there are chaotic times would one or two Ghost Kings come to make things worse.”

I didn’t expect that we would encounter a Ghost King here. I became worried.

Li Mazi’s face turned pale. “What should we do now?”

“We must stop the Ghost King from melting the soul. Otherwise, the grandmother’s soul will perish. The Ghost King will become even stronger and…”

I didn’t finish my words, so the uncle urged me to continue. However, I was afraid that if I revealed more, he would be even more terrified.

If the Ghost King melted one soul, it wouldn’t let off the rest of the family, either. I was afraid that there would be more victims.

“Uncle, please prepare a few things for me. Hurry!”

Then, I hurried to give him a list of things I needed.

“The blood of a rooster and a black dog, a liter of black ink, and an old chalk box.”

After the uncle left with the list, Li Mazi immediately asked me, “Do you want to be involved in this?”

I nodded, “I must take care of this.”

“Why is that?” Li Mazi was startled by how determined I was.

“Because this is possibly related to my grandfather.”