Otherworldly Merchant

The uncle sneered and said in a mocking tone, “Bald bastard, I’m not done yet! Come, fight me!”

Zen Master Baimei walked up to him while wearing a helpless expression. Then, he whipped the uncle with his prayer beads, making him shriek and fall to the ground.

“Merciful Buddha. Are you still not willing to come to your senses?”

“Damn you!”

Zen Master Baimei whipped him again. “Do you still want to resist?”

I was speechless. Zen Master Baimei’s way of converting people was really special.

The uncle was enraged; he grabbed the Millennial Icy Sword and struggled to get up. He still wanted to fight Zen Master Baimei.

However, Zen Master Baimei attacked him before he could get up. “It seems I’ll have to work hard today. I’ll hit you until you come to your senses!”

I almost laughed. At this moment, Zen Master Baimei didn’t look like a senior monk but a thug.

The uncle’s attempt to defy the heavens had failed, so the heavenly punishment stopped. From a distance, I saw a group of villagers run toward us with Li Mazi in the front.

When Li Mazi saw the uncle’s swollen and bruised face, he was delighted. “Tch, you were so intimidating earlier. What happened to you now?”

“Uncle, did you really want to harm us?” asked a young man as he walked out of the group. “That grandma raised you, and the other villagers helped you every time. Yet, you planned to kill us all! How could you be so heartless?”

It seemed Li Mazi had told the villagers the truth; they were here to demand justice.

The uncle snorted. “Haha, is that so? I should be grateful for the meals you’ve given me after you killed my parents?”

After hearing the uncle’s words, the villagers quieted down and exchanged guilty looks.

“You can’t blame this on us,” said an old man from the crowd. “If your parents hadn’t planned to put innocent people to death, we wouldn’t have punished them. Moreover, their deaths were an accident.”

The old man had joined the zombie hunt back then. He was one of the men the uncle’s parents had chosen to be the zombie’s meal.

With my grandpa’s help, they eventually confined the zombie in a five-spirit coffin and evicted the uncle’s parents. They also forced the couple to make a pledge that they would never return to retaliate against the villagers.

However, the couple didn’t care about the vow and didn’t want to lose the Immortal Zombie. Later on, they sneaked into the village and discreetly went to the cemetery where they kept the five-spirit coffin. They wanted to release the zombie.

Nevertheless, they carelessly alerted the people standing watch. Feeling enraged, the villagers locked up the couple.

Although it was an era of unrest and the people weren’t really educated, the villagers understood that they would end up in jail if they killed the couple. As such, they didn’t plan to harm them and decided to hand them to the police the next morning.

However, when they went to check on the prisoners the next day, they were surprised to find out they were dead. There were zombie bites on their bodies.

The villagers were frightened and immediately buried the corpse.

Then, they found that the zombie’s stomach had been cut open. Inside the stomach was a black sword. The black sword had carvings of dragon scales, and it released cold energy. Anybody who approached the sword would shiver.

The folks knew it wasn’t a normal sword, so they invited my grandfather back.

When my grandfather discovered that the folks had killed the couple, he was furious. However, since he knew that they didn’t do it on purpose, he let go of the matter and asked the folks to take care of the couple’s son. He took the black sword with him and burned the zombie and the couple’s remains later that night.

Although the couple had reaped what they sowed, the villagers still felt guilty; it had tortured them for years. What they could do to atone for their sins was to offer joss sticks to the dead couple and take care of their son.

The uncle listened to the story and was heartbroken. Then, he glared at the villagers. “Ignorant fools, my parents just wanted the Millennial Icy Sword in the zombie’s body, but you killed them! Do you really think that this will be enough to atone for your sins? You didn’t just kill two people. You destroyed a family and a kid’s future!”

The old man sighed. “These past years, I’ve felt very guilty because of that event. If you want to take revenge, pour it on me. I don’t want these innocent folks to get involved. The young ones weren’t even born at that time.”

The group of people was dead silent. Their eyes fixated on the uncle.

The uncle looked at the ground and laughed mournfully. “Forget it. Hate will only breed more hate, and there will be no end to it. We of the Longquan Villa aren’t that unreasonable. I just hope that my parents will forgive you.”

Then, he got up from the ground and limped away. Looking at his lonely back, I felt sorry for him.

After he had disappeared into the dark, I asked the folks to go home. They needed to fix their burned houses.

No one said a word. They just turned around and left.

I picked up the gold-jade garments and the Millennial Icy Sword. More than half of the cold energy exuding from the sword was gone. In this scorching weather, a chill seeped under my skin when I held the sword in my hands. It felt cool and comfortable.

I handed the gold-jade garments and the Millennial Icy Sword to Zen Master Baimei. “Do you know the background stories of these things?”

Zen Master Baimei nodded. He looked pensive as he gazed at the ‘Liu’ character engraved on the garments.

From that ‘Liu,’ I could also guess the origin of this set of precious clothes.

China had five thousand years of history, but there was only one story about a set of gold-jade garments. Its owner was Liu Sheng, Prince of Western Han. [1] The gold-jade clothes looked very ancient and had the character ‘Liu’ on it; there could hardly be any mistake.

According to historical records, Liu Sheng was licentious and brutal. He slept with women every day, and he didn’t care about the affairs of the imperial court. He ended up fathering more than one hundred and twenty kids during his life.

Also, because he was very afraid of death, he ordered people to make him a set of gold-jade clothes. He wore it everywhere he went. It was the first gold-jade set of clothes ever made in history. Liu Sheng was the one who invented it.

Liu Sheng had a half-brother, Liu Pengzu, who was completely different from him. He cared about politics and the people; he dedicated his entire life to the country. He hated Liu Sheng’s conduct and quarreled with him many times, but it was of no use.

Liu Sheng sank into his lust and started abducting women everywhere. Liu Pengzu watched his brother with worry. He knew that if his brother continued this way, the people would be discontented. If that happened, it would lead to a rebellious movement that would threaten the imperial court and the entire country!

However, Liu Sheng had a hundred thousand elite soldiers and wore a set of gold-jade garments. He wasn’t easy to deal with.

Liu Pengzu found an excellent blacksmith and used some cold iron found under an iceberg to forge a cold sword.

He brought the icy sword with him and went to meet Liu Sheng. He used the excuse that the Western Region had gifted him a group of beauties.

Liu Sheng was happy, of course. He held a feast to treat Liu Penzu.

During the feast, when Liu Sheng was charmed by the beautiful women from the Western Region, Liu Pengzu seized the chance to drew his Millennial Icy Sword, stabbing through the gold-jade garment with all his strength. The sword pierced both the garments and Liu Sheng’s body.

Liu Pengzu felt very guilty for killing his brother. Eventually, he couldn’t bear the mental torment and decided to commit suicide with the same sword.

However, he knew that Liu Sheng would be full of resentful energy since he had died unjustly; he was likely to turn into a zombie later.

He didn’t want his brother to be burned into ashes, nor did he want his brother’s soul to vanish. He left a testament to Emperor Wu and asked him to dress Liu Sheng’s corpse in the gold-jade garments and seal the Millennial Icy Sword inside his body.

Liu Sheng had made a lot of enemies while alive. That was why his brother had him wear those gold-jade garments. It was to protect his soul in the Netherworld.

The Millennial Icy Sword was buried in his stomach so that people could use it in case his corpse transformed into a zombie.

Eventually, Liu Pengzu’s premonition came true, and the Millennial Icy Sword served its purpose.

As for how the gold-jade garments could bewitch people and make them see that beautiful woman, I guessed it was because many beauties had been buried together with Liu Sheng after his death.

An ancient proverb said that water could raise the ship but also overturn it. The one who obtained people’s hearts could rule the entire world.

But if you treated your subjects badly, no matter how tough the armor on your body, there would be another Millennial Icy Sword that would stab through your heart!

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Sheng,_Prince_of_Zhongshan