Otherworldly Merchant

I brought the Millennial Icy Sword and the gold-jade garments back with me. Both of them were top-tier otherworldly items, so I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to suppress the evil energy within. Something terrible might happen if the items went out of control.

I wrapped the sword and the clothes then handed them to Zen Master Baimei. I wanted him to take them to Dabei Temple, where he could cleanse the items of their resentful energy.

Zen Master Baimei readily accepted and asked, “However, when the resentful energy permeating these otherworldly items is cleansed, they will become normal antiques; their values will decrease greatly. Won’t you feel sorry about that?”

I gave a wry smile. “How could I not feel sorry about that? However, we have to stay alive in order to use the money. If I become a zombie, everything would be over.”

After seeing off Zen Master Baimei and Chuyi, my life didn’t go back to normal as I felt very anxious.

In the past, I had offended the people from the Longquan Villa because of a jade lamp. Coupled with the fact that they hated my grandfather and I had ruined their plans for retaliation this time, there was no way they would let me go!

The Longquan Villa had a lot of despicable people with no sense of shame. If they ambushed me in secret, I would be done for.

I felt sick of living with so much anxiety every day. I told myself that I would prefer if the people from the Longquan Villa directly came to my door and had an upfront battle with me.

In the end, it really happened. I was very surprised as it didn’t seem to conform to their style!

That night, while I was watching my shop, a man wearing sunglasses and a nice suit drove a Mercedes-Benz to my place.

He greeted me with great manners. “Mr. Zhang, good evening. I’ve been sent by Uncle Duan from the Longquan Villa.”

After hearing the name ‘Longquan Villa,’ my nerves instantly tensed. However, my face remained calm. “The Longquan Villa? I’ve been wanting to meet you guys for a long time. I wonder why you have come to my humble shop today?”

He faintly smiled, just as if he had seen through my fake calm demeanor. “Mr. Zhang, there’s no need to panic. We don’t mean harm. We just want to cooperate with you.”

“Cooperate with me?” I was confused because I didn’t know what this man planned to do. “What kind of cooperation?”

“Uncle Duan wants to meet with you tomorrow, Mr. Zhang. If you have time, please come and attend this banquet.”

Then, the man in the suit handed me an invitation card. “I hope Mr. Zhang will give us face!”

I received the invitation card while still puzzled. Then, the man politely excused himself.

I suspected that their plan was to make me lower my guard and then catch me off guard. However, after I’d checked all around me, I didn’t find anything strange.

The more normal everything was, the more anxious I felt. My hand that held the card was sweating. That did not even seem an invitation card, but a summon from hell instead!  

I was afraid that they might hurt me at the banquet tomorrow. However, if I didn’t go, I would come across as disrespectful to the people of the Longquan Villa. It would give them another reason to kill me. If that happened, things would become even more serious.

After thinking about the banquet, I couldn’t sleep well. Early the next morning, I dragged my exhausted body to Li Mazi’s place. Unexpectedly, Ru Xue came to open the door for me.

Her hair was disheveled and she didn’t wear makeup, but she still looked beautiful. I was surprised that Li Mazi and Ru Xue had already developed their relationship up to this point.

When Ru Xue saw me, she blushed. “Brother-in-law, w-why have you come here so early in the morning?”

“I’m here for an inspection, obviously.” I half-joked.

Ru Xue fumed and stomped her foot. “Hmph, I’m going to ignore you.”

Then, she went back inside to change her clothes.

Li Mazi saw my face and knew that something was wrong. He quickly invited me inside. “What happened?”

I told him about the banquet.

After Li Mazi heard the story, he frowned and said, “What are those bastards up to? I think you shouldn’t go. Otherwise, I can just throw you in jail tomorrow. Let’s see what they can do to you in there.”

“Can't you think of a decent plan?” I threw Li Mazi a sidelong glance. “The people from the Longquan Villa are very powerful. I’m sure they have enough money to buy both the cops and the gangsters. As soon as you put me there, they will find a way to kill me.”

Li Mazi scratched his head. “So, are you really going to join the feast? Perhaps you ask Fengshen Nana to go with you. She’s a cop, after all. Even though those people are lawless, they shouldn’t dare to harm you in front of a cop, right?”

“You don’t understand. Our otherworldly-item circle isn’t different from the underworld. If I involve the cops in this matter, there will be more trouble. You and I should go together. Even if they want to harm me, I can only brace myself and go.”

Li Mazi pondered for a while and nodded. Then, he equipped himself from heads to toe with all kinds of hidden weapons.

After looking at the small weapons, I was completely speechless. “Li Mazi, where did you get these things?”

“I bought them from Taobao.”

Those hidden weapons were just useless toys. If the people of the Longquan Villa found them, there would be even more trouble. I told Li Mazi to get rid of them before we left.

The Longquan Villa was filthy rich, and they had several five-star hotels and restaurants in our city. We arrived at a hotel called Great Imperial Hotel, one of the most famous hotel chains in the country. We directly went to the best box and felt awed after looking at the luxurious interior.

We felt very small inside the lavish private room. The decorations were sumptuous, with wallpaper worth dozens of thousands of renminbi. There was also a goat fur carpet and a real leather sofa.

An old man in a Tang suit sat on the sofa. He held a cane and wore a weird smile on his face; he gave us quite a bit of pressure. I had prepared some strong words, but I didn’t have the guts to say them right now. I couldn’t do anything else than give him a sheepish smile. “Good morning, Uncle Duan.”

“Sure enough, each new generation excels the previous one.” Uncle Duan suddenly sighed. I guessed that he referred to me ruining their plans again and again.

“Uncle Duan, you’re overpraising us,” blurted Li Mazi. “We’re just fooling around to make ends meet. We don’t have any real skills. We can’t be compared to your good self.”

Uncle Duan guffawed. “I already knew that the kid from the Zhang family had a servile assistant, but meeting someone in person is better than hearing rumors about them. Your words have really pleased me.”

Li Mazi gave an embarrassed smile. From Uncle Duan’s words, we could tell that he was an experienced man; he had us investigated and could easily see through our tricks.

Even though I had encountered a formidable opponent, my heart was unexpectedly calm. Things were already set in stone, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t change the outcome. It was better to calm down and accept the situation.

After making up my mind, I sat opposite to Uncle Duan and ignored Li Mazi’s frightened look. “Uncle Duan, why did you want to see me?”

Uncle Duan wasn’t mad at me for asking such an impolite question. However, for some reason, his face turned serious and sorrowful. “Kid, do you know the story between your Zhang family from Jiangbei and my Longquan Villa?”

I nodded and said, “I know some of it.”

“What you know is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Uncle Duan. “Since ancient times, the Zhang family from Jiangbei has been our Longquan Villa’s rival. Although the Zhang family has been in seclusion, their impact on our Longquan Villa has never ceased…”

“So Uncle Duan, you wanted to see me to settle this grudge?” I just wanted to get straight to the matter. I didn’t have the time for a history lesson.

Uncle Duan laughed. “Settle this grudge? Haha, even if I wanted to do that, I wouldn't settle it with you. Your family is just one of the various branches of the Zhang family. Moreover, your family inheritance seems to have been disrupted. You are not qualified to talk about grudges with our Longquan Villa.”

I was surprised. In that case, what does he want? 

“Let me finish.” Uncle Duan continued, “Most of our Longquan Villa’s influence is concentrated in territories to the West of Mount Tai, and we have nothing in the East. Do you know why? Because the East side is where the Zhang family is located, in Jiangbei. Although the Zhang family has been an enemy of Longquan Villa, we have always kept our word and never intruded on each other’s territory. Although the Zhang family has gone into seclusion these years, our Longquan Villa has never sent anybody to the East side of Mount Tai.”

He continued, “I’m meeting you today to make a business deal with you. Go to the East side of Mount Tai and find me an otherworldly item. The region to the East of Mount Tai has always been forbidden land to our Longquan Villa; we can’t go there.”

I was startled. I had ever imagined that the Zhang family I came from was this powerful, to the point that they could even contend with the Longquan Villa. More importantly, they had an entire area under their control, Jiangbei in this case.

I had never thought about this before.

However, Uncle Duan was a cunning man who could easily mix truth with lies. He must have had a purpose for telling me this. I couldn’t trust him blindly.

I took a deep breath. “Uncle Duan. To be honest, neither of us is really good at this. I’m still a rookie, while my friend relies only on his glib tongue. I’m afraid we can’t help you.”

“Young man, being humble is good but too humble isn’t good.” Uncle Duan continued, “This is your opportunity to help yourself. After all, if the Longquan Villa decides to deal with you, you’ll die; there’s no doubt about that. However, if you help me with this, I can erase the grudge between you and the Longquan Villa.”

I kept silent. Although Uncle Duan sounded sincere, the threat in his voice was clear. It made my heart shiver.

The Longquan Villa was too big, and I couldn’t fight them on my own. I knew that I had only two options.

The first option was to do as Uncle Duan had requested me. Regardless of what otherworldly item it was or what dangers it brought, I would find it and give it to Uncle Duan. Then, I would be able to relax for the rest of my life. I would no longer need to be worried about the Longquan Villa.

The second option was to reject his request. But if I did that, I was afraid that I wouldn’t even be able to reach the hotel lobby.

After considering things, I made up my mind and asked, “Uncle Duan, what do you want me to find for you?”