Otherworldly Merchant

The old man said that the scene at the time was grandiose because the entire village had taken action. Around one hundred people surrounded the ditch. Although there were so many of them, no one bothered catching a single fish!

However, the soil in the ditch was really tough. The folks’ iron hoes and shovels weren’t able to dig it up. It was special compacted soil used to build ancient tombs. Without a special technique that professional tomb raiders possessed, they wouldn’t be able to do anything.

However, the villagers weren't satisfied. Some people came up with the idea of using dynamite. Since they used to use dynamite to catch fish, they still had some left over.

However, the dynamite sticks weren’t strong enough. They exploded the tomb for a whole three days just to blow up the surface. After they made a hole in the ground, they finally found the entrance. It was a corridor made up of blue bricks. The entrance was positioned around thirty-degrees downward.

Two brave young men followed the corridor and entered the tomb. Shortly after, they encountered a wall that blocked the corridor. Ordinary shovels and pliers couldn’t open it.

Feeling helpless, they eventually had to use the dynamite sticks again.

What they’d encountered was probably a reinforced wall. These types of walls were at least half a meter thick. I guessed it would be really hard to blow up even with dynamite sticks.

Then, the reinforced wall burst open with an earth-shaking explosion. At the same time, water started to gurgle inside the ancient tomb. The ground shook so hard that the villagers couldn’t stand firmly.

The tremor lasted for quite a long time, and water kept oozing out of the ancient tomb. Then, the ancient tomb slowly began to sink.

They concluded that an underground stream of water had flooded the grave, taking the treasures out was going to be very hard now.

The only thing they could do was to stand on the land and watch helplessly.

Since the ancient tomb was sinking, the ditch bottom was revealed. It was full of white bones. Many bones were buried deep into the soil, and some had yet to come up.

The villagers were all scared as there could be a mass grave underneath the tomb. It was too perilous to raid this tomb; those bones had deeply scared them. Eventually, they all left the ancient tomb.

After they left the tomb, the lake that was just a little distance away from the ditch suddenly had a large swell of water; it crazily flooded the place. Shortly after, it covered the entire tomb. Currently, the tomb was the islet in the middle of the lake.

The small ditch near the lake no longer had a border with the lake. Together, they became the Heaven Dragon Lake we saw before us today.

Since the villagers sustained themselves with fishing, most of them knew how to dive. Some reckless men went into the tomb and stole the goods from the grave.

However, the goods were just a few in number, while skeletons were scattered everywhere. If it weren’t for some chambers alongside the tomb that kept several gold-threaded wooden coffins, they would have thought that this a mass grave instead of an ancient tomb.

But the greedy villagers didn’t stop just because of the empty interior of the tomb; they removed everything of value. The gold-threaded cedar coffins, the few jars, the bronze tools, and even the gold-plated teeth from the skulls were taken away.

After they got the items, most of them were satisfied, but there were still some bold and young men who wanted more. At midnight, they entered the tomb one more time.

However, those young fellows didn’t have good luck. When they got into the tomb, they felt dizzy and hazy. Everything became blurry. If they continued to dive further, they wouldn’t have the strength to return. Left with no choice, they decided to flee.

However, the moment they turned around, they heard an uproar. The waters from the lake swirled while they kept hearing the noises of men and horses screaming and yelling. When they lowered their heads to check, the scattered skeletons on the ground all rose and stood upright on the ground. The hollow sockets of the skeletons gazed at them while their bony arms wielded weapons. It looked as if they were about to kill the intruders.

The scene scared the crap out of those young men. They tried to swim up, but the skeletons had already grabbed their feet. Their grip strength was incredible, and the young villagers couldn't break free.

The young men opened their eyes wide in fear, thinking that would die there. The tomb was too dangerous!

While they were feeling desperate, a dazzling column of light shot out from a chamber of the tomb, which illuminated the entire tomb. The men felt relaxed and involuntary slumped onto the ground.

When they got a hold of themselves and looked again, it didn’t look like the skeletons had been revived. The remains were still scattered on the ground. Nothing else was strange, either.

They didn’t have the guts to stay, so they all hurried to flee far from the Heavenly Dragon Lake. Later on, they saw some mysterious black handprints on their bodies.

The purplish-black handprints were all over their chests and backs. At first, they thought that it was some water ghost’s poison, and they were scared out of their wits.

But even after several days, nothing had happened to their bodies, so they gradually calmed down.

I furrowed my brows. The old man said that those young men had the imprints of some water ghosts on their bodies but nothing happened to them... Wasn’t that strange in its own way? I was afraid that they had taken the matter too lightly.

I asked the old man, “Are they really all right? Are you nothing has happened to them?”

The old man pointed at the vigorous young man standing next to him. “Of course, this fellow is one of them.”

I took a quick glance at the beefy young man. His eyes were clear, and he didn’t seem to be under a spell. However, the look in his eyes wasn’t sharp. I guessed it was because of the stress he had experienced lately.

Just when I was about to tell him that I wanted to see the handprint on his body, the old man’s cell phone rang. He took it out and received the call. After a simple greeting, he was startled and froze on the spot. He looked frightened.

“What happened, Sir?” I asked him.

The old man didn’t have time to talk to me. When he got a hold of himself, he shrieked then dashed toward the small fishing village.

The vigorous young man was also surprised. “Old Zhao, what happened?”

Then, he grabbed his net and followed closely behind him.

Li Mazi and I exchanged looks, and we also ran after them. My intuition told me that something really bad had happened in the fishing village. It was probably related to the ancient tomb.

Soon after, we entered the village. Dogs and chickens wandered leisurely around, while some old people were chatting on the main road. Warm sunbeams pierced through canopies of trees, which created beautiful, coin-sized dots on the ground.

This was a small but peaceful village.

However, there was a place that wasn’t quiet. People were crying at one end of the village. More and more people walked in and out of that courtyard, and Old Zhao also ran to that house.

When we approached their house, the cries became more pitiful.

We wanted to enter the house but were stopped at the door.

“What are you doing here?”

I couldn’t do anything else but tell them to ask Old Zhao to come out and invite us in.

Old Zhao’s expression turned serious but odd. “You guys should leave. This is our village’s business. We don’t want you, outsiders, to put your noses in this.”

“We often work with stuff related to ancient tombs, and we’ve knowledge of curses and the likes. Perhaps we can help you with this matter.”

Old Zhao panicked. “H-How did you know that we have unleash the curse of the tomb?”

How was I supposed to answer his question? Should I tell him about my family background? I was afraid he wouldn’t believe me.

Li Mazi immediately said, “Hmph, you guys have destroyed the tomb of those water ghosts, so it’s normal that they want to kill you! Without our help, your entire village won’t be able to survive!”

Li Mazi was a quick-learner. Since we had just solved a case that involved a Ghost King, Li Mazi decided to use the story to intimidate the folks.

I couldn’t deny that the effect was really good. Li Mazi’s story had shocked Old Zhao. After considering things, the old man nodded. “All right, you can come in and check. However, don’t scream. I don’t want you to scare the other folks.”

I nodded. I had experienced so many horrible and tragic events, as well as disgusting and nauseous ones. There was hardly anything that could surprise me at this point.