Otherworldly Merchant

“Enough of your nonsense,” said the bearded man. Then, he shouted in a rage, “Do you guys even have a brain?! Why did you step into the trap of the Longquan Villa?”

This man really is a jerk! My first reaction was to beat this guy up. However, Senior Shu looked very scared of the bearded man. He looked at him with respect and ignored the insults.

“Will our Zhang family take action?” asked Senior Shu.

The bearded man’s tone eased. “You two are the last descendants of two branches of the Zhang family. If something bad happened to you, it would have affected the Zhang family as a whole. That’s why I had to save you.”

Then, the bearded man looked into the distance with icy cold eyes. “The Longquan Villa provoked us first this time. They better not blame me for being ruthless…”

He then asked us to wait for him in the cottage and left.

“Li Mazi, what about the villagers? How is the situation?”

“The villagers are under control. That bearded man brought a group of experts with him, and they look really fierce. I’m afraid those villagers will be in trouble this time.”

“Where is the man who impersonated me? What happened to him?”

“The bearded man captured that one, too. Your fates aren’t bound anymore. Don’t worry.”

I heaved a sigh of relief. I was worried about the bond between our fates the most.

Since we had free time, Li Mazi told me what he had learned from the bearded man.

This place was actually a mass grave that dated back to the Qin dynasty!

During the thirty years of the Qin dynasty, they applied high taxes on many things. They forced young men to join the army or work as coolies. People had no way to earn a decent living.

This mass grave was created as they were building a Prince’s tomb during the Qin dynasty. That tomb stayed hidden for almost two thousand years, but it finally saw the light in our time.

The skeletons in this grave belonged to the workers who died during the construction of that Prince’s tomb.

At the time, there was an event that took place in this quarry. An evil cult called Scarlet Spirit laid its eyes on those poor labor workers and attempted to create a big commotion. They snuck into the quarry and killed the guarding soldiers. Then, they used the Scarlet Spirit Saintess to trigger the labor workers to rebel against the soldiers that guarded outside.

It wasn’t hard to predict the result. The rebellion that took place without proper preparations had ended dramatically. Almost all the labor workers were killed, and the Scarlet Spirit Saintess was captured alive. She was executed later, and the cult was destroyed altogether.

The soldiers then buried her body right at this spot. They poured quicklime on her body and planted willow trees around the place to prevent her from reincarnating. She would be trapped here forever, which they considered a proper punishment to the rebellious people!

Gradually, those resentful souls turned into corpse crystals.

Corpse crystals were different from the Corpse Scattered Essence. The granular crystals we saw these past days were actually corpse crystals. The Corpse Scattered Essence was the thing that controlled those corpse crystals, but it had yet to show up.

In order to solve this case, we had to force the Corpse Scattered Essence to come out.

The bearded man was preparing to deal with the Corpse Scattered Essence. That was why he went out to prepare the formation with the other experts from the Zhang family.

Who’s that bearded man? Also, why does he want to help us? 

Feeling curious, I looked at Senior Shu.

Senior Shu had addressed the man as ‘Second Brother,’ so they knew each other.

Senior Shu gave me a faint smile. “Remember when I told you that the Zhang family split up? Some of the branches became stronger while other weakened. That Second Brother of mine is one of the leaders of the strongest branch. Too bad that his skills aren’t on par with his arrogance. If I had his authority and could control that many people, let alone the Corpse Scattered Essence, I could even destroy the Longquan Villa.”

I just smiled and ignored the last part. I knew Senior Shu was just bragging.

Since we didn’t have anything to do, we decided to go to the Heavenly Dragon Lake to see what the bearded man and his team were doing.

When we got there, we saw a bustling scene. Dozens of people were moving back and forth between the lake and the forest. They were transporting many things.

I glanced at the scene and saw there were bags of cement, lime, sand, and even refined salt.

I guessed that they were building a dam in the Heavenly Dragon Lake to isolate the ancient tomb. Also, the workers who were doing the transporting were the local villagers. I didn’t see people from the Zhang family.

Senior Shu smiled. “This is just the groundwork. The real experts have yet to show up.”

I nodded and looked pensive.

I was perplexed, though. “Since those folks had been brainwashed, how did they recover? They seem to recognize the reality of the situation now.”

Senior Shu smiled again and said, “If they can be brainwashed, there is naturally a way to bring them back to their senses. The Zhang family isn’t weak, and when those old folks join forces, they are very scary. Let alone waking up the villagers, they can even make the other party call them daddy.”

Since the experts from the Zhang family were now in charge of the situation, we didn’t have anything to do. We decided to go back and rest. I had moved stones for days in the fairyland. My entire body was sore and worn out.

I slept until the sky turned dark and then smelled a good aroma. I opened my drowsy eyes and saw Li Mazi squatting by the door. He was cooking something.

I went over to him and saw that he was cooking chicken. My empty stomach immediately growled, and I started to dig in.

Li Mazi’s cooking skills weren’t bad. Even in such poor conditions, he was able to cook a nice dish.

But when Li Mazi told me that it was the rooster that had saved us from the fairyland, I felt guilty.

I had just eaten my savior!

After dinner, Senior Shu, Li Mazi, and I walked to the Heavenly Dragon Lake. The islet in the middle was now surrounded by sandbags. They had used sandbags to create a wall there.

Many people gathered along the lakeside. All of them were males in white uniforms. There were both young men and men with long beards. They stood and looked indifferently at the lake. It was as if the Corpse Scattered Essence was just a joke to them. When they saw us, they gave us despising looks.

Senior Shu looked somewhat embarrassed. He pulled my hand and said, “Let’s go!” I didn't know why Senior Shu wanted to leave, but after looking at their mean expressions, I didn’t want to stay, either. I turned around and was about to leave.

“Oh, Senior Shu? Long time no see.” A big-bellied man walked out of the crowd. He had gold-plated teeth, wore a thick golden chain on his neck, and had a Rolex on his wrist. In addition, a keychain with a BMW key flashed at his belt. This man was your typical rich fatty.

Compared to the man, Senior Shu and I looked as if we were unable to make ends meet. My first impression was that this gold-toothed man really liked to boast.

Since someone had called him, Senior Shu couldn’t just leave. He turned around and awkwardly looked at the gold-toothed man. “Grandson, you look so big now. When you were a little boy, I used to hold you.”

The gold-toothed man guffawed. “Senior Shu, it seems you aren’t doing too well recently. How come you don’t even have good clothes?”

Senior Shu smiled embarrassedly and said, “It’s not easy to do business.”

At this moment, the gold-toothed man’s cell phone rang. He took it out and answered the call. After that, he shook his phone in front of Senior Shu’s face. I could tell it was an iPhone 6S, the gold-plated version. “Senior Shu, do you know how much this phone is? It’s five hundred thousand renminbi. Can you earn five hundred thousand renminbi in a year?”

Senior Shu didn’t answer. He casually stretched his back. “It’s so hot today.”

Then, he took his jacket off. As he did that, a mobile phone slipped from his pocket. I was surprised to see a diamond-studded version of the iPhone 6S. It was even more expensive than the gold-plated one. It was one of the limited five hundred phones produced in the world. Senior Shu lowered his head and glanced at the phone. Then he said with a hint of annoyance, “I’m getting and forgetful. I left my Dior phone at home and brought this trashy phone with me.” Then, he kicked the diamond-studded iPhone 6S into the water. “I won’t repeat this mistake again!” Since he had taken his coat off, I saw several famous-brand watches on his arm. There were five or six watches, all limited editions from Patek Philippe and Rolex.

“You…” The gold-toothed man gawked and dropped his jaw.

Senior Shu said, “Time is money, so I need to be punctual to the second. It’s better to wear several watches.”

Senior Shu stretched his sore back and flashed his shining golden belt.

Holy moly, how did this fellow suddenly turn from a wretched old man to a filthy rich man loaded with diamonds?!

Senior Shu stretched his back again. “We should take a rest. I’m tired.” Then, he took me and left.

I hadn’t gotten ahold of myself yet. After we had walked for a long distance, far enough from the others, I asked him, “Senior Shu, what happened? Why do you wear so many world-famous brands on your body? Is your belt made of real gold?”

Senior Shu said, “You know nothing, kiddo. This is just for show, you know? When I arrived, I already knew that the gold-toothed man would show off to me. I was prepared.”

“Are these real?”

Senior Shu smiled awkwardly. “They are all stainless steel. Why don’t you tell me if they are authentic?”

I was amazed. When it came to bragging, I was still far behind Senior Shu!