Otherworldly Merchant

Soon, the girls returned to the lounge, each carrying a bag, and joined us in the final preparations. Then, I drove them away.

After having a simple dinner, I went straight to Li Mazi’s house. Li Mazi was dumbstruck when he saw me with a bunch of beauties in tow. “Are you going to open a nightclub? Why would you recruit so many little sisters from some KTV?”

I threw Li Mazi a glance. “Stop spouting nonsense. They are professional actresses. Tonight, we’re going to show Mr. Qi a good performance.”

Li Mazi smiled. “Even if I receive nothing for this mission, it would be well worth it.” His words made the young ladies giggle.

Since my car was already packed, I asked Li Mazi to drive his own car.

Li Mazi waved his hands, resolutely rejecting my proposal. “Why waste gasoline? We should protect the environment. I have no problem squeezing into your car!”

Then, he opened the door and tried to slip into the car. I angrily kicked him out and said, “Do you have no shame? Even if you want to reap some benefits, you shouldn’t be that explicit.”

Li Mazi blushed and gave me an awkward smile. He then silently grabbed his car and followed me.

Mrs. Qi was cleaning the living room when we arrived at her house. She was bewildered at the sight of so many beauties and looked at me in puzzlement.

I could only explain the situation. “Tonight, we will need the cooperation of these beautiful ladies. That’s how we will save Mr. Qi.”

Although Mrs. Qi was wearing a questioning face, she still nodded.

Then, she sent me a text message. “What kind of man are you? You showed no interest in me the other day, so I thought that you were a righteous man. However, it seemed you simply didn’t like me. You could have just told me, you know?”

Mrs. Qi thought that I was showing off my charm by bringing all those beauties with me.

I felt awkward and didn't know how to explain the situation. I sent her a short text message to brief her about the situation, but Mrs. Qi’s discontent expression clearly showed that she didn’t believe me.

It seemed I couldn’t come clean even if I jumped into the Yellow River. I decided to move on, as it was a pointless discussion. If I continued to come up with explanations, she would think that I was trying to cover things up.

“Ma’am, where’s Old Qi?” I asked.

Mrs. Qi glanced toward a room. “He’s sleeping in that room. He hasn’t woken up since last night.”

I went to the room to check on Mr. Qi, who was sleeping like a dead pig. His body was curled into a ball, while his breath was a little quicker than usual. The dark circles underneath his eyes were quite terrifying. It was a clear symptom of kidney failure.

This departed soul had greatly damaged Mr. Qi’s body.

After checking on him, I prepared to leave the room and close the door. However, when I turned around, I happened to see something on Mr. Qi’s neck. My heart immediately started racing.

There were some small, dark gray dots on his neck. I trembled in fright when I saw them clearly. Those small dots were indicators of livor mortis!

Since livor mortis had manifested on his body, I was afraid his death was drawing near. If we didn’t do anything, Mr. Qi would not survive to see another day.

Mrs. Qi was really an awful wife, and it didn’t seem like she cared if her husband lived or died.

I asked Li Mazi to enter the bedroom immediately.

To my surprise, Li Mazi wasn’t the first one entering the room. The girls got in first and asked me, “Did you find anything strange?”

I didn’t know if I should cry or laugh. “Nothing, it’s just some livor mortis.”

“What? How could a living person have livor mortis?”

“I used to read about livor mortis in detective novels, but I had never seen the real thing before. Finally, I got a chance today. Quick, show me what’s going on here!”

The girls squeezed into the room and circled Mr. Qi, not minding the bad odor exuding from his body. They watched and pointed their fingers.

I was eventually nudged out of the room. I looked at Li Mazi, and we both felt helpless.

Left with no choice, I cleared my throat and said, “Girls, you better move away. Livor mortis is highly infectious. You could also get it if you’re careless.”

Once they heard me, the girls finally recognized the danger. They gasped and retreated.

By then, Mrs. Qi had also seen the livor mortis on her husband’s body. She was really scared. “Mr. Zhang, what’s going on?”

I took a deep breath. “This is proof that his Yin energy is overwhelming his Yang energy. If we don’t fix this soon, the consequences will be severe.”

Mrs. Qi was frightened. “Please, save him! If he dies, I’ll be a widow for the rest of my life!”

Li Mazi chuckled.

“Why are you laughing?” asked Mrs. Qi.

“I guess Mr. Qi hasn’t written a will yet, and you’re not legally married. Did I hit the mark?” Li Mazi snapped back.

It seemed Mrs. Qi didn’t want Old Qi to die just yet because he hadn’t written a will. And, since they weren’t officially husband and wife, she wouldn’t get a dime if he died.

Mrs. Qi was incensed. She began to quarrel with Li Mazi, but he just sniggered and remained silent. He disdained this kind of woman the most, who was willing to sell her body for wealth.

I had to jump in. “You two, stop fighting. If we delay any further, Mr. Qi will really die.”

Mrs. Qi became worried. “Please, save him.”

I pondered for a while and remembered a method Senior Shu had taught me. It was a technique to create a dough of rootless water and human bone powder that could be smeared on the victim’s neck. It was like fighting poison with poison, and it could somewhat absorb the livor mortis.

However, where was I supposed to get human bone powder?

Bone powder and bone ashes were different. Bone ashes would form after a deceased person’s remains were burned at really high temperatures—at least several thousand degrees. Not a bit of evil energy would be left, and it would certainly lack any poisonous elements. We couldn’t use it to counter the other poison.

And, human bone powder was made of naturally decomposed human remains that had been ground into powder. In most cases, the remains belonged to people who had died a tragic death and were filled with resentful energy. When their bones were ground, the resentful energy would seep into the powder. That was the poison I needed!

As we were in an urgent situation and I couldn’t create the bone powder on the spot, I had to ask Mrs. Qi. “Ma’am, do you know if there’s anybody who could provide us with human bone powder?”

Mrs. Qi shook her head. “Why would anyone have that thing? Still, if it can save Old Qi, you have to get it, no matter the cost!”

I pondered for a while, then replied, “It’s not about money. Anyway, get me some sea salt, bone ashes, and a bottle of white rice wine. This mixture could somewhat work.”

Mrs. Qi was still worried. “‘Could work?’ Please be serious.”

I explained to her, “It’s not like bone ashes don’t have any bit of resentful energy... It’s just that it’s too trivial to be noticed. The mixture of salt and rice wine may extract enough resentful energy out of the ashes.”

Mrs. Qi was finally convinced. She rushed away to prepare the items. Shortly after, she returned with an urn.

I felt a little awkward. “Where did you get this urn, ma’am?”

“I bought it from a friend. That fellow used to be a tomb raider, but as business isn’t flourishing these days and the government has become stricter, he hasn’t been able to find a lot of ancient tombs. He eventually resorted to stealing urns. This sort of urns can be washed and re-sold for one or two thousand renminbi.”

I cursed that thief in my head for throwing his conscience to the gutter. Then, I took out the ashes and placed them in a stainless steel bottle. After carefully mixing all the ingredients, I smeared the dough on Mr. Qi’s neck.

Mr. Qi didn’t even wiggle or react in the slightest. He seemed to be completely numbed. After a while, he woke up and shot a glance at me, closing his eyes right after.

I was surprised. That ghost is still possessing Mr. Qi’s body? Why hasn't he left yet? It’s broad daylight... 

I took a deep breath and observed the bedroom.

The bedroom was ill-lit, and the curtains were down. The only source of light was the open door. However, the girls were blocking the passage at the moment. As things stood, it wasn’t a hard task for that thing to possess Mr. Qi’s body.

I shot the girls a glance, motioning them to clear the doorway, and I asked Mrs. Qi to pull the curtains open. We first had to use the light to expel the ghost. Otherwise, Mr. Qi’s body would only get worse.

The people near the door moved away. When sunlight filled the room, Mr. Qi’s body shivered. He then exhaled a breath of foul air, and color returned to his face.

I heaved a sigh of relief, seeing that it was working. The girls were startled and asked me in unison, “How did you do that?”

“This room was closed, which prevented Yang energy from entering. As the room was already filled with Yin energy, it was hard to detect the one generated by the departed soul. This place is no different from a coffin. If a possessed person is placed in such an environment, they would die for sure.”

Things were finally clear, and Mrs. Qi’s face turned pale. “I’m so lucky that I got you to come here. Otherwise, Old Qi would have died already!”

The girls admired me even more. They looked at me as if I were their new idol.