Otherworldly Merchant

The old man gave a faint smile. “Young man, don’t change the topic. Tell me, do you think that those prostitutes had a pitiful life?”

I nodded reluctantly.

The old man was silent for a while before sighing. “You’re just like your grandfather. You guys are all soft-hearted. You should know that the reason your grandfather died was due to this soft-hearted character.”

Listening to the old man, I became anxious, my bright eyes gazing at him. “You know how my grandfather died? Did someone kill him? Please, tell me!”

The old man waved his hand. “I can’t tell you. If I told you the truth, I would be breaking the rules of the organization. When the time comes, you will know the answer…”

Even after a long period of time had passed, I still couldn’t calm myself down. I continued to pester the old man, asking him for the causes to or any relevant events surrounding my grandpa’s death. However, he kept his mouth shut, and I couldn’t make him talk. 

Eventually, I had to give up. 

The old man asked me to go to a willow forest outside the village and bring back some twigs. He specified that these twigs must be precisely one and a half meters long. They couldn’t be any shorter or longer. 

I looked at the old man, a little speechless. I didn’t know why he needed me to gather these twigs for him. 

In addition, how could a willow tree have such a long branch? It was already considered lucky if I found a branch that was one-meter-long. 

The old man smiled, telling me I could find them and not to worry. I became skeptical. Was this old man tricking me? Despite all of these doubts, I still chose to believe him in the end. At the very least, the photos from my grandpa’s album weren’t fake. This added some credibility to the old man’s character. 

As I knew this old man didn’t mean any harm, I called Li Mazi and asked him to come here. Then, together with him and Yin Xinyue, I went outside the village to break some damned willow twigs.

We asked the villagers for directions to the willow forest and, when they knew that we wanted to visit the willow forest, they all looked at us with strange eyes. Some kind and anxious aunties told us not to go there. 

We felt strange, so we asked for more information, but they didn’t want to answer. 

I became vigilant. It seemed that damn old man didn’t tell me the entire truth! I was now certain that he was hiding something from me. The reason that he didn’t take action wasn’t that he could be killed. It must be due to something in that willow forest. 

Even though the willow forest was full of dangers, we still had to go there. 

When we arrived at the willow forest, I found that it wasn’t a vast place, and the trees seemed to be arranged neatly. It looked like a man made forest. 

Putting that aside, the willow trees in this area looked quite young. They didn’t look like they had been planted for years. With this factor, it would be pretty difficult to find a one-meter twig, let alone a one-and-a-half meter one. 

Li Mazi held a tape measure, walking around and checking the length of the various branches. When his last bit of patience had been drained, he scoffed, “Is that old man messing with us? Where could we find a one-and-a-half-meter twig? How about we just bring him some random twig?”

I told him, “No, the twig is the tool we must use tonight. We can’t just make do with whatever.”

In this thick willow forest, we walked around until we finally spotted an old willow tree, which was as big as the embrace of two adults. This tree grew in the north direction of the willow forest. 

Seeing the tree and its location, I felt that something was quite wrong. Due to its Yin character, the north direction of the willow forest was the place where ghostly energy accumulated. In theory, there shouldn’t be any leaves or grass growing here. 

However, the willow tree standing in front of us wasn’t withered, but was, in fact, the tallest and strongest one of them all. I was afraid that only the old man knew what was the secret of that willow. 

Alright, just forget it. We should seize the time to find some twigs that measure to one-and-a-half-meter long!

However, we were in disbelief when we found that all of the twigs on this willow, aside for the young ones, were around one and a half meters tall. In addition, the last twig had a clear cut mark on it. 

In other words, someone had intentionally kept this willow’s twigs at one and a half meter long. There would be no twig shorter or longer than that. 

Who had done this? What was his purpose? 

We cut some twigs, and when we thought that we had harvested enough, we tied them up into a bunch and hurriedly returned. 

At this moment, however, the night had fallen. When we carried the twigs and left, I suddenly felt a chill behind my back. It felt exactly like someone blowing their breath on my neck. 

Although this feeling was very faint, my scalp tingled, and I couldn’t help but speed up. 

I didn’t dare turn my head around because, if I saw something there, the mental pressure would be worse. 

Moreover, there was that legend about people having three Yang flames on their shoulders and head. If I turned around and the evil spirit blew one off, I would be in big trouble! 

As I kept walking forward, I suddenly heard Yin Xinyue scream. 

I looked at her through the corner of my eye, and I found Yin Xinyue’d fallen on her butt, gawking as if she was scared by something. 

I cursed myself under my breath for being careless. How could I forget to remind Yin Xinyue not to look behind? I didn’t hesitate and quickly pulled her up. 

However, in an instant, Yin Xinyue, who weighed around forty-five kilograms, seemed to be five hundred kilograms. No matter how hard I tried to pull her, I couldn’t gather the strength required to get up. 

No good! Something has happened! 

I began to sweat in fear. I didn’t dare turn my head around to check behind me, so I had to call Li Mazi for help. 

Yet, when I turned my head to look at Li Mazi, I found him in the same situation as Yin Xinyue. He had landed on his butt, his eyes staring behind him, although I had no idea what he was looking at. 

I called Li Mazi’s name twice but he didn’t react to my call. 

Strange, what’s going on? 

Did we bump into the legendary ‘Human-Nailing Ghosts’?

A so-called Human-Nailing Ghost was actually just a ghost which entangled a person before fixing them onto the ground as though they were nailed to the floor by a copper nail. Typically, the person who was trapped became affixed to the ground so hard no one could move them. 

Damn, what should I do now? I’ve heard about Human-Nailing Ghosts from my grandfather, but I don’t know how to deal with them. 

I was stunned, and I looked at them blankly, unsure what to do. 

Right when I was preparing to call the old man for assistance, I heard Li Mazi and Yin Xinyue calling for help. 

I immediately turned around. I didn’t know when it happened, but a thick, white fog had appeared behind me. I couldn’t see a thing through the fog curtain and could only hear Li Mazi’s and Yin Xinyue’s voices coming from the area deep inside the fog. 

I shivered in fright, looking at the strange scene. 

Li Mazi and Yin Xinyue were sitting in front of me, so why were their voices coming from somewhere deep inside the fog? At the exact moment I turned around, I was shrouded in white fog. I cursed under my breath, thinking that when I had turned around, I accidentally blew off one of the flames on my shoulders. 

How unlucky!

I seized the chance before the fog engulfed me completely to crouch down and mark every direction. I didn’t want to lose my way! 

What should I do now? Do I still have time to call the old man for help? What did Yin Xinyue and Li Mazi see that made them scream in fright? 

The more I thought about the situation, the more flustered I became. I couldn’t think of any solution.

Slowly, I found shadows swaying around me in the thick fog. 

It looked like many people approaching me from the fog.

However, these people’s gaits were extremely strange. They were tiptoeing, craning their heads to the side, their necks long. I tried to clear  the fog around me to get a better view, but I couldn’t. The fog was too thick. 

“Li Mazi, Yin Xinyue, are you there?” I called out in the hope of receiving their answers. 

They did not respond, however. Perhaps they had encountered a ghostly wall, which blocked their senses from the outside world. This made it so that they couldn’t see or hear anything outside the little world the wall had created.

I could hardly imagine how horribly dangerous their situation was at this moment. 

If they were actually trapped inside the fog, who were the two next to me? What the hell had happened? I turned around and checked Li Mazi and Yin Xinyue. They were still sitting there, not moving an inch. 

The silhouettes in the fog didn’t come closer, and I was certain that the two Yang flames on my shoulders were still burning. That was why the figures didn’t dare to approach me. 

All right, come attack me! I knew how to deal with the ghostly wall, anyway. I found a random willow and dug a pit there. Then, I poured urine into the pit before biting my finger to drip a drop of blood into the urine. After that, I broke a willow twig, dipped it in the pit of urine, then sprinkled it everywhere. 

I didn’t expect this trick would work, but it did! The shadows seemed to be incredibly afraid of the urine, and the fog slowly thinned out at speed apparent to the naked eye.

I perked up, my hand moving faster. Not long afterward, the fog dispersed. I exhaled, turning around to check Yin Xinyue and Li Mazi.

At first glance, I was dumbstruck. Standing next to me wasn’t Li Mazi or Yin Xinyue! They were two willow stumps! It was no wonder that I couldn’t move them when I tried. 

Where are Yin Xinyue and Li Mazi?

Just then, Yin Xinyue’s and Li Mazi’s voices sounded from afar. I guessed that they came from the direction of the old willow. 

Startled, I followed the voices. 

Eventually, I found Li Mazi and Yin Xinyue lying under the shade of the old willow. Although their eyes were closed, they were crying for help. The two had mud all over their bodies, and Li Mazi’s mouth was stuffed with soil. Both of his hands were moving as if he was trying to fight back against anyone who came near. 

Yin Xinyue kept pulling her hair, while shouting, ‘Go away, go away!’ I was already prepared to comfort them. However, as soon as I walked two steps forward, I felt as if countless eyes were looking at me from the willow tree. 

I couldn’t help but shudder, and I stopped walking, lifting my head to observe the big willow tree. 

When my eyes reached the top of the willow tree, my nerves almost collapsed. So many heads were hung on the willow tree. There were more than one hundred heads with disheveled hair!