Otherworldly Merchant

The calm water suddenly swelled. Then, I saw Li Mazi’s head protruding from the water. His face was red, but he still had strength. One of his arms was paddling in the water while his other hand was pulling Zhang Henshui. He slowly swam toward me. 

“You freaking scared me!” I couldn’t help but yell at his face. Then, I looked around to find a stick to reach Li Mazi with. 

Li Mazi tried to swim a few more meters to grab the stick. I then gritted my teeth and pulled them to the riverbank. 

As soon as they got to the land, Li Mazi crouched and spat water. Then, he pointed at Zhang Henshui and scolded, “This time, not only did he hug a big rock, but he also tied his legs together! If I hadn’t swum like a fish, I’m afraid I would have been in a coffin by now!” 

I turned to check Zhang Henshui’s legs. He had used nylon strings to tie them together. It was no wonder Li Mazi had been underwater for quite a long time. 

“It seems we need to speed things up. Watching him all the time isn’t the right method!” 

It was his good fortune that we were able to save him twice. However, from his suicidal behavior this time, it seemed the evil spirit couldn’t wait anymore. He wanted to drown the poor man! 

Before we found the spirit, we wouldn’t let Zhang Henshui leave the house alone. Otherwise, no one could ensure that he would be all right. 

I hurriedly untied the nylon ropes from Zhang Henshui’s legs and used the method my grandpa had taught me to close his chest acupoints to block the water outside. Then, I started to press on his chest. 

After five or six minutes, Zhang Henshui opened his eyes and vomited water. When he got up, he got on his knees and begged us to save him. Then, while sobbing, he told us what had happened. 

I could guess it without him telling me the story. He was bewitched again by the voice and tied himself to jump into the river. I pulled him up and brought him back to his house. I told him not to leave the house alone anymore. 

On the way back home, Zhang Henshui implored me. “Please do not tell my wife about this. I don’t want her to be worried about me.”

I admired him even more now. However, how could we hide such an incident? His wife was a smart woman. I knew she would be able to sense something. 

Indeed, when we came back, Zhang Henshui’s wife immediately hugged him and wept. When she finally calmed down, I asked her to take her daughter to the room to rest. As the spirit had made Zhang Henshui jump into the river twice, I knew it was only aimed at him. However, just to be safe, I gave Zhang Henshui’s wife the Peach Soul Flower. 

Afterward, the three of us stayed in the living room to finish eating. After dinner, we quietly waited. 

With the moon hung high in the sky, it was bright until midnight. Moreover, this spirit was different from the rest. It appeared when it wanted to control Zhang Henshui, so we just needed to watch Zhang Henshui. 

However, I thought about it and knew that waiting wasn’t the right solution. I took out the compass and quietly moved around. It seemed his place was all right, but when I approached the toilet area, the compass hand suddenly lowered. 

We called it a “sinking point,” which meant that a spirit was involved in the case. Moreover, that spirit had experienced a tragic death or was someone who had died young. I put the compass away and wondered if Zhang Henshui had done something evil. 

The sinking-point type of spirits shared the same characteristics. They didn’t have strong malignant energy. They didn’t want to meddle with living people, either. It was coincidental if they troubled the living, as they hoped that the person would be able to fulfill the wishes they couldn’t do when they were alive. There weren’t many spirits of that type that wanted to kill people. That was why I suspected that Zhang Henshui had done something to offend that spirit. 

If that was the case, I needed to think about whether or not I should join this mess! Everything in this world had a cause-effect relationship. Otherworldly merchants couldn’t break the rules. 

I asked Zhang Henshui about it. 

At first, he was bewildered. Then, he said resolutely, “Up until now, I have never offended anyone so badly, let alone do something that makes my conscience guilty! Did you find anything?” He looked scared.  

While he was talking, I looked him in the eyes. It didn’t look like he was lying. Moreover, when he saw the man under the shade of the locust tree, he hurriedly woke him up. From my point of view, he was a nice and honest villager. 

I decided to trust him. I took out the compass and checked again. I thought that the problem was in his toilet because it was the place where foul things liked to gather. 

I had lingered in the toilet for a long time but hadn’t found anything. However, the compass hand was now shaking and pointing at the wall. 

It seemed the problem laid within the wall. I frowned and asked Zhang Henshui to bring me two shovels. Li Mazi and Zhang Henshui then followed my order and dug the place. 

While digging, Li Mazi shot me a glance. “Little Brother Zhang, it’s midnight, and we’re digging a toilet chamber. If this spreads out, people will laugh at us until their teeth fall off!” 

I didn’t react to his joke and carefully watched the compass. I noticed that as they dug deeper, the hand shook harder. Around ten minutes later, Li Mazi screamed, “Got it!” 

“What’s that?” At first glance, I saw a soot-black rock under the bricks of the wall. It was releasing rolling dark air. 

It was the source of the problem! 

I took the shovel from Li Mazi’s hand and dug harder. Eventually, we got the black rock. It was around the size of a washing basin and weighed at least thirty pounds. 

Zhang Henshui dropped his jaw when he saw the rock. “When we renovated the toilet, we used only bricks. Where did that rock come from?” 

“Someone wants to kill you!” I said with a cold face. 

“Zhang Henshui, do you remember who built your toilet?” I became doubtful. What kind of menacing people would put something like this in someone’s toilet? 

Zhang Henshui remembered, then said, “It’s the newest renovating job at my house. At that time, I found three migrant workers to work on it. I’ve always been nice. How could I have offended those people?” His voice sounded aggrieved. 

I didn’t have time to comfort him. My head was calculating fast. There were three workers, but only one of them committed the evil deed. 

As we were in an urgent situation, it was too late to check all of them. I thought, then decided to use the Spirit Sensing Technique.

The Spirit Sensing Technique would gather the Yin energy the rock emitted, and we could use that energy to track down the origin of the rock. After that, we could find the one that had planted it here. 

I bit my middle finger and dropped a few drops of blood on the rock. Using a secret spell, I created a short connection with the rock through my blood. When I felt that my thoughts could be sent to the rock, I used all of my power to call, “Open!” 

After my order, the blood on the rock scattered fast and appeared as an axis system. I hurried to walk around the rock. Soon, a small arrow appeared on the axis system. 

“Come with me!”

I hadn’t expected the Spirit Sensing Technique to be that powerful. I called Li Mazi and Zhang Henshui. Then, I grabbed the Sirius Whip and ran in the direction the arrow was pointing. 

To perform the Spirit Sensing Technique, one needs to use blood. After the technique sucks all the blood, it will lose effect. That was why I had to carry the rock with me and move quickly. When we reached a park in the suburbs, the blood had dried. I had to drip a few more drops on it. 

This time, the blood didn’t create an arrow. The drops formed a blood bead the size of a soya bean. It hovered above the rock and gently swayed as if it was looking for something… 

Before we reacted, the blood bead swooshed and flew into the depths of the park. I was surprised at first. But then, I hurried to run after it.

After around two or three hundred meters of running, two figures appeared in front of me. 

To not alert them, I stopped and hid. When they came closer, I recognized they were a man and a woman. 

Zhang Henshui’s face changed when he saw the approaching people. He rolled his eyes and wanted to jump out. 

Li Mazi helped me press him down. After the two were gone, Zhang Henshui scoffed angrily. “That man’s one of the three migrant workers. He’s the one who wants to kill me!”