Otherworldly Merchant

My in-laws woke up in the evening. I seized the chance while Yin Xinyue was taking a shower to ask them what had happened last night. 

My mother-in-law’s face twisted in pain. Subconsciously, she shivered and pointed at my father-in-law. Her eyes teared up. “You should ask my husband.” 

“Yesterday, a monster came to our room. It looked like a buffalo, but it had scales and many legs. It looked so strange.” 

Before I could interject, my father started to talk again. His words were slow, but I could hear his voice shaking. Let alone him, after listening to his description, my heart also sank. 

He calmed down and took some deep breaths to adjust himself. He continued, “That monster was so cold, like an ice rock. Your mother and I were woken up by the cold. We saw the monster right above our heads. Your mother fainted right at the scene. I grabbed the fruit knife at the bed stand to scare it, but I could only scream once. I lost consciousness after that.” 

Then, his face darkened. He hesitated for a long moment before speaking again. “Jiulin, you should leave with Yin Xinyue! I’m afraid that the monster will come after the two of you.” 

I felt a little lost. It was their parental care for us, but how could I leave them here? 

“Father, don’t worry. I’ll deal with that thing. Please trust me.” 

My father shook his head persistently. “We are just old people. Our time will soon come to an end anyway. Don’t get involved in this.” 

Yin Xinyue came in with food right at this moment. Her face changed immediately. “Dad, we are not leaving. Moreover, Jiulin is an expert in this field. I’m sure he can safely force that monster to leave.” 

“Sigh!” 

My father sighed and looked as though he was about to say something, but my mother-in-law smacked his arm. They both kept silent.

While they were having dinner, I grabbed a stick and went to the patio to remove the snow and ice in the room. I asked Yin Xinyue to find the family cat and stick some talismans on it. 

“Yin Xinyue, I have to turn off the brazier in our parents’ room. It will be pretty cold tonight, so you should prepare more blankets for them.” 

I brought the brazier to the yard and poured water on it. The charcoal sizzled and quieted down. After the temperature in my parents’ room dropped sharply, I used the ice I had collected from the roof to arrange a Thousand Mirrors Formation.  

The so-called Thousand Mirrors Formation didn’t really have so many mirrors. Anyway, it consisted in using mirror-like objects and arranging them in the directions of a Chinese divination technique. With layers of mirrors, it would work like a labyrinth. 

Commonly, the Thousand Mirrors Formation was used to locate spirits. Of course, powerful casters could use this formation to directly kill the spirit. I hadn’t reached that level yet, though! 

As the monster exuded a fishy stink, I was sure it was related to water somehow. That was why I decided to use the ice instead of a mirror. Once I activated the formation, the crystal-clear ice could work like real mirrors. Moreover, I could make use of the icy cold to create a snow maze. 

Of course, it was just my assumption, and I didn’t wish to hurt the monster for now. I just wanted to see it.

However, when I activated the formation, I would need to use my spiritual power. To prevent that monster from running away, I put the cat with the talismans on it by the back door. 

“You want to use this kitty to get more time?” Yin Xinyue asked as she watched me make the arrangements. 

I nodded. “Cats are the nemeses of fish. Although our father said that thing doesn’t look like one, because it smells like fish, it should live in the river. Of course, there is some danger in this, and that thing might attack the kitty. But in this situation, I have to risk it.” 

After my in-laws had dinner, I gave each of them a life-protecting talisman. It was to protect them from getting hurt by the Yin energy when the monster came. They had lost a lot of blood, which made it easier for the Yin energy to affect them. 

“Son, don’t worry. We’ve worked under the rain and storms for decades. This cold is nothing to us.” Mother tried to smile and encourage us when she saw me and Yin Xinyue so tense. 

I could only smile back at her. Yin Xinyue turned away and secretly wept.

I frowned and ushered her to our bedroom. “Yin Xinyue, don’t be like this. You will discourage our parents. It’s not good for them to deal with the Yin energy this way. The best weapon for living people dealing with Yin energy is their unshaken belief. You got it?” 

Why was it that so many people were not afraid of death, but torment? It was because of belief. If their belief or faith was strong enough, no toxin could harm them. However, there weren't many people like this in reality. 

Yin Xinyue wiped her tears as she understood my meaning. She pulled herself together and put on a smile. Then, she walked out to talk with her parents. 

I scanned our room and made use of the geomancy to arrange something at the window in the corner. After putting the Emei Piercer next to Yin Xinyue’s pillow, I felt much better. 

As the night was getting darker, the place was getting colder. Frost had already claimed our window glass panels. I checked the clock. It was almost time. I asked our parents to rest and told Yin Xinyue to go back to our room. 

In this situation, I knew she couldn’t sleep. I gave her the Emei Piercer. “Stay here and protect yourself.”

As for me, I had to go out to watch. 

She hugged me from behind. In a soft voice, she said, “Hubby, do your best!” 

“You silly wife!”  I turned and teasingly pinched her nose. After gritting my teeth, I climbed up to the roof. 

The ladder in Yin Xinyue’s house was molded from an iron bar and was painted red. It seemed people hadn’t polished it, so the steps felt rough. Every time I took a step, my fingers felt close to being frozen. After climbing to the roof, I stood up and almost tripped. Cringing, I had to squat to stabilize my center. Then, I found a layer of ice on the roof around three centimeters thick. This layer covered the entire roof as if it was a frozen lake. 

I was surprised. I stood up and looked around to see the other houses. The houses around were all clean! My in-laws were hard-working people. They wouldn’t let snow freeze on their roof! 

After thinking about this, I realized an issue: I had been watching outside the windows and didn’t think that that creature might have come from the roof. Moreover, Yin Xinyue and I were right outside when it came down through the chimney and wrote the word “death” on the ground. After hesitating, I slowly crawled to the chimney to see. I caught the stench. 

I thought to myself, The problem lies right here! 

I had just wanted to get up here to take a look, but I ended up finding something important. If that thing had come down the chimney every time it came here, I should just stay and wait.

I moved away from the chimney and hid. 

I had been waiting for quite a long time, but that thing hadn’t shown up yet. My body felt rigid in the cold already. As it had almost passed the time with the thickest Yin energy, I thought it wouldn’t come tonight. I decided to climb back down to rest. 

All of a sudden, a gust of cold wind swept through the place. I tensed up and held the Holy Mother Scepter tightly. At the same time, I stuck a Yang Concealing Talisman on myself. 

Indeed, when the wind stopped, a shadow appeared near the chimney. It looked vague at first. But then, when it finally landed, I saw its face. It was so disgusting! 

It had the body of a calf but there were so many things growing on its belly. They looked like the legs of a centipede. Its back was covered with shining scales. More surprisingly, it had dragon claws that shone and reflected light. 

“What… What the heck is this creepy thing?” I couldn’t help but scream in my head while keeping my gaze on it. The beast carefully looked around then turned into a shadow. It slid down the chimney. 

It seemed the beast had visited the house these past few days, but then ran away when it sensed my presence.

I estimated the time and picked an icicle from the roof. I bit the tip of my tongue to spit blood on it. Before the blood melted, I read a spell and threw the icicle in the air. 

The icicle hovered in the air and didn’t fall. The crystal-clear icicle became murky and then red as if my blood had seeped into it. Then, it flew into the room. I heard my in-laws scream. My heart squeezed. I clenched my fists and continued to read the spell. 

Soon, the room lit up. Countless pieces of ice were shining like the light at noon. The monster screamed. I recognized that I was so tense before that I didn’t even release the cat. Luckily, the Thousand Mirrors Formation worked! 

I pulled myself together and thought that this monster was easier to deal with than I had thought. I jumped off the roof and rolled on the ground to reduce the force. As soon as I got up, I kicked the door of the room open. At first glance, I saw the monster bumping between the pieces of ice in pain. Gradually, it slowed down. 

It seemed the ice was working for now. But if it was afraid of ice, why did it make the entire roof frozen? 

For the time being, I couldn’t figure out the cause. However, as I was afraid that it would break the formation, I directly aimed at the beast’s head and stabbed the Holy Mother Scepter toward it. 

It was a trick Senior Shu had taught me. Throwing the Holy Mother Scepter with force could help increase its power! 

Although it was a one-time attack, I believed it would be a fatal hit from this short distance!