Otherworldly Merchant

After knowing who these people were, I felt somewhat panicked. Any one of them could beat me. I told myself that no matter what, I had to stick to Chuyi!

After we ate our meal, we went to the market area one more time. There were more sellers now. However, we couldn’t find the mermaid’s tears. Feeling helpless, we returned to the inn. 

It was a bad coincidence that the people from the Longquan Villa also stayed in this inn. I wondered if they had done that on purpose. 

When we walked through the door, the four of them were going out. The two parties met again. Invisible sparks of hatred were sent into the air one more time. 

Chuyi didn’t bat an eye at their malicious faces. He pushed the one in his way aside and went upstairs. 

I was curious. Those people were as strong as Chuyi, or even stronger, so why didn't they dare to fight against us? Anyway, it wasn’t the right time to ask. I hurriedly walked behind Chuyi. When I walked past Ryuzawa Ichiro, he purposely nudged me. I lost balance and almost tumbled. 

Before I could lose my temper, Chuyi called, “Jiulin, you can’t bite the dog that has bitten you, right?” 

“Haha. Of course, I can’t.” 

I laughed and rolled my eyes at Ryuzawa Ichiro. The man blushed and balled his fists together. I ignored him. I steadied myself and continued to walk up the stairs.

Suddenly, Zen Master Baimei let out an “Ouch” behind me. When I turned around, I saw him on the ground. One-armed Dragon and Yin Yang Tiger smirked nearby. 

“Zen Master Baimei, are you all right?” 

I hurriedly pulled him up, then turned and shouted at the other four. “You jerks, do you want to fight?” 

“Hey, that old monk tripped by himself. Why are you blaming it on us?” 

One-armed Dragon smiled coldly and patted Zen Master Baimei’s face. “Hey old man, you better watch your way. I’m in a good mood, so I don’t want to talk about how you’ve interfered with my business. You’re lucky, you know.” 

They all laughed haughtily before leaving. I couldn’t stand them anymore and drew out the Emei Piercer. Zen Master Baimei held my arm and said calmly, “Young Benefactor, if you get mad now, it won’t be different from admitting that they’ve successfully humiliated me.” 

“Damn it!” I spat with a dark face. 

Zen Master Baimei was right. The others had done that to provoke us. I knew that we shouldn’t have a dispute with them now. However, I was so aggrieved to see them humiliate Zen Master Baimei. 

After we went into our rooms, Chuyi looked at me. He said in a serious voice, “If you don’t feel comfortable, read the Sacred Text of Daoism as many times as you need. You shouldn’t let them enrage you.” 

Then, he left with his sword. I didn’t go with him. As I knew that the Longquan Villa’s people wouldn’t come to my room directly, I laid on the bed and studied the Invisible Needle. 

Since that fraudulent middle-aged man had used the needle before, it had his blood on it. I had to drop more of my blood to force his blood out. 

Then, I tried to control the Invisible Needle to suspend it vertically with my thoughts. Indeed, the needle turned vertical! After that, I tried to make the needle perform some simple tasks. After I became familiar with the tempo, I closed the door and used my thoughts to control the needle to move into the keyhole. 

Surprisingly, I found that while the Invisible Needle was moving inside the keyhole, I was able to see the inner structure of the keyhole. I controlled the needle and moved it for a while. Then, with a short crackle, the lock was picked! 

“Haha, I’ve got a great treasure this time!” 

I laughed happily. I thought that I could work as a lock picker. I could just pick up calls from people who needed help and stay at home while opening locks by only using my thoughts… 

Then, I tried to stab the needle into the wall. At first, I focused on manipulating the needle. Unfortunately, I failed a few times. When the Invisible Needle came near the wall, it just fell. I felt a little distressed. On the last attempt, the needle pierced into the wall. 

I was surprised and soon got it. I shouldn’t focus too much on controlling the needle if I wanted to use it as a weapon. Relaxing my mind while controlling it would give me a better result. 

I used this method to try a few more times. Indeed, controlling the needle with a relaxed mind made the needle move faster and with more force. Shortly after, I was able to make a lot of tiny holes in the wall between my room and Zen Master Baimei’s room. 

As the needle had stabbed into the wall many times at the same spot, I’d made a hole as big as a finger.

I fetched a band-aid from my bag to cover the hole. But then, I became curious and wanted to peep into Zen Master Baimei’s room. I went and looked through the hole. Zen Master Baimei was sleeping. 

Right when I was about to leave the hole, his window gently opened, without making a sound. 

All the windows in this inn were old-fashioned. Whenever someone opened the door or the window, there would be many squeaking sounds. But this time, it moved without a sound. My heart rose to my throat. 

It had to be a hotshot who could control his force well. Ryuzawa Ichiro’s image popped into my mind all of a sudden! 

Indeed, when the window finally opened, a masked man jumped in. Although the distance from the window to the floor was less than two meters, the man gently rolled a few times in midair before landing with both hands on the ground. His movements were agile and fast. It was the typical Japanese ninjutsu! 

I had never imagined that they would ambush us. I wanted to wake up Zen Master Baimei, but then, I remembered my Invisible Needle. Ryuzawa Ichiro happened to be a nice target to practice on. 

After landing, Ryuzawa Ichiro didn’t take action immediately. He carefully observed Zen Master Baimei. I took this chance and controlled the Invisible Needle with my thoughts. I just wanted to give him a lesson, so I made the needle aim at his ear. 

Unexpectedly, Zen Master Baimei suddenly shifted on his bed. Instinctively, Ryuzawa Ichiro turned to run away, which revealed his nape. The Invisible Needle immediately stabbed him right in his nape! 

I heard his bone break with a crisp noise. Ryuzawa Ichiro fell to the ground. He tried to get up with the help of both of his hands as he wanted to turn and see what had ambushed him. But he couldn’t do anything. In the end, he slumped on the ground like a mass of cotton. 

Zen Master Baimei was awoken by Ryuzawa Ichiro’s move. He got up and saw the open window and Ryuzawa Ichiro on the ground. The monk helplessly put his palms together in front of his chest. “Merciful Buddha.”

I rushed to Zen Master Baimei’s room and turned Ryuzawa Ichiro around. He was unconscious. I tried to pull him up. However, when I pulled him, his neck tilted to one side. 

“What’s wrong?”

I opened my eyes wide and tried to adjust his head a few more times. However, no matter what I did, his head tilted to one side. It was as though his neck was broken. 

Zen Master Baimei came and checked Ryuzawa Ichiro’s neck. Then, he gasped in disbelief. “How did that happen?” 

Ryuzawa Ichiro’s cervical spine was broken by the Invisible Needle! 

Zen Master Baimei and I couldn’t figure out how this happened. We became vigilant as we were afraid that the others from the Longquan Villa would come soon. 

Fortunately, Chuyi returned shortly after. Seeing Ryuzawa Ichiro on the bed, he frowned. Before I could explain, he came to check the man. Soon, he realized that Ryuzawa Ichiro’s cervical spine was broken. His face turned dark. He coldly glared at me. “Didn’t I tell you not to attack them? What happened?” 

Zen Master Baimei wouldn’t act impulsively. That was why Chuyi immediately concluded it was me. I knew the dispute between us and that the Longquan Villa would rocket after this. I carefully explained what happened to him. 

Chuyi’s face turned better. He checked Ryuzawa Ichiro’s neck one more time. In the end, he shook his head. “The cervical spine is connected to the major nerves of the human body. He’s paralyzed now. It’ll be more than lucky if he can wake up again. Otherwise, he has to live in a vegetative condition for the rest of his life.”  

I was dispirited. Chuyi comforted me. “You’re not to be blamed. You just wanted to save Zen Master Baimei.” 

After all, Ryuzawa Ichiro was to be blamed. He was just unlucky this time. Since ninjas often took dangerous missions, they all knew how to shrink their bones to make their bodies smaller, which would create this reflex in the long run. 

When Zen Master Baimei shifted on his bed, Ryuzawa Ichiro was so anxious that his bones shrank together at that short moment. The cervical spine was fragile. Under the compressing force that he had created with his reflex, when the Invisible Needle pierced into his neck, it was able to break his cervical spine. 

I felt a little better after listening to his explanation. However, I was worried. “What should we do? I have turned the Young Master of Longquan Villa into a disabled man. I’m sure they will try their best to kill me. I think they will do that even before the trade conference is over!”