Otherworldly Merchant

“Where? Where is he?” 

I felt inspired and jolted up immediately. 

I followed Chuyi’s line of sight and saw a short, bony old man leaving that house. He had a bucket on his back as he sneakily moved toward the river. When he came to the riverbank, he put the bucket in the water and got into it. He slowly paddled away. He looked like a child playing in a water park. 

I didn’t know what he was doing, so I asked Chuyi. He thought then answered, “Perhaps he’s trying to sense the Dragon Eye’s aura.” 

Chuyi grabbed his eight-faceted Han sword, climbed off the water tower, and headed toward the riverbank. 

At this moment, the old man had paddled around a hundred meters away. Chuyi followed him alongside the riverbank. The old man suddenly took a turn. However, a simple structure obstructed our sight. When we crossed those obstacles, the old man had already disappeared! 

“What should we do now?” I was a little flustered. 

Chuyi shot me a glance then jumped directly into the river. I wasn’t good at swimming, so I had to wait here. 

Half an hour later, Chuyi hadn’t returned. I had to walk on the small path alone. After a few steps, I saw Chuyi swimming toward me. I hurried to pull him up. He had blood all over his body, and his face was strangely pale. 

“Hurry, carry me back.” Chuyi fainted after saying that. I didn’t know what had happened, but if the man could hurt him like this, he wasn’t weak at all. I clenched my jaw and picked him up before putting him on my back. I started to run towards our car. 

I had run for quite a long time, but I hadn’t gotten out of the place yet. Then, I realized the strange situation. When I came here, it didn’t take such a long time! I now knew I was in an illusion! 

Chuyi was right. This shabby, calm-looking village did hide a murderous aura! I stopped and took out the Illusory Mind Bell. I wanted to use the bell to see if I could find the way out. But before I could shake it, Chuyi grabbed my hand. 

“Oh, you’re awake. What happened back there?” 

I cheered up and put him down. As long as he was with me, no matter what happened, I could feel at ease. 

However, Chuyi didn’t use the Illusory Mind Bell. He put on a cold smirk and threw it far away. He turned to me and said in an amused tone, “Oh, with these mediocre skills, you dare come to Dragon King Village?” 

“You… Who are you?” 

When the man spoke, it wasn’t Chuyi’s voice. Instinctively, I retreated and panicked. 

He sneered and pulled off his facial skin, which revealed a withered, wrinkled face. 

“It’s you!” I looked at the old man in front of me. I took a deep breath and said, “What did you do to my friend?” 

“You should worry about yourself.” 

The old man retreated a few steps. All of a sudden, he disappeared into thin air. Then, I heard an incoming noise. I frowned and clutched the Holy Mother Scepter tightly. 

As the noise came closer, I saw numerous ghosts. This time, their target was me! They didn’t beset me or swarm over me at once. They came orderly in groups from all directions. 

“Screw you!” I couldn’t help but curse. Then, I hit the nearest ghost with the Emei Piercer. I now regretted not bringing the Yin and Yang Umbrella. 

As they were coming in groups, I couldn’t capture them at once even if I used the Big Dipper Sirius Spell. Moreover, I was still in an illusion. I couldn’t waste a lot of strength on them. 

I was lucky that the withered, old man didn’t take my Illusory Mind Bell. Wielding the Holy Mother Scepter and the Emei Piercer, I moved toward the Illusory Mind Bell. When the Illusory Mind Bell was finally in my sight, I felt relieved. I swept the Holy Mother Scepter around to force the approaching ghosts to back off. Then, I jumped and grabbed the Illusory Mind Bell. I shook it hard. 

However, the Illusory Mind Bell didn’t work. It didn’t affect those ghosts at all. On the contrary, it seemed to make the ghosts more excited. It looked like the old man had deliberately left behind the bell. 

He was afraid of the Illusory Mind Bell, but the ghosts weren’t! I didn’t have time to figure out the reason when a sharp pain hit my shoulder. I turned my head aside and saw a ghost tearing my shoulder! 

“Damn you! Get off me!” 

I stabbed the Emei Pierce into the soil and quickly took out a talisman before palming it on the ghost’s forehead. The ghost screeched and vanished into a wisp of smoke. The other ghosts that were watching me halted at the scene. Their eyes moved, looking here and there. I knew they were scared. 

It seemed they were afraid of spiritual talismans. I had finally found their weakness. I took out a few talismans then proactively approached the ghosts. They dispersed immediately. However, the nearest ghosts weren’t that lucky. They vanished after being hit.

After confirming that they were scared of spirit talismans, I didn’t use them anymore. With the Holy Mother Scepter in hand, I moved forward. Whenever they wanted to jump toward me, I would put my hand into my pocket as though I was about to take out the talismans. The ghost would freeze at that move. 

However, I was just pulling back and forth with the ghosts. As I didn’t have time to think about how to escape the illusion, I became restless. My movements weren’t coordinated, either. 

The ghosts seemed to recognize my weakness. They started to swarm toward me like bees taking revenge for their broken hive. I had to quit my conservative tactic and use the talisman. 

However, there were so many of them. When they came near, I subconsciously put my hand into my pocket and realized that I had used up my talismans! 

The ghosts halted. But then, seeing that I couldn’t take out more talismans, they became excited. They shrilled and shrieked as they stormed toward me. 

As I was in this situation, I had no other choice. I read the Big Dipper Sirius Spell. The Holy Mother Scepter immediately radiated a gold light that expanded from me. The ghosts around me were smashed. 

Since there were too many of them, the pressure the Holy Mother Scepter had to bear was getting bigger and bigger. I could feel my strength draining.

I decided to make the last bet. I kept reading the spell to maximize my control of the scepter. 

After I had finished reading the spell, the Holy Mother Scepter floated up and hovered in the air while the gold light endlessly expanded. This move ended all the ghosts in this illusory space. 

I exhaled and squatted, gasping for my breath. I had to rub my belly in order not to vomit. 

“Die!” 

Right at this moment, I heard the angry voice of the old man behind me. Immediately, cold energy ambushed me from behind. I knew it was a deadly attack, but I didn’t have enough strength to avoid it. 

It felt like I was hit by a train. I was sent flying a few meters backward and vomited blood. When I fell, I didn’t even feel any pain, but my limbs shook uncontrollably.