Otherworldly Merchant

My mind went blank. I turned around and ran away at my fastest speed. 

In many legends, Meng Po lived by the River of Unmindfulness. Every ghost that came here had to drink her soup to forget everything of their previous life before reincarnating again. It was no wonder the ghosts here looked unwilling. They wanted to keep the memories of their previous lives! 

I was certain that I couldn’t get close to the River of Unmindfulness. If I drank Meng Po’s soup, my life would end here.

Still, no matter how hard I tried to run, I only saw new surroundings. I couldn’t find the way back to the village. 

Fengdu was the border between the two worlds. There were many forbidden lands, and if one got trapped, they could die here. 

Walking aimlessly like this wasn’t the right solution. I looked at the vague area ahead of me. Suddenly, I remembered the Invisible Needle. It was an otherworldly item and it could fly fast. Perhaps it could show me the way! 

Even if I couldn’t get out immediately, I would at least save my strength. I took out the Invisible Needle and used my thoughts to control it. The needle flew away quickly. 

The Ghost Market didn’t cover a large area. Furthermore, Chuyi and the man from the Longquan Villa had strong Yang energy, which made them prominent targets to find. That was why I focused on finding the two of them. 

As the Invisible Needle was moving faster and faster, more and more images flashed in my head. Soon, I felt a wisp of Yang energy from a certain image. I focused on that image and saw Chuyi standing before the three elders of the Longquan Villa. 

The place where they were standing was different from where I was. There were no wandering ghosts around. However, compared to the wasteland here, it looked even more frightening. 

Before I could do anything, One-armed Dragon had taken action and aimed at Chuyi. He only had one arm, but every time he moved, a strong wind rose with him. Chuyi was holding his eight-faceted Han sword and had the advantage of having higher reach. He could relatively have an equal fight against One-armed Dragon.  

Right at this moment, Yi Zhangqing fetched some hidden weapons from her waist and darted them at Chuyi. 

Chuyi reacted fast. He wielded his sword and wiped Yi Zhangqing’s hidden weapons away. However, this gave One-armed Dragon the chance to hit Chuyi’s back. 

Chuyi halted. He withdrew his sword and slashed One-arm Dragon’s arm. But the latter seemed to be immune to pain. He raised his bleeding arm and grabbed the long sword. 

As I knew the situation wasn’t good, I used the Invisible Needle to find my way toward Chuyi. 

At this moment, Yin-Yang Tiger suddenly moved after a long time of standing still. Both of his hands curved like a pair of claws that aimed at Chuyi’s wound on his back. Yi Zhangqing took the chance to throw more hidden weapons. Chuyi wanted to duck, but his body couldn’t move. 

“You bastards! The three of you are attacking one person!” I cursed, then used the Invisible Needle to stop the hidden weapons. At the same time, I threw the Emei Piercer at Yin-Yang Tiger. 

He didn’t know what I had darted at him, so he had to give up on attacking Chuyi. Chuyi seized the time and read a short spell. The eight-faceted Han sword glowed magnificently. It cut one of One-armed Dragon’s fingers. The man screamed and backed off. 

I stormed forward and stood near Chuyi. “Are you okay?” 

“Why are you here?” Chuyi said with a cold face. “We’re trapped. They don’t have the mermaid’s tears. That Zen Master Baimei was fake.” 

Now I understood while the ghosts hadn’t come to intervene when One-armed Dragon and Zen Master Baimei were fighting. Since they were from the same side, the ghosts must have thought that they were having an internal dispute! 

It wasn’t that hard to figure out. But as we were blinded by the mermaid’s tears, we hadn’t thought the matter through. 

To give Chuyi more time to prepare, I asked the enemy, “What happened to Zen Master Baimei?” 

Before the Longquan Villa’s people answered me, I heard Zen Master Baimei’s merciful voice coming from all directions. “Young Benefactor, don’t worry. I’m all right.” 

As his voice grew louder and clearer, beams of golden light filled the place. Then, Zen Master Baimei appeared as though he had just descended from the sky.

After he landed, he put the mala beads back in his pocket. The golden light flashed, then completely disappeared. 

“Zen Master, where have you been?” 

“They tricked me into coming here earlier. I didn’t know the situation, so I was trapped. I didn’t expect to see the two of you here.” 

I felt awkward. You’re too sincere, Zen Master. Couldn’t you just say that you came here to help us? 

No matter what, now that Zen Master Baimei was here, our strengths were equal. Although I was weaker than them, with the Invisible Needle, I wouldn’t be at a disadvantage. 

One-armed Dragon’s team grimaced. Their smirk was gone. They’d decided to attack us in the market and divide us as they were afraid that they wouldn’t be able to give a nice report to their superiors otherwise. 

However, the three of us had found each other by chance. Now that they had climbed on the tiger’s back, they had to figure out how to get down! 

Chuyi had rested enough. He asked coldly, “Do we still need to fight?” 

The people from the Longquan Villa made ugly faces. However, they didn’t answer him. After exchanging looks, they flew backward. 

“What did they mean?” I asked. 

“I’m lucky that you two came. Otherwise, I couldn’t even dare to imagine the consequences,” said Chuyi. 

This area wasn’t the Ghost Market, so the owners didn’t bother to protect the land here. The people from the Longquan Villa had seized this chance to carry out their dark deeds. They wanted to finish us discreetly. 

However, as the three of us were reunited, fighting could create a big commotion that would require the big boss of the market to step in. If that happened, let alone taking revenge, the people from Longquan Villa might not even be able to leave Fengdu. They understood this well. That was why they had decided to leave. 

“That was close,” I blurted out.

I was worried, though. As they had used the mermaid’s tears to lure us in, they knew why we had come to the Ghost Market. If the mermaid’s tears were sold at this trade conference, they could buy them before us. No matter what, they were equally rich! 

Chuyi understood this. He immediately took us through layers of illusions to return to the center of the trade conference. 

The market was so crowded. Stalls had packed the original market, and even more stalls were on the streets outside. 

We walked around but still couldn’t find the mermaid’s tears. Suddenly, three flows of white light crossed the sky. The people and ghosts cheered happily. Even Chuyi looked yearning when he saw the light. 

I checked the time. It was right at midnight. Finally, July the 15th had come! It seemed that the white lights signaled that the Market’s owners had come to show this year’s treasure. Indeed, when the three beams of white light vanished, three items appeared in midair. 

On the left was a set of clothes that looked as thin as cicada wings. A few transparent beads floated in the middle. On the right was a special mask, which had a fire phoenix moving on it. It looked magnificent to the eyes. 

I didn’t know what those treasures could be used for, so I turned to ask Chuyi. When I turned to him, I saw that he and Zen Master Baimei looked dumbstruck. They were gazing at the transparent beads.

I pushed him and asked, “What’s wrong?”  

“Jiulin, you are lucky.” Chuyi couldn’t hide his joy. His voice shivered. “Those are the mermaid’s tears, the thing you want to find!”