Otherworldly Merchant
Chapter 469: Rather Provoke a Hundred Ghosts than Meddle with a Fiend

This was a bad sign.Thismeantthat anintimidatingspirit was down there,and it was probably a fiend!

Ifafiendwas involved,Iwould haveto give up this case. My grandpa used to tell meit was better toprovoke a hundred ghosts than meddle with a fiend.

However, the compassneedle suddenlystopped spinning. Moreover, theneedlesank as if itwasreally heavy.

My spirit was lifted. I moved the compass over the hole wherethehenchmen had dugand shiftedto a few locations. Theneedlesank in every location.

“Phew…”I sighed then put the compass backinmy bag.

“What did you find?”Baldysounded worried.

“The compassneedlesank.Thismeans that your hotelis haunted. However, it’s not the doing of a malicious ghost.The deceasedis callingfor attention to seek justice.”

I was puzzledthough. If itwasn’tan evil ghost, why did it murder so many innocent people? Did something happen whenBaldydecorated the hotel? I asked him.

Baldyshook his head repeatedly. “No, no, I just decorated the hoteland madeit more lavish and luxurious. I didn’t dig anything from the ground!”

“That’sstrange then…” My head was filled with questions.

Li Mazi chimed,“Whyare you hesitating somuch? Just dig it up, andwe’ll know what it is.”

Then, he picked up a shovelthat was positionedagainst the wall and started to dig.

If thespiritwasunderground, it would have to attach to something.Such being the case, it wasan otherworldly item, and not a fiend. Thatwaswhy I didn’t stop Li Mazi.

However,not even awhole minute had passed whenthe enthusiastic Li Mazi started to sweat hard. His face paled,which madehim look like a patient that had just recovered from a serious sickness.

“Stop!” I shouted.

I didn’texpect thisotherworldly itemto be thisformidable. Itseemed Li Mazi couldn’t hear me; he started to dig even harder.

I was scaredand guessedthe spirit had possessed him. I rushed to the hole to pull him up.

“LittleBrother Zhang, don’t pull me up.I’m not convinced yet!”

It turned out he justwasn't ready to give up yet.

I pulled him upand shouted,“You should stop now! If something happens, I can’t save you!”

“Shoot! Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Li Mazi threw the shovel aside.Then, he sat on the groundin low spirits.“This isthe only clue we have. If you don’tletme digit up, what should we do?”

I rubbed my head then askedBaldyto go to the food markets to find some butchers. Although he didn’t knowthe reason,he didn’t ask muchand leftimmediately.

“This man isn’t vigilant at all. There’s no oneelse inthis big hotel. Isn’t he worried that we will clean upthe whole place?”As we talked,Li Mazi scanned the place.Hewas looking for some valuableitems.

I patted his head and scolded him.“Don’t stay idle. You should also go and prepare somethingsfor me!”

“Whatdo youneed?”

I thought of the items and said,“A massive mirror that can cover an entire wall, the ashes of fresh grass, andblood from a malebat.”

Li Mazimadea faceand pouted.“The two first items are okay, but wherecan Iget bat blood? Also,malebat blood?”

“I can feel this otherworldly item’s energy. It’s so tremendous that eel bloodis not enough. We have to use male bat blood. It’s the top tool tosummonspirits,” I told himina serious tone.

Li Mazi stoppedsmiling.“Don’t worry.Leave it to me.”

Then, he left. I was now alone in this hotel. Since I had nothing to do, I decided to pick up the shovel and dig. However, after a few minutes, my chest felt heavy,andmy heart started torace. I had to put the shovel away and decided towanderaround the silent hotel.

I had to admit, Baldy’s hotel was ultra-lavish. From the secondfloorupward, the floors were made of mahogany wood. The teahouseonthe third floor had green bamboo partitions,which gave the rooman elegant touch. Unfortunately, the room was now half burned.

The fourth and fifth floors were guest rooms. I skipped themand headedto the sixth floor.Baldysaid that the sixth floor wasmeant tobe a casino. I had never been to a casino, so I wanted to take a look.

Before I could get there, I felt thick Yin energy surround me. After a few seconds, my body was chilled from the toes upward.

My heart sank. I didn’t expect that it would dare to show up here. I didn’tcarryany defensive toolswithme, soI quicklymade up my mind andrushed downstairs.

Luckily for me, it didn’t follow me. I exhaled in relief.Iwanted to learnwhat that thing was tonight!

At around noon,Baldyreturnedwith five or six burly men. I checked each of them. They all had astrangemurderous aura. I gaveBaldya satisfied nod.

Since butchers had slaughtered pigs daily, they had accumulated murderous energy in their bodies. They could help subdue the spirit. Thatwaswhy I had askedBaldyto invite them here.

Themen’s shirts had dabs of dirt. It seemedBaldyhad invited them from the countryside. I guessed they were also superstitious. When they saw the burned, dark lobby and the hole by my feet, they began to talk amongst themselves. Perhapsthey were considering whether to take this job or not.

“Talk to those people. Don’t let them run away tonight,”I remindedBaldy. Then, Ifound a sofaand tooka nap.

IfBaldywasn’teven able tohandlethose butchers, he shouldn’t be in the mafia anymore!After I had slept for around an hour,Li Mazireturnedwith a bag.

“Did you prepare all the stuff?”

“Oh, I got two of the items, but I couldn’t find bat blood.” Li Mazi sounded a little embarrassed.

“All right,” I sighedand knewthat he had tried his best. We had to use eel blood then.

Unexpectedly, whenBaldyheard that, he told me he knew where we could get some male bats. Hehada friend who liked to keep small, exotic pets like bats, hedgehogs, and even chinchillas.

I was excitedand askedhim to get me several male bats.Baldywas also hurried. He drove away and returnedshortlywith a cagethat containedseven or eight bats.

When the batsflew around, theylookedokay.Butwhen theyfoldedtheir wings intoaball,they lookedeven uglier than a bunch of rats. I felt a littlescared, so I didn’t want to take their blood. I gave this task to Li Mazi.

At twilight, the mirror that Li Mazi ordered arrived. I asked them to install the mirror on the kitchen wall. Afterward, I sprinkled a thin layer of ashes on it. Sincethere wasn’tmuch bat blood, Idecided tosave itforlater.

I didn’t know what tacticBaldyhad used, but all the butchers decided to stay and help us. He then invited us to dinner.

The way he treated us and the butcherswasrespectful. He offered us liquor with equal treatment and manners. What a generous and frank man he was!

When we returned to the hotel, it was 11:00 PM. After drinking, the butchers lookedfearless. On my command, they picked up the shovels and started to dig.

Baldywas surprised. “You invited them here just to dig this hole?”

I smiled.“That’s right. Everything in this world has a nemesis. Although thespirit is fierce, it will be afraid of these butchers.”

“If I had known thisearlier, Iwould have chosen to becomea butcher!”Baldysmacked his tongue.

While we were talking, the butchers were digging hard. They lookedmuch more atease than when we dug the holeearlier. After a long time, nothing strange had happened.

I thought theywouldbe able to dig this hole to the end. Unfortunately, around fifteenminuteslater, they stopped.One of themcrawled out of the holeandsaid,“Brother,something’swrong down there. We don’t want your money. Can we stop?”

“What?” I frownedand took a look at the hole.A blood-like substance was gushing out from the ground.

There wasn’t muchof it. It was just a thin layer of a liquid substance, but it bubbled like boiling water. Itrosehigher than the butchers’ soles. The liquid continued to gurgle and rise over the butchers’ ankles thatwere still standing in the hole.

“Stop digging. Climb up!”

I didn’t know what kind of blood it was, so Iaskedthem to leave the hole first. With a stern face, I jumped into the pit and bent to dip a finger into the blood. I brought my finger to my nose to sniff it, butthere was no smell of blood.

Feeling suspicious, Irubbed my nose and took another sniff. It wasn’t blood butrather astrange red liquid.

I put my entire hand into thered waterto dig some soil. However, as soon as my hand reached the blood, I felt a massive suction force!

It felt like a vortex was spinning underneath the blood surface. I didn’t have time to react, and my entire hand was sucked in. The mud and soil under the red liquidwereso cold. I felt a chill deep to the bone.

I paledand quicklyretrieved my hand. I also took a handful of mud.I studiedthe red-blood mud in my handandsoon noticed a detail. Peoplewho livedin the Northeast knew that the soil wouldfreezein winter. It created asort of cold mud, which was similar to the mud in my hand.

However, it was just the beginning of autumn. How could it be frozenalready?

I scratched my head and suddenly had a terrifying thought.The mud and soil herewerefrozen by the thick Yin energy!

To verify thisguess, I asked the butchers togodown there again and dig one meter deeper. When the small holewas deep enough toburyaperson standing upright, I asked them to stop and get up.

Then, I poured thebat’sblood around the hole and waited!