Otherworldly Merchant
Chapter 494: Ghosts in the River

Before I could move, I heard the loud roar of a car engine behind me. I turned and saw Chief Liu driving toward me.

After the car had pulled to a full stop, Chief Liu and Li Mazi got off.

I swiftly smeared two drops of ox tears on my eyelids and focused. Two out of three Yang flames on Chief Liu’s body were extinguished, and aheadless shadow was attached to his shoulders. Apparently, that was the ghost of Wang Zhuangzhuang.

Chief Liu pulled Li Mazi and strodetoward me.

“Did Wang Zhuangzhuang want to take us to see Cao Cao?”I mumbled to myself. I quickly moved and hid behind a rock, waiting and observing quietly.

Indeed, after they had walked past me, they started to climb the steps I hadconsideredtakingbefore they arrived.

While walking, Li Mazi looked around. He was worried that I hadn’t gotten thereyet.I knew Li Mazi’s life would be over if I didn’t follow them, andChief Liuwould soon follow in his footsteps. I immediately picked up some frozen mud under my feet and shoved it into my mouth.

After people died, their soulswould returnto the earth. Thatwaswhy mud and soil hadYinproperties, and frozen mudhappened to havevery strongYin energy. I held the mud in my mouth to conceal my Yang energyasI didn’t want Wang Zhuangzhuang and Cao Cao to notice me.

I followed Chief Liu and Li Mazi to the top of the Bronze Bird Terrace. Eventually, I saw Cao Cao.

At this time,he didn’t look like a vague shadow anymore. His features were clear as though he were a living man. He was wearing the formal attire for a Chancellor in the Han Dynastyandheldthe Seven Star Sword. He lifted his headandthrusthis chest forward. Then, he looked at Li Mazi, his eyes cold and disdainful.

Chief Liu suddenly convulsed. I turned to look at his head. Wang Zhuangzhuang hadleftChief Liu’s body. He respectfully gave three kowtows to Cao Cao and turned around, hurriedly leaving.

I didn’t let that chance slip away. I moved fast to stand behind Wang Zhuangzhuang, directly sucking him into my Hundred Ghost Pouch.

Cao Cao seemed to sense the power of the Hundred Ghost Pouch. He carefully turned to see me, slowly approaching.

Although he saw me, he was certainly thinking that I wasalsoa dead man. I wasn’t really worried. I quickly sent Li Mazi a text message, asking for them to take that chancetoleave. When Cao Cao was in front of me, I abruptly bit the tip of my tongue and spat the blood on my leg,kickinghis groin right after.

It wasn’t that I was beingdisrespectful, butit was the only way to provoke the spirit and temporarilyreduce its battle prowess.

Cao Cao gasped, his facial featurestwisting due to the pain. He crouched on the floorandrubbedhis crotch.

I seized the chance to take Li Mazi and Chief Liu away from the Bronze Bird Terrace. Not saying a word,I stepped on the accelerator as soon as we got into the car andheadeddirectly to the Police Bureau.

Oncewe had arrived, I asked Chief Liu to gather all the mirrors in the station and take them to my room. I arranged the mirrors in the Eight Diagrams formation, to later coverthem with a raincoat.

Chief Liu asked,“Why do we have to do this?”

I smiled.“I kicked Cao Cao’sjewels. Given hispersonality, I’m sure he’ll come to take revenge. We’llwaitfor him here.”

When I arranged the mirrors, Imade surenonepointed atthe doorthat led to theroom, whichhappened to bethe Death gate of the Eight Diagrams.

IfCao Caodared to come, he’denter the formation. By then, he wouldhaveto beg me for mercy or leave through the Death gate. However,when Cao Cao was still alive, hewould try everything to avoid death andflee, which made me believe thathewould never exitthroughthe Death direction.

While Chief Liu and I were preparing, Li Mazisatnext tous without saying a word,his face pale.

At first, I thought that he hadn’t recovered from thefright, soI didn’t really pay attention to him. However, his condition didn’t improve evenafter Chief Liu and I had done all the preparations.

“Li Mazi, are you all right?”

I waved my hand in front of his eyes and gently pushed him. Unexpectedly, Li Mazi directly fell on his back, his eyes slowly closing.

Chief Liu paled. He supported Li Mazi and placed his finger underhisnose tocheck. He screamed, “H-He’s notbreathing…”

“What?!”

My face changeddrastically as I went tocheckLi Mazi’s breathing. Indeed, it was like Chief Liu had said;he wasn’tbreathing.

Mymind went blank. I rememberedeverythingwe had experienced together, and I remembered Ru Xue, who was waiting for him at home.

He can’t die! I don’t believe he’ll die like this!

As soon as I smeared ox tears on my eyelids, I saw that Li Mazi’s three Yangflames hadbeen extinguished. A wisp of dark mist was swirling above his head, sucking his last bit of Yang energy.

“Damn it!”

My eyes turned red. I cursedandtook out a talisman,sticking it onto Li Mazi’s foreheadandsmashingthe dark mist. I then gently laid Li Mazi on the bed.

He had beenattackedby the soul of the other victim that hadn’t shown up tonight. Li Mazi was stillfinewhen we were on our way back from the Bronze Bird Terrace. I was certain that the attack had happened in this Police Bureau.

Around thirty minutes had passed, soI was sure that Li Mazi’s soul couldn’t have gone far away.

I hurried to change the arrangement of my Eight Diagrams formation, shifting the Life direction to the entrance. I then took Li Mazi’s clothes off, giving them to Chief Liu and asking him to wear them. He would need to wear Li Mazi’s clothes and go out of the station, calling Li Mazi’s name loudly.

Chief Liu was bewildered. However, he did as I asked him. After he left, I burned three joss sticks and sat in the middle of the formation. I closed my eyes, quietly chanting the soul beckoning spell.

As Chief Liu was shouting outside, I also picked up my chanting speed.Gradually, the light in front of my eyes began to blur. Isquintedand saw the smoke of the joss stick being pulled toward the Northwest direction.

It seemed that Li Mazi’s soul hadheardour call. He was coming toward us!

I cheered up andreadthe spell faster and faster.

In a normal situation, Li Mazi’s soulwould have returned immediately. The joss sticks would burn harder for a while, and once Li Mazi returned to his body,theywould go back to normal.

However, I had been chanting for quite a long time, and Li Mazi’s soul had yet toreturn. In the meantime,the joss sticks had quickly burned to the end without any other indication.

“Not good!”

The fourth victim of this decapitation case—the ghost of Zhang Yang—was preventing Li Mazi from returning! I could onlypoundmy fist on the groundwith seething anger. I went outandaskedChief Liu to return to the room and take care of Li Mazi’s body.I then headedNorthwest to chase after them.

The suburban area was locatedNorthwest of Linzhang’s Police Bureau. There was a small river and a market by the bridge. Since peddlers andpeopleat the market would oftenthrowgarbage into the river, the small river had soon become a stinky canal.People caught the stench from afar.

Previously, when we crossed the river, Chief Liu told me that the governmenthad been trying to solve the problem. They had an engineeringand cleaningteam attempt to clear thisriver manytimes, butthey encounteredproblems every time due to people getting hurt or machines breaking. In the end,the problem wasn’t fixed.

I had decided tosee if something was wrong with that small riveronce we were done with this decapitation case. Yet, I had never expected that Li Mazi’s soul had beentaken to this place.

For some reason,I felt that Li Mazi’s soul being losthadsomething to do with the small river. When I reached the river, I heard the water splashing, just as if someone weretaking a bath there.

However, the surface of the river had been covered with all kinds of trash, and the water underneath was frozen, so how was I able tohear water splashing?

I was afraid there was something foul in the river. Iused the same trick as before.I placedsome frozen soil in my mouth, then hurriedly walked to the bridge andlookeddown.

At first glance,I couldn’thelp but scream.

The frozen water I had seen in the morning was gone together with the floating trash.They had beenreplaced with dead bodies!

Those corpses had swollen limbs that looked like white wintermelons. I couldn’t even see their facial features. The moment I screamed, they all turned to look at me, their cold eyes wickedlystaring at me.

Atthis moment, Li Mazi’s voice came from behind me. “LittleBrother Zhang, is that you?”

I turned to see as soon as I heard him. Li Mazi was standing behind me. Since he was just a soul, his figure wastransparent. However, he seemed to besoakingwet as though he had just crawled out of the water.

Seeing me, he sighed. “LittleBrother Zhang, you should go back! It’s very dangerous here.”

Then, he turned and ran away. I wanted to run after him, butafter I hadtakentwo steps, someone held onto my legs. I looked downand saw that the ghost I had invited to carry me a few hours ago wasnowgrabbing my feet.

When I saw him, my first thought was that he wanted to trouble me. Instinctively, I tookout atalismanand preparedto hit him.

But before I could do that, the ghost disappeared.

I didn’t mind himasI had to find Li Mazi.However, I soon realized that Iwas on the other side of the bridge'shandrail. Just one more step, and I would havethrownmyself into the frozen river, which would result in my death.

Facing the sneering, floating corpses in the river, I suddenly understoodthat I had not seen Li Mazi’s soul.One of theghosts had tricked me.

If the guiding ghost hadn’t pulled memy legs, I would have fallen in the river and those ghosts down there would have killed me!

Not daring tolinger, Icrossedthe bridge andreacheda small path.

While running, someone suddenlypattedmy shoulder. My heart sank.Is a ghost chasing after me?

After hesitating for a while, I decided to ignore it. Saving Li Mazi was more important, so I continued to run.

After a few meters, someone touched my shoulder again. At the same time, I heard a mousesqueaking.

My mood changed from surprised to thrilled. I turned my headand sawa giant mouse with two round, sparklingeyes lookingat me.

It was the rat thatSenior Shuhad beenraising!

If it washere,Senior Shuhad to be close by.

I asked,“Hey, do you know where Li Mazi’s soul is?”