Otherworldly Merchant
Chapter 502: Dragon-Shaped Ancient Jade

I pondered for a while then put the box on the floorand usedmy blood to draw some swords and sabers around it. I also sprinkled a layer of salt onthedrawings.

After everything was done, I noddedin satisfaction. Thatspirithad both of its legs chopped off, soI guessed it would be terrifiedofswords.Swords and sabers drawnwithblood and refined salt were top Yang tools. Iwas surethat they could scare the spirit a lot.

To avoidasuddenattackfrom thespirit, I asked the little boy to return to the hostel and fetch my bag. I told him to not alert the grannie there.

I was a little embarrassed as I had ordered the boy to work for me right after I had adopted him. The little boy looked happyand hoppedaway.

After he left, I had nothing to do. I decided to take care of Zhou Tian’s wife. But then,I realizedthat she wasn’t breathing, and herbody was a little stiff.

Ihad a sudden realization. The woman I saw out there wasn’tanother person. It was her soul!

While I was distracted, thespirittook the chanceto possess her and evict her soul. Then, it deceived meand mademe return to the hostel.

Aftereverything was cleared up, I feltscared. If I hadn’t learned the spell to inviteguidingspirits, Zhou Tian and his wife would have been killed today.

Iimmediatelywent out of the house. The woman’s soul was still sitting there. I exhaled in reliefand readthe soul-sucking spell to put her into a paper crane.

Less than ten minutes later, the little boy returned with my bag. I opened the bag and found my talismans and the Peach Soul Flower. I felt much more assuredwith my tools.

“Little Lin, I have to put her soul back into her body.Wait for me outsideand don’tcome in,” I said to the little boy asI pointed at Zhou Tian’s wife.Sincehissoul wasn’t stable,ifI read the spell to putthe wife’ssoul back into her body, he would also be affected. At that time, it would be awkwardifher bodyended up withtwo souls in it.

I had named the little boy‘Lin,’short for Jiulin. He looked pleased with the name. He smiled and flewout of the house.

I alsosmiled. Then, I turned off all the lights in the villa and lit up a candle, placingit in front ofthe wife’shead. I released her soul from the paper craneand chantedthe spell to make it return to the body.

Somesay thatbeckoning soulsisa complicated task,while others say it issimple. In fact,itwasn’tdifficult to perform the soul beckoning technique, but great importancelay in the reason as to why the soul left the body, the time the soulwasaway from the body, and the distance between the soul and the body. Whenthe conditions were right, we could naturally putasoul backinthe body!

I placed her on the bed and put Little Lin into the paper crane. Then, I stuckspirit talismansinevery corner of the house.After I had confirmedthat thespiritcouldn’t enter the place, Ilaidon the sofaand fellasleep.

When I woke up, it was noon the next day. I found myself sleeping on a bed. Zhou Tian and his wife hadprobablymoved methere.

When I leftthe room, I saw Zhou Tian talking with his mother in the living room while his wife was cooking. Then,she also joined the conversation. It wastheharmonious picture of a happy family.

I was puzzled and thought,How didZhou Tian change his nature? Howdidhe become so filial all of a sudden?

I had planned to deal with thespiritandteachhim alesson. Since hehad come back to his senses on his own, I didn’t need to doanything.

I cleared my throatand walkedtoward them. “Auntie, when did you come here?”

When they heardmy voice, the three of themstopped talkingand lookedat me. Zhou Tianwasn’t rude this time. When he saw me, hequicklygoton his kneesand thankedme for saving his life.

His wife didn’t kneel, but she looked thankfulas she stood there. However, herexpression wascomplicated. I guessed she rememberedthat shehad tried to seduce me last night. I gave her a faint smile, hinting her to forget about it. Then, I turned tolook atthe grannie. She had a plaster cast on her thigh.

“Auntie, what happened?” I was flustered.

Wehavea proverb thatsays‘one should rest one hundred days iftheygeta bone injury.’Foran old woman like her, itmight as wellbea dooming injury. Moreover, she was still all right last night. Howdid this happen?

“Son, don’t worry. I just tripped.” The grannie looked happy. I noticed that she was looking here and there, assessing the house. Perhaps it was the first time shehad cometo visit her son’s house after he got married.

Compared to this happiness, the injury on her leg was nothing. The grannie didn’t want to tell me, so I turned to her son. “Zhou Tian, what happened?”

His eyes reddened. He got on his knees again after he had just got up. He faced his mother and wept. “Mother, I’m so sorry!”

Yesterday, after I finished dealing with thebox, Ifell asleep right awayand didn’t call the grannie to tell her thateverything was allright. It turned out the old woman was worriedabouther son and daughter-in-law, so she came here from her hostelin the middle of the night.

Since she was old,her limbs weren’t good anymore. She tripped midwayand had to crawl the rest of the trip to this neighborhood. Eventually, she fainted at the neighborhood entrance.

Early in the morning, a janitor found her and took her to the hospital. Otherwise, she would have beenfrozento death.

When Zhou Tian and his wife woke upin themorning, they found the mess on the ground and me sleeping on the couch. They remembered the situation last nightand felt guilty.

Right before death, peoplewould often have a change of heart.Zhou Tian hadsurvived a calamity, and hissoulwas reborn. When the hospital called, he immediately rushed there to see his mother.

At the same time, the scenes where hismothercaredfor him appeared in hismind. Zhou Tian was nowa changed man.

Hecried unceasingly as he talked. The motheralsosobbed. I was touched by the atmosphereand secretly wipedmy tears.

“Brother Zhou Tian, it’snevertoo late.”

I rubbed my eyesand saidrighteously, “As long as you don’t hurt Auntie’s heart, you’ve already shown your filial piety to her.”

Nopersoncould repayeverything their parents had done for them. It was already a fortune thattheydidn’t disappoint them!

Anyway, the box was stillwhereit was placed last night, and the blood swords and sabers remainedon the ground.However,I found some burned talismans on the window. It seemed that thespirithad come back one more time last night. The talismans had scared itoff, so it didn’t dare to intrude the room.

AsIhadthe box here, the spirit would definitely come again.

After a few confrontations, I became interested in thisspirit. After lunch, the sun was high in the sky,which produceda scorching light. I took this chance and used a cutting machine to open the box.

The moment the box was opened, a dazzling halo radiated. Instinctively, I closed my eyes. When I opened my eyes again, I saw something wrappedina handkerchief.

I picked it up. The item felt heavy and tough. I took another look and dropped my jaw in awe.

This handkerchief was made of gold threads and there were dragons embroideredon it. Even though I couldn’t recognize the age ofthehandkerchief, from its colors and workmanship,I knew it was a royal item.

In ancient times,peoplethat could use things with the drawings of dragons belonged to the noble and royal class.

I couldn’t wait to unwrap the handkerchief to see the thing inside. It turned out to be a piece of jade that didn’t havearegularshape.

Of course, working in the antique business, I had a profound knowledge of jade. At first glance, I recognized it was a really old jade that could be dated back to the pre-Qin era.

There were many types of jadewith different prices. Compared to gold and silver, jade was oftensold atpriceshigherthanitsreal value. Moreover, texture and colors were important factors that affected the value of the jade.Even though this jade was a real antique, itdidn’t have a regularshape. Coupledwiththedefects on the body, the jade’s value was greatly reduced.

“Master Zhang, is this jade valuable?” Zhou Tian sounded excited. However, from his look, I knew he understood nothing about jade.

I told him the truth.“It’s an antique, but it’s not worth much.”

Zhou Tian gave me a nodand lookeda little disappointed.I suddenlyrealizedthat I hadn’t told them the rules ofourbusiness beforehand.I feltawkward now.