Otherworldly Merchant
Chapter 614: The Fish Scale Disease

After returning from Tengchong, I wanted to spend more time withSenior Shu. We hadcompleteda few cases, but all of themwere easyotherworldly items.

Li Mazi had recovered well after half a month. He insisted that hehadto see me.Senior Shuimmediately shooed me away. “If Li Mazi comes, I can’t live in peace.”

I felt embarrassedandwas afraid that Li Mazi would really come here.After confirming thatSenior Shuwas all right, I bid him farewell. When I returned to my antique shop, Li Mazi was fuming and screamingin myface that Iwasn'tconcernedabout him.

On the same day, our two families had gathered for a big lunch. At around twilight, Li Mazi and Ru Xue took their little Nianchu home. I held Yin Xinyue’s hand andslowly drove home.

While having lunch together, I had alreadynoticed thatshe wasn’tokay. Although she looked cheerful and excited, she couldn’t hide the grief in her eyes.

“Are you okay, honey?” I asked when we arrived home.

“I’m fine.” She shook her head.

As we had been living together for quite a long time, I knew her well. I didn’t believe her words.

I kept pestering her about it.Yin Xinyue couldn’t hide itanymore. Shehugged me and cried.

While sobbing, she said, “Hubby, my parents are sick. I even invited doctors from the US to check on them. However,theycouldn'tfind the cause of their sickness. Their condition is getting worse. What should I do now?”

I was perplexed. From her words,it seemedher parentshad beensick fora while, butshe decided to tell me only today. Iguessedshedidn’t want to distract me.

I hadn’t spenta lot oftime with her after getting married, andI hadn’t even seen my in-laws yet… I felt sorry and also embarrassed. I pulled her tightlyin my chest and comforted her. “Wife, don’tworry. I’m sure I can help cure your parents!”

I had spent a long time with her to calmherdown. With red eyes, she told me about her parents’ situation.

A few days ago, Yin Xinyue had free time. AsI was away to deal with a case,shewent home to visit her parents. She found thatneither of themappeared to look well.

At first, she thought that her parents were mad at her because she didn’t bring her husband home to see her parents after getting married for quite a long time. But at night, she saw her father carefullybringa bucket of warm water to the bedroom. Then, she heard her mother whimpering in pain.

Yin Xinyue was a smart woman. She immediatelyknewthat her parents were hiding something from her. She secretly peeped through the slit of the door. She screamed at the first glance.Her mother had blue scales all over her body. Her father was using a pair of scissors to help her cut the scales off.

Her motherbledafter every cut. Although Yin Xinyue had seen a lot of abnormalsituationssince she had been with me, when it happened to her mother, she almost cracked.While crying, she asked her parents what had happened to them.

Yin Xinyue’s parents sighed as they knew they couldn’t hide their sickness from her anymore.

It turned out the two of them had started to have strange and unknown itchy spots on their bodies. They scratched their skin to ease the itch and ignoredthe problem at first. Unfortunately, the situationhad gotten worse, andtheyno longer feltcomfortable withjustscratching. It seemed theyhadsomething that wanted to drill out from under their skin. They had tried several antiseptics only to noavail.

The old couple was worried. They visited many hospitals from modern to traditional medical practices in the big citiesandthe small villages to see what had happened to them. However, no one had found the cause yet.

They wereold-fashioned people, so they were a little reluctant when it came to spending money on medical treatment. Moreover, as the cause remained unknown, they eventually gave upon finding atreatment. Theywenthome and followed a traditional method:To useaneedle to prick the itchiest spots. They hoped itwouldhelp extract the toxin out of their body.

Unexpectedly, after one sleep, they had blue scalesall overtheir bodies. The old couple now recognized that the situation wasn’t simple at all. However, they were quite conservativeasthey were afraid of going to the hospital for proper treatment. They were also afraid that people would call them monsters,which waswhy theyendured thepain and cut the scales.

More scalesshowedup the next day, which looked even denser than the day before. They were baffledand knewthat they couldn’t just cut the scales off. However, no one would want such alienobjectsgrowing on their bodies, so they still went ahead and got rid ofthe scales daily. Day by day, the scalesbecametougher, while they were getting weaker and weaker…

Yin Xinyuesaid,“Husband, pleasesave my parents. I’m sure they are being pestered byafoul thing. I didn’t want to distract youwhileyou were away. But now that you’re back, please help them. I’m begging you!”

As she was emotional, her words weren’t orderly. I felt even more embarrassedand heldher tightlyinmy embrace. “Wife, don’t worry. Even if I have to risk my life, I will save your parents!”

Yin Xinyue didn’t talk anymore. She gave me a firm nod then rested her head against my chest. After she had calmed down, we didn’t linger for even a second. I packed up the Emei Piercer and the Holy Mother Pierce with some other items I would likely use and departed.

Senior Shuhad mademe keep the Holy Mother Scepter.The Holy Mother Scepter had bothoffensive anddefensive functions, whichwasthe sameasthe Sirius Whip and the Yin and Yang Umbrella.I thought that I wouldn’t need the Sirius Whip. The whip’s poweralwaysdrained after a few times of use.In a criticalmoment, it could be my fatal weakness.

Since it was something happeningto my family, after thinking about Yin Xinyue’sfeelings, I didn’t tell Li Mazi the details. I just told him that I was going to visit my in-laws.

YinXinyue’s family came from the Daiethnic minority. However, her parents had moved North when they were young. They now resided in a small town in Rizhao City, Shandong Province. I drovecalmlythrough the night, and we arrived at the village early in the morning.

Yin Xinyue had told methatthe Northeastern people wereveryfriendly. If they knew that the son-in-lawhad cometo visit his in-laws, they would come to share the joy. If they came, wewouldn’t be able tohide her parents’ sickness.

I stopped the car at the village entrance and took a view of the entireplace. This village was a typical Northeastern village. The ground was paved withgravel, and since it had just snowed,itwas all icy.It gently cracked when wewalked.

The wind blew, which made me feelchilly. Sometimes, snowfell offthe tree branches.After walking for a while, Yin Xinyue and Ihadsnowflakes on our heads.

Herplacewasanormal-lookingfarmhouse. Since we had called them on the way here, her parents had woken up early to wait for us. When Yin Xinyue saw her mother, she directlywentinto her arms. The two women burst into tears.

Her father had red-brimmed eyes. He held my hands and repeatedly welcomed me. “Good, good. It’s good that you’re finally home.”

They werehonest farmers. I felt the pressure in my heart reducegreatly. Iwentinto the house and ate a bowl of beef noodles. I didn’t feel cold anymore.

I turned to talk to Yin Xinyue’s father. “Father, please show me your wound.”

When I first saw them, their faces were strangely ashen. At that time, I thought it was because of the cold weather. But evenafter a long time of sitting in the warm room with a brazier, their faces were still pale. I was worried.

My father-in-law nodded. He unbuttoned his thick puffer and exposed his torso. At first glance, I had totake adeep breath.

His situation was even worse than what Yin Xinyue had told me. From his belly button to his collarbone, there was no place where I could see his skin. Scales were everywhere.People would think it was a dragon’s belly.

Sincehe had cut the scales daily, it had created a thick layer of bloodclotson his scales, which looked horrible.

I frownedand turnedto my mother-in-law. She gave me a confirming nod, her facetwisted.Her situation was the same.

“Didanything strange happen in your house these days?” I asked.

The scales on their bodies indicated that they had messed with something foul. If I couldn’t solve this problem, they would have scales all over their bodies. At that point,evenapowerful immortal couldn’t save them. I knew I had to find the cause as fast as possible.

However, they thoughtfor a while andshook their heads. “Except for the scales growing on our bodies, there’s nothing else strange.”

Inodded, thenasked Yin Xinyue to bring me a small bowl of vinegar. I drank the vinegar and stood next to my father-in-law. I sensed aroundwith closed eyes.

Some powerful foul things could deliberately hide their Yin energy. The vinegar could facilitate the sense of smell and break the concealmentthe foul things had cast. Unexpectedly, after I had drunk the vinegar, I still didn’t feel the existence of Yin energy in this house.

I didn’t know where tostart. For the time being, I decided to make some potions that could treat the corpse toxin.Senior Shuhad taught me and showed me how to apply them. Not long after applying the ointment, I noticed that my father-in-lawstarted to twist his body. At first, perhapsit was because hehad minded his image, so he didn’t move much. However, it seemed he couldn’t endure it for long. In the end, he rubbed his body against the wall and started to cut the scales with a pair of scissors.

“Husband,besidescuttingoff thosescales, do we have any other solution?”

My mother-in-law asked Yin Xinyue to help her cut the scales.While holding the scissors, Yin Xinyue wept.“Mom,scales are growingonyour body. Cutting them isn’t different from cutting your flesh.”

Before I found the cause, they would have to cut the scales every day. Otherwise,oncethe scales covered their entire bodies, their deaths would come eventually.

After cutting the scales, they went to their room to rest. I picked up a scale from the ground and brought it to my nose to smell. It had a strong stink of fried fish. I frownedand walkedto the basin outside to take some water to clean the scale.The smell didn’t disperse.

Yin Xinyue saw thatand felthelpless.“Do you have any solution?”

I hugged her. “Let’s wait and see. Perhaps my ointmentcansave our parents.”

However,this possibility wasn’thigh.

At twilight, they got up. My father-in-law was so excited. “Son, I’m okay now!”

Then, he showed me his belly. I was surprisedto see thatmany scales were peeling off. His soft skin was revealed underneath.

My mother-in-law looked at meand smiled. “Usually, new scales would have grownby now,but they aren’t growing today! I feel so comfortable.”

She spun twiceand lookedat me pleasantly. It seemed the proverb was true:When the mother-in-law seesher son-in-law, shebecomeshappy.

Yin Xinyue hadn’t expected the situation tochange so quickly. She was perplexed for quite a long time. Then, hertears rolledsilently.

She sobbed. “Thank you. Thank you so much, my husband…”

“Wife, why are you crying?”

I wiped her tears. To thoroughly cure this strange disease, I made some more ointmentandapplied ittotheir skin one more time.

Yin Xinyue cooked a simple dinner. After dinner, my in-laws went to sleep earlywhileI restlessly shifted on the bed. Icouldn’t sleep as I was afraid that when we woke up tomorrow, everything would be the same. I resolutely grabbed the Holy Mother Scepter and sat in the yard, watching.

Since that thingwasable to hide its Yin energy, I smeared oxtearson my eyelids,bit the tip of my finger,and touched my glabella.

The Heavenly Temple acupoint wasaspot between the eyes. People with profound cultivation could use a spell to open their Heavenly Eye. Although I hadn’t reached that level,this method could let me usethe Heavenly Temple acupoint to sense the Yin energy!