Otherworldly Merchant
Chapter 628: The Odd Story of Tofu

As thedonkey-drawncart was approaching the village, the dog barking became louder and clearer.

Indeed, all the dogs in the village acted as Uncle Chen had told me. They were barking crazily, and I could sense fear in their barking. It seemed something very dangerous or horrible was about to take place.

I frowned. “Uncle Chen, since whendid thedogsstartbarking at you?You’ve been selling tofu for so many years.Did it just happen recently?”

Uncle Chen thoughtfor a moment.“I don’t remember the time clearly, but I’m sureit startedlast year.”

It seemed the village had something new, or thevillagershad changedthegeomancy. Otherwise, the dogs wouldn’tfrantically barklike that. Dogs were atypeofspiritanimal. They could feel the existence of ghosts and souls, and they would bark when they felt endangered. Thatwas why people in rural areas liked to keep dogs. It wasn’t just to prevent thieves, but also to prevent ghosts from entering their houses.

I didn’t dare to imaginethe thing that was scaringall the dogs.However,Iwassure it was a big boss! My intuition told me thatthis casewouldn’t be solved aseasilyas the previous cases. I called Li Mazi to bring me the Holy Mother Scepter and the Yin and Yang Umbrella.

Uncle Chen became tense when he saw my cautiousexpression. “Immortal, did younoticesomething?”

I frownedand said, “Those dogs are barking at an ominous thing.”Then, I stood up on the cart to check out Xiaoliu Village. It was twilight, the moment when day and night, Yang and Yin shifted. If therewassomething foul in the village,nowwould be the time it would show up or leaveamark. Evenifit could concealitself, Iwould sense the anomaly through the abnormal air movement.

However,we hadentered the village,andI hadn’tnoticedanything. I even feltthatthis village was quite peaceful compared to other places. This place gave me an unknown but firm feeling.

The people here might have been worried that the trucks could break their roads, so they had installed two big rock columns at the village entrance to narrow the road. The space between the two columns was just enough for a small vehicle topassthrough. Uncle Chen was worried that his cart would brush the columns here and there, so hegot out ofthe cart. I also followed him to the back to help him push the cart.

After we passed the columns, before I could get on the cart, I saw many people congregating. They werepointing at us.They didn’t lookangrybut worried. A middle-aged man walked out of the crowd. He came and offered Uncle Chen acigarette,and saidwith a twisting face,“Brother Chen, the dogs in our village keep barking. I think you should…”

That middle-aged man wanted to ask us to leave politely. Uncle Chen didn’tbecomemad. He puffed his cigarette then saidin a serious tone, “Old Liu, I’m not here to sell tofu. I’m here to help.”

Old Liu was bewildered. His gaze turned to me and the yellowbagon my back. His eyes becamevigilant. He stiffly asked, “Brother, what do you mean?”

“Uncle Chen thought that his house hadaproblem, so he came to me for help. I’ve checked his house carefully. I found nothing strange about it. That’s why Ithinkthe problemlieswithin your village. We’vecome here to take a look. If you don’t believe me, we can leave,” I said faintly.

SinceOld Liu didn’t give me a polite look, I wasn’t going to be polite to him.

Old Liu’s countenance changed. He sternly looked at me and then at Uncle Chen. Then, he turned to the people behind him and said, “Stop watching. Go home for dinner, folks!”

After he said that, the crowddispersed. It seemed this man had some power in this village. After all the peopleleft, he put on a wry smileandextendedhis hand toward me.

“Good evening, I am Liu Dali,theVillage Elder of this village.”He apologized for his manner and told us about the situationinthe village. He understood that the problem wasn’t from Uncle Chen fortwo reasons. One,when Uncle Chen wasn’t in the villagesellinghis tofu, the dogs still barked crazily. Two,when some villagers ate tofu, the dogsbarkedcrazily.However,the commotion wasn’t as big as when the tofu seller came.

Beingthe Village Elder, LiuDali wasconcerned for hispeople’s wellbeing, so he had to push the blame on Uncle Chen. Recently, he had secretlyinvitedsomegeomancers. They came and did someexaggeratedmoves, achieving nothing, orran away with a panicked face. Some had asked Liu Daly to pay a huge sum to help this village. However, as Liu Dali was keeping this problem a secret from his villagers, he couldn’t ask them to contribute money. In the end, nothing had been resolved yet…

After he said that, he sighedand pulledmy arm. “If you hadn’t come here,Master, I think I would have asked the folks in our village to stop eating tofu forever! Please, help us!”

“Hmph!” Before I could answer, Uncle Chen snorted and pulled his donkey cart. It seemedhe was leaving.

Ifelthewas angrythat Liu Dali hadpushed the blame forthis unfortunate event on him. Liu Dali and I hurried to stop him. Unexpectedly, the old man wanted to leave, no matter what.

Feeling helpless, I told him, “Uncle Chen, the thing that has caused trouble here somehow relates to tofu. We would need to use your tofu tonight. I don’tthink youshouldleave…”

“Okay, I’llleave my tofu hereforyou to help this village, Immortal Zhang. Don’t letitharm people,” saidUncle Chen.

Then, hethrew a hostile look toward Liu Dali. He left his donkey cart inthevillage and went home. I shruggedand lookedat Liu Dali.

Liu Dalismiled reluctantly. “Chen Tofu is a good man. However, he’s too stubborn.”

After this shortevent, the sky was completely dark. Liu Dali and I pulled the donkey cart to his house and tied the donkey by the stack of woods behind his house. Hekindlyinvitedme to have dinnerat his home. No matter what, I needed to wait for Li Mazi to bring me my tools, so I agreed.

Liu Dali happened to have a dog in his house. When I came to the courtyard, I saw the dog lying on the ground, whining. It wascurlingits body into a ball. Its head was cockedto the side.It ignored me,a stranger who had just intruded into the house.

I frowned and wanted to approach the dog to see what it was looking at. It could help me guess the direction of that foul thing. Unexpectedly, as soon as I moved close to it, the dog jumped up. I was lucky that it was chained. Otherwise, it could have bitten me already!

The dog sawthat I had stoppedapproaching itanddidn’t mind me anymore. It laid backdown. This time, it lookedin anotherdirection. I decided to try a few more times. The dog reacted in the same way. However, it would change its direction every time itlaiddown. I thoughtthat thiswasn’t a good method.

Iwanted towait and see what would happenat night. If that thing was interested in tofu, I thought it would come out, no matter what.

Alittle girl around four or five years oldstayed inLiu Dali’shouse. He told me she was his granddaughter, a kindergartener in the village. After dinner, the little girl nicely sat down and did her homework. SheaskedLiu Dali to help her from time to time. I liked kids, so Iplayedwith her for a while.

After the little girlfinishedher writing exercise, Dali’s wife took her to the bedroom. I lifted my head to check the clock. It was 8:00 PM already,andLi Mazi hadn’t come here yet. I took out my phone to call him, but the linedidn’t connect.

I frowned. I tookout the Emei Piercer from my bag andrushedoutside. Liu Dali hurriedlyranafterme. “What’s wrong?”

“Uncle Liu, stay here and wait for me. I’m going to fetch my friend.”

I didn’t turn aroundand randirectly to the village entrance.Alongthe way, I heard the dogsbark non-stop.I recognized that the situationwaseven more serious than I had imagined. Those dogs had been barking for more than two hours. They should be exhausted. What made them bark and howlwith noregardfortheir lives?

When Ireachedthe village entrance, I realized that I should call Ru Xue. She told me that Li Mazi had departed right after receiving my call. He had left three hours ago!The strange thing was thatthe distance only required one hour!

“Li Mazi, are you here? Li Mazi!”

I was bewildered for a while, butI pulled myself togetherand called his name. However, my voice wassilenced by thedeafening dog barks. Moreover, Li Mazi wasn’t in the village. If hewas, he would have called me. I thought he had accidentally provoked that foul thing.Ordinarypeoplecould easilyenter the village. This time, Li Mazi was carrying the Holy Mother Scepter and the Yin and Yang Umbrella, two powerful weapons. The evilcreatureswould automaticallyconsiderhim their enemy.

I patted my thigh in regret. But then, Ithought ofa solution. I could read the spell to awake the Holy Mother Scepter.Oncethe Holy Mother Scepter radiated gold light, I could spot Li Mazi’s whereabouts!

It required a lot of magical power to cast the spellfrom adistance. However, to save Li Mazi,thiswas the only solution I had. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, ready to read the spell.At thismoment, Liu Dali suddenly called me. We’d exchanged numbers before dinner; thatwaswhy hehadmy number.

“Uncle Liu, what’s wrong?” I thought he wanted to know where I was, so I told him that I was at the village entrance. While talking with him, I kept scanning the place.

Liu Dali’s voice was shaking on the other end of the line. “YoungMaster, you should come back. Hurry! Something...Something’s wrong here…”

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