Otherworldly Merchant

“Speed up. We need to get out of the woods fast.” 

After Chuyi said that, we accelerated. The gross smell of decomposing flesh became heavier. The rat-squeaking noise had also grown louder. 

Suddenly, some drops of liquid fell on my head. I thought it was raining, so I lifted my head to see. I then saw a body hanging on the tree. It was dripping blood. 

Countless fat creatures that looked like bats were nibbling on that body. The liquid drops that fell on me were from the bites on the body. 

I couldn’t help but crouch and retch. Chuyi extended his hand as he wanted to cover my mouth. However, it was too late. 

At the moment I made the first sound, the bats all turned to look at us. As soon as they saw us, their eyes turned red. They opened their mouths and revealed pieces of blood-dripping flesh on their teeth. 

“Run!” Chuyi shouted.

I didn’t hesitate and dashed away. A wind tearing noise arose behind us. I knew they were flying after us. I pulled myself together and turned around to see. They got Chuyi. He was attacking the bats with both weapons in his hands. 

The bats were as big as chickens. If they bit a person, they could pull out a large chunk of flesh. Moreover, because they lived in this place, they must have some toxins. That was why Chuyi looked troubled. Soon, they had bitten a few holes in his clothes. 

I slowed down and reached him with the Emei Piercer. Every time I extended it, pungent blood poured down. 

Although the bats were fierce, there weren’t many of them. Chuyi and I tried our best to kill them. We got most of them. A few bats flew back to the trees and looked at us in fright. 

“Holy moly!” I looked at Chuyi, whose clothes now looked like rags. 

Chuyi nodded and explained, “Those bats have feasted on carcasses for a long time. Living in this place, it wouldn’t be strange if they hadn't mutated.” 

He suddenly stopped and looked at me with doubt. Following his eyes, I saw that I wasn’t hurt a bit. There were no tears on my clothes, either. 

“Eh?” I was dumbstruck for a moment. I was closer to the bats than Chuyi was, but they didn’t attack me. What happened? 

Chuyi looked at me and thought for a moment. Then, he suddenly said, “Not good!” 

At this moment, the bats hiding in the trees plunged forward, sneaking on Chuyi from behind. 

I instinctively controlled the Invisible Needle to stop one of them. Chuyi saw my expression and knew he was in danger. However, he couldn’t turn around in time. A few bats bit him. Chuyi screamed and directly turned his back to me. I immediately stabbed with my needle and killed the bats. 

“Are you okay?” I asked worriedly. 

Chuyi waved his hand. “I’m okay. We should run to the River of Unmindfulness.” 

For the remainder of our time spent running, nothing unexpected happened. In the distance, I saw the sky-reaching Yin energy coming from the river. 

When we arrived, I saw that the river had red water, which made it look like a blood river. Suddenly, a lot of bubbles arose. Feeling curious, I went to check and found a beautiful girl waving at me. As I was about to walk to her, I felt a nudge.  

“I told you to wait outside. Look carefully,” nagged Chuyi. Then, he pinched a little mold from his bronze whip and smeared it on my temple. He pointed at the River of Unmindfulness and said, “Look who is calling you.” 

I turned and looked in that direction one more time. It was a girl with an open stomach. Her intestines were floating next to her. She was waving at me. Since I didn’t go to her, she shot Chuyi a fierce look. Unwillingly, she sank back into the water. 

“The ghosts in this place can’t reincarnate. That’s why they want to pull people into the river to replace them. All those who come to this place have to cover their ears and eyes and keep running forward. Yet, you are bold enough to deliver yourself in their hands!” 

While Chuyi was talking, he tied the eight-faceted Han sword with the bronze whip. Then, he threw them into the river. The weapons immediately sizzled. I gathered my courage and went to the river bank to see. Many ghosts were screaming and running away. 

After around ten minutes, Chuyi read a spell to summon the eight-faceted Han sword. I now understood why he had tied them together. He didn’t know how to control the bronze whip yet. 

After being washed by the river water, the mold on the whip was gone. It was sparkling as if it was freshly made. I reached out to untie the rope. Unexpectedly, the rope had become as tough as iron. 

“Don’t mind that. Once it gets out of the water, the Yin energy that has seeped in the rope will disperse into the air. Then, the rope will turn into a powder.” 

“That’s amazing!” I gave him a thumbs-up. Chuyi smiled at me, but it was a wry smile. I saw beads of sweat on his forehead. 

“Are you okay? What happened?” 

“I might have used a lot of Yang energy at the River of Unmindfulness. I just need to rest. I’ll be alright.” 

Chuyi smiled and urged me to walk. When we walked through the woods, I was surprised to see that all the bats’ corpses were gone. Even the blood on the ground was nowhere to be seen! 

“Do you know what happened?” 

Chuyi’s face turned serious. Then, he fell on one knee. 

“Chuyi, why didn’t you tell me…” 

I confirmed there was something wrong with him. I tore his shirt. His back had turned black, and it looked horrible. The bat bites had turned purplish-red, ad blood oozed from them.  

I had asked him earlier, but he said he was all right as he didn’t want me to be worried. I was fooled. 

“Jiulin, I thought it was just some common corpse toxin. But now... it appears that Yi Zhangqing was behind those bats. It seems she can use the Ghost Cutter already,” Chuyi said intermittently. 

I got it now. It was no wonder those bats didn’t attack me!

Yi Zhangqing designated Chuyi as their only target. We hadn’t expected her to act that quickly. However, we could confirm one thing: She didn’t know that I was with Chuyi. Otherwise, I might have wound up even worse than him. 

I put him on my back and ran. At first, Chuyi could still give me direction. However, after a while, he lost consciousness. I had to use the Invisible Needle to sense the way out. Unexpectedly, even though the Invisible Needle pointed out that we just needed to move straight to reach the village where the trade conference was held, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get there. 

I recognized that I wasn’t lost. Instead, I was in Yi Zhangqing’s illusion. Fortunately, I had always kept the Illusory Mind Bell with me. I read the spell and jingled it. Eventually, I reached the village. 

The market in the center was still full of ghosts and people. Most of the participants were gazing at the air, pointing and discussing the events. I lifted my head to see. The flaming screen was there, but it was blank to us. Outside the crowd, One-Armed Dragon and Yin-Yang Tiger were standing with a puzzled face. It seemed that after the battle had started, both parties couldn’t see what was projected on the screen.  

Chuyi was hurt, so I knew I shouldn’t linger. I carried him directly to Zen Master Baimei’s room. When we got there, Zen Master Baimei was studying his chain of mala beads. His face paled when he saw us. Before he started to talk, he helped me put Chuyi on the bed. 

Then, he quickly took out a set of knives and used a candle flame to disinfect a knife. He directly cut into Chuyi’s wound. Chuyi was awakened by the pain. He shouted and grabbed me with one hand while his other hand gripped the bedsheet tightly. Zen Master Baimei gritted his teeth and continued cutting. 

“There’s something in your back. We have to take it out now. Put up with it for a while, Chuyi!” Zen Master Baimei said with a frown as he continued to work on Chuyi’s back. Every time he cut Chuyi’s back, the man screamed and wiggled. His handsome face turned red. Sweat covered his forehead, and his eyes bulged. He couldn’t stop groaning.