“Haha, all right. I’ll let you run free for now!”

One-Armed Dragon seemed to read my thoughts. He snorted disdainfully.

I felt my face heating up. I ran faster. To seize more time, I crossed a few illusions in a row. In the end, I stopped in a strange world.

The world in front of me was different from the River of Unmindfulness and the bat forest. At this moment, a hazy rain fell from the gray sky.

People rumored that the rain in Hell was as red as blood, but it didn’t seem to be the case. The tiny raindrops that fell on me were as soft as cotton, just like the wind diving into the night and moistening things quietly.

I blew into my palms to feel warmer. Then, I looked ahead of me. The vast land in front of me was full of ghosts.

They were walking around with rigid movements. However, they didn’t talk to one another. Even if they bumped into each other, they just moved aside and continued walking. Such an image combined with the cold, hazy rain created an apocalyptic scene.

The world in front of me was spacious. I needed to find a place to hide. By chance, I saw a pavilion in the distance. There was a black structure behind it. Most of the ghosts were heading to that place.

I hesitantly stood for a while. In the end, I decided to go there. After taking two steps, I felt a strong murderous aura aiming at me. In just the blink of an eye, it shrouded me completely.

I was sure that it wasn’t from One-Armed Dragon as he hadn’t reached this horrible place yet. I carefully turned around. At first glance, I saw that all the ghosts were gazing at me like tigers eyeing their prey. Their eyes sparkled with hostility and greed.

“Oh shoot...”

I remembered that I wasn’t in the trade market anymore. It made sense that they would swarm and attack me once they noticed my Yang flames. I was glad I had a fast reaction.

At the moment the ghosts came to me, I cursed under my breath and took out a Yang Concealing Talisman. The ghosts immediately stopped moving and looked at me skeptically. Eventually, they shook their heads. Their faces resumed their blank expressions. Turning around, they continued their journey to the black structure.

I exhaled and scurried to the small pavilion in front of me. I saw some verses on the two columns of the pavilion.

The first couplet was, ‘Humans and ghosts, ghosts and humans, we are different,’ while the second couplet was, ‘Yin and Yang, Yang and Yin, Yin and Yang are always separated.’ A dark board was hung above the two couplets with three large bloody words: Hall of Ecstasy.

My heart sank, and I instinctively stopped walking.

The Hall of Ecstasy was a place every ghost had to pass through to get to their new life. Legend has it that once ghosts passed this place, they were considered dead. This was true death. And, if a living person walked through this place, they would enter the cycle of reincarnation. By that time, none could save their life!

Behind the Hall of Ecstasy was a stream. Each ghost had to drink the water here. After drinking the water, they would tell the Ghost Servants all the good and bad things they had done during their life. Afterward, the Ghost Servants would take them to the Ten Courts of Hell to receive their judgment. The ghost behind me pushed me as I lingered and didn’t walk into the place.

I hurriedly moved aside and made way for him. I used the Invisible Needle to look around. Immediately, One-Armed Dragon’s image appeared in my head. He was running fast toward me. The only structure in this illusory scene was the pavilion and the path behind it. Since I couldn’t enter, I decided to stay here and wait.

Looking at the ghosts entering the Hall of Ecstasy, I suddenly got an idea. I would use the Invisible Needle to stab One-Armed Dragon while he wasn’t paying attention!

However, I shook my head right after that. One-Armed Dragon was a top expert in the Longquan Villa. He wouldn’t be fooled by a rookie like me.

I suddenly thought of the Bridge of Helplessness, which crossed over the River of Unmindfulness.

Earlier, when we went there, Chuyi didn’t want to step into the river because he was injured. Meanwhile, except for some confusion, I didn’t feel anything strange there.

Did it mean that people with a higher cultivation base would experience more damage when they came close to the River of Unmindfulness?

With this thought, I proactively walked toward One-Armed Dragon. However, he hadn’t appeared in my sight for quite a long time. Feeling doubtful, I used the Invisible Needle to check. The man had surprisingly disappeared.

I thought I had missed some places. I closed my eyes and carefully sensed around. Still, I didn’t see where he was.

“Is he using something like a Yang Concealing Talisman too?” I muttered to myself.

The Invisible Needle sensed and located a target’s Yang energy. I could then send my energy to the needle to make it attack the target. But if One-Armed Dragon had concealed his Yang energy, the Invisible Needle couldn’t find him.

Still, he didn’t consider me his opponent. After getting the Ghost Claw, he had become haughtier. He was sure that he could crush me whenever he wanted. But if he thought that way, why would he hide his Yang energy?

I smelled a scheme here. However, I didn’t know what was happening. It made me worried and anxious.

Suddenly, the Holy Mother Scepter radiated red light. My brows slammed together. The staff would only glow when something dangerous was nearby. Just a moment ago, when the ghosts swarmed around me, it didn’t react.

As the Holy Mother Scepter radiated a powerful red light, I became restless and looked around. A flow of fierce Yin energy suddenly came from the illusory scene. Before I could react, the Ghost Claw appeared, followed by black mist.

I was fortunate that I had the Holy Mother Scepter with me. It allowed me to dodge the Ghost Claw aimed at my neck. It flew past me, brushing my shoulder.

Then, the flow of Yin energy came again. I knew the Ghost Claw was flying toward me one more time. I immediately dropped to the ground and rolled away. I used the Invisible Needle to deflect the Ghost Claw.

The Ghost Claw was releasing dark mist, while the Invisible Needle radiated a silver halo.

Anyway, the Invisible Needle wasn’t weaker than the Ghost Claw. It was me who wasn’t as strong as One-Armed Dragon. At first contact, I felt as if a huge rock was placed on my chest.

Soon, the silver halo around the needle thinned out. It looked as if it would be defeated in the next second. The dark mist around the Ghost Claw expanded further. Bit by bit, it forced the Invisible Needle to back off.

In theory, if I put all of my energy into it, I could fight against him for a while. However, One-Armed Dragon hadn’t shown up yet, so I shouldn’t use too much energy. I found a chance to retrieve the Invisible Needle. I read the Big Dipper Sirius Whip to activate the Holy Mother Scepter.

Having owned this scepter for a long time, the weapon and I had formed a good understanding and connection. It flew up and pushed the Ghost Claw back. Then, I heard One-Armed Dragon scream, which came from inside the Ghost Claw!

I was bewildered, but I soon got it. He had fused his soul with the Ghost Claw. It also explained why I couldn’t find him earlier.

Chuyi had to let himself be beaten up to force his soul to leave his body. Yet, One-Armed Dragon could do it as easily as flipping his hand. He had successfully fused with the sword. Once more, it spoke up to the fact that he was stronger than Chuyi.

When the Holy Mother Scepter was first activated, it released a strong blast of energy. That was how it could attack One-Armed Dragon’s soul, which was attached to the Ghost Claw. However, I didn’t dare to be reckless. After pulling myself together, I focused on reading the spell.

After the first strike, the Holy Mother Scepter’s red light wasn’t as strong as before. It started to pull back and forth with the Ghost Claw.

Although the saber was still aiming at me, it was slower than before. It seemed One-Armed Dragon couldn’t fuse with the sword for a long period.

He was much stronger than me, anyway. Around five minutes later, I felt my energy draining fast. I couldn’t provide enough energy to the Holy Mother Scepter, which made it weaker.

The Ghost Claw was slow, but still, it kept attacking me. I knew that it was a critical moment in a magic fight like this. If I couldn’t attack my opponent, I would have to step back and lose my advantage. Moreover, I was sure One-Armed Dragon hadn’t used all of his power yet.

While I still had some energy, I decided to make the Invisible Needle attack one more time. One-Armed Dragon knew how fierce the needle was. He immediately controlled the saber to tilt to one side to block the Invisible Needle’s attack.

I took the chance to retrieve both the Holy Mother Scepter and the Invisible Needle. I immediately ran away and headed to the next illusory scene. The Invisible Needle moved with my thoughts and entered the illusion first. A moment later, a picture of the land on the other side appeared in my head.

The Invisible Needle was much faster than One-Armed Dragon. Although he kept running behind me, I was able to ditch him as I knew the path better.

I crouched and placed both hands on my knees to gasp for my breath. After my heartbeat slowed down, I headed toward the River of Unmindfulness.

As One-Armed Dragon’s soul was attached to the Ghost Claw, he had to use energy continuously. If I lured him to the Bridge of Helplessness, he wouldn’t be able to bear such furious Yin energy. My chance would come then.

Soon, I reached the Bridge of Helplessness. It was the second time I had come here, but I was anxious as Chuyi wasn’t with me this time.

At this moment, the Holy Mother Scepter radiated its protective red halo one more time. It seemed One-Armed Dragon had arrived. I gritted my teeth and took out the Illusory Mind Bell. I jingled it while crossing the bridge.

After I took the first step on the bridge, I heard the ghosts crying and howling from the river underneath. Those ghosts wanted to pull me down to make me their replacement. Fortunately, the Illusory Mind Bell attacked them and shooed them away.

I was frightened and shook the Illusory Mind Bell harder. A moment later, the ghosts knew they couldn’t resist the bell. They all sank back into the water. I didn’t dare to linger and moved forward.

The Ghost Claw came. However, it didn’t cross the bridge but hovered at one end. This proved my guess. I decided to push it further. I faced the saber, then proceeded to scold and insult it.

“One-Armed Dragon, are you a little turtle who doesn’t dare to crane its neck out to see the world? Are you bold or not? Come hit me!”

“Oh, you’re scared, aren’t you? I’ll tell you this: Yi Zhangqing couldn’t wash away her sins even with her death! I’m going to butcher you and Yin-Yang Tiger both. You four elders can visit the Yama King together and borrow a hall to play mahjong.” I kept shouting and cursing, trying to enrage him.

Indeed, the hesitant Ghost Claw flew fast forward to stab me.

He took the bait!

I bit the tip of my tongue and spat blood on the Holy Mother Scepter. After reading the spell, I controlled the staff to parry with the saber!

Announcement:

Regrettably, this will be the final chapter for Otherworldly Merchant. Although we've kept it going for this long, sadly it hasn't experienced the popularity necessary to cover the costs of its translation to any significant degree. As such, we're left with the unfortunate situation of needing to place the novel on indefinite hiatus. Thank you for following it until now, we hope you'll consider reading some of the other novels we have available!