Otherworldly Merchant
Chapter 648: The Battle on the Bridge of Helplessness

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

One-Armed Dragon seemed to read mythoughts. He snorted disdainfully.

I felt my face heating up. I ranfaster. To seize more time, I crossed a fewillusionsin a row. In the end, I stoppedina strange world.

The world in front of me was different from the River of Unmindfulness and the batforest.At thismoment, a hazy rainfellfrom 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 tinyraindropsthat fellon mewere as soft ascotton, justlike 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 mewasfull of ghosts.

They were walking around with rigid movements.However, they didn’t talk tooneanother. Even if they bumped into each other, they justmovedaside andcontinuedwalking. Such an imagecombinedwith the cold, hazy raincreated anapocalypticscene.

The world in front of me was spacious. I needed to find a place to hide. By chance, I saw a pavilion inthe distance. There wasa 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. Aftertakingtwo steps, I felt a strong murderous aura aiming at me. In justtheblink of an eye, it shrouded me completely.

I was sure that it wasn’t from One-Armed Dragonas he hadn’t reached this horribleplaceyet. I carefully turned around. At first glance, I saw that all the ghostswere gazingat me like tigers eyeing their prey. Their eyessparkledwith hostility and greed.

“Ohshoot...”

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.Iwas gladIhad a fastreaction.

At the moment the ghosts came to me, I cursed under my breath and took out a Yang Concealing Talisman. The ghosts immediately stopped movingand looked at meskeptically. Eventually, they shook their heads. Theirfaces resumedtheir 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 someverseson the two columns of the pavilion.

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

My heart sank, andI instinctively stopped walking.

The Hall of Ecstasy wasaplace every ghost had topassthroughto getto their new life. Legendhas itthatonceghosts passed this place, they were considereddead. This was truedeath. And, if a living person walked through this place,theywould enter thecycle of reincarnation. By that time,nonecould savetheir life!

Behind the Hall of Ecstasywas 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 theirjudgment. The ghost behind me pushed me as I lingered and didn’t walk into the place.

Ihurriedlymoved asideand madewayforhim. 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 illusoryscene was the pavilion and the path behind it.SinceI couldn’tenter, I decided to stay hereand 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 wasatopexpertin the Longquan Villa. He wouldn’t be fooled by a rookie like me.

I suddenly thoughtofthe 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 hewasinjured.Meanwhile, except forsome confusion, Ididn’t feelanything strange there.

Didit mean thatpeoplewith a highercultivation base wouldexperience more damagewhen 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 sightfor 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 closedmy eyesandcarefully sensed around. Still, I didn’t see where he was.

“Is he using something likeaYang Concealing Talisman too?” I muttered to myself.

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

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

Ismelled ascheme here. However, I didn’t knowwhatwas happening. It made me worried and anxious.

Suddenly, the Holy Mother Scepter radiated red light. My brows slammed together.The staff would only glowwhen something dangerous was nearby. Just a moment ago, when the ghosts swarmedaroundme, it didn’treact.

As the Holy Mother Scepterradiated a powerfulred light, I became restlessand lookedaround. A flow of fierce Yin energy suddenly came from the illusoryscene. Before I could react, the Ghost Clawappeared, followedbyblack mist.

I was fortunate that Ihadthe Holy Mother Scepter with me. Itallowed me to dodgethe 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 immediatelydropped tothe ground and rolled away. I used the Invisible Needle todeflectthe 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 firstcontact, I feltas ifahugerock wasplacedon 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 energyinto it, I could fight against himfor a while. However, One-Armed Dragon hadn’t shown up yet,soI shouldn’t usetoo much energy. I found a chance to retrieve the Invisible Needle. I read theBigDipper 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,butIsoon 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 aseasilyas flipping his hand. He had successfully fused with the sword. Once more, it spoke uptothe fact that he was stronger than Chuyi.

When the Holy Mother Scepter was first activated, itreleaseda strong blast of energy. Thatwas how it could attack One-Armed Dragon’s soul, whichwasattached tothe 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 swordfora 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, whichmade it weaker.

The Ghost Claw was slow, but still, it kept attacking me. I knew that it wasacritical moment in a magic fight like this. If I couldn’t attackmy 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 stillhad someenergy, 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 awayand headedto the nextillusoryscene. The Invisible Needle moved with my thoughts and enteredthe illusionfirst. A moment later, a picture of theland on the other sideappeared in my head.

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

I crouchedand placedboth hands on my knees to gasp for my breath. After my heartbeatsloweddown, I headed toward the River of Unmindfulness.

As One-Armed Dragon’s soulwas attached tothe 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 chancewouldcome then.

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

Atthis 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 theIllusoryMind Bell. I jingledit whilecrossingthe bridge.

After I took the first stepon 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, theIllusoryMind Bell attacked them and shooed them away.

I was frightenedand shooktheIllusory MindBell harder. A moment later, the ghosts knew they couldn’t resistthebell. 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 bridgebut hoveredat one end.Thisproved myguess. I decided to push it further. I faced the saber,then proceeded to scold and insult it.

“One-Armed Dragon, are youalittle turtle who doesn’t dare to craneitsneck 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’twash awayher sins evenwith her death!I’m going to butcher you and Yin-Yang Tiger both.You four elders canvisit the Yama King together and borrow a hall to play mahjong.” I kept shouting and cursing, trying to enrage him. Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ ɴ0velFɪre.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Indeed, the hesitant Ghost Claw flew fast forwardto stab me.

Hetook the bait!

I bit the tip of my tongue and spat blood on the Holy Mother Scepter.After readingthe 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!

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