When the fake Chuyi screamed, the force from his three hands was reduced at once. I took the chance to take out 

a few more

 talismans from my pocket

 and palmed them 

on him. 

I had spent a few months 

drawing

 these powerful talismans. At the moment the talismans contacted the person, sparks flashed. Then, the man whimpered in pain. 

Using the short light from the sparks, I saw the fake Chuyi. 

It

 was a monster with many arms growing 

on

its

 upper body

. There were enough to 

form a circle. 

It

 looked like the Thousand-

H

and Guanyin. 

It

s neck grew a centipede head with two antennas as thick as thumbs. 

It seemed to be a centipede spirit that had encountered failure while cultivating. 

After t

hinking that I had just grabbed one of its legs, my stomach churned! Fortunately, after my talismans hit it, it was being burned. But, 

i

t could still chase after me. 

After I got

 away from the centipede spirit, I 

became

 more vigilant. I grabbed the Emei Piercer I had put 

around

 my waist. After a while, I heard Zen Master 

Baimei

’s voice. “

Benefactor

, please let me use your Emei Piercer for a while.” 

In the darkness, I couldn’t locate him. But if he asked for my help, he must be encountering something foul. Subconsciously, I wanted to throw the Emei 

Piercer

at

 him. But then, Chuyi’s voice echoed in the back of my head: No matter what you hear, do not pay attention! 

I was 

so

careless that

I almost

 lost my Emei Piercer! The foul 

things here

 weren’t 

as strong as

 Zen Master 

Baimei

, so why would he ask me for help? 

To avoid 

another

 situation li

ke this

, I directly spat blood on the Emei Piercer. I activated it and spun it around me while reading the Sacred Text of Daoism. 

T

he Sacred Text of Daoism was working well, and I felt much calmer. There was no sound coming at me. Soon, I saw 

the

 light at the end of the tunnel. Before I could do anything, I landed on my butt. 

It was a hard land

, and 

I had to roll around to reduce the force. When I 

pulled 

myself together and g

o

t up, I saw Zen Master 

Baimei

 and Chuyi standing not far from me. They were brushing the dust 

off

 their bodies. 

I rushed to them. “Are you all right?” 

Chuyi shot me a 

disdainful

 look, but he 

said

 to Zen Master 

Baimei

purposefully, 

“You see, he’s alright. He even has free time to worry for the two of us…” 

Zen Master 

Baimei

 chuckled and patted 

my

 shoulder. “It’s good that you’re 

alright

. It’s our fault that we didn’t remind you before we jumped in.” 

I embarrassedly scratched my head, but I felt happy. Chuyi had never joked before. 

He always had a cold face

. It seemed that after he had solved the problem with his 

father-in-law

, the knot between them was untied. It was good. 

I assessed the surroundings and found that we were standing in front of 

the

 village entrance. From a distance, the village had the colors and shape of the past. There were many small, black flags flying in midair, and some signboards rattling in the wind. 

Walking on the small street, I saw people wearing ancient clothes moving around. A man was riding a big horse, knocking on each door to notify the dwellers about something. It looked like a historical drama to me. 

While I was watching them, I thought I 

would take

 a photo of those ancient dressed people

. Chuyi said, “Don’t look at them. They aren’t living people!” 

His words 

made me pull myself together. I put my phone back into my pocket. 

“Most of the ‘people’ you see here are ghosts and spirits. Don’t worry, they have their rules. During the trade conference, they won’t proactively mess with living people. In fact, 

t

o facilitate the trades, they will volunteer to help the living

,

” Chuyi explained. 

E

very year, some people with big guts would come to join the trades in the Ghost City. They would try to earn something good from the dead

. And, 

when they 

returned

 to the mortal world, they would sell the items to antique businessmen like me. 

“I’m sure you’ve joined this market many times. Have you ever found any treasures?” 

What Chuyi told me was new and interesting. I couldn’t 

refrain from my

 curiosity. 

“I have 

participated in the

 Ghost Market many times, but I

’ve only come

t

o find the stuff I need. I haven’t earned a profit by 

reselling

 the items. And, there

 are some things you

can

 only 

find

 by chance.” 

Chuyi said that to make me prepare

myself,

indicating that perhaps we 

w

ouldn’t find the mermaid’s 

tears

 here. 

“Yeah, we can only 

take one step at a time

.” 

He

 didn’t need to remind me. I understood that. If we kept the thought of success in everything we did, we couldn’t survive in this business. 

Chuyi was pleased with my reaction. He 

nodded, then

 said, “I

’ve

 got a friend who used the good fortune of a whole year 

in

 exchange for a small bowl from a Ghost King in this Ghost Market. Later on, he recognized that it was a genuine blue-and-white porcelain bowl from the Yuan Dynasty

.

 It even 

went

 on the treasure hunting program 

on

 national TV. 

Of course

, he told the antique expert that it was 

his family

 heirloom.” 

Chuyi smiled mysteriously, “Now

, 

guess how much that bowl is worth

.

” 

I thought then gave him a thumbs

-

up because real blue-and-white products from the Yuan Dynasty 

had

 the price of eight to ten million 

renminbi

 and more. 

“Ten times more than that!” 

I took a dee

p

 breath. 

He 

wasn’t jok

ing, b

ut what kind of 

bowl was

 as expensive as one hundred million? 

“It’s a bowl the Mongolian royal family used to use. When Ogedai Khan marched to the East to fight in the European Continent, he used this bowl to eat. And when Temujin was seriously sick, he used this bowl to make him a concoction.” He smacked his tongue while talking.

I felt excited. When someone’s luck came to 

them

, nothing could stop it! Who could have 

thought

 that a normal-looking bowl 

w

ould have a relationship with those two famous figures? 

But then, Chuyi continued the story. “My friend 

became

 a parvenu. But people were jealous 

of

 him. In the end, he was murdered horribly.” Chuyi dropped his hands. “That’s why we say we don’t know if it’s good luck or bad luck when something happens. Making ends meet with our sincere work is much more precious and sustainable than anything else.” 

I nodded. He was right. 

While talking, we reached the center of the village. It was 

as

 Chuyi had told me. Most of the ghosts around acted as 

if

 we didn’t exist. Sometimes, they 

made

 gestures as though they welcomed us. This was the first time I thought that ghosts weren’t really scary. 

Alongside the streets were inns

, 

tea houses

, a

nd shops. Chuyi casually took us to an inn. He did it so naturally

;

 it was as 

if

 he had known this place for years. The 

innkeeper

 wore shrouds

 and sat 

at 

the

 counter. When he saw Chuyi, he smiled

 and welcomed 

him respectfully. “Priest Chuyi, you

’ve finally

 come. Shall we use the old rule?” 

Chuyi gave him a slight nod. It seemed he was a regular customer here. The 

innkeeper

 took us upstairs and checked us into three rooms 

next to each other

. However, since Chuyi was worried about me, he asked me to share the room with him, while Zen Master 

Baimei

 would take the next room. 

“Is that 

innkeeper

 a ghost or a human?” I couldn’t help but 

ask

 after the 

innkeeper

 was gone. 

I could see that the 

innkeeper

 acted like a living human, but he was wearing a shroud. Chuyi understood me well. He explained, “This inn owner is a smart man. Wearing shrouds will make the ghosts treat him friendlier.”  

I felt amused. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. That man 

was willing

 to 

risk

 his life just to earn money. 

Anyway, it was his choice. I shouldn’t say anything.