《Otherworldly Merchant》Chapter 485: Devil
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Those people seemed to be very afraid of Paolo. The leader of the group scoffed, “You want to put your hands in our Longquan Villa’s business? Have you thought of the consequences?”
“The three of you should leave.” Paolo didn’t even bat an eye. He looked at Ru Xue and Li Mazi while waving his hand disdainfully at the other three.
After hearing him, my courage swelled up. My blood boiled as if I was watching a thrilling American-European movie.
The three men in black were angry. They gazed at Paolo like a tiger watching his prey. They seemed to want to attack him. Paolo held his scepter horizontally in front of him and read something. Immediately, the room temperature dropped sharply. Moreover, judging by the horrified looks on the three men, I knew there was something behind me.
Marco stopped me right as I was about to turn my head around to see. He looked at me and shook his head.
I had to give up this thought and kept my eyes on the enemies. They hesitated for a long time before reluctantly bowing to Paolo. Afterward, they left through the back door.
As soon as they left, I rushed to untie Ru Xue. After confirming she wasn’t hurt, I heaved a sigh of relief. Then, I woke Li Mazi up. He was stunned but the people in black hadn’t hurt him.
I didn’t know why they just wanted to keep them unconscious here. I asked Paolo about this. His current performance proved that he was more than capable to help us.
Paolo didn’t answer me but scanned the place. When he looked at the ceiling, he took a deep breath. Marco and I followed his gaze. A female body was hung above our heads. Her long hair hung like a waterfall that billowed with the wind.
I turned on the flashlight and carefully shone it over her. It was a dried body. Except for her hair, her entire body was withered. Her clothes were faded and tattered. She looked disgusting.
I noticed her outfit and found it familiar. It was the satin dress the ghost had worn the other day! Was this the dead body of the violinist?
“Father, what’s going on?”
Marco turned to Paolo. In a shivering voice, he said, “Why are her remains here?”
I’ve always had keen eyes when it comes to reading people. Marco was the sort of man that could remain calm in every situation. However, this body made him flustered. I felt my heart sink.
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“It seems this group doesn’t just want to kill Zhang. They want to create a devil! Are they crazy?!” Paolo was enraged. Then, he took us and left the Ghost Castle.
When we returned to the hotel, Paolo asked Marco to stay with us. He was getting ready to prepare something. “Before I return, do not leave the hotel.”
I then knew that this hotel belonged to their family. I had thought that Marco was just a bellboy here, but it turned out that he was the Crown Prince…
As soon as Paolo left, I impatiently asked, “Marco, could you tell me about that dead body? I don’t understand what your father meant.”
Marco gave me a nod.
To Western people, devils were like ghosts in our country. They were classified as spiritual beings.
The difference was that an expert could restrain a spirit, but a devil would listen to no one. Devils didn’t have sanity, and they had only one purpose: To destroy every living thing around them. That was why Western people hated them.
Before Paganini died, he had confessed his sin. A kind man held the funeral for his teacher. He also put the violin whose strings were made of her intestines into the coffin with her in hopes that her grudge would disappear and that she could go to heaven.
Unfortunately, the ghost had been hurt too deeply, and she didn’t want to leave. The ghostly nature made her harm people. However, she had always been a kind woman, so she didn’t want to kill anybody.
Paolo had built the hotel to watch over the Ghost Castle and help people that were attacked by the ghost. The two parties somewhat had a vague agreement.
However, those mysterious men had unearthed her body and hung her on the ceiling of the church. This action provoked the ghost, making it easier for her soul to merge with her dead body. Coupled with the Yin energy in the castle, she would eventually become a devil. Those mysterious people had also brought Li Mazi and Ru Xue inside the castle to offer their souls to the ghost, which would give her the nutrients to become a devil even quicker.
After listening to Marco, I felt angry and scared. I hated them for trying to create a devil that could kill anybody, but I was also afraid of the enemy’s madness.
“Zhang, you’ve offended a powerful person. I’m afraid this means big trouble…” Marco patted my shoulder.
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I had a headache. However, I knew those people were from the Longquan Villa. My only enemy that would go to such lengths was the Longquan Villa.
After talking to Marco, it was almost three o’clock in the morning. I helped Li Mazi to support Ru Xue upstairs to the room. She was polite to me, but she shot cold looks at Li Mazi. It seemed she was heartbroken because Li Mazi didn’t believe her.
I couldn’t help them with this. It was up to Li Mazi to coax and comfort his wife.
After sending them to their room, I returned to mine. Yin Xinyue was sleeping, her phone still in her hand. I checked her phone, and she had looked at the pictures of the four of us before falling asleep.
My heart ached, and I pulled her into my arms.
“You are back.” Yin Xinyue shuddered when I suddenly hugged her. She woke up and looked at me, looking rather sad. “How is Ru Xue?”
“Silly wife, everything is over.” I hugged her tighter and told her every detail.
Yin Xinyue smiled after listening to me. “Haha, I knew Ru Xue would never betray us!”
“Sleep. Honey, we will return home tomorrow!”
As the situation remained unsolved, Li Mazi and I couldn’t leave, and Paolo was now involved because of us. However, if the girls stayed here, I was afraid that they would be in danger. I had to send them home first.
Yin Xinyue didn’t want to leave us. However, she understood the situation, so she eventually agreed to leave first.
After the women had fallen asleep, Li Mazi and I went downstairs and waited. Soon, Paolo returned. He brought back a copper mirror and a bust of Paganini.
On the way to the Ghost Castle, Paolo told us that he wanted to use the Paganini bust to attract the female ghost. Then, he would seize that chance to climb up to the ceiling to get her body down. As soon as we could separate her body and her soul, those people’s plan of making a devil would fail!
But that ghost had existed for a few hundred years, so the bust of Paganini wasn’t enough to trick her. We needed someone to hold the copper mirror and the bust. That person would need to let his image and the bust reflect in the mirror at the same time.
The mirror belonged to the category of Yin items, especially this copper mirror dating to the Medieval Age. When someone looked in the mirror with the Paganini bust, they would leave their soul aura in it, which would trick the female ghost into thinking that it was Paganini’s soul.
However, this task was extremely dangerous. Since the ghost was about to become a devil, her resentful energy had rocketed. If one didn’t dodge fast enough, he would perish. Li Mazi and I competed to do this task. Unexpectedly, Paolo asked Marco to hold the mirror.
Because Li Mazi and I didn’t speak Italian, our plan would fail if the ghost talked to us. We had to follow Paolo’s arrangement.
After we entered the Ghost Castle, Paolo wrapped some clothes around the Paganini bust.
He moved a rusted, steel ladder from the back of the church and brought it to the main hall. Then, he slowly started to climb up. Li Mazi and I held the ladder for him.
Marco picked up the Paganini bust. Soon, a cold wind blew into the hall from a small room in the back. The female ghost appeared at the lectern. When I saw her face, I took a deep breath. Her face was ashen, her eyebrows had turned purple, and her lips were deep red.
When she saw me, she was puzzled. Then, she saw Paolo on the ladder, who was ready to remove her body. She bared her fangs and flew toward us.
Everything happened too quickly. Before Marco could react, the ghost came right in front of us. I got a flash of wit at this instant and picked up Paolo’s scepter to attack her. The ghost was sent a few meters backward. Unfortunately, the scepter was broken into two pieces. My purlicue was torn and bled.
Marco seized the time and said something in Italian. The female ghost now turned to him. When she saw the bust of Paganini, she turned extremely malicious. I had never seen her so angry before. I was a few meters away from her, but I could feel her sky-reaching resentful energy!
However, she didn’t advance. Instead, she hesitated at her spot.
Marco thought it was the right time. He immediately raised the copper mirror and shone his figure in it. The blurry mirror suddenly had the head of Paganini. It looked so real.
The ghost didn’t hesitate anymore. She roared and flew quickly toward him!
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