Volume 1, Chapter 164: The Merchant

The rocky beach was a place locals were too lazy to visit and outsiders knew nothing about, which meant it was almost always deserted. This was why Muxia and Xu Yifei had chosen to bury the elephant porcelain here.

Following Muxia and Xu Yifei’s directions, Chi Xingwan quickly found the porcelain elephant.

On the surface, it looked like a completely normal piece of porcelain, but the elephant's eyes concealed an undisguised aura of dark malice. This was a cursed artifact.

After sealing the porcelain, Chi Xingwan did not return to Muxia's house immediately. Instead, she logged into the "Spirit Spirit Demon" app's Spirit Master version and looked up the nearest entrance to the Everlasting Night Street.

She headed straight for Xu Hengyang's office and placed the elephant porcelain on his desk. "New clue."

Xu Hengyang tore off the seal, and the black miasma surged out from the porcelain. He instantly understood what Chi Xingwan meant.

"We finally have new clues regarding the toad ornament and the emaciated cat. Well? Are you planning to handle this case yourself?"

Chi Xingwan nodded. "This was found in Jiangchuan Province, and I happen to be in Jiangchuan Province right now. Just assign me one or two people to act as guides."

"No problem," Xu Hengyang agreed readily.

Chi Xingwan rose, preparing to leave. Before heading out, she paused to ask, "Any movement from Mi Country?"

Xu Hengyang replied, "For now, they are putting on a very obedient front, but we've still managed to catch some clues. Once you return from Jiangchuan Province, I'll fill you in with the details."

"Alright." Without further questions, Chi Xingwan left the Everlasting Night Street directly.

When she returned to Muxia's home, Wei Shi'an's episode had already passed, and Xu Yifei had been dragged back by his parents.

"How did it go?" Seeing Chi Xingwan return, Wei Shi'an immediately asked.

"It really was an issue with that elephant porcelain. Shi'an, I need to look into matters here for a bit. I'm sorry to leave you alone."

Shen Wan immediately spoke up, "If you don't mind, I can keep Miss Wei company."

Wei Shi'an smiled. "Thank you."

She turned back to Chi Xingwan and said, "Go ahead and take care of your business. Don't worry about me."

The association had dispatched a man and a woman, both locals of Jiangchuan Province who were very familiar with the surrounding area.

The male spirit master, named Qu Hai, lived right in Li County. After taking the mission, it took him less than an hour to rush to Shaba Village. Before even meeting Chi Xingwan, he had already conducted preliminary investigations.

"Consultant Chi, I've verified that Xu Yifei's father bought that elephant porcelain at an antique market in Li County for a few thousand yuan."

Chi Xingwan was quite surprised. "Several thousand yuan for a piece of porcelain? Such a lavish spender?"

"Not just him, quite a few other people bought them too," Qu Hai said. "Sister Lian went to that antique market first. She said that within just one hour, that stall sold three pieces of porcelain, all transactions going for thousands."

The other spirit master sent by the association was named Song Mulian. Because she was further away, she and Qu Hai had discussed that Qu Hai would pick up Chi Xingwan while she went directly to the antique market.

Qu Hai said, "Sister Lian and I discussed it. To avoid alerting the enemy, Sister Lian is keeping watch there and won't make a move yet. Consultant Chi, shall we head over now?"

"Yes, let's go now."

Being a local, Qu Hai knew many winding narrow paths that acted as shortcuts. It took only an hour to reach the antique market.

Song Mulian met them at the parking lot. As the three of them walked toward the antique market, she reported her findings along the way.

"Consultant Chi, I've observed that the vendor selling the cursed artifacts is just an ordinary person, but he carries a talisman that protects him from the influence of the artifacts. I've staked the place out for quite a while, and aside from customers, I haven't seen anyone else contact him."

Qu Hai noted, "He's probably just a small pawn; there's definitely someone above him."

Chi Xingwan said expressionlessly, "We'll just drag him over and ask."

Ten minutes later, a wandering soul with a dull expression stood before the three of them.

Qu Hai and Song Mulian stared at Chi Xingwan in absolute shock.

"As—as expected of Consultant Chi. To actually pull the vendor's soul out this easily, and from such a distance."

"Is this the power of a Super Grade-A?"

The two exchanged glances. Their original plan had been to wait until the vendor closed his stall and intercept him on his way home for interrogation, but Chi Xingwan had dismissed that as a waste of time.

They had then considered luring him out under some pretext or using mystic arts to draw him to a secluded spot outside the antique market for questioning.

Instead, Chi Xingwan had simply crooked her finger at the vendor, and his soul had detached from his body and floated right over.

The vendor gradually regained consciousness, his eyes losing their dull glaze. Taking in his surroundings, he asked in confusion, "Huh? How did I end up across the street? Oh dear, my porcelain! It mustn't get stolen."

He hurriedly turned to run back to his stall, only to freeze abruptly after taking a few steps.

At the stall across the street, a person who looked identical to him was smiling and enthusiastically pitching porcelain to a customer. He looked closer—that wasn't someone who just looked like him; that person was clearly himself.

"What is going on?"

"Just look down at your own body and you'll understand."

Hearing this, the vendor subconsciously looked down, and was horrified to find that his body was semi-transparent.

"What's happening? Am I dead? Impossible, I was just standing at my stall doing nothing, how could I suddenly die?"

Chi Xingwan's tone was ice-cold. "Don't worry, you aren't dead yet. You've only experienced an out-of-body experience. However, if you can never return to your body, you're going to be in deep trouble."

The vendor turned back and saw three people standing before him. He asked suspiciously, "I'm having an out-of-body experience, why can you see me?"

Song Mulian found it utterly ridiculous. "Hey, you're running this kind of business yourself, and yet you don't even know there are many mysterious things in this world?"

The vendor forced himself to calm down, glaring viciously at the three of them. "Since you already know, I have no need to hide it. I'm telling you, I have powerful people behind me. If I suddenly die, they will definitely investigate, and you won't get away."

Chi Xingwan sneered. "Didn't you just look over? Your body is moving."

"Since I dared to pull your wandering soul out, I naturally made preparations. Your body is currently inhabited by another soul; even if your wandering soul dies, your physical body won't. Therefore, no one will notice. Understand?"

The vendor looked back over. His body had just seen off a customer and was now chatting with the neighboring vendor.

He had been setting up his stall here for years, and the neighboring vendor had too. When business was slow, the two often chatted, and after all this time, they could well be called friends.

And now, this friend hadn't noticed at all that the core inside his body had been swapped.

So, if he really died and his body was occupied by something else, would anyone else fail to notice as well?

He didn't want to die.

At this moment, the vendor's psychological defense completely shattered. Trembling, he said to Chi Xingwan, "Have mercy and spare me. I'll tell you everything you want to know."