Chapter 13: The Secret Arts Of The Paper-Cutting Sect

“Ah, B-boss Chen, you misunderstand, I’m not buying a wife for myself, it’s for, for my son!”

The old man hung his head, his face forlorn. After hearing this, Pockmark Chen understood. He glanced at the old man and said, “Oh, the love of parents that ought to be pitied. Give me his birth details.”

The old man fumbled a slip of paper from his breast and handed it to Pockmark Chen. Pockmark Chen looked it over and said, “The fate sign is Fire, so Wood is the best match. Do you see the third one? That one has a Wood fate. Do you want her?”

The old man looked and saw the body was already rotted, a large patch of flesh missing from the face, terribly grisly. Still, the old man ignored that and asked, “How much?”

“Ten taels.”

On hearing it the old man’s eyes widened. “Ten, ten taels? I only have seven taels.”

“Seven taels? We’ve never sold at that price. Listen, you wait by the side first. If no one buys her today, I’ll sell her to you for seven taels.”

Pockmark Chen looked at the old man. The old man sighed sadly, dared not argue, and stepped aside.

At that moment another person approached, a man appearing in his early thirties to forties, stooped, with a blotchy birthmark on his face, dark and ugly, wearing patched clothes, disheveled and filthy as if he hadn’t washed in ages. On closer inspection there were dark green patches on his skin. The old temple keeper frowned. Others might not notice, but he knew those were corpse spots or livor mortis, spots that only appeared after a person died. A living person with corpse spots meant he hadn’t done good deeds.

The man stepped up and looked at Pockmark Chen, “Boss Chen, I’m buying.”

“You?”

Pockmark Chen looked at him, brow furrowed. He certainly didn’t look like someone with money. Yet while Pockmark Chen wondered, the man produced a silk coin pouch from his pocket, embroidered on the outside, clearly not something he would own.

Pockmark Chen smiled and said, “Stole it from someone, eh?”

The man chuckled, “Picked it up.”

“Whether you stole it or picked it up, as long as there’s money that’s fine. Which one do you want?”

“That one!”

He pointed to the one Pockmark Chen had first shown the old man, the best-preserved one. Pockmark Chen looked at him meaningfully and said, “Fifteen taels, no bargaining.”

“Fine, fifteen it is.”

The man started to pay, and Pockmark Chen laughed, “I tell you, fifteen taels is enough to visit the brothel a few times. Why buy her?”

“Heh heh, this will last a month-plus. A brothel burns through money in a day, not worth it.”

“Oh, you’re the thrifty sort. Fine, I’ll sell her to you, and I’ll throw in a quilt. You can carry her away in that.” Pockmark Chen laughed heartily.

The man thanked him profusely and left holding the corpse. After he left, several others came forward to haggle, and soon the corpses were sold one by one. Unfortunately the Wood-fate female the old man wanted had been sold too, leaving only one last one. Pockmark Chen looked at the old man and then at the remaining female corpse and said, “Old man, this corpse is Earth fate. With your son’s Fire fate it neither clashes nor nourishes, so she will be neither dominant nor submissive, a plain match. Five taels. How about that?”

The old man thought, gritted his teeth and said, “Alright, I’ll take her.”

“Good. I’ll even throw in that straw mat over there. Ha ha ha…” Pockmark Chen laughed.

The old man hoisted the corpse and ran down the hill. Seeing that the corpse selling had finished, Li Chaosheng said to the old temple keeper, “Brother Zhu, are we going in or not? If we don’t go now they’ll be gone.”

The old temple keeper hesitated. Those from the guard office were always slow in getting things done. Why hadn’t they come yet?

As the old man wavered, Pockmark Chen’s deep voice came from inside the shop, “The two of you outside have been watching for some time. Are you here to buy, or what?”

At those words, Li Chaosheng and the old temple keeper froze. “We’ve been spotted?”

The old temple keeper frowned slightly and said, “Can’t be, we didn’t make a sound. Maybe they’re trying to trick us!”

The old temple keeper looked certain.

But at that moment the old temple keeper suddenly felt a weight on his shoulder, as if someone had patted him. “Why are you patting my shoulder?”

The old temple keeper glanced at Li Chaosheng, but Li Chaosheng spread his hands as if to say he hadn’t touched him.

The old temple keeper frowned, “You didn’t pat me.”

“I didn’t,” Li Chaosheng said firmly.

The old temple keeper turned and looked. It was empty and silent, night thick, nothing there. Then he felt his shoulder patted again. He turned back. “You patted my shoulder again?”

“I really didn’t,” Li Chaosheng said, raising his hands.

As the old temple keeper stared at Li Chaosheng’s hands, he suddenly felt something patting his back again. He grew alarmed and said to Li Chaosheng, “Help me see what’s doing this!”

Hearing that, Li Chaosheng went around behind the old temple keeper and shivered. On the old man’s back was a child the size of a palm, with a frozen expression and red smudges on its face just lying there. That didn’t look like a living being. As Li Chaosheng recoiled in shock, a gust of wind made the child’s head wobble like a sheet of plastic.

“Paper…a paper-figure?” Li Chaosheng cried out in alarm.

On hearing it, the old temple keeper’s expression changed. “Oh no! It’s the paper-figure and paper-horse art of the Paper-Cutting Sect!”

Pockmark Chen’s voice sounded inside, “Oh, an expert, I see. You saw through my trick. Come, let me see who dares make trouble here.”

Pockmark Chen had barely finished when the shop’s door was kicked open. Pockmark Chen and the straw-hatted man stepped out, and behind the straw-hatted man were two burly thugs, but they also wore similar straw hats to their leader.

“Brother Li, get ready, I fear this won’t end peacefully.”

The old temple keeper straightened up as he spoke. Li Chaosheng straightened too, his hand reaching for the ghost-head blade at his back. Seeing the sword, Pockmark Chen laughed, “Heh heh… there’s even an executioner here. What are you two doing here? Care to introduce yourselves?”

The old temple keeper’s face darkened. “We are travelers who saw this inn and came in to stay.”

“Ha ha ha… staying the night, really now? Unwilling to tell the truth? Then suffer a little! Explode!”

Boom!

Pockmark Chen gave the command, and in the next moment the paper-figure pressed against the old temple keeper flared with green ghost-fire and exploded with a bang, staggering the keeper. His outer black cloak was blown apart, revealing the Nightwardens’ black moonlight uniform underneath. The Nightwardens’ clothing was specially made, so despite the blast it remained undamaged.

“Brother Zhu.”

Li Chaosheng rushed to steady him, but the old temple keeper stopped him. “Watch out for the paper-figure, it’s smeared with phosphorus powder!”

The old temple keeper and Li Chaosheng steadied themselves. Pockmark Chen and the straw-hatted man also saw the Nightwardens’ uniform on the keeper and their faces instantly soured. “You are people from the Nightwardens!”