Original Text
There was a merchant from the south who dealt in scorpions, and every year he would come to Linqu to purchase large quantities of them. The locals would take wooden tongs into the mountains, dig into caves, overturn stones, and search to capture scorpions. One year, the scorpion merchant arrived again and lodged at an inn. Suddenly, he felt his heart palpitate and his hair stand on end, and he urgently told the innkeeper, "I have killed too many creatures, and today I have angered the Scorpion Demon; it has come to slay me! I beg you to save me quickly!" The innkeeper looked around the room and saw a large earthen jar; he told the merchant to crouch on the ground and then covered him with the jar. Shortly after, a man ran in, with yellow hair and a hideous, fierce countenance. He asked the innkeeper, "Where is the merchant from the south?" The innkeeper replied, "He has gone elsewhere." The man entered the room, looked all around, sniffed the air several times, and then left. The innkeeper said, "What luck, all is safe now." But when he lifted the jar to look at the scorpion merchant, he had already turned into a pool of blood.
Commentary
This chapter belongs to the category of karmic retribution, serving as a warning against taking life.
The reason scorpions become a commodity is likely twofold: first, they can be used as medicinal ingredients, though the demand is not great; second, they can be consumed as a delicacy for feasting. The southern merchants here are probably motivated by the second reason, possibly procuring them for gourmands in the Guangdong region.