When Tang Xianzu 

went

 to the house of the friend that 

took

 the silver spear, he saw that many villagers had gathered

 around. They were

 pointing at the house. From their faces, he knew 

something

 had happened to his friend! 

Tang Xianzu immediately entered the courtyard. He was surprised

 to see 

all of 

his 

friends who had joined the digging operation yesterday. 

However, they were on all-fours

, shoving 

grass and wheat ears 

from

 the ground into their mouths. Their eyes looked blank. 

T

hey

 sometimes

 craned their necks

 and neighed 

like horses. 

“Horse neighing?” I 

thought it was

 a little weird. Those people 

ate

 grass and neighed like horses. 

T

he spirit this time 

is actually

 a horse? 

But if it 

was

 a horse, how 

could

 we explain the shadow by Tang Xianzu’s bed? I wasn’t that dumb to think that it was just a nightmare. After considering things, I 

thought of

 one possibility

.

T

he deceased used to be an intimidating person with great talent in martial arts. He fought and died with his horse. When they died, their 

spirits were attached

 to his weapon. That

 was 

how 

the current s

ituation

 came to be

! 

However, 

this

 was just my assumption. I needed to see the silver spear to 

reach a

 conclusion. 

I pondered

then asked Tang Xianzu to tell me the address of his four friends. 

Since

 Tang Xianzu was hurt, he couldn’t accompany us. 

“The other folks 

have

 tied them up. You should go see our Village Elder. He will support you.” 

Then, 

Tang Xianzu gave me a phone number. I asked him to stay and 

fully

recover i

n the hospital. 

I took Li Mazi back to my shop. We needed to prepare some 

things

 before going to Tangjia. 

Tangjia Village was a mountainous village around seventy or eighty miles away from us. I 

thought

 that we 

wouldn’t be able to

 drive our car to the village. However, 

when we reached

 the village entrance, we recognized that the mountainous road had been leveled. I knew i

t was the work 

of that real estate investor. 

On the way there, I called the Village Elder. When we reached the village entrance, he was waiting for us there.  

The Village Elder was a man around sixty years old

. He wore 

a faded white Chinese suit and a pair of rubber boots. Although he 

had wrinkles on his face

, his eyes were resolute

. His 

back was straight, and he looked righteous. 

After a few greetings, I 

went

 straight to the topic. “Sir, how are those 

people

?” 

The Village Elder lit up a cigarette. After puffing a few times, he started to tell me the story. 

At that time, he got 

a

 report about those unusual young men. He hurried to gather people 

to

 go there. When he saw them eating grass on the ground, he shouted, “What are you doing? Are you sick?” 

But they paid no attention to the Village Elder. They were like stone pillars

. N

o matter how hard the others tried to pull them up, they didn’t move an inch. Eventually, the Village Elder had to call all the strong men in the village to subdue them 

and

 tie them up. 

Those men were 

watched

 the entire time. 

The villagers 

even sent someone to spoon-feed them. 

Li Mazi interrupted, “

But,

 how 

do they

use

 the toilet?” 

The Village Elder felt embarrassed. “If we untie them, they will become crazy again. We have to let them 

relieve themselves in 

their pants.” 

I felt so awkward. But it was true that this was the safest method. 

After tying them up, the Village Elder 

went

 to their houses to enquire about their actions. Eventually, he 

learned

 that these young men had risked their lives and 

went

 to that piece of evil land! 

Immediately, the Village Elder dragged those men to the Achievement and Virtual Memorial Arch in the village. The so-called Achievement and Virtual Memorial Arch was the ancestral hall where the villagers worshipped t

hose

 who had 

made great contributions

 to the village. 

The Village Elder was old and experienced, so he knew they were being pestered by the foul things from that land

. H

e brought them to 

the

 memorial arch in hopes that the righteous power of their ancestors could 

temporarily

 save their lives. At the same time, he told Tang Xianzu to 

find

 me

 and seek my

 help as soon as possible. 

After telling me the story, the Village Elder asked, “Why didn’t Tang Xianzu 

return

 with you?” 

He made me 

realize

 something else. When Tang Xianzu left the village, he wasn’t hurt

. W

hen he appeared at my antique shop, he was almost dead. What happened to him? 

To assure the Village Elder and to know what to do next, I immediately called Tang Xianzu. “How did you get your wounds?” 

Tang Xianzu stammered

. It seemed

 he didn’t dare to tell me the story. 

My voice grew serious. “I request to know the truth! If you don’t tell me, your friends will die. 

There is

 no doubt about that. 

T

he people 

who live

 in Tangjia Village 

will

 also be in danger.” 

“

Umh

…” Tang Xianzu sounded more hesitant. Even 

though

 we

 were on different ends of the phone line,

 I could 

imagine

 h

im 

shivering. He didn’t dare to tell me. I guessed I shouldn’t force him now. 

Right when

 I thought

 about

ending

 the call, he suddenly opened his mouth. “Master Zhang, do you believe there are ghosts in this world?” 

“If 

ghosts don’t exist

, 

I would be out of business!” 

After receiving confirmation from me, Tang Xianzu took a deep breath. Then, he started to tell me his story. 

“I 

went

 to your 

shop the night

before, but 

the shop was closed. I didn’t know 

when

 you 

would

 open again, so I went to find a small hostel to stay in

. 

While I was sleeping, the temperature suddenly dropped by around ten degrees. I heard 

neighing sounds

. I had heard 

those sounds

 from my friends,

so I got up immediately. Then, I saw a tall and big figure in 

the

 room.” 

“What did he do to you?” I blurted 

that

 since I guessed that the person was possibly the projection of the otherworldly item. 

“He was riding a big, white horse

 and wore 

white armor. He 

was headless. Yet, 

I could hear his sneer! 

H

e slowly raised the silver spear in his hand. At first glance, I knew it was the silver spear we had dug up the night before. I knew he 

had come

 to retaliate. I jumped off the bed and ran away.” Tang Xianzu still sounded fearful. “While running, I wanted to scream to ask people to help me

, b

ut my throat seemed to be blocked. I couldn’t make a sound. I was so panicked that I didn’t choose the right road. I ended up in a

n alley with a

 dead-end. The headless horseman sneered again. He said something that seemed to come from his stomach

. 

I didn’t understand. Then, he raised his spear

 and aimed it 

at me.” 

Xianzu paused for a while. “It seemed 

that the headless

 horseman was playing with me

. H

e didn’t 

want to 

kill me. It was obvious that he could finish me

 off at any time, b

ut he didn’t.

While the headless horseman was 

aiming

 his spear at me, I heard 

a

 rooster 

crow

. Then, both the horseman and his horse disappeared. I was wounded, but I tried my best to go to your shop. I met Li Mazi there

,

 but I fainted after talking to him.” 

After hanging up the call, I pondered about 

what I had just heard

. 

Did that 

spirit 

want

 to show mercy or did he 

want

 to play with Tang Xianzu for a while before 

killing 

him? 

With that thought, I asked the Village Elder

,

 “The men you’ve tied up, do they look strange?” 

The Village Elder shook his head. “No, I’ve asked strong and muscular men to guard them. Except for eating grass and neighing, they 

don’t

 do anything strange.” 

I frowned

 and thought that 

Tang Xianzu 

was hiding

 something from me. According to him, his friends wanted to melt that silver spear, with him being the sole

 exception. Yet, he was the only one that was visited by that spirit

. Until now, nobody got hurt except for him. It wasn’t logical at all! 

Li Mazi also recognized this. He shot me a look then motioned his head toward the Village Elder. He wanted me to investigate the Village Elder. He was the one that had asked Tang Xianzu to find me, after all. 

However, I had a feeling that the Village Elder wasn’t a bad guy. There should be something ambiguous 

about

 Tang Xianzu. I thought about it then asked the Village Elder to take us to the Achievement and Virtue Memorial Arch to see those me

n

. Unexpectedly, the Village Elder looked hesitant

. It was

 as though he didn’t want to take us there. 

Li Mazi fumed. He pulled me

 and said 

that we should leave. 

Li Mazi’s words

 made the Village Elder worried. The old man hurriedly grabbed us then told us the truth. 

“No, it’s not that I don’t want you to meet them. But 

y

ou should know that those men have 

been pooping in their pants

 these day

s

. We can’t open that hall for you to see them. It’s so horrible, you know. 

In addition to 

the 

horrible

 stench, they have blisters all over their bodies

. They look as 

though they 

are

 scalded. When those blisters 

pop

, a lot of pus oozes out. The folks in our village think that they may have 

an infectious

 disease. We don’t want to 

get

 close to them.” 

Li Mazi advised him, 

“Please think about it. 

A

re all the other villagers okay? If it 

was

an

 infectious disease, the people who have 

gone

 there must be infected already…

” 

The Village Elder

’s eyes reddened. He sighed. 

“

Since

 you are here, I can feel 

rest

 assured. Before you came, I had to tell the folks that it was an infectious disease. If I told them 

about the 

paranormal activities, the entire village would 

fall into chaos

!” 

Since we didn’t mind 

the

 conditions, the Village Elder didn’t stop us anymore. With his hands clasped behind his back, he guided us to the mountain. Many villages had their graveyard on the mountain or behind the mountain. Tangjia Village was no exception. 

Along

 the way, I observed the surroundings. It was 

as

 Tang Xianzu had told me. The excavators had 

messed up

 the fields a lot. The people here couldn’t grow crops now. 

If that real estate investor left, 

I thought

 the villagers here 

wouldn't

 have the money to recover their crops. 

I suddenly remembered the mysterious piece of land Tang Xianzu had told us about. “Village Elder, where is that

 strange

 piece of land?”