“Yeah, we should check it out, too. It’s on the way,” said the Village Elder. He wiped his sweat.  

Although the Village Elder didn’t want to go, he 

steeled himself

 and 

took

 me there. When we reached a small outcrop, he told me it was up there. 

I asked him to stay and wait with Li Mazi. I would go there alone. 

Soon, I saw the 

plot

 of land. It looked exactly as 

described

. It was barren

, and there 

wasn’t a single blade of grass. 

There were h

oles of various size

s

. I thought that Tang Xianzu and his friends had done that. Dust and soil blew with the wind, 

which gave

 the place a forlorn

 and

 eerie feeling. 

“Cough, cough…” Suddenly, a chill ran up my 

spine.

 I had to jump a few times to warm up. When I felt warmer, I walked toward the biggest hole. 

I seemed to see fain

t 

dark air filling and 

rising

 from the hole. Strangely, the dark air 

swirled

 around me as if it had recognized my presence. 

“Is 

this

 a provocation or what?” I mumbled to myself. Then, I smeared ox 

tears

over

 my eyes. Afterward, I scanned the entire piece of land. 

At 

first glance, 

the sight scared the living daylights

 out of me. I almost 

fell

 on my butt. The entire land emitt

ed

 resentful energy. It would be strange 

if

 it could grow plants! 

The spot I was standing on happened to be the center of 

the

 land, which had the thickest dark air. I couldn’t help

 but take 

in a deep breath. What thing could have such intimidating resentful energy? 

T

his amount of resentful energy could kill all the people in the village 

as

 it could change the 

geomancy

 of the place. 

However, the otherworldly item had just stayed 

in

 this piece of land. It had never come out to harm people. I supposed the otherworldly item’s owner wasn’t a bad 

person

when

 he was alive. 

However, he must have 

died a tragic death, which

 made a wisp of his soul stay in 

his

 weapon. That’s how 

the

 otherworldly item was 

born

.

It also proved that Tang Xianzu didn’t lie to me. He was wounded by that headless horseman, and the headless horseman had shown him mercy. 

I didn’t know why, but I had a feeling that this shouldn

’t be too hard to deal with, despite 

the incident 

looking

 strange

. 

It was an otherworldly item with a great deal of resentful energy, but it didn’t want to kill the ones that had disturbed it. 

It didn’t seem to be

 a stubborn

 and 

evil ghost

.

That

 was

 why I didn’t want to linger here

 and went 

down the mountain where the Village Elder

 and Li Mazi were

 waiting. 

When Li Mazi saw me, he asked,

 “Did you find anything?” 

I told them my assumption. After listening to me, Li Mazi nodded, but the rims of the Village Elder

’s eyes turned 

red. 

Since

 his reaction was so strong, I 

asked,

 “Do you know something?” 

He shook his head. However, 

we could tell that he was thinking otherwise. 

“

There’s

 a legend people have passed through the generations in our Tangjia Village. I don’t know if it’s true or not

, but...

” The Village Elder had tears in his eyes

 as he began to tell 

us the legend. 

It turned out Tangjia Village wasn’t called Tangjia at first. It was called Zhongzi Village.

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, this area was disputed land. After the Sui Dynasty ended, many people claimed the lands and proclaimed themselves as kings. In history, it was recorded as the Eighteen Heroes of the Sui and Tang Dynasties. 

Amongst the eighteen heroes, Li Yuan had the strongest force. He

made his 

e

ldest son, Li Jiancheng, the Crown Prince. However, 

his other son, 

Li Shimin, was much stronger than Li Jiancheng in major 

aspects

such as

 commanding the army, ruling

,

 and solving the matters of the imperial court.  

Slowly, Li Jiancheng began to envy his younger brother! He was afraid that his brother would take his tit

le as 

Crown Prince.

 He

 tried his best to eradicate the generals that 

were loyal to

 Li Shimin. 

During

 the battle 

in

 Zhongzi, Li Jiancheng knew that the enem

ies

were

 lurking everywhere

. However, 

he still forced Li Shimin’s general

, 

Luo Cheng

,

 to advance! 

The 

famous general Luo Cheng 

was

 besieged

 and 

eventually 

fell

 into a quagmire. He was killed by countless arrows. In the end, the enemy 

took

 his head as a battle reward. Rumor said that when they burned Luo Cheng’s body, the 

arrowheads

 from his body weighed several pounds. It was enough to tell how horrible his death was. 

Luo Cheng was a handsome man with invincible spear techniques. He was known as the Stern Cold Spear Charming Luo Cheng.  

The loyal

 and

 dedicated general Luo Cheng was plotted against by Li Jiancheng. Before he died, all of his resentment 

was

 sent to his silver spear. 

His 

warhorse

, which 

was

named

 Little White Dragon, had also jumped into the quagmire to commit suicide.

The enemy was impressed by Luo Cheng’s bravery and Little White Dragon’s loyal heart. They buried Luo Cheng’s remains with his horse in Zhongzi. 

Afterward, Zhongzi became the place where people came to show their respect to the hero, Luo Cheng. They built him a temple. However, after the foundation of the People

’s

 Republic of China, the temple was demolished

. T

he Zhongzi Village was renamed Tangjia Village. 

After listening to this story, I felt a little touched. Among 

the

 many heroes in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Luo Cheng had the worst end. 

The Tang Dynasty was about to take over the country, but he was ambushed

 and was 

killed by countless arrows. I felt somewhat lost. 

Li Mazi also 

thought

 that something 

was s

trange. “Village Elder, why do you look so emotional?” 

“I’m considered to be Luo Cheng’s descendant.” 

I was shocked. “Is 

that

 true?” Although I admired and sympathized with Luo Cheng, I had always thought that he was just a fictional character. There was no one like him recorded in the official history. 

Unexpectedly, the Village Elder 

became

 mad after I asked him that. “Hm

ph

! All the crows in this world are black! After Li Shimin got the throne, he forgot about his general, who had bathed in blood to help him. He wanted to keep a clear name 

for

the

 Li family, so he ordered the historian to remove the event where Li Jiancheng had plotted again

st him

and 

erased Luo Cheng 

from history

.

Anyway, there’s no perfectly windproof wall in this world. Even if he 

was

 the Emperor, he couldn’t muffle all the people. Afterward, the legend of the Stern Cold Spear Charming Luo Cheng spread

...

” 

After talking, the Village Elder became anxious. “Do you think Tang Xianzu and his friends dug up Luo Cheng

’s spear

? If it’s Luo Cheng’s spirit, please don’t hurt him.” 

“It’s possible…” Although I hadn’t seen the spear, from what Tang Xianzu had encountered and the resentful energy I had witnessed up there, I could roughly conclude 

that the

 spirit of Luo Cheng was behind this! 

If it 

was

 Luo Cheng, I thought I could talk to him and solve this event in peace. I didn’t hurry to see those young men but asked the Village Elder to show me the silver spear. 

The Village Elder nodded. “After that event, the folks in our village thought that the spear 

wasn’t

 something good. They wanted to put it back 

in

 its place. However, no one dared to enter that land

, so w

e

’ve placed 

it in a house in the villag

e for you to see

.” 

Tangjia Village wasn’t big. There was only one small path 

in

 the village. 

Still, although we were in

 broad daylight

, 

I didn

’t see anyone walk along the

 path. 

None of the houses had the lights on. 

The entire village was dead silent. 

There were no

 dog

s barking

, either. Normally, people 

who lived

 in the countryside 

kept

 dogs to guard their houses. When those dogs saw strangers, they would bark like crazy. 

The

 wind blew, 

which wafted

a

 thick smell of blood toward me.

 I

 didn’t feel well as a bad premonition 

had come

 to me. It seemed something horrible had happened here. 

The Village Elder blushed

. His 

eyes bulg

ed incredulously

. Since he was too scared, he shivered 

as he walked

. 

“What happened?” Li Mazi asked 

in a careful tone

. Right from the start, he had felt that the Village Elder wasn’t a nice man. He became even more vigilant now. 

I couldn’t help

 but become 

cautious. The Village Elder shook his head. He looked even more bewildered. “How could it be?! When I left the village to welcome you, everything was all right. How could it have turned into this?” 

Then, he 

went

 to knock on the doors of some houses. Some had the doors 

locked

. There was no one inside the 

homes

. 

However, we saw blood splashed on the yards 

of

 many 

of the 

houses. It didn’t smell like human blood but rather, the blood of domestic animals. 

It was no

 wonder why the entire village was so quiet. 

Li Mazi 

became

 anxious 

due to

 the scene in front of him. He sounded scared and said, “What should we do now?” 

“We need to take a look at 

the spear 

first!” I told him. I frowned

 and urged 

the Village elder to move faster to the house where they had kept the spear. The situation there was the same 

as in

 the other houses. No one was there. 

The Village Elder didn’t have the mind to care that much. He 

went

inside

 the house and opened a wooden closet. However, it was empty. 

“What happened? The silver spear was kept here

!

 Did someone steal it? 

Do they not 

want to live anymore

?!

” The Village Elder 

scolded angrily. He w

as bewildered. 

“

H

urry

!

 Take us to your village’s Achievement and Virtue Memorial Arch!”

I hurriedly 

said to

 the Village Elder. 

He knew the seriousness of 

the

 situation

 and rushed 

toward the Memorial Arch. 

A

lthough he was an old man, he was much faster than Li Mazi and 

me

. 

This was especially true

 when we had to climb the stiff mountain path. Li Mazi and I felt embarrassed. 

I had heard that people 

who live

 in mountainous areas were tenacious. 

I had now 

witnessed it

 for myself. 

The Village Elder thought that the spear was stolen. But I thought that it had run away by itself. Tang Xianzu told me that two people couldn’t lift the silver spear. Thus, even if someone wanted to make a bet, that person 

wouldn’t

 have the ability to steal it! 

If the spear had left by itself and something horrible had happened to this village, I had to reconsider the origin of this otherworldly item. 

Were the Village Elder and I both wrong 

about the spirit’s identity? Could it be someone else?