“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 holes of various sizes. 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 faint 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 emitted 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?

This 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 eldest 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 title 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 enemies 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. The 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 strange. “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. “Hmph! 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 against 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 we’ve placed it in a house in the village 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 dogs 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 bulged 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 was bewildered.

“Hurry! 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.

Although 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?