Chapter 541: White Horse, Silver Spear, Charming Luo Cheng


    Yeah, we should check it out, too. Its on the way, said the Vige Elder. He wiped his sweat.


    Although the Vige Elder didnt want to go, hesteeled himselfandtookme 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 theplotofnd. It looked exactly asdescribed. It was barren, and therewasnt a single de 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 gavethe ce a forlornandeerie feeling.


    Cough, cough Suddenly, a chill ran up myspine.I had to jump a few times to warm up. When I felt warmer, I walked toward the biggest hole.


    I seemed to see faintdark air filling andrisingfrom the hole. Strangely, the dark airswirledaround me as if it had recognized my presence.


    Isthisa provocation or what? I mumbled to myself. Then, I smeared oxtearsovermy eyes. Afterward, I scanned the entire piece ofnd.


    Atfirst nce,the sight scared the living daylightsout of me. I almostfellon my butt. The entirend emittedresentful energy. It would be strangeifit could grow nts!


    The spot I was standing on happened to be the center ofthnd, which had the thickest dark air. I couldnt helpbut takein a deep breath. What thing could have such intimidating resentful energy?


    This amount of resentful energy could kill all the people in the vigeasit could change thegeomancyof the ce.


    However, the otherworldly item had just stayedinthis piece ofnd. It had nevere out to harm people. I supposed the otherworldly items owner wasnt a badpersonwhenhe was alive.


    However, he must havedied a tragic death, whichmade a wisp of his soul stay inhisweapon. Thats howtheotherworldly item wasborn.


    It also proved that Tang Xianzu didnt lie to me. He was wounded by that headless horseman, and the headless horseman had shown him mercy.


    I didnt know why, but I had a feeling that this shouldnt be too hard to deal with, despitethe incidentlookingstrange.It was an otherworldly item with a great deal of resentful energy, but it didnt want to kill the ones that had disturbed it.It didnt seem to bea stubbornandevil ghost.


    Thatwaswhy I didnt want to linger hereand wentdown the mountain where the Vige Elderand Li Mazi werewaiting.


    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 Vige Elders eyes turnedred.Sincehis reaction was so strong, Iasked,Do you know something?


    He shook his head. However,we could tell that he was thinking otherwise.Theresa legend people have passed through the generations in our Tangjia Vige. I dont know if its true or not, but... The Vige Elder had tears in his eyesas he began to tellus the legend.


    It turned out Tangjia Vige wasnt called Tangjia at first. It was called Zhongzi Vige.During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, this area was disputednd. After the Sui Dynasty ended, many people imed thends and proimed 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. Hemade hiseldest son, Li Jiancheng, the Crown Prince. However,his other son,Li Shimin, was much stronger than Li Jiancheng in majoraspectssuch amanding 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 asCrown Prince.Hetried his best to eradicate the generals thatwere loyal toLi Shimin.


    Duringthe battleinZhongzi, Li Jiancheng knew that the enemieswerelurking everywhere. However,he still forced Li Shimins general,Luo Cheng,to advance!


    Thefamous general Luo Chengwasbesiegedandeventuallyfellinto a quagmire. He was killed by countless arrows. In the end, the enemytookhis head as a battle reward. Rumor said that when they burned Luo Chengs body, thearrowheadsfrom 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 loynddedicated general Luo Cheng was plotted against by Li Jiancheng. Before he died, all of his resentmentwassent to his silver spear.


    Hiswarhorse, whichwasnamedLittle White Dragon, had also jumped into the quagmire tomit suicide.


    The enemy was impressed by Luo Chengs bravery and Little White Dragons loyal heart. They buried Luo Chengs remains with his horse in Zhongzi.


    Afterward, Zhongzi became the ce where people came to show their respect to the hero, Luo Cheng. They built him a temple. However, after the foundation of the PeoplesRepublic of China, the temple was demolished. The Zhongzi Vige was renamed Tangjia Vige.


    After listening to this story, I felt a little touched. Amongthemany 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 ambushedand waskilled by countless arrows. I felt somewhat lost.


    Li Mazi alsothoughtthat somethingwas strange. Vige Elder, why do you look so emotional?


    Im considered to be Luo Chengs descendant.


    I was shocked. Isthattrue? 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 Vige Elderbecamemad after I asked him that. Hmph! All the crows in this world are ck! 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 namefortheLi family, so he ordered the historian to remove the event where Li Jiancheng had plotted against himanderased Luo Chengfrom history.Anyway, theres no perfectly windproof wall in this world. Even if hewasthe Emperor, he couldnt muffle all the people. Afterward, the legend of the Stern Cold Spear Charming Luo Cheng spread...


    After talking, the Vige Elder became anxious. Do you think Tang Xianzu and his friends dug up Luo Chengs spear? If its Luo Chengs spirit, please dont hurt him.


    Its possible Although I hadnt seen the spear, from what Tang Xianzu had encountered and the resentful energy I had witnessed up there, I could roughly concludethat thespirit of Luo Cheng was behind this!


    If itwasLuo Cheng, I thought I could talk to him and solve this event in peace. I didnt hurry to see those young men but asked the Vige Elder to show me the silver spear.


    The Vige Elder nodded. After that event, the folks in our vige thought that the spearwasntsomething good. They wanted to put it backinits ce. However, no one dared to enter thatnd, so weve cedit in a house in the vige for you to see.


    Tangjia Vige wasnt big. There was only one small pathinthe vige.Still, although we were inbroad daylight,I didnt see anyone walk along thepath.None of the houses had the lights on.


    The entire vige was dead silent.There were nodogs barking, either. Normally, peoplewho livedin the countrysidekeptdogs to guard their houses. When those dogs saw strangers, they would bark like crazy.


    Thewind blew,which waftedathick smell of blood toward me.Ididnt feel well as a bad premonitionhadeto me. It seemed something horrible had happened here.


    The Vige Elder blushed. Hiseyes bulged incredulously. Since he was too scared, he shiveredas he walked.


    What happened? Li Mazi askedin a careful tone. Right from the start, he had felt that the Vige Elder wasnt a nice man. He became even more vignt now.


    I couldnt helpbut becautious. The Vige Elder shook his head. He looked even more bewildered. How could it be?! When I left the vige to wee you, everything was all right. How could it have turned into this?


    Then, hewentto knock on the doors of some houses. Some had the doorslocked. There was no one inside thehomes.


    However, we saw blood sshed on the yardsofmanyof thehouses. It didnt smell like human blood but rather, the blood of domestic animals.It was nowonder why the entire vige was so quiet.


    Li Mazibecameanxiousdue tothe scene in front of him. He sounded scared and said, What should we do now?


    We need to take a look atthe spearfirst! I told him. I frownedand urgedthe Vige elder to move faster to the house where they had kept the spear. The situation there was the sameas inthe other houses. No one was there.


    The Vige Elder didnt have the mind to care that much. Hewentinsidethe house and opened a wooden closet. However, it was empty.


    What happened? The silver spear was kept here!Did someone steal it?Do they notwant to live anymore?! The Vige Elderscolded angrily. He was bewildered.


    Hurry!Take us to your viges Achievement and Virtue Memorial Arch!I hurriedlysaid tothe Vige Elder.


    He knew the seriousness ofthesituationand rushedtoward the Memorial Arch.


    Although he was an old man, he was much faster than Li Mazi andme.This was especially truewhen we had to climb the stiff mountain path. Li Mazi and I felt embarrassed.


    I had heard that peoplewho livein mountainous areas were tenacious.I had nowwitnessed itfor myself.


    The Vige Elder thought that the spear was stolen. But I thought that it had run away by itself. Tang Xianzu told me that two people couldnt lift the silver spear. Thus, even if someone wanted to make a bet, that personwouldnthave the ability to steal it!


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


    Were the Vige Elder and I both wrongabout the spirits identity? Could it be someone else?