Otherworldly Merchant
Chapter 472: Among Men, Lu Bu; Among Steeds, Red Hare

The three of us ran to Gao Erhu’s house. When we arrived, we saw that his wifewas awake.Contrary to our expectations, she didn’t look to bein bad condition, nor was she dying!

There was asmallpuddle of blood on the floor.It looked likethespiritwas here already.

I looked around the housebutdidn’t see Gao Erhu. “Ma’am, where’s Gao Erhu?”

The woman didn’t answer. Instead, she looked at ussuspiciously. Her eyes flashedwith guilt. “Who are you?”

Did she deceive Gao Erhu or something? Ordid thiscouple deceiveus?

Either way, Gao Erhuwas missing, andI didn’t have time to considerthe possibilities. I gave the woman a disdainful glance,saying,“Ma’am, I’m here to save Erhu. You’d better tell me where he’s gone,oryou’ll regretit!”

“He’s telling the truth. Ma’am, this is a powerfulmaster! Erhuasked him tocometo your house to captureaghost.”Baldywalked forward, talking to the woman.

The woman’s hesitation was evident from her expression as she lookedat us. After a long moment, she burst out crying. “I don’t know what happened to Erhu. He rushed into the backyard and sharpened his knife. He’s gone to kill Hou San’er.”

“What? Killing someone?”

Li Mazi’s jaw dropped, and he questioned her words. Erhu looked like an honest man. Why would he kill somebody?

I knew Gao Erhu was possessed, but when I asked the woman where Hou San’er lived, she didn’t want to answer. Itappearedshe had something she wanted to hide.

Fortunately,Baldyknew Hou San’erand showed us the way to his house. Wegot in the car and drovetoward the man’s place. On the way,Baldytold us that Hou San’er was one of the butchers that helped us tonight. He had a close relationship with Gao Erhu. Therewas noreasonforGao Erhu to kill him!

“We’ll see when we get there…” I rubbed my eyes.

Tonight was full of surprises. I had a feeling that the truthwould be revealed soon, andI urgedBaldyto move faster.

It was almost dawn, the first beam of sunlightshining onthe horizon. The air was cool and refreshing. Itgavepeoplea sense of clarity and wellness.

Eventually,Baldystopped his car in front of an independent villa in the village. “That’s Hou San’er’s house.”

I got out of the car and saw the gate wide open. Taking a few steps forward, Ifaintly heardthe clanging noise oftwo metal objectsclashingagainsteach other. I didn’t dare linger any longer. Immediately, I headed toward the source of the noise. From a distance, I saw two peopleentangled in afight against each other.It wasGao Erhu and Hou San’er!

Hou San’er was as slender as a bamboo stick. At firstglance,one would think that he wasthe weakest among thetwo. However,atthis moment, he wasfighting evenly withGao Erhu. Ireallyadmired his boldness!

One had to remember that Gao Erhu was possessed by a spirit that even I was helpless against!

Unexpectedly, Hou San’er suddenly turned to us, brutally screaming, “Wheredidyou come from,pests? Get lost!”

His eyes were bloodshot,andhis voice rude,not sounding his age at all. Irealized thatHou San’erwas also possessed.

No wonder they were fighting!Two differentspiritswere usingtheir bodies to fight.

I knew that if I didn’t leave now, the two of them would join hands to attack me.Left with no choice, I waved at Li Mazi andBaldy, telling them to head back.

After we left Hou San’er’s house, we heard them fighting again. Seeing thatthesun was about to come out,Li Mazisaid anxiously,“LittleBrother Zhang, should we really leave like this?”

He also knewthat this was a rare chance. I looked at the mini villa, and when I saw that the lightswereon, I suddenly had an idea.

“Do you know the phone number of Hou San’er’s wife?” I askedBaldy.

Baldychecked his phone for a long timeand eventually found it. I asked him to call her.

Soon enough, thecall wentthrough. A woman was sobbingatthe other end of the line.

“Mrs. Hou, we’re here to save Hou San’er. We’re at your door. Could you tell me what happened before those guysgot into a fight?” I snatched the phoneand quickly questioned her.

The voice on the other end whined for a while before speaking up with a trembling voice.“I don’t know. My husband and I were sleeping, but we were awakenedbya sudden chill. When I opened my eyes, I saw a shadow standing in front of our bed, holding a big knife. He laughed and said that hehad tokill Old Hou. He keptrantingtoo.”

“Whatwas he saying?”

“‘Shameless traitorwhosoldhismaster for glory’or something like that. Hespoke in a very outdated fashion, too. He sounded like someone from ancient times. However, when I turned on the light, I saw Gao Erhu.”

The womancontinued with disbelief, “Erhu is my husband’s best buddy.Yet,he’s here tokillus!What’seven strangeris,when Old Hou saw Erhu attempting to kill him, he was baffledat first. Then, he slumped onto the ground, shivering. When he got up again,it was as if he becameanother person. Even his voice changed…”

Iwas startingtogathersomething from listening to the woman. However, it wasn’t enough to draw any conclusions. I asked her tostay on the lineand tie the phone to a rope, dropping it to where the other two were fighting.

Shortly after, the woman stopped talking, andI heardarattling noise, which told me she was releasing the rope.

Around two minutes later, I heard people yelling and fighting.

Gao Erhu shouted, “Hou Cheng! Youturned your back on meand joined the despicable Cao! Tonight, Iwilltake your dog life!”

The spirit in Hou San’er’s body laughed oddly. “Well, a smart bird knows where to perch.You’vealways been arrogant, Lu Fengxian! You’ve wasted the steed Red Hare and the Sky Piercer! You only sought pleasure with Diao Chan andtreated us like slaves! Whyshouldwe serve you?”

Then, they resumed their fight. Li Mazi andBaldydropped their jaws in shock when they heard that.

Although we now knew the truth, a strong wave of emotionrosein my heart.

Thespiritweencounteredthis time is that of the Warlord Lu Bu!

Ifthis is true, the otherworldly item could be the Sky Piercer—his halberd!

Lu Bu wasa very notable figure in history. He waspeerless and was invincible in his time. When the eighteen feudal vassals planned to attack Dong Zhuo, Lu Bu defeated the generals of the joined army as if he were chopping vegetables.

He was even more famous after the Battle in Hulao Pass, where he had a greatbattleagainst Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei.

Although formidable generals were as common as clouds during the era of the Three Kingdoms, everybody thought that Lu Bu was the invincible one. Thatwaswhy Chinese people had a proverb saying, “Among men, Lu Bu; among steeds, Red Hare.”

Unfortunately, Lu Bu was later besieged by Cao Cao’s great army in Xu Province.Hou Cheng – Lu Bu’s subordinate – had stolen the Sky Piercer while Lu Bu was sleeping. Then, he tied up Lu Bu and turned the general over to Cao Cao.

Cao Cao beheaded Lu Bu and gave his steed, Red Hare, to Guan Yu. However, the Sky Piercerwentmissing ever since.

I was so excitedthatmy hands wereshaking. The Sky Piercer wasan extraordinaryweapon, one ofthemost famousweapons in the era of the Three Kingdoms.Forget its worth in the modern-day;even if it wasin ancient times, it was already priceless!

Li Mazi wasstunnedfor a long time. When he pulled himself together, he screamed excitedly, “LittleBrother Zhang,this isa good chance for us to get rich!”

I didn’treply.Nonetheless, I was strangely happy. Even if itweren’tthe Sky Piercer, it would still be a superb, priceless otherworldly item.Moreover, Hou Cheng was also involved.In history, this man was famous as well.Thus, the otherworldly item that he waspossessingshould be worth a lot of money!

After screaming, Li Mazi looked at me bewilderedly. “Why do I feel thatyou knewit wasLu Bubefore this? How did you know that?”

“Thatspiritwore armor popular in the era of the Three Kingdoms.Moreover, itfelt like he wasinvincible. At that time, Inner Mongolia belonged to the Bing Province. Therearen’tmany famous historical figures from Bing Province,letalone famous generals. That’s why Iimmediatelythought about Lu Bu!”

“My brother sure is amazing!” Li Mazisaid happily. Then, he asked in a low voice, “But what should we do now?”

“We can only wait. In the morning, we’lladdress bothof them.”

Guan Yu couldn’t defeatLu Buafter fifty rounds, soHou Cheng was nothing in his eyes.Since they were on equal footing in their battle, I assumed it was because I previously wounded Lu Bu.

I suddenly had anastyidea. I askedBaldyto drive us back to his hotel. When we arrived, I took the bags of unused lime and pouredthe contentinto the hole where Lu Bu was taking shelter.Afterward, I added water.

Soon, the lime boiled up, and awave of heat expanded from the hole. The three of us had to backaway.

I asked Li Mazi to pick up all the things weleft in the car. Then, we waited for Lu Bu toreturn.

The mixture of lime and water could generate hightemperatures, which wasveryeffectivewhen it came to stoppingYin energy.The heat would produceYang energy, the representative of justice. Yu Qian, an official in the Ming dynasty,wrotethe ‘Song ofLime’to complimentthe material,saying that it was so tenacious thatit wouldn’t break even afterbeing hammered a thousandtimes.

After a night offighting, Lu Buwouldreturnhereto replenish his Yin energy. At that time, the strong Yang energy from the lime would forcefully swallow his Yin energy. This time, I had even brought the Yin and Yang Umbrella, so it should be easy to capture him.

After we prepared everything, Li Maziasked gingerly,“Do you want todeal withHou Cheng first? It’ll beeasier to deal with him than with Lu Bu.”

“Eh?” I looked at him in surprise. Although Li Mazi had a smooth tongue, he was never toointelligentwhen dealing with otherworldly items. This time, he suddenly became much smarter.

“I don’t know why, but I feel thatit’s better not to mess withLu Bu today. My intuitionis tellingme that something unexpectedwillhappen!” Li Mazisaid casually.

However, listening to him, my heart suddenly sank. As we had been working in this business for quite a long time, we always trusted our sixth sense. I decided to listen to hiswarning. We packed up and went to Hou San’er’s house.

Before we approached his house, we heardanoise. Someone was lamenting and crying, and peoplewere speakingin low voices. I had an awfulpremonition. When we entered his yard, we sawafuneral hall being set up.

A rough coffin that hadn’t been painted was placed opposite the villa. Some men were using brushes topaintthe coffin red.

Not far from the coffin, a thick layer of blood was found on the ground. It was the place where Lu Bu and Hou Cheng had fought before dawn.

Hou San’erisdead?

I walked pastthe group of peopleto enter the house. A woman wearing linen mourningclothes was sitting on the edge of a bed, wiping her tears.

Baldymuttered to me that she was Hou San’er’s wife. It seemed Hou San’er was dead.

It was a little out ofplaceif we askedany questions now. However, I had to try,and I went up andpattedher shoulderas Isaidmy condolences.

She was surprised when she heard my voice. In the next second, she lifted her head, shooting me a glance that conveyed her loathing. Itappeared that she hated us becausewe didn’t save her husband when he was in danger.

I did think about saving him, but Iwasn’t strong enough to stop them!

“Ma’am, how did brother Hou pass away?”Baldywas a talkative person.Yet,atthis moment, he seemed to chokeonhis words.

With a sorry face, he implored Hou San’er’s wife to tell us the situation.That'show we couldgetrevenge for Hou San’er!