I faintly smiled and said, "It"s ghost blood."
Li Mazi"s sworn brother was so scared that his face paled. "Ghost blood? It"s my first time hearing that ghosts have blood too."
"You"ll understand this evening..."
After saying that, I returned the blade. "Now, follow my instructions and soak this katana in urine for one hour. Then, wipe it and return it to Yama"s Execution Ground. I need to get clues on the background of this thing!"
Li Mazi asked with a smile, "Little Brother, since you’re so relaxed, does it mean that you have the confidence to deal with this matter?"
I shook my head. "It"s not that I"m confident, it’s just that this blade isn"t too dangerous. In ancient times, dangerous swords all had the ability to drink blood. For example, the treasured saber of Yang "Blue Faced Beast" Zhi in [Water Margin], which had the ability to kill a thousand people without leaving a single drop of blood behind. It"s not that those people didn"t bleed, but that the blade drank it all. On the other hand, this katana doesn"t have the ability to drink blood. As such, it shouldn"t be too troublesome to deal with..."
Li Mazi and his sworn brother heaved a sigh of relief.
Then, I told Li Mazi"s sworn brother to get me three uniforms, the type worn by police officers. Also, some realgar powder and strong liquor.
Li Mazi"s sworn brother asked me, "Why do you need this stuff?"
I replied, "You don"t need to bother about that. Just make sure to get it."
After seeing the katana, a plan had already started forming in my mind.
Li Mazi"s sworn brother went to prepare and came back around two hours later, bringing three police uniforms with him. He was seemingly acquainted with someone working at the police station, and he simply borrowed the uniforms after giving them a call.
Night gradually fell.
The village was especially lively at this time because everyone knew that the village head had invited over a great master to ferry the soul of the dead worker.
I left the villa and decided to take a closer look. I was curious about the background of this great master.
But, after looking at the great master, I was rendered speechless. The person that had come over was a Daoist priest wearing a yellow robe, with the only problem being that this Daoist priest didn"t look like a real one.
Although his equipment was really good—he had a peach-wood sword and an eight-trigram mirror with him—his beard was obviously fake. Other than that, he had a protruding beer belly and would burp every few steps.
There was no way this man had any real skill.
However, the village head seemed to hold this Daoist priest in high esteem. It was to the point that he would treat his farts as imperial decrees.
Li Mazi asked me, "That guy isn"t planning to steal everything inside Yama"s Execution Ground, right?"
He felt that as long as the Daoist priest asked, the village head would instantly hand him all the things on the execution grounds.
I said with a smile, "Don"t worry. Something fun will happen in a while."
The Daoist priest prepared the altar and grabbed his peach-wood sword, starting to jump around like a monkey.
Then, he made a Daoist hand seal, as well as an orchid fingers gesture. I felt like laughing after looking at him. It was crystal-clear that this guy had no skills and was just cheating village people out of money.
Once he’d jumped around for a while, the Daoist priest suddenly stopped and said, "Bold evil spirit! You dare to bring harm to the people of this village, huh? Look at how this poor Daoist gives you a lesson!"
Then, he jumped into the big hole that led to Yama"s Execution Ground. After a long while, he crawled up, looking exhausted. He was now holding a katana in his hand, the same one that Li Mazi"s sworn brother had soaked in urine.
"I"ve found the culprit." The Daoist priest threw the katana to the ground. "Everything that’s happened was the fault of the spirit attached to this sword! The spirit was a butcher in its previous life. Later, they carelessly fell into that big cauldron while working, getting boiled to death. As such, the spirit has been looking for a scapegoat that could take its place since then. However, you no longer need to worry. This poor Daoist has already destroyed the spirit."
The villagers burst into cheers, and the village head also came over, saying words of praise and stuffing money in the hands of the Daoist priest.
Nevertheless, the Daoist priest waved his hand and said, "Money is of little value for this poor Daoist. If you really want to thank me, please let me have all the items inside this Yama"s Execution Ground. That way, I can slowly purify them."
The village head said with a nod, "Of course, that’s no problem."
Li Mazi got anxious and pinched my arm. "If everything falls into the hands of that guy, wouldn"t our trip here have been in vain?"
I said, "Don"t worry. That Daoist priest won"t be taking anything away."
Li Mazi looked at me in puzzlement, but after seeing how calm I was, he didn"t speak further and kept looking at Yama"s Execution Ground with rapt attention.
Just as the villagers prepared to go down there and retrieve the items for the Daoist priest, I saw the body of the Daoist priest start shaking slightly, his expression becoming one of pain.
At some point, even his teeth started chattering.
The village head asked curiously, "Great Master, is something the matter?"
The Daoist priest didn"t reply. He tilted his head and quietly gazed at the katana on the ground. His current expression was the same as the corpse’s that had hung on the iron hook.
At last, he bent down and grabbed the katana, raising it high.
The village head was somewhat surprised. He patted the shoulder of the Daoist priest and said, "Great Master, are you performing some ritual?"
The Daoist priest suddenly raised his head and looked at the village head, smiling weirdly.
Then, he said hoa.r.s.ely in a voice that didn"t even resemble that of the Daoist priest, "Baka!"
Immediately after, he raised the katana and slashed at the village head.
The village head was scared out of his wits and scrambled away. Still, it didn"t seem as though the Daoist priest was going to spare him. He held the katana in his hand and shouted something we didn"t understand. However, I’d already guessed that it might be j.a.panese.
The villagers were dumbfounded. They hadn"t expected that the respected great master would suddenly turn hostile. A bunch of youngsters stepped forward to break up the fight.
But, the Daoist priest seemed to have gone crazy and had gained superhuman strength. Although there were 3-4 people trying to hold him down, they still failed.
After a short while, he’d already injured several people. Screams arose from all around, and the villagers scattered in all directions.
Li Mazi was delighted. "Little Brother Zhang, are you a deity or something? Is this the "fun thing" you were talking about? How did you foresee this turn of events?"
I said with a smile, "Wouldn"t you also be p.i.s.sed if you got soaked in urine for one hour?"
I was afraid that things might become too serious, and it would definitely be a problem if someone died. Therefore, I sent a message to Li Mazi"s sworn brother, telling him to find a way to sprinkle the realgar powder on the katana.
Li Mazi"s sworn brother held down the Daoist priest with the help of several other people, and seized this opportunity to sprinkle a whole packet of realgar powder on the katana.
The Daoist priest slowly stopped struggling and fell onto the ground, starting to foam at the mouth.
After seeing that the situation was far from rosy, the village head lifted the Daoist priest and left the place, clearly dejected.
I heaved a sigh of relief and lit a cigarette.
Once everyone had left, Li Mazi"s sworn brother came over, sweat dripping down his face. He asked, "What do we do now?"
After experiencing this matter, he’d realized that there was always a mountain beyond a mountain, and a man beyond a man.
I smiled and pinched the cigarette b.u.t.t. "Let"s go. It"s time for us to take action!"
After saying this much, I quickly changed into a police uniform, telling Li Mazi and his sworn brother to do the same.
Although the two of them had no idea what I was planning, they still did as they were told.
I picked up the katana and coldly said, "This katana is definitely something that comes from j.a.pan. However, j.a.ps left several decades ago. How is it possible for one of their swords to suddenly appear in China?"
Li Mazi and his sworn brother looked at each other, not knowing how to explain this situation.
I sighed and said, "Forget it. Some day in the future, this katana will return to j.a.pan, its native country. It just so happens that the cherry trees on Mount Fuji should also be blossoming around this time of the year."
Next, I wiped the realgar powder off the blade and wrapped it in a cloth, returning home with the other two.
Once back, Li Mazi and his sworn brother looked at me in puzzlement, not saying a word.
I cautiously placed the katana on the tea table and said, "I"m sure you have a lot of questions, right?"
Li Mazi said with a nod, "Not only do I have a lot of questions, but my brain is also in shambles. Little Brother, don"t keep us in suspense. Quickly tell us about the origin of this katana. What"s its relations.h.i.+p with j.a.panese people?"
I smiled and nodded.
Actually, this blade wasn"t an ordinary katana.
It was the blade that j.a.panese soldiers used when committing harakiri, the so-called "Snake-Fostering Blade".
The reason I concluded that it was used to commit harakiri was the blood on its tip.