Merchant of the Underworld

In order to confirm the identity of the deceased, I searched his body and finally found a small jade idol in his pocket.

This statue is bright red all over, with a handful of burning flames rising from its palms. Could it be... the God of Fire Zhurong!

Zhu Rong in history was actually the Huozhengda Sima during the Huangdi period. Later, he was deified by the people and was gradually called the God of Fire.

As far as I know, there are still several professions in China that regard him as the patron saint, including chefs, blacksmiths, brick burners, and weapon refiners!

It seems that this person is a weapon refiner. I have a vague feeling that during this trip to Daming County, I may have been involved in an internal dispute among the weapon refiners.

I casually carried the statue in my arms, then asked Little Red Riding Hood to wait for me where I was, then lit a lighter and visited each room. When I pushed open the bedroom, I was surprised to find a coffin inside. Judging from its size, it looked like a coffin for a couple to be buried together.

This coffin is carved from cypress wood. In ancient times, cypress wood was a high-quality wood. If treated well to prevent insects and rot, it can last for thousands of years.

There are some patterns of birds and animals carved on the coffin. I think the ones buried inside must be the general Mo Xie and his wife. I didn’t go over to open the coffin. Who knows what will happen?

Strangely enough, judging from the size of this coffin, it was absolutely impossible to carry it in through the bedroom door, so how did it get in?

There were too many unexplainable things in this apartment, which could be said to have completely exceeded my cognition. I saluted the remains of General Mo Xie, then closed the bedroom door and prepared to leave.

Little Red Riding Hood was still waiting for me in the living room. I looked worried at the bodhi seed on the ground. In fact, it was not a feminine object at all. If no one was fighting for it, I might have regarded it as a piece of iron.

This person, in one word, is mean!

After I knew that Bodhi Seed was a good thing, I took it away no matter what.

So I took off my coat and wrapped it carefully. The weight of more than 20 kilograms was heavy in my hands. On the way out of the apartment building, I asked Little Red Riding Hood to keep burning the yellow paper all the time, plus she could sense the danger in advance. , it was a near miss and there was nothing to say.

After I got off the bus, it was already 12 o'clock in the evening and I couldn't get a taxi. I held the bodhi seed and walked all the way back, panting heavily from exhaustion. The first thing was of course to send Little Red Riding Hood home. When her parents saw her coming back safely, they hugged her and kissed her, as if she were a baby. I was very happy to see her.

Little Red Riding Hood's parents insisted on dragging me in to sit there, but I said it was too late and I had to go back to the hotel. After walking a few steps, Little Red Riding Hood chased me and asked, "Uncle, how many more days are you going to stay here?"

"About three days." I replied.

She pulled my clothes and said, "But I can't bear to let you go!"

I put down the things in my hands and touched her little head: "If you have a chance in the future, come to Wuhan to see me, and I will take you out to play, okay?"

Little Red Riding Hood nodded obediently.

Back at the hotel, I took a hot shower and went to sleep. I wasn't sure whether Chu Ziqian would come and snatch this thing, so I didn't dare to leave the hotel for the next few days and kept guarding this iron lump.

Looking forward to the stars and the moon, finally the T-shirt man is here.

The man in the T-shirt told me that Zen Master Baimei had been buried in the distant Dunhuang pagoda with the help of his junior monk Black Heart.

Miraculously, when the black-hearted monk collected the remains of Zen Master Baimei, he found several relics that were as dazzling as glass. This kind of transparent relics is quite rare in the history of Buddhism and only appeared when Sakyamuni passed away.

Apparently Zen Master Baimei has put aside all hardships, cultivated to Dzogchen, and became a Buddha immediately!

I couldn't help but sigh. Zen Master Bai Mei lived a low-key life, wearing a cassock, a string of Buddhist beads, and a smiling face. The only highlight was the love story with Chu Chu's mother when he was young.

But only such people are worthy of becoming a Buddha. What is a Buddha? The Buddha sacrifices himself to save all sentient beings, rather than the thief and bald donkey who drives a BMW to hug beautiful women in some temples and defrauds believers of hundreds of thousands with a stick of incense.

After sighing, I told the story exactly what I had experienced here. The man in the T-shirt was very surprised after hearing this and said: "Jiulin, I underestimated your ability. In fact, the commission I received was to find a Bodhi seed. .”

"Stop being so pretentious and tell me what's going on." I said urgently.

The man in the t-shirt told me that bodhi seed is actually a piece of raw mineral, but it is not mined from the mountains, but cut out from the belly of a monster. Probably during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the State of Wu found two strange rabbits in the arsenal, one yellow and one white. These two rabbits actually ate up all the swords in the arsenal. The King of Wu ordered people to kill these two rabbits, and from them He took out a pair of iron gall bladders from his belly. Although they were only a little bigger than pebbles, they were extremely heavy.

The King of Wu thought that the pair of iron galls was a treasure, so he asked Mo Xie, the best swordsmith at that time, to forge two swords. But in fact, only one iron gall was used to make these two swords. Many people speculated that General Mo Xie used another iron gall to forge other magic weapons!

Unknown to the outside world, the general Mo Xie was actually a pair of traitors under Ou Yezi's disciples. The generals set up a weapon refining array here to resist the pursuit of Ou Yezi's disciples again and again. Ganjiang's talent in weapon refining was beyond the reach of Ou Yezi's disciples. Even Ou Yezi himself could not break the weapon refining array he set up, and the weapon refining masters he sent died tragically one after another.

Ou Yezi is a very stubborn old man who is obsessed with making swords. In his eyes, human souls are just materials for making swords. In order to make a famous sword, he can throw his infant son into the furnace to sacrifice to the gods.

When he was dying, he talked about Tai'a sword day and night, almost going crazy!

No matter how his men persuaded him, he still insisted on chasing down General Mo Xie, and even planned to ask the King of Chu to send a hundred thousand troops to deal with them. General Mo Xie really didn't want to live like this anymore. Since Da Tai'e was born, day and night On tenterhooks.

The general asked someone to bring a letter, saying that he had a treasure mine that was unparalleled in the world. He hoped to exchange it for the peace of his family. Ou Yezi actually agreed, and the two parties agreed on a date to meet.

You must know that in that era of backward smelting, such a high-purity and high-density mine was more precious than gold. Gan Jiang hid it from the King of Wu at the risk of beheading. He thought that Ou Yezi would definitely accept the conditions, but Mo Xie reminded him that her father was a greedy person and he must be careful!

On the day when the two parties met, Gan Jiang made an agreement with Ou Yezi face to face and was about to hand over the iron tire to him. Suddenly there was a flash of fire from behind, and Gan Jiang asked Ou Yezi angrily. It turned out that Ou Yezi had lured Gan Jiang away, and his weapon refiner had ransacked his home. Ou Yezi wanted both this rare iron tire and Tai'e's soul.

Ganjiang rushed back, and his home and workshop had been burned down. Moye and Tai'e finally committed suicide surrounded by people.

The general was furious, restarted the weapon refining array, and transformed the iron tires in his hands into evil objects, killing all the weapon refining masters instantly.

After the fierce battle, Gan Jiang was disheartened and ordered his daughter to be buried. He lay down in his wife's coffin and drank a bottle of poisoned wine.

Because Ou Yezi was too greedy, he failed to get either of the two things. He was depressed after returning. In the end, he cast the Tai'a sword, but some people said that in order to make the sword spiritual, he sacrificed his soul. Gave it to Vulcan.

After Ou Yezi's death, it was at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, when disputes between countries continued. The special and mysterious profession of weapon refiners was dispersed to various countries, using their special skills to serve the princes. Unfortunately, this protracted war between masters made the refiners The weapon master's vitality was severely damaged, the previous master was dead, the famous craftsman was no longer there, and the weapon refiners of later generations have never forged an artifact that can be as famous as the generals Mo Xie and Tai'a...

This iron tire that guards the weapon refining formation is called the 'Bodhi Seed' by the weapon refining masters. It has always been their dream, but they have been unable to crack the weapon refining formation.

A few years ago, a traitor appeared among the weapon refiners. It was Chu Ziqian, who was also a genius.

I laughed when I heard this: "What evil has this weapon refiner done? As long as he is a genius, he will definitely rebel!"

The t-shirt man smiled and continued: "It is said that Chu Ziqian found a way to break the weapon refining formation, so he was ordered to find the Bodhi Seed. However, the whereabouts of the masters who were with him were all missing, and Chu Ziqian also didn't know where he was. The internal organization of the weapon refiners is very tight. They suspect that Chu Ziqian is unjust for his own benefit, killing his fellow disciples and devouring Bodhizi."

The weapon refiner and the fetish merchant had many things in common. The weapon refiner couldn't handle the matter on his own, so he had to ask the man in the T-shirt to come out.

What I never expected was that I was so stupid that I had already recovered the Bodhi Seed...

I asked, "Then how much did they spend to recover this iron lump?"

The man in the t-shirt said: "Anyway, it's more generous than the reward you get for accepting a commission."

I got excited and took out the Bodhi seed, ready for the T-shirt man to examine it. I wrapped the Bodhi seed in a few old newspapers. When I opened it, I found that there was a stone inside.

I was stunned for five seconds and shouted: "It's impossible. I remember it was obviously a piece of iron, how could it turn into stone!"

The man in the T-shirt asked calmly: "Has anyone approached you in the past two days?"

"No, only Little Red Riding Hood came to play with me the day before yesterday, and that day happened to be Sunday." I recalled.

"Little Red Riding Hood?" The man in the T-shirt suddenly turned cold.

"That's the little girl with yin and yang eyes I just mentioned." I replied.

"Tell me the details again!" the man in the T-shirt said seriously.

I explained the process of finding the Bodhi Seed in detail, and the man in the T-shirt gradually frowned: "Jiulin, haven't you noticed that this little girl is very unusual?"

"This is impossible. She is just a seven or eight-year-old primary school student. How could she have such a scheming mind? Besides, if there is no way to sell this kind of thing, it is just a piece of scrap metal and can only be sold to a purchasing station!" I still don't believe it.

"Take me where she lives!" the man in the T-shirt said.

We hurried out and arrived at Little Red Riding Hood's residence, only to see the door locked. We asked the person at the canteen at the door and found out that Bai Dachuan received a winning notice two days ago and his family went to the Maldives to play.

I suddenly felt that in the whole incident, Little Red Riding Hood seemed to be just an outsider, but she had been playing a pivotal role.

All the details flashed through my mind like a revolving lantern, including Chu Ziqian who never showed up, the mysterious phone call, the PHS that was dropped in the alley when Little Red Riding Hood disappeared, and what the weapon refiner said before he died.

There seems to be only one answer, although even I can't believe it.

"It seems there is only one possibility!" I took a deep breath and said: "Little Red Riding Hood is Chu Ziqian!"