Merchant of the Underworld

After taking a few sips of water, I began to lose consciousness. It felt like I was in a dream. Things I had experienced before flashed through my mind like a revolving lantern. Could this be one foot in the coffin?

I don't know what happened, Luo Shen suddenly let go of me.

Then a pair of small hands came over and shook me. I knew it was Little Red Riding Hood, but I was not very conscious and didn’t even know if what I was seeing was an illusion...

Little Red Riding Hood held my hand and kept swimming, and I followed in a daze. Little Red Riding Hood swam really fast, as if I had no weight at all. Then we swam out of the water and swam for a while before climbing to the shore.

When Little Red Riding Hood landed on the shore, she knelt there and gasped. I asked her how she escaped.

When Little Red Riding Hood said that I was diverting Luo Shen's attention, she finally broke free from Ming Yue's shackles and threw Ming Yue into the water far away. Luo Shen seemed to cherish that thing very much, and she hurriedly looked for it. Taking advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, she rescued me.

I was about to speak when I suddenly felt that the sun was making me very uncomfortable. It was already October, why was it still so hot?

It was not just hot, it made me sick, chest tight, weak, and felt like I was about to be roasted.

Little Red Riding Hood screamed: "No, you must not be exposed to the sun!"

She dragged me and ran into the big forest aside. Although she was dragging me to run, my feet didn't take a step at all. When I looked down at my feet, they were transparent from the heels of my thighs down.

And, I have no shadow!

I was shocked: "I'm dead!"

Little Red Riding Hood pulled me under the shade of a tree and said, "I'm really sorry..."

My heart skipped a beat. If the earthen pot was not broken near the well, the general would inevitably die before the battle. I ended up dying on the way to collect the artifacts. I was so frustrated that I felt a little relieved. I wanted to laugh out loud.

Little Red Riding Hood continued: "I can't save your body. I can only drag your soul out first. Now let's go find your body."

I was pleasantly surprised: "I'm not dead yet?"

Little Red Riding Hood frowned and said, "That depends on whether we can get your body back as soon as possible!"

"Fuck, hurry up, I'll ask Li Mazi to hire a salvage team to look downstream."

I habitually dug into my arms to call Li Mazi, but I didn't touch anything. Then I realized that even if I called Li Mazi, he couldn't see me.

I tried to contact Oyu with my consciousness. She might be nearby and I could barely feel it.

After waiting for a while, Weiyu and Li Mazi finally arrived. Li Mazi asked: "Little Red Riding Hood, why are you the only one? Where is the Zhang family brother?"

"The bad brother is here." Oyu pointed at me and said, "Why did you become a ghost!"

Li Mazi kept looking in my direction: "Little fox, don't scare me. The Zhang family is so capable, how could it be possible..."

Little Red Riding Hood said calmly: "Oudama is right, this is his soul."

Maybe Li Mazi didn't understand the difference between soul and ghost, so he burst into tears and said, "Why am I gone at such a young age? What should I do with my wife and children?" Seeing Li Mazi shed tears for me, I was quite moved, but I'm not dead yet.

Oudama walked over with a wicked smile on his face, stretched out his claws and said, "I told you to hit me just now, but now I can knock you out of your wits with just one claw!"

"No, no!" I said, "I was so angry just now. When you get your body back, you can drink as much blood as you want, even if you drink me until I go into shock."

"Okay, this is what you said, Lagou!" Oyu said with narrowed eyes.

I stretched out my little finger and pulled her. I was worried that Oudama would be angry before, but it turned out to be the temper of a child. Once she was calmed down, everything would be fine. But I secretly swore in my heart that I would never do anything to Oudama again.

Little Red Riding Hood briefly explained the situation, and we started looking for the body along Luoshui. Since I couldn't bask in the sun, I tried my best to hide under the woods.

Little Red Riding Hood did that because she had no choice but to do so. I was already dying at that time, and once I died, there was nothing I could do to save myself! To force my soul out is to freeze death temporarily.

The contest with Luo Shen was something I didn't expect. I couldn't help but start to feel worried, so I said to Little Red Riding Hood, "I think it's better to forget about Ming Yue Yue? I'm really no match for Luo Shen."

Little Red Riding Hood said: "As long as it can be sealed, Luo Shen's power will be greatly reduced. She is just a ghost after all."

I shook my head repeatedly: "How easy is this?"

"No, I did it by myself fifteen years ago..." Little Red Riding Hood replied.

Li Mazi couldn't hear me, he could only hear Little Red Riding Hood's words, and asked blankly: "What are you talking about fifteen years ago? Wouldn't that be you?"

Little Red Riding Hood smiled and told us the origin of this matter. When she was still Chu Ziqian, she was ordered by the line of weapon refiners to seal the ghost of Luo Shen. Finally, she found Mingyue Jue in Juancheng County, but she never expected to lure out Cao Zhi's ghost.

As soon as Luo Shen saw Cao Zhi, he immediately became crazy and almost caused a catastrophe! Chu Ziqian knew that this thing could not be taken away, so he sealed it in an iron box and threw it into a river in Heze, letting Luo Shen sleep at the bottom of the river forever.

But unexpectedly, she saw on the news recently that the river was undergoing dredging work, and the iron box was likely to see the light of day again, so she called me and rushed to Heze. After arriving, he realized that it was already too late. Luo Shen actually planned to resurrect himself.

I asked: "Don't Luo Shen and Cao Zhi like each other? Why do they go crazy when they see him?"

Little Red Riding Hood sighed: "Although the two of them were deeply in love, Cao Zhi knew that humans and gods have different paths, and coupled with the differences between uncle and sister-in-law, they could not be together. Although he accepted Ming Yuejuan, he never went to Luoshui to see her again until his death. , Luo Shen has been waiting for him for thousands of years, even the deepest love will turn into hatred..."

I suddenly realized: "So that's it. It's enough for lovers to get married eventually. Why does Cao Zhi have such feudal ideas?"

Weiyu asked: "Who is Cao Zhi?"

I said angrily: "I want you to read more books and less comics!"

I just used it to pass the time and gave Weiyu some knowledge about Cao Zhi's life. Cao Zhi can be said to be the most powerful talent in Chinese history. To describe it in modern terms, he is awesome!

Xie Lingyun, a famous poet in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, once boasted that there is only one talent in the world, and Cao Zhi has eight dou. I have one dou, and the remaining one is shared equally by everyone else. So later people used the term "talent is as high as eight dou" to describe literary talent. Remarkable.

Cao Zhi had a smart brain since he was a child and could write articles at the age of ten. When his father, Cao Cao, saw the articles he wrote, he couldn't believe it and asked if he had someone else write it for him? Cao Zhi replied disdainfully: If father doesn't believe it, you can test me in person.

After Cao Cao tried it, he found that his son was a great writer.

Cao Cao himself was a famous military strategist and poet. When he saw that Cao Zhi had inherited his merits, he was naturally very happy, and gradually transferred his love to him.

Later, Cao Cao built the Tongque Terrace in Yecheng. Cao Zhi wrote an "Ode to the Tongque Terrace", which stood out among many literati. Cao Cao was impressed and prepared to make him his successor!

It's a pity that Cao Zhi was too talented and arrogant. He drank and wrote poems without restraint every day, and did many things that disappointed Cao Cao.

For example, Cao Cao once ordered Cao Zhi to lead an army to conquer the enemy. However, after the order was issued, Cao Zhi was so drunk that he could not mount his horse. Cao Cao was so angry that he blew his beard and stared.

Another example is that Cao Cao was a frugal man and he hoped that his children would also be frugal, but Cao Zhi drank the most expensive wine and wore the most luxurious clothes every day, regardless of the family rules set by Cao Cao.

From then on, Cao Cao no longer favored him and designated Cao Pi, who had a calm personality, as his heir.

After Cao Pi succeeded to the throne, he took strict precautions against him and drove Cao Zhi to a distant fiefdom to take office. Cao Zhi finally died of illness at the age of forty-one with a melancholy mood.

It can be said that God is fair. When he gives people one thing, he will take away another thing. Perhaps it was Cao Zhi's dissoluteness in the first half of his life and the misery in the second half of his life that tempered his unique literary talent!