“It was just a barren graveyard when Zhu Fengchun came here, and I even saw the coffins exposed. All he did was wave his hand, and this place became a battered temple. Then, he left. I didn’t dare to follow him, so I waited for you here,” said Li Mazi.

“Is that so?” I was doubtful, but I soon got it.

Cao Cao was afraid of mirrors, so Zhu Fengchun must have used a mirror to control him.

It came to me that the otherworldly item wasn’t the Seven Sword Star but some sort of mirror! Zhu Fengchun probably came here to borrow the graves’ power to help Cao Cao replenish his Yin energy.

Without further ado, I asked Li Mazi to show me where Zhu Fengchun had gone.

After almost an hour, I confirmed that Zhu Fengchun went back home.

When we arrived at his house, I received a call from Chief Liu. He had just awoken and his wound had been treated. He called me as soon as he got discharged to ask where I was.

I told him, “You should have your men go to Zhu Fengchun’s. We are going to bring Zhu Fengchun to justice!”

Hanging up the call, I went directly to Zhu Fengchun’s house. The gate was open, and Zhu Fengchun was wearing a Han suit while sitting at a desk in the snow-covered yard. He had a thick stack of Xuan paper sheets next to him; he was drawing something.

“Were you waiting for me?” I asked.

At this last moment, I felt much relaxed.

I took a glance at what Zhu Fengchun was drawing. It was a snowy scene. Under a snowy sky, a lively village had started its new day. The peddlers were selling things on the street. Many kids were ice-skating on the frozen river while their mothers stood aside, worrying. Everything looked quite realistic.

This painting was comparable to

Along the River During th

e 

Qingming Festival

. It was truly an excellent piece of art. The characters in the painting seemed to come alive. As he could draw such a moving painting, he was someone really passionate. My interest was piqued, so I could only probe, “Your painting is really good. Really beautiful. It makes me wonder, why did you have to become a murderer?”

It seemed Zhu Fengchun felt I was beneath him, so he didn’t bother explaining. He casually tore his excellent painting into pieces. Then, he pointed at his clothes, screaming, “I’ve loved Chinese culture since I was a child. I’ve always thought that foreign cultures don’t have anything great, at all. The five-thousand-year history of the Chinese civilization is what we should be all proud of! That’s why I like wearing Han suits and practicing our national brush painting technique. I’m proud to say that it’s the greatest achievement of my life!

“I’m just a farmer, so It’s not easy for me to draw. While I was still full of hope, I tried to join an exhibition, but they laughed at me. They mocked me, saying I was just a farmer and couldn’t possibly draw something good. They told me to go home and make more bricks! A few months later, I accidentally found out that my painting had won the first prize of that exhibition. But the author’s name wasn’t mine…”

I was shocked and could only pity him. I had an urge to comfort him. “No matter what, it can’t be a reason for you to kill innocent people. Stop now. As long as you admit your crime, Chief Liu and I will beg for mercy on your behalf; you would be discharged after a few years. You can always start all over again.”

“Hahaha…”

Zhu Fengchun began to laugh crazily. In the mere blink of an eye, his eyes turned bloodshot. He pointed his finger at me, shouting, “You arrogant city people look down on us farmers! That’s why this world’s become so unfair! All of you deserve death!”

Then, he threw the stack of Xuan paper sheets into the sky. When the sheets of paper fell, I caught a glimpse of ferocious soldiers and famous Generals of the Wei Dynasty, including Xu Chu, Dian Wei, Zu Ban, Zhang Liao, etc.

After throwing the paper, Zhu Fengchun rushed into his house and shortly returned to the yard with a round copper mirror. The mirror looked perfectly polished and exquisite. However, it exuded thick Yin energy.

I knew it was the otherworldly item. I had a bad premonition while I glanced at the drawings of famous generals on the ground.

I charged toward him instinctively, trying to snatch the mirror. At the same time, the police siren was heard outside.

Zhu Fengchun became furious when he heard the siren. His voice became frozen cold. “Come here, all of you. We will die together!”

Then, he cut his own throat with a dagger. Blood sprayed, dyeing the copper mirror red.

“Get out of here! Tell Chief Liu not to let anybody enter this courtyard! Hurry up!”

I knew I could no longer stop Zhu Fengchun. I hastily shouted to Li Mazi. He was surprised, but he rushed out immediately.

At the moment Li Mazi left the yard, the world in front of me changed.

I felt as if I was in a battlefield from ancient times. The entire world was filled with a murderous aura. I was facing an army of tens of thousands whose leader was the dark-skinned Cao Cao.

There were famous generals under Cao Cao’s command, as well as countless armed soldiers. They all sneered, looking down on me as if I was an ant. I turned around, but no one was behind me.

God loved me so much that he made me challenge Cao Cao’s army all alone. I didn’t know if I should cry or laugh.

I thought I could make a run for it before they took action, but I couldn’t get out of that yard.

I knew it was because of a ghost wall. I would never be able to escape that place unless Cao Cao and others ran away first. Still, I wouldn’t go down without a fight. My right hand held the Sirius Whip while my left hand wielded the Peach Soul Flower. I shouted and dashed toward Cao Cao.

Cao Cao snorted as he drew his Seven Star Sword, rising it high in the sky. The tide of armed soldiers immediately swarmed toward me.

Lucky me, they didn’t shoot any arrows, because I would have turned into a hedgehog otherwise. When we finally engaged in the fight, I realized that those soldiers weren’t that strong. A lash from my whip could kill many of them.

However, the Sirius Whip and the Peach Soul Flower had limited energy. They soon lost their power, while more and more soldiers surrounded me.

I held the last few talismans, considering whether I should die with the enemy.

Suddenly, there was a flash of blue light. The soldiers in front of me perished, turning into smoke. The rest of the army hurried to retreat to Cao Cao’s side.

I turned and saw Chuyi. He was wearing a white shirt, the Sky Piercer in his hand.

“I’m here. Fear not,” said Chuyi with a placating tone. Then, he pointed the blade at Cao Cao. “Cao Cao… I, Lu Bu, will take your head today!”

The Sky Piercer’s intimidating aura shot directly into the sky. Cao Cao was so scared that he fell off his horse. His generals propped him up and fled.

When the remaining soldiers had finally disappeared, the surroundings changed back to Zhu Fengchun’s courtyard.

Zhu Fengchun was dead, the bloody copper mirror still in his hands.

I sighed as I looked at him. He wanted to die, so I wasn’t able to help him.

“Chuyi, how did you know that I would need saving?”

“Senior Chu told me. I was afraid that I couldn’t deal with Cao Cao, so I passed by your shop to fetch the Sky Piercer Lu Bu had formerly used.”

If Chuyi hadn’t had the Sky Piercer, Cao Cao would have never run away!

Chief Liu told his men to take care of Zhu Fengchun’s body. Afterwards, they closed the case.

Even a dummy knew the mirror was a treasure. When a young policeman was about to put the copper mirror into the evidence plastic bag, Chief Liu yelled at him. “Leave it there. It’s just a broken mirror ,and there is no need to collect it.”

Then, he gave me a meaningful smile. I smiled back, giving him a nod.

The next day, I visited the graveyard and the area by the small river to perform a ritual. I wanted to help the lingering souls there ascend. At the same time, it would also help the locals.

The serial decapitation case ended there. Zhu Fengchun, resentful for the injustice he suffered, wanted to control Cao Cao’s spirit to kill innocent people. If Senior Chu hadn’t discovered him in time, the number of victims would have kept on rising.

“Senior Chu, what do you think about this case?” I asked.

“Society is awful!”

I laughed my head off.

The more we lived, the weirder the things we witnessed in our society. There were a handful of the so-called elites that thought they were above everyone else. Those people looked down on farmers, thinking that the most embarrassing thing to do in this world was to be near them…

A while back, a guy named Zhou Libo had publicly insulted all farmers to praise Shanghai, the city where he lived.

But he forgot one thing.

Who were his ancestors? Farmers!

Who fed him? Farmers did!

Farmers, the simple and honest people who worked the soil, were actually the greatest among Chinese people.

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