There was no

water inside the teapot. Yet, 

t

he inner wall and the bottom of the teapot had a thick layer of patina. 

How could a clay item have rust and patina? Isn’t this a purple clay teapot? 

With this thought, I brought the teapot to my ear

 and 

gently 

knocked on it

. I heard the clear sound created by a bronze item rather than the dull sound of a clay item. 

This

 teapot wasn’t made of purple clay. It was a bronze teapot that had a coating of purple clay. This made 

things 

more complicated. 

C

lay teapots first appeared in the Ming Dynasty

, so

 I needed to know if this teapot 

was

 dated before or after the Ming Dynasty. It was the key to 

find

 the original owner of the teapot. 

Lu Ming was a tea tycoon, so he must have studie

d

 teapots. I was certain that he knew this teapot was an antique. However, a few days ago, when I asked him if he had kept an antique in his house, he denied it

.

Is

 Lu Ming part of the problem? 

With that thought, I turned to see Lu Ming, who was lying on the floor. I was amazed

 to find 

that all his Yang flames were burning

.

In broad daylight, he was possessed by 

a

 spirit, and he didn’t bear any losses. This overturned my knowledge! 

My intuition told me that he had deceived me. In other words, he knew something about this teapot, but he didn’t want to tell me. 

When Lu Ming woke up, he looked surprised 

after seeing 

the purple clay teapot on the table. “Mr. Zhang, what happened?” 

I didn’t answer his question but asked with an indifferent face

, “Do you remember what you did over there?” 

“I only remember that I went to the meeting room

, where

 I suddenly had a headache. I don’t remember anything else.” Lu Ming gave a vague answer. 

“

Hmm

, if so

,

 I can’t solve this problem. I think you’d better invite another master.” I 

said coldly and turned 

to leave. 

Lu Ming didn’t dare to let me go. He hurried after me. “

M

aster, please help me

!

 I will pay you whatever you want! We can always negotiate!” Then, he arranged his thought

s and told 

me the story. 

“The ghost of the old man controlled me. Although I was sane at that time, I couldn’t control my body. I just wanted to dodge the responsibility

 as

 I almost killed 

my

 Japanese business partner. I don’t want to bear criminal responsibility!” 

“How do you 

explain this

 clay teapot? And, you experienced the same phenomen

on

in

a

 previous meeting. Why 

didn't you

 tell me?” I fumed. 

I’d been watching him for half a month like a fool. And now, it turned out he didn’t tell me the truth. 

“You… You 

know about

 it

...

” Lu Ming was bewildered. As it had come to this, he didn’t want to hide it anymore

 and told 

me the whole story. 

Not only did he know 

that this clay teapot was an otherworldly item, but he also used the power of the teapot to become 

a

 tea tycoon in a short period. 

However, he didn’t expect that when he was planning to bring his tea brand 

overseas

, the purple clay teapot didn’t help him anymore. It had even given him warnings. 

Lu Ming didn’t want to give up this good chance, and he didn’t want to let anybody 

know

 that he had 

relied

 on an otherworldly item to build up his career. That’s why he

 asked for my

 help

but didn’t want to tell me 

the full

 story. 

After listening to him, I wasn’t angry. I’d seen the same stor

y

 many times before. People only knew how to take advantage 

of

 otherworldly items

, forgetting how dangerous they could be.

 Lu Ming was

lucky that he didn’t get hurt. 

“Where did you get the teapot? Do you know its origin?” I sighed. 

The old ghost had shown his power

, and I wasn’t sure if I could be

 his equal opponent in a direct 

fight

. Moreover, he wasn’t an evil spirit. I should just follow the flow and ask Lu Ming to return the teapot. 

“I got my teapot 

in

 Xishuangbanna. The seller told me that if I 

kept

 this teapot with me, it would help my career. I bought it,

and it worked.” Lu Ming then paused. 

Feeling e

mbarrassed, he admitted that it was all he knew. 

“I admire your boldness!” Otherworldly items weren’t something one should collect casually. There were many factors they needed to consider, including the 

danger

 level of the item, its origin, and the seller’s reliability. If one 

was

 careless, 

they

 would provoke a lot of trouble

. They could 

even 

die

. 

Lu Ming had 

believed the

 seller and 

bought

 th

e

 teapot without much thought. He was lucky that his 

luck

 was good. Otherwise, he wouldn’t even have had the chance to wait for me to save his 

butt

. 

However, as things had come to this, 

there

 was no use 

talking

 about such details. I considered things and decided to 

take

 this teapot and Lu Ming to Xishuangbanna. 

“Do you still remember where you got this teapot?” 

“

Umh

… 

Y

eah, I do.” Lu Ming sounded hesitant. I knew he didn’t want to let this teapot go. I 

ignored

 him since I needed to prepare for the trip. 

A

t a

round twilight, I 

dragged

 him onto the train to Xishuangbanna. 

After 

we got

 on the train, he kept scratching his head as if he 

was

 a monkey. I patted him to comfort him. “Don’t worry. Your business is great already. You don’t need to depend on an otherworldly item.” 

“Yeah.” Lu Ming gave me an absent-minded answer. However, his 

confidence

was

 low. I shook my head reluctantly. 

The way otherworldly items worked was similar to someone giving you warm embers on a snowy day. In 

simple

 words, if one used an otherworldly item to overcome a challenge, it wouldn’t create much damage to the user. 

However, people were always greedy. After one 

use

, many of them would become dependent 

on the 

otherworldly item. In the end, they would lose themselves

 and become its

 puppe

t

. For example, Lu Ming

’s 

achievements of today were the result of his efforts. It was him who subconsciously thought that it was the merit of the otherworldly item. 

That

 was

 why I knew it was useless to talk to him. I 

had to

deal with

 the otherworldly item and make him more self-confident. 

After he finally 

calmed down

, I asked him if he remembered the address where he had bought the teapot. It would be a big problem if he didn’t remember the address since Xishuangbanna 

was

a

 vast place. 

“Menghai Township

 in

 Menghai County.” 

The areas around Xishuangbanna 

had a lot of

 natural tea fields. Lu Ming had been working in this business long enough to know the place well. He didn’t even need to think to tell me the address. 

After two transfers, we 

reached

 Menghai Township. It was already dawn. I 

glanced at

 the surrounding green mountains and 

clear

 waters. 

I saw watermills, water buffalos, fruit forests, and tea gardens. They all had a primitive look. 

T

he fortified villages here were the most attractive 

part

 of the local culture. 

I 

got

 an idea

. After 

working a few more years, I would bring Yin Xinyue here. We would buy a small house and live our 

lives in seclusion,

 away from the modern world. 

Compared to my leisure mood, Lu Ming looked much 

tenser

. Ever since we 

entered Menghai

 Township, his face contorted

. He tightly grasped 

the small bag containing the purple clay teapot. 

I was afraid that he 

didn’t

 want to return the otherworldly item. I had to put away my wandering 

thoughts and asked 

him to take me to the seller’s house. 

“We can only visit there at night time. They won’t open their gate to outsiders,” said Lu Ming. 

“Why 

didn't you

 tell me earlier?” I was somewhat angry. 

He gave me a forced smile. “I just remembered that.

 However,

 I 

have

 his number.” 

He 

went on

 his phone and made a call. 

T

he phone 

rang

 for a long moment, but no one picked up the call. Lu Ming was helpless. “

We’ll

 have to wait until night then.” 

“All right. We can take a nap 

in the meantime

.” 

I was really tired after a night on the train. After 

my

initial

excitement towards

 the surroundings 

faded

, I couldn’t fight my sleepiness anymore. I found a hostel to rest. 

Lu Ming 

stayed in the

 room next to 

mine

. I was afraid that he would change his mind, so I decided to keep the teapot in my room. I 

paid him no more heed and crawled into

 bed. 

I slept

from

 morning 

to

 evening. I

 had a 

nice sleep. If Lu Ming didn’t wake me up, I would have probably sle

pt until the

 next morning. 

After he 

woke

 me up, he couldn’t wait anymore

 and took 

me to the fortified village where the seller lived. He looked hurried, just as if he wanted to get rid of the teapot as soon as possible. 

This

 was 

surprising

 to me. I looked at him and 

saw

 he 

was in

 much better shape. I guessed he had made up his mind. I didn’t 

overthink and picked

 up the teapot and 

left

 the hostel with him. 

Menghai Township 

wasn’t

 big

. I

t 

was

 divided into several smaller villages,

 so it 

was easy to find the seller’s house. Not even after twenty minutes, we reached a place that had rocks piled up 

into a fence

 and gate. There was a small stream of around tw

o

 meters in front of th

is

 village.  

From a far distance, I saw that the place was lit with many lanterns. People were packing the place

 and pushing one an

other. 

T

hey cheered happily. 

I was curious to see what they were doing, but I was afraid that I would 

enrage them

. “Lu Ming, do you know what they are doing?” 

“Ah, the Dai people like to sing and dance. Do you want to 

take a look

?” Lu Ming said indifferently. 

This

 kind of event wasn’t new to him

, but it was a first for me

. 

“You said earlier we 

couldn't

 get in there, right? Can 

we even visit the place

?” I asked. 

“Haha, you can’t enter their village in the morning, but it’s all right at night. If you are lucky, the 

friendlier

 girls 

might

 ask you to dance with them.” 

“Then we should 

go

 in for a look!” 

I 

thought it was

 interesting

 and walked 

toward the village. However, I 

noticed

 that Lu Ming 

was no longer following

 me. I 

said

, “Hey man, why are you standing there? Come with me.” 

After half a month of staying with him, I had figured out that Lu Ming wasn’t as arrogant 

as

 other 

rich people

. That

 was

 why I 

was

 more casual 

with

 him. 

However, no one answered. Instinctively, I turned around to find him

, but t

here was no one behind me. 

The distance from the village gate to the road was around three or four hundred meters.

 Only a short time had passed,

 so Lu Ming couldn’t have 

disappeared so quickly

. I was 

stunned and thought 

about the only explanation for this. That Lu Ming was 

not the real one

!