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That night, I witnessed the power of Furball. Although Furball was small and adorable, only the size of a palm, the thought of having to "snatch food from a dog's mouth" sent chills down my spine, making me break into a cold sweat. Zhengyang naturally knew the truth about Furball; after finishing his words, he closed his eyes and fell asleep in his chair. Lu Jianguo's face turned green, and he remained silent. Only Big Mouth Lee was grinning foolishly.
"You bunch of idiots, just watch what I do next!"
Big Mouth Lee walked over to Furball and grabbed it by the neck, lifting it up. Furball trembled, its eyes darting around, almost in tears, panting heavily. Big Mouth Lee rolled up his sleeves and reached into Furball's mouth, surprisingly digging into its throat. The rest of us exchanged glances, cold sweat pouring down our faces as our hearts raced.
Furball gagged a few times before breaking into a fit of coughing. Sure enough, it spat out a purple orb. Seeing the orb come out, Big Mouth Lee hurriedly caught it with his hand.
"What the hell! It’s fine after all that?" We exclaimed in unison, staring dumbfounded at Big Mouth Lee!
Big Mouth Lee paid no attention to us; he pinched the Fox Immortal Inner Pill and examined it closely by the window. He casually tossed Furball onto the ground.
A howl echoed through the air.
We collectively gasped as we turned to look at Big Mouth Lee. Furball had opened its wide mouth and clamped down on Big Mouth Lee's thigh, its four paws tightly gripping his leg. No matter how much Big Mouth Lee tried to shake it off, it wouldn’t budge, causing him to yelp in pain.
Furball held onto Big Mouth Lee's leg for a good half an hour before finally loosening its grip slightly at our urging. Seizing the opportunity, I quickly yanked Furball off and stuffed it into my backpack. Its fierce demeanor nearly made my heart leap out of my chest.
Big Mouth Lee sat on the ground, holding his leg and groaning. His face was pale as he cursed about Furball for quite some time. Eventually, he realized what had happened. He glared at us all around and immediately got furious. Indeed, we were looking at him as if he were an idiot.
Lu Jianguo took the Fox Inner Pill from Big Mouth Lee's hands for a closer look. The inner pill resembled a freshly picked purple grape, exuding a misty aura that felt chilling and faintly glowing. Inside the semi-transparent pill seemed to be a locked fox spirit that resembled smoke. After observing for a while, Lu Jianguo suddenly shivered as if recalling something and hurriedly tossed the inner pill back to Big Mouth Lee.
Later on, Big Mouth Lee handed the Fox Inner Pill to Doomsayer. Just a mere 0.001 seconds of contact with Doomsayer caused Big Mouth Lee to have bad luck for an entire day. Fortunately, we eventually managed to escape from Doomsayer.
The incident in Baisha Village was finally resolved satisfactorily. Sister Lian also woke up; her condition was similar to what the Jealous Woman Ghost had described. Agen expressed endless gratitude towards us. Gao Lao hosted a grand feast for us three times before we finally left Baisha Village.
Upon reaching Outer Baisha Village, men and women of all ages stared at us as if they had seen ghosts.
Our vehicle stopped at the entrance of Outer Baisha Village, where Gao Lao had specifically assigned people to guard our car in shifts. When they saw us return, they solemnly handed back our vehicle. The people here were very simple-hearted, and we repeatedly expressed our thanks.
Lu Jianguo was driving, while Big Mouth Lee sat in the passenger seat. I was in the back, sitting next to Zhengyang, who remained silent the entire journey, continuously wiping his Pure Jun Sword with a piece of white cloth.
To be honest, as a history enthusiast, I had never had the chance to see an ancient sword from the pre-Qin era! I once marveled at the Kangxi Emperor's Willow Leaf Knife in a museum. My knowledge about ancient swords mostly came from Tao Hongjing's Records of Ancient and Modern Swords. Some experts believed that King Goujian's Sword was indeed the legendary Pure Jun Sword. To think that such a legendary artifact was being polished by a young Taoist priest right now—I could hardly believe it!
Ou Yezi had forged only eight treasured swords in his lifetime. He created five famous swords for King Yue: Zhanlu, Giant Gate, Victory Evil, Fish Intestine, and Pure Jun Sword. He also forged three renowned swords for King Chu: Qixing Longyuan, Tai'a, and Gongbu.
The Zhanlu Sword became Xue Rengui's weapon during the Tang Dynasty and later belonged to Yue Fei during the Song Dynasty. After the tragic fate of Yue Fei and his son, the whereabouts of the Zhanlu Sword became unknown. The Giant Gate Sword was once worn by Qin Shi Huang; he used it to behead Jing Ke. After the Qin dynasty fell, the Giant Gate disappeared without a trace. Victory Evil was a dagger buried in the tomb of Wu Wang's daughter. Fish Intestine was also a dagger; it was hidden inside a fish's belly by Zhuan Zhu when he assassinated King Liao of Wu, after which it vanished. The Qixing Longyuan Sword was worn by Wu Zixu and reemerged during the Three Kingdoms period before being renamed Longquan Sword in the Tang Dynasty. Gongbu and Tai'a were national treasures of Chu and later became part of Qin Shi Huang's burial items in Qin Shi Huang's Tomb. Each of these swords is a renowned national treasure! And now, seeing the Pure Jun Sword in Zhengyang's hands left me utterly astonished.
Chinese sword-making reached its peak during the Han Dynasty, while knife-making flourished during the Tang Dynasty. After these two high points, the quality of sword and knife forging declined significantly.
Noticing my greedy gaze, Zhengyang seemed taken aback at first but then asked me, "Do you understand swords?"
"I admire your theoretical foundation!" Big Mouth Lee turned around with a wide grin. His comments always had an odd tone that made me feel as if I had swallowed a fly—unpleasant to say the least.
"Since we're discussing swords, let's start with their structure," I gathered my thoughts and decided to begin with the sword itself. Zhengyang nodded slightly but remained indifferent.
Ancient swords were short and pointed, primarily designed for stabbing. Their elongated shape corresponded to their characteristics. A sword can be divided into ten parts: blade, tip, spine, flat surface, groove (also known as "blood groove," which is a channel running through most of the blade), tang (the unsharpened part of the blade near the guard), blade tongue (the part covered by the hilt), guard, grip, and pommel at the end where tassels might be added later.
Prehistoric humans used hard stones to craft long swords that were prone to breaking. Later on, they began forging swords from easily accessible bronze-tin alloys. However, special materials from meteorites were used for Xuanyuan Sword and Minghong Blade forged by the Yellow Emperor and Dayu Sword and Xia Qi Sword forged during the Xia Dynasty. The Dingguang Sword from the Shang Dynasty measured two feet long. During the Spring and Autumn period and Warring States period, swordsmiths like Ou Yezi and Gan Jiang and Mo Ye emerged.
Sword-making technology peaked during the Han Dynasty, especially with Emperor Wu of Han's Eight Clothing Swords and Guangwu Emperor's Xiuba Sword as representatives. The Three Kingdoms period marked the tail end of this peak with notable examples like Cao Pi's Feijing Three Swords, Sun Quan's Six Swords, and Liu Bei's Eight Swords of Shu. Afterward, sword-making technology declined with occasional famous swords appearing like Xu Jingyang's Wanren during Jin Dynasty or fire essence swords from Tang Dynasty. The Lu Lu Sword from Song Taizong was also notable! By the Yuan Dynasty, most ancient sword-making techniques had been lost.
Knives began to flourish from the emergence of Ring-Pommel Sword during Han Dynasty onward. The Tang Dao and Mo Dao forged with high-quality steel represented their peak during Tang Dynasty. The knives used in Song Dynasty measured three feet long with one-foot handles known as Zhanma Dao. The Yuan Dynasty adopted Arab techniques to forge Mongolian curved sabers that became widely circulated in East Asia as knives. By Ming Dynasty, blacksmiths' status declined leading to many forging techniques being lost; only Qijia Army knives briefly shone in glory. In early Qing Dynasty, Willow Leaf knives reached their peak in production but after Jiaqing era, Ox Tail knives became most common despite their poor quality—this low-grade knife now dominates television screens as representations of ancient knives; it’s almost laughable.
After giving an overview of China's historical development of swords and knives, Zhengyang’s eyes lit up with interest as he nodded in approval. Changing his tone slightly, he asked me, "Would you like to have a reliable weapon?"
This question struck a chord within me; I shivered at the thought—"Damn! I've dreamed about this! Isn’t that obvious?"
Weapons like Pure Jun Sword are not only impressive in appearance but also boast cool inscriptions such as "The dragon divides shadows; geese forget their return." Or "Ancient sharp tools: Zhanlu from Wu and Chu; Great Xia’s Dragon Sparrow; renowned throughout divine capitals; capable of distant thoughts; capable of gentle persuasion." "Only heart remains unchanged; only blades can cut through all." If I could get my hands on one—it would be incredibly impressive!
Zhengyang watched me lost in thought, and when I didn’t respond, he asked again.
“Do you want a reliable weapon?”
“Of course! I dream about it!”
“Then do you have the courage to explore an ancient tomb with me? With your extensive knowledge of Chinese Ancient Swords and Sabers, I guarantee you’ll love that sword!”
I was well aware of my own limitations. I had only seen tomb raiding in movies. My theoretical knowledge was decent, but it didn’t mean I was any better than the average amateur. Tomb raiding was a life-or-death matter; encountering a Zongzi or a Blood Corpse could spell disaster. Now, he wanted me to risk my life for this. Honestly, I felt intimidated and couldn’t bring myself to agree readily.
Zhengyang seemed to sense my hesitation.
“You’re scared?”
“Who’s scared?” I couldn’t lose face in front of a new friend. But then I reconsidered; with someone like Zhao Ri by my side, what was there to worry about?
The car bounced along the road, the journey long and tedious. Zhengyang leaned back and closed his eyes, falling silent. Just when I wondered how long it would be before he spoke again, he suddenly said something mysterious that left me utterly confused.
“Hmm! That weapon was meant to belong to you all along!”
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