According to Chinese historical records, the Nine Tripods of Yu were successively passed down through the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties until they were lost at the end of the Qin dynasty. Sima Qian said in his book: "When King You of Zhou died, the people of Zhou fled eastward. The Qin took possession of the nine tripods and other precious vessels, and moved the Duke of Western Zhou to Foxi. Seven years later, King Zhuangxiang of Qin destroyed Eastern Zhou. Both Western and Eastern Zhou were incorporated into Qin, and the Zhou no longer offered sacrifices.

  In the fifty-first year, ... Qin sent General to attack Western Zhou. The ruler of Western Zhou fled and returned, bowing his head in submission, offering all 36 cities and 30,000 people. The King of Qin accepted the offer and returned the ruler to Zhou. In the fifty-second year, the people of Zhou fled eastward, and the Nine Tripods entered Qin. This marked the beginning of the end of Zhou.

  Zha Wenbin said: "Since Mr. Gu mentioned the Nine Tripods, I have two questions. Firstly, the Nine Tripods of the Zhou Dynasty were placed in Luoyi, which was the location of the Eastern Zhou Duke at that time. Qin State destroyed Western Zhou, so how did they obtain the Nine Tripods of Eastern Zhou? Secondly, Qin and Luoyi are separated by about 350 kilometers, with the Qinling Mountains blocking the way. When Zhou first defeated Shang, the Zhou Dynasty couldn't even transport the Nine Tripods to Fenghao, so how could Qin State transport such large and heavy tripods over the Qinling Mountains?"

  Mr. Gu said: "As for where the Zhou Tripod is, historical records say: 'King Wu of Zhou defeated the Shang Dynasty and moved the Nine Tripods to Luoyi', and also say: 'King Cheng of Zhou was in Feng, he ordered Duke Shi to rebuild Luoyi, following King Wu's will. Duke Zhou rebuilt and settled the Nine Tripods there.' These two historical records clearly point out that after the Zhou Dynasty destroyed the Shang Dynasty, they moved the Nine Tripods of the Shang Dynasty to Luoyi. After Qin, the whereabouts of the Nine Tripods were no longer mentioned, only passed down through the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. According to the personality of Qin Shi Huang, he would not have placed the Nine Tripods in Luoyi. Whoever gets the Nine Tripods will rule the world, so naturally, Emperor Qin wouldn't want the world to be divided again after unifying it. What would you do if you were him?"

  Zha Wenbin said: "When Qin Shi Huang was in power, it was already a unified empire under heaven, and all threats had been eliminated. However, water can carry a boat as well as capsize it; having obtained the Nine Tripods and the world, if those Nine Tripods were destroyed, then no one would have any more opportunities."

  "I also mean that the nine tripods are likely to be deliberately scattered by Qin Shi Huang. But I've digressed, after saying so much, I just want to say that curses do exist and have been around for a long time, those witchcrafts on the nine tripods were all recorded."

  Fatso said: "Now that we've mentioned it, Cha Ye, what kind of curse have we suffered?"

  "Look here." Cha Wenbin pulled open his collar, revealing a red spot the size of a fingernail on the back of his neck. Then he said to me: "Xiao Yi, that day when we came up from the river and changed clothes at the farmhouse, I noticed you also had such a red spot on your neck, but I didn't pay attention to it. The day before yesterday, I took that hairpin with Dragon Master to see someone who understands this kind of writing. That person told us that the hairpin is engraved with a curse: as long as anyone touches anything there, they will be retaliated against by the curse. This curse has a very terrible name: Blood Calamity."

  "Blood evil?"

  Zha Wenbin nodded and said, "It has long been lost. According to the records, the last time someone used this curse was a thousand years ago, and that person was Baiyuan, the last great wizard of the Khotan Kingdom. The Blood Slaughter Spell is an invisible and intangible magic, and it is said that Baiyuan used this spell to resist the Western Xia's 50,000 iron cavalry and defeated the Western Xia's Left Blue King, Tuoba Bihuo. According to historical records, Tuoba Bihuo was bitten by a small mosquito on his neck at that time, which started as a red spot. Unexpectedly, within a month, the red spot evolved into a red rash that spread to his shoulder blade. Half a year later, the red rash expanded to his entire chest, and a year later, his entire upper body was as red as roasted meat. Wherever the red skin broke, the wound would never heal. In the end, Tuoba Bihuo died from bleeding nonstop after his palm was cut with a small knife."

  Fatso lifted up the collar of my clothes and took a look, saying "hmm" after which he said: "It's really there, come, Little Xia Ye, take a look and see if I'm not telling the truth, Old Zhang's words made me feel a bit uneasy."

  When I lifted the collar of the fat man's shirt, the whole person's heart suddenly cooled down. A red spot, slightly smaller than a fingernail, was clearly visible on that piece of skin, with blood vessels underneath, just like a piece of skin had been peeled off, similar in color to fresh beef sold at the vegetable market.

  "I have it too," said Zha Wenbin, opening his collar, but the area had already turned a dark color.

  Zha Wenbin handed me a small bottle and said: "They gave me medicine, it can only delay, not eradicate, you two apply some too."

  I took the bottle and smelled it, the smell was pungent: "What medicine is this? It smells weird."

  "Lingbao Sect's Tongyun Master personally matched it, he is the 37th generation successor of Ge Hongtianshi. They said they would try to think of a way, actually we are taking bullets for someone else."

  "For whom?"

  "Some things I'll tell you about later, and Dragon will come to see you two again. The business in Guangzhou might have to be put on hold for now."

  "What kind of person is he?"

  Zha Wenbin shrugged and pointed to his head with his finger: "Actually, I don't understand either. It should be someone who can reach the sky."

  About that thing in Zhuangyuan Village, Cha Wenbin said someone had been eyeing it before us, the person in the photo. It was a few days later when someone called Longye told us about these things.

  I met Dragon Brother a week later, when many people came to my hometown. My parents had been taken away before I returned from Shanghai, saying that someone invited them to travel in Beijing. When I pushed the door into the large courtyard, it was already filled with a group of unfamiliar people. These people spoke in various accents, including Hunan, Guangxi, Northeast China and Sichuan, all over the country. They completely treated this place as their own home, making fire, cooking, playing cards, having a great time. Of course, there was also Dragon Brother.

  "The house is rented, won't disturb you for too long." This was the first sentence Dragon said to me. Before I could open my mouth, his second sentence came: "I've seen all of your information, in '79 Shi Dandang set fire to a military family courtyard in Chengdu, causing two serious injuries and one death, then escaped to Xi'an; In Xi'an, he participated in seventeen tomb raiding activities, five of which involved national first-class cultural relics. By law, you should be shot several times."

  Then he completely disregarded the fat man's face, which was already distorted, and turned to me saying: "Xia Yi, in 1975, went to the Northeast to participate in the Down to the Countryside Movement in Yeren Village, was once suspected of murdering a local cadre, later escaped from the Northeast with Cha Wenbin, Shi Gandang, Yuan Xiaobai and others, and in 1980, together with Shi Gandang, went south to Guangzhou, successively participated in smuggling electronics, clothing and other speculative activities, and colluded with international cultural relic dealers from Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong to sell seven national first-class cultural relics and one hundred and forty-three second-class cultural relics, for the purpose of making huge profits.

  He waved the few cowhide papers in his hand: "These are your files, including Yuan Xiaobai. I can restrict your entry and exit at any time. As for your life in the US, it will also end with that conspiracy to commit murder and be investigated."

  Yuan Xiaobai's face turned red: "I... I've never killed anyone, don't wrong me!"

  "In '79, the old branch secretary of Yěrén Tún was tricked into a 100-meter-deep pit and then hit on the head with stones. He died soon after. You all escaped afterwards. If you didn't kill him, why did you escape?"

  "I..." Yuan Xiaobai didn't know what to say for a moment. Cha Wenbin took a step forward and said, "Tell me your conditions."

  Long Er's front had a fire basin, the charcoal inside was burning vigorously. He flipped his slender fingers and said: "Actually, these things have nothing to do with me, I just want to tell you a few words: there is a sky outside the sky, and people outside of people!" He raised his head and looked at me, saying: "Don't worry, your family has gone to Beijing for tourism, someone will arrange everything for them. I'm a fair person, how about we do some business?"

  "What business?"

  "Alright, these are my chips. We've been searching for that place in Shuangyuan Village for three whole years without any progress whatsoever. I didn't expect you to stumble upon that hairpin by mistake. As a person, I'm quite superstitious and believe in fate - some things can't be done just because one has the ability; it's all about being destined to do so. Since you've managed to get in once, why not go a few more times and bring out everything inside for me?"

  "Look, we won't answer," he said. "How about it, young man? It's a good deal, just move your hands and all of your records will become 'three-good youth', and all the shady pasts will be completely wiped out."

  Fatso snorted: "Why don't you go yourself? Afraid of being cursed, huh? What a joke!"

  "You've reminded me, that so-called curse wasn't just suffered by you alone. Come, let me introduce someone to you." With that, Dragon Brother brought out a young man. This person's hair was very long, covering half of his face, and the remaining half of his skin was deathly pale. You couldn't see his whole appearance, but at first glance, he gave people an impression: this guy is a sickly person.

  Long Ye patted his shoulder and said to Cha Wenbin, "This young man will go with you, maybe he can help you with something."

  The man's hand was tightly grasping a black short knife, the shape of which was somewhat strange. There was no scabbard on the knife, and its handle was wrapped in white gauze along with his hand.

  When he saw this knife, Zhang Wenbin's eyes changed obviously, and he took the initiative to say: "How do you address your brother?"

  That person didn't even lift his head, turned around and walked away, another person silently crouched in the corner of the wall...

  For that man's behavior, the fatty thought it was extremely rude and immediately said: "What kind of person is this? Really thinks he's a great hero, thinking this is a costume drama shoot! Waving a broken sword and learning to be speechless, thinking he's Sima Yixuan, what virtue!"

  Long Ye saw that we were all staring at him, he glanced at the man and said to Cha Wenbin: "Don't ask me, I don't know who he is either. He's the first person who can pick up Han Yue."

  That knife, Cha Wenbin had seen it before. In the Dragon Master's mountain villa, there was a treasure pavilion that housed many national treasures, including this black short knife. This short knife is called Han Yue. The name may sound a bit melancholic, but when it comes to its origin, 99% of the country's people will say: It was actually it...

  During the Warring States period, there was a master swordsmith named Xu Furen. One night, a meteorite fell to the ground in the east, shaped like a knife. Xu Furen spent his entire life's energy polishing this meteorite into a short dagger, which had a dark and mysterious glow under the moonlight, resembling a new moon. Its cold aura was mesmerizing, so it was named Cold Moon. Later, King Zhao wanted to obtain this dagger and sent someone to kill Xu Furen by force. During the fight, anyone who was injured by the Cold Moon's blade would have their blood frozen, and their tendons and bones severed. However, even a dragon cannot defeat a hundred tigers, and eventually, Xu Furen exhausted himself and took his own life with the dagger.

  After Zhao Wang obtained the sword, he often had nightmares. Every time a cold wind came, he would hear Madame Xu's wailing. The concubine and imperial son died of illness. He then pressed the Cold Moon under the Precious Tripod to suppress the hatred in the sword. Within a year, the Zhao State was destroyed.

  And this knife is even more legendary, it was used by Jing Ke to stab the King of Qin. After his failure, the knife fell into the hands of Qin Shi Huang, and only the imperial power of the king could calm down this knife. It can be said that it is China's most legendary knife.

  However, the Cold Moon Sword has a saying: this sword is too cold and arrogant, so ordinary people are not worthy of using it, no matter how much strength you have, you can't pull it out of its scabbard. To make the Cold Moon come out of its scabbard, one must let it yield to its master, that is, cut open a finger and drip blood into the gap between the sword's scabbard and blade. If it can be pulled out, then you are the master of the Cold Moon.

  Unfortunately, since the Han Wu Emperor, no one has ever drawn this sword again. Now it appears in the hands of a stranger, and Cha Wenbin would not be surprised...