Hehe, do you want to know who I am?" Upon hearing my words, the shadow let out a creepy laugh and looked pleased with himself. His demeanor seemed to suggest that he was someone of great importance.
"Who cares who you are?" While negotiating with the shadow, JIETOU stepped forward and continued controlling his golden wheel while glaring at the shadow. "Your identity is not important. You're just an evil spirit and we're here to eliminate you. We don't care about your background."
"You insolent brat! You're asking for it!" The shadow became angry upon hearing JIETOU's words.
"I'm being insolent? What can you do to me? Do you think you're powerful? Let me tell you something - earlier, I only let my guard down for a moment which allowed you to catch me off guard. If you have what it takes, let's fight again and see what kind of damage you can inflict on me!" JIETOU refused to back down.
"JIETOU, calm down. Let him finish speaking," I interrupted before JIETOU could provoke the shadow any further. "Don't forget how he got here in the first place."
"Hmph! This kid has some nerve but unfortunately for him, I don't like people who are too cunning or manipulative." Looking down on us from above, the shadow sneered at me before turning his attention towards JIETOU behind me. "Compared to him though... I prefer that foul-mouthed little punk behind you."
What an arrogant jerk! He must be crazy! Suppressing my anger as best as I could, I smiled politely at the shadow and introduced myself: "My name is Liu YiHeng and I'm a ghost hunter. This guy behind me is Lan XiaoDong - my partner.
Ghost hunter? Hmph, not bad. It seems we are natural enemies, hehe, because I am a ghost." The shadow looked at me coldly and spoke in a deep voice after a moment of silence: "It doesn't matter if I tell you. I am not someone else. I am one of the five guardians under the throne of King Wu - Ci Liao Ghost General who was personally appointed by King Wu to assassinate his political rival Liao. Hehehe, you're lucky to have encountered me today because I will make sure you die silently."
"What big talk!" JIETOU stared at the shadow and laughed.
"JIETOU, don't get angry yet. Our top priority now is to gather information," I stopped JIETOU again and then looked at the shadow: "Ci Liao Ghost General, if my memory serves me right, should be the person who assassinated Wu King Liao and helped King Wu Helu seize power. Are you that legendary assassin named Ci Zhu?"
"Hahaha! Not bad kid! More than two thousand years have passed but it's surprising that you still know about me. Hehehe...good good...just for this reason alone, I like you a bit," said the shadow with an expression of satisfaction.
Hearing this statement made me almost certain about his identity.
Legend has it that during the end of Spring and Autumn period in ancient China there were some troubles regarding succession to throne in Wu Kingdom ruled by Prince Guang (Wu Wang Liao), who was also cousin brother of King Helu (Wu Wang Helü). In order to become king himself, Helü used some treacherous means including sending people to assassinate Prince Guang.
The person who assassinated Prince Guang was Ci Zhu - one of four famous ancient Chinese assassins known for their martial arts skills as well as their sharp weapons such as the Fish Intestine Sword. It is said that Ci Zhu not only had the strength to fight against thousands of enemies, but also used his Fish Intestine Sword to assassinate Prince Guang by hiding it inside a fish and then suddenly pulling it out during a banquet.
After the death of King Liao of Wu, Helu became the king of Wu. Therefore, Zhuan Zhu was the first hero who helped Helu usurp the throne and ascend to power.
However, Zhuan Zhu did not have a good ending. After killing King Liao of Wu, he himself could not escape and was chopped into minced meat by King Liao's men.
Although he died, Helu did not forget his contribution. After ascending to the throne as king of Wu, he even appointed his son as an official.
Now it seems that Helu not only took care of his son but also took care of his soul by turning him into one of his five ghostly protectors under his command.
The Ghost General Who Killed Liao is indeed an appropriate title for him but somewhat ironic.
"I didn't expect you to be Mr. Zhuan Zhu, one of the four legendary assassins," I said with a bow after seeing him looking proud. Then I asked him curiously: "May I ask why Mr. Zhuan Zhu is here? What are you going to do here?"
"Why am I here? What am I going to do?" Hearing my words, Zhuan Zhu looked around in confusion before looking at me and JIETOU curiously: "Yes! Why am I here? Wait a minute... According to our original plan, wasn't I supposed to wait until Wang Shang ascended before coming out? Oh! Now I understand! You two bastards destroyed Wang Shang's painstakingly arranged corpse-dragging soul imprint ahead of time! Do you know what kind punishment awaits you for committing such great evil?
What is the Drag Corpse Soul Seal?" Upon hearing Zhuang Zhu's words, I quickly put on a confused look and said to him, "Lord Zhuang Zhu, I think you must have made a mistake. We didn't destroy any Drag Corpse Soul Seals. As I said before, my brother and I are just ghost catchers. We sensed strong ghost energy here so we came to check it out. When we arrived here, we saw you. We really don't know anything else."
"Is that so? Then what happened?" Zhuang Zhu was a bit confused by my words and asked in doubt: "As far as I know, those who were marked with the seal were given orders of death and are absolutely not allowed to open the soul seal themselves. Could it be that this wild dog has gone crazy? It willingly died from being devoured by its own soul. Why would it do that? Unless..."
Zhuang Zhu stopped talking at this point and couldn't help but stare at us and Jietou: "You little brats! Don't talk nonsense with me! Do you think I've been living for over two thousand years for nothing? Do you think I don't know what's going on here? Hmph! If there are no surprises, then surely you two forced that dog thing into opening the soul seal because it was desperate to survive. It thought it could use the soul seal to save its life but didn't realize that once opened they would be devoured by their own souls until death! Hehehe... So in short, all of this chaos was caused by you two troublemakers which means punishment is due!"
"Hehehe... Is that right Lord Zhuangzhu? Are you really prepared to punish us? Are you sure you have the ability?" Since the truth had already been revealed, I no longer needed to hide anything anymore. Without hesitation, I drew my sword and walked up to Zhuangzhu, looking at him and saying: "Are you sure that with just one clone, you can defeat us?