Brass Dragons in the Dragon World

Ander immediately pulled Chu Hao aside, preparing to admire the Chu family's heirloom.

“Angers, Brother Chu and I will go check first. Remember to watch the house.”

Angers looked at the dragon who had fallen into the trap of money with some helplessness. Before, Angers was worried that Ander would cause trouble, but now it seemed that he was more like a Chinese than Lu Shanyan.

“What a strange dragon,” Angers remarked.

Once outside the mansion, perhaps because the surrounding foreigners were accustomed to holding dances in the evenings, many rickshaw drivers were parked on the roadside waiting to solicit customers.

Ander took out a green banknote, hailed a car, and got in with Chu Hao, heading out of the city.

"Your home is quite far away."

"The rickshaw is getting further and further away from the city center," Ander remarked casually.

Chu Hao remained silent, watching the rickshaw pass by house after house until it stopped in front of an alley.

Ander paid the money and followed Chu Hao into the alley, arriving at the door of an ordinary house, where he knocked.

"An incense burner hangs above Honghua Pavilion..."

A young woman's voice rang out from inside the door, and Chu Hao responded:

"Ah Jie, it's me!"

The wooden door was immediately opened, and a figure rushed out and hugged Chu Hao.

"Brother, you're finally back."

Chapter Twenty-Three: Family Heirloom

In the cramped room, Chu Hao introduced the girl, who looked to be about fifteen or sixteen years old and dressed in men's clothing, to Ander:

"This is my younger sister, Chu Jie."

Ander wondered why Chuxiong's sister had a man's name. Chuxiong saw through Ander's thoughts and explained:

“My brother and I depend on each other for survival. It’s inconvenient for my sister to stay at home alone, so she has to dress up as a man.”

Ander couldn't stand it anymore. Chu Jie looked like a woman, with a shapely figure. Who would believe she was a man?

Most importantly, she had a head of jet-black hair. Nowadays, men all have half-shaved heads and pig tails, and they don't even know how to make their lies believable.

"You're trying to fool me. Your sister looks like a girl; how could she possibly fool anyone else?"

Chu Hao quickly explained:

"Senior Ander, please calm down. This is related to the Chu family's heirloom."

Ander and Chuhao sat down, and Chujie took out an oil lamp and lit it. The dim candlelight cooled the already small room.

Chu Hao instructed his younger brother:

"Ah Jie, go and get the things."

Chu Jie, who was standing to the side, was a little unhappy. His brother had said he was going to find someone, but when he came back, he was covered in marks from being strangled, clearly indicating that he had been wronged.

"Brother, where did you go? Why..."

“Good boy, go and bring over our family’s ancestral things for Mr. Lu Ander to see.”

Chu Hao comforted his sister, but Chu Jie had no choice but to go to the back of the house to get something.

A little while later, the little girl came back pouting, carrying three boxes in her arms, two large ones at the bottom and one slightly smaller one on top.

Chu Hao took the boxes, laid them out on the ground one by one, and said to Ander:

"Please take a look, senior."

Chu Jie, standing to the side, crossed her arms and glared at Ander with annoyance. In her opinion, her brother's abnormality was definitely related to Ander.

Ander opened the first, slightly smaller wooden box. Inside the rustic box was a bronze tablet, which looked just like the kind unearthed from Sanxingdui.

The eyes are large and protruding, seemingly covering only half of the face, and are covered with verdigris, with faint patterns visible.

"Interesting. What's the use of this?"

Chu Hao handed the mask to Chu Jie, who was standing next to him, as a gesture, but Chu Jie clearly resisted.

"elder brother……"

“Mr. Ander is a guest, it’s alright.”

The little girl looked at the mask in front of her, pricked her fingertip on one corner of the mask, and smeared her blood on the mask.

The moment the blood was applied, the patina-covered mask suddenly burst into flames, engulfing Chu Jie.

When the flames died down, a gaunt young man appeared before Ander.

Where's the mask?

Chu Jie, now a gaunt man, raised his wrist; a bronze bracelet gleamed on his right hand.

As Ander watched this incredible transformation, he also became interested in the mask. Who wouldn't like a prop that could transform a girl?

The transformation is a bit off; everyone else is a magical girl, but you've become a man dressed as a woman.

Suppressing his urge to complain, Ander asked:

"That's interesting. Can you transform into anything you want? How do you transform back?"

Chu Jie, who had transformed into a man, spoke up:

"To become someone else, you need their blood. To turn back, you need to separate your wrists and let the bracelet absorb all the blood."

After saying that, she found a pair of scissors next to her and cut her wrist without hesitation.

"Look, like this."

Chu Jie seemed completely unconcerned about the wound on his wrist, and even showed it to Ander.

"That's interesting."

Ander was no stranger to the world, so he wasn't frightened by this little bit of blood.

The bracelet absorbed Chu Jie's blood, and the golden bracelet was quickly covered with red patterns. Then, with another burst of fire, Chu Jie transformed back into a woman.

Chu Xiong hurried over to treat his sister's injuries, but Chu Jie waved her hand, indicating that she was fine.

I wiped away the remaining blood from my wrist; the wound I had made with scissors earlier had already healed.

"Senior, this is one of the family heirlooms of my Chu family. It can transform in countless ways. My brother and I relied on this to escape the pursuit of the Qing demon."

Ander nodded. Although he could also transform, having another magical item was still a good thing.

Meanwhile, Chu Jie stared at his brother and said tremblingly:

"Brother... these are our family treasures. Our parents only left us these three items, we can't sell them!"

Chu Hao put his arm around his sister's shoulder and said in a resolute tone:

"Senior Ander is a great help to the Dragon Vein Project. I would go through fire and water for him without hesitation. How could I possibly pity these dead things?"

Looking at Chu Jie nestled in his brother's arms, Ander felt like a villain who was driving people to bankruptcy and forcing them to sell their children. He quickly looked at the other two boxes and opened them both.

“Senior, these are swords passed down from our ancestors.”

Chu Hao explained from the side.

One of the boxes contained an eight-sided Han sword, and the other contained a ring-pommel Tang sword.

Chu Hao took out the Han sword, and with a clang, the sword was drawn. Chu Hao brought the sword close to the candlelight, and only then could Ande see the sword in its entirety.

In the dim candlelight, the ornate hilt of the sword was completely bare.

Ander reached up and stroked the hilt of the sword, finding something hard above the bronze jaw.

"This sword..."

Ander was delighted; he had struck gold this time.

"The sword is named 'Breaking the Enemy,' it is as thin as a cicada's wing, invisible to the eye, and indestructible."

Chu Hao took out a square-holed coin, gently placed it above the blade of the sword, and released it. The coin fell as smoothly as if it were in free fall.

When the copper coin fell to the ground, it had already been cleaved in two by the transparent blade.

It was actually a transparent Han sword, its blade colorless and transparent yet incredibly sharp.

"What a find!" Ander exclaimed, then his eyes fell on Tang Hengdao beside him. The sword was fine, but this knife…

At this moment, Chu Jie snatched Tang Hengdao from the side and hugged him tightly.

"Brother, we can't give this to him. It was left by Mother. Without the Anti-Bandit Knife, how can I protect you?"

Chu Xiong gently patted his sister's head with a touch of tenderness and comforted her:

"Brother has already promised Senior Ander that once the dragon vein is destroyed, we will no longer need to flee, nor will we need to quell the bandits and defeat the enemy."

Ander looked at the sentimental scene before him with a headache, thought for a moment, and asked:

"These are the only three treasures you have in your family? Do you have any gold, silver, or other jewelry?"

Chu Jie angrily retorted to Ander:

"Our family is in such a state, how could we possibly have gold or silver jewelry? Are you blind?"

Ander relaxed, shifted to a more relaxed posture, and said slowly and deliberately:

"Then I'll teach you how to make money. But when it comes to making money, you must never make money off the poor."

"Then whose money are you making?"

"I'll take money from whoever has the most money. Let me ask you, among all the demon-slaying families in the Heaven and Earth Society, which one is the richest?"

Chu Xiong and Chu Hao looked at each other, and after a long while, they replied:

"Senior... your Lu family is the richest."

Oh no, I've become a stand-in!

Chapter Twenty-Four: Heading South to Minzhou

A few days later, Ander looked at a portrait in front of him and carefully compared the differences between the portrait and his own handsome face.