Otherworldly Merchant
Chapter 535: The Pain of the Heavenly King

Having sleptfor the whole day, I hadstrange dreams. I dreamtof myself wearingtattered clothes. I was competing against stray dogsfor food. I dreamt of myself standing atop a mountain with myhand in the air.After a wave of my hand, the picture of imposing battlefields appeared. I saw myself wearing an imperial robe. I wassitting on the Dragon Throne inside a lavishly decorated imperial hall. In another dream, I saw myself drinking poison. Outside the city wall, people’s uproar shook the sky. When I died, I didn’t close my eyes…

Mymindtold me that these were the old stories of the spirit. He wanted to use these images to affect meand makeme feel touched so that I would be on his side.

After thinkingabout the scenes I had just dreamed about, I felt upset.

My dreams were the unfolding picture of Hong Xiuquan’s entire life. In 1864, the three major armies of the Qing DynastyconqueredNanjing, the capital of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Hong Xiuquan died in his Heavenly King Mansion. The cause of his death was unknown.

From what Isawin my dream, he drank poison to kill himself. I guessed he wasn’t willing to see the kingdom—half of the nation that he had exerted a lot of effort to claim—vanish.

Butthat wasn’tthe reason he set people’s houses on fire!

It was normalfordynastiesto change. It was inevitable that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would eventuallybe brought to its downfall. More than one hundred years had passed.How could he restore his kingdom now?

When I finally pulled myself together, the pressure disappeared. I got up from my half-asleep, half-awakestate. As soon as I woke up, I saw Old Hong standing next to me. He was looming overand looking at me with his dark face. His hands were still tied with an iron chain.

I got up immediatelyand grabbedthe Sirius Whip.

It was nowonder I had that strange dream.He had come to trouble my sleep!I felt scared. If he had attached to measIslept, I would havelikely died. With this thought, myback became dampwith sweat.

Unexpectedly, while I was so tense,heacted as if he wasmyfriend. He satnext to me.

Then, he began to talk as though he was talking to himself. “We were just a bunch of farmers. If we weren’tforced, whywould we rebel hoes and shovels as weapons? We couldn’t help it. We couldn’t put up with it anymore. That’s when wecame up withthe idea of a rebellion. Afterward, we couldn’t stop it. I was with Yang Xiuqing and the other brothers that nurtured the samedream. Together, we brought the enormous army of farmersand headedNorth. The corrupted Qing army wasn’t our equal opponent. Soon, we got Nanjing. When we made it the capital, wehelda three-day party tocelebrate.”

He continued,“I was their King! I provided the citizens of the Heavenly Kingdom with equaltreatment. They were well-fed, and they wore warm clothes. Why, why did my army collapseafter a dozen years? When the Qing army besieged Nanjing, I knew I would be defeated. We were just a group of scattering sand grains that gathered to fill our stomachs. However, after we got what wedreamtof, we lost our goal. We began to indulge ourselves in pleasure. We had a pool of wine and a forest of meat. Each of us had so many women. We hadn’t overthrown the Qing Dynasty. Wehad created another Qing!Why did our original dreamturninto that? Ididn’t dare toface my failure. I chose death instead ofwatchingthe government I had established getdismissed. I wasn’t resigned to it! I wasn’t resigned to it!”

When he came to this, Old Hong’s eyes glowed with a red light. I grabbed the Sirius Whipand gulpedmy saliva.Would heturn into a frenzyin the next moment?

I hurried to comfort him. “Welivein the modern world now. It is theworld that youdreamed about.Justice is carried out. Everybody is well-fed and wears warm clothes.”

He sneered when he heard that. “Really? But it wasn’t made by me! I didn’t establish all ofthis!”

I got it immediately. His desire for power got the best of him. He was telling liesabout doingeverything for the people to have a better life.

Old Hong touched the red turban on his forehead in a provoking way. “I’m warning you. You shouldn’t offend the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!”

Then, he turned and left.

I slumped on my back. I was still scareddue tothe fight I had with him recently, andI didn’t haveanitem that could help me defeat him.

The strange thing was, we were loud enough to alert Hong Tianbao and his brother. But theynever showedup. Itwasn’t logical.

No,something waswrong. Old Hong’s roomwaslocked up. Howdidhe get out? I ran out of the room. At first glance, I was completely baffled.

Thatplacewasn’tOld Hong’s house! Itwasa graveyard!

I turned around to check. The place where I had just slept was a tombstone that had collapsed.

I felt a chillrundown my spine. Was this anillusionscene Old Hong fabricated? Or didhe havethe powertobring me to this place without waking me up?

I hurried to bite my middle finger and smeared the blood onto myeyelids. I looked around but my surroundings didn’t change…

In other words, I was in a real graveyard! Why did he have to bring me here? He knew this sort of graveyardwouldn’t bea threat to me.

If he didn’t want to harm me, why did he bring me here? I remembered what he told me… He said he was the one thatestablished thisplace.It seemedhe wanted to remove mefrom the picture as I was anuglythornin his eyes.

Did he know what I was about to do?

Hong Tianbao and his brother must be in dangerat thismoment. I didn’t have time to think that much. I navigated my way then rushed away.

When I reached the village, everything looked normal except for the Hong family’s house. Dark air reached the sky. However, the dark air lookedas though it hadshifted between expanding and lingering above the house.

I dashed to the house. I saw Old Hong. He had red eyes, anddark airwindedaround him. Hong Tianbao and Hong Tianjiang had knives placed at their throats.

The two men were threatening Old Hong, asking him totakeoff his red turban. Otherwise,they would kill themselves right in front of him.

Now I understood why the dark airwaslingering in the air.

Although Old Hong was being controlled, he was Hong Tianbao and Hong Tianjiang’s father. Hong Tianbao had a cut on his neck already. I guessed he did that to put more pressure on Old Hong.

Hong Tianbao told me that he would get the red turban within three days. I guessed this was his last resort.

I was shocked. What they were doing was dangerous. We didn’t know how long Old Hong could keep his sane mind.

“Get lost!”

Indeed, as soon as Old Hong knew that his sons wanted to take his red turban, he was enraged.The darkair thatarose from him then expandedand coveredHong Tianbao and his brother altogether.

In this urgent situation, I didn’t have time to wait for Li Mazi. I immediately took out the Sirius Whip and used theBigDipper Sirius Spell to attack Old Hong.

As soon asI read the spell,the entire Sirius Whip glowed inabeautiful silver light. It looked like the real seven stars of the Big Dipper. Wherever the whip passed by, the black mist vanished.

Old Hong recognized how intimidating I was. He swiftly controlled Hong Tianbao and his brother.

Wisps of dark air entered HongTianbao andhis brother’s mouths. I knew that if it succeeded, the two brothers would become Hong Xiuquan’s puppets. Iwouldn’t be able to deal with the three of themat once.

I bit the tip of my tongueand spatblood on the Sirius Whip. I seized the chance I still hadto lash Old Hong one last time with thepowerful whip.

Old Hong panickedwhen he realizedthat I was about to risk allthatIhadwith him. He raised both hands to resist, which made him release Hong Tianbao and Hong Tianjiang.

I took the chance and swayed my whip. Then, I pulledHong Tianbao toward me. The dark air had already affected him. He looked absent-minded now. I had to press hard on his medial cleft. He then shook his head and got a hold of himself.

“I’m going to save your brother and draw your father’s attention. You should find a chance to get the red turban!” I quickly muttered to Hong Tianbao.

He gave me a confirming nod. I turned to face Old Hong. Old Hong laughed sinisterly. He grabbed Hong Tianjiang againand hurledthe man toward me.

At this critical moment, I had toplay hard. I rolled away and got up swiftly. Ididn’t show mercyas Icoiled the Sirius Whip around Old Hong’s neck.

Old Hongdidn’t expectthat I would ignore Hong Tianjiang. He wasn’t cautious enough. Igot him at that moment.

The Sirius Whip hit his glabella, andI saw a dark shadowflyaway from him. Old Hong shivered then slumped on the ground unconsciously. Hong Tianbao took the chance and got the red turban. He handedthe item to me.

I was thrilled. After waking up Hong Tianjiang, Istucka few medium-level spirit talismans on the red turban.

Withoutahost, the otherworldly item’s fighting power dropped sharply. Moreover, the spiritwashit hard by my Sirius Whip. It wouldn’t have enough power to break the talismans.

The three of us heaved sighs of relief. We had been playing this chess match for a few days in a row. And now, wehad reacheda point to break through the bottleneck.

When Old Hong woke up, he didn’t haveastrong reaction to his missing red turban. It seemed it was the ghost of Hong Xiuquanthathad made him consider the red turban as important as his life.

As the old man was affected by the spirit, I went out to pick some herbs and madeaconcoction to replenish him. At the same time, I asked him about the origin of the red turban.

Surprisingly,this was reallyHong Xiuquan’sturban!

The legend said that when Hong Xiuquan drank poison toendhis life, he spat blood on this red turban and handed the turban to his subordinate, who was Old Hong’s ancestor. He had one final wish, which was that they continue to fight against the Qing imperial court.

Thebloodstainson the red turban helped Hong Xiuquan’s ghost stay in this turban. Moreover, he used Old Hong’s body to nurture his incomplete soul.It was toobad for him that I foiled his plan before he couldsucceed.

When Li Mazi arrived, I told himthat the case was over.OnceOld Hong recovered, we would leave.

But when I thought everythinghadfinally come to an end… It turned out I was wrong.It was just the beginning!

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