Otherworldly Merchant
Chapter 536: The Unimaginable Real Culprit

Some people in the village started to have the sameproblem. Their symptoms were like that of Old Hong. After midnight, they would run away from home andvowsomething. Then, theywould startto burn the homes of rich people.

At first, there was only one person affected. Gradually,the number increased.Thiswas the real purpose of the spirit!

This group of people hated evildoersas their archenemies. They even went to the rich housesand robbed themin daylight!Itwas no use to report to the police because they didn’t remember what had happened to them or what they had done. The policewerehelpless.

Old Hong’s family members sighed and were worried. Of course, they knew what wascausingtrouble to the villagers.

“Brother Jiulin,wasn’tthat thing destroyed?” asked Hong Tianbao gloomily.

I didn’t know how to answer him. The otherworldly item was imprisoned by my talismans. In theory, such incidents shouldn’t happen.

Li Mazi saw our glum facesandhalf-joked with us. “Perhapstheghost of Hong Xiuquan deceived us…”

After listeningto Li Mazi, I carefully replayed the incidents in my head. I knew I had underestimated Hong Xiuquan. I had hit him several times andnothing hadhappened to him, so how could my last attack expel him so easily?

He had fooled me!

He knew I hada way of dealingwith him. Even if he’dlatchedontoOld Hong, hecouldn’tdo anything. As such,hepretended to be defeated and let me get the red turban.

Wewould thinkthat the case was solved andlet our guard down.Thiswould give him time to replenish hissoul, making iteasier for him to find a body to possess later!

We could say that he had succeeded. Those people had lost their minds and started to burn houses and rob people. Hong Xiuquan had taken one step back to advance evenfurther!

I suddenly jolted up. Hong Tianbao and Li Mazi were startled. They thoughtthat I was possessed, too.

I didn’t talk to them but entered the house. Istarted to recall everythingthat happened inthe past half month.

At nightfall, Hong Tianbao suddenly called meand toldme that he needed to discuss something with me. He brought me out of the houseand wentto a deserted area. There was no one else but us here.

There was something wrong with Hong Tianbao. Discreetly, I put up my guard.

“Jiulin, brother!”Hong Tianbao lit up a cigaretteand puffedtwice.

I noddedand signaled athim to continue. He fumed a ring of smoke. Histone was heavy and worried. “Ididn’t want to tell youthisbut since it has cometo this point, I’m afraid that if I don’t tell you, it will become a real disaster…”

Hong Tianbaowas keepinga secret from me allthistime!

I was a little angry but anger couldn’t help me with anything now. “Do tell me…”

It turned out thatOld Hong had a grudge againsteveryfamily in Jintian Village!

Hong Tianbao was doing jade business in another province, so he didn’t come home very often. Hong Tianjiang was a simple,middle-aged manthathadn’t married. Old Hong workedin their fields all the time. In this village, their family was at a disadvantage.

The other villagers thought that Hong Tianbao was richdue tohis business, so they wanted to take advantageofthis family. Old Hong was enraged. He quarreled and fought with the others in the fields. Hong Tianjiangcame intime to stop them, so no one was harmed.

Unexpectedly,as soon asOld Hong smoothened his anger the next day, he found that all hiscropswereburned down!

Many people were presentatthefight. Old Hong didn’t knowwho did thatto his family. Thatwaswhy he had kept a grudge against all of them. Old Hong had called Hong Tianbao to tell him about this. However, Hong Tianbao thought that it was just a trivial grudge.

Afterward, Old Hong put on the red turban and the strangeincidents started.

I opened my eyes wide in shock. Did Old Hong have a deal with that otherworldly item? Could it be that helet the otherworldly item control his body to help it fulfill something and that the otherworldly itemwas going tohelp him take revenge? Was that whysome houseswereburned?

If so, everythingmade sense. Old Hong didn’t forget anything, and the video wasn’t deleted unknowingly. He remembered everything!

It was nowonder he had tried his best to protect the red turban. It wasn’t his family heirloom! He was afraid that Iwould findout!

But then, there was one thing Iwasn’t clear about…“Ifthat’s the case, why did he tell me about the origin of the red turban?”

Hong Tianbao shook his head. “I don’t know. Perhaps, my father felt guilty. He has been an honest farmer for his whole life. He has never harmed anybody proactively.”

Thatwaswhy they wanted to keep me here in case something horrible happened.

“Oh, there’s one more thing. The red turban youhaveis a fake one.” Hong Tianbao threw me a heavier bomb.

What the heck? Fake? I had risked my life to get a fake red turban?

Hong Tianbaosaid,“I’ve seen the red turban my father said was our family heirloom. It’s old, so the color can’t be that bright. Moreover, it has abloodstainthat looks like a flower. The turban youhavehas a bright colorand is prettyclean.That day, I panickedanddidn’t pay attention to these details. Until these twopastdays, when the incidentsstarted to happenagain, I recognized that itwasn’tthe right red turban.”

I took a deep breath. “If that turban is fake, where is the real one? I didn’t see your fatherwearred turbans.”

“I don’t know. I decided to tell you this because I can see that things are getting worse. I don’t want to live with this secret as it will trouble me for the rest of my life.BrotherJiulin, we have to count on you now. Whether that red turban is fake or not,awisp of the real ghost is there! I’ve been with you for a while, and I now know that the incomplete spirit will become weaker without that wisp of soul.” Hong Tianbao was smart and hehadthe right analysis.

I sighed. “It’s no use. We don’t know where that spirit is hiding. From the current incidents in the village, I know the spirit is weakened, but it’s still very powerful.”

I patted Hong Tianbao’s shoulderand askedhim not toworry too much. “I’ve accepted this case, so I will try my best. I don’t want to see our good fellows become evildue toa spirit.”

Hong Tianbao heaved a sigh of relief.At thismoment, Hong Tianjiang rushed from a fardistance. He was lookingfor me.

I exchanged smiles with Hong Tianbaoand thoughtthat Hong Tianjiang had alsorealized thatsomethingwaswrong and wanted to tell me the truth.Unexpectedly, Hong Tianjiang didn’t say anything about that. “Bad thingshavehappened to a family in the village. You should go and see yourself.”

Of course, I didn’trefuse. Hong Tianbao went home to take care of Old Hong while Ileft with Hong Tianjiangtothat family.

It was the Li family livingatthe end of the village. There was a long distance between the Hong family’s houseand Li'shouse. Along the way, I chatted with Hong Tianjiang. I was amazed that Hong Tianjiang, a simpleandnice farmer who didn’t talk much, could become so talkative today. However, his story wasinteresting enough thatI wasn’t bored at all.

I didn’tcare too much and thoughtthat perhapsit was becauseOld Hong was all right now.He was probably feelingmuch better.

We had walked for around ten minutesuntil we reachedthe Li family’s house. The sky was completely dark, but there was no light in that house. There was a table set up in the middle of the courtyard with a flickering candle on it.I saw a shadowsitting there by a flickering candle. However, I couldn’t see that person’s face.

“Don’t be scared. Widow Li’s husband passed away a long time ago. Her husband leftherwithason. This family is really poor. To support her son to finish his schooling, sheincurred bigdebts. That’s why she doesn’t want to turn on the lights when her son isn’t home. She wants to save money. You see, sheonlyhasa candle.”

I understood her storyand followedHong Tianjiang into thecourtyard.

Unexpectedly, after we entered the courtyard, Hong Tianjiang told me that hehadsomething urgent to do and that he needed to leave now. Ithought it wasso strange. Widow Ligot up from behind the glow of the candleand thankedHong Tianjiang. I thoughtWidow Li’s attitude towards Hong Tianjiang was really strange. He had just helped her invite me here, and now she was bowing deeply to himand thankinghim with nice words. I looked at her and had a feeling that shewouldeven want to get on her knees…

When she cametome, I realized thatWidow Li was really beautiful. She was around forty years old, hada standard oval face, big eyes, and a small nose.However, herskin wasn’t fair, and her eyes didn’t have a bright spirit.If it weren’tforher living conditions,she would be a very charming woman.

After Hong Tianjiang left,Widow Li suddenly kept silent. I guessed she didn’t know what to say. Itookthe initiative. “Why didyou want to see me?”

Widow Lihad hesitated for a long moment. She didn’t tell me thereason. “Please follow me. You’ll see.”

I looked into the house.There wasno beam of light around. How could I see anything? WidowLikept asking me to see. I thought it was no use to stay outside, so I entered the house. It was pitch-black, andI had to take a long moment to adjust. After a while, I could vaguely recognize the things in her house.

WidowLi’sfamilywas really poor, justasHong Tianjiang had told me. Therewasa common saying that best described her house – “Ahouse that hadnothing except for the four walls.” Her house was almost empty. Her kitchen counter was also in the living room. The house was tiny in general, and I smelled the funny smell of mold. However, I checked around and found nothing special. I didn’t know what she wanted me to see so Iturned toask her.

WidowListood by the light of the candleand lookedat me with her beautiful eyes. Half of her face looked perfect,whilethe other half looked like her skin was peeling off. I thought I even saw something wiggling under her skin. This striking contrast scared me. I almost screamed.

I was bewildered.Then,Widow Li stooped and blew out the candle. At the moment thecandlelightwas gone, she lifted her headand lookedat me. Hereyes were maliciously strange and reluctant.

In the next moment, the surroundings changed again. Space began to twist. Incomplete corpses appeared in my eyes.After lookingat those withered corpses, I knew theyhad beendead for a long time.

All the corpses had a red turban on their heads… Were they the Taiping soldiers?

But it wasn’t logical. The Taiping soldiers in Jintian Village were a group of rebellious farmers. They weren’t establishedon alarge scale, and they didn’t receive many casualties. However, right now, there were at least several hundred spirits around me.

Holymoly,didHongXiuquan movethe ghosts of Taiping soldiers here? Does he want to create a new ghost army?

“Muahaha……”Right asI wanted to move, a figure appeared at the end of the troop line. He leisurely took each step. The red turban was on his head.

Hesmirked. Withthe corpseslyingaround, he looked extremely cold and sinister.

I was stunned that it was Hong Tianjiang. Theplainandinnocent-looking Hong Tianjiang!

“How do you feel now? This is the army I’m going to control to recover my kingdom.” Hong Tianjiang sounded contended.

“Why is it you?” I couldn’t accept it. From his tone, I knew he was the hand behind all ofthisright from the beginning.

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