Having slept for the whole day, I had strange dreams. I dreamt of myself wearing tattered clothes. I was competing against stray dogs for food. I dreamt of myself standing atop a mountain with my hand in the air. After a wave of my hand, the picture of imposing battlefields appeared. I saw myself wearing an imperial robe. I was sitting 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…

My mind told me that these were the old stories of the spirit. He wanted to use these images to affect me and make me feel touched so that I would be on his side.

After thinking about 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 Dynasty conquered Nanjing, the capital of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Hong Xiuquan died in his Heavenly King Mansion. The cause of his death was unknown.

From what I saw in 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.

But that wasn’t the reason he set people’s houses on fire!

It was normal for dynasties to change. It was inevitable that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would eventually be 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-awake state. As soon as I woke up, I saw Old Hong standing next to me. He was looming over and looking at me with his dark face. His hands were still tied with an iron chain.

I got up immediately and grabbed the Sirius Whip.

It was no wonder I had that strange dream. He had come to trouble my sleep! I felt scared. If he had attached to me as I slept, I would have likely died. With this thought, my back became damp with sweat.

Unexpectedly, while I was so tense, he acted as if he was my friend. He sat next to me.

Then, he began to talk as though he was talking to himself. “We were just a bunch of farmers. If we weren’t forced, why would we rebel hoes and shovels as weapons? We couldn’t help it. We couldn’t put up with it anymore. That’s when we came up with the idea of a rebellion. Afterward, we couldn’t stop it. I was with Yang Xiuqing and the other brothers that nurtured the same dream. Together, we brought the enormous army of farmers and headed North. The corrupted Qing army wasn’t our equal opponent. Soon, we got Nanjing. When we made it the capital, we held a three-day party to celebrate.”

He continued, “I was their King! I provided the citizens of the Heavenly Kingdom with equal treatment. They were well-fed, and they wore warm clothes. Why, why did my army collapse after 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 we dreamt of, 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. We had created another Qing! Why did our original dream turn into that? I didn’t dare to face my failure. I chose death instead of watching the government I had established get dismissed. 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 Whip and gulped my saliva. Would he turn into a frenzy in the next moment?

I hurried to comfort him. “We live in the modern world now. It is the world that you dreamed 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 of this!”

I got it immediately. His desire for power got the best of him. He was telling lies about doing everything 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 scared due to the fight I had with him recently, and I didn’t have an item that could help me defeat him.

The strange thing was, we were loud enough to alert Hong Tianbao and his brother. But they never showed up. It wasn’t logical.

No, something was wrong. Old Hong’s room was locked up. How did he get out? I ran out of the room. At first glance, I was completely baffled.

That place wasn’t Old Hong’s house! It was a graveyard!

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

I felt a chill run down my spine. Was this an illusion scene Old Hong fabricated? Or did he have the power to bring me to this place without waking me up?

I hurried to bite my middle finger and smeared the blood onto my eyelids. 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 graveyard wouldn’t be a 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 that established this place. It seemed he wanted to remove me from the picture as I was an ugly thorn in his eyes.

Did he know what I was about to do?

Hong Tianbao and his brother must be in danger at this moment. 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 looked as though it had shifted between expanding and lingering above the house.

I dashed to the house. I saw Old Hong. He had red eyes, and dark air winded around him. Hong Tianbao and Hong Tianjiang had knives placed at their throats.

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

Now I understood why the dark air was lingering 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 dark air that arose from him then expanded and covered Hong 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 the Big Dipper Sirius Spell to attack Old Hong.

As soon as I read the spell, the entire Sirius Whip glowed in a beautiful 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 Hong Tianbao and his brother’s mouths. I knew that if it succeeded, the two brothers would become Hong Xiuquan’s puppets. I wouldn’t be able to deal with the three of them at once.

I bit the tip of my tongue and spat blood on the Sirius Whip. I seized the chance I still had to lash Old Hong one last time with the powerful whip.

Old Hong panicked when he realized that I was about to risk all that I had with 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 pulled Hong 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 again and hurled the man toward me.

At this critical moment, I had to play hard. I rolled away and got up swiftly. I didn’t show mercy as I coiled the Sirius Whip around Old Hong’s neck.

Old Hong didn’t expect that I would ignore Hong Tianjiang. He wasn’t cautious enough. I got him at that moment.

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

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

Without a host, the otherworldly item’s fighting power dropped sharply. Moreover, the spirit was hit 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, we had reached a point to break through the bottleneck.

When Old Hong woke up, he didn’t have a strong reaction to his missing red turban. It seemed it was the ghost of Hong Xiuquan that had 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 made a concoction to replenish him. At the same time, I asked him about the origin of the red turban.

Surprisingly, this was really Hong Xiuquan’s turban!

The legend said that when Hong Xiuquan drank poison to end his 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.

The bloodstains on 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 too bad for him that I foiled his plan before he could succeed.

When Li Mazi arrived, I told him that the case was over. Once Old Hong recovered, we would leave.

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