《Otherworldly Merchant》Chapter 584: Burning Paper Money
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I shook my head. “The biggest problem is that we don’t know where the spirit came from. Moreover, we don’t know if it will kill more people.”
That thing had killed a man in the blink of an eye and left the murder scene in the next second. There was no time to react.
I had stood still for quite a long time, but I couldn’t figure out any solutions. Feeling helpless, I had to ask Jiang Teng to take me to his house to see if there were any clues.
The bodyguard drove fast. After around ten minutes, the car stopped in front of a lavish villa. Immediately, a servant came to open the car door and respectfully invited me out.
When I got out of the car, I felt a little uncomfortable. I couldn’t adapt to this etiquette. Jiang Teng was used to it. He didn’t even glance at the servant and directly walked into the villa.
The interior of the villa was decorated even more lavishly than the outside. The floor had Italian tiles, too. I didn’t know that Jiang Teng was this rich.
I looked around the house and noticed that the entrance corridor of this house was arranged according to the geomancy set up of receiving wind and storing energy. I was certain that they had consulted a master.
Thus, the geomancy of this villa could attract wealth and expel evils. Jiang Guanguan shouldn't have attracted something foul as he lived in such an auspicious place. I thought there should be something else, too.
I turned to Jiang Teng and asked, “Before your son died, did he do anything strange?”
Jiang Teng thought, then shook his head.
I wasn’t pleased with that answer and asked further, “Has he ever offended anybody?”
Jiang Teng’s face turned strange. After a long time, he answered embarrassedly, “My son was a little rebellious during his adolescence. He didn’t like to talk about his personal life with the family.”
I wanted to ask more, but a bodyguard pushed the door open and interrupted me. He sounded hurried. “Mr. Chairman, that person has come again…”
Jiang Teng’s face changed again. He darkly shouted, “Are you guards trash or what?”
Before the bodyguard could explain, Jiang Teng interrupted him and said annoyedly, “All right, I’ll see for myself.”
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The bodyguard looked hesitant as he turned to me. It seemed he didn’t want me to follow his boss. I arched one brow. “I want to check the geomancy of the rooms here. I’m not going downstairs with you.”
Both of them heaved sighs of relief. Then, they hurriedly left.
Anyway, Jiang Guanguan’s bedroom window faced the entrance of the villa. I could just hide behind the curtain to observe the situation down there.
At this time, several guards were surrounding a gray-haired old man. The old man was kneeling on the grass; a brazier was in front of him. While crying, he was putting something into the fire. I squinted and recognized that he was burning paper money!
It was really unfortunate to burn paper money in front of the house. It was no wonder Jiang Teng wore such a bad face.
The beefy bodyguards all had their electric batons ready, which were vibrating dangerously. However, no one took action. This group of people looked strange, indeed. Then, one of the bodyguards moved aside, which gave me room to see that the old man had a knife placed at his throat. He looked as though he would kill himself if someone made a move.
Soon, Jiang Teng appeared within my sight. Unexpectedly, the first thing he did was turn to see the room where I was standing. I was startled and hid behind the curtain. Subconsciously, I thought he was watching me.
If he was afraid that I would know something about this old man, then this old man must have something to do with Jiang Guanguan.
Soon, the people began to quarrel. I vaguely heard Jiang Teng insult the old man and the old man whining.
A few minutes later, the villa’s quietness resumed. I heard footsteps from the corridor. Thinking that it could be Jiang Teng heading to this room, I pulled myself together and watched the ground. I pretended to be checking something.
“Mr. Zhang…” The bodyguard called me. It sounded like he was questioning something.
“What?” I lifted my head abruptly.
The bodyguard changed his countenance and smiled at me. “It’s getting late. Do you want to rest early?”
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I got up and rubbed my numb legs. After giving him a nod, I asked him to settle me in the room opposite Jiang Guanguan’s.
I had waited for the whole night but found no clues. I was skeptical if the spirit would come back here one more time.
When the bodyguard came to call me downstairs for breakfast the next morning, he was surprised to see me haggard with dark circles under my eyes. I wasn’t thick-faced enough to tell him that I had stayed up the whole night for nothing.
After breakfast, I asked the bodyguard to get me some red paper. Jiang Teng didn’t get it. “Forgive me for taking the liberty to ask, but why do you want red paper?”
I looked at him and said indifferently, “You’ll know tonight.”
I didn’t know why, but after seeing the white-haired old man last night, I felt somewhat hostile toward Jiang Teng. I’d seen enough rich people doing bad things. Although Jiang Teng had purposely hidden things from me, I thought I could somewhat guess it.
Jiang Teng didn’t pester me as he had recognized that I didn’t want to explain. While the bodyguard was out buying the red paper, I rested on the sofa.
When the bodyguard came back, he had company. The man with him looked arrogant. When he talked to people, his eyes haughtily turned upward. I felt irritated.
After the man went to the study room with Jiang Teng, I turned to ask the bodyguard, “Is that man one of Jiang Teng’s business friends?”
The bodyguard nodded. Since that person had nothing to do with Jiang Guanguan, I didn’t need to care about him.
I asked the bodyguard to bring the red paper to the room with me. We then used a pair of scissors and Jiang Guanguan’s picture to cut up a paper doll. I used cinnabar ink to write Jiang Guanguan’s birthday on the back of the doll.
After adding a few drops of Jiang Teng’s blood on it, I put the paper doll on Jiang Guanguan’s bed.
After everything was done, the bodyguard asked me curiously, “What are you doing?”
“Making a stand-in.” While wiping my hands with a towel, I explained to him, “I wrote Young Master Jiang’s birthday on the doll and added his father’s blood. I want to make the spirit think that Jiang Guanguan’s still alive.”
Jiang Teng and Jiang Guanguan had a blood bond that the spirit couldn’t distinguish. I was certain it would come again.
The bodyguard took in a deep breath and asked incredulously, “You mean, you want to entice it to come here?”
I shot him a strange look. If I couldn’t lure the spirit out, how could I solve it?
The bodyguard recognized that he had asked a dumb question. “I’m sorry. I was so scared yesterday. I couldn’t keep calm when you said the spirit would come here.”
I nodded as I understood. I gave him a spirit talisman to protect himself. The bodyguard anxiously put it into his shirt pocket and thanked me repeatedly.
I waved my hand. “Not at all. Anyway, I need to take a nap. You stay here and watch. Do not let anybody approach the paper stand-in.”
The bodyguard grimaced and asked, “Can I ask someone else?”
Looking at his fearful face, I laughed inwardly. Pointing at the sun held high in the sky outside, I said, “Spirits won’t come out during the day. Don’t worry. Wake me up when the sun sets.”
He exhaled and patted his chest. “I promise I will watch the doll well.”
I gave him a satisfied nod and left.
At around twilight, the bodyguard woke me up. I got up and ate something before going to Jiang Guanguan’s bedroom. I hid into the wall closet that faced the window.
To observe the room, I pushed the doors of the closet open just a little. As the night came, the light in the room was swallowed little by little. Soon, it was completely dark.
I smeared some garlic water over my body to conceal my Yang energy. Then, I closed my eyes to resume my composure.
As time ticked by, I started to feel worried. At midnight, I heard the wind howling. It was blowing into the room through the window.
I thought to myself, Here it comes!
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Cycles of Power
Riva is a sapient dungeon trying to survive and discover where she came from. But no one exists in isolation. Will Riva be able to survive the adventurers and intrigue to come? Who is this human in her visions? Will Riva ever reclaim her past and secure a future?... Thousands of years ago wild dungeons appeared out of nowhere and conquered the world. Armies could not hold back the infinite hordes of spawned monsters. The sapient races barely eked out survival in the corners of the world. Only the infighting between the savage dungeons allowed the sentient races to outlive these dark ages. Out of this struggle, adventurers were forged. By conquering weaker dungeons, adventurers discovered how to capture life energy to perform great feats of strength and create magic. Now, as adventurers pushed back dungeons, population boomed again. But with rising numbers comes new factions, greed, and war. Caught among these powerhouses lies Riva. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ On hiatus for the foreseeable future. I finished the first arc, improved my writing a lot, and learned I want to write from a humanoid perspective. Currently building up chapters for new series.
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8 204ᴏɴᴇ ᴘɪᴇᴄᴇ: ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ʜɪꜱ ᴍᴇᴍᴏʀɪᴇꜱ, ʟɪᴇꜱ ᴀ ᴛʀᴀɢɪᴄ ʟᴏᴠᴇ. [ᴍᴏɴᴇᴋʏ ᴅ. ʟᴜꜰꜰʏ]
𝕋𝕙𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙 ℍ𝕚𝕤 𝕄𝕖𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕤, 𝕃𝕚𝕖𝕤 𝔸 𝕋𝕣𝕒𝕘𝕚𝕔 𝕃𝕠𝕧𝕖▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬☆꧁✬◦°˚°◦. ꜱʏᴘɴᴏꜱɪꜱ .◦°˚°◦✬꧂☆❝ɪᴛ ᴡᴀꜱ ꜱᴜᴘᴘᴏꜱᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴀ ꜱᴇᴄʀᴇᴛ, ꜱᴇᴄʀᴇᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴏɴʟʏ ʜᴇ ᴋɴᴇᴡ. ʙᴜᴛ ʜᴇ ᴅɪᴅɴ'ᴛ ᴇxᴘᴇᴄᴛ, ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀ ʙᴇᴄᴏᴍɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘɪʀᴀᴛᴇ ᴋɪɴɢ, ʜɪꜱ ᴍᴇᴍᴏʀɪᴇꜱ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʙᴇ ᴘʟᴀʏᴇᴅ ɪɴ ꜰʀᴏɴᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴏɴᴇ.... ʙᴜᴛ ɪᴛ'ꜱ ᴏᴋᴀʏ, ʙᴇᴄᴀᴜꜱᴇ ʜᴇ ᴍᴀɴᴀɢᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴇᴇ ʜᴇʀ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ.❞▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃☪🄰🅄🅃🄷🄾🅁 ➺ ᴅʀᴏᴡɴᴇᴅ_ɪɴ_ᴛʜᴇ_ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ☠ 🄾🄽🄴 🄿🄸🄴🄲🄴 ➺ ᴍᴏɴᴋᴇʏ ᴅ. ʟᴜꜰꜰʏ (🅢🅛🅞🅦 🅤🅟🅓🅐🅣🅔🅢)
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