The Mysterious Ming Dynasty: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

Ghost city.

"Knock knock knock!"

"Open the gate! The Six Divine Generals under the Great Teacher's rule are here to apprehend the fugitive!"

Jia Chen raised his fist, as big as a sandbag, and pounded on the black door.

Ripples spread across the space between reality and the spirit world.

As Jia Chen's actions became increasingly ruthless.

A sliver of light peeked out from the crack.

Jia Chen opened his eyes wide and glanced around at the unfamiliar place.

"Oh! He's an unregistered resident."

"Did you even register your business? Ah~ You dare to operate here without a license!"

Did they not know that the entire north was within the range of the Heavenly Official's sword light?

A giant pupil appeared on the dome of the Ghost Market.

The ghost market seemed to have been muted.

"What bad luck!" A bull demon turned around, picked up its bag, and ran away, disappearing into the depths of the spirit realm.

"The Heavenly Official is here!"

"Run, everyone!"

"If you get caught, you'll be imprisoned for five hundred years!"

The fox spirit, carrying a crab lantern and clutching the bald, long-tailed creature that had just been sold out, stormed out the door.

The round Taishan stone rolled away with a gurgling sound.

Some little fairies even kicked over their bathwater and scrambled away.

The once bustling fairy market was deserted, leaving only a few cultivators sitting uneasily, sighing as they gazed at the emerald-green blue lanterns and will-o'-the-wisps.

The paradise of spirits is the spirit world.

It was a paradise that people of the modern world could not enter.

Sichen's main duties are preventing illegal immigration and smuggling, and slaying demons and monsters; these are just secondary duties.

Because in a world dominated by the Eastern order, all things possess a spirit.

Even stones can develop spirituality and embark on a spiritual path.

They're all idiots.

The kind of person who would sell themselves out and still count the money.

The spirit world is composed of all sentient beings from ancient times to the present. It has its own laws governing the heavens, but it relies on heroic spirits and celestial officials to govern the outside world.

"Please have mercy!"

A raccoon cat rolled out from a corner of the ghost market.

He's still an old man in his eighties.

His beard and hair were all white.

She cried and screamed, her fingers trembling as she opened the door.

"Meow is from Xi'an. Ever since Li Zicheng captured the Prince of Qin, we were also driven out. We migrated here and are unfamiliar with the local customs and traditions. This is not an act of condoning evil or showing mercy to the Protector!"

This ghost market, spanning ten miles in radius, was all painstakingly stolen from an old hibernating dragon, and this damned thing has smashed one-tenth of it!

A small figure dressed in yellow climbed onto Jia Chen's trouser leg and said to the old man, "Get off me, don't pull me away."

"Man, I want to report this! This old cat gathers thugs every night, and he's also smuggling..."

The cat-like creature sprawled out on its stomach, prostrating itself on the ground. "I confess! I really confess! It was just a group of people asking me to smuggle tea, but I know nothing else..."

Do you know what a ghost market is?

Things that can't be brought into the light are called ghost markets.

He's just a middleman, with so many customers all day long, who would have known there was a bastard selling contraband?

Jia Chen, wielding his golden mace, said, "You don't know that people are buying and selling human bones here? Who are you trying to fool? Even the Heavenly Official might give you a chance to argue, but I'm just a rough man, and this golden mace will show no mercy."

"Speak!" Jia Chen grabbed the cat-raccoon by the scruff of its neck, which was full of fat, and shook it violently. "Will you talk or not?"

"Meow, the cat really doesn't know!"

"Still not talking? Believe me or not, I'll take both your bells off!"

"It's really gone! Cats can pay taxes! A thousand mithril coins, a thousand coins!"

"real?"

"It's even more real than refined gold."

"Oh dear, look what's happened. It turns out I was mistaken and almost wrongly harmed a loyal and virtuous person. Please rise quickly."

The cat rolled over, fussing for a while, before finally spitting out a silver ball.

Jia Chen grinned and tucked the silver ball into his sleeve. "Lead the way, lead the way. Remember to report next time."

He then cut half off the silver ball and tossed it to the yellow-clad little man, Ding Qingji, even though he felt that all the Qingjis looked the same and he couldn't tell them apart.

"You're so generous, sir!" Qing Ji's voice became even more obsequious.

The old cat sneered, "Disgusting."

"Yes, sir, I'll show you the way. Yes, yes, that's him!" Old Cat pointed to a low house.

A black rat-man rolled out and charged straight at Jia Chen.

"They even dare to arrest people." Jia Chen's eyes widened. "Incredible."

The golden mace in his hand was almost a series of afterimages.

The black ratman flew back at an even faster speed.

Only half remained.

He was even shorter than Qing Ji, who was short.

Jia Chen was completely untouched by any leaves. He picked up a burlap sack, put a rat's brain on it, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Remember this: anyone who dares to sell human bones here will be killed without mercy."

We don't punish the diligent or the lazy; we only punish the blind.

The old cat nodded repeatedly, "I've remembered it all, I've remembered it all."

Jia Chen pointed to the other side and said, "And you guys, get over here."

A dozen or so torchbearers in brocade robes stood out conspicuously in the ghost market.

When he's blind.

The torchbearers huddled together, barely managing to straighten their backs. "We didn't do anything, please inspect us, Dharma Protector."

At this point, to put up a stubborn resistance is to resist law enforcement, and that could really mean death.

When heroic spirits kill, they don't care about your identity.

Would good families come to the black market?

"You're under arrest."

"Come with me, everyone."

Jia Chen brandished the golden mace in his hand, "The Heavenly Official will speak with you personally."

The torchbearers felt relieved, thinking, "That's good, that's good."

The elderly man watched them leave, his eyes brimming with tears.

"By the way, you're not allowed to wander off. Stay right here at the Three Forks River." Jia Chen suddenly turned around. "Dare to smuggle contraband, hmph."

The cat almost knelt down.

Until Jia Chen's figure disappeared.

Only then did he straighten up.

"Meow, a barbarian from the north, only a thousand coins to get rid of him. Is he begging? He's really never seen the world."

The cat-raccoon straightened up and began moving house, shaking its head as it did so.

"Right? I told you the Heavenly Official is a good person." The little man in yellow, Qing Ji, lay on the cat-like fox's snow-white hair.

"That's right, it's reliable."

at the same time.

A whirlpool suddenly appeared on the Haihe River, and then the surging water turned into steps, with Jia Chen leading a dozen or so torchbearers back to the shore step by step.

All the strange phenomena vanished instantly.

"Wait, I'll go report." Jia Chen waved his hand.

Only the ten torchbearers at the gate remained, looking at each other in bewilderment.

Jia Chen walked into the backyard without looking to the side, only to see that the entire room had been dyed blue, with emerald-colored veins growing on the ground.

"What is it? The superior is asleep."

The yellow-clad Ding Si, wielding a halberd, and the blue-armored divine general Jia Wu, carrying a pagoda, stood on either side of the entrance.

Jia Chen pondered for a moment, "Oh, it's not a big deal, I'll handle it myself."

The two closed their eyes again.

They look just like two door gods.

Before long, Jia Chen turned back again.

"Let's go."

"Blessed are you today."

"Labor reform".

They're just a few torchbearers, but they do have some magical power; we can't waste it.

The Torchman stared blankly at the wasteland before him.

"This isn't right, is it?"

"You're making us dig dirt here! This is outrageous! How can I, with the hand that holds a pen, hold a hoe?"

Jia Chen threw down his hoe and placed his golden mace on the ground. "Stop dawdling! Are you going to do it or not? Look at you poor scholars, you can't even afford a few coins of mithril for a fine. Are you trying to take advantage of me? Today I'll show you what I'm capable of."

The torchbearer wanted to cry but had no tears; the Tang Dynasty's military officers were truly formidable.

"Let's do it!"

"Fine, we'll do it!"