The Red Center Gambit

“History? The Past? Great Qi? Great Liang?”

Li Huowang listened in shock. What Zhuge Yuan was saying was even more earth-shattering than the revelation that he himself was Hong Zhong. “Is that even possible? The past is already set in stone. Can it really be changed just by saying so?”

“Why is it impossible? The history of Great Qi could be usurped by the false records of Great Liang. Why can’t your past be changed as well?”

This was precisely what Li Huowang feared. Although Zhuge Yuan had never harmed him, that didn’t mean everything he knew was true.

Li Huowang was about to say something else, but then another thought struck him. If all of this was real, didn’t that mean he wasn’t Hong Zhong? That his memories of the other world were genuine?

“But…” His train of thought hit a snag. “If I really am Hong Zhong, then that other world must be fake… yes, that’s right… but my past says I was never Hong Zhong. So, is that other world real or fake now?”

“Brother Li? Brother Li, are you alright?” Seeing Li Huowang frozen in place, Zhuge Yuan asked with concern.

“He’s fine. Let him be. You’re new here, so you don’t know. This kid is always going off into his own little world, out of his mind.” The Zuowandao hallucination jeered from the sidelines.

But just as he spoke, Li Huowang quickly asked, “Brother Zhuge, is what you said true? Can a person’s past really be changed?”

After all, this was far too shocking. The idea that even a person’s predetermined past could be altered… just what kind of being could accomplish such a thing?

Zhuge Yuan nodded. “An ordinary person naturally couldn’t do it. But think, Brother Li, who was by your side at the time? Doumu.”

As the Siming who governed the Yin-Yang Heavenly Way, it was entirely logical that she could perform such a strange act. But one thing puzzled Li Huowang. “Brother Zhuge, why would she do it?”

“I wouldn’t even be surprised if she had just killed me. But why go to all the trouble of forcing a false past as Hong Zhong onto me?”

Even a Siming must have a reason for what it does, right? It couldn’t be that, like the Zuowandao, it had just slapped a Hong Zhong past onto him for the fun of it? That wasn’t fun at all.

This question seemed to stump Zhuge Yuan as well. After thinking it over for a moment, he shook his head slightly. “This one does not know. But no matter how I look at it, you cannot be Hong Zhong. If you were, I would have seen it the first moment I laid eyes on you at the Buddha Bone Temple.”

That was true. Zhuge Yuan could see through the Zuowandao. And as Li Huowang scoured his newly acquired memories, he didn’t seem to have any outrageously powerful disguise ability that could fool Zhuge Yuan.

“Brother Li.” Zhuge Yuan’s expression turned serious.

“Set aside the matter of my ‘cultivating the false into truth’ for now,” Li Huowang said. “This false past as Hong Zhong is the most pressing issue. I don’t think it’s without its hidden dangers. Doumu must have some purpose in doing this.”

“No, no. Since I already know that the Hong Zhong past is false, it’s less of an immediate threat. We can deal with it later.”

Li Huowang cut him off, swung back onto his horse, his eyes gleaming.

“In Hong Zhong’s memories, I saw a true cultivation manual! A real cultivation manual! No matter what we do next, I have to get my hands on this first!”

“Oh? A real one? Where?” Zhuge Yuan was equally surprised.

“He hid it in a very secret place. I’m going to get it now.”

To keep it safe from others, Hong Zhong had stashed it far away, hundreds of li away. On the streets of a small town in the Jiangnan Circuit of Great Liang, Li Huowang led his horse, Mantou, slowly down the road.

The weather today was cold and damp. A chilly wind was blowing, and it was already night. Despite this, there were quite a few people on the roadside, standing inside white chalk circles and burning yellow spirit money. Most of them were gathered at crossroads.

It was only then that Li Huowang realized it was already the Qingming Festival. He had been in this world for over a year now.

As he walked on, the sound of indignant curses began to drift over from a distance.

Hit the villain’s head, so you have no breath left, bumping your skull every day;
Hit the villain’s face, so your whole family goes insane, living in disgrace your whole life;
Hit the villain’s eyes, so you hit a wall every day, getting slashed by people all the time;
Hit the villain’s ears, so you shit rotten shit every day, wiping it with your fingers;
Hit the villain’s mouth, so your breath smells like farts, and your front gate gets rammed…

Li Huowang turned toward the sound and saw an old woman who looked to be in her seventies or eighties. She was sitting on a small wooden stool, using her shoehorn to violently beat a palm-sized yellow paper effigy of a person lying on the ground.

Hearing the horse’s hooves, the old woman didn’t immediately look up. As she continued beating, she just stated her price. “Beating the villain, two hundred wen a go. Don’t complain about the price. Mine is way more effective than any other place! If you don’t believe me, just go and ask around!”

Li Huowang stared at the mole with long hairs on her chin. “How about we skip the villain-beating and play some mahjong instead? Me, you, and your daughter-in-law. We can play with the three of us.”

The old woman was stunned for a moment. When she looked up and saw Li Huowang’s face, her harsh features flickered with a moment of loss. Then, she immediately broke into a wide grin. “Alright! Sure, let’s do that! Come on, this way!”

At the old woman’s enthusiastic invitation, Li Huowang, she, and her plump daughter-in-law soon sat down at a mahjong table.

The three of them stared at the last empty seat, as if waiting for something.

Slap! Li Huowang slammed a mahjong tile labeled ‘Hong Zhong’—the Red Center—onto the center of the table. “We’re still one player short. Why don’t you two write out the missing piece?”

“Alright!” The mother and daughter-in-law swiftly brought out paper, ink, a brush, and an inkstone. They hung a large sheet of rice paper in the air, one writing on the front and the other on the back.

The black ink soaked through the paper, merging and blending together. And this was the cultivation manual that Hong Zhong had hidden.

No matter where he left it, someone could find it. So, Li Huowang had hidden it in the most secret place of all: the memories of a person.

“Sit cross-legged and calm the heart, relax and be natural. Gently close the lips and teeth, breathe slowly and smoothly. The hands must form a fist-seal, the eyes must look level. Gather the divine light, and send it to the heavenly heart…”

As he read the contents, Li Huowang’s hands trembled slightly. At this moment, the light sheet of paper felt as heavy as a thousand jin in his eyes. He never thought he would finally get his hands on the cultivation manual he had dreamed of.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Li Huowang immediately sat down cross-legged, clenched his fists, and prepared to begin cultivation.

“Brother Li, wait a moment,” Zhuge Yuan said, stopping him. “This could also be part of Doumu’s plan. Since she placed this cultivation manual in your memories, isn’t it possible she is waiting for you to cultivate it?”

These words made Li Huowang pause. He looked at the cultivation manual in his hand with a deeply complex expression. “Are you saying there’s a risk in cultivating this?”

“Perhaps. But you must think carefully before you act. Do not forget that you are not Hong Zhong. You are Li Huowang. That past does not belong to you.”