I become a god in another world

Chapter 749 Extinction of Counties and Towns
Chapter 749

Magistrate Pang felt extremely uncomfortable and tried to pull out a stool, but as soon as he did, the stool made a heavy, muffled sound, which was particularly jarring in the otherwise quiet hall at midnight.

The servants in the Demon Suppression Division of Tongshan County were well-trained. They heard the sound but did not turn around to look. However, Magistrate Pang was uneasy and instinctively froze.

After a while, he propped himself up, moved closer to Zhao Fusheng, and whispered:

"Sir, I feel this place is very eerie."

"It's eerie."

Zhao Fusheng said:

“I sensed the presence of malevolent energy, and these golden statues—”

As she spoke, her gaze shifted to the niche on the right, where a statue stood in the outermost niche.

The statue, holding a golden kitchen knife, was originally looking up at the courtyard outside, but when Zhao Fusheng looked over, the statue seemed to sense her movement and turned its head as well.

This scene immediately stunned Zhao Fusheng.

She looked again and saw that the statue had turned its head to look at the courtyard, as if the previous scene was a hallucination.

"Sir, what's wrong?"

Magistrate Pang sensed a pause in her tone and a slight change in her expression, and nervously pressed for an answer.

Zhao Fusheng snapped out of his daze and sneered:
"It's alright, but I think I know the origin of the evil energy now."

"What do you mean by that?" Magistrate Pang asked, puzzled.

Zhao Fusheng looked at Kuai Manzhou and Xu Yu:
"Did you see that?"

The two children nodded obediently in unison.

Kuai Manzhou said:

"Ghost Cave".

Xu Yu then began fiddling with her fingers, and a jet-black ghost pen appeared in her palm.

As soon as the Qiankun Brush was used, the evil energy in the room was immediately suppressed.

“Fusheng.” Xu Yu looked up at Zhao Fusheng. One of her eyes was dull and had lost its luster, but the other eye was full of spirit.

Zhao Fusheng met her eyes, feeling a slight pang in his heart.

Her hands clenched involuntarily, and after a long while, she took a deep breath and softened her tone:

"what happened?"

“Fusheng, forty-eight years ago, a great calamity struck Jinzhou. The imperial court abandoned a county, and it is said that many people died.” Xu Yu was unaware of Zhao Fusheng’s emotional shift; she was still trying to recall the events of that year.
"But back then, I was always waiting for you to come back and pick me up, so I didn't know much about some things about the Demon Suppression Division."

As she spoke of the past, a look of guilt crossed her face:

"If only I had paid more attention."

At that time, Xu Yu was focused on reuniting with Zhao Fusheng and the others, and since Jinzhou Prefecture had nothing to do with Zhao Fusheng and the others, she automatically ignored many irrelevant matters.

The reason I remember the ghostly calamity that occurred in Jinzhou forty-eight years ago is simply because the calamity was so severe at the time.

“I don’t know the specifics of the case.” She clenched her hands nervously, twisting her fingers repeatedly.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Fusheng sighed and reached out to pat her head.

As soon as she made this move, Zhao Fusheng saw out of the corner of her eye that Kuai Manzhou's expression froze. She then reached out her other hand to touch Kuai Manzhou, and the child's tense expression relaxed. He continued to shake the copper coin in his hand as if nothing had happened, but then tilted his head back and pressed the back of his head into her palm.

“Ah Yu even remembers this, so the time of the ghost case can be determined.”

When Zhao Fusheng praised him, Xu Yu's eyes lit up, and then he smiled shyly and happily.

……

As everyone was talking, footsteps sounded in the distance.

Zhao Fusheng put away his relaxed expression, turned his head and saw several people striding over.

The leader was about fifty years old, with a thin face, sunken cheeks, and sparse eyebrows.

He had thick hair and high brow bones, giving him a sinister look with his eyebrows pressing down on his eyes. He had a short mustache under his aquiline nose, which hid his thin lips in the thick beard.

Zhang Wanquan, who had previously received Zhao Fusheng, followed behind him in fear, not daring to raise his head the whole way.

Two rows of attendants followed him, one of whom carried a tray covered with a silver lid.

Even before the group got close, the smell of blood could be smelled.

As the crowd approached, Magistrate Pang saw the leader and instinctively tried to stand up, but he was only halfway up when he pushed the chair backward with his thigh, making a screeching sound.

Looking back, Zhao Fusheng and his two children were sitting steadily in the same spot.

Magistrate Pang was immediately embarrassed, unsure whether to stand or sit.

Just then, the leader stopped, forced a smile, then cupped his hands and casually cupped them in a respectful gesture:
"I heard that a high-ranking official from the capital has arrived. Was he sent by the king?"

The old man with the gloomy face asked:
"May I ask which king or general in the capital you are under the command of?"

Zhao Fusheng stretched out his arms and rested them on the armrests of the chair:
"Seal the capital."

As soon as she said this, the old man was stunned for a moment, and his expression immediately changed.

He seemed to instantly shed his arrogance, becoming much more humble and cautious.

"So Lord Zhao is Lord Fengdu's subordinate," he said.

"This time, it was Tongshan County's fault for not providing adequate hospitality." As he said this, a shadow crossed his eyes.

“An envoy from the capital is coming. I should have personally received him in Tongshan County, but my servant is so audacious that he dared to shirk his duties and send someone to deceive you. I have now dealt with him. Please take a look, sir.”

After he finished speaking, he raised his hand, and the servant carrying the tray stepped forward, while another person lifted the silver lid, revealing a human head with staring eyes inside.

"what--"

Magistrate Pang was, after all, a scholar. Although he had seen many dead people in this world, he was still startled and let out a scream when he suddenly saw a human head placed on a plate in front of everyone.

The smell of blood immediately became very strong in the hall.

The old man said:

“Logically speaking, this lackey—” He glared at Zhang Wanquan, his eyes fierce:

“He should be beheaded, but he said that the lord had told him to come back and serve him personally, so he was spared his life for the time being.”

Zhang Wanquan trembled with fear, his eyes pleading as he looked at Zhao Fusheng.

……

This is the Ghost Realm.

According to Xu Yu, this happened 48 years ago, and Tongshan County may have long been lost to the passage of time.

Whether these people before us were humble or arrogant, they had long since perished along with the calamity of that year.

Even though Zhao Fusheng was among them and saw the old man's ferocity and tendency to kill at the drop of a hat, a look of disgust still flashed in his eyes.

"What's your name?"

Zhao Fusheng didn't respond to his question, but instead asked him coldly.

The old man felt a chill run down his spine for some reason when she looked at him.

He felt immense pressure; her gaze was extremely aggressive, as if it made his thoughts nowhere to hide, and even the ghosts he controlled wanted to escape.

Upon realizing this, the old man felt as if a tidal wave of emotions had been surging within him.

"In reply to your question, my name is Cao Gu, and I command the Calamity Ghost."

Once he realized something was wrong, he was even better at reading people than Zhang Wanquan.

“I am a ghost tamer from Tongshan County. Above me is a commander named Jiang Wen, Lord Jiang. Lord Jiang was unaware that the envoy would be coming tonight, therefore—” Cao Shi’s attitude immediately changed, and he explained the situation in Tongshan County in detail. Tongshan County is not small. It is mainly a place that produces iron, copper and related products. Every year, a large number of ironware and copper products are presented as local specialties to the Demon Suppression Division in the capital.

The county has a Demon Suppression Division, which has three ghost tamers: one is the division chief named Jiang Wen, who tames calamity-level ghosts and has already reached the strength level of a silver general; the other is his twin brother named Jiang Wu, who also tames ghosts, but the ghosts he tames are calamity-level.

The two brothers controlled the Demon Suppression Division and made the area very successful, ruling like local emperors for five years.

Cao Gu was the other ghost tamer besides the two.

With the other two members of the Demon Suppression Division being brothers, Cao Gu's position was awkward, relegated to a role similar to that of a high-ranking steward.

But precisely because of this, he was exceptionally familiar with some affairs within the Demon Suppression Bureau, and in conversation, he quickly and clearly explained the personnel distribution of the Demon Suppression Bureau.

"Our Tongshan County has a total of 26 towns and 457 villages. In addition to the three ghost tamers, there are 48 ordinary messengers and 652 servants and attendants in the county government."

Zhao Fusheng was startled when he heard this.

She tapped the table twice and looked at Cao Gu:

"sit."

Cao Gu let out a barely perceptible sigh of relief.

After the initial tension, his mind quickly became active.

He mentioned that the brothers Jiang Wen and Jiang Wu both controlled ghosts; one controlled a calamity-level evil spirit, and the other controlled a calamity-level ghost. Including Cao Gu himself, this was enough to prove that Tongshan County was no ordinary county.

Such strength is not much weaker than that of a prefecture, and far surpasses that of an ordinary county.

However, Zhao Fusheng remained unfazed when he heard about the strength of Tongshan County.

Could it be that her strength surpasses Jiang Wen's? Or perhaps she is confident that she can suppress Jiang Wen and Jiang Wu?
Cao Guqiang suppressed the wild thoughts in his mind, carefully pulled up the hem of his clothes, and behind him, Zhang Wanquan, with keen insight, pulled out a chair for him, and he sat down naturally.

All of this happened naturally, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Zhao Fusheng, observing this, couldn't help but ask:

"Jiang Wen and Jiang Wu have been here for five years. How many years have you been here?"

Cao Gu tried to get up again, but Zhao Fusheng stepped on his stool to stop him.

"Sit and talk."

"Yes."

He started to tense up again.

It seemed that Zhao Fusheng's request was even more painful than having to kneel down to speak.

He forced himself to calm down and said:

"I have been here for two years."

Zhao Fusheng looked at Zhang Wanquan:

"What about you?"

Zhang Wanquan said:

"I have been working in the Demon Suppression Division for half a year."

Zhao Fusheng then laughed and said:

"To be so well-versed in the rules after only half a year, it's clear that the rules of the Demon Suppression Division in Tongshan County are extremely strict."

Cao Gu couldn't figure out her temperament or personality, nor could he tell whether her words were a compliment or an insult, so he could only give an awkward smile.

“I arrived at night and couldn’t see the outside clearly. Tell me about the layout of this city.”

Fortunately, Zhao Fusheng did not dwell on this topic, but quickly changed the subject and asked about the Demon Suppression Division in Tongshan County.

She was sent by the capital, and instead of asking about the ghost case, she started asking seemingly unrelated questions.

Cao Gu was suspicious, but dared not ask further, and replied:
"Replying to your question, sir, the Demon Suppression Division of Tongshan County is located in the center of the county town, with the village slaves living on both sides."

"Country slave?"

His answer was somewhat unexpected by Zhao Fusheng.

The Demon Suppression Division is generally considered the safest place in the area, so local gentry and powerful families would reside around it.

But Tongshan County seems to be different from other places. The surrounding area is not inhabited by the nobles of the city, but by so-called rural slaves.

Zhao Fusheng was also somewhat confused for a moment, and couldn't help but ask:

What is a rural slave?

“The rural slaves were special servants kept by the local gentry and aristocratic families,” Cao Gu replied.

His words left everyone somewhat bewildered.

Cao Gu then said:

"My lord, you may not know this, but our Tongshan County is different from other places. Generally, the local nobles here follow the principle of adopting the Demon Suppression Division."

"..."

Zhao Fusheng was completely confused, and couldn't help but ask:
What are the principles of adopting the Demon Suppression Division?

Cao Gu said:
"There are 16 local gentry in the county, 6 of whom are merchants with assets of 100,000 strings of cash, and 7 powerful families."

Zhao Fusheng and Magistrate Pang exchanged a glance:
"It sounds like Tongshan County is quite wealthy."

Cao Gu's face lit up with a smug look, but he quickly realized he had gotten carried away and immediately withdrew his strength, saying:
“These people are registered separately and make donations to the Demon Suppression Bureau every year according to their different industries and land.”

"What does the offering include?" Zhao Fusheng asked again.

Her question seemed to have hit a nerve, and Cao Gu, who had been answering readily before, showed hesitation on his face:
"this--"

"how?"

Zhao Fusheng's face darkened:
"Is it inconvenient to talk about it now?"

Cao Gu asked, "May I ask, sir, what is the purpose of your visit to Tongshan County?" He rubbed his hands together.

"To be frank, sir, both Lord Jiangs are in stable condition and possess sufficient strength. Lord Jiang Wen's annual decrees are enough to suppress the Ghost Tomb region. Furthermore, the county cases are handled annually according to the regulations of the Demon Suppression Law. This time, a troublesome citizen from Tongshan County filed a complaint—"

In short, he was worried that Zhao Fusheng's visit was intended to replace Jiang Wen and Jiang Wu's rule over Tongshan County.

Cao Gu was worried that if he talked too much, and a conflict arose between the two sides, he would be caught in the middle and not have a good time.

If Zhao Fusheng wins, all will be well; but if she loses, Tongshan County might be his final resting place.

He only dared to hint at it indirectly, not to say it outright.

Fortunately, Zhao Fusheng wasn't stupid. Hearing this, he gave a half-smile:
"What's the rush? I need to ask about the situation first before I can talk about the case."

She said calmly:

"Just answer whatever I ask. If the sky falls, I'll hold it up."

After Zhao Fusheng said this, Cao Gu had no choice but to accept it.

He was already beginning to regret his actions: if he had known this would happen, he should have reported the matter to Jiang Wen and Jiang Wu when Zhang Wanquan came to report, so that he wouldn't be in this dilemma now.

"Since that's the case, I'll tell you what you want to hear, sir," he said helplessly.
“In Tongshan County, wealthy families make offerings, and the amount of gold and silver they make each year is fixed. The most important offerings are copper and iron mines, as well as other sacrificial items, including livestock and human sacrifices.”

These offerings were so varied and numerous that he hesitated to give a detailed count.

Even so, it still surprised Zhao Fusheng somewhat:
What is human sacrifice?

Cao Gu said:
“Since seventeen years ago, there has been a light festival every year, which requires a large population.”

Upon hearing this, Zhao Fusheng felt a bad premonition:

"Does the Lantern Festival need people? Living people?"

(End of this chapter)