Hell Emperor.

Chapter 514: Nan Linghe - Riddle
"The Treasure City is ahead."

The Jiawu general, dressed in red armor, looked up and spoke slowly.

Outside the city, the smooth road is broad and thick, with tiny golden lights floating on the bluestone slabs. Merchant caravans are constantly coming and going. If one has better eyesight, one can also see the magnificent spirit boats looming in the clouds. Immortals come and go in an endless stream, and it is not uncommon to see them making three or five turns.

Beside him, General Ding Si said with emotion: "This place is indeed the main city of Qinglian Palace. It is truly the most prosperous place in Northern Juluzhou. No matter when you come here, you will be sincerely shocked."

The Jiashen God General who followed behind had an indifferent expression and just said:
"Okay, how long are you going to sigh here? You should go see the Great Elder as soon as possible."

Hearing this, thinking of what happened not long ago, General Ding Si was helpless and a little worried:

"I originally thought that this mission was quite easy, and that we only needed to help defend Qingdi City. I never thought that Palace Master Ye would do such a thing and occupy Qingdi City himself, forcing us to flee. It is really regrettable. We should report the news quickly."

After a pause, General Ding Si continued, "Tell me, if the Great Elder knew about this, would he let us take back Qingdi City? I don't want to fight with Palace Master Ye. He is an existence that can rival Pan Tianqi Zun. How can we be his opponent... But, I owe Qinglian Palace too much, and I can't refuse at all."

General Jiawu couldn't help but say, "So, who made you owe Qinglian Palace so much? Palace Master Ye obviously helped you pay it off. If you didn't owe so much, you could choose whether to accept the mission or not."

General Ding Si looked disdainful and said, "What do you know? Demons are rampant in this world. Even as a general, you are still in danger. When I die, I must leave a lot of debts behind. Otherwise, wouldn't it be a loss? It would be best if I die without reconciling my debts, so that my life will not be in vain."

General Jiawu frowned, having nothing to say. He just hoped that Ye Jie could complete the commission as soon as possible. He didn't want this evil fate any longer.

Even though Ziwei Palace declared war on Qinglian Palace, General Jiawu did not belong to Qinglian Palace, but was a general appointed by Heaven. He was only currently employed by Qinglian Palace to earn resources for his cultivation. As for his personal relationship with the master of Ziwei Palace, Qinglian Palace had no control over him.

Entering the largest palace in the city, under the guidance of the staff inside the palace, the three generals soon saw the Fairy Yunxiao sitting in the main seat.

Fairy Yunxiao had icy eyes, and between her brows was a piece of unmelted black ice. She was dressed in a plain dress with gilded seal characters embroidered on her sleeves, which added a bit of nobility to her.

"Reporting to the Great Elder, Ziwei Palace has declared war on Qinglian Palace, and even Qingdi City has been occupied by the Lord of Ziwei Palace."

Ding Si Divine General immediately spoke up and told the truth about everything that happened in the city: "...The master of Ziwei Palace is so powerful that even Sanquxian and Shoufa have been killed by him."

"The Lord of Ziwei Palace... I've heard of him. He is an Asura from the Demon Palace. Not long ago, he almost completely destroyed the Dongsheng Divine Continent, causing endless disasters. It was the Lord of Pingdeng Palace who intervened to stop everything. However, this also caused the Dongsheng Divine Continent to lose its immortal path and spiritual power, and completely fell into the mortal world."

Fairy Yunxiao opened her lips slightly, and the coldness in her eyes became even stronger:
"The threat level of the Purple Star Palace Master is no less than that of the demon god that the Ten Thousand Snake Cave intends to revive. Now, he has come to the north where we are, and it seems that his greed is insatiable. It has been a long time since the Green Lotus Palace has suffered such a great humiliation. The Purple Star Palace Master dared to declare war on us. If we don't teach him a severe lesson, I am afraid that the Green Lotus Palace will lose all its face."

Ding Si Divine General said in embarrassment: "We alone are no match for the Lord of Ziwei Palace. Even Pan Tianqi Zun can't do anything to him. What can we do? If we want to defeat him, at least a sixth-level immortal must take action."

Fairy Yunxiao had expected this, her eyes turned cold, "Well, let me do it myself and let him understand what a rank six immortal is. I want to see how his power can compete with the second-grade divine weapon in my hand. After I kill him, I will go and quell the unrest in the Ten Thousand Snake Cave."

Hearing this, the eyes of the three gods trembled. Fairy Yunxiao, who was fighting with all her strength, had a second-grade divine weapon on her, and her strength was even greater than that of Pan Tianqi Zun. This time, I'm afraid that the Lord of Ziwei Palace would suffer.

…………

Behind the wine country, Ye Jie walked around and soon found Meng Junyao who was playing with Nan Linghe.

Upon seeing Ye Jie, Meng Junyao's eyes lit up and she said loudly, "My dear, come and play games with us. It's fun!"

Ye Jie raised his eyebrows and showed a bit of curiosity: "What are you playing here?"

Meng Junyao smiled and said, "We are playing a guessing game, come and try it!"

"What should I do? Do you want to give me a riddle?" Ye Jie asked.

"Think of a number in your mind, from one to nine, but don't say it out loud!" Meng Junyao prompted.

"Don't tell me?"

Ye Jie silently counted to three in his heart, and then heard Meng Junyao pushing Nan Linghe and saying, "Guess what he is thinking of?"

Nan Linghe blinked and asked uncertainly, "Three?"

Ye Jie's eyes twitched. What kind of guessing game was this? Nan Linghe had guessed it right. He admitted, "You guessed it right."

“Do it again.” Meng Junyao clapped his dragon claws and said. This time, Ye Jie silently counted to five in his heart.

"Five?" Nan Linghe bit his finger and said uncertainly.

Ye Jie: “…”

Stroking his forehead, Ye Jie said, "You guessed right again...Okay, let's play something else."

Meng Junyao puffed her lips and said unconvincedly, "Why do I always guess wrong? What is the trick here? Sister He, please teach me quickly!"

Nan Linghe was a little confused: "I, I don't know either. I can just guess."

Seeing that Meng Junyao, who was like a child, was so focused on guessing riddles and didn't want to pay attention to anything else, Ye Jie felt a little embarrassed and had to speak:
"Let's play the guessing game later. We have more important things to deal with now. If we delay, many people will not have enough food to eat, or even starve to death."

After Ye Jie's persuasion, Meng Junyao also understood the seriousness of the problem, and said sullenly: "Then...after these things are dealt with, you have to come and play with someone you are destined to meet."

"Okay, I promise you." Ye Jie promised. He didn't know how the two of them came up with this guessing game.

Together with Meng Junyao, he went to the fertile fields polluted by Pan Tianxun. On the way, the crowd gathered in front and the constant shouting also attracted Ye Jie's attention.

"He was the one who stole the previous things!"

"I was wondering why so many were missing. It turns out he was the one who did it. This isn't the first time..." "God has mercy on us. We finally caught this thief and cut off his hands and feet so that he can never do this again!"

"Why bother? Just beat him to death."

Looking in the direction of the sound, Ye Jie couldn't help but frown, only to see a man covered in bruises lying on the ground surrounded by a crowd of people. The people around him were filled with resentment, and from time to time they would go over and kick him hard to vent their hatred.

"What are you doing here?"

Ye Jie spoke slowly, and his words immediately attracted the attention of the people around him.

"It's Palace Master Ye..."

"Palace Master Ye, you must do justice for us!"

The people around were talking to each other in a noisy manner. Ye Jie frowned and his eyes quickly fell on an old man outside the crowd. This man was Jia Shi, who had previously represented the people of Qingdi City to negotiate with Ye Jie.

Seeing this, Jia Shi took the initiative to speak: "Palace Master Ye, the farmers in the city have just caught a thief. Qingdi City will never tolerate theft. According to the previous rules, any thief with solid evidence can be dealt with by the catcher. They are discussing how to deal with the thief."

After hearing this, Ye Jie also understood the situation. Looking at the mortal man who was covered in wounds and almost unable to breathe, he asked, "What did he steal? Gold, silver, or spiritual stones?"

Jia Shi shook his head: "Neither, what he stole was the feces we worked so hard to produce."

Ye Jie was speechless for a moment, not knowing what to say. What kind of thing was this? Why would someone steal something like this instead of money? He could only ask, "Why would he steal feces?"

Jia Shi explained: "Palace Master Ye, you don't know that in Qingdi City, feces are a must for farming. When combined with the administrative options unlocked in the clerical agency, the farming efficiency can be increased many times."

A nearby farmer added: "Not only that, each of us has to hand in 200 kilograms of manure every year for centralized composting. Anyone who doesn't hand in enough manure will be severely punished!"

"If the difference is too great, he might even become a longevity slave. Stealing our feces is the same as taking our lives. We certainly can't let him off easily."

Hearing this, Ye Jie couldn't help but fall into deep thought. Now that he had taken over Qingdi City, he could view all the administrative options unlocked by the city through the local clerical agency. Sure enough, he saw this information on the eight-sided stitched page:

[Composting facilities: Increase farming output through fertilizer. Unlock the composting facilities, and residents in the city can build compost barrels at home to ferment feces into fertilizer. After fertilizing, farming output increases by 20%, and the output bonus is only valid in this city. ]

[Improvement of manure fork: Add spirit stone fragments when casting manure forks, add multi-tooth structure to manure forks to speed up compost turning, and make the multi-tooth structure less likely to break, shorten the compost maturation time by 10%, and increase farming output by 5%. ]

[Facility Optimization: Unlock advanced composting facilities, and build large composting stations in the city, which greatly increases feces consumption and fertilizer output, shortens composting maturity time by 10%, and increases farming output by 10%.]

[Temperature-controlled fermentation: Unlock administrative options that require facility optimization, set up a constant temperature array for large composting stations, reach the optimal fermentation temperature, and improve fertilizer quality. Compost maturity time is shortened by 30%, and farming output is increased by 20%. ]

[Odor Isolation: Set up a magic circle to purify the smell in the town to alleviate residents’ dissatisfaction with the smell...]

【Layered composting: …………】

【Biogas utilization: …………】

【………】

Picking up the eight-sided stitched page, Ye Jie only glanced at it roughly and saw a large number of administrative options related to it, at least a hundred items.

With the support of these unlocked administrative options, the use of fertilizers in Qingdi City can increase crop output by a terrifying 1,500%. The same piece of land can produce more than 15 times more crops than other places, and this does not take into account the output bonus other than fertilizers.

Now Ye Jie finally understood why Qingdi City could supply enough food for the entire continent with its own strength. With the bonus of so many administrative options, the output was naturally extremely abundant.

The administrative options unlocked in Qingdi City are not cheap, and they require massive amounts of rare resources. Even if Ye Jie unlocks them one by one by himself, it will probably take at least a hundred years to reach this level.

In order to unlock these administrative options, the wealthy Qinglian Palace spent an unknown amount of time to make Qingdi City reach such a grand scale, but now all of it has become a wedding dress for Ye Jie.

Feeling the value of Qingdi City, Ye Jie's heart trembled slightly. If this city could be restored to its former glory, maybe one day, no one in the world would starve to death.

"Palace Master Ye, now that Qingdi City is under your management, how do you tell me how we should deal with this thief?"

Seeing that Ye Jie remained silent for a long time, Jia Shi couldn't help but urge him and remind him to punish that man.

Ye Jie looked at the seriously injured man and asked, "Why did you steal feces?"

The man's throat trembled, and he said in a sad voice: "I... I can't meet the requirements this year. I have failed for three consecutive years. If this continues, I will become a birthday slave... I have never hidden feces, but the most I can produce every year is only 120 kilograms, and I can't even meet the requirements of 200 kilograms..."

Ye Jie frowned. He didn't know much about this. He turned to ask Jia Shi, "Is he telling the truth?"

Jia Shi glanced at the man and said, "Maybe, but this is his own problem. Many farmers can't collect the required quota, and every year they need to purchase from people outside the city, or raise livestock on their own. But why can others pay the quota, but he can't? Not only can he not pay, he also steals from others. He should be severely punished."

The man kept begging. Ye Jie looked around and saw that other farmers had the same idea. In response, Ye Jie just sighed.

"Don't you think there's something wrong here? Forcing people to hand over more feces than they can afford every year, and even punishing them as longevity slaves if they can't hand it over. But why do you only blame the person who made the mistake, and not look for the source of the problem, that is, the Qinglian Palace that set all of this up?"

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing how to answer for a moment. In response, Jia Shi advised:
"Palace Master Ye is kindhearted and unwilling to punish those who have made mistakes. However, over the years, countless thieves have been beaten to death in Qingdi City. After all, he made the mistake before Palace Master Ye found out. If he is not punished, I am afraid it will be difficult to convince the public..."

Ye Jie was silent, his eyes also fell on the seriously injured man: "What's the point of living and what's the point of dying? Even the reincarnation of the five grains can become a fatal inducement. There are so many troubles in the world. If you are willing, you can enter Ziwei Palace as a ghost messenger. If you don't want to, you can only be expelled from Qingdi City."

(End of this chapter)