Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 299 The dove takes over the magpie's nest
The messenger was in a hurry. When he saw Lu Zheng, he was stunned for a moment, then quickened his pace and walked forward, saying respectfully, "Mr. Lu..."

He had met Lu Zheng before at the City God Temple, so he had a deep impression of him.

Seeing this scholar who even dared to contradict the City God, he naturally did not dare to be proud of his status.

"Hello." Lu Zheng looked at the policeman and asked curiously, "What happened? Why are you so anxious?"

"This one……"

The messenger hesitated to speak when he heard this. When he thought about Lu Zheng taking this path, he knew that some things could not be concealed.

He whispered, "Yesterday, the City God asked us to come out and inspect the situation in each village. This morning, I went to Shuanghe Village and found that the situation there was not quite right."

"There used to be a wild god there, appointed by the City God. Originally a deer demon, he was fairly well-behaved and never caused any problems. But when I went to check on him this time, I felt like the wild god enshrined in the temple had changed. I'm afraid the original one is gone."

"Now that wild god seems to have reached the third realm of strength, and the villagers are also in trouble. I feel that something is wrong, so I have no choice but to leave first and go back to consult the City God."

The police officer told everything at once, as it was difficult to hide anything.

"Take me over to have a look." Lu Zheng said.

"Uh, this..." The policeman hesitated.

Lu Zheng said calmly, "Your Yang City God's true form hasn't returned yet. What's the point of you going back to report? Just lead the way!"

The policeman was suppressed by Lu Zheng's momentum and could not refute anything. He could only bite the bullet and lead the way.

As Lu Zheng walked, he asked, "What happened to those people?"

The policeman whispered, "They are in very poor spirits, and many are sick. I have secretly examined a few of them, and their illnesses are very strange. They are not fatal, but I cannot cure them either."

Lu Zheng looked at the messenger and asked, "You have the power of Shinto, but you can't cure them?"

Divine power is much stronger than ordinary spiritual power. It can restrain all kinds of evil spirits and is very effective in treating diseases caused by external evil invasion in ordinary people.

The messenger quickly said, "It's not that I'm stingy with my divine power, but I really can't help. The disease they suffer from is very strange, and it even contains a divine aura that I have never seen before. I'm really powerless to help."

Lu Zheng was slightly surprised when he heard this, thinking that it must be the work of the new wild god.

The messenger walked briskly, leading Lu Zheng and the other man over mountains and across ridges, and soon arrived at a mountain area.

Not far away, there is a village looming in the mountains.

The messenger pointed to a location and said in a low voice, "The temple is on the mountain behind the village. Should we go to the village first, or to the temple?"

Lu Zheng said, "Let's go to the temple and find the wild god first, so as not to alert the enemy if we go to the village."

"it is good."

The messenger quickly took Lu Zheng and the other man on a detour and soon arrived at the mountain where the temple was located.

Qing Wan sniffed and whispered, "I smell a rat!"

Qing Wan had helped Lu Zheng fight monsters and visited a rat's nest before, so she was quite sensitive to this aura.

Lu Zheng had already keenly sensed the various auras in the mountains.

The three of them traveled quickly and arrived outside the temple.

Without saying a word, Lu Zheng flashed into the temple and used his divine sense to investigate the situation in the temple.

There is a colorful statue standing in the temple, which has a hint of charm, but it doesn't look special.

However, there is a special smell lingering throughout the temple.

Suddenly, Lu Zheng felt a strange aura emanating from under the temple.

Lu Zheng raised his hand and slapped the ground, sending a force forward.

In a spacious cave underground, a shifty old man was awakened.

Suddenly, the statues in the temple glowed with brilliance, and a divine power spread out.

"Who disturbs my sweet dream?"

A majestic voice sounded.

Lu Zheng's eyes were calm as he said calmly, "Come out of here if you're playing tricks on me!"

As he spoke, his righteous energy transformed into thousands of silk threads, directly wrapping around the statue and severing the connection between the wild god and the statue.

The little old man suddenly felt a pain in his head, and his soul was traumatized.

He was shocked and didn't know where this expert came from, so he wanted to escape.

However, before he could take any action, a repressive force enveloped him.

The old man hurriedly circulated the divine power in his body, trying to resist this powerful pressure, but it was of no avail. He only felt that he was stuck in a quagmire and it was difficult to move.

At the same time, Lu Zheng held the Mountain Vision in one hand and summoned the Bean Soldiers in the other, directing the excavation directly in the temple.

The bean soldiers moved swiftly and quickly dug out a tunnel, then swarmed in and dragged the old man out.

The old man was horrified. Although he was quite skilled in Taoism, he was completely powerless to resist.

But he still said arrogantly, "How dare you! I am a local deity. You are blaspheming me like this. Aren't you afraid of divine punishment?"

Lu Zheng pointed at the officer next to him and asked, "Do you recognize him?" The old man looked at the officer and was stunned for a moment. "No, who are you?"

The messenger's face darkened upon hearing this, and he said in a cold tone, "I am an official of the Yu County City God. Where did you come from? Where is the original wild god?"

The old man rolled his eyes and then smiled. "So it's you, the police officer? Oh, one of us! Is this sir the City God?"

Someone had come to collect incense before, but he was not dressed like this messenger, so he didn't recognize him at first.

As for Lu Zheng, he didn't even know him. Seeing that the other party could control him, he thought it was the City God of Yu County in person.

Lu Zheng said calmly, "I'm not some City God. Just answer what I ask you, don't go on and on. Where's that wild god from before?"

The old man smiled and said, "Who is it? I don't know! When I came here, this place was empty. I thought there was no god here, so I occupied it. I also gave the monthly tribute."

Lu Zheng frowned, "How long have you been here?"

The old man replied, "More than two years. I've paid my incense offerings on time every month, so my share isn't bad. I've been working diligently, so why is this happening?"

In the past, when offering incense and offerings, the old man did not dare to see anyone, for fear that people would notice something unusual, and he kept hiding it like this for more than two years.

The old man was still a little puzzled as to why something went wrong and he was dragged out.

Lu Zheng frowned when he heard this, thinking that these Shinto officials were really negligent in their duties. They didn't even notice that the wild god who managed the village under their jurisdiction had changed his identity.

Lu Zheng couldn't help but look at the policeman next to him.

The messenger's scalp tingled under Lu Zheng's gaze, and he couldn't help but whisper, "Isn't it usually me who is responsible for collecting the incense offerings in this area?"

He had no idea how his colleagues had done things in the past, and he didn't want to take the blame.

The old man said with a smug look, "I know it's wrong to occupy someone else's deity seat, but this place is empty anyway. How about you two speak a few good words to the City God and let me take charge of this place?"

Now that he was discovered, the old man simply stopped pretending and wanted to find a wild god with a good background to be his master. After all, it was not a good idea to keep sneaking around.

Lu Zheng looked at the old man and said calmly: "The demonic aura on you can't even be covered up by the aura of the gods. Do you think you are suitable for becoming a god?"

The old man said nonchalantly, "What's wrong with that? I can collect incense offerings. Don't worry, I promise to do a better job than the previous one."

Lu Zheng secretly shook his head. The world was really going downhill. Any demon or monster could become a god.

He said to the officer, "Tie him up and take him to the village to see how the villagers are doing."

The old man's face changed when he heard this, and he quickly said, "Oh, don't, I won't run away. The villagers are fine, nothing has happened..."

The policeman ignored the old man's words, took out a specially made rope, and tied the old man up tightly.

Qing Wan, who was standing next to him, looked at the old man and said, "He's a rat spirit!"

Qing Wan was very sure that this one was a real mouse, different from the wild god before.

The old man heard this and said, "You can't say that. I have now cultivated into a human form and am still a wild god. I am not a monster. Don't compare me with those rats."

The officer's face was filled with black lines. He said sternly, "Stop talking and follow me!"

The messenger pulled the rope and asked again, "How did you make the villagers sick and difficult to cure?"

The old man blinked and said, "Illness? It's nothing serious. It's just a little trick. If they come to worship me, I can easily cure it... Collecting incense and offerings requires some trickery. You think it's difficult to cure? That's because it's my unique secret technique. Even ordinary people, oh, ordinary gods, can't cure it. But don't worry, it won't kill anyone."

The old man didn't think much of it. He just used some small tricks to collect incense.

Lu Zheng looked unhappy when he heard this. These gods of the Chu State would do anything to collect the power of incense and thoughts. They were indeed more hateful than some demons in human skin.

When we arrived outside the village, some villagers were working in the fields.

Lu Zheng took a look and saw that all the people were pale and thin, lacking energy.

Some people even look sick, and it's obvious that they are seriously ill.

Lu Zheng looked at the nearest villager, walked over and said, "Old man, I see you're not feeling well. Would you like me to take a look at you?"

"What?"

The villagers stared at Lu Zheng, then looked at Qing Wan and the others behind him.

Lu Zheng said softly, "I know medical skills. I'll check your condition."

The villagers' eyes lit up, "Are you a god?"

Lu Zheng smiled and shook his head: "No, I'm just an ordinary person who knows some medical skills."

The villagers were surprised and asked, "Human? Then how do you know medicine? Only gods can heal diseases."

"Hmm?" Lu Zheng frowned. "When you're sick, don't you go see a doctor? Do you pray to the gods?"

The villagers were even more puzzled and asked, "Doctor, what is a doctor? If we don't pray to God for help when we are sick, who can cure us?"

Lu Zheng was silent for a moment after hearing this, then turned to look at the officer next to him and asked, "They don't even know what a doctor is. Do you have another name for the people here who know medicine?"

The messenger whispered, "They're also called doctors, or physicians, but there are very few of them in Chu..."

As for why there are so few, it goes without saying that the gods of Chu obviously do not want too many doctors to exist.

(End of this chapter)