Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 333: The Battle between the People and the Gods
Lu Zheng finished his meal leisurely and stood on the mountain watching the villagers continue to look for water.

Faint noises could be heard from the forest not far away.

After a while, a small figure emerged from the dense forest.

Qing Wan walked briskly, dragging a monster bigger than herself with vines behind her.

The monster's body was covered in glowing scales, and its limbs were strong and developed. It was a pangolin that had become a spirit.

Qing Wan said excitedly, "This monster is quite good at hiding. Luckily, I summoned a lot of bean soldiers and caught it from the cave!"

The pangolin spoke in human language and said, "Who are you? I have no grudge against you, why are you arresting me?"

Lu Zheng looked the pangolin up and down and asked, "You are a monster from this mountain. I think you should know about the situation in this village. Can you tell us about it?"

The pangolin rolled his eyes upon hearing this and said, "I'm just passing through here, looking for a place to rest. How would I know what those mortals are doing? Why don't you go ask them? Why are you arresting me... My meat isn't tasty, and I can't make pills out of it. Please let me go."

Lu Zheng looked at the pangolin and raised his hand to press on the other's head.

The pangolin was so frightened that he trembled and said in a trembling voice, "I really don't know!"

Lu Zheng said calmly, "I've encountered many demons and ghosts before, and some of them lie more naturally than you do. I'll give you one last chance to organize your words. Think it over before you speak. I'll give you ten breaths."

The pangolin felt the tenderness of the big hand on his forehead, but his whole body felt cold.

"They...the people in this village have offended the gods!"

The pangolin couldn't bear the fear of death and had to bite the bullet and speak.

Lu Zheng became interested when he heard this, "Tell me in detail."

The pangolin swallowed and said, "I don't know how much. Anyway, I heard that the people in this village are disrespectful to the gods. The gods and officials in this county are very dissatisfied. There have even been deaths in the past..."

"Why don't you respect God?" Lu Zheng asked.

"How would I know that?" Pangolin said, "That's what they say anyway. If you don't believe it, you can go ask them, or ask people from other villages."

Lu Zheng said, "Then what's wrong with you?"

"Me? I'm just passing by." Pangolin said quickly.

However, the next moment, the pangolin's head tightened, as if its skull was about to be crushed.

It shuddered and said, "I said, I said...someone asked me to come here."

Pangolin realized the force on his head wasn't easing, and he shuddered. "An official under the County God came to me and told me to destroy their wells, dig tunnels, and remove the underground water source. This way, they'll have no water to drink and learn the consequences of offending the gods."

Pangolin paused, then continued, "If I can get them to submit and worship the gods, the officials will allow me to erect a statue here to help collect Shinto incense."

Lu Zhengdao: "What if they don't surrender?"

"Well..." Pangolin said, "They gave me three months. If I can't do it, they'll replace me."

Lu Zheng thought for a moment and said, "So, many demons and ghosts have come here before?"

Pangolin couldn't help but say, "Priests and soldiers came here before, but they refused to worship the gods. The government was too lazy to intervene, but the priests refused to accept it and tried to make them kneel, but it was no use..."

Lu Zheng pondered, "Can't the power of the gods of a county be used to deal with the people of a village?"

Pangolin explained quietly, "This village is different. There are scholars and martial artists here. It's not an ordinary village. Those priests cherish themselves, and they want people to worship the gods, not to destroy the entire village. Of course, destroying it is not easy..."

"Is that so?" Lu Zheng seemed to understand a little.

Perhaps, for local gods, bringing disasters to these people from time to time as punishment, trying to make these disrespectful people surrender, is more fulfilling than directly taking the lives of these mortals.

The pangolin said cautiously, "I've told you everything I know. Can you let me go?"

Lu Zheng slowly withdrew his hand.

The pangolin suddenly felt relieved and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Lu Zheng looked at Qing Wan and said, "Let's go and take it to see those people."

The pangolin was shocked. If the people knew that it was the one causing trouble, they would beat it to death.
The pangolin trembled and said, "No, please let me go. I will compensate you..."

Lu Zheng walked silently, while Qing Wan followed beside him, dragging the pangolin.

The pangolin struggled uncontrollably and said, "You want to meddle in other people's business? This is a matter between them and the local gods. What right do you have to interfere? I can't afford to offend those priests. I have to do what they tell me. Why don't you just go to them directly?"

Lu Zheng said calmly, "If you didn't covet the gods' incense, didn't come here to cause trouble, and just fled, would the local gods still be able to chase you to the ends of the earth?"

The pangolin opened its mouth, unable to refute for a moment.

It is indeed greedy for the incense here. Even if it cannot become a wild god, just absorbing a little Shinto incense occasionally to practice is better than practicing in the mountains by itself.

Since the priest found it, it naturally didn't want to miss such an opportunity.

Who would have thought that it had only been there for a few days and had not yet completed its task when it was discovered by a little girl and caught from deep underground.

In the mountains, the light of torches flickered.

A group of villagers are still looking for water and want to dig a well.

Without water, not only will people and livestock be unable to survive, but it will also be difficult to grow crops.

The nearest river is more than ten miles away from the village. Asking people to fetch water every day is not enough and is not a long-term solution.

The old man licked his cracked lips and thought that he had survived all these years, so he would definitely be able to get through this time.

A villager heard a commotion not far away and turned to see that it was Lu Zheng and the other two approaching. Seeing someone looking over, Lu Zheng said directly, "We found a monster in the mountains, and it seems to be related to you."

The villagers' faces changed when they heard this, and they all looked over. Then, when they looked closely, they found the pangolin.

When the pangolin saw so many people staring at him, he couldn't help but shrink his neck.

Even though it is a monster, it has no power to resist now and its life is in danger.

The old man came closer and couldn't help asking, "What is this?"

Lu Zheng explained: "It destroyed your wells and changed the flow of groundwater, so you haven't been able to dig out water..."

Some villagers glared at him with anger in their eyes when they heard this.

"What? I knew there was a monster causing trouble!"

"It's so damned!"

"They must have sent them again!"

……

The villagers were furious and stared at the pangolin as if they wanted to eat the monster.

If it weren't for Lu Zheng and the other two, these villagers would have rushed forward and smashed the monster to death with hoes.

Lu Zheng said, "Indeed, a priest sent it here to cause trouble."

The villagers became even more furious upon hearing this.

"After all these years, you still won't let us go."

"Why don't we just fight and go to the county town..."

……

Some people even threatened to go to the county town and smash the statue of the god, resulting in a fight to the death.

After everyone had vented their feelings, the old man raised his hand and signaled for everyone to be quiet.

The old man looked at Lu Zheng and bowed, saying, "Thank you both for capturing this monster. However, this matter has nothing to do with you. Please hand it over to us. Our village is a place of trouble, so you two should leave quickly."

Lu Zheng smiled slightly and said, "I have no problem handing it over to you. However, I love listening to stories. Could you please tell me what exactly made the local gods so unhappy with you?"

Lu Zheng then took out a water bag, tilted his head back and took a sip, then handed it to the old man.

When the other villagers saw the water, their eyes suddenly lit up green.

Seeing this, the old man smacked his lips, took the water bag with a look of gratitude, and took a small sip.

The sweet spring water made the old man feel refreshed.

He handed the water bag to other villagers again, not worrying that Lu Zheng would poison the water.

After all, with the abilities of Lu Zheng and the others, they were able to catch the monsters, so why would they use poisonous water to deal with them?

The other villagers also drank some water to moisten their throats, and finally a strong man returned the empty water bag to Lu Zheng.

The villagers looked at Lu Zheng and the other man with much friendlier eyes.

Just a little bit of water brought the two sides closer together.

The old man then spoke slowly, "It's actually not something that can't be said..."

The old man spoke clearly and logically as he told the story of the village.

It turns out that the matter can be traced back to the last years of the previous dynasty. At the end of the previous dynasty, gods and officials were rampant and oppressed the people. The people were living in misery and eventually the world was in chaos.

The ancestors of this mountain village were some wealthy families in the area with some background. They came to the mountains to build a stone village and then lived there to avoid the war.

Because of what they had experienced in the previous dynasty, the people who took refuge left behind ancestral teachings that they could offer sacrifices to heaven and ancestors in the future, but were not allowed to worship gods.

Then these people multiplied and thrived here, and no war affected them, so they lived in peace and tranquility.

It was not until the establishment of the State of Chu and the creation of a new country that new gods and officials were enthroned in various places to jointly control the local people.

At first, no one paid attention to this village.

The villagers in the mountains behind always come to the county town to purchase daily necessities.

Over time, these villagers acquired new household registration identities and became Chu people.

The local gods also knew about this place and planned to let the people erect statues to worship them.

But the villagers were unwilling to do so. They could pay grain taxes to the government according to Chu law, but they would not erect statues to worship local gods.

The villagers knew that once they bowed their heads and invited the gods into the village, they would be exploited more in the future.

They don't want to repeat the same mistakes and be bound by the gods like the previous dynasty.

Some people actually disrespect the gods, which is naturally not allowed in the local area.

Then, some conflicts occurred between the two sides, and even people were killed.

But the people in this village are not pushovers. There are scholars with literary talent, as well as warriors with strong martial virtues. This is not an ordinary village.

(End of this chapter)