Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 469 Born to be a drought demon
Lu Zheng quickly took Qing Wan over to check the situation. In this hot and dry weather, wildfires are indeed very likely to occur.

Before he even got close, Lu Zheng saw a group of people gathered in one place.

Those were ordinary people, with their families and belongings in tow, all travel-worn and staring intently at the location of the wildfire.

They were all local villagers, whose entire village was burned to the ground by the wildfire.

The village is still engulfed in flames, with no homes or fields left, and the villagers have no idea where to go.

Seeing the bewilderment and confusion in the eyes of the people, Lu Zheng sighed inwardly.

He glanced around and vaguely saw a figure in another part of the mountains.

Lu Zheng moved swiftly and appeared directly in front of the figure.

When the gods see someone suddenly appear, they can't help but feel a little wary.

Lu Zheng looked at the deity and asked, "Are you the local righteous god?"

Seeing Lu Zheng's extraordinary bearing, the deity couldn't help but ask, "Indeed, who are you?"

Lu Zheng said calmly, "Lu Zheng."

“Lu Zheng? Never heard of him.” The deity said upon hearing this.

He lived in a remote area and didn't know who Lu Zheng was, but seeing Lu Zheng like this, he thought he was someone from higher up.

Lu Zhengdao said, "The weather is dry and the land is barren. We should be on guard against wildfires. As a local deity, shouldn't you be mindful of these things?"

The wildfires are raging, and there seems to be no divine intervention or official action being taken.

If such a fire were allowed to spread, it would not only affect the villagers in one village.

Moreover, this place is protected by deities, who should have known to take precautions beforehand, so why did the fire escalate to this extent?

Upon hearing Lu Zheng's question, the deity wanted to offer some excuse, but faced with Lu Zheng's serious eyes, he couldn't bring himself to utter any words of shirking responsibility.

Lu Zheng then said, "Go to the county and find the county magistrate or the county government, and ask them to send people over to resettle the disaster victims."

"This..." the deity stammered, "This place is remote, and the entire county is severely affected by the disaster. I'm afraid they..."

It's just a village of people suffering from disaster; the gods probably wouldn't care about the officials above.

Lu Zheng said calmly, "What you said makes sense. After all, such a large wildfire should be visible even from the county seat, yet no one seems to be coming..."

"But there are priorities. Go quickly and inform the City God and the County Magistrate that I said so. If they don't send anyone, I, Lu, will go there myself in a moment."

Lu Zheng didn't care whether those deities and officials cared about the situation here or not, but since he was here, he had to care.

Seeing Lu Zheng's attitude, the deity wanted to ask him something, but Lu Zheng had already disappeared from sight and flown into the sky.

Lu Zheng arrived above the wildfire and felt the surging heat and towering flames.

He took a deep breath and recited poetry.

Confucianism emphasizes the art of speech, where words become law.

An invisible power of words emanated from Lu Zheng.

Suddenly, the sky changed dramatically, and the vast literary energy transformed into rolling dark clouds.

In the blink of an eye, a torrential downpour began.

Lu Zheng waved his hand again, and a white flame flew into the raging wildfire, frantically absorbing the surrounding flames.

Heavy rain fell from the sky, and a spiritual fire engulfed the mountain fire.

The once raging wildfire suddenly subsided, decreasing in intensity at a visible rate.

Lu Zheng stood in the air, trying his best to control the rain clouds to extinguish the fires. However, his cultivation was insufficient, and he could not cover the entire area of ​​the wildfires immediately. It would take some time to put out the fires.
The local deities stared wide-eyed, thinking to themselves that a formidable figure had arrived.

Seeing this, he dared not delay and hurried towards the county town to report to the City God.

In another location, a group of villagers were shocked to see a sudden downpour and vaguely see someone standing in the sky.

Many people knelt on the ground, exclaiming that it was a divine intervention.

Not far away, Qingwan sighed inwardly. If it really was the local gods who had appeared, they wouldn't have burned the entire village down.

Qingwan didn't just stand by and watch; she went to the part of the mountain where the fire was bigger and helped put out the flames.

Qingwan arrived at a spot and scattered a handful of beans.

In the blink of an eye, the beans transformed into bean soldiers, some digging firebreaks, some blowing sand to extinguish the fire, and some directly rushing up to beat out the flames.

Qingwan then made hand seals and used magic to extinguish the fire.

In the sky, Lu Zheng's eyes flickered slightly as he sensed some eyes watching him from the vicinity.

They did not come from ordinary people, but from other beings.

Lu Zheng's senses are now extremely sharp, and he quickly locked onto those targets.

He spoke slowly, his tone slightly cold: "You all have the heart to watch the show here, but are you all unwilling to contribute your share?"

As soon as Lu Zheng spoke, the mountain demons and wild ghosts hidden in the shadows seemed to be locked onto, each one feeling as if they had thorns in their backs.

Some monsters wanted to leave, but they were too weak to do so and were too cowardly to take a single step.

This was an invisible suppression of power, much like the suppression of bloodlines, rendering these demons powerless to resist.

Some monsters gritted their teeth and took a step forward, only then did they feel the pressure on their bodies lessen considerably.

Before long, more and more demons and ghosts joined the firefighting team.

Some monsters even control wild beasts to put out fires.

Lu Zheng used his literary energy to bring rain and extinguish the fire, gradually bringing the wildfire under control.

Suddenly, Lu Zheng's gaze paused as he looked at an area covered by the wildfire.

On that scorched earth, a small, thin figure stood.

She was a little girl, thin and frail, without a trace of life.

The little girl was surrounded by blazing fireworks.

The little girl stood in the center, unaffected by the flames, her eyes blank and bewildered, looking up slightly at Lu Zheng in the sky.

Lu Zheng stepped through the air and rushed into the wildfire in the blink of an eye, arriving in front of the little girl.

An incredibly hot aura enveloped the area, not from the surrounding fireworks, but from the aura emanating from the little girl.

Lu Zheng's eyes lit up as he carefully examined the little girl in front of him.

This is a dead child, but it contains a tremendous power.

"Hanba..."

A strange light flickered in Lu Zheng's eyes.

The drought demon is a creature that has been said to exist since ancient times, and there are many different versions of its existence.

There are rumors that the drought demon is a god, and there are also rumors that it is a great demon, transformed from a corpse.

Regardless of the specific legend, records all mention that when the drought demon appears, the land becomes barren and desolate, a terrifying entity that brings with it severe drought.

Lu Zheng had read some records about drought demons at the Yunmeng Sect.

In the eyes of the important figures of the Yunmeng Sect, the drought demon was born by taking advantage of the power of heaven and earth.

It's not that the presence of drought demons will inevitably lead to severe droughts, but rather that drought-stricken areas are more likely to give rise to special creatures like drought demons. Drought demons are born with the power of heaven and earth, and cannot be regarded as ordinary ghosts.

If the power of the drought demon is not controlled, it will cause or worsen the drought.

Lu Zheng looked at the little girl in front of him and asked in a friendly voice, "Little sister, what's your name?"

The little girl stared intently at Lu Zheng for a long while before stiffly shaking her head, her eyes still filled with confusion.

Upon seeing this, Lu Zheng sighed inwardly. This girl must have died from the drought, and her soul had completely dissipated after her death.

However, the little girl's corpse, through a twist of fate, became a drought demon, gaining new intelligence but still in a state of ignorance.

Lu Zheng slowly squatted down. "Shall I take you out of here?"

The little girl stared at Lu Zheng, her mind a jumble of thoughts, but she instinctively moved closer to him.

Lu Zheng reached out and carefully picked up the little girl.

Her skinny little body felt like holding a scorching little sun. Even Lu Zheng couldn't stand it and could only wrap his righteous energy around her to try to block out the aura emanating from the little girl.

Lu Zheng couldn't help but marvel at the wonder and mystery of this world, especially considering that the little drought demon possessed the power of heaven and earth from birth and had the strength of a quasi-sixth realm cultivator.

Seeing that the little girl did not resist, Lu Zheng continued, "You need to learn to control your breathing..."

The little girl stared straight at Lu Zheng, seemingly not understanding the meaning of his words at all.

"I'll teach you a spell, try it out..."

Lu Zheng gently tapped the little girl with his finger, trying to teach her a method of concealing her inner energy.

Lu Zheng infused a wisp of righteous energy into the little girl's meridians, circulating it throughout her body.

The righteous energy flowed slowly through the meridians without any obstruction.

The little girl felt the flow of energy within her body and, with Lu Zheng's explanation, began to learn, though she only vaguely understood.

After a moment, the intense heat emanating from the little girl subsided.

Seeing this, Lu Zheng thought to himself that it was fortunate that he had learned a lot beforehand, and that this little drought demon was originally a human, otherwise it would have been really difficult to deal with.

"Very good, keep it like this."

Lu Zheng smiled slightly, stepped over the flames, and found Qing Wan, who was putting out the fire.

On a hill, Qingwan commanded hundreds of bean soldiers to extinguish the fire, just like a general on the battlefield.

When Qingwan saw Lu Zheng arrive and noticed the little girl he was holding, her gaze sharpened. "This is..."

That little girl didn't look like a normal child at all.

"It's a drought demon, please take care of it for me," Lu Zheng explained.

Qingwan's eyes lit up when she heard Lu Zheng's words.

She had heard of drought demons before, but she didn't expect Lu Zheng to actually find one, and such a small one at that.

However, Qingwan sensed that this little girl seemed to possess terrifying power, even more powerful than herself.

Lu Zheng said gently, "Why don't you follow this older sister first?"

Seeing that the little girl did not object, Lu Zheng put her down and gave Qing Wan one of his writing implements for self-defense.

After all, this was a drought demon with even greater power than him.

If the power within the little girl suddenly goes out of control, Qingwan's strength wouldn't be able to withstand it.

When Qingwan saw that Lu Zheng had given her all the writing implements for self-defense, she knew that this little girl could not be treated like an ordinary child.

Qingwan took the writing implement, patted her chest, and said, "Go put out the fire, I'll take care of this."

Perhaps it was because Qingwan also exuded a reassuring aura, that the little girl felt no aversion towards her.

As Lu Zheng flew off to extinguish the wildfire, the two animals, one big and one small, stood there staring at each other.

"What's your name?" Qingwan asked curiously.

The little girl remained silent, only looking at Qingwan.

Qingwan asked a few more questions and then realized that the little girl was clueless and didn't know anything.

Seeing this, Qingwan found it interesting. Could she teach this little thing?

Seeing that the other person was wearing Lu Zheng's loose robes, she flipped her hand and took out a set of her own clothes.

These were her clothes when she was a little girl, but they're now suitable for a little girl to wear.

Qingwan changed the little girl's clothes and tidied her up, making her look presentable.

"The clothes fit you quite well, but you're too thin. Look at your skinny arms and legs."

Qingwan stroked her chin and pondered, "You should eat more meat in the future to grow taller... Wait, no, you shouldn't need to eat, right?"

Qingwan wanted to feed the little girl something, but considering that she was a drought demon, she decided not to feed her anything and wait until Lu Zheng finished his work.

On the other side, Lu Zheng took out the Imperial History Bamboo Slip and the Donghu Brush and wrote poems directly using the writing tools.

Poems and lyrics transformed into wind and rain, powerfully suppressing the mountain fire.

The demons and monsters helping to put out the fire were terrified, feeling that the wind and rain would be enough to make them suffer.

The weather changed dramatically, and the wildfire that had raged for miles finally died down, leaving only scattered sparks in some remote corners.

Lu Zheng looked at the demons and ghosts below and told them to go and look around some more.

The demons and monsters dared not disobey, and each one obeyed their orders.

Lu Zheng then summoned a nearby monster and inquired about the situation, "Has it rained locally recently?"

The little demon answered timidly and honestly, "Yes, but that rain didn't help much. Before long, it got hot again, and a big fire broke out. All of us demons and ghosts in the mountains suffered..."

Lu Zheng then asked, "Have the local deities and officials taken any measures to combat the drought? Have they provided water and distributed seeds to the people?"

The little demon thought for a moment and said, "I'm not sure. Anyway, I haven't heard of it or seen it... Why don't you go and ask those people? They definitely know more than I do."

Upon hearing this, Lu Zheng took out a handful of spirit stones. "Give each of the demons who helped put out the fire two spirit stones. No matter what kind of people you were before, I won't pursue it today, but I hope you'll behave yourselves from now on..."

"Thank you...senior!"

The little demon's eyes lit up at the sight, and he quickly and respectfully accepted the spirit stones, thinking to himself that this was some important figure from who-knows-where, even more generous than the local gods and officials.

Lu Zheng turned and flew towards the place where the people were gathered.

Upon seeing a young man suddenly arrive, the crowd of people immediately knelt down in respect.

Lu Zheng quickly waved his hand to help everyone up, and said in a gentle tone, "I am not some kind of immortal, just a scholar with some skills. Please ask my fellow villagers to tell me if any divine officials have recently come to provide disaster relief and distribute grain seeds to you..."

The crowd looked at each other, not understanding what Lu Zheng was saying.

One villager, quick-witted as ever, asked with a puzzled look, "Grain seeds? What grain seeds? We don't know anything about them!"

Lu Zhengdao: "Didn't any divine officials tell you anything?"

Someone scratched their head and said, "In our mountain village, we usually pray to the gods but get no response. What are those county officials supposed to say? Our village has been burned down. The fire has been burning for two days, and no one has done anything about it. We don't know how we're going to live from now on."

When this matter was mentioned, many people immediately wore bitter expressions, feeling that the days ahead would be difficult.

(End of this chapter)