Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 471 Sword Slaying the City God
The City God was horrified when he saw the murderous look in Lu Zheng's eyes.

The City God hurriedly spoke up, "I am the City God of the Great Chu, you have no right to punish me, you..."

Lu Zheng raised his head and punched the City God squarely on the head.

The City God was struck dumb, his head spun, his divine light dissipated, and his aura weakened.

Lu Zheng, holding the City God's tablet, said coldly, "Speak, how much exactly did you embezzle?"

Forced by the imposing manner, the City God stammered and spoke incoherently.

Lu Zheng's expression darkened, and his righteous spirit transformed into a blazing flame, quickly engulfing the City God.

"what……"

The City God let out a scream.

Even a deity cannot withstand the scorching heat of the flames; it is a pain that reaches the very soul.

Overwhelmed by endless suffering, the City God could no longer bear it and had no choice but to honestly tell the truth.

Upon learning that more than half of the grain seeds had been replaced and that many remote villages had not received any seeds, Lu Zheng's eyes turned icy cold.

"How dare you...?"

The City God said with difficulty, "This is not my business. Even if there is a mistake, it should not be your concern."

Lu Zheng said calmly, "In a year of natural disasters, collusion between officials and wealthy merchants is indeed not your fault alone..."

Lu Zheng let go and took a step back.

Upon seeing this, the City God breathed a sigh of relief, but found that the oppressive aura surrounding him had not dissipated.

Lu Zheng raised his hand, and a long sword was already in his grasp.

The longsword was slowly drawn from its sheath, exuding a sharp and imposing sword intent.

"You, what do you want to do? You can't..."

The City God was terrified. He tried to escape, but he couldn't move an inch.

Lu Zheng's expression was indifferent as he said in a low voice, "When the Minister of Agriculture gave you the grain seeds, didn't he say anything to you? Didn't the other gods warn you anything? You dare to do such a thing, do you really think no one will care?"

"What did you say?" The City God didn't understand.

When the Minister of Agriculture sent the grain seeds earlier, he was told to distribute them to the people in the disaster-stricken areas, but there was no warning, so he didn't take it seriously.

Lu Zheng said coldly, "It seems that your time as City God has indeed come to an end..."

If any deity with access to information were to inform this City God even slightly, the City God probably wouldn't dare to take such a big risk and do something like this.

This shows that some beings don't particularly like this one either.

Upon hearing this, the City God had a bad feeling.

Lu Zheng's longsword was radiating sword intent, its light flashing, as he slashed straight at the City God.

The City God's eyes widened as he tried to block the sword.

However, in the blink of an eye, the surging sword intent overwhelmed the City God.

Even though the City God possessed a divine weapon, he was unable to protect it.

The fierce sword intent raged, directly shattering and annihilating the City God, leaving not even a trace of his soul.

Only a few divine artifacts remained lying on the ground, their luster flickering.

Lu Zheng killed the City God with a single sword strike, then turned to look at the other officials.

The priests were so frightened that they trembled and could not stand steadily.

None of them expected that Lu Zheng would actually dare to slay a god, without any scruples.

Seeing the look in Lu Zheng's eyes, the officials felt a chill in their hearts, fearing that they would follow in the footsteps of the City God.

Lu Zheng selected two of them, tossed the City God's belongings to one of them, and said, "Inform the City God of the prefecture about what happened here, and have a new City God appointed to thoroughly investigate the affairs of this county..."

The two priests immediately felt the pressure around them ease, and without daring to linger for even a moment, they fled as if their lives depended on it.

Lu Zheng then looked at the other officials and said, "Go and properly resettle the disaster victims in the vicinity."

The remaining priests, feeling as if they had been granted a pardon, hurriedly and hastily carried out their orders.

Lu Zheng rubbed his temples to calm himself down.

He then went to find Qingwan, and discovered that Qingwan was teaching the little drought demon to read and write.

One taught diligently, while the other learned in a daze.

When Qingwan saw Lu Zheng return, she asked, "Are you done with your work?"

Lu Zheng, sitting to the side, said, "We might have to stay here for a few more days, thanks to the local City God..."

Lu Zheng recounted the actions of the local deities and officials.

Qingwan listened indignantly, "They really know how to take advantage of someone's misfortune, they deserve to die!"

Lu Zheng sighed, "Natural disasters and man-made calamities, such is the state of the world..."

Lu Zheng looked at the little drought demon again and smiled, "Can you talk now?"

The little drought demon stared at Lu Zheng with wide eyes, without saying a word.

Seeing this, Qingwan said, "She's still young, we need to teach her slowly! Should we take her with us from now on?"

Lu Zheng smiled and said, "Sure, there's plenty of space anyway."

This little drought demon is not yet able to control its own power, but the small world is spacious enough that there is no problem keeping it inside.

Qingwan smiled and said, "Then you should give her a name!"

Lu Zheng thought for a moment and said, "In ancient times, there was a goddess named Ba, who was often depicted in green robes, so let's call her Qingyi." Lu Zheng raised his hand and wrote the two characters Qingyi in the air.

Qingwan's eyes sparkled upon hearing this, "Hey, that's the same surname as me, that's great! Here, Qingyi, you'll be called that from now on..."

Qingwan gave the little drought demon a lecture.

After some time, a group of demons crept over.

They were completely stunned when they witnessed Lu Zheng slaying the City God.

After searching the nearby mountains, they didn't dare leave without permission and came to report to Lu Zheng.

"Well, sir... the nearby wildfires have been extinguished, and there won't be any more wildfires for a while..."

If the drought continues, there is no guarantee that wildfires will not reignite.

Lu Zheng nodded and said, "Okay, I understand. Do you know why I killed that City God? Because he didn't provide disaster relief and even embezzled the drought-resistant grain seeds meant for the people..."

“This drought is hard on everyone, but you should know what you should and shouldn’t do.”

The demons and ghosts nodded vigorously, promising not to break the law or commit crimes there.

Lu Zheng waved his hand and said calmly, "Go."

Seeing that Lu Zheng had spoken, the demons and ghosts took their leave one by one.

Soon, only one little demon remained standing there.

Lu Zheng looked at the monster and asked, "Is there anything else?"

The monster immediately knelt down, kowtowed to the ground, and humbly said, "Your Excellency is kind and benevolent. I am willing to serve you like a beast of burden, doing whatever you need..."

Having encountered someone who dared to kill even the local city god, the demon wanted to take the opportunity to curry favor with Lu Zheng.

Lu Zheng smiled upon hearing this and said leisurely, "You do know how to assess the situation and seize opportunities, but I am not some high-ranking official of Chu..."

The monster hesitated for a moment, then bowed again and said, "This humble one is willing to follow you, my lord, to any place!"

Seeing this, Lu Zheng said calmly, "Get up. Although your intentions are impure, you have this cleverness. I can give you a chance."

Upon hearing this, a hint of embarrassment flashed in the demon's eyes, but he quickly said gratefully, "Thank you, sir!"

Lu Zheng casually pulled out a cultivation manual. "This is a demon race cultivation manual, suitable for you to cultivate. It can cultivate pure demon spirit power. In the future, do not take any evil or crooked paths. As long as you do not cultivate recklessly, it will not be a problem for you to enter the fourth realm with this manual."

Lu Zheng gave the cultivation technique to the demon.

The monster trembled as it accepted the cultivation manual, as if in a dream. It was a cultivation manual that could be cultivated to the fourth level. What kind of immortal master was this?
"Rest assured, sir, I will definitely behave myself as a demon from now on!"

The monster looked excited and began to swear oaths.

Lu Zheng nodded and said, "I've remembered you. If you ever do anything wrong again, I'll make you pay a hundredfold."

The monster felt a chill creep up from the bottom of its heart and repeatedly said it dared not.

Lu Zhengdao said, "You can try out the technique here. I have some free time right now, so I can give you some pointers."

Upon hearing this, the demon was overjoyed and immediately knelt down to look through the cultivation techniques he could find.

……

In the county town, the two priests returned to the city in a disheveled state.

Even though they were far away from Lu Zheng, they were still in shock.

A priest whispered, "Are we really going to report this to the City God?"

Another priest's expression shifted, and he said, "Find other officials and have them inform the City God."

The capital city is quite far from here, so they dared not delay things.

Moreover, with the death of the county god, his soul and spirit were annihilated, and the officials in the prefecture city probably already sensed it.

After discussing it, they hurriedly went to other temples to look for people.

Arriving at a temple, they informed the deity in the temple of the news of the city god's death.

Upon learning of the situation, the deity's expression remained unchanged. He said, "I will inform the City God of the prefecture, and you should send people to keep an eye on the City God's clansmen..."

The deity gave an order, and the two priests responded and hurried off to do their work.

The deity held the City God Seal that had been delivered to him, but could no longer sense any trace of the City God's aura.

Upon seeing this, the deity's lips curled into a smile, "Lu Zheng... this boy truly dares to do what others dare not do."

He felt no sorrow whatsoever at the death of the county's city god, who was also a righteous god of the Great Chu.

Some of the true gods who sit in those positions should have died long ago.

There are only so many divine positions; if some don't die, how can others sit on them?
However, in many cases, everyone is involved in relationships and backgrounds, making it difficult to openly take action against anyone.

Lu Zheng directly killed the City God, which was something many people were happy to see.

The deity returned to the statue, communicated with the spirit in the city through divine arts, and then informed the city god of the matter.

When the city god heard that one of his subordinates had been killed by Lu Zheng, he was only slightly shocked, and then showed no further reaction.

The city god instructed his subordinates, "Find someone to temporarily handle the affairs of this county. Also, inform other places about this matter. Make an example of someone to warn others. How can the monkeys not know?"

The subordinate priests looked a little strange upon hearing this. Was it appropriate to use the phrase "kill the chicken to scare the monkey" to describe this situation?

They are all righteous gods of the Chu state; isn't this insulting themselves as well?

However, no one dared to criticize their own boss.

The city god added, "I don't know if he will come to our city. You all better behave yourselves recently. One of my sons has been whipped by him. If you commit any crimes and fall into his hands, I can't protect you."

There was nothing he could do; with the Chu Emperor's decree, the city god of the state didn't want to get himself into trouble.

(End of this chapter)