Becoming an immortal and ancestor begins with the golden toad spitting out money.

Chapter 157 All-out attack alarms the imperial court

Long before the Taibai Dragon Clan's banquet at Luhu Lake, the Earthly Serpent Lord and the Bright Moon Spirit began to absorb and expel the flowing clouds in order to remove the evil energy in the weather.

At the end of May, the large-scale deflecting magical artifact was completed, finally completing the last link, and the Great Sun Immortal Realm and Bright Moon Immortal Realm projects officially began.

However, because the plan involved so much, outsiders, apart from the deities of the City God Temple, had no idea of ​​the real inside story and only thought that the City God of Jinfeng County had forged two large magical artifacts.

Subsequently, some people discovered that the Sun Watcher was using a large magical artifact to collect sunlight, and they all assumed that the Sun Watcher was in charge of this large magical artifact, and that the position of Sun Watcher was even created because of the large magical artifact that could collect sunlight.

Immediately, many cultivators began discussing this matter while looking up at the sky.

"The reason why the City God Temple obtained the large water vein spiritual realm is largely due to the solar light within it. Now that the City God Temple has collected so much solar light with the help of the Sun-Watching Spirit General, our Jin Feng County will have another divine means!"

"During the Jushan Demon incident last month, it was the Sun Guardian Spirit who used the sunlight to kill multiple demons, which allowed the true gods under the command of the Golden Flame God to arrive at the scene..."

"Now, the gods are tracking the Eyeless Demon Lord and the Insect Queen along the Yin Sha Rift, but they have entered an ancient ruin filled with Yin Sha power. The sunlight may be the best treasure for exploring the ancient ruin!"

At the end of the Yin Sha Rift lies the Yin Sha River, which is located within an ancient ruin buried deep underground, where many deities are currently exploring.

The Golden Flame God General also issued a summons, and many ghost kings and high-ranking cultivators in Lunzhou answered the call. Even some forces in Jinfeng County were eager to make a move.

It's important to know that while ancient ruins are dangerous, they also contain many treasures, not to mention the rewards promised by the gods for finding the Eyeless Demon Lord and the Insect Queen.

However, many cultivators also speculated that the ancient ruins might be dangerous. If there were still ancient demons alive, not to mention these cultivators and gods, even true gods and the Golden Flame God General might not be able to return.

As a result, many people are still in a wait-and-see state. Now that the news of the Jin Feng County Supervisor of the Sun Spirit collecting the sunlight has spread, many cultivators have some ideas.

However, the cultivators soon learned that although the sunlight was powerful, it required a secret treasure called Blazing Crystal to preserve it. Even if they wanted to rent Blazing Crystal, they would need to pledge a treasure worth no less than ten thousand strands of divine power.

The situation of the ancient ruins is still unclear. No one knows whether the treasures inside are worth the three thousand strands of divine power of a ray of sunlight. Most cultivators are just asking and have no real intention of renting them.

Sanqiu Jun quickly found Su Ji, not for the Qiu family to exchange for the Blazing Crystal Treasure, but for the gods of Jiuxiang County.

Exploring ancient underground ruins is an inescapable task for the spirits of Jiuxiang County. Although they have not yet encountered any danger, having more information always gives them peace of mind.

Su Ji naturally had no reason to refuse a business offer that came to him. With the Jiuxiang County City God Temple as his backing, the value of the collateral was reduced to six thousand strands of divine power.

As a result, Su Ji made two deals in one go and also gained the friendship of the Day-to-Day Spirit General and the Shackled Spirit General of the Jiuxiang County City God Temple.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Su Ji naturally didn't forget to ask about something: "The City God Temple in Jiuxiang County also has a Great Sun Spirit Realm in Wusheng's hometown. I wonder if the City God Temple has any high-grade Blazing Crystal spiritual materials? If you two can help me purchase a few, then every ray of sunlight will only require two thousand strands of divine power!"

Previously, Su Ji had painstakingly collected sunlight, each beam requiring three thousand strands.

Now that Su Ji has the help of a large-scale deflecting spiritual artifact, he can collect more than a dozen rays of sunlight and moonlight every day if he wants, so the price can naturally be reduced.

The spirit general of Jiuxiang County couldn't help but change his expression. The biggest cost was renting the Blazing Crystal Treasure. If they could create a Blazing Crystal Treasure that could contain the sunlight...

Thinking of this, the spirit general of Jiuxiang County shook his head. Even if they created the Blazing Crystal Treasure, they would still need to buy the Sunlight from Jinfeng County. It would just be one less treasure to pledge, and they could get it back in the end anyway.

On June 6th, the spirit general of Jiuxiang County brought three blazing crystals of standard size or larger, and all the spirits of Jiuxiang County received the benefits of the sun's light.

Su Ji handed over the matter of the thieves burning the silk being transported to Dazhen Prefecture to Zhao, the镖头 (bodyguard) who had come to seek refuge with him.

Zhao Biaotou, who once stood on the same side as Wang Meng, Ren He and Su Ji when the City God Temple's spiritual realm opened, later learned that he was a member of the clan of Zhao Gong, the local earth spirit official of the south of the city, and then made contact with the East-West Chamber of Commerce.

Because the Zhao family offended powerful figures in Dazhen Prefecture, Zhao Gong was demoted to a local temple in a village south of Jinfeng County, and Zhao Biaotou could only make a living as a镖头 (bodyguard/escort).

Now that the East-West Chamber of Commerce is developing rapidly, Zhao Biaotou has become a target for recruitment, and this is a good opportunity to test his abilities.

Soon, June 10th arrived, and the new county gazetteer was completed.

While continuing to accumulate faith power, Su Ji launched his final plan targeting Qian Gong, the God of Wealth of Jinfeng County.

The refugees from thirty-five years ago have long since settled in Jinfeng County. Now, they suddenly bring up the matter from thirty-five years ago again, taking advantage of the recent incident of the "renting public" and "gold-swallowing gang" colluding with officials.

Soon, many people learned that Qian Gong had inflated grain prices for two months, and that it was only after the disaster victims stormed the county government office that the granaries were opened to stabilize grain prices.

For a moment, many people noticed something strange. Thirty-five years ago was not a long time ago. Many people in their forties and fifties had not forgotten the disaster of that year, not to mention some people who had lived to their sixties and seventies and still remembered the events vividly.

However, the Qian family's chamber of commerce quickly launched a media attack, bringing up the old claim that the grain in that warehouse was left to prepare for a possible severe drought the following year, with the aim of protecting the interests of all the people in Jinfeng County.

This time, without the unease and panic brought by the crisis, many people began to think rationally, but they still could not resist the influence of the Qian family's business association's public opinion, and many people believed what the Qian family said.

Just then, the East-West Merchants Association directly sued the Qian Family Merchants Association for instigating thieves to burn the silks that the East-West Merchants Association was transporting to Dazhen Prefecture...

Those thieves were members of the Gold-Swallowing Gang.

Although the thieves were somewhat capable, Chief Escort Zhao was not only a Dongxuan Master, but also had the local powerful Earth God Zhao Gong as his support. After several days, he finally captured the group of thieves.

The Qian Family Chamber of Commerce naturally refused to admit to sending out thieves, but the East-West Chamber of Commerce found several people in the south of the city and identified one of the thieves as a former guard of the Qian Family Chamber of Commerce. He had only joined the Tunjin Gang and become the flag leader of the Tunjin Gang's south branch because he had committed a crime.

The Qian family business association still refused to admit anything, and the county magistrate, citing insufficient evidence, prepared to have Chen, the clerk, continue the investigation.

At this moment, Liu Hui, a yamen runner, led a group of elderly people in and began to accuse the Qian family's business association of colluding with the former county magistrate to sell grain from the public granary.

The magistrate was greatly alarmed, for suing an official was a serious matter, and even though the previous magistrate had passed away, it was not a simple matter.

However, since the East-West Chamber of Commerce had made its move, it certainly wouldn't only have these bargaining chips. As Li Hui took out an account book, the whole incident became clear.

Even if the account books from thirty-five years ago still existed, they would certainly be guarded closely by the Qian family. What Li Hui produced were account books showing the current clerk colluding with the county granary ambassador to sell grain from the granary to the Qian family's chamber of commerce.

The son of the current clerk was recently arrested in connection with the case of renting public property in the city, which has affected the clerk, who is currently suspended from his duties.

This gave Li Gong, the Night Wanderer, an opportunity. With the chief clerk's humanistic and national fortune greatly diminished, the Night Wanderer started from the Yin-Yang realm and found the account book.

Last night, Li Hui secretly broke into the clerk's house and took the account book, which became the most important evidence.

"Did the registrar collude with the county granary official to sell grain from the granary to the Qian family merchants' association?"

The magistrate looked at the account book in his hand, and was both shocked and furious.

What shocked him was that such a big thing had happened right under his nose, and what angered him was that the registrar had taken care of everyone else but had overlooked him, the county magistrate!

The previous magistrate retired more than ten years ago, while the chief clerk has served as chief clerk for more than twenty years. He has pocketed all the embezzled money from the public granary without letting the magistrate and the county clerk receive a single penny of the profits.

Now, the affair between the registrar and the county granary official in colluding with the Qian family's merchant guild to sell grain from the public granary has been exposed. This is not only related to the case of bribing the registrar's son with the sale of houses by the renter, but also to the disaster thirty-five years ago. As a result, the county magistrate was furious and directly sent people to raid the Qian family's merchant guild and summoned the registrar for questioning.

Little did the clerk know that while he had escaped the investigation of the governor of Yuzhou, he could not escape the struggle between the East-West Chamber of Commerce and the Qian Family Chamber of Commerce, and would become the first victim.

However, the Qian family's business association knew their own background and refused to cooperate with the investigation. While sending people to delay, they wanted to destroy the evidence as quickly as possible.

Su Ji had been waiting here for a long time. The Qian family was heavily guarded, making it extremely difficult to find evidence. Now, with someone from the Qian family leading the way, some evidence was preserved by the mechanical puppets that fell from the sky before it could be destroyed.

Naturally, in addition to the swordsmen, craftsmen, and other mechanical puppets, Su Ji also sent out a golden toad clone, which leaped from the rooftop and smashed open the core of the Qian family's residence.

Not only were high-ranking members of the Qian family present, but the God of Wealth, Qian Gong, was also personally overseeing the event. When the golden toad clone landed, the God of Wealth, Qian Gong, knew that the golden toad messenger from the East-West Chamber of Commerce had arrived.

"I originally thought that the Guardian Spirit was just a golden toad with the surname Jin and the given name Chan, but I never expected him to be such a huge golden toad!"

Of course, the God of Wealth, Qian Gong, would not sit idly by and wait for his death. He stretched out his hands and gathered the wealth power he had accumulated over the past thirty or forty years into one place. The enormous power fluctuation even gave people the feeling of an invincible high cultivator.

However, at that moment, a small mirror suddenly appeared in the sky above the City God Temple, and then a deity dressed in armor appeared below.

"Fighting among deities is forbidden within the city walls of Jinfeng County!"

In an instant, the mirror light of the City God's Divine Mirror, carrying the projection power of the entire Wusheng Hometown, landed on the God of Wealth, Qian Gong, and the power of his vows, which was about to explode, was frozen in mid-air.

In response, Su Ji shook his head and smiled: "From beginning to end, I only used the power of the mechanical puppets of the present world. For Lord Qian to want to unleash his full power to destroy the evidence and kill my Golden Toad body is simply asking for trouble!"

No matter what happens outside, the City God never leaves Jinfeng County, in order to maintain the stability of the city's Yin and Yang realms by sitting in the City God Temple.

Although Su Ji used supernatural powers, he was perfectly hidden inside the Golden Toad clone, making him a part of the mortal world. Moreover, he had the righteous cause of invading the Qian family and investigating a case for the government.

Although the God of Wealth, Qian Gong, is a human deity, his use of such great power in Jinfeng County crossed the line of the City God's duties. Having already been informed by Su Ji, the City God immediately suppressed him.

Looking at the power flowing from the God of Wealth, Su Ji couldn't help but feel a sense of longing.

Although Qian Gong did not possess the [talisman] that distinguished between spirit lords, spirit officials, and spirit soldiers, he could still gain invincible combat power through his immense faith and willpower, making him similar to a cultivator.

Cultivators usually don't use their magical power at all, in order to accumulate enough vital energy as quickly as possible during their lifetime.

The God of Wealth, Qian Ping, would not normally use the power of the God of Wealth's faith, but once he did, it would be a fight to the death. Such a huge amount of power could have been suppressed by the City God himself with the City God's Divine Mirror and the projection of Wu Sheng's hometown if he hadn't personally intervened. It was very possible that he would have destroyed the evidence and injured the Golden Toad's clone.

Now that the God of Wealth, Qian Gong, has become a dangerous element, the City God will not target him, but he will not let him off so easily either. At least he will wait until the case is thoroughly investigated before making any further statements.

Therefore, without the obstruction of the God of Wealth, Qian Gong, and a group of ghosts, the Qian family guards were no match for the guards of the government and the East-West Chamber of Commerce. Soon, a group of people were arrested, and the evidence was sent to the county government one by one.

The truth behind the entire case of the missing grain from the granary gradually came to light.

It turns out that this was a huge corruption network involving high-ranking government officials, local officials, and unscrupulous grain merchants.

They exploited loopholes in the management of the public granary, embezzling grain on a large scale by falsifying grain consumption rates and misappropriating grain.

The embezzled grain was sold to grain merchants at low prices, who then resold it at high prices on the market, making huge profits.

These profits were then divided among them according to their respective shares.

Because the county magistrate and county assistant took office too late, and the high-ranking officials of the court were afraid that the Deng family, who were considered upright and honest, would know the inside story, they entrusted the matter entirely to the county clerk of Jinfeng County and the county granary ambassador.

"It actually involves high-ranking officials of the imperial court?"

Now, the county magistrate was a little panicked. Based on the evidence they had so far, they didn't even know the names of the high-ranking officials. If they investigated further, they might be touching the interests of a huge group.

However, the case is already known to many people, and even if the matter is dropped, the county magistrate will still be a thorn in the side of high-ranking officials in the imperial court...

Therefore, the county magistrate quickly summoned all the officials in the county government, and on the advice of the county assistant, Deng the instructor, Chen the clerk, and others, he finally reported the case to the Dazhen Prefecture.

The last crossbow case only alarmed the governor of Yuzhou, but this time even the prefect of Yuzhou was alarmed.

The governor of Yuzhou was actually only a sixth-rank prosecutor, while the prefect of Yuzhou was a fourth-rank official who was the head of a prefecture.

Immediately, the prefect of Yuzhou began an investigation under the pretext of inspecting the public granaries, and surprisingly discovered that 21 out of the 28 public granaries in Yuzhou had problems.

The granaries that did not have any problems were located in the seven counties under the jurisdiction of Dazhen Prefecture.

The emperor was furious and ordered a thorough investigation into the case.

Immediately, thorough investigations of public granaries began in various regions, the results of which shocked the entire imperial court.

Of the 345 counties in the 16 prefectures of the country, 267 counties had problems with their granaries. County magistrates and prefectural governors colluded with each other, and the Minister of Revenue was the biggest corrupt official.

It was already the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.

Su Ji had already absorbed the Qian Family Chamber of Commerce and, with the help of the East-West Chamber of Commerce, spread the belief in the God of Wealth throughout the entire Jinfeng County. Even Gushu County in Dazhen Prefecture and Jiuxiang County in Lunzhou had the name of the Golden Toad Messenger.

"I knew the crossbow case seemed to involve weapons controlled by the imperial court, but it wasn't a big case. Why did the governor of Yuzhou have to come and investigate it personally? It turns out the governor of Yuzhou was afraid the granary case would be exposed!"

After the cases of bribery and crossbows were concluded, the registrar was only suspended from his post. If Su Ji hadn't exposed the matter with the help of many people, the granary case might never have been discovered due to the protection of officials.

The truth about the granary case came to light, giving the court and the people justice, but it also served as a wake-up call for Su Ji.

With corruption so rampant in the imperial court, no one knows whether this is just the tip of the iceberg or the whole picture.

This era is different from the previous one. Among scholars, farmers, artisans and merchants, merchants have the lowest status. If we want to develop the worship of the God of Wealth, we cannot rely solely on the East-West Chamber of Commerce, but must rely on the imperial court and even the people of the world.

Mo Linglong once said that most of the struggles for the Heavenly Emperor began with the change of the human dynasty. If the dynasty was corrupt to the worst possible state, the struggle for the Heavenly Emperor might not be far off.

"A thorough investigation into the granary case is hoped to allow this imperial court to survive for a few more years..."

Su Ji had just become a human deity, but he was still some distance from becoming a true god. He didn't expect the world to fall into chaos so soon.

Yan Tianchou began his analysis: "To become a true god, one must at least take over the entire God of Wealth faith in Yuzhou. With Jinfeng County as a base, plus advanced technology and concepts, it will take at least six years..."

The six-year plan is Su Ji's expectation of becoming a true god of wealth, and the timeframe is only long, not short.

Fortunately, after Su Ji dealt with the God of Wealth, Qian Gong, he could hand over most of the God of Wealth plan to Yan Tianchou, and it would be better for him to continue his cultivation.

(End of this chapter)