In an era where everyone is cultivating immortality, the system wants me to become a demon?

Chapter 376 You're saying you ate all 100,000 jin of spirit beast meat? (3.2K views, please subscribe!)

Upon returning to the Lin family, Lin Yanluo immediately went to the ancestral hall to see her father, the true head of the Lin family, the Golden Core cultivator Lin Yonghua.

Inside the ancestral hall, only a few incense sticks and candles were burning, and the golden incense burner in the center emitted a fragrant aroma, which gradually calmed Lin Yanluo's heart.

"Is County Chief Su not going to budge?"

Directly in front of Lin Yanluo, a handsome young man sat on a futon, his eyes slightly closed and his tone calm.

Lin Yanlu bowed respectfully and briefly recounted the setbacks she had encountered while delivering the gift, then said with concern:
"Father, Su Youlin is no ordinary person."

"In my opinion, the reason he doesn't covet small gains is not because he is selfless, but because he has much bigger ambitions!"

"I suspect this person is only focused on fighting pirates to achieve political success and get promoted quickly. Once he reaches a certain level, he'll show his true colors!"

Lin Yonghua said calmly:

"I can see it."

“If our new county magistrate wants one million spirit coins for other matters, I will give it to him. But if it is to be used to suppress pirates, I am absolutely unwilling.”

"If the pirates are gone, and we transport our tea to Fazhou, how will the price of tea from Baizhou increase?"

"If the pirates are gone, what will happen to the various export trades of the Six Yang Sect and other cultivation sects, as well as the other three major families?"

Hearing her father's words, Lin Yanluo was not surprised at all.

As a core member of the family, he was already fully aware of the things that the powerful clans of Longyang County had done together.

It's nothing more than nurturing an enemy to enhance one's own power.

They secretly allowed and supported pirates to wreak havoc and plunder merchant ships along the way, thereby increasing the profits from each voyage.

The Lin family's ink tea and eight other products, the Six Yang Sect's Six Yang silkworms, and even other families' spirit beast breeding, escort agencies, and other businesses have long formed a huge chain of interests with pirates.

The powerful local magnates and numerous pirates in Longcheng County each possessed many secrets about each other. If any side dared to break the rules, they would surely face annihilation.

This is not something that can be compared to a mere one million spirit coins.

Lin Yanluo took a deep breath and asked in a low voice:
"Father, what do you think we should do?"

"Are we suggesting that those pirate captains at the Golden Core stage land and scare Magistrate Su away by assassinating him? I remember the last magistrate was scared away by us in the same way."

Lin Yonghua sighed:
"This method is too extreme. When it forced the previous county magistrate to retreat, the matter almost couldn't be contained. Now, less than a year later, there's another assassination attempt on the county magistrate. It's too obvious."

At this point, Lin Yonghua changed the subject:
"Fortunately, your father has been working hard to get things done at higher levels recently, and finally managed to open a channel for our Lin family to have a real protector?"

"Oh?"

Lin Yanluo keenly sensed the faint smugness in her father's tone and immediately showed a look of curiosity.

Then Lin Yonghua chuckled:
"That person is the Deputy Transport Commissioner of Dongzhou, a high-ranking official of the fifth rank, who has the authority to inspect the management of Dongzhou."

"In order to establish contact with this fifth-rank official, I joined forces with many families and sects in Longcheng County and gathered a total of 1.8 million spirit coins to bribe officials, and finally obtained the goodwill of this deputy transport envoy."

“Su Youlin, a newly appointed county magistrate, is so restless. He should be properly disciplined.”

"I will now send a message to the deputy transport commissioner and ask him to come and inspect our new county magistrate, Longcheng County."

Upon hearing this, Lin Yanluo was both surprised and delighted.

What was surprising was that the Lin family had actually made contact with a fifth-rank celestial official, and what was gratifying was that under the pressure of the fifth-rank official, Su Youlin had no choice but to obediently submit.

The following day, on his third day in office, Su Yuan officially began handling official business in Longcheng County.

Previously, the county was short of officials, and the backlog of official duties was, without exaggeration, a mountain.

As a county magistrate who had never studied the ways of being an official for even a day, Su Yuan was completely overwhelmed by these official duties.

So he unhesitatingly delegated authority to Ying Ding, letting this truly talented county magistrate handle the matter, while he was only responsible for giving it a final review.

What does Su Yuan do when he has free time?
It's very simple: go deep into the grassroots, eat and sleep with the officers and soldiers, and build relationships with them.

At the same time, Su Yuan also personally took charge of the training matters. On one hand, he had Wang De spare no effort in training the veterans, and on the other hand, he took out the scions of noble families who were imprisoned one by one and gave them kind and friendly education and training in order to quickly form combat power.
As for how to train these scions of prominent families?
Su Yuan didn't need to take action; the veterans were familiar with all sorts of tactics.

For example, new recruits are given a cup of strong, steaming tea that comes directly from the toilet upon arrival; new recruits are made to perform sexual acts every night; and there are various forms of grueling physical and mental training.

In just one week, the hardships experienced by the scions of noble families far exceeded the sum of all the suffering they had endured in the first half of their lives.

Under such intense training, even cultivators would not survive without sufficient nutrition and energy. However, the food standards that Su Yuan provided for them were almost the same as those previously given to the soldiers in Longcheng County.

What exactly are the benefits?
The daily food allowance is probably no more than eighteen federal dollars.

Let alone eating meat, I'd be perfectly content just to eat a few more mouthfuls of rice.

The scions of noble families had never suffered like this before; they were nearly driven mad by hunger in just two days.

At this point, Su Yuan began to design a performance evaluation system for the sons of aristocratic families. Whoever performed well in training would receive extra meals and a permanent increase in their meal allowance.

Even if the increase in the limit is only equivalent to ten federal dollars, the sons of wealthy families still flock to it.

Using this simple PUA tactic, the 'servant army' composed of scions of aristocratic families quickly developed a certain level of combat power and loyalty.

On the other hand, Su Yuan also used the 100,000 spirit coins allocated for bandit suppression to hire craftsmen to overhaul warships and repair armor, weapons, and other equipment in the army.

To ensure the success of the bandit suppression, Su Yuan also spent a fortune hiring a renowned weapon refiner from Shengyang Prefecture to personally inscribe magic arrays on the warships, enhancing their sturdiness and the power of their psionic cannons. The entire armed forces of Longcheng County operated under Su Yuan's will, growing stronger day by day.

Of course, during this process, the dog system will occasionally pop up to make its presence known.

They either slandered him for forcibly conscripting laborers and oppressing good people; or they said he was preparing for war and plotting a rebellion.

Ha—isn't this obvious? Why would the stupid system need to remind me?
But just as the bandit suppression was in full swing, a piece of news came like a gust of wind, sweeping through the entire Longcheng County government office.

"Your Excellency, something terrible has happened!"

Inside the courtroom, County Lieutenant Qi Junxiang nervously reported:
"Just now, an official document was sent from Shengyang Prefecture, saying that the Deputy Transport Commissioner of Dongzhou has suddenly arrived and is preparing to inspect the coastal prefectures and counties of Shengyang Prefecture."

"And the first stop of that transport deputy envoy's inspection was our Longcheng County."

"Judging from the date on the official document, that deputy transport commissioner is probably already on his way to our county."

After listening to Qi Junxiang's words, Su Yuan, sitting in the main seat, remained calm and smiled:

"I've only been in office for less than ten days, and a high-ranking official like the Deputy Transport Commissioner has come to investigate me? This is no good."

Standing to the side, Ying Ding exclaimed in surprise:
"This must be a conspiracy by the four major families. I never imagined they had connections with a high-ranking official of the fifth rank. These local tyrants are really good at hiding their true intentions!"

At this moment, Su Yuan, feigning curiosity, asked:

"Why are you two so nervous? I have been behaving uprightly these past few days. Even if the Deputy Transport Commissioner were to come, what could he possibly find wrong with me?"

Upon hearing this, Ying Ding shook his head repeatedly and said:

“Your Excellency, although you have not violated any celestial rules or laws during this period, it would be too easy for the Deputy Transport Commissioner to find fault with you.”

"For example, your attitude of treating soldiers like your own children after taking office, while not enough to warrant accusations of treason, could easily be labeled as militarism."

"At that point, being demoted but retained would be the least of your worries; the more likely scenario is that you'll lose your job!"

Su Yuan listened quietly, still showing no sign of panic, and nodded, saying:
"I see. Then, is there any way to avoid being targeted by the Deputy Transport Envoy?"

"Have!"

Ying Ding nodded without hesitation:

"From what I understand, the fee for a fifth-rank official is 100,000 spirit coins per instance. As long as the county officials pay this 100,000 spirit coins, they will definitely receive an excellent rating as long as they don't go too far."

Su Yuan: "..."

Yes, that perfectly matches the characteristics of the Celestial Official System in the Celestial Law World.

However, the available spirit coins in the county government had already been invested in the construction of the bandit suppression army, so it was clear that he could not come up with 100,000 spirit coins.

"Your Excellency, how come you're still so calm!"

Seeing that Su Yuan remained unmoved, Ying Dingdu was anxious for his superior.

Just as he was about to persuade Su Yuan to find a way to raise money, and even compromise with the four major families to some extent, a loud voice came from outside the county government office.

"The Transport Commissioner of the Eastern Continent has arrived!"

"They arrived so quickly?!"

Hearing the sound outside the door, Ying Ding and Qi Junxiang both jumped.

Su Yuan slowly stood up, a slight smile on his face:
"Come on, let's go greet this Transport Commissioner Fan."

"……Yes."

Ying Ding and Qi Junxiang responded instinctively, then both paused in surprise.

How did his superior know that the transport commissioner's surname was Fan?

With a sense of confusion, they saw an official in a scarlet robe with a silver official seal at his waist alighting from his sedan chair outside the county government office.

He was a lean, middle-aged man with a goatee and triangular eyes, a perfect embodiment of the stereotypical villain.

This person's cultivation has already reached the late stage of the Golden Core realm, and he is only one step away from becoming a high-ranking official in purple robes.

Half a step behind the transport envoy was a handsome young man who bore a striking resemblance to Lin Yanluo. He was also a Golden Core cultivator, but only at the fourth level of the Golden Core realm.

Even without the other party introducing himself, Su Yuan could guess that he was the head of the Lin family, the leader of the four major families in the city.

After glancing at the Lin family head, Su Yuan, accompanied by the county officials, bowed to the official in crimson robes and said:
"Your humble servant, Su Youlin, greets the Transport Commissioner."

"Greetings, Transport Commissioner!"

The lean, middle-aged official in a scarlet robe chuckled and said calmly:
"Everyone, get up."

The officials of Longcheng County stood up, and the next second, they heard the slow, deliberate question from the other side:
"Magistrate Su, I heard that your county government has been purchasing a lot of spirit beast meat lately."

"In less than ten days, they purchased a full 100,000 catties of spirit beast meat? Is that true!"

Upon hearing this, all the officials in Longcheng County felt a chill run down their spines.

Asking such a sharp and sensitive question right off the bat? Looks like things aren't going to end well today!
(End of this chapter)