Chapter 31: Spirit Wandering
Within just a few short days, three thousand able-bodied young men had already gathered.
With such a sizeable workforce, under Wang Zhenling's orders, the city was reorganized and its buildings were repaired.
In a mere three to five days, the entire county town of Xiaji took on a completely new look, banishing the desolation of the past.
In truth, most of the structures within the city were still intact and had not suffered any severe damage.
It was just that many houses had been left uninhabited for nearly a year, causing the roof timbers to rot.
Ordinarily, a task of this scale would not have required mobilizing such a massive labor force of strong young men.
However, Wang Zhenling had done so intentionally, using the greatest possible commotion to signal to every village and hamlet throughout Xiaji County, and to every single commoner under his jurisdiction, that the government had returned!
Furthermore, during his resistance against the plague in Danling County, Wang Zhenling had earned a formidable reputation.
Xiaji County was not far from Danling, and many people there had already heard of Wang Zhenling's renown.
Of course, what was even more important was that the authority of the government was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people of Xiaji County.
Next, Wang Zhenling issued another directive, ordering all townships and villages to settle their grain and pay their taxes.
Among all those who paid their taxes, those who contributed the highest amounts would be given preference and permitted to relocate into the county seat.
This could be described as killing two birds with one stone, as the county seat was currently underpopulated. There was an inherent need to relocate the common folk into the city in the first place!
Now, by tying the privilege of moving into the city to the amount of tax paid, Wang Zhenling instantly spurred the people's enthusiasm for paying taxes to new heights!
For any commoner, fulfilling the duty of paying the imperial grain and state taxes was a matter of course. Though they might be reluctant, none dared to default!
Thus, at a single command from Wang Zhenling, the people scrambled to pay their taxes.
Living within the county seat offered superior conditions in every conceivable aspect compared to remaining in remote villages.
Consequently, in less than half a month—even before the roster of clerks within the Xiaji County Yamen had been fully assembled—the entire tax quota for the year had been completely paid.
It could be said that upon his arrival, Wang Zhenling had issued merely two orders, yet he had practically restored the imperial court's rule over Xiaji County!
When the news reached the Commandery Governor's Mansion, even the Commandery Governor Yuan Fan could not help but sigh, "Truly an exceptional official!"
He then added, "With someone like Wang Zhenling personally holding down the fort at the foot of Mount Wuji, the Grand Commandant can finally rest easy!"
Meanwhile, having initially reconstructed the ruling order of Xiaji County, Wang Zhenling felt his curiosity regarding Mount Wuji surge once more!
On the very night Yuan Fan uttered his sigh, a streak of reddish light resembling a tongue of flame stirred and wrapped itself around Wang Zhenling's body.
This power was drawn directly from the official seal and bestowed upon Wang Zhenling.
Ordinarily, a primordial spirit is formless and difficult to discern with the naked eye.
At this moment, reinforced by the power of the official seal, it was as though a fiery garment had been draped over Wang Zhenling's primordial spirit.
At this time, if anyone were to peer in through Wang Zhenling's window, they would assume a lamp had been lit inside his room, casting a red glow upon the window paper.
Yet now, with his primordial spirit empowered by the official seal, a single reach of his hand actually picked up a long sword hanging upon the wall.
This was no mere scholar's sword commonly seen in the television and film dramas of his past life, but a genuine steel sword used on the battlefields.
Slender and straight, it was also exceedingly heavy, weighing a good five or six catties all by itself!
Earlier, relying solely on his own primordial spirit strength, Wang Zhenling wouldn't even have been able to lift an inkstone weighing a little over a catty.
Yet now, aided by the power of the official seal, he could effortlessly raise a five- or six-catty long sword!
"Even the primordial spirit requires a vessel for reliance!"
The primordial spirit itself is formless, being merely the transformation of spiritual energy. Therefore, to manipulate physical objects, it must borrow and rely on other mediums.
For instance, in ancient myths and legends, why did monsters always appear amidst swirling sands and flying stones, or shrouded in a ball of black mist?
It was precisely because they relied on mist, water vapor, or even extremely light particles like dust to manifest their supernatural powers.
Naturally, these were the clumsiest methods.
As a cultivator practicing the absorption of breath, one should naturally rely on the martial aura one has personally gathered and refined to display supernatural powers!
Ghosts and deities, on the other hand, could cast spells by relying on the power of incense and mortal vows.
As for Wang Zhenling, why did he choose to harvest the radiance of the sun and moon? It was so his primordial spirit could manifest divine abilities by drawing upon the essence of the sun and moon!
However, one had to attain the Realm of Divine Elder before one could practice such arts.
After all, at this stage, Wang Zhenling had not yet truly constructed his spiritual chambers nor reached the Realm of Divine Budding, let alone the Realm of Divine Storehouse.
Yet now, by availing himself of the official seal, Wang Zhenling could prematurely attain this supernatural ability and manipulate objects in advance!
The next moment, Wang Zhenling hung the sword back upon the wall, and his primordial spirit soared forth.
Defenses within the county yamen were tight, protected not only by a vast shroud of official Qi but also by patrolling ghost soldiers during the night.
Yet, as with all places, no matter how rigorous a fortress might be, it was designed to guard against outsiders rather than those within.
Backed by the infusion of official Qi, those laws and fortunes of state naturally failed to detect Wang Zhenling.
As for the patrolling ghost soldiers, once their patrol patterns were grasped, they were easy to evade.
Before long, Wang Zhenling slipped out of the county yamen and entered the streets of the city.
In the city streets outside the yamen, there were also ghost soldiers patrolling by night, though these belonged to the City God's garrison.
After all, the county yamen was situated in the southeastern corner of the city, flanked by two sections of the city wall, with two additional walls built to enclose it, making it resemble a city within a city.
Wang Zhenling vaulted directly over the city wall, left the city on foot, and headed in the direction of Mount Wuji.
As a magistrate holding an official post, leaving the county jurisdiction without a valid reason was naturally no simple feat.
Fortunately, however, a distance of a hundred odd miles was truly nothing for a primordial spirit roaming by night!
The primordial spirit is formless yet possesses substance, moving like a shadow and a gale; its speed was naturally extremely swift, taking at most a little over an hour to reach the foot of Mount Wuji.
Along the way, he did encounter quite a few wandering lonely ghosts, but upon catching sight of Wang Zhenling, those ghostly entities scrambled to get out of his way, utterly terrified of the faint fiery glow radiating from his body!
Moreover, because the commandery had launched a massive campaign last year to purge and exterminate ghostly entities, the number of such beings was far fewer than in previous years.
The journey proved uneventful, and he arrived safely within Mount Wuji.
Generally speaking, famous mountains and scenic spots possessed harmonious earthly veins, naturally resulting in magnificent scenery.
Ordinary mountains and rivers, by contrast, appeared desolate—what was known as barren mountains and treacherous waters.
This was precisely the effect of chaotic and discordant earthly veins!
Mount Wuji had originally been a famous mountain by nature; however, ever since many of its spiritual veins had been smashed and disrupted, although its spiritual energy did not vanish entirely, it became heterogeneous and scattered.
The scenery naturally degraded accordingly, and as Wang Zhenling's primordial spirit wandered, he even vaguely sensed that the rocks, trees, and vegetation of Mount Wuji seemed to harbor a sense of malice and rejection toward him!
"Could it be because I destroyed some of the spiritual veins within the mountain?"
Wang Zhenling mused to himself.
A sudden chill struck his heart. Spiritual veins are born of heaven and earth and nurtured by the earth; they are originally cultivated by the universe and can be called the bloodlines of the mountains and rivers.
Destroying these earthly veins would naturally incur baleful energy—what is known as karmic retribution.