Chapter 34 Injustice
As for this place not being the convergence point of the feng shui spiritual veins of Xiaji County? That was not difficult to solve either!
The commandery naturally possessed sufficient manpower, alongside ghosts and deities, capable of guiding the earthly veins and channeling them directly into the new county seat.
Xiaji County had originally been just a small town, spanning merely five hundred paces. Now, Wang Zhenling had expanded it to a thousand paces, allowing it to accommodate twice the population.
As for the streets, though not overly broad, they were nevertheless flat, straight, and exceedingly convenient.
Of course, what brought Wang Zhenling the greatest satisfaction was the subterranean drainage system he had constructed using stone.
In his past life, Wang Zhenling had seen no shortage of major cities turning into oceans the moment a heavy rainstorm struck.
Coupled with the vital importance of sewage systems to urban hygiene, Wang Zhenling had devoted a great deal of effort to the construction of the drainage system.
He had covered all the original open ditches with stone slabs, transforming them into subterranean conduits.
Moreover, the drains were built quite wide—though not absurdly large enough for a person to walk through comfortably, they were at least the size of a water vat's opening.
For a county seat in this era, it appeared incomparably grandiose!
The entire project mobilized more than half of Xiaji County's labor force, employing even the elderly, the weak, women, and children, and took roughly two months of arduous work to complete.
Looking at Xiaji County after its reconstruction, one could no longer find the slightest resemblance to the original county town!
In this manner, Wang Zhenling took the taxes collected from the common people and redistributed them back into their own hands in a different form.
The people were overjoyed, and instead of resenting him, they felt profound gratitude toward Wang Zhenling.
Just as Wang Zhenling was vigorously and prosperously developing Xiaji County, the situation in Yu Province, located several hundred miles away, was growing increasingly dire.
Natural disasters such as plagues and droughts, compounded by the deliberate connivance and fuel added to the fire by the imperial court and ambitious local factions, had pushed the situation throughout Yu Province beyond redemption!
"The city has fallen! The city has fallen..."
Amidst excited shouts, countless refugees surged into a county town.
Originally the victims of starvation, they had now gathered together, breached the city walls, and transformed in the blink of an eye into perpetrators of violence!
They burned, killed, and looted everywhere within the city, and instigated by those with ulterior motives, they shouted at the top of their lungs, "The heavens are unjust! The deities are unjust!"
They smashed shrines in every direction.
Following this, they surged toward the City God's temple.
As countless refugees boiled with frantic excitement, their collective vital energy surged like a fire capable of scorching everything in its path, striking fear even into the hearts of ghosts and deities.
The panic-stricken City God, accompanied by hundreds of ghost soldiers, held his ground within the spirit realm, not daring to sally forth and disperse the rioters.
The truth was simply that their numbers were too great; under the scorching blaze of human blood and fury, ordinary ghost soldiers and low-ranking ghost officials would likely be reduced to ashes if they rushed out.
Consequently, though the City God commanded hundreds of ghost troops at that moment, he remained trapped within the spirit realm.
"My Lord, the fire of human karma burns far too fiercely; ordinary ghost soldiers are useless. The only course of action now is for Your Lordship to personally lead us out in a charge to scatter these rioters. Only then will we have a sliver of a chance at survival!"
A ghost official spoke solemnly to the City God.
At present, only the formidable power of the City God could temporarily resist this kind of human blood-fire, shielding the ghost soldiers as they charged out to rout the mob.
However, such a course of action was fraught with extreme risk.
Having served as City God for three to four hundred years, enjoying all the reverence and prestige of the divine path, where would he still find the courage to charge out into risky combat?
Hesitating for a long time, he ultimately shook his head and said, "Unwise, unwise. Among the rioters outside, there are undoubtedly practitioners of Qi mixed in. Charging out now is far too dangerous. It is better to hide within this spirit realm and stay safe!"
Hearing this, the ghost official stamped his feet in frustration.
Knowing full well that there were Qi practitioners outside, the City God still wished to hide in the spirit realm and weather the storm—how could that possibly work?
The City Gods of the surrounding counties had already met their doom!
Just as the ghost official was about to advise him further, the refugees outside suddenly brought forward various filthy items, having collected excrement and foul cloths.
At this, the City God's expression shifted drastically, and he cried out that disaster was imminent.
Yet it was already too late!
The refugees began splashing these foul substances directly toward the shrine.
No longer daring to hide within the spirit realm, the City God transformed into a gust of wind, intent on rushing out to disperse the mob.
Instantly, a vortex of wind whipped up within the City God's temple, blowing so fiercely that people could barely open their eyes or manage to stand upright!
Yet at that very moment, someone in the crowd hurled two buckets of fresh blood straight into the swirling wind.
"Black dog's blood..."
The City God let out a miserable screech as the wind vortex dissolved, forcing him to retreat back into the spirit realm.
His entire body looked as though it had been doused with sulfuric acid; divine light flickered turbulently for a long while before finally stabilizing!
Although the City God was an official deity appointed by the imperial court, he was still, after all, a ghost deity rather than a manifestation of pure yang, and he remained vulnerable to the potent yang energy contained in black dog's blood.
However, this black dog's blood could only obstruct the City God for a moment; it was incapable of truly injuring him!
By now, the City God was furious and exasperated, having grown to loathe how the mortal government constantly suppressed the divine path everywhere.
Yet now he recalled the benefits of having a government; if the mortal administration were still standing, how could these refugees have ever become so rampant?
Alas, no matter what he said, it was too late. In the blink of an eye, the various filth had been splashed onto the City God's statue and all over the shrine.
Almost instantly, changes began to manifest within the spirit realm. And naturally, they were ominous changes!
Since the spirit realm was merely a projection of the shrine, as the filth was scattered within, countless venomous snakes, toads, and the like spawned rapidly inside the once-radiant and pristine spirit realm.
Stains of bloody grime even began to slowly ooze and drip down from the walls.
Wisps of malevolent Qi arose spontaneously, and the entire spirit realm rapidly corrupted.
Both the City God and the ghost soldiers wore expressions of utter terror and despair...
"Destroy this City God, and release the sinful ghosts!"
Amidst the crowd, a Qi practitioner murmured softly, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
The county magistrate's office was, relatively speaking, a city within the city—the most typical architectural layout of this era.
At the same time, the magistrate's office served as the ultimate convergence point for the county's feng shui spiritual veins!
At this moment, the quarters inhabited by Wang Zhenling, the acting magistrate, served as the very core of the county office's spiritual veins.
Much like how the county town was the treasured nexus where the feng shui dragon veins of all Xiaji County converged, the magistrate's office was the eye of that treasured nexus.
And Wang Zhenling's residence was situated precisely at the focal center of that spiritual eye!
Residing here and holding the magistrate's seal, Wang Zhenling was capable of influencing and commanding the vast spiritual energy of the earthly veins and the mortal fortune of the entire Xiaji County.
With both forces gathering here, Wang Zhenling sat in meditation like an embryo nurtured within a vast ocean of spiritual energy.
Wang Zhenling was immensely satisfied with this arrangement; had he been appointed as magistrate in any other county, he would never have enjoyed such fortune!