I Slay Gods and Demons in the Deceit Night
Chapter 199 - 145: The Old Monkey’s Past! Feng City Rebuilt! [Second Update!]_2

Chapter 199: Chapter 145: The Old Monkey’s Past! Feng City Rebuilt! [Second Update!]_2

"Feng City was built a hundred years ago and was only truly completed forty years ago."

"Due to the uniqueness of the Heavenly God King and the great difference from Liu Venerate, there can be no expansion of Feng City in the future."

"But because of the presence of the Heavenly God King, Feng City is the richest place in Qifeng Prefecture. According to the reports from the Observatory, half of the prefecture’s grain comes from Feng City!"

Lin Yan looked ahead.

Feng City could be seen in the distance.

Along the road, this year’s rice harvest had been bountiful, and the eye was met with expanses of gold.

The aroma of rice was pervasive, intoxicating.

In Qifeng Prefecture, the Heavenly God King is the symbol of abundant crops and favorable weather.

In the city, a variety of fruits and vegetables were planted, and between each market district, a large number of fruit trees were planted.

Here, life was vibrant, and trees thrived.

Compared to High Willow City, this city was not excessively large.

But the elite troops called from Qifeng Prefectural City were not few in number, stationed year-round, with strict defenses.

Even according to information conveyed by the Observatory’s Zhao Ye people, even the high ranks of Tribulation Ash had once strictly ordered not to set foot in Feng City!

For them, this was also their source of food!

Nevertheless, some members of Tribulation Ash reached such extremes of madness that they attacked Feng City.

In the past ten years, there have been twelve instances of Tribulation Ash causing chaos, resulting in many casualties.

And twice it was so severe that it led to a shortfall in grain, causing many civilians within Qifeng Prefecture to starve to death.

At the city gates ahead, merchants from various places and people from the major cities were lining up to enter.

Lin Yan had already let Little White Ape take two horses to the Pure Land, and he was approaching on foot.

"Do you have a pass to enter the city?"

The city guard glanced at him and asked.

Lin Yan nodded, reached into his robe, and took out his pass.

"High Willow City, Linjiang Square, Lin Yan?"

"Indeed."

"Twenty copper coins."

"Okay."

Lin Yan reached into his robe and took out a piece of Silver, handing it over.

Recently, as he had been acting as the overseer of the southern outskirts of High Willow City’s City Defense Army, he knew these rules.

Checking backgrounds for registration was unavoidable.

Beyond the threat of Tribulation Ash, a greater reason was that the refugees in the Pure Land, once they entered the city, would hide and were unwilling to leave again.

Even previously, when Lin Yan, acting as a junior flag bearer and accumulating merits, had assisted the Inspection Envoy in killing a criminal who was a refugee from outside the city, who had murdered a city dweller and used a poor Disguise Technique to impersonate him.

"Alright, go ahead."

The city guard waved his hand dismissively.

"I gave you a piece of Silver, and you need to give me eighty copper coins in change."

Lin Yan laughed lightly, his tone as usual, and said so.

"Bastard!"

Upon hearing this, the city guard showed anger and shouted, "Don’t want to enter the city? Then go back to High Willow City!"

"Brother, sending someone out of the city now, once night falls, it can be life-threatening."

"So, these eighty copper coins are not a fair price for your life?"

"Eighty copper coins for one life, indeed that’s a fair deal."

"Not anymore."

"Understood, I have another ingot of silver here."

Lin Yan reached into his bag, took out another ingot of Silver, smiling and asked, "So now, can I enter the city?"

"Go on then, at least you’re sensible. Why didn’t you understand this earlier?"

The city guard waved his hand and let him through.

He then waved to someone on the side.

A skinny man, wearing rough clothes, quickly came over.

"When that lad reached into his bag for the silver just now, I saw at least twenty Silver Tael inside, quite a heavy load. Keep an eye on him,"

the city soldier murmured, "Once he leaves the city tomorrow, after we make this deal, I’ll have saved enough Silver Tael to rent a piece of good land, and for the next ten years, none of us brothers will have to worry about going hungry."

The skinny man heard this and nodded eagerly, appearing somewhat excited.

Three years ago, for some unknown reason, Feng City suffered a natural disaster, with half the city wall collapsing, many people died.

This also caused a shortfall in the grain harvest, and many people starved to death across Qifeng Prefecture.

They were originally civilians from Li City, and many of their families, parents, and children starved to death.

Having barely survived the famine and left without livelihoods, they finally heard that Feng City was repairing its walls and needed a great deal of hard labor.

To survive, they were conscripted by Li City and came to Feng City to mend the walls and rebuild houses.

This elder brother, having some skills in martial arts, was viewed favorably and secured a job to fill the vacancies left by soldiers who had died in the "natural disaster."

And these people, having contributed to the construction of the city wall, and because the city’s inhabitants had suffered great losses during the "natural disaster," were exceptionally granted the status of residents of the outermost part of Feng City.

But that year’s famine had shattered their families, casting a great shadow over their hearts ever since.

Even now, they were still frightened and only thought of pooling money to rent a good piece of farmland.

——

Lin Yan entered the city and found the most secluded tavern in the outer district to rest his feet.

He placed his bundle on the table, his expression calm.

Unless something unexpected happened, soon someone well-informed, a "local snake," would come looking for him.

The Little White Ape had already confirmed that Shi Xu was in the city.

Lin Yan knew the Shi Family’s people were skilled, and they must have taken precautions everywhere.

If he had directly asked the city guards or gone to the Observatory Branch, by now someone would have come to stop him.

And the son of the Deputy City Governor of Qifeng Prefecture City would have left through another city gate as well.

"Shi Xu, being the Deputy City Governor’s son of Qifeng Prefecture City, is self-prideful, perhaps Wu Chang the Inspection Envoy, is worth a look."

Lin Yan sipped his tea, thinking to himself, "But Lin Yan, this young flag, is like an ant, not worthy of anyone’s concern."

This was why he had ventured into the city openly as Lin Yan.

"Similarly, the Shi Family’s people, will bribe the city guards and stay wary of the Observatory."

"But they will not care about the common people in the streets, who are like ants."

"Yet it is these ordinary people’s eyes that truly see everything."

"Finding them is how to locate the Shi Family’s people."

Thinking this, Lin Yan set down his teacup, shouldered his bundle, and headed toward the second district.

The layout of Feng City also included some distance between the two districts.

But in the middle were mostly plantings of melons, fruits, and grains, and a segment was divided for raising poultry and livestock.

Relatively speaking, it was more secluded.

Noticing someone following him.

Lin Yan stopped, turned around, and smiled, "Wherever I go, you seem to be able to follow."

"Normally, hardworking commoners, striving just for three meals a day, can’t do this."

"It seems you belong to a small gang around here, knowing everything that stirs the wind and moves the grass."

He gestured with his hand, saying, "Come here, kneel down, I want to ask you something."

"An outsider, you have quite the arrogant tone."

A rough man came forward, grimly stating, "I intended to wait until you left Feng City to discuss this, but since you’ve made it clear... even if a life is lost by a lone outsider entering the city, we can handle it!"

Behind him, six or seven men gradually appeared.

After a moment.

A group lay fallen.

"Yesterday or today, there should have been a group entering the city, and the city guards would have been very respectful to them."

Lin Yan grabbed the rough man by the neck, lifting him up, and asked, "Do you remember anything?"

The rough man’s face swelled red, his cheeks twitching, but he remained silent.

"Not even half a word, quite the tough guy."

Lin Yan sighed, "Then I have no choice but to kill."

The rough man’s pupils constricted, showing a plea, yet he still couldn’t speak.

With a thud.

Lin Yan released his hand, dropping him to the ground.

"Eastern City, I hear the leader of the city defense at the east gate hurried there yesterday afternoon."

"Where did he go?"

"To Anhua Building in the third district."

"You know this clearly?"

"My second brother heard that even the east gate’s City Defense Commander was extremely polite, so he tried to curry favor with these important people and came out after receiving a couple of slaps."

"Alright, considering you helped, I won’t kill you."

Lin Yan said calmly, "Tonight, officials from the yamen will come to find you; confess everything, a few years of hard labor might save your life."

Afterward, Lin Yan headed straight to the third district.

But as he moved further inward, something in his palm felt increasingly odd.

Looking up, he thought to himself, "The God of Feng City, who enables all things to grow, could it be that this willow tree can still benefit from being in my palm?"