Killing Dao Fruit
Chapter 155 - 152: Disaster Strikes First, Flooding Nine Counties

Chapter 155: Chapter 152: Disaster Strikes First, Flooding Nine Counties

In the dilapidated temple.

Under the influence of Nightmare Suppressing Power, all the disaster victims fell into a deep sleep, with none of them waking up.

The "Mud Buddha" silently moved its steps, sucking away the essence qi and divine souls from their bodies, one by one.

In just a moment,

three of the healthiest young men among the refugees had been sucked dry in their sleep, turning into mummies.

Then the earth beneath them wriggled and swallowed them into the ground, squeezing them together with others who had met the same fate here before.

No one would have imagined that the seemingly ordinary dilapidated temple was actually standing atop a vast pile of bones.

Just as the "Mud Buddha" was about to sink its mouth into a fourth person,

Whooosh...

A sudden gust of Yin wind erupted within the temple, and before it could react, Mr. One-Eyed and a group of "Netherworld Ghost Soldiers" had already swept up all the surviving victims and rushed them out.

Outside the temple gate.

Nie Hongying was holding the Yin Soldiers Talisman and commanded a group of Netherworld Ghost Soldiers to settle the survivors under a giant peach tree quickly grown by Lady Peach Fairy.

When the "Mud Buddha," whose skin was gradually taking on a flesh tone, locked eyes with Wang Yuan, who stood upright with an umbrella,

the ghostly fires wrapped around "Mixed Element Thunderbolts" exploded next to it too.

Boom, boom, boom...

In an instant, the fierce flame stream and shock wave tore the entire decrepit temple to shreds.

Wang Yuan’s "Unsightly Observation" had already clearly seen the "Weird" creature.

It was another "Earth-Bound Spirit" like the one in Owl God Tomb; the Nightmare Suppressing Power extended only within the temple.

Wang Yuan didn’t even bother entering,

for ever since the time he borrowed quicklime to contemplate the Dao and understood the true meaning of martial arts,

he had gradually achieved the profound state of "unimpeded by objects, unconfined by mind, and undisturbed by people."

Releasing a barrage of Thunderclaps to "cleanse" the area before combat, he went straight to the essence of countless Daoist Skills!

Thud!

A big lump of bloodstained, scorched mud was thrown high into the air by the shock wave and then dismally fell to Wang Yuan’s feet.

At its center, a yellow Dharma Seal resembling a centipede was rapidly flickering, trying to gather the earth and water to restore its original form,

but Wang Yuan pierced it through the chest with a tiger claw move, extracting a deceitful heart that was still pulsating.

Only then did the rest of the remains disperse into mud soup, mixed with the rainwater on the ground.

"It’s a pity.

This ’Mud Buddha’ seems to have been a Red Seal Mage specialized in earth before it mutated into a ’Weird’ entity.

Hiding within this clay Bodhisattva statue, it attempted to steal the ’Incense Fire Energy’ from the red dust qi for cultivation.

Something went wrong, leading to its final mutation.

If it hadn’t mutated, perhaps today we would have a candidate for ’Earth Official.’

Wait, what’s this...?"

As the "Mud Buddha’s" body was thoroughly dissolved by the heavy rain, Wang Yuan unexpectedly discovered a Yellow Jade Scroll left behind.

It contained a method called "Mystical Department Taoist Skill: Soul Leaving Mountain Spirit Skill."

To practice this skill, one needed to collect the essence qi of various famous mountains, gradually forming a Divine Power Talisman.

It could slowly alter one’s bloodline and transform oneself into a different type of life called "Mountain Spirit." Although it meant losing gender and human emotions, it could significantly extend one’s lifespan.

It was somewhat similar to the Human-Faced Peach Immortal Skill that Lady Peach Fairy used to practice, which could turn a person into a "Tree Charm Peach Fairy."

By utilizing the Soul Leaving Mountain Spirit Skill, one could borrow the gravitational strength of mountains, and at its peak, it was said to possess the combined force of the Five Great Mountains!

The "Precept Taboo" was that after transforming into a "Mountain Spirit," one needed to balance red dust qi with human qi and Incense Fire Energy to prevent from becoming a completely unaware and senseless boulder.

"There’s also the location of the sect in the Jade Scroll. A very small left-handed sect based in Dengzhou Prefecture, at the Mountain Spirit Temple.

Good, good.

Since we have such a connection, I will definitely visit another day."

It was an exceedingly rare piece of good news in the last two days.

Turning around, he saw those refugees who had awoken, weeping bitterly around the two wandering souls that came to send news and seek help.

"Daddy! Daddy!"

Especially a little girl who seemed to finally grasp the concept of "life and death" at this moment, crying herself nearly into a faint.

"Sigh, I hadn’t realized that the situation in Chen Family Village had actually surpassed that of over ninety percent of the disaster victims.

This year, with the great floods in the north, the severe droughts in the south, the locust plagues, the famines, and chaos, we’ve reached a point where cannibalism is rampant, and starved corpses litter the fields.

The Court failed to address the root of the problem, causing countless disaster victims to turn into refugees and migrate en masse to any place that could sustain their survival.

My initial suggestion for the residents of Chen Family Village to relocate seems a bit ’let them eat cake’ now.

If they had really left their village to join the ranks of refugees, their fate might not have been much better than these people’s.

Now that I have benefitted from them, I might as well help wherever I can."

Wang Yuan drew two points of spirit light from the "Yin Soldiers Talisman" and attached them to two "Netherworld Ghost Soldiers Talismans," then flicked his fingers, propelling them into the bodies of two wandering souls.

A flash of golden light passed by, and their forms suddenly transformed, turning into two majestic and awe-inspiring warriors.

This Dharma Seal allowed them to possess a strength comparable to that of ’Inner Strength,’ and also enabled them to come and go like the wind.

Relying on the ghosts’ own obsessions, they could protect their relatives for a month. Once the time was up, they would enter into the river section under Old Man Wang’s care.

It was already enough to protect their family until they reached their destination to escape the famine.

The crowd of refugees, with tears streaming down their faces, expressed their thousandfold gratitude.

At this time.

The "Merit Golden Wheel" behind Wang Yuan’s head shone again, and the signs of change that had subtly begun since the saving of Luoyang City seemed to take another step closer.

...

Dengzhou Prefecture, Turbid River dike.

The continuous downpour had lasted for another two days.

The water level of the Turbid River kept surging, and even though the sea was actually not far from the mouth of the river, it was still unable to discharge such a tremendous volume of water all at once.

In the midst of the evening’s gloomy twilight, a group of people, stealthy in the heavy rain, made their way to the river bank section in Yunhe County.

"Quick, move faster, don’t let those patrolling clay-legged folk see us," someone said.

Some measured the position, others set up makeshift rain shelters with tarpaulin, and more still wielded shovels, digging furiously into the dike...

At the same time, at nine locations on the Turbid River dikes in all nine counties of Dengzhou Prefecture, people were doing the same thing.

You should know that the dikes of the Suspended River downstream of the Turbid River stand more than ten meters higher than the plains on either bank.

Should an accident occur, the consequences were often catastrophic.

Just within the last two thousand years of recorded statistics, the downstream had a total of 1590 breaches, changed course 26 times, and had major shifts at the mouth of the river 5 times, with each incident bringing extremely severe consequences.

"Boss, are we really not going to be beheaded for doing this?" a youth clad in a straw raincoat asked the leader nervously.

"Idiot, in this deal, everyone from our Lord Prefect, Lord Deputy Magistrate, Lord Judge, to the Lord Commander in Dengzhou Prefecture has a share.

Who would care about your smelly head?

Besides, water calamities are happening everywhere right now. Even if the Turbid River breaks its banks, who would know it was our doing?"

The red-nosed leader turned and gave the youth’s head a chop.

"But, these corn crops will be ripe by the end of August. Once the Turbid River breaks, how much grain will the nine counties of Dengzhou lose?

Why not wait until after we’ve harvested the corn to do this? It’s just another month’s wait."

Thinking of the grains soon to be lost, the young man with a farmer’s background felt a pang of distress.

The corn grown extensively within Dengzhou Prefecture yields fifty percent more than wheat, having been introduced to Great Yan from overseas about seventy years ago and gradually cultivated throughout the north.

For an agricultural empire, the grain represents life itself.

The continued existence of the Great Yan Dynasty to this point was significantly tied to the introduction of high-yielding crops like corn.

"Shows how dumb you are, not accepting it.

The counties, as well as the fertile fields owned by the lords, are situated on higher ground and won’t be flooded at all.

It will only flood the fields that the clay-legged folks cleared in previous years themselves.

The lords have joined forces with the grand scholars and great lords from the mansion and are already stocked up with grain, preparing to buy fields with it.

The flooded lands will naturally sell cheap, and since those clay-legged folk have no harvest this year, they’ll have to swallow their teeth even if the great lords’ offers are low!

By then, all the new fields opened up by Dengzhou Prefecture will have fallen into the hands of those dozen or so lords."

The young man, new to Jianghu, was stunned by the leader’s words.

Ordinary people could never imagine that at this time of national crisis, these individuals were still plotting to annex more land.

Furthermore, they did not even bother to conceal their intentions, as even a minor leader knew all the details.

One could only imagine how corrupt the administration had become at this point.

Wang Yuan had taken great pains to prevent the "natural disaster" that was supposed to happen within half a year, yet it was already prematurely wounded by a sudden "man-made disaster."

Half an hour later.

Boom!!!

With a thunderous roar.

Like an angry dragon breaking free of its shackles, the rolling turbid currents mixed with countless sediment and broken wood, along with the lingering smell of gunpowder, violently burst from the riverbed.

Rushing toward the fields that were a month away from harvest.

Soon, cries of terror that shifted in pitch filled the air:

"Disaster, the Turbid River’s dike has broken—!"

"Men, get to the dike! Block this breach quickly! Otherwise, our fields are done for!"

"Follow me!"

The voices were filled with panic, but the steps against the current were resolute and unwavering!

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