Buyout

"Wu Liang rose from Dong'e. By the time he reached Dingtao, he had defeated the Xia Army twice, while Liu Yu slew Xia General Chen You, making the Xia even more contemptible and leaving him with a proud air.

Liu Yu then advised Wu Liang, 'An army that wins battles while its general grows arrogant and its soldiers grow lax will be defeated. The soldiers are already somewhat lax, and the Xia troops grow stronger by the day. I fear for you.' Wu Liang refused to listen. He then sent Liu Yu out to Cai Land..."

At the City God Temple, in the guest courtyard.

Shen Zhui walked around the courtyard while reciting from a book. Threads of golden light flowed around his body, and golden characters continuously floated up from the book like swimming fish before burrowing into Shen Zhui's mind.

Shen Zhui, meanwhile, wore a relaxed, contented expression, completely immersed in the recitation of divine legends.

Suddenly, Shen Zhui's expression shifted slightly. His originally fluid recitation became halting and stammering, and no more golden light emerged from the book.

"Encountering the envoy from Cai Land on the road, he..."

At the same time, the system's notification rang in his mind.

"Enlightenment Time has ended."

Shen Zhui felt a wave of suffocation. He shook his head, closed the book, returned to his room, and let out a long breath.

"This Third Summon of Deity, Slay Evil Spirits, is actually this difficult? Twenty days have already passed, yet I'm still stuck halfway through the third story. And the county magistrate still refuses to let me leave the city..."

After obtaining the two treasures twenty days ago, Shen Zhui had returned to the temple and spent every day exchanging Merit Points for Enlightenment Time to memorize divine legends.

He had fulfilled the requirements for the Second Summon, Discern Right and Wrong, fifteen days ago.

Shen Zhui had originally planned to go to the Law Enforcement Hall and take on the Li Family murder case, but unexpectedly, the county magistrate had stopped him outright and strictly ordered everyone not to leave the city.

With no other choice, Shen Zhui could only continue cultivating in seclusion at the City God Temple. After that, he began attempting the Third Summon of Deity!

Although Wang Long had said that the Third Summon of Deity required at least Peak Houtian strength to withstand divine power,

Shen Zhui felt that with the aid of the Yuanpin Pearl, reaching Peak Houtian probably would not take too long.

So he simply used Enlightenment Time, planning to first raise his Spiritual Sense to the level required for the Third Summon.

Once he reached the level of the Third Summon, Slay Evil Spirits, if he still had not advanced to Peak Houtian, he simply would not use the Third Summon's divine power. Naturally, that would not be a problem.

Unexpectedly, the third story of Liu Yu's was so difficult that it had nearly exhausted all his Merit Points, yet he could still only get halfway through it.

On top of that, the county magistrate's ban remained in place and showed no sign of being lifted.

"The Third Summon has hit a bottleneck. On the other hand, the second move of my saber technique already has a rough outline. I faintly feel that after just a few real battles, I'll be able to fully create this second form."

With his Merit Points exhausted and his progress in the Three Summons of Deity slow, Shen Zhui shifted his focus to saber techniques. Now, this second move only lacked the final test in actual combat.

"But if I don't leave the city, without Enlightenment Time as a foundation, my Spiritual Sense will probably have a hard time reaching the level of the Third Summon of Deity, and my saber technique won't be able to break through either." Shen Zhui furrowed his brows.

"Brother Shen."

Just as Shen Zhui was growing restless, Zhao Hu emerged from the neighboring courtyard.

"Brother Hu." Shen Zhui greeted him with a smile. "Brother Hu, have you reached the First Summon?"

Zhao Hu nodded. "It's embarrassing to say, but it took me nearly an entire month to reach the level of the First Summon."

"That's already quite good." Shen Zhui comforted him.

The most difficult part of Summoning Deity was Spiritual Sense Strength.

Without the system's Enlightenment Time, he might not even have reached the level of the Second Summon by now.

Moreover, a martial artist's Spiritual Sense was inherently inferior to that of a Qi Cultivation True Person, so naturally, it could not advance quickly.

"Shen Zhui, have you received any news lately?" Zhao Hu asked. He had been devoting himself to reciting divine legends and rarely went out, so he actually knew less than Shen Zhui, who visited the county office more often.

"Not very optimistic." Shen Zhui shook his head with a frown. "Over the past twenty-plus days, the number of new murder cases has multiplied dozens of times compared to before. At the same time, prices throughout the city have soared. A few days ago, disaster victims began trickling into the city, gathering before the county office and making a scene."

"At first, Steward Liu sent people to build shelters, distribute grain for free, and pacify the disaster victims."

"But within twenty days, their number reached more than a thousand, and it's still increasing!"

"Although several ringleaders were arrested and imprisoned, most of them are innocent civilians without any sins on their shoulders. They cannot be convicted."

Zhao Hu gritted his teeth. "It must be the work of those great families!"

Shen Zhui fell silent. Even a fool could see that these disaster victims were being used.

The troublesome part was that although they knew these people were being manipulated, they could neither beat nor kill them. They still had to arrange manpower and supplies to appease them, because these commoners really had fallen into dire straits.

At the same time, prices throughout the city were soaring. Merchants were buying up supplies on a massive scale, while the shops that were still selling anything were charging exorbitant prices!

If they could leave the city, things would be fine. As long as they caught the mastermind, the people's troubles would naturally be quelled.

Yet the county magistrate had strictly ordered the people of the Martial Arts Department not to act, leaving them completely idle!

This caused more and more people to follow the trend and hoard supplies, while great masses of disaster victims poured into the city!

If this continued, not only would everything outside the city become a complete mess, even the civilians within the county city would be affected.

"If this goes on, everyone will be thrown into a panic. I'm afraid things won't end well." Zhao Hu wore a deeply troubled expression.

Once criticism arose and continued for long, it would reduce the county magistrate's three years of effort to ashes. Even within the county office, people's hearts were already unsettled.

"Just what is the county magistrate waiting for..." Although Shen Zhui was furious at the shamelessness of the great families, he was not as pessimistic as Zhao Hu.

He suddenly remembered the story Wei Wenhe had told him in prison about clearing away weeds.

"Although the methods of the several great families are ruthless, if they could easily topple the county magistrate, why would they have waited three years? They would have acted long ago." Shen Zhui thought to himself.

He still had confidence in Wei Wenhe.

Just as he was about to offer Zhao Hu a few words of comfort, a young child suddenly knocked on the door outside.

"Is anyone there?"

Shen Zhui froze for a moment, then opened the courtyard gate.

Outside stood a seven- or eight-year-old boy with dark skin. Shen Zhui did not recognize him.

"Excuse me, is this where Lord Shen Zhui lives?" the boy asked in a clear, crisp voice.

"That's me." Shen Zhui nodded.

"Wonderful." The boy smiled, pulled a letter from his robe, and handed it to Shen Zhui.

"Hm?" Shen Zhui was puzzled. "Child, who sent you to deliver this letter?"

The boy shook his head. "I don't know him. I was playing outside the city gate when someone asked me to deliver the letter. He said I would get five taels of silver as long as I delivered it."

"What else did that person say?"

The boy knitted his brows as he recalled. "Oh, right. He also told me to wait until you finished reading the letter. He said you might ask me to deliver the letter back. If that happened, I could get another ten taels of silver."

The boy asked timidly, "D-do you want me to deliver it back?"

Shen Zhui did not answer. Instead, he opened the letter.

After reading its contents, Shen Zhui's expression immediately turned ugly.

"Shen Zhui, what's wrong? What does the letter say?" Seeing the change in Shen Zhui's expression, Zhao Hu immediately asked.

"Brother Hu, it's a recruitment letter." Shen Zhui handed the letter to Zhao Hu.

"The Yang Family is willing to give me three hundred mu of fertile farmland outside the city and help me achieve the Xiantian realm, as long as I send the letter back. That will count as accepting their conditions, and I can move outside the city on an appointed day. They don't require me to do anything evil."

"What if you refuse?" Zhao Hu asked.

"They marked the location of my family's residence in the letter, along with my adoptive father's movements."

"Despicable villains!" Zhao Hu was instantly enraged. It was clearly a threat. Although anyone who acted inside the city would definitely be arrested, if the other side was determined to sacrifice an expert, they could still find an opportunity to die together. Of course, the price would be considerable.

"You're Lord Zhao Hu?" The boy suddenly looked at Zhao Hu.

"That's right." Zhao Hu nodded.

The boy pulled another letter from his robe and handed it over.

"This is your letter."

"I have one too?" Zhao Hu immediately opened his letter. After reading it for a moment, he handed it to Shen Zhui.

"A hundred mu of fertile farmland, a residence, and a thousand taels of silver. I never thought I, Zhao Hu, would be worth this much!" Zhao Hu laughed in fury.

"Zhao had already placed life and death beyond consideration eight years ago, when I first took up this line of work. Three years ago, even my distant relatives severed ties with me. I, Zhao, have no blessings worthy of enjoying the Yang Family's fine wine and luxurious mansion."

With that, Zhao Hu tore the envelope into shreds.

"But what about you, Brother Shen?" Zhao Hu suddenly teased him. "Tsk, tsk. The price the Yang Family offered you is far higher than what they offered Brother Hu. If that old fellow Yang Ling were willing to offer me this much, perhaps I might have agreed. Hahaha!"

"Brother Hu." Shen Zhui was helpless. "You don't need to provoke me. There's no way I'd agree."

"Ha!" Shen Zhui tore the letter into pieces.

"Hahaha, good brother! I knew you weren't the kind of person who feared death and clung to life. At worst, we'll fight until our heads are broken and blood flows. Killing one means breaking even; killing two means profit!" Zhao Hu laughed heartily.

The boy was so frightened by Shen Zhui and Zhao Hu's actions that he backed away several steps and turned to leave.

Shen Zhui suddenly stopped him.

"Wait. Are there any other envelopes on you?"

"I, I..." The boy seemed terrified. With a sob in his voice, he hurriedly pulled seven or eight envelopes and several dozen taels of silver from his robe.

"Don't hit me! Don't hit me! Take them all, take them all!"

Quick! Hand over all your recommendation votes!