Devouring Every Desire, Fortune, and Opportunity (Please Vote with Monthly Tickets!)

Even with their cultivation, the brothers Li Shun and Li Qing had gone through considerable trouble before they managed to obtain a little food.

It was exactly as the burly man named Han Kuang had said.

Under the influence of the "Owl God Devours Food" tribulation, almost all the crops in Yunguan County had withered and died.

The city was littered with the starving, yet unscrupulous merchants still hoarded grain to drive up prices, raising the cost of old grain to a despair-inducing figure.

"The local authorities really are standing by and doing nothing." Li Qing spoke sullenly as he set the sack of provisions down heavily in Han Kuang's house. They had spent a hundred thousand coins and gone through endless trouble just to buy it.

Tears now brimmed in the burly Han Kuang's eyes. He dropped to both knees and kowtowed frantically to the three men, until his forehead was bruised purple. Duan Jiuzhang reached out and lifted him up, his voice carrying a trace of compassion that was difficult to detect. "The court has failed you. This food should at least tide you over for a while."

Then he glanced at Han Kuang's mother, who lay on the bed, trying to rise to express her gratitude but unable to do so after her prolonged starvation. He promised solemnly, "Rest assured, this... will soon pass. You must stay alive."

Amid Han Kuang's profuse thanks, the three took their leave and headed toward Yunguan County.

"Did you discover anything when you went into the city earlier?" Duan Jiuzhang asked.

"The city is almost completely in chaos. Every household with food has its doors tightly shut, terrified that outsiders will break in and steal their grain. Those without food are like Han Kuang, doing everything they can to get some.