He paused, then continued, "Though the Four Duty Merit Officers are received by the City Gods, jurisdiction over them still belongs to the Heavenly Court. Strictly speaking, a City God may not necessarily be able to mobilize them.
Still... there is no harm in trying."
Lu Chen pondered for a moment, then suddenly lowered his voice. "True Lord, do these Four Duty Merit Officers... have any weak points?"
He had wanted to ask whether the Four Duty Merit Officers were greedy for money. If they were, he could simply smash them with Heavenly Gold!
But on second thought, that was a little too wild.
So he changed his wording.
"Mind your words, little friend!" Zhong Kui threw back his head and laughed. "Everything you say now, they can hear."
Lu Chen: "..."
Damn it, he had forgotten about that!
Wait!!
Then all those things he had said before...
His heart tightened. "True Lord, surely the Four Duty Merit Officers do not report every conversation and every occurrence in the mortal world to the Jade Emperor?"
Zhong Kui waved a hand. "Rest easy, little friend. Even if the Four Duty Merit Officers wished to report it, the Great Heavenly Venerable manages ten thousand affairs every day and has no time to listen closely.
Though the Four Duty Merit Officers record the good and evil words and deeds of mortals, it is merely filed away for future reference.
It is only consulted when needed.
If the Great Heavenly Venerable had to listen to reports from the mortal world every day, he would be too busy to cope.
However!"
His tone shifted. "For those of great virtue and great evil, the Four Great Merit Officers of the Heavenly Court compile and submit reports to the various departments at the end of each year.