The people of Liuzhou were not at peace that night, but it was also the most reassuring day of their lives.
Groups of people gathered in twos and threes to chat, and everyone began to share their sorrows. Although the North Street were filled with the sound of weeping, the atmosphere was quite good, much better than the oppressive atmosphere of the previous few days.
On the second day, to Fatty Zhou's surprise, the desire of many young men to join the army was unprecedented. The men who had been hesitant before were already lining up at the gate of the mansion Heavenly Capital, which really surprised Fatty Zhou.
But where the fat man couldn't see, Wei Gongcheng, who was secretly observing the world, understood the situation and felt gratified.
The scene of the yin and yang connecting, created at the Confucius Temple with Power of Karmic Fruit, was indeed very effective. It not only publicized the existence of the Underworld immediately but also gave people the courage to face death.
Because everyone knows that the dead will find another resting place, this provides a sense of security for everyone, especially those who have just lost loved ones. The fact that they can reunite with their loved ones in the Underworld after death makes death seem less terrifying.
As Zhou Haitao patiently explained later, many people learned that participating in the killing of zombies and saving more lives was a great act of merit. It not only helped to increase the Underworld Lifespan of one's relatives in the underworld, but also ensured that if one were to die unfortunately, one would have a better reputation and a better start in life when facing one's loved ones.
In comparison, many people, after a night of missing their families and looking forward to the future, mustered up their courage!
Wei Gongcheng increasingly felt that coming to Liuzhou was the right decision. After twenty years in the army, he knew very well how terrifying a fearless army could be. Moreover, after fighting for twenty years, he also knew that there was no such thing as a truly fearless army in this world.
Most of them are only temporarily aroused by courage, becoming fearless for a moment. But if morale is low, this courage can easily fade and even spread panic. This is the real reason behind the military strategy of "the first time it weakens, the second time it is exhausted".
But the soldiers in Liuzhou are different. They may still be a bit green now, but looking into everyone's eyes, Wei Gongcheng knew that soon these green men would evolve into true iron-blooded soldiers, the truly perfect kind, soldiers who would face death without fear!
When death truly becomes their final destination, what in this world could they possibly fear?
In less than half a day, with the registration of Fatty, Gu Bei and others, five thousand new soldiers had been recruited in Liuzhou. This scale was almost beyond the size of the Liuzhou garrison. Wei Gongcheng secretly estimated that if all these soldiers had the blessing of the door gods, they could probably protect themselves even when facing hundreds of thousands of living zombies besieging the city.
But he remembered Chen Qing saying that the current South Gate Guardian could only bless a maximum of one thousand gatekeepers. To advance further, he couldn't rely on increasing numbers, because the limit had been reached. According to the rules, after advancing to the Ninth Rank rank of Yellow level, a Guardian needed high-quality followers. He needed more than three hundred gatekeepers under his command to advance to the second rank, increase his spiritual capacity, and then have the city gate renovated by a gate craftsman before he could advance to the eighth rank. Only then could he accommodate more than three thousand gatekeepers. Right now, he had reached a bottleneck.
The Mountain God can only bless a handful of Mountain Ghost, numbering only five hundred, which is far from enough to accommodate so many new recruits. Recruiting so many wouldn't just mean recruiting cannon fodder, would it?
There's also the issue of food. Liuzhou now has a population of nearly 20,000, and those who are in the army, including those who enlisted earlier, number over 6,000. On average, two people have to support one soldier. This ratio is even more extreme than that of those Kingdom of Guhuang.
How does His Majesty intend to feed this army? He knows perfectly well that once they receive the blessing, the soldiers will not only gain increased strength and improved physique, but their appetites will also increase. The first few who became gatekeepers, like the Maozi, now eat two pounds of meat and four pounds of rice and steamed buns a day, not counting fruits, vegetables, eggs, and other supplementary foods. If His Majesty intends to incorporate all five thousand newly formed soldiers into the Divine Path system, how will he guarantee their logistics?
Wei Gongcheng thought for a long time but couldn't figure it out, but he didn't dwell on it too much, after all, he still had a lot of things to do.
Yesterday's faith of tens of thousands of people boosted the Power of Karmic Fruit, giving him a considerable amount of resources. Although building an underground city of the Underworld is still too early, Wei Gongcheng felt that building a small village should not be a problem. He could then allocate some burial sites to those with deep virtue and merit in exchange for sufficient Power of Merit and Virtue to purify vengeful ghosts. In this cycle, his work should be able to gradually begin.
As for your troubles, my lord... well, I'm no longer a deputy general, but the Lord of the Underworld. Those matters are best left to your lord to worry about.
Chen Qing was indeed having a headache, but not about the so-called logistics. He dared to let the fat man recruit so many soldiers, so he was confident that he could afford to support them. In the Divine Path Style system, the one thing that was not lacking was the divine system that provided logistics and food. Moreover, he had already figured out the direction for the large logistics base, so he was not worried.
He is worried about two current situations.
One of them is the cause of Shen Yiyun's death. This is very important. There is nothing more worrying than having an assassin capable of killing high-level combatants at any time on your own territory.
Moreover, it was the most cunning Shen Yiyun who died. To be honest, if it were even the strongest fighter, Murong Yunji, who died, Chen Qing could accept it a little. But for a ruthless person as cautious and decisive as Shen Yiyun to die so silently was truly terrifying.
The information provided by the fox only added to the unease.
The Mr. Five Poisons is Master Yang; is he actually involved in this matter?
If it wasn't him, then who was it that poisoned a group of Samsara demons from the fox clan back then?
Is that person also in Liuzhou now?
Did he come on his own, or is he connected to the emperor in the capital?
In fact, Chen Qing had his suspicions about this. After all, according to what the fox said, the Xiao Household was the most suspicious when the King of Qin was poisoned. And Chen Qing did not believe that the person in the capital would not have made any arrangements to keep the fox with the Golden Crow Bloodline by his side. So it was very likely that the person who poisoned Shen Yiyun was the emperor's man.
But one thing doesn't make sense, and that's the motivation.
Why?
Now that the Nine Heavens Mirror Valley is sealed off from the river, and no one can leave, if the emperor truly sent people to infiltrate the area, why would he suddenly make a move and alert them after all this time? And why Shen Yiyun was the target?
The Shen Family has no connection to me; this is merely a temporary collaboration. There's no need for the Emperor to target the Shen Family, is there?
Or perhaps Shen Yiyun discovered some secret and was silenced?
Another thing that worries Chen Qing is the Laojiu of the Shen Family.
When he left the Ghost Child in Liuzhou and led a large group of people out of the city, it was not only to rescue the population, but also to lure out Laojiu. After all, a worm sorcerer hiding in the shadows, especially one who was about to turn into a zombie, was truly terrifying.
Strangely enough, the Laojiu of the Shen Family seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth, leaving no trace whatsoever!
So long? Where did he go? Even in his zombie form, he didn't attack any living people. As for escaping Liuzhou, Chen Qing found it unbelievable. The door gods had marked Laojiu when he entered the gate. It was a soul mark. At this stage, let alone Shen Laojiu, even if the nine ministers of the court or the emperor himself came, Chen Qing dared to say that no one could leave Liuzhou City silently while marked.
It was impossible to escape through other city gates.
Although Old Wolf is only the gatekeeper of the South Gate, once a gatekeeper is officially appointed, the entire Liuzhou will be within its consciousness. The gatekeeper will not be unaware of anything entering or leaving Liuzhou.
Unless it's a monster at the level of spiritualization, Chen Qing knows very well that without the revival of the Earth Spirit, the limit of this world is infinitely close to spiritualization, and no creature can be an exception, not even the Ancient Insect that is currently sealed.
Although its power has reached the level of spiritualization, it cannot exert this power in the current world. Even if it can split into hundreds of beings whose power is infinitely close to spiritualization, they cannot break through when combined. This is the rule!
After much deliberation, Chen Qing concluded that Shen Laojiu might be being secretly controlled by someone!
"Sir, you wanted to see me?"
Inside the government office, Chen Ying rushed to the main hall and found Chen Qing, who had just returned.
"Hmm," Chen Qing nodded, " Shen Yiyun is dead. The body has been brought back. You'll need to help with the autopsy and analyze the cause of death later. Be very careful; Shen Yiyun may have had potent poison or even poisonous insects on her body. Don't get contaminated, or no one can save you! Also, from now on, you must go out with Murong Yunji. Don't go alone!"
" Shen Yiyun?" Chen Ying's eyes widened, clearly incredulous. She vividly remembered that just a few days ago, that powerful sorcerer could crush her with a flick of his wrist. In terms of strength, even her teacher might not be a match for him. Such a person was dead?
"Don't be surprised yet," Chen Qing scratched his head. He was also quite frustrated by this tricky situation, but no matter what, the current pace couldn't be stopped.
Where is Xu Hu?
"In the backyard!" Chen Ying hurriedly said, "My lord, Xu Hu's condition is very bad. Although he has been able to maintain his consciousness thanks to your spiritual liquid, I feel that his condition is getting worse and worse, it's a bit like..."
"Demon?"
"Huh?" Chen Ying was taken aback, then nodded. "Yes!"
Upon hearing this, Chen Qing smiled and said, "Take me to see!"
Murong Yunji, who was watching from the side, was curious and followed along. The group arrived at a room in the backyard and saw Xu Hu lying on an iron plate.
Xu Hu's wife and daughters were crying so hard their eyes were swollen, but they kept a good distance from their husband. The reason was simple: Xu Hu looked too terrifying at that moment!
At this moment, Xu Hu's entire body was covered in black scales, his last fangs were bared, and his eyes were bloodshot and terrifying. He no longer resembled a human at all.
"Sir, you promised me you could save my husband, so how did he end up like this?"
When the woman saw Chen Qing arrive, she immediately rushed forward with her daughter, crying and pleading. The little girl followed, her eyes red, crying, "Save Daddy! Save Daddy!"
Perhaps hearing the cries of his wife and daughter, Xu Hu's bloodshot eyes regained their clarity. Chen Qing looked over and saw that Xu Hu was covered with silver needles, which were the ones he had instructed Chen Ying to use to seal the acupoints near his brain to prevent the corpse worms from attacking it.
"My lord." Xu Hu grinned, his exaggerated fangs making his smile ferocious and terrifying, yet his voice still carried a hint of former human gentleness. "Am I... about to die?"
"No." Chen Qing shook his head and smiled, "You won't die, I Chen Qing, assure you!"
Well done!
After so much bad news, there's finally some good news. He originally just wanted to give this guy a try, but he didn't expect him to actually be able to stay conscious even after he turned into a demon!
Not bad, not bad!
In that case, there's no need to waste talent by sending this man to Wei Gongcheng.
My first true Battle God should be born today!!
Some viewers feel that two updates a day is too few. Hehe, that's how it is for now. Because we don't have enough Mofang's Cube drafts, the margin for error is low. Three updates a day would be a bit of a stretch.
Once Mofang 've accumulated some drafts and have enough room for error correction, I'll start updating three times a Mofang. Please subscribe and vote again!!