Chapter Ten: The Fierce Ghost

  May is the harvest season for winter wheat.

  The main crops in this area are wheat and rice. Winter wheat is usually planted in October of the previous year and harvested in May of the following year, while rice is planted in March or April and harvested in autumn. Occasionally, some vegetables are also grown. This way, there is always something to do throughout the year, and the land utilization rate is very high.

  Harvesting wheat is a big deal, the whole village has to work together, and the old and young also have to help with some tasks.

  At this time, most of the villagers' faces showed a joyful harvest.

  Su Hu sold his strength and tied up the wheat, preparing to transport it to the village mill. He saw He Song had just finished harvesting a piece of land and was resting at the edge of the field, eating dry rations. He went forward, greeted him, and said: "He's brother, are you done? This wheat is a big harvest this year! I weighed it earlier, and each mu can be harvested for 10 to 20 more catties than usual! This is the best harvest in years, and the land god is indeed divine! My dad said that after the wheat is harvested, our village will offer a grand sacrifice to the land god!"

  He He wiped the sweat and said, "Isn't that right! Since our village started worshiping the land god, every day has been prosperous!" As he spoke, his mind was elsewhere, gazing in the direction of the county town, his eyes dim and seemingly hiding a hint of longing.

  Su Hu's eyes rolled around, and he thought of something, saying: "What, are you still thinking about that? That's right, you and He Lao Dian Shi are also considered relatives within the three clans. You have a chance to try it out, who knows, maybe our village can produce another Dian Shi!"

  He Dong died, and the position of Dian Shi was vacant. He had a son who naturally took over. Unfortunately, his son did not learn from his father's smoothness and skills. For more than a month, he messed up the affairs, offended his superiors without realizing it, and only knew how to drink and gamble every day. Finally, he was dismissed by the county magistrate due to public outrage.

  The county magistrate has the power to appoint and dismiss subordinate officials at will, up to the position of registrar. However, there is an unwritten rule that the positions of minor officials can be inherited, and the relationships within the county are complex and intertwined. If the county magistrate arbitrarily dismisses officials and appoints his own confidants, all the officials in the county will secretly unite to undermine him, even plotting against him to get him convicted and dismissed from office.

  So the county magistrate would not normally do this, and this time He Dong's son had offended most of the county government, so naturally no one helped him. However, there were rules to follow, and they had to select from among the He family members first; only if there was really no suitable person could they appoint an outsider.

  He Song and He Dong were from the same clan, and even when they met in private, He Song had to address He Dong as "Shu Shu" (a term of respect for an older uncle within the clan). Although He Dong looked down on this poor rural relative, the clan records clearly stated their relationship, so he had to acknowledge it. Thus, He Song also had this opportunity, although it was very slim.

  He Song sighed and said, "This county is not comparable to the countryside. There are all sorts of relationships at play here. Although I can read a little and do some arithmetic, there are many young masters in the He family, so I really don't dare to have high hopes."

  It means he has the ability, but it doesn't matter.

  Su Hu also smiled wryly, knowing that this person had talent and wanted to pull some connections, but his family had just become the village head, two levels away from the county history. The matter of the county history was a struggle among county officials, and his family was far from reaching that level. He could only say: "If you want to go to the county, lacking silver money, just tell my family about it. This matter, not going to try, how can one be at peace? Brother He's talent, I have always admired, even if this time is not successful, there will definitely be a day to rise in the future."

  He hesitated again, scratched his head and said: "Or maybe, go ask the land god?"

  He Dong's expression changed, but he smiled bitterly and said: "Alright, I'll take your advice!"

  Riding the east wind of Qingyu Village's bountiful wheat harvest, Fang Ming's faith spread far and wide. The villages of Dachang and Yuanhe had already built temples to the land god on their altars, praying for a good harvest. Now, white cloud energy continuously surged towards him from above, filling his golden seal to two-thirds full. His daily pure income exceeded one hundred strands of white divine power, and his accumulated savings were substantial, with approximately twenty thousand strands of white divine power that he could use at will. The talismans within his body transformed, incorporating the villages of Dachang and Yuanhe into his domain.

  The experiment on Li Dazhuang's body has also ended, and the experience has been summarized. The search for temple blessings to cultivate in various villages has begun, and a nurturing plan for Wu Xinling is about to start. He still has high expectations for this "medium body". Overall, everything is going well.

  On this day, Fang Ming was concentrating his spiritual power. Since the red spiritual power was more useful and could be quickly split when necessary, he planned to convert all of his spiritual power into red. This was a water-mill-like technique. Suddenly, ten strands of white spiritual power floated out from within his body, entwining each other and transforming into one strand of red spiritual power, which was truly extraordinary.

  But when Fang Ming converted one-third of the divine power in his body, he seemed to have reached a bottleneck. The white divine power produced rejection among themselves, and if the red divine power was not consumed, no more could be produced. He looked up with a hint of realization, looking at the turbulent air above, and saw that the red gas only occupied one-third of the total. He knew he had reached his limit. If he didn't increase the proportion of red gas, there would only be this much red divine power in his body. However, thinking back to what he had instructed He Dong earlier, he felt a bit expectant, got up and paced around, waiting for news.

  Just then, a voice came from outside, "Your Excellency, subordinate He Dong requests an audience!"

  The voice was tinged with a sob, Fang Ming's heart sank, but he immediately said: "Come in quickly."

  He Dongjin entered the main hall, his appearance shocked Fang Ming. He saw that He Dong's body had suffered greatly, one arm was gone, and there were many injuries all over his body. If an ordinary person had such injuries, they would have died long ago. He struggled to salute, then cried with a sad face, saying: "Your Excellency please forgive me, I am incompetent, I did not complete the task."

  Fang Ming looked at him like that and had a guess, but didn't say anything. He said in a low voice: "What's going on? Tell me clearly."

  He Dong wiped away his tears with his remaining hand and choked, saying: "The little man follows the adult's order to see Zhang Qingyun in Qingxi Township. The adult promised that as long as he surrendered Qingxi Township, he would be appointed as a historian to help him break free from his restraints, and there will be promotions later."

  "Zhang Qingyun was furious upon hearing this and immediately flew into a rage, beating the little man until he looked like that, and then said..."

  "Go on and say what you want." Fang Ming's voice was calm, without any emotion.

  He Dong's body trembled, and he gritted his teeth, saying: "Zhang Qingyun also said that you are a wolf-like heart, an evil spirit, and a demon, wanting to dominate Qingxi Village, but it's better to give up this idea early!"

  "Bang" Fang Ming slapped his palm on the table, causing He Dong to tremble again.

  Fang Ming coldly smiled and said, "This deity thought he had some merit for guarding Qingxi Village, so I wanted to resolve this peacefully. However, he didn't understand the situation and sought his own death path. It's not my fault!" His words carried a murderous aura.

  This is the truth, he didn't want to make a big fuss before. After all, if he killed his ancestors for no reason and occupied the altar, it would seem to damage his merits. Fang Ming didn't take it. His subordinates were also short of people, and this Xu Nuo Dian Shi was the highest position he could offer at present. Even He Dong and Wang Liu Lang hadn't reached this point. Fang Ming was still thinking that if Zhang Qingyun was sensible and capable, then when he became the land god of the countryside, he could consider dividing the gods and giving Zhang Qingyun a village land god position.

  After all, the divine path is not something that can be supported by a single god. In the previous life, whether it was in the East or West, wasn't there a multitude of gods in every pantheon? Even in monotheistic religions, there were many angels under the command of God. Therefore, Fang Ming often pondered the divine appointment talismans, wanting to find out the method of dividing and appointing gods, but this matter was only an idea, with many problems to be solved.

  Fang Ming had previously sent He Dong to probe, leaving room for maneuvering. After all, if He Dong's negotiations failed, he could continue talking. Unexpectedly, Zhang Qingyun didn't even follow the rules, had his brain turned stupid from being too proud of his ancestors? Fang Ming remained silent, secretly pondering in his heart.

  The atmosphere was a bit heavy, and He Dong's cold sweat dripped down. Fang Ming saw the situation and said warmly: "This is not your fault, you go down first, pay attention to the movement in Qingxi Village, and report back every day." With a wave of his hand, spiritual power surged, and a white light flashed, all the wounds on He Dong's body disappeared, and even his arm grew back.

  "Understood!" He Dong bowed and thanked him, then retreated and went out.

  He Donggang had just left when another voice came from outside, it was Wang Liulang, "Subordinate requests an audience!"

  "Come on in!"

  Wang Liu Lang strode in with a heavy expression, bowed and said: "I have been ordered to patrol the four villages and gather information. Today I received news that in Qing Shan there is a fierce ghost who has proclaimed himself the Ghost King of Lin Jiang Fu, recruiting evil spirits and organizing vengeful souls with ulterior motives."

  Fang Ming took a deep breath, the name of Gui Wang of Linjiang Prefecture was naturally exaggerated, otherwise the entire Linjiang Prefecture would have fallen long ago. But the evil ghost peak must be real, if it's really that person who cast his gaze on the neighboring prefecture, it won't be easy to deal with. However, it's also possible that there are fierce ghosts borrowing his notorious name, trying to take advantage of the situation to rise to power.

  "Where did you get this information from? Is it reliable?"

  Wang Liu-lang replied, "It's information from the yin soul of Da Chang Village. I've been familiar with him for some time and have a bit of a relationship with him. He told me that the fierce ghost has great ambitions and has invited all ghosts with evil reputations. Many have been swayed and are gathering at Qing Shan, saying they want to work together on something big. I'm afraid there will be movement soon."

  Fang Ming rubbed his temples, feeling a bit of a headache. He walked back and forth several times before sitting back down in his chair. "You go down first and continue to investigate," he said. "Bring some wine and meat with you, and give it to that ghost who revealed the information. Tell him that if he wants to live a long life without harming others, he can come work for me. At the same time, order our subordinates to strengthen their vigilance!"

  "Yes!" Wang Liu Lang gave a military salute and stepped down.

  Fang Ming let out a long sigh, knowing that the fierce ghost was gathering its troops to wreak havoc, and it was nothing to be afraid of. As long as it dared to enter his territory, he had the confidence to annihilate it in one fell swoop. But what he feared was that it wouldn't attack his own domain, but instead sweep through other villages, those villages didn't have a guardian spirit, and he couldn't possibly protect them all, they would surely be breached, if the fierce ghost were allowed to grow and become an evil spirit, it would be uncontrollable.

  Even if he didn't become a malevolent spirit, at this critical juncture, with this incident happening, it would definitely attract attention from the county and prefectural authorities. When they send people down to investigate thoroughly, his "fake ancestral spirit" would certainly arouse suspicion. Add to that Zhang Qingyun, the ancestral spirit of Qingxi Township, taking advantage of the situation to kick him while he's down, haha!

  For the time being, we can only entrust Meng to the villagers under his jurisdiction and stop them from entering Qing Shan for hunting, in order to prevent unexpected events. Then lead the troops into Qing Shan to surround and annihilate, must completely eliminate, and let things go down quietly.

  He wishes that the entire county were deaf and blind, so he could spread his faith in peace, consolidate his foundation, and lay a solid groundwork. Fortunately, this world has many evil spirits, and the people of the county rarely venture into the countryside, as long as taxes are paid on time, they basically don't interfere, which is why he's been able to roam free until now without being detected by those above, but it's probably only a matter of time before he's found out.

  Still the same, being able to drag on for a day is a day, now stability comes first, whoever dares to take the lead, Fang Ming will be the first to disagree. Having made up his mind, even if that fierce ghost is the son of the evil ghost leader of Linjiang Prefecture, he must kill him!