Chapter Thirty: The Zhou Estate

  Within the territorial land.

  Fang Ming sat upright on the upper seat, while the dark soldier on one side was reporting a message.

  "So you're saying they got nothing and just left like that?" Fang Ming said expressionlessly after hearing Yin Bing's report.

  "It's true!" This yinbing was an old man under Xie Jin, who had always been clever and wouldn't have taken on the monitoring position otherwise. At this time, he added another sentence: "After that Taoist said goodbye to Zhang Shi, he was escorted back to the city by Zhang's steward, which is what I personally saw."

  "Hmm, I understand, you can go now, and remember this favor." Fang Ming's eyes flashed with a cold glint as he spoke.

  "Thank you, sir!" The hidden soldiers retreated.

  "Hmm……" Fang Ming stood up and took a few steps, sneering in his heart. That White Crane may have shallow Taoist skills, but it's impossible that he couldn't even detect the most basic hidden soldiers. He didn't deliberately hide them, yet they still found nothing. This was quite intriguing.

  Thinking of Zhang Guan's family sending him all the way into the city, hehe, indeed a clever old man, wanting to use the county town's human aura to cover it up, but still can't deceive the aura!

  Fang Ming meditated on himself, and all he saw was a gathering of red and white energies at the top of his head, converging into the seal, which had already filled more than half of the golden seal. The energy circulated around, and another layer of golden light flashed, slowly seeping into his innate energy. On the surface of his innate energy, the red color gradually lengthened, with a tendency to purify. Not far away, however, the grayish-black energy was getting closer and closer.

  The original destiny is inclined towards red and white, which is a good thing. Fang Ming's current destiny is only red and white, just suitable for the orthodox eight-character god position. However, if he wants to rise further, his red and white destiny will be somewhat unsuitable. Now that he has human virtues and merits, it is a great opportunity to gradually change his destiny.

  Unfortunately, the dark energy is approaching, indicating that this time the White Crane has already discovered the clues and reported them promptly. Otherwise, it wouldn't be like this. But even if the White Cloud Temple is located within the borders of Wu State, after receiving the message, they would still need to discuss and decide on a candidate before rushing over here, which would take some time.

  Fang Ming only had this period of time to upgrade his divine position, increase his strength, and minimize the damage from the disaster, as well as deal with future events.

  Once the mind has made up its plan, it naturally carries it out without any hesitation.

  Three days later, in the county government office of Anchang County, the document room.

  A clerk saw a document, frowned, picked it up, walked to a desk and said: "He Dianshi, according to the message from the patrol house, a cult called Tudi Shen has suddenly appeared in the north of the city and is developing rapidly. According to the secret information from the north of the city, dozens of people have already believed in it, and they kowtow and pray every day, which is very heretical. What do you think? Should we report it to Master Hou and then present it to the county magistrate?"

  The Dianshi has the responsibility of coordinating with various officials in the government, and every day there are many messages that need to be reported through him. The Zhubao, on the other hand, is mainly in charge of managing the documents of the six departments, and can be considered a higher level than the Dianshi, already having an official position.

  Behind the desk was a young man, wearing a traditional official uniform, with a dignified demeanor. At this moment, he took over the document and looked at it carefully, but his eyes twitched slightly without realizing it.

  "This is a matter of evil spirits, we should not intervene. Even if we report to the county magistrate, we have to wait for the return of the Forbidden Ghost Department before handling it. We don't need to look for trouble ourselves. File this case and send it to the Forbidden Ghost Department!" He Dong said with a squint.

  "Yes!" The person at the gate originally disliked meddling in other people's business, let alone getting involved with ghosts. Wasn't he afraid of being retaliated against? That little official just casually asked and immediately agreed to handle it according to He Song's opinion.

  Five days later, at night.

  A figure appeared at the gate of Anchang County, a young man in official attire with deep and dark eyes that seemed to emit light from within, as if they could absorb people's souls.

  The city gate was already closed, but there were still patrolling soldiers at night, yet they seemed to ignore the young man.

  Fang Ming raised his head and looked at the red and white intertwined aura net, smiled coldly, lifted his foot, and stepped through the city gate into the city.

  The aura surrounding the formation seemed to ripple slightly before allowing Fang Ming to enter without any obstruction.

  Fang Ming burst out laughing: "Indeed...the plan is feasible."

  "It wasn't in vain that I spent so much spiritual energy and effort, finally gaining over a hundred followers in Anchang County."

  "Haha... Although this Qi Yun Fa Du is not something I can forcibly break through, the Qi Yun Fa Du is also the gathering of the people's energy. My followers are also a part of these people. As long as they believe in me, they can open the door from inside and let me in, haha..."

  In recent days, Fang Ming has been consuming a lot of spiritual energy, spreading faith in the county town.

  The north of the city is where many poor people live, as long as they pray silently every day, they can enjoy themselves at night. This news spread quickly, although not everyone believes it, but there are always a few who will try.

  After these few days of accumulation, even at the cost of depletion, there were also more than a hundred ordinary followers.

  These hundreds of followers, who are also part of the city's protective energy, can have an impact on the law. And since no one is in charge of the county town's energy law, it gives Fang Ming an opportunity. It's like holding a meeting with thousands of people, where hundreds of people support a proposal and others don't oppose it, so according to the mechanism of energy operation, it can be passed.

  As long as Fang Ming doesn't stir up any trouble in the county town that would anger both heaven and men, he can continue to operate here without being shut out.

  It was then that Shen's body appeared, patrolling at night, and even the guards couldn't detect him, swaggering to the southern city, arriving in front of a very majestic mansion.

  At the gate, two stone lions were carved, majestic and powerful, with an aura that was overwhelming, and their eyes seemed to emit a fierce glow, if placed outside the city, ordinary ghosts would not even dare to approach the mansion.

  The gate was painted red, and on the signboard above it were written two large golden characters: "Zhou Fu". Although it was nighttime, there was still a gatekeeper, who of course did not dare to be outside the gate due to the curfew, but could stand guard inside the gate in case of any urgent matters at midnight.

  A red light flickered, passing through the screen, and walked by the door. The door looked like it was already forty or fifty years old. It moved a wooden stool and lay down half-reclined, sleeping dazedly.

  Fang Ming concentrated his mind and saw that above the Zhou Mansion, under the county's law enforcement network, there was another layer of thick white gas guarding it. Above the white gas, thin red gas was forming, and he couldn't help but nod in approval - this Zhou family indeed had great power in the county.

  Note that the feng shui of this house is different from personal luck. Even if a person's luck is good, but the house has a broad and expansive energy, it can cover the entire family. If there is thick white energy and also thin red energy, it means that they are already a wealthy family among the common people.

  According to He Yuqing's previous statement, the family of a county's hope generally has a red mansion, which means that the entire family's fortune is purely red. This is quite terrifying. If we calculate according to actual strength, a county's hopeful family can mobilize manpower and material resources comparable to the entire Anchang County City. No wonder they have the idea of rebelling as soon as the world becomes chaotic, it turns out that their strength has caused trouble.

  However, the number of aristocratic families in a state is not many, and according to convention, there are only three types that are widely recognized. First, they must have hereditary titles such as baron, viscount, or earl; second, each generation produces officials above the fifth rank; third, they are from the ranks of the imperial family that have fallen from power.

  The original gate valve family was the Huang Mansion, and the entire family's aura was yellow, extremely rich and noble. United together, they even dared to secretly contend with the imperial court. Moreover, throughout the land, there were many famous scholars and high-ranking officials who emerged from this place. Once in a chaotic era, just one decree could subdue half of the province, a terrifying force. According to Fang Ming's understanding, it was very similar to the Yuan family at the end of the Eastern Han dynasty.

  The entire Zhou Mansion's layout was very harmonious, without any conflicting energies, and even had a subtle helping effect. Fang Ming's heart skipped a beat as he realized that they must have invited a feng shui master to arrange it.

  Before long, they moved to the backyard, where the ancestral hall was located in the center, occupying a large space. The three halls were renovated, and there were always people keeping watch at night, occasionally coming forward to change the incense and offerings. The fragrance of incense wafted through the air, subtly carrying the scent of sandalwood, which was refreshing yet intoxicating. It was clear that it was high-quality incense, something Fang Ming had never enjoyed before.

  These three grand halls are enveloped in a layer of red and white aura, with the red color occupying more than 70%. In terms of quality, it is even superior to Fang Ming's current state, but in terms of quantity, there is some deficiency. After all, the entire Zhou family has only about a thousand people, while Fang Ming's followers have already exceeded two thousand, and they also have the support of the dark army aura. As long as they are willing to pay the price, they can break through, but this will inevitably provoke a counterattack from the county city's human law and moral code, with unpredictable consequences!

  Fang Ming came forward, of course not to fight, but said: "Is the ancestral spirit of the Zhou family present? Fang Ming from Qingxi Village has come to pay his respects!" As he spoke, he used his divine power, and the air above him also sent out a ripple, transmitting his voice into the temple.

  Before long, a faint voice came from within: "I have been trapped in this place for many years, and I didn't expect anyone to come visit me. It's truly an unexpected joy! Please wait a moment, let me tidy up my appearance." The voice was trembling with excitement, which made Fang Ming feel delighted.

  After a long time, the voice came again: "The noble guest has arrived, unfortunately, I am bound by my body and cannot go far to welcome you. There is much disrespect, please forgive me!" As soon as this voice fell, the red and white aura surrounding the great hall opened up just enough for one person to pass through.

  Fang Ming's power was above that of the ancestral spirit, so he wasn't afraid of whatever tricks it might play. He walked in calmly, but the ancestral spirit didn't know that this temple's energy was its last line of defense. It let Fang Ming in without fear of him causing any harm, either because it didn't understand the situation or because it had other plans.

  Fang Ming entered the grand hall and saw an old man with a white beard, dressed as a scholar, with a rustic face and eyes shining with wisdom. He bowed again and said: "I am Fang Ming, the Land God of Qingxi Village, here to pay my respects!"

  The old man also bowed and said, "I am not talented, Zhou Si, the eighth master of the Zhou family, died after receiving sacrifices and became an ancestor. It has been several hundred years now. If there is any disrespect, please forgive me!"

  Fang Ming smiled and said: "Oh no, oh no! This time I came to visit you, there is indeed something important to discuss!"

  "There are important matters to attend to, and please... uh, sit down, sorry, there's nothing here for daily use, I've been neglecting our guests!" Zhou Si said halfway, then stopped abruptly, looking rather embarrassed. As the ancestral spirit, he couldn't move objects from the mortal world, so he could only wander around these three grand halls, and usually sat on the floor, not paying attention to his appearance.

  To be honest, Fang Ming was amazed that the ancestral spirit, who had been imprisoned for hundreds of years without even a chair or bed, and could only watch as offerings were sent from home but couldn't eat them himself, could still maintain normal thinking and be polite. In his opinion, this kind of life would drive someone mad in no time.

  He looked around and couldn't help but say, "Mr. Zhou is indeed a man of simple means!" With a wave of his hand, tables and chairs appeared, along with some wine and dishes.

  "Hmm!" Zhou Si reached out and touched it, but instead of passing through, he actually felt something solid. His eyes widened in surprise to the size of copper bells.

  "Hehe...... a small trick, Mr. Zhou, please sit down, how about having a meal together?" Fang Ming smiled, but his eyes did not respond to Zhou Si's inquiring gaze.

  Zhou Si's face turned red, but she still sat down. Fang Ming poured wine for her, and Zhou Si took a sip, her eyes becoming slightly moist, almost to the point of tears, but she held them back. She then exchanged several cups with Fang Ming before finally relaxing and starting to eat and drink.

  Zhou Si's movements were elegant, but his hands moved quickly, and in no time he had eaten the wine and dishes clean.