Longzang

Chapter 508 Paving the Way for Myself

Wei Yuan flew directly to the sky above the porridge field, released his Dharma form, and the surrounding area faintly showed the scene of lanterns being lit and the world bustling with activity. At the same time, the aura of his Dharma form suppressed tens of thousands of refugees below, making them unable to raise their heads. All Dao Foundation cultivators, whether human or immortal, were unable to move as long as they were within the range of Wei Yuan's Dharma form.

Wei Yuan first intimidated the entire scene with his imposing aura. At this moment, the thunder of iron hooves echoed around them as a thousand Dragon Wing Heavy Cavalrymen stationed nearby arrived and stopped a hundred feet away, quietly watching this side.

Only then did the refugees realize their fear, and panic ensued; all those who had been making a fuss disappeared.

Seeing that the situation was under control, Wei Yuan said in a deep voice, "Don't worry, everyone, there's plenty of food! Everyone will get their due amount, not a single ounce less!"

The refugees were skeptical, but under Wei Yuan's forceful suppression, no one dared to say anything for the time being.

Just then, another cultivator of the Dharma Aspect realm flew at high speed from afar, using his magic to carry over a hundred bags of grain and dump them into a soup kitchen that had already run out of food. Upon seeing the grain, the refugees cheered!
Taking this opportunity, Wei Yuan announced loudly, "I didn't expect so many people to come today; we were caught off guard. However, a large batch of grain will arrive soon! Please wait for the time it takes to burn an incense stick!"

A moment later, a group of Foundation Establishment cultivators flew over, each carrying ten bags of grain. These grain bags were all custom-made by Qingming, each bag containing a standard 100 jin (50 kg) of grain. The refugees finally settled down, and many of them immediately kowtowed to Wei Yuan, replenishing his already depleted azure energy by several thousand strands.

But along with the green aura came a heavy burden of karma. The Red Lotus Bodhi tree once again glowed red, its leaves swaying gently, and with each sway, a new bud would sprout.

Looking at the green mist, Wei Yuan suddenly felt a pang of sadness.

He had worked hard for a long time and finally managed to accumulate several hundred strands of azure luck. Now, he only needed to replenish his food supplies and open more registering desks to reap ten times the azure luck.

These mortals are so easily fooled; a simple meal is enough for them to contribute their humanitarian fortune. It seems they've never even granted this small wish.

When a large amount of grain arrived, Wei Yuanfang ordered all the managers of the soup kitchens to be summoned and asked to hand over their ledgers for grain intake and porridge output on the spot.

In the blink of an eye, twenty account books were placed in front of Wei Yuan. Wei Yuan picked up one of them and quickly flipped through it; the accounts inside had already been recorded by Renjian Yanhuo.

In the blink of an eye, Wei Yuan finished reviewing the twenty account books, and from the numbers alone, he couldn't find the slightest flaw. The quantities of grain leaving the warehouse and entering the field matched perfectly.

The people involved this time were very capable and knowledgeable; the accounts for the twenty soup kitchens were flawless.

However, Qingming's current accounting system is quite rudimentary, simply recording a date without any review or verification. The porridge kitchen is operating under considerable strain; as soon as the grain arrives, they immediately begin making porridge and steamed buns, without anyone counting or storing the grain. Apart from the person in charge, who is literate, everyone else in the porridge kitchen is illiterate, making verification impossible.

Wei Yuan put down the account book and said calmly, "Tell the truth now and you still have a chance to survive. Tell me, who ordered you to embezzle the relief grain?"

Some of the twenty officials had shifty eyes, some were calm, and some were trembling, but none of them spoke.

Wei Yuan sneered. As a Dharma Aspect cultivator, he had ways to get these mortals who weren't yet at the Foundation Establishment stage to talk. But since so many people were involved in this case, he didn't need cultivator methods for the time being. Wei Yuan said, "Bring up a batch of the porridge kitchen workers."

Once everyone arrived, Wei Yuan asked, "Which soup kitchens distributed soup too quickly today and had to borrow grain from other soup kitchens?"

Several of the men whispered, "The manager forbids us to say anything..."

The samurai standing nearby roared, "Are you blind?! How dare you speak so dishonestly in front of the Realm Lord? Are you courting death?!"

The men were terrified, kowtowing repeatedly, and then pointing out the managers who had prevented them from telling the truth. The managers trembled violently, and one of them suddenly screamed, blood gushing from his mouth, and bit off his tongue, committing suicide.

Wei Yuan flicked his finger, and a small stream of clear spring magic landed on him, immediately slowing the blood flow, but the pain did not lessen.

"Trying to commit suicide in front of me? Heh, you can bite me a few more times and see if you can die." Wei Yuan continued the interrogation and quickly confirmed that a total of eight soup kitchens were involved. With irrefutable evidence, the leaders could not deny it and had no choice but to confess honestly.

This matter was orchestrated by a merchant guild from the State of Zhao. The guild leader observed for several days and noticed the massive flow of grain in Qingming, with only simple registration for inflows and outflows, never verification. He then discovered a business opportunity.

When the food entered the soup kitchen, only the person in charge made a record; the other workers were illiterate and simply carried it in.

He contacted the managers of each soup kitchen and bribed the grain transporters to haul away some of the grain en route, then distributed the remaining portion equally among the bribed soup kitchens. The soup kitchens deliberately served the porridge slowly, making the porridge slightly thinner and the steamed buns slightly smaller; the starving refugees ate as soon as they picked them up without any comparison.

When food ran out, these soup kitchens would share grain with other soup kitchens, which was a common practice, and no one found it unusual. The only difference was that the workers felt they had borrowed a bit too much grain this time. The managers of the other soup kitchens were aware of this, but although they hadn't participated, they had received gifts, essentially paying the price of knowing better than to say anything.

In this way, even if all the soup kitchens are running low on food at the same time, they can simply transfer another batch of food from the granary, and no one will notice anything amiss.

But before they knew it, tens of thousands of kilograms of grain had disappeared.

But what these people didn't expect was that today was the day the refugees Cui Shutong had sold to Wei Yuan would arrive. Cui Shutong was quite generous, sending 150,000 people at once! As a result, the soup kitchen ran out of food just past noon.

Furthermore, the movement of grain into and out of the warehouse is of paramount importance, so all information is backed up in the local community. As soon as Wei Yuan discovered the soup kitchen was empty, he immediately realized the grain quantity was incorrect.

However, Wei Yuan has not yet fully activated the Azure Sky Celestial Array, which monitors the heavens and earth. Only when the entire array is completed will it have the ability to record detailed information about every location within its coverage area. At that time, Wei Yuan will be able to detect if grain is transported in other directions.

Wei Yuan immediately sent men to capture the head of the Zhao merchant caravan. However, after waiting for a while, he failed to capture the man and his men were injured.

Upon hearing this, Wei Yuan was stunned for a moment before he came to his senses. Could such a thing really exist?

Without uttering a word, Wei Yuan took to the air and arrived at the Zhao Kingdom merchant caravan's encampment in the blink of an eye. By this time, the shops were already surrounded by the city's defense forces, and hundreds of caravan guards were forming ranks, outnumbering even the city's defense forces.

The caravan guards were clad in bright armor, robust and well-equipped, better than the regular army of Zhao. They all had arrogant and domineering expressions, showing no regard for the city's defense forces opposite them.

Inside the shop, a young nobleman was packing his luggage, busily packing antiques into boxes. Several beautiful concubines were also packing their valuables, creating a chaotic scene.

Several of his men were piling up firewood in the warehouse, pouring kerosene on it, and preparing to set it on fire.

When Wei Yuan arrived, he saw a servant lighting a torch and throwing it onto a pile of firewood.

The attendant threw out his torch, quickly jumped back a few steps, and then saw the flame flicker a few times before going out. Several attendants could hardly believe their eyes, and threw several more torches, all with the same result. They looked at each other in bewilderment—had they just poured fake oil?
At this moment, a majestic and awe-inspiring image descended from the sky, rendering all those with insufficient cultivation unable to move. Then, a deep, resonant voice rang out: "The Military Governor of Dingxi, Lord Wei, has arrived!"

With a whoosh, all the city guards knelt down, and the guards also took a few steps back, their arrogance turning into panic. The young nobleman tidying up in the shop trembled, and gold and jade fragments fell to the ground.

Wei Yuan thought the entrance was quite effective, but it seemed a bit embarrassing for him to shout such a line using his own Dragon Guard.

But he suddenly sensed something amiss and looked up to see Su Xuejing standing in mid-air, looking with interest at the Dharma Dragon Guard and then at Wei Yuan. Shangguan Qianmo was trying hard not to laugh.

The sky flashed continuously, and figures appeared one after another, including Yu Zhizhuo, who was dragging a leg, and Xu Henshui, who was missing an arm.

Everyone had come to see who dared to slap Wei Yuan's men after hearing that someone had injured one of his men. They were curious to see who this person was. Instead, they witnessed Wei Yuan clearing a path for himself.

(End of this chapter)