Devouring Evil Martial Arts, Eliminating Demons from All Heavens

Chapter 232 The Voices Still Remain in Luoyang City
Luoyang, Luoyang, an ancient capital with a history of thousands of years.

In fact, the location of the ancient city during the Qin and Han dynasties is not the same as that of present-day Luoyang.

However, local customs and traditions have been passed down through generations and have never been severed, despite the changes over the centuries.

Under the clear blue sky, the walls of Luoyang today have many breaches.

The bricks were covered in weathered dust, and weeds grew in some places, making them look extremely old.

But at first glance, the city wall stretching in front still has a sense of weight and imposing presence, stretching to the left and right with no end in sight.

The ancient riverbed outside the city walls has long since dried up.

This ancient riverbed has now been transformed into vast fertile fields, where the landscape changes color from green to yellow throughout the year.

Chu Tianshu sat in the passenger seat. When the convoy arrived outside Luoyang City, it first drove down a gentle slope and entered the area of ​​the ancient riverbed.

From this perspective, the Luoyang city wall appears even taller, almost reaching the sky.

The dirt road that the vehicles drove on did not raise much dust.

Because it is this time of year, large areas on both sides of the dirt road are covered with green rice seedlings, and the land is moist due to the irrigation ditches.

After a while, the vehicle began to climb the hill.

The city wall, as seen by everyone, slowly began to shrink.

Suddenly, the sounds of gongs, drums, and firecrackers rang out from ahead.

A large crowd lined up outside the city gate to welcome them. The drummers were adorned with red ribbons and colorful decorations, and the girls in their short jackets waved silk cloths in their hands.

The group of people standing at the front were all dressed in suits and leather shoes.

The leader, a round-faced man with chubby hands, wearing a gray suit, was all smiles and waving in welcome.

Chu Tianshu cleared his throat.

Liu Xueya, sitting in the back seat, said knowingly, "That's a secretary I appointed, named Li Chaoqun. When I'm not around, he helps manage the miscellaneous affairs in Luoyang."

"I originally expected that after capturing the people from Chenjiagou, I would return to Luoyang. I had informed him, so he knew to come here to greet me."

This Liu Xueya is very strange.

Chu Tianshu originally thought that his swordsmanship was quite good. Although much of his physical strength and sword energy came from the enhancement of the Plague God's half-body, his understanding of sword moves should have been partly his own.

Its momentum was fierce and extraordinary.

Therefore, Chu Tianshu was prepared to use several more methods.

To everyone's surprise, none of these methods worked.

After regaining consciousness, Liu Xueya quickly gave in, crying her eyes out, begging to live a few more days and willing to cooperate with anything.

The plague god's half-body left his body, causing him to lose his combat power.

It seems that some of the courage that should have belonged to him has been taken away.

The convoy only slowed down when it reached the city gate; it didn't stop at all.

As if he had anticipated this, Li Chaoqun directed the crowd to part to both sides, and then habitually jogged forward and leaned against the car window.

The wheels rolled slowly, and people followed with their feet.

Li Chaoqun, panting, said, "Commander, the banquet is all set up, just waiting for you and your personal guards to sit down at the table."

Liu Xueya was unclear about his official title. His subordinates sometimes called him by his military rank and sometimes by his governorship, using whatever sounded most authoritative.

"Don't even mention it. This time when I went out, I encountered a pack of wolves. There were a few monstrous ones among them. I wasn't careful, and my personal guards suffered heavy casualties."

Liu Xueya waved her hand and said the excuse she had prepared beforehand, "Fortunately, we were able to get everyone from Chenjiagou back as instructors, so this matter is settled."

"They also helped wipe out the wolf pack. Go ask them if they are satisfied with the taste of the banquet. If they are not satisfied, change it according to their wishes."

Li Chaoqun was startled.

Liu Xueya's personal guards were mostly ruthless bandits who had followed him in his early years, massacring villages and destroying towns as if they were his own limbs. Later, several internal purges failed to eliminate these people.

It's just that there are many things that are easy to do but hard to talk about, and only by sending these people to do them can they be considered capable.

Unexpectedly, one day, these wolves among men met their end in the jaws of wolves.

That makes sense. In Yuzhou, who would dare to oppose Liu Xueya?

Only wild beasts, especially when led by a demon, would be so ferocious. Li Chaoqun asked, "Should we send someone to bring back the remains of our brothers?"

Liu Xueya said impatiently, "Forget it, just bury him on the spot. He can live a life of luxury while he's alive, and if he dies, so be it."

"Let's also save some burial plots for Luoyang Province, so that they can be considered to have done a good deed even after their deaths."

Li Chaoqun's chubby face twitched, and he quickly covered it up by wiping away sweat.

Very familiar, the commander of the Zhen Song Army, always has this same vibe.

It turns out that even his longest-serving personal guards received no special treatment after they died.

After Li Chaoqun stepped down, the convoy had already entered the city gate.

Even in a famous city like Luoyang, there were very few streets that could be paved with bricks in this era; the main streets in the city were mostly dirt roads.

However, the dirt road is quite wide, and utility poles have been erected in many places on both sides of the street.

The weather is indeed different from that of a typical small town.

Not far into the city, you can see the three-arched gate spanning the street.

A Western-style clothing shop with glass windows stood in front of a candied hawthorn vendor carrying a haystack and cowering to avoid the motorcade.

There are small concrete villas next to an old restaurant with upturned eaves and bracket sets.

"Xiao Huo, you guys go to the West Engineering Battalion first."

Chu Tianshu gave a brief instruction and opened the car door, "General Liu, get out of the car with me."

Liu Xueya hurriedly opened the door and followed. His military uniform was destroyed, and he was only wearing a long gown. He was not particularly noticeable in the crowd.

They instructed the others not to follow, and after turning the corner, the two walked for a short while, and it seemed as if they had entered another world.

The streets the convoy had just traveled through were sparsely populated, and even the procession with gongs and drums seemed desolate.

At each shop, someone stood at the entrance, all smiling and bowing their head, looking like they were all cut from the same mold.

In other neighborhoods, the sounds of hawking, laughter, and arguing all increased.

The streets were not exactly packed with people, but they were still teeming with them, and there were beggars, laborers, and rickshaw pullers everywhere.

The low-ceilinged tea stall was packed with people.

Next to the stall selling guokui (a type of flatbread), there were many teenagers with ripped clothes surrounding the stall, wanting to eat some to satisfy their cravings.

Fortune tellers carrying banners, barbers carrying loads, pedicurists offering facials and pedicures, quack doctors selling medicated plasters, acrobats peddling miracle cures, and prostitutes leaning against doors with smiles on their faces—there are countless people of all kinds as you walk around.

Many people sighed and stared blankly, their faces unconsciously furrowed, while the majority were busy running around.

The air was filled with a complex, unpleasant odor.

People busy making a living rarely smile, and even their smiles are tinged with the saltiness of sweat.

This is a large city with hundreds of thousands of people, which is quite prosperous for this era.

Even under the rule of someone like Liu Xueya, it still managed to create a vibrant atmosphere.

Chu Tianshu walked along, taking in the sights and sounds of the people and scenery along the way.

He had just entered the city when he was heading to a place even more desolate than these places.

That's a prison.

According to Liu Xueya's confession, his prison once held thousands of people at its peak.

Some of them died later, while others were secretly sent to Shaanxi by him.

There are now only seventy-seven prisoners left in the prison; the other cells are empty, and no one has been re-filled.

Because those empty prison cells were prepared for the people of Chenjiagou.

The people of Chenjiagou nowadays certainly won't be randomly crammed in.

Even Chen Xuewen shouldn't be locked up in that place.

Because all seventy-seven people carried the evil aura of plague.

The rainbow half of the plague god is not on any temple or altar, but rather resides in that prison.

(End of this chapter)