Devouring Evil Martial Arts, Eliminating Demons from All Heavens

Chapter 514 There's Definitely No Poison in the Porridge
The Ningdu Sect was originally located in Jiangxi Province. Even for martial arts masters, traveling from there to Suzhou and Hangzhou was quite a tiring journey.

However, after the Ningdu Uprising was suppressed, the old Ningdu Sect's mountain gate had already been destroyed in the war.

Yang Chengwu was not one to endure hardship. Rather than staying in a war-torn land, he preferred to find a prosperous place to rebuild his sect.

Therefore, the new Ningdu School was established in the mountains surrounding West Lake.

Over the years, the Ningdu faction has been able to cooperate seamlessly with the Zhao family, exchanging a great deal of money, precisely because they are not far apart and can look after each other.

After understanding the current situation, Chu Tianshu did not intend to simply leave and let the Zhao family's money and grain benefit the local government.

Therefore, he simply went from the side courtyard to the main hall and sat down. Along the way, all those who were die-hard to protect their master and those who tried to rush towards him in a daze were stunned by his power.

Those who were clever enough to beg for mercy were simply told to "follow him" and gathered behind him.

Soon, apart from the person who had fainted, only those who followed him in fear remained in the Zhao residence.

Once he entered the main hall, there was a huge crowd outside.

"Sect Leader Yang, write a letter to your trusted confidant and ask him to send the Marrow Jade over."

Chu Tianshu sat in his armchair and casually pointed to a short man in the crowd.

"You work in the pigeon loft, so you should know which carrier pigeons are specifically used to contact the Ningdu faction. Go and fetch the pigeons immediately so we can deliver the message later."

The short servant, who had just seen those who disrespected him fall down for no reason, felt as if he had encountered a deity when he heard the man reveal his identity. How could he dare to disobey?

Chu Tianshu then randomly selected a few more people.

It was the group of people who managed the granaries, clothing stores, accounting offices, and kitchens who were instructed to quickly set up ten soup kitchens around the Zhao residence to provide porridge and winter clothing to the refugees.

Even Qin and Yang could hear the entire mansion's commotion.

With Chu Tianshu's cultivation level, he naturally knew exactly where everyone in the Zhao family mansion was and what was happening in each room.

Those who were calculating, guarding the clothing store, watching the granary, and so on, seeing Chu Tianshu, this stranger, directing and assigning tasks with such skill, all couldn't help but be suspicious and revered him as a god.

Although martial arts are flourishing in this world, superstition is also deeply ingrained.

It was also because the court was tyrannical, the people suffered, bandits roamed freely, and there were illegal acts everywhere, with many cruel and strange behaviors that made people almost suspect that they were the work of ghosts and monsters.

Where there are ghosts and monsters, there are naturally gods and Buddhas, which has led to the emergence of various folk religions, numbering in the dozens or even hundreds.

The imperial court couldn't distinguish which sects were involved, so they all referred to them as the White Lotus Demons.

This lazy approach to governance only made the White Lotus sect more powerful, and many other sects took the opportunity to change their names to White Lotus, attracting more and more followers.

Those whom Chu Tianshu kept by his side were mostly people with weak minds and were quite superstitious.

Now that they suspect Chu Tianshu is a deity incarnate, they dare not outwardly comply with his orders but inwardly defy them.

It can be said that they are now even more dedicated to their work than when they were loyal to Master Zhao.

Yang Chengwu had once followed the rebel army, and seeing Chu Tianshu's demeanor, he realized that he was no ordinary martial artist, and his heart skipped a beat.

Even those so-called reputable and righteous sects who genuinely act as chivalrous heroes and eliminate local tyrants and evil gentry often only strike once and leave, at most carrying gold and silver to distribute to the poor under the cover of night.

Chu Tianshu's brazen act of eliminating the Zhao family's high-ranking officials and setting up soup kitchens to mobilize all of the Zhao family's reserves was quite audacious.

This not only reflects a broader perspective and greater vision, but also a wealth of experience.

"Who exactly is this person? Although there are many so-called rebel kings in the world, those who truly possess such martial arts skills and tactics are few and far between. How come I have never seen one before?"

Yang Chengwu stood by the table writing a letter, intending to tamper with it.

But whenever he had any distracting thoughts, Chu Tianshu would glance at him, sending a chill down his spine and making him dare not do anything sneaky.

In fact, he still has the Taixu internal energy that Chu Tianshu infused into his body.

The radiation from the void is extremely sensitive to fluctuations in the soul.

If this person has extremely high self-control and can outwardly comply while remaining completely calm and composed, then that's fine.

However, he was so intimidated by Chu Tianshu that he became uneasy. The thought of secretly plotting against him made his soul even more tense, and he could not hide it from Chu Tianshu.

Seeing that his spirit was weak and listless, and that he had already resigned himself to his fate, Chu Tianshu withdrew his gaze.

"The ability to manipulate waveforms, combined with the radiation from the void, and the sensitivity to fluctuations in the soul, is truly useful when mountains collapse and waters vanish."

Chu Tianshu stretched out his arms, his palms resting on the edge of the table, his heart filled with ambition.

"The situation of rebellion in the Yuan Dynasty is much better than that in the Ming Dynasty."

Back then, when he was in the Ming Dynasty, firstly, his martial arts skills were not yet fully developed. Even if he were a top-notch master, he would still be unable to stir up the world's situation on his own. Secondly, the Ming Dynasty was not yet doomed, and there were still many people who did not want to suffer the calamity of war.

Therefore, Chu Tianshu's primary task was to annihilate the Japanese pirates. As for overthrowing the imperial court, he adopted a strategy of building high walls and stockpiling grain, and proceeding slowly.

He did not actually launch a formal rebellion until he left the Ming Dynasty.

The Yuan Dynasty was different. How could it not give the rebels a boost when it arrived in such a place?

Moreover, to find another Youdu Token in the vast world, one still needs to have sufficient influence.

Providing porridge and clothing was just the beginning.

People outside are not yet aware that the Zhao family has changed owners, but the news has spread simply because they have seen people setting up porridge stalls outside.

Immediately, the news spread like wildfire among the refugees and beggars, and large crowds flocked to the area, waiting to receive the porridge.

The Yellow River flooded a few years ago, and this year Shandong is experiencing a severe drought, resulting in a large number of displaced people across the country.

Those wealthy cities actually did not allow refugees to enter the city; at most, they could wander between towns and villages, either as bandits or starving to death.

The Suzhou and Hangzhou region was renowned for its wealth, attracting a large number of displaced people who had originally been ordered by the government to be driven away.

However, a few months ago, when the government sent troops and constables to drive away the refugees, they were startled and hundreds of troops were driven back by a passing martial arts practitioner who smashed the city gate with a single palm strike.

A large gap collapsed in the middle of the city wall, and the broken stones, bricks, and mud bricks were pushed into the moat by martial arts heroes, allowing refugees to not only cross the bridge but also wade across the river.

From that day on, the situation spiraled out of control.

Although the imperial court issued an order to arrest the "evil bandit kingpin" and dispatched experts to pursue him after smashing the city gate, the local government was too afraid to get involved in such matters.

As a result, the number of homeless people and beggars in the city has recently increased dramatically.

The Zhao family mansion, with its high walls and thick gates, was a place that displaced people had always avoided.

Upon hearing that porridge was being distributed here, people came with great eagerness.

The people in the Zhao household were quick and efficient. They set up a simple stove, brought firewood and clean water directly from inside the mansion, and began to cook rice porridge.

The refugees stared wide-eyed at the sight of polished white rice in the soup kitchen, which contained not only millet and brown rice but also some fine white rice.

Someone couldn't help but pinch themselves: "Am I dreaming? Such delicious porridge! This...this...could it be poisoned?"

Zhao Jintang, who was in charge of the wine tax in Suzhou and Hangzhou, was not a great philanthropist.

His willingness to distribute porridge might have been due to the government's request, in an effort to calm the public's mindset. However, distributing such porridge inevitably caused widespread anxiety.

Do they want to poison more refugees so they can be thrown into mass graves and make the city a little quieter?

"There's definitely no poison in the porridge!"

There was a thinning old man with sparse hair who wisely said, "Poison costs money too."

This one sentence immediately convinced many displaced people.

Yes, even poison costs money.

The Yuan Dynasty government was known for its honesty and integrity.

If you're really pushed to the limit, the murder weapon is always gleaming; there's no need for precious rice or poison.

The streets were filled with displaced people, many of whom were too weak to stand for long and sat in groups of three or five.

In the shadowy alley, there stood a burly old beggar with a tattered gray hat and a short white beard, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Although poison costs money, some major sects in the martial arts world who practice evil arts have profound meanings in their skills, and sometimes they are not stingy in feeding people poison."

The old beggar's eyes gleamed.

"Suzhou and Hangzhou are getting more and more lively; all sorts of things can pop up."

"That brat who shattered the city wall before clearly used my Beggar Clan's palm technique."

"The Meteor God and Demon want to pass on their skills here, and the imperial court has sent Prince Gu Si, accompanied by sixteen witches. Do you really think that old lecher is so easy to catch?"

"The orphan of the Liaodong Ginseng Immortal, who brought with him the Ten-Thousand-Year Ginseng King, is said to have entered Suzhou and Hangzhou, with a large group of experts chasing after him."

"Also, there's Han Tiannu from Shu, the daughter of a rebel king. She's just a junior, yet she's been touted as a god. I wonder how much real skill she has, and whether she'll come this time."

(End of this chapter)