Dao Cheng Gui Xian

Chapter 117 The Aftermath of the Vanished Merchant Ship

Half a month has passed in the blink of an eye.
After several upheavals, Wufang City finally calmed down.
With the City God and civil and military officials guarding the five directions, the evil spirits outside the city fell silent, and even the city lord Zhu Sihai seemed to have disappeared.

If there is any difference, there is indeed one: the Wusheng Pawnshop in Wufang City is becoming increasingly prosperous.

Long lines of people came to pawn their birthday gifts outside Wusheng Pawnshop, but unlike in the past when people pawned their birthday gifts to exchange for various necessities, the proportion of people exchanging their birthday gifts for food has been increasing recently!

After the merchant ships traveling to and from Wufang City disappeared, a large amount of food and goods were not replenished at the same time, and after half a month, they gradually became scarce.

Although Li Wushou had already instructed Lin You to inform all businesses to prepare contingency plans and strictly prohibit price gouging, the shortage of food and other goods was an undeniable fact.

Therefore, after several rice shops closed down, people finally realized something was wrong and began to hoard grain.

As a result, more and more millet shops closed down, leaving only the Zhu Family Rice Shop and the Jia Family Rice Shop as the two major rice shops.

Unfortunately, despite the strength of these two rice shops, they could not withstand the shortage of supplies and have now begun to sell in limited quantities, with each person only allowed to buy one person's worth of food per day.

This resulted in long queues outside the two rice shops all day long, and people in Wufang City who were short of food would turn out their entire families to form long lines!

Those who couldn't afford rice or couldn't wait turned to Wusheng Pawnshop, one of the few places in Wufang City that still had rice besides these two rice shops.

At the Wusheng Pawnshop in the East City, a white-robed divine messenger stepped out and rebuked the scrambling crowd:

"Hmph! What are you pushing for? My goddess, the Eternal Mother, has compassion for the suffering of the world and cannot bear to see people starving. As long as your lifespan is sufficient, the pawnshop will have an endless supply of rice and grain. If you dare to disrupt the order again, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

The boisterous crowd instantly quieted down, while those in line were both surprised and delighted; as long as there was food, that was enough. Even if it shortened their lives by a few months, they could hold out until another merchant fleet returned in half a month, and then everything would be fine.

The same scenario played out repeatedly throughout the city, and Lin You and others at the City God Temple naturally received the news.

They were also extremely angry about this. A strange god from outside was wantonly reaping the lives of the people of the five cities. As the officials of the City God Temple, they were naturally unhappy about it.

They wanted to take some measures, but unfortunately, after the civil and military officials entered the Yin Qi River, they lost their response. The Yin God Xiao Panshan was cultivating a golden body at home, and even the Grand Priest Li Wushou sent a message from the Three Immortals Hall half a month ago, saying that he was going into seclusion.

Therefore, the idea of ​​attacking the Wusheng Sect had to be abandoned. After all, the Wusheng Sect was taken over by the city lord Zhu Sihai. Without a leader to hold the line, their group of minor priests would be of little use.

In order to reduce the exploitation of lifespan by Wusheng Pawnshop, they also ordered the requisition of closed millet shops as distribution points for the Zhu and Jia families' rice businesses, hoping to enable the people of Wufang City to buy rice more quickly.

The Zhu family and the Jia family's rice shops cooperated unexpectedly well!
The owner of Zhu Family Rice Shop was Zhu Fang, the nephew of Zhu Sihai. Upon hearing the summons from the City God Temple, he immediately agreed to cooperate.

"The Zhu family has always kept in mind the City Lord's teachings, putting the people of Wufang City first in everything. We should open the granaries and sell grain at fair prices to meet the people's needs. I, Zhu Fang, will never withhold even a drop!"

It is said that Zhu Fang shouted these words outside the gate of Zhu Family Rice Shop, and the passersby praised the benevolence of Zhu Family Rice Shop and the virtuousness of the city lord Zhu Sihai.

Although Lin You and the others felt that this move was very exaggerated and suspected that it was an attempt to curry favor with Zhu Sihai, they did not say anything more because the other party was indeed quite cooperative.

Madam Jia, the owner of Jia's Rice Shop, was a widow. Unlike Zhu Fang, she wasn't as passionate and outspoken. Although a woman, she was very efficient and decisive. She immediately opened the granary for Lin You, Liu Yanchang, and others to inspect and register, explaining that this would make it easier for the City God Temple to allocate the grain. Lin You and the others naturally praised this highly!

Madam Jia, however, only expressed her gratitude to the City God Temple.

"If it weren't for High Priest Li Wushou of the City God Temple leading the other priests to slay the evil spirit Qiao Ji, my master's revenge might still be unavenged today."

When she got to the heartbreaking part, Madam Jia burst into tears. Lin You and the others were also moved by what they heard. Only then did they realize that the fat, wealthy man who had been robbed of his money on the Cherry Blossom Bridge that day was none other than Jia Xu, the owner of the Jia Family Trading Company.

With the support of the two largest merchant houses in the city, Lin You, Liu Yanchang and others felt more confident. Although the two houses were running low on grain, it was still better than being completely starved.

With affordable prices and limited quantities, and if we can hold out for another three to five days, the other merchant fleet should return soon, and maintaining the stability of Wufang City shouldn't be a problem.

Despite this, many people still don't care much about having a month or so to live.

After all, lifespan is invisible and intangible, and it's hard to truly understand until the end of one's life. But the money spent on buying grain comes directly from one's own pocket.

Lin You and others at the City God Temple were at a loss. The City God Temple relied on incense offerings and the souls of believers, and they couldn't just issue a forceful order that would lose the support of the people.
City God Temple Council Hall
Lin You, Fu Feng, and Liu Yanchang gathered together to discuss recent matters, while the remaining minor priests were divided into four teams to patrol the other four cities, ensuring the stability of the Five Directions City.

Even in the southern part of the city, which was sold to the Blood Buddha Temple, Feng Sishui led a team of priests into it. The reason was simple: the City God Temple could not allow large-scale deaths of civilians, and the Blood Buddha Temple had an obligation to maintain the stability of the living.

But the simpler reason is that the order came from the Three Immortals Pavilion!

Half a month ago, after Lin You went to the Three Immortals Hall, he brought out the City God's Magic Sword from Li Wushou's hands, along with a series of orders.

For example, he ordered Liu Yanchang to provide Xiao Panshan's residence with all the materials needed to sculpt a golden statue;
For example, closely monitor the movements of the city lord Zhu Sihai, and contact another fleet of merchant ships to return as soon as possible;
and many more!

One of the tasks is for the twenty-four minor priests to patrol the five directions and maintain their stability!
The six-eyed monk of Blood Buddha Temple was furious when he saw the group of minor priests, but then he tacitly acknowledged the existence of Feng Sishui and his group.

Gradually, even a porridge stall was set up in front of the Blood Buddha Temple's outpost. Although the porridge was a bit thin, it did give the people of the southern city a breather.

This filled the junior priests with a sense of pride; this was the true majesty of a high priest!

A single word can determine the fate of an entire region; this is no different!

Conversely, the one in the Xiao family was rather complicated, even drawing criticism from Liu Yanchang, a minor priest known for his amiable and prosperous nature. As the priest in charge of the City God Temple's finances and resources, Liu Yanchang was extremely astute about the consumption of various resources.

Was the gilding of the statue of High Priest Xiao Panshan too costly?

He was subtly surpassing the Martial God and rivaling the Civil God. If Liu Yanchang didn't possess such composure and magnanimity, he would have really wanted to ask Xiao Panshan:
Are you worthy?

(End of this chapter)