Dao Cheng Gui Xian

Chapter 121 Wu Shou emerges from seclusion, locking onto the Jia family (3000 words)
Three days later

Every day after checking the rice in Zhu Family Rice Shop, Lin You would go to the Three Immortals Hall to report the latest progress to Li Wushou.

"So the rice delivered from the City Lord's Mansion to the Zhu Family Rice Shop these past few days has all been normal, is that right?"

Lin You stood respectfully in the courtyard. Upon hearing Li Wushou's inquiry from inside the side room, he quickly replied, "High Priest, that is indeed the case!"

Just as he finished speaking, a soft sound came from the door. With a "creak," Li Wushou pushed open the door and walked out. As always, he wore a dark blue official's robe, and his face was as rosy as jade, but there seemed to be a trace of imperceptible fatigue in his eyes.

Lin You was taken aback, then overjoyed. This was the first time he had seen the High Priest since returning from his trip out of the city.

"High Priest, you've emerged from seclusion?"

Li Wushou nodded. These past few days had indeed been exhausting for him. He walked straight to the square table in the courtyard, which was missing a section, and sat down. Then, he slowly said to Lin You beside him, "Tell me everything that has happened these past few days from beginning to end."

Lin You immediately composed himself and began to describe in detail the entire process, starting with the food shortage in the city.

Li Wushou frowned, listening quietly without uttering a word, until an incense stick had burned out, at which point Lin You recounted the events of the past few days in detail. After finishing, seeing Li Wushou deep in thought, Lin You did not disturb him, but respectfully waited to the side for Li Wushou's instructions.

"So, based on the current grain reserves in the city, even with the support of Zhu Sihai's school guards' rice supplies, many people in Wufang City will still have to go hungry for several days before the merchant ships return, is that right?"

Lin You immediately replied, "That's right, High Priest! If the rice and grain from before hadn't been burned, it should have been just enough."

Li Wushou nodded slightly, then asked, "You just said that besides the Zhu family's rice shop, there's also the Jia family's rice shop in the city, and Wusheng Pawnshop is also distributing rice, is that right?"

"That's right. Taking advantage of the famine, the Wusheng Sect has been ruthlessly exploiting the people of the Five Directions City by selling rice and other grains. I have arranged for two priests to conduct random checks on the rice and grains that Wusheng Pawnshop sells every day. Although there are no problems, I request the High Priest to punish the Wusheng Sect!"

Li Wushou was somewhat speechless. It seemed that these minor officials had been quite irritable lately!

The Eternal Mother is not a local deity like the Tree Goddess of the Five Directions City. Although she is not a righteous god and belongs to the category of treacherous gods, she is extremely special and can spread her faith like a celestial god.

This is why, after Zhu Sihai brought the Wusheng Sect into Wufang City, the City God was furious but did not take action to destroy the Wusheng Pawnshop.

The reason is simple: Wusheng Pawnshop is merely a branch of the opposing force, and even if it is eliminated, it will not harm the main body in the slightest. On the contrary, it may attract a powerful enemy. At this moment, it is best for both sides to act in accordance with the rules.

Li Wushou had previously discussed this Eternal Mother with the old beggar, combining it with information from Wu Zhuangyuan such as the divine path being subject to the immortal path.

No matter how you look at it, this Eternal Mother seems to be a black hand raised by some immortal sect, specializing in doing dirty and tiring work!
After all, the lifeblood of mortals is a great tonic for immortal sects, and the lifeblood paper harvested by the Wusheng Sect has a wide range of uses. As far as Li Wushou can see, the white paper altar of the Paper Goddess, the blood-colored paper magic sword, and the paper used by the Literary God to hide his eyes are all made of the lifeblood paper of the Wusheng Sect.

Therefore, at this juncture, attacking the Wusheng Sect is undoubtedly a thankless task.

As long as the Wusheng Sect doesn't interfere with Zhu Sihai's plot to become the City God, the City God can leave the task of attacking the Wusheng Sect to him.

Li Wushou neither would nor wanted to do it. At most, he would find the Wusheng Envoy who had gone to the Three Immortals Pavilion in Aishan to steal his soul last time and secretly do it for her. He didn't want to care about anything else.

The most urgent thing for Li Wushou right now is to get rid of Zhu Sihai!
After a moment of contemplation, Li Wushou asked Lin You again, "What about the Jia family's rice shop?"

Upon hearing this, Lin You smiled slightly and praised him, a rare occurrence for him: "Speaking of which, the Jia family rice shop has some connection with you, High Priest!"

"Oh~?"

Li Wushou was taken aback, then became somewhat interested. Seeing this, Lin You quickly followed up with:

"The current manager of the Jia family rice shop, Madam Jia, is married to Jia Xu, the wealthy man who was robbed of his possession by the Bridge Maiden on the day of the Cherry Blossom Bridge."

"Lady Jia was grateful to you, High Priest, for slaying the evil spirit and helping her husband avenge his family. Therefore, she opened the granaries immediately when there was a food shortage in the city."

"I went with Liu Yanchang to register the rice and grain. After the Zhu family rice shop was flooded last time, I arranged for two minor priests to guard outside the Jia family rice shop's granary to be in charge of the subsequent rice and grain sales."

Lin You spoke with great enthusiasm, but Li Wushou's brows furrowed deeper and deeper!

Lin You was unaware of the details, but he knew that Qiao Ji and Xi Nang were summoned by Zhu Fang, meaning that Jia Xu could actually be said to have died at Zhu Fang's hands.

Considering the current food shortage in Wufang City, which Zhu Sihai has been trying to achieve, how could Li Wushou believe that this was not a premeditated plan by Zhu Sihai to take control of the Jia family's rice shop?

"Why have you never mentioned inspecting the Jia family's rice shop?"

Li Wushou frowned and asked, already having a vague sense of foreboding.

Seeing Li Wushou's solemn expression, Lin You's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly replied, "After the Jia family rice shop was taken over by the City God Temple, Liu Yanchang and I inspected the rice in the warehouse and only released it for sale after confirming that everything was in order."

Li Wushou glanced at Lin You, who seemed somewhat flustered. In fact, Lin You's arrangements were already quite thorough. Even if Li Wushou had made his own arrangements, they might not have been as comprehensive as Lin You's. It was just that Lin You lacked some relevant information, which was why he hadn't noticed anything amiss.

However, now that there were clues, Li Wushou felt relieved.

He stood up, patted Lin You on the shoulder, and said softly, "Now go and check the rice in Jia's rice shop again."

"Yes!"

Lin You bowed and replied, not daring to delay, and immediately left the Three Immortals Hall, heading straight for the Jia family's granary in the East City.

Li Wushou sat back down at the square table, subconsciously touching his right side, only to find it empty. He then realized that there was no tea in the Three Immortals Pavilion! He shook his head slightly, realizing that he had been spoiled by Feng Sishui!
With his eyes closed and mind focused, Li Wushou took advantage of the gap to open his five orifices and absorb the power of the sun. With the great battle imminent, every minute and every second was precious to Li Wushou!
After a while, Lin You returned to the Three Immortals Pavilion, travel-worn and panting, and said:
"Your Excellency, I just checked the Jia family's granary, and there's nothing wrong with the rice inside!"

"Oh~?"

Li Wushou opened his eyes, and Lin You seemed to see a blazing sun rising into the sky. He was startled and his awe of the High Priest grew even stronger.

"I understand. Then everything will proceed as usual! You can go back to the City God Temple now!"

Lin You breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the Jia family rice shop hadn't made any mistakes; otherwise, he really wouldn't know how to face the High Priest's trust. After bowing, Lin You returned to the City God Temple in a hurry.

Li Wushou's expression was solemn. The more Lin You said that, the more Li Wushou felt that the problem lay with Jia's rice shop. Since Lin You couldn't see it, then he would go and see for himself!

Having made up his mind, Li Wushou got up and walked back to the side room, where a misty, swirling atmosphere filled the air, almost like a fairyland.

After a long silence, a murmur came from inside the room: "Get ready, we're not far from tearing off the mask!"

As soon as the words were spoken, a series of buzzing sounds came from the room, as if it were an encouragement or a response!

The moon is bright and the stars are few; the June sky is restless and uneasy!
Lu Fan and Cai Yuan, the junior priests of the Jia family granary in the East City, are on duty today to guard the granary.

Before they left, Lin You specifically told the two that the High Priest valued the Jia family's rice shop's granary highly and instructed them to be careful on duty that night. As a result, the two were on high alert.

"You know, Madam Jia of the Jia family rice shop is really generous. Just to thank the high priest for exorcising evil spirits, she's selling so much fine rice at a low price?"

Feeling sleepy in the middle of the night, Cai Yuan whispered to Lu Fan beside him to pass the time. He had seen the rice sold by Jia's Rice Shop when he passed by the rice shop this morning. Each grain was white and crystal clear, no less than the finest rice from the City God Temple.

Such fine rice is being sold at the price of brown rice. If the City God Temple hadn't issued a ban, and all the rice sold at such a low price was only for daily rations, there would probably be a lot of buying and selling activities in the city. This puzzled him greatly!

"Who knows? Maybe she's taken a fancy to our High Priest?"

Lu Fan scratched the back of his head and replied in a muffled voice. He had great admiration for the High Priest, but he was always a step behind Feng Sishui and the others. However, last time outside the North City, he was quick and questioned the woman.

Unfortunately, the extremely beautiful woman seemed to be an old acquaintance of the High Priest, which annoyed Lu Fan for a long time.

Not only did I fail to make a good impression on the High Priest, but I also failed to make a good impression on the suspected future wife of the High Priest? How painful!
Hearing Cai Yuan mention Madam Jia, Lu Fan even wondered if he should try to curry favor with her. Although the woman outside the North City was extremely beautiful, who knew that the High Priest might have a soft spot for a widow?
As the two were lost in thought, Lu Fan suddenly noticed a soft sound coming from inside the granary.

Last time, when Zhu Jia's rice was transported by water, it was a pretense that rats had chewed up the fire-avoiding talisman. The Jia family's granary has been checked several times and additional earth vein talismans have been added. Logically, there shouldn't be any rats left!

The two quickly stopped exchanging pleasantries. Cai Yuan, radiating yin energy, stood guard at the door, while Lu Fan pushed open the granary door and went inside.

Sacks of rice were piled up like mountains. Lu Fan opened his spiritual senses and scanned the entire area inch by inch. Whether there were giant rats underground, the amount of rice, the fire-avoidance talisman, and the integrity of the earth vein talisman were the things he needed to check one by one.

After a long while, Lu Fan finally found what appeared to be the cause of the noise in the middle of the granary.

A bag of rice might fall to the ground because it was piled up very high. The huge impact of the fall would cause the bag to open wide, and the rice would flow out.

Lu Fan stepped forward and put the scattered rice back into the bag, secretly relieved that it wasn't some giant rat causing the trouble!
However, because of Lin You's instructions, Lu Fan still insisted on checking the entire granary. Only after confirming that there were no rats did he set off to return outside the granary.

Seeing Cai Yuan standing guard outside the door, Lu Fan couldn't help but mentally complain, "What are you talking about, fine rice?!"

As soon as the bag was opened, he could clearly see that the rice was yellowish-white, just like the old rice distributed by the city lord's mansion. Although it was not brown rice, it could hardly be considered refined rice.
Cai Yuan, that brat, is praising Madam Jia so much, does he also harbor the same thoughts as me?

With a muttered curse, Lu Fan was filled with mixed emotions. Being a priest in the City God Temple was becoming increasingly difficult!

(End of this chapter)