The Great Bandit of Journey to the West

Chapter 163 The Illegitimate Son of the Celestial Hound

Jiang Feng was a professional in performing rituals. After skillfully completing the rites of deliverance, the host family presented him with money with great satisfaction and personally accompanied Jiang Feng and the others to a vegetarian meal.

The head of the household was named Chen Xun, nearing forty, and served as the chief clerk in the prefectural marquis's residence. Because of his extensive learning and profound knowledge of both Chinese and Western learning, he was affectionately known as Chen Guanxi of Fengxian County.

The deceased was Chen Xun's grandfather, who was 100 years old this year and died peacefully in his sleep. Therefore, the funeral service performed by Jiang Feng was a joyous occasion.

Seeing Jiang Feng's elaborate and varied rituals for the deceased, even the well-informed Jiang Feng couldn't help but marvel.

In particular, when Jiang Feng used illusion magic to conjure up a group of beautiful women and perform the Paradise of Bliss, with their sexy outfits—he was terrified at the time, fearing that his grandfather's corpse would be mistaken for reality and that he had arrived in Paradise of Bliss and been brought back to life by Jiang Feng.

At the dinner table, Pigsy wolfed down the sumptuous vegetarian meal, quickly emptying the bowl on the table. He then shamelessly grinned and said, "Benefactor, is there any rice left in the pot? I've only eaten about three-tenths of my fill—"

Chen Xun looked troubled: "To be honest, elders, Fengxian County is currently suffering from a drought. For the past three months, not a drop of rain has fallen, and the crops have yielded nothing, resulting in a shortage of food."

The vegetarian meal you are eating is already the food ration for my family of twelve for three days.

I work in the Marquis's residence and receive a monthly salary, so my family is doing fairly well. The people of the prefecture, however, are in dire straits. Their surplus grain is exhausted, and they've even eaten tree bark and wild vegetables. If the drought continues, they might even resort to cannibalism.

Jiang Feng asked, "Has the imperial court not provided any disaster relief?"

Chen Xun gave a wry smile: "The prefect has already reported the drought situation to the court, but so far we have not received a reply from the court."

Jiang Feng frowned: "This is a bit difficult. Even if it rains now, we can't conjure up food out of thin air."

Chen Xun hesitated, then sighed and silently lowered his head.

Wukong said confidently, "You can figure out the food problem slowly, but getting rain is not difficult at all. I will go and invite the Dragon King of the East Sea to send clouds and rain to alleviate the drought here. It can be considered a good deed."

Chen Xun said with delight, "If that's true, I thank you elders on behalf of the people of Fengxian County!" After saying that, he stood up and bowed to Jiang Feng and the others.

"It is getting late today, elders, please get some rest for the night. Tomorrow I will take you to the Marquis's residence and introduce you to Marquis Shangguan."

Then they had a meal prepared so that Pigsy could eat and drink his fill before leaving.

The next morning, Chen Xun led the group to the Marquis's residence. The Marquis hurriedly came out to greet them, bowing respectfully to Jiang Feng and the others, saying, "Your Excellency, I greet the elders. I have heard that you elders possess the ability to summon clouds and rain, and that you intend to show great compassion and mercy to the people of my county. I thank you in advance!"

Wukong chuckled, "Are you a superior or a subordinate? How come you can't even explain who you are?"

The magistrate smiled and explained, "My surname is Shangguan, and my given name is Your Excellency."

Wukong laughed heartily, "That's fun! That's a fun name! Do you have a relative named Shangguan Xiaoren?"

Jiang Feng stopped Wukong from causing trouble and said, "Stop fooling around, let's go inside and talk."

The magistrate didn't mind Wukong's teasing. He smiled and invited the group into the main hall of the magistrate's mansion. After they were seated, he said, "Elder, what do you need for your rainmaking ritual? I'll have my men prepare it right away."

Wukong waved his hand and said, "There's no need to prepare anything. I, Old Sun, will go to the Dragon Palace of the East Sea and bring back the Old Dragon King. I guarantee you'll have plenty of rain this year!"

The magistrate said with great joy, "Elder, your abilities are truly extraordinary. I admire you immensely. Elder, please go and invite the Dragon King. I will have my servants prepare offerings and a vegetarian meal for you. We will celebrate your success when you return!"

Having said that, he earnestly instructed the steward beside him to prepare the necessary offerings, such as a pig's head and three sacrificial animals, for the Dragon King's sacrifice. Then he watched as Wukong rode away on a cloud.

Seeing that he had arranged all the steps of the rainmaking ritual in an orderly manner, Jiang Feng couldn't help but laugh and said, "Lord, do you often pray for rain? How come you are so familiar with this process? I think even the temple keeper in the Dragon King Temple might not be as thorough as you."

The magistrate replied modestly, "Holy monk, you flatter me. I am merely concerned for the people and wish to pray for the gods and Buddhas to bless my Fengxian County. Therefore, I only know a little about these matters."

Jiang Feng didn't say anything more, quietly watching him direct everyone to set up the offering table and sacrificial items for praying for rain.

Before long, everything was ready.

The Marquis said with satisfaction, "Holy Monk, our Fengxian County is not as wealthy as your Great Sui Dynasty, so we can only make do with what we have."

.

Jiang Feng laughed and said, "When the people in our area pray for rain, the offerings are not as lavish as these. Moreover, if the Dragon King brings rain, that's fine, but if the Dragon King doesn't bring rain, they have to carry the Dragon King statue outside the temple to be exposed to the sun, and whip it every day until it brings rain."

The magistrate stared in astonishment, stammering, "This—what kind of custom is this? Aren't you afraid of angering the Dragon King and bringing disaster upon yourselves?"

Jiang Feng said, "If it doesn't even rain, what's the point of having a Dragon King? As the saying goes, natural disasters are easy to overcome, but man-made disasters are hard to eliminate. Many times, natural disasters are caused by human error. What does the Marquis think?"

The magistrate looked unconvinced and shook his head, saying, "This is too disrespectful to the gods. How can you blame the gods for natural disasters? It is the people's disrespect for Heaven that has caused Heaven to send down its punishment. We should offer sacrifices to the gods and pray for their mercy."

Jiang Feng sighed, "You ask about ghosts and gods instead of the people's welfare. You keep saying you care about the common people, but what did you do for them when the drought struck?"

The magistrate, with a proud expression, said, "I led the people to build temples, worship various gods and Buddhas, and opened the granaries to distribute vegetarian meals to the monks and Taoists in the county. The gods and Buddhas in heaven must have sensed this, which is why they sent holy monks and others to help the people of Fengxian County!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Feng felt an urge to strangle the magistrate before him. He gritted his teeth and said, "So there is grain in the granary, huh? You have grain to offer sacrifices to gods and Buddhas, and to give alms to monks and Taoists, but you can't share it with the common people for disaster relief?"

The magistrate frowned and said, "How can that be? The people have been punished for disrespecting Heaven. How can I forgive them on behalf of Heaven?"

Moreover, the granary contains our county's own tax revenue, which is to be distributed to the gentry of each county. It's fine to use the grain inside for charity, since it's a good deed. How can we use it to distribute to the common people?

"After all, our prefecture has already paid taxes to the imperial court. With this disaster, it should be the court that allocates grain to relieve the people; how can we overstep our bounds!"

Jiang Feng took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, and said coldly, "I'll ask you one more time: are you willing to open the granaries and distribute grain to the people?"

Seeing his sharp, almost predatory gaze, the magistrate looked troubled and said, "Holy Monk, please don't be like this. You're putting me in a difficult position."

"If it's too difficult, then let's not do it!"

Jiang Feng overturned the offering table in front of him, startling the county magistrate into taking two steps back. He pointed at Jiang Feng, trembling and unable to speak.

"You—you—"

Just then, a black dog ran over, drooling as it began to gnaw on the pig's head on the ground.

From the clouds above, the Dragon King, who had been lured here by Wukong under the pretense of inviting him to dinner, witnessed this scene. His smile stiffened as he said, "Great Sage, did you also invite this black dog to join us for drinks?"

Wukong was slightly taken aback, then his eyes darted around and he said, "I invited Erlang Shen to come and keep me company while I drink. Maybe he himself is too busy to come, so he sent Xiaotianquan's illegitimate son instead."

Dragon King: "————"

Haha, if even my Dragon King tablet hadn't fallen to the ground, I almost would have believed it!

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