The comet remained silent, only relentlessly unleashing heavenly tribulations.

Chapter 109: Submission

Song Yi descended from the clouds, and the group of people hid high in the sky, looking down at a rather prosperous city.

The city is crisscrossed with streets and alleys, densely populated, and appears peaceful and prosperous from afar.

However, when he looked with his divine eyes, he saw the karmic forces in the city surging like black smoke, coiling above the deep courtyards.

Those burdened with heavy karma are mostly officials, landlords, and gentry, living in luxury with servants everywhere, yet their karmic burdens have almost solidified into a tangible form.

These people routinely prey on the common people, wreak havoc in the region, seize land, bully men and women, and commit countless evil deeds.

What's even more chilling is that these people are blessed with good fortune and stable destinies. If there is no external interference, they can mostly enjoy wealth and live a long and peaceful life until their death.

Song Yi withdrew his gaze, already having made up his mind.

He selected the house in the city with the heaviest karma and slowly descended from the clouds with the judge and the spirit officials.

The mansion was very large, covering dozens of acres, with high walls and deep courtyards, vermilion gates and copper nails, and two stone lions crouching at the entrance, making it very impressive.

The owner of the mansion was surnamed Zhou. He was a well-known landlord in the city with a huge fortune. His land was spread all over the surrounding countryside, and he also owned several shops in the city.

This Mr. Zhou usually relied on his wealth and power to extort and plunder in the countryside, forcibly buying up land and driving many farmers to ruin and death.

In addition, he also kept a group of thugs. Anyone who dared to oppose him would be severely beaten, or even beaten half to death and thrown into the wilderness.

There, Master Zhou was sitting in the garden in the backyard, enjoying the cool air.

It was the height of summer, and the weather was scorching. Several maids were fanning themselves, while several servants were serving them fruits and iced drinks.

This week, the old man was in his fifties, obese, with a pale face and no beard. His small eyes were squinted, giving him a somewhat kind and benevolent appearance.

"Bring that girl from the Zhang family to the manor tonight," Master Zhou said slowly, taking a sip of his chilled plum juice.

A man who looked like a steward bowed and replied, "Master, that Zhang girl has a fiery temper. She almost bit someone last time. Should we lock her up for a few days to temper her?"

Master Zhou slammed the bowl down on the table with a light thud. "Fiery temper? That's what makes her interesting. Just have someone keep a close eye on her, make sure she doesn't try to kill herself. I bought this girl from her father for thirty taels of silver. He owes me gambling debts, so it's only right that he uses his daughter to pay them off. Even if it goes to the authorities, it's her father selling his daughter, what does it have to do with me?"

The butler nodded repeatedly: "Master is brilliant. That old man from the Zhang family lost money gambling, and we have the signed IOUs in our hands. They're in black and white, and he can't deny them."

Master Zhou smiled smugly, took a piece of chilled fruit from the maid, and began to eat it heartily.

He didn't treat that Zhang family girl as a human being at all; he clearly treated her as a plaything.

Since he became wealthy, he has defiled at least eight or ten respectable women. Some were tortured beyond recognition, some were sold to other places after he got tired of them, and some, unable to bear the humiliation, threw themselves into wells or hanged themselves.

These matters were no secret around the mansion, but Master Zhou was wealthy and powerful, and had also made connections with everyone. Those who came to complain were either beaten out or had their information used against them, and over time, no one dared to speak up anymore.

Song Yi, watching all of this from his vantage point, showed no change in expression.

He simply took out his natal divine artifact, a jade-handled broom, from his sleeve.

With a gentle flick of the wrist, a wisp of bad luck, almost invisible to the naked eye, drifted from the tip of the broom and silently landed on Master Zhou in the garden.

The bad luck descended upon Master Zhou, seeping into his body silently like water seeping into sand, eventually settling in the central hall of his house.

The central hall is the hub of a person's fortune. If bad luck lingers here, it's like throwing a large clump of foul-smelling silt into a clear river. Over time, the entire river will become murky and polluted.

Mr. Zhou suddenly shuddered.

He was reaching for the fruits on the table when he suddenly felt a chill, as if something icy had been poured over his head, and he involuntarily sneezed.

The maidservant beside him quickly handed him a handkerchief and asked with concern, "Master, have you caught a cold?"

The chill came and went quickly, disappearing without a trace in the blink of an eye.

Master Zhou took the handkerchief, wiped his nose, and waved his hand dismissively: "It's nothing, how could I catch a cold on such a hot day? It's probably just that the chilled plum juice was too cold."

As he spoke, he reached out to grab more fruits.

He was naturally unaware that from that moment on, his fate had quietly changed.

This week, the old man was originally blessed with good fortune. If he had lived to be eighty or ninety years old, he would have had plenty of food and clothing, a house full of children and grandchildren, and a grand funeral after his death.

But now that Song Yi's bad luck has subsided and is lingering in his central hall, his future days will not be so smooth.

First, small things go wrong, then big things go wrong. There will be problems in business, in land, and in the people around you.

As time goes by, his luck will get worse and worse, and his bad luck will become heavier and heavier. By then, it will be uncertain whether he will even live to be sixty.

Song Yi put away the jade-handled broom, his expression indifferent. He didn't feel gratified, nor did he think he was doing something to rid the people of a scourge.

Now that he is a god, living as long as heaven and earth and existing forever, he has lost a bit of humanity and gained more divinity.

This time, I brought down bad luck not to vent personal grievances or to vent my anger, but simply to fulfill my divine duty, nothing more.

Heaven rewards the good and punishes the evil; as a righteous god of the Heavenly Court, he wields the power of Heaven.

Of course, Master Zhou wasn't the only one in the city burdened with heavy karma.

Song Yi led the judges and spirit officials to several more residences in the city.

There lived an official who had retired and returned to his hometown. During his tenure, he had been corrupt, selling official positions and extorting countless riches from the people. After returning home, he continued to act arrogantly and bully his neighbors, relying on his former connections in the officialdom.

Song Yi cast a curse upon him, which landed on his forehead. In the future, he would be implicated by his former colleagues, stripped of all his honorary titles, his family property confiscated, and his old age would be miserable.

There was another place where a salt merchant lived. This man colluded with the government to monopolize the salt industry in the city, driving up salt prices and causing great suffering to the people.

He was also secretly lending money at exorbitant interest rates, which compounded so much that many people who borrowed money from him could never repay their debts and ended up having to sell their children.

Song Yi cast a curse upon him, which landed on his heart. In the future, his business would fail one after another, the government would turn against him, and he would end up disgraced and ruined.

Every time Song Yi cast down a curse, the judge behind him would make a note of it in the book.

The time, place, person, and sins committed, the number of times bad luck was cast upon them, and the expected consequences were all recorded.

These records will be archived and kept for future reference, in case they are to be verified by the Heavenly Court's inspectors.

The duties of the gods in Heaven are not a game. Although the Department of Disaster Retribution has the authority to carry out punishments on behalf of Heaven, every single matter must be subject to scrutiny. They must never abuse their power, nor can they arbitrarily inflict disasters on people based on momentary joy or anger.