"What should I do... If I offend this person, he will tear down my city god in the future. That's not right, this Lu Liangsheng doesn't look like a petty person."
The ghost messengers and judges are busy all around, and they will take a few glances from time to time. The City God relies on temples and incense offerings to survive. If no one worships him, or the temple is destroyed by the government, it can be regarded as wiping out his position in the world. After a long time, his soul will disappear or fall into reincarnation.
Therefore, although the city gods and land gods in the human world can punish living people lightly, few of them dare to tease or show off their power to the emperors of the human world.
After hesitating for a while, the City God of Yancheng asked his attendants to leave and told him about his difficulties.
"Please forgive me, Immortal. I am the City God of a place. I have the authority to arrest and interrogate ghosts, but I have no right to deal with those who are listed in the Book of Bound Souls. They are connected to the underworld of Mount Tai. If they are investigated, I, a small City God, cannot bear the responsibility."
Lu Liangsheng was stunned for a moment, thinking back on these words, and couldn't help laughing. It turned out that the other party had misunderstood what he meant. He quickly waved his hands and explained, "The City God misunderstood me."
"Oh?" The City God sighed quietly and held out his hand: "Master, please tell me something else."
"In fact, my intention is not to let Li Yishu return to life, as that would go against the will of heaven, but to seek some blessings for him."
Lu Liangsheng looked at the City God and the Soul-Binding Book in the other's hand for a while, then stood up and walked around, his eyes sweeping over the judges and ghost messengers who were handling the affairs of the underworld around him, and he grasped the Book in his hand.
"His body has been destroyed, and he cannot be resurrected. If he finds another body, it would be disrespectful to the newly dead. Before his death, Li Yishu benefited his neighbors, not charging the poor a penny, and not taking any more from the rich. If such a diligent and hardworking person does not get the good rewards he deserves, how can the people be convinced that the City God has ruled out karma and that heaven is fair?"
Walking to the desk of the Judge of the Good and Evil Department, Lu Liangsheng stopped, lowered his eyes and looked at the Judge of the Good and Evil Department who just raised his head, and asked him with a smile:
"Judge, do you think what Lu Liangsheng said makes sense?"
"That makes sense." The judge looked at the City God from the side and nodded solemnly: "Mr. City God, your words may be simple, but they are very reasonable."
The subordinate nodded in agreement and also went up the stairs. The City God of Yancheng then stood up, stroked his beard and walked around, looking at the pilgrims passing by outside the temple and nodded.
"good."
He turned around, made a decision, walked back to the long table step by step, and spread out the Soul Binding Book.
"In this case, Li Yishu's soul will not enter the underworld for reincarnation. He died unjustly, not from old age or premature death due to illness. He should have 30 years to live. This god will use the soul-fixing technique to allow his soul to walk in the world of the living without fear of sunlight. He can be reunited with his wife and children, and continue to practice medicine and save lives to accumulate good karma. When his life span is over, he will enter the underworld again, make up for his good karma, and be born into a prominent family in the next life."
Lu Liangsheng raised his hands and said, "The City God is very kind."
After finishing the discussion, the two chatted and laughed in the hall for a while. The two ghost messengers who had gone out earlier came back with umbrellas. One of them had an iron chain in his hand, with a figure locked on it. The figure had loose hair and a numb expression. He followed in.
The iron chains rattled and loosened from the figure's hands. The man suddenly came back to consciousness. When he saw the City God of Yancheng behind the first long table, his soul was shaken. He knelt on the ground with trembling knees, and his head kept banging up and down.
"Your Excellency the City God, I am the mortal prefect Chen Bingyuan, paying my respects to you."
With his peripheral vision lowered, he saw a chair on the side of the long table. On it sat a man who looked like a scholar. He was not as cold and scary as the ghost messengers and judges around him. He could even sense the masculine energy that only humans could have coming from him.
'This is a living person...'
The thought came to my mind, but before I could think about it, I heard the voice of the City God coming from behind the long desk.
"Chen Bingyuan, do you know why you were struck by lightning and died?"
Chen Bingyuan came back to his senses and leaned forward again, his nose almost touching the ground. He stared at the cold black tiles and swallowed.
"I don't know. I was sitting at home when a thunderbolt broke through the roof and struck me to death. Lord City God, please understand that I have served as an official in the world of the living and have benefited the villagers."
"Hmph." The City God glanced at him, then lowered his eyes to look at the book of magic in his hand. The pages turned automatically without wind, one by one, and finally stopped at a vertical line of words.
The City God flicked his fingertips, and the vertical line of characters flew out of the paper and revealed a golden shape emitting divine light in the air. From the birth of Chen Bingyuan to his death by lightning today, everything was clearly recorded. In particular, among the things he had done personally, he personally inserted a needle into his wife's head to kill her, and secretly instructed his confidants to wrongly accuse Li Yishu...
“This… this…”
Chen Bingyuan looked at every line of golden characters, especially the two things about harming his wife and framing the doctor, which stood out. His soul was shaking as he knelt on the ground.
"Benefiting the villagers? Humph, I don't believe it."
The City God stood up and brushed his sleeves, then shouted to the judge at one side: "Judge of the Punishment Division, this man is in your hands. Take him down, give him twenty lashes, and send him to the underworld of Mount Tai, to be handed over to the Lord of the Prefecture!"
"Lord City God! Lord City God!"
Seeing a ghost with a very tall stature and wearing a tall hat and a veil swaying towards him, Chen Bingyuan was so scared that he crawled on the ground and hugged the legs of the living person on the chair beside the long table. Officials still have to observe words and expressions. A living person who can sit in the City God Temple cannot be an ordinary person.
"Sir, please ask the City God for a favor on my behalf. Chen Bingyuan will definitely repay you!"
In an instant, he lay on the ground and tilted his head to shout at the City God: "City God! Lord City God, the thunder must have struck the wrong person. I shouldn't have such a short life. The fortune teller also said that I will become a general or a prime minister in the future, and I will be extremely noble! Please check again..."
The leg he was holding suddenly kicked back, and before he could finish shouting, he was kicked and rolled several times on the ground. Just as he straightened his upper body, Lu Liangsheng, who was sitting on the chair over there, patted his shoes, and his tone was as if he was chatting casually.
"That lightning was struck by me."
Chen Bingyuan propped up his upper body and wanted to plead for mercy again, but his mouth was slightly open and his voice was cut off. He looked at the scholar sitting over there in a daze. The moment he raised his finger, his shoulders sank and two long, ink-black hands pressed down on him. The sharp nails shrank and sank into his soul, emitting black smoke.
Sniff~
"Ah!!" Chen Bingyuan screamed miserably, and was hung in the air by the bamboo-like evil messenger who pierced his shoulders. The evil messenger turned into black smoke and drilled into the ground.
In the main hall, the ghost messengers and judges were still busy, as if the scene just now had never happened.
"Master, what do you think of this treatment?"
The City God of Yancheng put away the book of laws and put it into his sleeve. He disappeared in a flash, stood up and walked away from the long desk. He walked to Lu Liangsheng with a smile, extended his hand to invite him, and walked out of the hall together.
"The City God enforces the law impartially, and Lu Liangsheng is grateful."
The scholar bowed and expressed his gratitude, then walked through the surrounding pilgrims who were burning incense and worshipping, and stopped in the temple courtyard. Outside the temple gate, he saw Li Yishu and the two ghost messengers he had met in Wanhe County before floating in, one in front and one behind. When they saw the City God and Lu Liangsheng on one side, they all bowed and saluted.
"I have seen the City God, I have seen the real person!"
Li Yishu was not bound with the soul-locking chain and his consciousness was clear. When he saw the scholar standing next to the City God, he became excited and hurriedly trotted forward, knelt down and kowtowed.
"Yishu greets you, benefactor. Thank you for letting me stay at home for a few more days!"
"Why thank me? You are so kind and I just happened to meet you. Get up."
Lu Liangsheng went over and helped him up. Regardless of status, he always respected people with great virtue. While talking, the two ghost messengers handed over their tasks to the City God and told him about what happened in the city. In particular, the prefect sent a Taoist priest to harm Li Yishu's soul, and they told him the details, which made the City God angry, so he summoned the judge of the Punishment Department.
"Five more lashes!"
After sending the judge away, the City God also announced the punishment for Li Yishu, then he stretched out his hand and a ray of golden light appeared in his palm, floating into the other party's mouth, nose, eye sockets, and ear holes. The soul condensed a little, as if he had a body again and could perceive. However, Lu Liangsheng knew that this was just the condensation of the soul, not the real reconstruction of the body.
Now that the matter was settled, it was time for Lu Liangsheng to say goodbye. He still had to go to Qingcheng Mountain to explore the altar of the Nine Spirits Formation. As he walked out of the temple gate and down the stone steps, Li Yishu ran out from behind him, suddenly knelt down, and shouted loudly.
“My benefactor!!”
There seemed to be tears flashing in his eyes. He bent his body and banged his head heavily on the rock.
The sun shone on the rows of willow trees outside. Lu Liangsheng, leading the old donkey, stroked the swept willow branches, turned around, smiled, and waved his robe towards the figure kneeling at the door.
"Go back and live a good life with your wife, and cure more patients!"
Holding the reins, an old man walked away gradually, with the sound of jingling bells on the donkey's neck.