At midnight, the night was dark and a moon was visible through the dark clouds.
At the mountain gate, a figure in a black and gold-embossed robe walked out. Lu Liangsheng looked up at the obscured moon, then took a step and walked up to the altar.
Incense and candles are burning on the offering platform.
The wind blew over the high platform, and the green smoke and clothes were fluttering. Lu Liangsheng looked to the north of the city. Sparse lights extended over the city wall. Temples and shrines stood in the suburbs at night. The clay statue standing in the general's shrine was shining with divine light, and a phantom walked out.
"Judge of the Punishment Department, follow me."
After a moment, the shadow turned into a ray of divine light and rushed out of the temple gate, crossed the night sky and landed on the high platform of the lotus pond. Ji Xin bowed to Lu Liangsheng, and the chief officer of the Punishment Department who followed behind him also bowed. Unlike the City God, he was more polite and bowed down.
"Meet Master Lu."
"No need to be polite, let's get started."
Lu Liangsheng nodded to the two of them and called Zhu Ganglie who was wandering at the mountain gate. The latter gritted his teeth, transformed into a wild boar, climbed onto the platform, and stared fiercely at Ji Xin opposite him.
"How many lashes?"
"ten!"
Ji Xin was wearing an official robe at this time, and he reported the numbers solemnly. The city god who guards the city has his own rules. If monsters make trouble, if it is just unintentional, ten whips will be enough as a minor punishment. No more or no less, otherwise the underworld of Mount Tai will report it, and after investigation, the person will be held responsible.
After reporting, of course they had to check the monster's past. The Punishment Department spread out the book of laws and inquired about the year when the pig monster became a spirit. When they looked at the content that appeared on it, their hands trembled.
Lu Liangsheng naturally noticed it as well and frowned.
"What's wrong?"
The judge closed the book of law and looked at the City God beside him. The sound of law was heard by the other party: "Master City God, the origin of this monster... is quite big. Take a look for yourself."
Ji Xin took the book of law with doubt, and looked along the vertical lines of words that appeared on it. He rolled up the book and put it into his sleeve.
"If the law is not strict, there will be no rule. If the order is not enforced, it will not be strict. What the higher-ups do has nothing to do with the underworld. If you make a mistake, you must be punished!"
He walked towards the huge pig crawling in front of the altar and lowered his voice.
"...Tian Peng Yuan..."
“Don’t shout.” Zhu Ganglie tilted his huge head, raised his eyes, and glanced at the moonlight obscured by dark clouds. “I am not the kind of person who dares to do something but not to admit it. Otherwise, when the moon comes out, I will not do it!”
Lu Liangsheng heard the City God and Zhu Ganglie whispering to each other and wanted to hear more clearly, but was blocked by magic. Soon, Ji Xin nodded to the national teacher in front of him. He had his own special magic to protect this city. He produced a jade plate in his hand, held it in front of his chest, and bowed to the city.
The incense and magic power connected to the City God Temple and spread rapidly along the city wall...
…
The outline of the city is dark, and the lights of thousands of houses are gradually going out. Occasionally, the sound of dogs barking can be heard in the streets, and there are faint lighted windows and the sound of babies crying.
Dongdong—
The night wind blew across the long street, rolling up the quiet flags and covering the misty street. The night watchman walked past with lanterns burning in his hands.
"In the dead of night, be careful with candles, close doors and windows to prevent thieves, and keep an eye on your wife~~~"
Boom boom boom!
The night watchman knocked on his gong and walked slowly past the still-lit restaurant. Through the open door, four scholars, arm in arm, stumbled out carrying lanterns.
"… That Lu Liangsheng is from the same hometown as us, why doesn't he take care of us?"
"Yes, we'll go again tomorrow when we're free!"
"But I'm afraid of that grandma..."
One of them, holding a wine jug with a thin neck, said something, and fell to the ground with a bang. The three people walking in front of him looked back at him drunkenly.
"Tsk, you can drink a thousand cups without getting drunk, ugh..."
As soon as he finished speaking, in the white mist rising from the street, the three people swayed twice and fell down one after another. Wang Feng took two steps with the lantern in his hand.
"Today's wine is so intoxicating..."
The lantern fell to the ground with a thud, the lantern tilted, the area illuminated by the fire, the swaying figure lay straight, and snoring began.
White fog spread.
In the closing tavern, the waiter who was closing the door sat against the wall, holding the door open and fell asleep. The shopkeeper who was doing the accounting walked out of the counter cursing and pointing with his finger. His eyes suddenly became blurry and he stumbled onto a nearby square table, knocking over the chopstick cage and scattering the chopsticks all over the floor.
The night was quiet. The people, who had turned off the lights long ago, gradually became silent after murmuring, and slept even more deeply. Not far away, there was a fire in the window frame, coaxing noisy children to sleep, and the adults, all sat on the ground and fell asleep together.
The magic power invisible to ordinary people spread, and the soldiers walking on the walls of the imperial city fell asleep while holding their weapons. In the huge palace, under the candlelight, the emperor who was reviewing memorials, held the pen and looked at the words on the memorials, but they became blurry. He rubbed his eyes, yawned, and fell asleep on the desk.
Endless darkness enveloped him like a tide, as if he had entered a dream. In the darkness in the distance, he vaguely saw a high platform and heard a familiar voice.
"Today, a demon caused chaos in the city and demolished a building in the East Market. However, considering that it had no intention of offending anyone, I will give it ten lashes as a minor punishment to warn the demons in all directions not to cause chaos in the city and the people of the Great Sui Dynasty!"
In his dream, Yang Jian seemed to see Lu Liangsheng wearing the imperial robes he wore during the heaven sacrifice that day, standing on a high platform, solemn and dignified, and shouting loudly: "Where is the judge of the Chang'an City God Punishment Department!"
The sound was like thunder, echoing through the darkness.
A dark wind blew, and a shadowy figure in a tall hat and black clothes appeared, holding a long whip in his hand. "Gong Changning of the Punishment Department, I greet Master Lu."
Yang Jian stood in amazement on the stage, watching Lu Liangsheng above him wave his wide sleeves with fire patterns and let out a cold voice.
"whip!"
"yes!"
The black shadow held a weapon to punish evil, opened his sleeves, and immediately pulled away the crawling huge wild boar.
Boom boom…
Boom boom boom…
The sound of skin and flesh being whipped off continued, and it did not stop until the tenth time. During the day, Yang Jian also heard the rumors collected by his subordinates. He knew that a huge wild boar appeared in the city and was subdued and taken away by the national teacher. He planned to go and take a look when he had free time in two days.
I didn't expect it to happen in a dream... No, this shouldn't be a dream.
Suddenly reacting, Yang Jian wanted to call Lu Liangsheng on the stage, but no sound came out of his mouth. He lifted the hem of his robe and was about to run to the stage. The next moment, his footsteps fell to the ground, and the whole person seemed to fall off a cliff. His body tilted, and the words that were in his mouth finally came out.
"National Master!"
The emperor sat up from his desk at once. The lamp on the table flickered, and moths flapped their wings and banged against the lampshade. The old man pinched the back of his hand and felt pain. Everything then became real.
"Is it really a dream?"
Looking up, he saw the palace maids and eunuchs serving on the side, who were sitting on the ground, leaning against the palace pillars or walls. They were slowly waking up, and when they noticed the emperor's gaze, they were so scared that their faces turned pale, and they crawled to the middle of the room, knelt down and apologized.
"Did you have a strange dream?"
Below, a group of palace maids and eunuchs hurriedly spoke up and told their dreams. Hearing the description of the scene, Yang Jian's frown relaxed, he laughed out loud, and slapped the table.
“I never thought I could see a scene where the national master punishes a demon in his dream!”
Then, he asked people to prepare the imperial carriage and civilian clothes. The next morning, he wanted to go to Wanshou Temple to take a look. The fleet heading south to the south of the Yangtze River was already ready on the Ba River.
The night passed slowly, and the emperor's carriage quietly left the palace and drove towards the long street. The white fog on the street had long dissipated. After the rain yesterday, the morning light was like a fish belly white in the sky in the east. The city, which had been silent all night, gradually became noisy. People from all walks of life who had gotten up early and were busy gathered at their doorsteps, on the streets, and by the wells to talk about the strange things.
"Did you have any... last night?"
"Yes, yes. I usually don't sleep well. I don't know why I fell asleep last night. I seemed to see a..."
"That high platform?!"
"Yes, that's right. Now I realize that it's the one in front of Wanshou Temple. The one on it seems to be the Imperial Master."
"… I seem to hear the Imperial Master saying, punish a monster, do you know what's going on?"
"Oh, that's a wild boar that has become a spirit. Yesterday, I heard from the puppy next door that there was a wild boar in the East Market that knocked down a brothel. It was the Imperial Master who subdued it."
"Hey, didn't the whole city see the punishment of the evil demon last night? Boy, that's a big deal."
"The Imperial Master said that it was not an evil demon, it was just an unintentional act."
"A demon is a demon. There is no such thing as a demon without any intention."
"But... who is the one wielding the whip?"
"Didn't you hear it? That's the judge in the City God Temple. I went there to worship him last time. He looked exactly like the clay sculpture above. This time I finally saw it with my own eyes. I feel weak in the knees every time I go to the temple from now on."
…
Amid the chatter of gossip in the market, the sunlight that broke through the dark clouds at the Hibiscus Pond in the southeast of the city shone through the stone tablet of the "Wanshou Temple", and golden light sprinkled in through the doors and windows, with flying dust of light sweeping away the dampness and coldness of yesterday's heavy rain.
Chen Yang just found the place. Lu Liangsheng sat on the chair, listening to the cicadas chirping outside, pounding pills in his hands. In the distance, Toad Taoist yawned and dragged his small recliner to the door.
The scholar put a little powder on his palm, and used his magic power to stick it to the naked pig demon in front of him, then rubbed it evenly on his back, and gently used his magic power to dissolve the medicinal effect into the mottled red marks on his skin.
The old pig groaned in pain.