Chapter 3088: No Pure Land in the Human World

But suddenly a chain shot out from behind, and with a crack it bound his legs. The bandit leader tumbled head over heels, falling face-first into the mud.

Several soldiers rushed up from behind, grabbed him, and dragged him away by force.

The bandit leader kept cursing nonstop, and Xia Liejie could hear every word clearly, as if saying the Holy Venerable would certainly not let you filthy scoundrels off.

The soldiers found him noisy, so they stuffed a lump of hemp cloth into his mouth—physical silencing.

The village fell into chaos again for a while. But soon, all the able-bodied were taken away, leaving only the old, weak, women, children, and a mess all over the ground.

The old lady watched helplessly as the able-bodied men of the village were tied together and led away by the soldiers. She looked bewildered:

"Where are they being taken?"

"The Heavenly Gods will deal with them as they see fit."

The old lady's spirits lifted: "You mean, the Heavenly Gods have punished them?"

"Punished?" Xia Liejie chuckled, "What crime?"

"They robbed and killed, harming lives—even the Heavenly Gods couldn't stand it. That's why they sent the soldiers to arrest them."

"You're partly right—these soldiers were indeed sent by the Heavenly Gods Sect. But—" Xia Liejie's face sank like water, "The Heavenly Gods won't single out punishment for them alone. I fear the calamity has begun for the entire state of Bi."

Not long after, news came from the opposite side.

As it turned out, the ruler and ministers of Bi State had all gone out of the city the previous evening to surrender, welcoming the Heavenly Gods into the palace.

Merely half an hour later, the Bi King, representing the Holy Venerable, issued two divine edicts.

The first was the Servitor's Command:

From this day forward, Bi State shall serve the Holy Venerable Lingxu and the Lingxu Gods.

All officials, gentry, and wealthy merchants must contribute as much as they can to support the deities and atone for past sins.

The second was the Mobilization Order:

Mobilize all able-bodied men aged fourteen to fifty-four nationwide to enlist and fight for the Heavenly Gods.

Simply put, the essence of these two edicts: those with money pay money, those without pay with their persons.

At first glance, there seems nothing wrong with it—shouldn't serving the Heavenly Gods be done wholeheartedly?

But the problem lies in the two words "compulsory."

The Servitor's Command ostensibly only requires the rich to donate sixty percent of their property, but in reality, it is enforced by the divine envoy's agents leading soldiers, who directly enter homes, ransack storerooms and cabinets, nominally supervising donations but actually looting homes. After such a search, how much property remains depends on the mood of the divine envoy and the soldiers.

The very next day after the Servitor's Command was issued, twelve Bi State noble households were raided and exterminated!

These twelve noble households were either royal kin or powerful ministerial clans, originally holding high status and great power in Bi State, to the extent that even the Bi King had to show them three parts of respect. But because they were harshly exploited under the Servitor's Command, they jointly petitioned the Bi King, only to have the divine envoy, strolling by, casually charge them with "disrespect to the gods" and have them dragged out of the palace gates and beheaded!

Most importantly, when the divine envoy passed sentence, the Bi King sat right beside him. His nephew lunged forward to beg for mercy, even having his sash torn off, yet he was still dragged away and killed with a crack.

From beginning to end, the Bi King dared not utter a sound.

Hundreds of heads hung on the palace walls, neat and tidy, fresh blood dripping.

After the beheadings, their property was still looted, and not a single copper coin was left.

People are all dead—what use is money? Better to just offer it to the gods.

After this, which major city in Bi State would still dare to defy the divine edicts?

Though the divine envoy treated the nobles harshly, he only took their money and property. The upcoming Mobilization Order, however, targets the common folk of Bi State.

Though called a Mobilization Order, it is enforced compulsively nationwide. The soldiers of Bi State and Turun State, holding this Mobilization Order, immediately launched nationwide conscription.

Bi State is small, its territory mainly mountainous, so civilian settlements are relatively concentrated. The unrest in Tangxia Village that the Xia family saw when crossing the border that night is a microcosm of the soldiers implementing the Mobilization Order.

All eligible men nationwide must enlist, and resistance will be severely punished.

Among those forcibly conscripted, how many were killed on the spot for being discontented or resentful is unknown.

The conscripted men are all sent to military camps, receiving only four or five days of short training. Many mutinied with their fellow villagers, and the soldiers suppressed them ruthlessly— their method was just one word:

Kill!

Rebellion, kill!

Riot, kill!

Insurrection, kill!

Knowing that someone in the camp secretly plots mutiny but failing to report it, treating them as accomplices, also kill!

For military camps where resistance is too fierce, cultivators and the Heavenly Gods themselves step in to suppress. When their divine arts and techniques come crashing down, it's one death and a vast area—humans have no room to fight back.

In just a few days, the military camps were littered with rolling heads.

All troublemakers were slaughtered cleanly; the remaining people had to breathe cautiously, for if the divine envoy ordered them east, they dared not go west.

Soon, the divine envoy's great army had Bi State, top to bottom, subdued and obedient—from the ruler to the common folk, all prostrated beneath the mighty divine might!

The Xia family still had relatives in Bi State; Xia Liejie specially inquired and found one household beheaded, another looted to the bare walls, leaving only a few ingots of broken silver hidden in a tree by a young grandson—but it was nowhere near enough for a family's food and drink, because prices had soared throughout Bi State and supplies were scarce.

Since the heaven and earth became rich in spiritual energy, the people of Bi State had not been this hungry for a long time.

After hearing this, the old lady of the Xia family clutched her chest and exclaimed: "How could this be! The Holy Venerable loves all mankind—how could He treat Bi State this way? It must be the divine envoy falsely transmitting the Holy Venerable's will!"

Xia Liejie only asked her: "If the Xia family had remained in Bi State's capital that night, what would have become of them?"

The old lady wanted to speak but hesitated, stared blankly for a moment, then couldn't help but burst into loud sobs.

At this moment, seven days had passed since the night the gods descended.

During these seven days, the world has been turned upside down, no longer as it was before.

Xia Liejie had already arrived at the secondary capital of Shen State, where he was to meet the Shen King, He Chunhua.

As one of the main allied states in the war alliance, Shen State deeply participated in the Between Between Between Beijia War, dispatching three hundred thousand troops as the main force, active on the front lines against Shan Yu State. But as the ruler, He Chunhua still holds the rear of Shen State, to avoid being attacked from behind by the enemy.

During the wait for the audience, Xia Liejie also received over ten sets of intelligence, these being assignments arranged for him by the Shen King's men.

These intelligence reports summarized the movements of many neighboring states of Shen State after the descent of the Heavenly Demons.

He read them one by one, and the more he read, the more his heart trembled with fear. As it turned out, the Heavenly Demons' actions in Bi State were not isolated; the small states surrounding Shen State, and even the countries near Between Between Between Beijia, basically all experienced the same fate!

The Holy Venerable Lingxu indeed sent large numbers of Heavenly Demons to the Between Between Between Beijia battlefield to support the Heavenly Palace's battle, but the main focus of the entire Gods' Plan descent is not in Between Between Between Beijia, not in Mou State, not in Cang Yan, and not even within the war alliance—【60】 The Holy Venerable Lingxu indeed sent large numbers of Heavenly Demons to the Between Between Between Beijia battlefield to support the Heavenly Palace's battle, but the main focus of the entire Gods' Plan descent is not in Between Between Between Beijia, not in Mou State, not in Cang Yan, and not even within the war alliance—

It has no "focus," but rather covers most of the human world!

There are nations devoted to the gods all over the world, and even if it's just a place of worship—say, four or five villages and towns that all worship the heavenly gods—then the gods might choose them as sites for divine descent, as is the case with Tuhun and Guo State.