Chapter 83: Empty Shell

Zhang Cheng looked at the empty shell of his position as acting City God and felt a headache for a moment; if he didn't find some subordinates to help out, he reckoned he would have to run around everywhere every day to collect souls.

"By the way, didn't Mao Xiaofang run into a squad of heroic spirits?"

Zhang Cheng recalled this matter; although there were only a few dozen people, he could still recruit them as underworld messengers.

However, he had originally intended for this to be practice for Chen Jiang, so it wasn't good to intervene directly; being a spectator was fine too.

Before that, Zhang Cheng could only go and collect underworld spirits himself.

Nowadays, there was a great deal of information in his mind; the Book of Life and Death was recording all the good deeds, bad deeds, and so on, of the people of Xiangjiang.

And he could perceive the contents within at the very first moment.

Every second, he had to process the information of hundreds of thousands of people; even the most trivial matters, he knew clearly.

For example, Zhong Jun of the Seven Sisters Hall was currently burying a Dragon King statue with her few disciples.

Zhang Cheng only looked at some relatively key information, letting most of the news just pass by.

He sensed the Book of Life and Death for a moment, then withdrew his focus and returned to Chen Jiang's Maoshan Taoist Temple.

Early the next morning, the streets were bustling; it turned out the Dragon King statue buried by Zhong Jun had been discovered, and everyone was inviting Zhong Jun to parade through the streets.

Chen Jiang looked at Zhong Jun, who was being pursued and praised by thousands, and said excitedly, "Uncle Sheng, I heard this Zhong Jun is also a Maoshan disciple; could she be a relative of Uncle Qianhe?"

Zhang Cheng shook his head and said, "No, she's just a fraud."

Chen Jiang said in shock and anger, "What, a fraud? How bold, to actually dare to tarnish the reputation of my Maoshan!"

Zhang Cheng said calmly, "Then you should find an opportunity to expose her scam and restore Maoshan's name."

Chen Jiang nodded and said, "Ha, Uncle Sheng, you're right."

Chen Jiang immediately followed the crowd and soon ran into Mao Xiaofang; the few of them immediately arrived at Zhong Jun's temple.

He looked at the Guanyin statue inside and complained, "This fraud can actually trick so many people like this?"

Mao Xiaofang said in surprise, "Fellow Practitioner Chen, she is not a disciple of Maoshan?"

Chen Jiang shook his head and said, "Of course not. How could a Maoshan disciple worship a Guanyin statue? Don't look at the fact that she shares a surname with my Uncle Qianhe, but Uncle Sheng said she's a fraud."

Mao Xiaofang nodded with a serious face and said, "Since Master Zhang has said so, then it must be correct. I will expose her right now."

Chen Jiang immediately stopped him and said, "No rush, we must find a suitable opportunity; with just empty words, no one will believe us."

Mao Xiaofang thought about it carefully, nodded, and said, "Fellow Practitioner Chen's consideration is extremely correct."

That night, some children encountered a soul in the villa on the back mountain.

Everyone naturally sought help from Zhong Jun; Zhong Jun thought it was just a prank by the children, so she immediately said to the citizens, "Everyone, don't worry. As long as I take action, it can be resolved immediately."

Having said that, she took a group of people to the back mountain, and Chen Jiang was also among the crowd.

As it happened, they also ran into Mao Xiaofang and Yang Feiyun's group.

Mao Xiaofang saw Chen Jiang and hurriedly followed.

A large group of people soon arrived at the abandoned villa on the back mountain; the villa was filled with gusts of yin wind, and Zhong Jun was completely unaware. She pretended to perform a ritual and told a few disciples to bring a flag to burn, which angered the underworld spirits in the villa.

Chen Zheng shouted angrily, "Protect our flag!"

Two underworld spirits immediately lunged forward, blocking several burning paper talismans.

Several other underworld spirits charged at Zhong Jun but were intercepted by Mao Xiaofang.

Chen Jiang immediately took out a Eight Trigrams mirror and shone it at that group of underworld spirits; the group of underworld spirits immediately appeared before everyone.

"Ah, there are underworld spirits!"

The people who followed in were startled and fled one after another toward the outside of the villa.

Chen Zheng waved his hand and said, "Capture them all!"

Mao Xiaofang hurriedly took out a magic treasure; a piece of yellow cloth with a magic incantation shrouded the underworld spirits, rendering them unable to move.

Mao Xiaofang immediately said, "Captain, the battle is already over, the enemy has already surrendered, you should go home."

Chen Zheng said angrily, "Impossible, how could the enemy surrender? You are lying to me!"

Mao Xiaofang's disciple A-Fan took out a newspaper and said, "Master, a newspaper."

Mao Xiaofang took the newspaper and threw it to Chen Zheng, saying, "Captain, look at the newspaper."

Chen Zheng took the newspaper and looked; on it was the news of the enemy accepting judgment.

He said in disbelief, "We really won against the enemy? These bastards surrendered!"

"Great, we won!"

"I said we would definitely win!"

"Without the enemy, home will definitely get better; it's a pity we won't be able to see it."

Chen Zheng glanced at his excited brothers and immediately came to his senses; he bowed to Mao Xiaofang and said, "Thank you, our business is finished, it is time to go home."

"Go home, just go home and take a look."

Chen Zheng shouted, "We are going home!"

"Thump, thump, thump."

This squad of underworld spirits marched with neat steps toward the north.

Chen Jiang said with red eyes, "My few uncles all died in battle while resisting the enemy."

Mao Xiaofang naturally knew what Maoshan had done; he said with an admiring face, "The Daoist priests of Maoshan sacrifice their lives for righteousness, which is admirable."

A-Fan hurriedly reminded him, "Master, the matter with that woman."

Mao Xiaofang woke up and hurriedly chased after them.

They intercepted Chen Zheng in the wilderness, and Chen Zheng asked, "What is it, Daoist priest?"

Mao Xiaofang said with some embarrassment, "Captain, there is a matter I must entrust to you; we met a woman on the way to Xiangjiang, and her husband is also one of your men."

The woman immediately flew out and searched for her husband among the soldier spirits.

A team member heard the name and said, "He is from the Third Squad."

Chen Zheng explained, "The Third Squad was our vanguard; before we died in battle, they had already fallen into an enemy ambush and were all blown to bits."

"I am sorry, sister-in-law."

The woman was somewhat despairing and returned into the umbrella.

Mao Xiaofang sighed and could only take the woman and leave.

Once they had left, Zhang Cheng walked out.

Seeing Zhang Cheng, Chen Zheng frowned and said, "Who are you?"

Zhang Cheng immediately said, "I am Zhang Cheng, a disciple of Daoist Master Jinbao of the Maoshan Sect."

Chen Zheng was somewhat surprised and said, "So you are Daoist Master Zhang; I wonder what business the Daoist Master has with us?"

Zhang Cheng said, "I see that you are all sincere people, so I would like to invite you to serve as agents, agents of the Underworld."

Chen Zheng thought for a moment and said, "But we must go home to see our families now."

Zhang Cheng smiled and said, "You may see your families first, then come back to serve as Underworld agents."

A heroic spirit said, "Captain, I am willing."

"I am also willing, to prevent some evil spirits from acting recklessly."

"Indeed, I am willing too!"

Seeing that everyone said so, Chen Zheng nodded and said, "Daoist Master Zhang, once we have seen our families, we will hurry back."

Zhang Cheng smiled and said, "Then I shall see you all on your way."

Published for the third time!

(End of this chapter)