Old Master Huang Shishan was still in the temple hall at home when Monk Hui Shi cut down the Huang family’s gatekeeper.
The Huang family had believed in Buddhism for generations. In this 200 mu mansion, there were seven Buddhist halls and various side halls that were for worshiping different Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
They even housed more than 20 Zen Masters.
Every time Old Master Huang himself or his children and grandchildren did evil things such as killing or desolating women, they would personally come to the temple hall to repent and let the Zen Masters recite scriptures to atone for their sins.
Early this morning, Old Master Huang came to the temple hall.
There were two purposes.
First, if the county magistrate knew what was good for him and came over to greet him, he would stay in the temple hall for the entire morning and let him know who the real king of Juhe County was.
But if the young county magistrate did not come to pay his respects, then he would take it that he had repented in advance. After he left, he would send someone to kill that little thing.
At this moment, the sound of chanting echoed in the temple hall, and sandalwood smoke curled up.
Old Master Huang looked benevolent as he knelt on the prayer mat. He clasped his hands together and closed his eyes as he chanted Amitabha and spoke of mercy.
There were a group of Zen masters chanting scriptures, knocking on wooden fish sculptures, or playing the conch. It was very lively.
At that moment, there was a commotion outside.
“My lord! My lord!” Huang Cai hurriedly ran to him, panting from the exertion. “My lord, not, not, not good…”
“Get out!” Huang Shishan scolded, his eyes snapping open. “You dog slave, how dare you barge in while I’m paying my respects to Buddha. This is blasphemy. Are you tired of living?!”
Huang Cai was so frightened that his legs went weak and he knelt on the ground. He kowtowed a few times and cried, “Master, I was wrong. I didn’t want to barge in, but it’s that dog official. He actually sent people to kill us!”
“What?!” Huang Shishan instantly stood up and stared at Huang Cai in disbelief. He said in a low voice, “What did you say? That little county magistrate dares to send people over?”
“That’s right, Old Master!” Huang Cai nodded repeatedly and said anxiously, “A group of lackeys came to our main door early this morning and said that they wanted to check the taxes. My son, Huang Shu, went up to stop them, but… he was actually beheaded!”
Lackey was a derogatory term for a constable.
“How is that possible? Is that little bastard crazy?” Huang Shishan could not believe his ears. In the past few years, he had been equivalent to the sky in Juhe County. No one had ever dared to disobey him.
Even the previous county magistrate, Yan Sheng, who was powerful enough to suppress his 500 private soldiers alone, still appeased him in the end and promised him many benefits.
Now, this county magistrate, who had only been in office for a day, actually sent someone over to check his taxes and even killed the guards!
How audacious!
At this moment, there were screams in the distance.
“What are you doing?! Stop them! This is the Huang family… Ah!”
“Murder! Murder! Go find Old Master, go find Old Master… Ah!”
“Lunatics! They’re a bunch of lunatics! Somebody… Ah!!”
The shouts continued, but they almost all ended in screams.
The screams were followed by a stern shout.
“No one can stop the officials from checking taxes! Those who stand in my way will die!”
This was Monk Hui Shi. He had already used his True Qi to shout this time, and his voice spread throughout half of the Huang family mansion.
When Huang Shishan heard this shout, he trembled with anger and his face turned green.
“Rebelling! They’re rebelling against the heavens!” He suddenly picked up a small incense burner beside him and smashed a Zen master to death. He roared, “Call all 500 of the elite soldiers over. It’s time to kill!”
“Yes, Old Master!” Huang Cai nodded quickly and stood up to leave.
“Wait!” Huang Shishan glanced in the direction of the screams, his expression changing. “Let’s go together!”
Then, he left the temple hall with Huang Cai.
He left the group of old monks looking at the body on the floor in silence.
…
At this point, Monk Hui Shi was already killing like crazy.
Dressed as the leader of the constables, he was like a god of death. As long as anyone from the Huang family dared to stand in his way, he would kill them all.
After more than a dozen people were killed in succession, the ground had already become a pool of blood.
Bodies lay everywhere.
Lu Zhengming and Zhao Guang followed behind and looked at Hui Shi, who was covered in blood, with strange expressions on their faces.
This fellow was actually a f*cking Buddhist disciple of Lotus Flower Monastery.
Lotus Flower Monastery was a top-notch sect in the world and also one of the six Buddhist temples in the world. Monk Hui Shi was also the Abbot’s personal disciple.
This was too ridiculous!
However, after his killing, no matter how arrogant the Huang family was, as long as they were not fools, no one would not dare to stand in the way of the group.
Zhao Guang sent a few of the constables out. The remaining dozen or so people immediately rushed into the various rooms and flipped through various books and cabinets.
They’d really come to check the taxes.
Not only could they check the taxes, but they could also look through specific assets. This was something Cui Heng had instructed them to do.
After all, after destroying the Huang family, they still had to distribute the Huang family’s farmland to the commoners.
They had to find out about the property situation.
A moment later, the constables found several books and moved them out.
“Minister Lu, Registrar Zhao, I’ll leave these to you.” Monk Hui Shi pointed to the ledgers and smiled. “I’ll just be in charge of maintaining order.”
Lu Zhengming and Zhao Guang were speechless.
Look at all the bodies on the floor.
You call that keeping order?
However, this was also a necessary move to wipe out the Huang family. Moreover, killing evil people would benefit others. It would definitely be beneficial for the County Lord to accumulate merit.
It would not be too much to kill all the Huang family members.
Lu Zhengming and Zhao Guang took the account books and flipped through them slightly. They couldn’t help but gasp.
Hiss! Hiss!
“Impressive! I thought that the Huang family would at most avoid taxes secretly, but I didn’t expect them to not pay taxes at all!” Zhao Guang looked at the account books in amazement.
“Tsk tsk, no wonder the county magistrates in front had raised the taxes of the people to a hundred years later.” Lu Zhengming smacked his lips and sneered, “Impressive, this Master Huang is really impressive!”
The people of Juhe County were completely exploited by the Huang family and the county government.
In this way, except for a few wealthy or small-time local tyrants with some influence, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the ordinary people were living in hell. They were living lives worse than death.
It was an extremely wise decision for the County Lord to choose to directly wipe out the Huang family!
Once the Huang family was eliminated, there would definitely be great merit!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
At this moment, Lu Zhengming, Zhao Guang, Monk Huishi, and the others suddenly felt the ground shake. When they listened carefully, they realized that it was dense footsteps that had arrived.
The Huang family became excited. Some of them even stood up and shouted excitedly.
“Old Master, Old Master is here with his reinforcements. Save me, Old… Ah!”
The person who stood up and shouted was directly killed by Monk Hui Shi.
After that, no one dared to make a sound.
Presently the shaking of the ground ceased.
Old Master Huang walked out slowly from the main entrance, accompanied by three burly men. They were more than eight feet tall and all of them wore refined iron armor. They held steel sabers and looked exceedingly fierce.
At the same time, dense figures appeared on the surrounding walls. There were hundreds of burly men.
Most importantly, these hundreds of burly men were all holding loaded Divine Armor-piercing Crossbows.
As long as they pulled the trigger, hundreds of arrows would immediately be fired.
“Oh my god, there’s something wrong with this rich lord. He actually has hundreds of Divine Armor-piercing Crossbows at home!” Lu Zhengming’s eyes almost popped out in shock.
The Divine Armor-piercing Crossbow was a special type of crossbow. It was extremely powerful. Ordinary leather armor, iron, and the protective aura of first-rate experts were like paper in front of this kind of crossbow.
Even a Minor Grandmaster who had condensed True Qi could not take it head-on.
Therefore, this was a military weapon strictly controlled by the Great Jin Dynasty’s Imperial Court. If it was during the Dynasty’s golden age, the entire family would be executed if even a single Divine Armor-piercing Crossbow was found.
“This is equipment from King Yan’s army. That’s the benefit Yan Sheng gave him!” Monk Hui Shi recognized the origin of these Divine Armor-piercing Crossbows. Then he looked at Lu Zhengming. “What should we do?”
“It’s a little troublesome.” Lu Zhengming also felt a headache. To a Qi Condensation Realm martial artist, a hundred armor-piercing divine crossbows were enough to sieve through their defense.
Zhao Guang, on the other hand, was calm.
“I was wondering where that little county magistrate got the guts to come looking for trouble with me, Huang Shishan!” Master Huang’s chin rose slightly as he sneered disdainfully. “So he found two experts.
“Hmph, today, I want to see if you martial arts experts can still stand tall in front of the Divine Armor-piercing Crossbow! Fire!”
He did not waste any time and directly ordered to shoot Lu Zhengming, Zhao Guang, Hui Shi, and the others.
Just then—
Boom!
There was a crash, as if something had exploded, and a wall filled with crossbowmen collapsed.
A few more explosions followed, and the other walls also collapsed.
Sand and dust filled the air in all directions, and fog billowed. Hundreds of crossbowmen were blasted into pieces, and many Divine Armor-piercing Crossbows were also blown to pieces.
“What’s going on? What’s going on?!” Huang Shishan roared in panic, no longer as arrogant as before.
“Haha, Zhao San’er, you’re really something!” Lu Zhengming laughed. He could tell that Zhao Guang had set up the explosives. That was what the constables who were sent out just now were for.
“Now!” cried Monk Hui Shi, raising his saber. “Kill!”