"However, now our Feiyun Commandery is in a full-blown war with the Hall of Rebirth!"
Jiang Yunzhou said in a deep voice.
Following this incident, the Prefect Jiang Mingyang announced that all official and unofficial forces within the commandery must do their utmost to eradicate the Hall of Rebirth.
In fact, Feiyun Commandery was not the first place to do so. In other prefectures, many counties had already engaged in war with the Hall of Rebirth.
However, due to the remoteness of the locations, the significant implications, and the involvement of too many parties, these conflicts were not widely publicized.
"Let's not worry about others for now; we don't have the strength to,"
Ji Yuan shook his head and then said, "The immediate priority is to thoroughly uproot the Hall of Rebirth's influence in Linfu County, one by one!"
With the list provided by Sun Dagui, clearing out the Hall of Rebirth's forces in Linfu County would not be difficult.
Especially since the leader stationed there had already been smashed to death with the Heavy Water Beads by Ji Yuan on that night a month ago.
After some preparations, County Magistrate Zhang Qingyang, who received the list, not only mobilized all the personnel from the county yamen but also summoned a large portion of the city guards.
Ji Yuan and the others naturally joined in, and even the City God and the Kitchen God were no exception.
It was hard to imagine that a remote place like Linfu County had been almost completely infiltrated by the Hall of Rebirth.
From some officials within the county yamen to local gentry, wealthy merchants, even martial arts factions, and even many ordinary citizens, quite a few were pawns of the Hall of Rebirth.
The entire Linfu County was locked down, and it took three to four full days to arrest everyone on the list and throw them into prison.
The subsequent interrogations continued for two to three months without an end in sight.
After the arrests were completed, Jiang Yunzhou and Lin Yubai led their disciples back to the Nine Xuan Sect. The matters here no longer required their intervention.
Ji Yuan's main body also returned with them.
Concurrently, after bidding farewell to the Nine Xuan Sect disciples, County Magistrate Zhang Qingyang's attitude towards the Water God of Xiaoyuan Mountain drastically changed.
He understood that his only reliance now was this Water God.
Although the City God of Linfu County had narrowly escaped the destruction of his golden body, the hundred years of imprisonment had left an indelible mark. Now, not only had his strength not recovered, but his injuries had shown little improvement.
To truly return to his peak, it would likely take decades, if not more.
This was even with sufficient incense offerings and vows!
As for the newly appointed Kitchen God, who was formerly the River God, Zhang Qingyang still found it difficult to fully trust him.
Under the threat of the Hall of Rebirth, his only remaining reliance was Ji Yuan's divine avatar.
After all, he was a deity with the strength of the Third Realm, and at critical moments, he could cause the Linfu River to flood the city, exerting the power of the mid-to-late Third Realm within the county town.
Unless the Hall of Rebirth dispatched a Golden Core cultivator, this power would be sufficient to protect the region.
"Thank you, Water God!"
Three months later, in the City God's Pavilion, the heavily injured City God cupped his fists in gratitude.
Before him stood Ji Yuan's divine avatar. He had come to the City God's Pavilion to deliver a bottle of pills that could rapidly heal injuries to a divine golden body.
There were few practitioners left in the world who could refine such divine pills, and immortal-grade healing elixirs had no effect on a deity's golden body.
In the past, when deities were injured, they generally recovered slowly through incense offerings and vows. For them, as long as their souls in the divine realm remained intact, their golden bodies could be reformed even if destroyed.
However, the cost was too high, and a single misstep could lead to the collapse of their souls.
"No need for thanks; it's all a small matter."
Ji Yuan said dismissively. The medicinal ingredients for refining the pills were all provided by the county yamen.
The incense offerings and vows were also drawn from the City God's Pavilion. For him, there was no real expenditure.
Moreover, refining pills could also improve his own alchemy skills, so why not?
"It is a great joy for Linfu County that the City God can recover soon!"
Ji Yuan was not the only one in the divine realm of the City God's Pavilion. County Magistrate Zhang Qingyang had also made time to come, despite his busy schedule.
However, Ji Yuan strongly suspected that the latter had deliberately done so, just to steal a moment of leisure.
Over the past three months, the arrest of so many Hall of Rebirth operatives had led to the exposure of other hidden schemes and pawns during the interrogations.
Coupled with the confiscation of these factions' assets and a series of other matters, even with the entire county yamen working at full capacity, they had barely scratched the surface.
Following the complete uprooting of the Hall of Rebirth's influence in Linfu County, the Water God's temple on Xiaoyuan Mountain began receiving batches of generous gifts every few days.
These included not only mortal gold and silver but also rare spiritual items for cultivators, and even two or three magical artifacts.
These were confiscated from the arrested factions. Most were handed over to the Prefectural Governor's office, while a small portion was divided by Zhang Qingyang into several parts and sent to the Water God's temple, the City God's Pavilion, and the city guard's camp.
Of course, the county yamen also reaped considerable benefits, considered a reward for everyone's hard work.
Ji Yuan accepted these gifts with a clear conscience. Apart from the spiritual items and magical artifacts, the vast majority of the remaining monetary wealth was donated for projects like building bridges and repairing roads.
The ill-gotten gains, amassed by these factions controlled by the Hall of Rebirth, were thus returned to the common people.
While the outside world was in turmoil, the Nine Xuan Sect recalled a group of disciples and activated the Creation Spirit Spring, allowing fifteen disciples with exceptional talent to enter and enjoy its opportunities for advancement.
Additionally, the Nine Xuan Sect devised five weakened versions of the Creation Spirit Spring, allowing some disciples with good talent in the inner sect to also benefit.
Ji Yuan, who had received a large sum of extra income, was doing the same thing within the belly of Xiaoyuan Mountain.
Except for Li Buwei, the other eleven rogue cultivators benefited from the weakened version of the Creation Spirit Spring. Although the effect was not as pronounced as the full version, it was still an opportunity they had never dared to dream of before.
Everything seemed to be developing for the better, at least for Linfu County.
However, two to three months later, as the first batch of refugees appeared in and around the county town, everyone began to feel that something was amiss.
"Rebellion?"
Ji Yuan looked at Li Buwei in front of him, and couldn't help but be stunned.
According to the news brought back by Li Buwei, many places in Feiyun Commandery had raised banners of rebellion.
And this was not mere talk; over a dozen powerful factions stood behind these rebels.
Some officials appointed by the imperial court either surrendered to the enemy or were directly killed. At least one-third of the territories had been occupied by the rebels.
And without exception, the Hall of Rebirth was involved behind all of this.