Chapter 688: Changing Hearts, Empty Cities

“One at a time.”

Zhuo Yunfei truly lives up to being a unique talent.

He seems to be able to master certain things on his own without a teacher.

Honestly, his cultivation of the Primordial Golden Body Technique isn’t particularly strong.

The reputation of the Seven of the Primordial is only just passable.

Even with Chen Ping giving him special attention several times, he’s only reached the Late-Stage Primordial Golden Body.

Not to mention the Divine Martial Realm.

He hasn’t even touched the edge of the Unity Realm yet.

However, this guy has an exceptionally powerful talent.

Even with a straight face, he naturally gains people’s trust; a single word from him is more effective than a thousand or ten thousand from others.

That is quite impressive.

For instance, right now, Chen Ping is quite troubled by the people of the hundreds of cities under the Beizhou Dynasty.

These people truly live in misery.

They’ve experienced the most tragic events imaginable, yet still live like weeds, neither fully human nor ghost.

You can imagine how miserable their lives are.

But when Chen Ping wanted to allocate land, issue housing, and call on everyone to clear and cultivate land for food, they didn’t listen.

Not only did they not understand, but they were apathetic, with vacant eyes, refusing to cooperate without violence.

Unless driven by whips and forced by knives, they had no intention to cooperate. They certainly weren’t about to build roads and houses while being told about a future better life.

Say as much as you want, it’s like playing the lute to a cow.

Moreover, these people had a peculiar trait.

If you don’t feed them, they’ll starve to death. Once you do feed them, and they manage to fill their stomachs, they begin to worship King Zhuanlun and the Great Venerable Black Lotus, bowing and mumbling any time they have spare moments.

This makes it difficult.

Faced with people brainwashed into a stupor, unwilling to leave their old ways or believe in a better future, only believing in the next life.

Zhuo Yunfei resolved it with a single move.

“Come, come, this is the Great Venerable Black Lotus, King Zhuanlun. Anyone who spits on this statue, just a spit, gets porridge to eat. Whoever urinates on it, kicks it a few times, and curses it will get their fill. Of course, anyone who bows to the Emperor Yuu statue and honestly calls out ‘Long live’ gets meat to eat. If you’re not willing to spit, sorry, you must not be hungry, so endure it.”

Zhuo Yunfei said with a smile, indicating he wasn’t targeting anyone. He didn’t hit or curse, just instructed his soldiers to simmer meat soup and cook thick porridge.

The aroma of meat and rice wafted all around, the peasants surrounding them in dark masses swallowed imaginary saliva furiously.

Green eyes glowed all around.

“Is it really that simple to win hearts and minds?”

Han Xiaoru was somewhat puzzled. She had also tried to tempt the people with food, but failed.

When you give them food and drink, they still bow in thanks to the noble master. But if you tell them anything bad about the Great Venerable Black Lotus or ask them to work instead of worship, they become hostile instantly.

Unafraid of death, how could they be scared of dying?

Han Xiaoru, not genuinely the Blood Jade Rakshasa, couldn’t bring herself to deal harshly with these miserable people.

Otherwise, she’d have been infuriated into taking lives long ago.

Why worship the Great Venerable Black Lotus when he might have died who knows where?

Let everything go, the afterlife is most important.

Zhuo Yunfei laughed, “Sister, just watch. This trick works well. Defeating the bandits in the mountain is easier than defeating the bandits in the heart. These millions in the Northern Land have been turned into living ghosts by the Beizhou Dynasty’s measures. To change their hearts, to turn ghosts back into people, you must dismantle the pillars of their faith. What we say and do is useless; it’s all about comparison.”

Before he finished speaking.

A guy covered in filth, with a skinny, limping body, stepped out.

He had slanted, cornered eyes and a crooked mouth, with large black marks on the left side of his face, looking more ghostly than human.

“Does the officer’s word count?”

“Of course it counts. You might not know in the North, but in the South, who doesn’t know His Majesty Emperor Yuu keeps his word? If you meet the condition, as much meat, vegetables, and porridge as you can handle, of course with caution. Eating too much after starving might burst your stomach.”

“Ah, spit…”

Without a second thought, Scarred Face, seemingly sparked with confidence by Zhuo Yunfei’s smile, took a few quick steps to the Venerable Black Lotus statue and spat on it.

Then, he unbuttoned and relieved himself.

There was laughter all around, with jeers and boos resonating.

The gathered peasants, albeit gaunt and ragged, indistinguishable by gender, included many old, young, and womenfolk.

Seeing Scarred Face’s bold behavior, they couldn’t stand it.

Though unable to articulate concepts like “offending public decency,” they retained some sense of shame.

The distinction between man and animal lies here.

“Here you go…”

Immediately, a soldier stepped forward to serve a wooden bowl of thick porridge, even giving Scarred Face a bit of pickle.

Smelling the porridge, Scarred Face wiped his tears while devouring it fiercely.

Swirling his mouth around the bowl, he consumed half in no time, then continued, quickly finishing the scorching rice porridge, only to be served again by the soldier.