Chapter 119: Devouring Desire, Fortune, and Destiny

Even though Li Shun and Li Qing were both cultivators, it still took them considerable effort before they finally managed to obtain some grain.

Things were exactly as the burly man named Han Kuang had described.

Under the influence of the Owl God Seizes Food Tribulation, nearly every crop in Yunguan County had withered away.

Starving refugees filled the streets, yet profiteering merchants continued hoarding their grain, driving the price of old, stale grain to a level that inspired only despair.

"The local authorities are truly standing by and doing nothing."

Li Qing spoke in a low, resentful voice as he heavily set down the sack of rations they had painstakingly acquired at the outrageous cost of one hundred thousand taels inside Han Kuang's home.

The burly man was already weeping uncontrollably. Dropping to both knees, he repeatedly kowtowed before the three of them until his forehead was bruised purple.

Duan Jiuzhang reached out and gently helped him to his feet. A trace of sorrow lingered in his voice.

"It is the imperial court that has failed you. At the very least, this grain should be enough to help you survive this difficult period."

He then glanced toward Han Kuang's elderly mother lying on the bed. She struggled to sit up and express her gratitude, yet her prolonged starvation had left her too weak to move.

"Don't worry. This... will soon come to an end. You must all live on."

After receiving countless heartfelt words of thanks from Han Kuang, the three men took their leave and continued toward Yunguan County.

"What did you discover when you entered the city earlier?" Duan Jiuzhang asked.

"The city has already descended into near chaos," Li Shun replied gravely. "Those who still have grain have sealed their doors shut, terrified that starving people will break in to rob them. As for those without food, they're no different from Han Kuang, desperately trying every possible means to obtain grain. Just to survive another day, they've already begun treating the laws of Great Qian as though they no longer exist. Give them another day or two without food, and there won't be anything they won't dare to do."

"The strangest place was the Yunguan County Yamen." Li Qing became angrier the more he spoke. "Its gates were tightly shut. No matter how loudly the people outside wailed and begged, there wasn't the slightest response from within."

He frowned in confusion.

"Are those corrupt officials really not afraid that the imperial court will settle accounts with them afterward and have them executed?"

Having personally experienced the effects of a Heaven Reclaiming Lifespan tribulation before, Li Shun understood the situation somewhat better.

"This is what is meant by tribulation qi clouding the heart. Those trapped within the tribulation have already had their minds quietly twisted by its overwhelming power. No matter how abnormal their actions become, they will believe everything is perfectly reasonable. They think they're patiently waiting for the situation to change, when in reality they're simply waiting for death without even realizing it."

Duan Jiuzhang let out a cold laugh before adding,

"Even if someone remains clear-headed, they may still choose not to intervene. After all, those who die within another person's breakthrough tribulation perish by the will of heaven. Who would willingly provoke a Celestial Phenomena cultivator on the verge of breaking through, merely for the sake of a few insignificant commoners?"

"Protecting oneself and quietly waiting for the tribulation to pass..."

"That is the choice made by the overwhelming majority of Great Qian's people."

The two brothers fell silent.

Duan Jiuzhang continued, "We need to move quickly. Right now, this is only the initial stage of the Owl God Seizes Food Tribulation. The tribulation qi has not yet fully spread, and the casualties are still within a controllable range. If we wait until it fully matures, I'm afraid fewer than one in a hundred people in the entire county will survive."

After a brief pause, he added, "In order to avoid alerting the person undergoing the tribulation, I won't reveal my Celestial Phenomena cultivation for the time being. Once we've confirmed his exact location, I'll eliminate him with thunderous speed."

At that moment, Li Shun suddenly asked, "Senior Duan, I came here because I received Feng Guan's letter. Could it be that I was also unknowingly affected by the Owl God Seizes Food Tribulation?"

Duan Jiuzhang nodded.

"Did you notice anything after entering the county?"

Li Shun's expression became solemn.

"Besides us, there were quite a few outsiders in the city whose identities were unknown. Every one of them had been drawn here for one bizarre reason or another. Just as I was drawn here because of Feng Guan."

"You're correct." Duan Jiuzhang nodded. "The loss of the five flavors, vegetation and stone petrifying, and severed karmic provisions are merely the earliest and weakest effects of the Owl God Seizes Food Tribulation."

"A person's desires."

"A person's fortune."

"A person's opportunities."

"All of these are regarded as food by the Owl God Seizes Food Tribulation."

"To Feng Guan, you represent an opportunity. Thus, you were drawn into the tribulation through that connection."

"Of course, such attraction isn't particularly strong. Whether or not you came to Yunguan County ultimately depended on your own decision."

"Imperial Mausoleum Commandery is separated from Yunguan by tens of thousands of miles. It can still be affected?" Li Qing exclaimed in shock.

Li Shun, however, vaguely understood.

To Feng Guan, meeting Li Shun truly had been an opportunity capable of changing his destiny.

Without Li Shun, Feng Guan could never have escaped his identity as a laborer.

Much less earn the rank of Gongshi and return home in glory.

"So I've become someone else's opportunity as well..."

Li Shun's eyes flickered.

At the same time, another thought surfaced.

"If advancing from Celestial Phenomena to Creation already gives rise to a Heaven Reclaiming Lifespan tribulation of this magnitude..."

"Then what about advancing from the Creation realm into the legendary Heaven-Earth realm?"

"Just how terrifying would that tribulation be?"

"Since Great Qian was founded over five hundred years ago... has anyone ever experienced such a thing?"

This time, however, Duan Jiuzhang remained silent.

Although he offered no answer, the expression on his face seemed to speak for itself.

Li Shun asked no further questions. Instead, he flicked the reins and urged his horse onward toward Yunguan County.

Along the road, they passed countless starving refugees collapsed beside the roadside.

Several times, Li Qing looked as though he wanted to help.

Each time, Li Shun silently shook his head.

"There are simply too many victims. We can't save them all."

"Besides, we don't have any food ourselves. The only solution now is to force the authorities to open the granaries and distribute relief grain."

Li Shun's judgment remained perfectly calm.

Li Qing naturally understood the reasoning and could only sigh.

Not long afterward, the three arrived outside Yunguan City.

The Black Armored Guards who normally stood watch at the gates had long since disappeared.

The entire city exuded a suffocating aura of death.

It was as though boundless dark clouds hung heavily above Yunguan County.

Just like the food-devouring Owl God, greedily consuming everything possessed by the living within this land.

The tribulation had clearly deepened.

Looking toward the distant city, Li Shun felt an inexplicable sense of dread rise within him.

"Senior Duan."

"What exactly is the Owl God?"

"And where do the names of these various Heaven Reclaiming Lifespan tribulations originate?"

He could not help but ask.

Duan Jiuzhang shook his head.

"I don't know either."

"It seems these names have simply been accepted as convention ever since the Cycle of Twelvefold Longevity Methods was first created."

The three entered the city and headed straight for the county yamen.

After calling out several times and receiving no response whatsoever, they stopped being polite and forced their way inside.

Although the yamen was protected by a Brightlight Formation, before Duan Jiuzhang, it shattered with nothing more than the flick of a finger.

The instant the gates swung open, an overwhelmingly thick stench of blood rushed toward them.

All three men's expressions changed.

They immediately rushed inside.

After thoroughly searching the compound, their faces became extremely grim.

"They're all dead."

"Not a single survivor."

"It appears that the overwhelming majority killed each other."

"The rest simply starved to death."

Silence fell over the three of them.

Then Li Shun suddenly remembered something.

Without another word, he rushed straight toward the county prison.

Only to discover that its gates had long since been smashed apart.

And every prisoner who had once been held inside...

Had completely vanished without a trace.