A dispute came to an end, and in the end the farmer and his wife were still unable to avoid tax collection, and one-tenth of their harvest was taken away.
The uncle farmer looked at the two villagers kneeling on the ground, crying and grief-stricken. He shook his head and sighed, but there was nothing he could do.
"Oh! It's better than when the Stone Wizard was here!" He sighed, and when he turned around, he found that the wandering doctor with only one eye was gone, and there was a small silver ingot lying on the ground.
For the farmer, this small silver ingot was already a considerable income. He was puzzled for a moment, and then suddenly realized.
"When I talked about the God of Earth and God of Agriculture just now, his attitude...could it be that one of those two gods appeared?"
He was surprised and happy, and hurriedly put away the silver ingots and knelt down to pray to the sky. But when he was about to kowtow, he remembered that the two gods seemed to live in the earth, so he hurriedly prayed to the ground instead.
After praying, he didn't even have time to put away the sickle, and hurriedly ran towards his home, trying to collect the money given by the gods.
"Tomorrow, ask the clay sculptor to make two statues of gods, and then hide them in the shrine! They will definitely bless our family with peace and prosperity!"
Of course Wu Jie would not know that the intelligence fee he gave actually brought a disciple to Patriarch Yuan. At this moment, he had covered his body and aura with an invisible sword and quietly sneaked into Sichen Town.
This town is not big, and there are not many residents. The most conspicuous building in the town is a three-story temple with a circular dome, where many monks in white are busy.
Some of these monks were transporting the harvested rice to the warehouse, some were praying inside the shrine, some were practicing martial arts in the large yard behind the shrine, and a few were meditating around two large cups and performing strange rituals.
.
They sat at the door of the shrine and chanted scriptures. From time to time, someone came over and said a few words to them like a secret code. Then they took out their money and put it into the large cup on the left that was probably made of pure silver, and then prayed to the two cups.
After these people pray, sometimes a small sign made of turtle shell or animal bone will fly out of the wooden cup. At this time, the praying person will happily hold it in the palm of his hand, thank him repeatedly, and then leave;
Sometimes after praying, the money in the silver cup will fly back again, and the person praying will look very depressed and leave dejectedly.
"What are you playing at? You actually gave back the money you got?" Jasmine looked surprised. She must have never considered this approach in the thinking circuit of the Supreme God Lord.
Wu Jie sneered and said nothing - he had probably guessed that the tricks of these white-robed monks were nothing more than a long-term plan to catch big fish!
He tried to get closer, wanting to hear what was going on. Sure enough, he heard the lines he expected.
"This donor, the apologetic charm is a grace given by Heavenly Father. It cannot be bought with money. The important thing is sincerity!"
"But... I'm very sincere!" A fat man who failed to get a small brand said loudly, "I donated a hundred taels of silver! The mud-legged guy just donated one tael!"
"Is his one tael worth the same as your one hundred taels?" An old and kind monk in white asked with a smile, "One tael of silver is not much, but it took him a long time to accumulate it. One hundred taels of silver
There are a lot of them, but you can just take them out casually.”
The fat man was stunned, and after a while he asked: "You mean... you want me to learn from him too?"
"Whether you are sincere or not depends on yourself. I have made it clear enough." The old monk closed his eyes and meditated, as if he were an expert.
The fat man looked very distressed. He looked at the two cups, then at the poor man who happily walked away holding a small sign, and then at a few monks in white who were sitting quietly and chanting sutras. The midsummer afternoon sun made his face dripping with oil and sweat.
Wu Jie was secretly amused when he saw the dilemma in his face.
After a long time, he finally gritted his teeth and took out a money bag from his arms.
Wu Jie originally thought that he was about to bleed heavily, but unexpectedly, this guy held the money bag and was about to donate, but he retracted his hand with a look of reluctance.
After hesitating like this for countless times, until the sun turned to the west, the fat man closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, stamped his feet, and threw the entire money bag into the silver cup.
After doing this, he gasped sharply as if he was seriously ill, and stared straight at the wooden cup as if he was not closing his eyes.
When the little sign he had been thinking about finally floated inside the wooden cup, he finally couldn't bear it anymore, grabbed the sign and held it in his arms, sitting on the ground and crying.
The fat man cried for a long time before he stood up feebly. He looked at the small sign and shed tears again, but his expression was full of joy. He took out the red thread and tied the sign around his neck, and then deeply
He bowed to the two cups, turned around and left.
While Wu Jie was disdainful, he also secretly admired and was wary of the methods of the Supreme Holy Religion. He never expected that they could make this miser bleed out!
If a sect that can do this kind of thing doesn't take precautions early, it will definitely cause disaster in the future!
While he was meditating, several farmers suddenly ran over with a child in their arms, shouting from a distance: "Make way! This child has been bitten by a poisonous snake!"
Before they could reach the shrine, the holy goddess flew down from the top of the shrine and landed in front of them.
"This pure life has not yet returned to the embrace of the Heavenly Father." She said this, leaning down and kissing the forehead of the child bitten by the poisonous snake.
The pure white wings of light emitted dazzling light and continuously penetrated into the child's body. His originally livid complexion suddenly returned to rosy, and his left leg, which had been swollen twice after being bitten by a poisonous snake, also quickly returned to its original shape.
Only the black blood that continued to flow from the ankle wound proved how critical his previous condition was.
After a while, the black blood finally flowed out, the light wings stopped shining, and the child opened his eyes.
The Holy Goddess stood up, and Wu Jie could see her face clearly.
She should definitely be considered a beauty. Her facial features are beautiful and delicate, and she has a heroic aura. Especially her eyes, which are both firm and gentle, with heroic majesty and Madonna-like compassion, full of heart-wrenching charm.
.
But at this moment, her expression looked very haggard, and the light of her wings was obviously dimmed. She even staggered a little while walking. She took a few deep breaths before flying again, stumbling back to the third floor of the shrine.
Only the farmers were left with the rescued children to express their gratitude.
Wu Jie was stunned for a moment and couldn't help but hesitate.
He could see that there was no doubt about the sincerity of this holy goddess in saving people - but there was also no doubt about the fact that she was the leader of the white-robed monks.
So, is she the hypocrite she imagined?
He stood in the sunset and meditated, and was suddenly awakened by the sound of crying from a distance behind him. When he looked back, it was the farmer couple who had taken away one-tenth of the harvest, crying as they walked.
Looking at their sad expressions and remembering the helpless expressions of the farmers when they were forcibly collected the natural tax, Wu Jie's initially wavering mind became firm again.
He walked up to the couple and released his invisibility.
The couple who were exhausted from crying didn't notice that there was another person in front of them. It wasn't until they almost bumped into him that they came to their senses and apologized profusely.
Of course Wu Jie would not be angry. He said warmly: "I saw what you just experienced. Although I can't get your food back for you, I can still help you a little."
The farmer and his wife looked at him in surprise, confused and hopeful.
Wu Jie smiled, took out a few small silver ingots, crushed them into pieces with his hands, and handed them to them.
"Is this money enough for you to live a stable life for a few years?"
The farmer was stunned and hesitated to take the money. However, the farmer's wife didn't have so many worries. She hurriedly took the money and pulled her husband to kneel down and kowtow.
Wu Jie stopped them and asked: "Okay, you guys go home quickly. I still have things to do."
The farmer was about to leave when his body suddenly trembled, as if he had guessed something. He stared at Wu Jie with wide eyes, especially the kitten that was sleeping on his shoulder.
"This... this is... the stone wizard's cat!" He quickly confirmed his suspicion and asked in a low voice, "Are you... a friend of the stone wizard?"
"I'm just attracted by his reputation. It's a pity that I couldn't meet him and have a drink and chat with him."
The farmer suddenly grabbed his wife and was about to kneel down. After being stopped by Wu Jie again, he cried with tears streaming down his face: "Wizard! We have suffered so much at the hands of those white-robed monks in the past six months..."
With these words, he recounted what the Supreme Holy Church had done in the past six months.
After killing the stone wizard, these white-robed monks first forcibly moved away the residents in the center of the town, and then used magic to build the shrine overnight. From then on, they prayed in the shrine every day and forced the residents of the town to
Come to pray every seven days and follow them in saying things like "Our Father in heaven, may your name be hallowed, may your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven..." How do you hear it?
These are very suspicious prayers. After praying, he sprinkled cold water on people's foreheads and faces, saying it could help them wash away their original sins.
If that was all, it would be okay. But they soon expanded their approach. First, they forced every household to smash the statues of gods they originally worshiped, saying that "worshiping idols is not allowed", and then they forced the poor to do volunteer work, saying that
We must use actions to glorify the Heavenly Father, and then force the rich to donate their property, saying that wealth will prevent souls from entering the paradise world.
Not long ago, they invented the strange absolutist charm and announced that as long as they donated a sum of money that was very important to them, they would get the absolutist charm. Not only would they be pardoned for all their previous crimes, but it would also ensure that they would not commit any crimes in the future.
If you commit an act of blasphemy against your faith, your soul will surely enter the paradise after death.
"Did you buy the immunity charm?"
"We can't bear to part with it...but more and more people are buying..."
Wu Jie nodded and asked: "What about the natural tax this time? Was it also invented suddenly?"
"Yes! There was no news at all before!"
Seeing that Wu Jie obviously didn't like those white-robed monks and seemed to want to cause trouble for them, the farmer hurriedly advised: "Wizard! Don't do anything stupid! It's just that those white-robed monks are here, that holy goddess is really powerful.
!”
"I know." Wu Jie smiled, and his figure gradually disappeared, leaving only his voice echoing in the air, "If you shoot a man, shoot a horse first, and if you capture a thief, capture the king first."
