Chapter 651
Expelling the Official Gazette
Despite his complaints, the Great Emperor of Mount Heng still had important matters to attend to.
Given Zhuang Yan's earlier statement, he naturally could no longer condemn the old ginseng king. Therefore, he issued an edict to compensate the old ginseng king and the sixteen medicine kings and immortals rescued from the Huoshan medicinal garden with 100,000 purple coins each, and to release them from the Nanyue Divine Palace.
Compensating each person 100,000 purple coins isn't much, considering that over 15 million purple coins were found in the Huoshan Divine Palace and Huoshan Herb Garden.
If we disregard the fact that Zhu Yu was the son of the Great Emperor of the Southern Mountain, the Southern Mountain Divine Palace actually made a fortune from the Huoshan Herb Garden case.
With those Medicine Kings and Immortals released, the matter came to an end, and it was time to reward those who had contributed.
In the case of the Huoshan Herb Garden, among the righteous immortal officials of the Southern Continent, the one who made the greatest contribution was naturally Ao Jun, the Dragon King of the Chan River.
The Great Emperor of Nanyue summoned Ao Jun to the Hall of Astronomy. “Chan River Dragon King, you have made the greatest contribution to solving the case of the Huoshan Medicinal Herb Garden. I have decided to promote you to Jing River Dragon King and concurrently the Chief Administrator of the Eight Waters.”
Ao Jun looked up in shock. The position of Jinghe Dragon King was already extraordinary, and if he also served as the chief administrator of the Eight Waters, he would truly enter the ranks of mid-level celestial officials.
Although she is currently an eighth-rank celestial official, even if she advances to the first rank, she will only be a seventh-rank celestial official. However, as long as she becomes the Dragon King of the Jing River and the Chief Administrator of the Eight Waters, even if she remains in this position for a thousand years, she can still steadily rise to the fifth-rank celestial official.
The current Jinghe Dragon King is Ao Xu, the eighth prince of the East Sea, who is only a sixth-rank celestial official in the Middle Yuan Dynasty and does not concurrently hold the position of the chief administrator of the eight waters.
It is evident how great the reward bestowed upon her by the Emperor of Nanyue this time. Ao Jun was naturally too astonished to accept the decree and hurriedly declined the credit.
When the Great Emperor of Mount Heng saw her decline, he asked, "Are you afraid that I will retaliate against you later?"
Hearing the Great Emperor of the Southern Mountain speak so clearly, Ao Jun broke out in a cold sweat, feeling terrified, and hurriedly kowtowed, repeatedly saying that she dared not.
The Great Emperor of Nanyue raised his hand to stop Ao Jun, and then slowly said, "I have been the Great Emperor of Nanyue for so many years. I can distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil. I have always upheld the laws of Heaven and the Jade Law. Do you think I am the kind of evil person who reverses right and wrong, cannot distinguish between good and evil, and even defies the laws of Heaven to protect my own son?"
"Your Majesty!" Ao Jun hurriedly bowed and said, "I would never have such a thought!"
The Great Emperor of Nanyue said, "Since you didn't have such thoughts, why did you decline the credit twice? Why did you dare not accept my rewards in the slightest?"
Ao Jun was speechless for a moment, because deep down she really had this worry.
She herself was not afraid of death, but she still had her parents and her younger brother. How could she live with herself if she implicated them?
But now that the Great Emperor of Nanyue has said such things, how could she possibly refuse?
If she continues to push the merits, wouldn't that prove that she truly sees the Great Emperor of Nanyue as that kind of person?
At this moment, the Great Emperor of the Southern Peak said again: "You are a celestial official of my Southern Peak. If this is really your idea, then I will not make things difficult for you. I will speak to the Great Emperor of the Divine Firmament and transfer you to another continent to serve as a deity. Your title and rewards will remain unchanged. What do you think?"
Having heard the Great Emperor of Nanyue put it this way, what could Ao Jun say?
She bowed her head and said, "I am a celestial official of the Southern Jambudvipa. I only serve as an official in the Southern Jambudvipa."
The Great Emperor of Nanyue finally smiled and said, "Since that's the case, I hereby appoint you as the Dragon King of the Jing River and the Chief Administrator of the Eight Waters, and promote you to the first rank."
Ao Jun kowtowed and expressed his gratitude: "Your subject Ao Jun receives the decree and kowtows to express his gratitude to Your Majesty."
The Great Emperor of Mount Heng nodded and said, "Rise."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Ao Jun stood up, then bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I am the Dragon King of the Jing River, and the current Dragon King of the Jing River..."
The Great Emperor of Mount Heng said, "The current Dragon King of the Jing River will be demoted to the Dragon King of the Chan River."
Subsequently, the Great Emperor of Nanyue officially issued the decree of rewards. In addition to Ao Jun, Ling Feiling and many other divine generals also received rewards. However, they did not receive rewards of promotion or advancement, but instead received a large amount of purple coins and treasures.
Finally, the Great Emperor of the Southern Mountain ordered Ling Feiling to personally carry the imperial edict and escort Ao Jun to take up his post at the Jinghe Water Palace.
After leaving Nanyue with Ling Feiling, Ao Jun first returned to her Chanhe Water Palace, took her Chanhe Water Palace staff with her, and then went to Jinghe Water Palace.
When Ao Xu, the Dragon King of the Jing River, heard Ling Feiling read the imperial edict, he was completely stunned. After regaining his senses, he was filled with disbelief. "Why? What crime have I committed? Why am I being stripped of my divine office for no reason?"
Ling Feiling looked at Ao Xu, whose face was full of dissatisfaction, and placed her left hand on her sword, saying, "What? Are you going to defy the imperial decree?"
The Jinghe Dragon King shuddered and shrank back; he knew Ling Feiling's strength.
Despite his resentment, he knew which was more important, the edict from the Southern Mountain Emperor or Ling Feiling's sword.
Reluctantly, he stepped forward to receive the imperial decree and express his gratitude, then slunk off with his entourage to take up his post at the Chan River.
Afterwards, Ao Jun took up a post in the Jinghe Dragon Palace. It must be said that the Jinghe River is the head of the eight rivers, and even the scale of the Dragon Palace is ten times larger than that of the Chanhe Water Palace.
This is not surprising, after all, the previous Jinghe Dragon King was the "Great Dragon God in Charge of Rain and Chief Administrator of the Eight Waters", and in terms of rank, he could be on par with the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas. It's just that he died a very tragic death.
If that's the case, then the Jinghe Dragon Palace could be considered a haunted house.
But the celestial officials in the heavens don't care about these things. Good and bad fortune are decided by these gods, so they naturally don't concern themselves with such matters.
After sending Ao Jun to his post, Ling Feiling returned to the Southern Mountain Divine Palace to report back to the Southern Mountain Emperor.
Meanwhile, Ye Meicang was reporting back to the Great Emperor of the Southern Peak, "Your Majesty, the True King Shennong from the Western Peak has replied. They say that the branch of the Human World Gazette can pay taxes to the Southern Peak Divine Palace, but is not under the jurisdiction of the Southern Peak Divine Palace."
"No." The Great Emperor of Nanyue directly rejected the idea: "The official gazette must be under the jurisdiction of my Nanyue Divine Palace, otherwise withdraw from Nanyue! Go and tell them my original words."
"Yes." Ye Meicang bowed and accepted the order, then turned and left the Sitian Hall to continue negotiating with the Xiyue Divine Palace. However, after several rounds of negotiations, the Xiyue Divine Palace still could not agree to let the Nanyue Divine Palace take charge of the Dibao branch.
Finally, the Great Emperor of Nanyue lost his patience and personally issued an edict to Qi Ying'e, the head of the Gazette branch, ordering her to leave Nanzhanbuzhou within a month, or else the Nanyue Divine Palace would arrest them for overstepping its authority and shut down the Gazette branch.
Left with no other choice, Qi Ying'e had to report the matter to Shennong Zhenwang.
After receiving the message from Qi Ying'e, Shennong Zhenwang was furious. "Fine, fine, so this is how it's done? The Dust World Jade Palace has already allowed my Western Mountain to publish the official gazette. Do I still have to consider the whims of your Southern Mountain?"
Shennong immediately replied to Qi Ying'e, "You should lead your people to evacuate from the Southern Continent."
"Withdraw from Nanzhanbuzhou? Return to Xiyue Shenfu?" Qi Ying'e said, "But we just arrived and only just set up our branch."
Shennong said, "Don't return to the Western Mountain Divine Palace. Go directly to the Niuhe Continent in the Two Realms and set up a branch of the Southern Zhanbu Continent Gazette there."
Upon hearing this, Qi Ying'e was taken aback at first, then said, "Master, what do you mean?"
Shennong said, "From now on, you will collect the official reports of Nanzhanbuzhou from the border of Liangjie Mountain, and then sell the official reports within Nanzhanbuzhou. There should be no one of our people in Nanzhanbuzhou."
"I understand, I understand." Qi Ying'e smiled broadly. "Master is really amazing, he came up with a solution so quickly."
Shennong smiled faintly and said, "Keep a close eye on the Southern Continent and collect as much information as possible about it. I will also allocate you 100,000 purple coins for funding. Report any disturbances immediately and spread the news throughout the world."
Qi Ying'e cupped her hands and bowed, saying, "This disciple obeys."
Soon after, Qi Ying'e abandoned the newly built branch of the Imperial Gazette and left Nanzhanbuzhou. Upon receiving this news, the Nanyue Divine Palace breathed a sigh of relief.
After receiving Ye Meicang's report, the Great Emperor of Nanyue laughed and said, "His Western Mountain Divine Palace also wants to interfere in my Southern Jambudvipa and wants to be free from the jurisdiction of my Southern Jambudvipa. There is no such thing as a good thing in the world."
But what the Great Emperor of Mount Heng didn't know was that Qi Ying'e and the others who had retreated to the border of Liangjie Mountain were brewing a big surprise for the Mount Heng Divine Palace.
Zhuang Yan returned to Lingtai Dao Palace, and the Old Ginseng King also brought sixteen Medicine King Immortals to Lingtai Dao Palace to pay their respects and express their gratitude to Zhuang Yan.
Without Zhuang Yan's intervention, none of them would have made it out of Huoshan Herb Garden alive.
Zhuang Yan accepted the thanks from the group of Medicine Kings and Immortals, and then asked them, "Where are you all going next?"
All eyes turned to the old ginseng king, who, after a moment of contemplation, said, "Your Majesty, we are preparing to travel overseas."
"Go overseas?" Zhuang Yan asked. "The South China Sea?"
The old ginseng king nodded and said, "We will go to the South China Sea to pay homage to Guanyin Bodhisattva, and then establish a temple there to cultivate ourselves."
Upon hearing this, Zhuang Yan immediately nodded and said, "This is indeed a good approach. Guanyin Bodhisattva is in the South China Sea, where she can protect you and help you cultivate yourselves."
At this point, Zhuang Yan summoned Wu Zhao, Shu Bao'er, and Hong Xian, saying, "These seventeen immortals are going to the South China Sea to pay homage to Guanyin Bodhisattva. I order the three of you to escort them all the way to Luojia Mountain before returning."
Upon hearing this, Wu Zhao and the other two immediately bowed and accepted the order, while Old Ginseng King and the others hurriedly said, "No, no, no, we will go ourselves. How could we trouble the three of you to travel so far? We feel extremely bad about it."
Zhuang Yan waved his hand and said, "I had them escort you all the way for two reasons: first, to give the three of them some experience, and second, to let them do some good deeds. You don't need to feel guilty."
After saying that, Zhuang Yan said to the three of them, "The journey is long and you must not be careless."
Wu Zhao and the other two bowed in unison and said, "As you command."
Five days later, the old ginseng king and his group officially set off for the South China Sea. Wu Zhao, Shu Bao'er, and Hong Xian also traveled with the old ginseng king and his group.
At the same time, Chi Ling finally arrived in Wenzhou, but she went to the wrong place.
A green dragon king appeared before Chi Ling and bowed to her. Chi Ling was taken aback and asked, "Why is the water god of the White Dragon River a green dragon?"
Upon hearing this, the Green Dragon King was taken aback, and then asked, "Is the High God looking for the White Dragon King?"
Chi Ling was taken aback again, and after a moment asked, "How come there are two Dragon Kings in the White Dragon River?"
The Green Dragon King burst into laughter and said, "Your Excellency is mistaken. I am the Dragon King of the 'White Water River,' not the Dragon King of the 'White Dragon River.' There are two river systems in Wenzhou: the White Dragon River and the White Water River."
At this point, the Green Dragon King pointed out the way to Chi Ling: "The Baishui River is located within the territory of Wenzhou Prefecture, and it is governed by the Little Dragon. The Upper God should travel south to the towns of Bikou and Zhongmiao downstream, where the Baishui River waters are located."
Upon hearing this, Chi Ling blushed slightly and quickly cupped her hands, saying, "I see. It was my oversight. Please forgive me for disturbing you, Dragon King."
The Green Dragon King quickly returned the greeting, saying, "I dare not, it is my honor to guide the Supreme God."
Chi Ling thanked him again, then bid farewell to the Green Dragon King and continued her journey south to the White Dragon River downstream. (End of Chapter)