Chapter 659
The Minister Surrenders
The Jade Emperor's edict was quickly delivered to the Southern Mountain Divine Palace. After reading it, Zhuang Yan said to Ye Meicang and the others, "The Southern Mountain Emperor is consumed by anger and his Dao heart is out of balance. He has gone mad. The Jade Emperor has granted him permission to recuperate in the Great Luo Heaven."
The original Sitian Hall has been burned down, and the main hall of the Nanyue Divine Palace has been temporarily moved to the main hall of Ye Meicang's Minister's Mansion.
Upon hearing Zhuang Yan's words, all the celestial officials and deities in the hall were stunned, except for Ye Meicang, who secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Just then, a commotion suddenly arose outside the hall. Chi Ling looked up and shouted, "What's going on outside?"
Several generals stumbled and retreated, while Empress Jingming, the wife of the Great Emperor of Nanyue, rushed in wearing a Taoist robe and carrying a sword.
Although she was blocked by six generals, she still pointed her sword at Zhuang Yan and said, "Divine Emperor Shenxiao, my husband has rendered great service to the Heavenly Court. Why do you want to harm him like this?"
"To harm?" Zhuang Yan said calmly, "The Great Emperor of Nanyue has gone mad, didn't you know?"
"You're the one who's crazy! My husband is the Heavenly Emperor, a revered god on earth. How could he be crazy?" With that, Empress Jingming charged forward, slashing through the air. "Don't think that just because you have power, you can bully my husband at will. I won't allow it!"
After saying this, Empress Jingming activated her magic power. A flash of celestial light appeared on her body, directly blasting away all six divine generals who were blocking her way.
Then Empress Jingming leaped up and flew directly to the palace steps, raising her hand to slash at Zhuang Yan with her sword.
Chi Ling, who was standing nearby, quickly grabbed the sword and raised her hand to strike Empress Jingming. Zhuang Yan immediately shouted, "Don't hurt her!"
Upon hearing this, Chi Ling immediately withdrew her right palm. At this moment, Zhuang Yan said again, "You go down first."
Chi Ling glanced at Empress Jingming, then released her sword with her left hand and flew down to the ground below the main hall.
Ye Meicang was sweating profusely with anxiety. She wanted to go up and help, but she was afraid that she didn't have Zhuang Yan's orders, so she could only worry anxiously from below.
As the crimson ribbon flew down from the main hall, Empress Jingming made no further attempt to stop her and directly slashed at Zhuang Yan with her sword.
Zhuang Yan raised his left hand and used his middle and index fingers to hold Empress Jingming's sword, rendering it immobile. He then said, "The Great Heavenly Venerable has issued an edict. The Great Emperor of the Southern Mountain has indeed gone mad. See for yourself if you don't believe me."
"Don't try to hide it from me. You're the one who wants to ruin my family. How can I let you off today?" Empress Jingming said, trying to pull the sword from between Zhuang Yan's fingers. But Zhuang Yan's two fingers were like a seal, and no matter how she tried to pull the sword out, it wouldn't budge.
A moment later, Empress Jingming simply abandoned her sword and lunged at Zhuang Yan with bared teeth and claws.
Zhuang Yan certainly couldn't tolerate her being so rude, otherwise, what would become of the Heavenly Emperor's reputation?
So Zhuang Yan raised his right hand and slapped her down with a crisp 'smack'. Empress Jingming was knocked to the ground by Zhuang Yan's slap.
Her eyes quickly cleared, and then her entire left cheek first turned red and flushed, and then quickly turned bluish-black.
Empress Jingming turned to look at Zhuang Yan, and opened her mouth to speak, but before she could utter a word, a stream of blood flowed out.
At this moment, Zhuang Yan placed the Jade Emperor's edict in front of Empress Jingming and said, "Fellow Daoist, if you don't believe me, then look for yourself and see if this is the edict of the Jade Emperor, the Great Heavenly Venerable."
Empress Jingming's gaze fell upon the imperial edict, and then she said with disbelief, "How is this possible? How could my husband have gone mad?"
“How would I know why the Great Emperor of Nanyue suddenly went mad? Fellow Daoist, go to heaven and see for yourself.” Zhuang Yan added, “It’s a good opportunity to take care of the Great Emperor of Nanyue.”
Empress Jingming fell silent upon hearing this. After a moment, she slowly straightened up and said to Zhuang Yan, "Give me back the sword."
"Alright." Zhuang Yan didn't say anything more and returned the sword to Empress Jingming.
Empress Jingming took the sword, turned around and walked down the steps, her face half-bruised, and walked out of the main hall.
Ye Meicang breathed a sigh of relief again. At least nothing serious happened. Although he was slapped, it was much better than being suppressed.
"I didn't expect the Empress of Nanyue to be so shrewish." Zhuang Yan wiped his hands, then glanced at the blood that Empress Jingming had vomited on the table, and said, "Find someone to wipe the blood away."
Upon hearing this, Ye Meicang hurriedly stepped forward and said, "I'll have someone come and replace the table right away."
"No need," Zhuang Yan said. "Just wipe it clean, why waste time?"
Ye Meicang's expression changed, and then he nodded repeatedly, saying, "Yes, yes, Your Majesty, I will obey your decree."
Ye Meicang then immediately arranged for the fairy attendants of Nanyue to clean up the table. Afterwards, Zhuang Yan summoned all the gods and immortals of Nanyue and said, "Now I take over the Nanyue Divine Palace. From today onwards, I will purge the divine path of Nanzhanbuzhou."
Seeing the gods and immortals below looking at each other in bewilderment, Zhuang Yan continued, "Now, all the gods and immortals present here, if you have violated the Heavenly Laws in your lives, go back and immediately write down your sins and submit them to me. As long as you confess now, I can deal with you leniently, and may even retain your official positions at my discretion."
"I will only give you seven days." After Zhuang Yan finished speaking, he immediately raised his hand and said, "You may all leave. Remember, you only have seven days."
Upon hearing this, the gods and celestial officials all had different expressions. They quickly bowed and accepted the order, then took their leave.
After everyone had left, Zhuang Yan said to Chi Ling, "Take some men to examine the archives of the Southern Mountain Divine Palace. Carefully examine all the records from the last thousand years, without overlooking anything. If there are any illegal, criminal, or unethical acts, compile them all and submit them to me." Chi Ling bowed and said, "Your subject obeys."
Watching Chi Ling stride away with her head held high, Minister Ye Meicang stood frozen in place, but he quickly came to his senses and immediately gritted his teeth and stepped forward to bow, saying, "Your Majesty, I wish to confess my sins."
Zhuang Yan asked in surprise, "Has Minister Ye also committed a crime?"
Ye Meicang said, "Your Majesty, I have indeed committed some crimes in the past, which I am about to report to Your Majesty."
"Then tell me, what crimes have you committed?" Zhuang Yan said.
So Ye Meicang confessed all his faults, big and small, including accepting nearly three million purple coins in bribes from various deities over the past thousand years, and using his power to secure lucrative positions for some people.
For example, after accepting bribes, one might replace the mountain god of a small mountain with the mountain god of a large or famous mountain, or transfer the water god of a small river to a large river.
If those deities who hadn't bribed him for years were to be transferred to smaller posts, he would use his power to do so. Although their official rank remained the same, their authority and power would be greatly diminished.
"Is that all?" Zhuang Yan asked after listening.
Ye Meicang said, "These are my main crimes. Also, several hundred years ago, the mountain god of Huoshan, who was recently executed, Zhu Yu, tried to bribe me, saying that I would be listed as a member of the Huoshan Medicinal Garden and receive dividends every year. But I did not agree because he was the son of the Great Emperor of the Southern Mountain. Later, when some minor incidents occurred at the Huoshan Medicinal Garden, I also took the initiative to help cover them up. And the old ginseng king's escape and being wanted was also my doing."
Zhuang Yan asked, "Have you explained everything?"
Ye Meicang raised his finger to the sky and said, "I swear to Heaven that I have confessed all my sins. If I have deliberately concealed anything, may I be struck by lightning."
In this world full of gods and Buddhas, making an oath is very sacred and solemn, mainly because one will truly keep the oath.
No deity dares to make a vow lightly, because it could truly lead to death.
Seeing Ye Meicang swear to heaven, Zhuang Yan was very satisfied and nodded, saying, "I am very satisfied that you can confess your crimes voluntarily. Here's what we'll do: hand over the bribe of three million purple coins, and I will issue an imperial edict to pardon you and not pursue the matter further."
Hearing this, Ye Meicang was overjoyed. If that were true, wouldn't he be able to truly repent and start anew?
Thinking of this, Ye Meicang repeatedly kowtowed to Zhuang Yan and said, "Your Majesty, I thank you for your great kindness."
Zhuang Yan said, "I'll give you three days to hand over three million purple coins. If you fail to do so by the deadline, you will be punished accordingly."
Ye Meicang bowed repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, rest assured, I will hand over those three million purple coins even if I have to sell everything I own."
After returning to his residence, Ye Meicang immediately sought out his wife and asked, "Madam, how many purple coins do we still have?"
Madam Ye asked in surprise, "Why are you asking this? Oh, I heard that the Great Emperor of the Southern Peak and the Divine Firmament Emperor had a fight today?"
"Don't ask that yet," Ye Meicang said. "How much purple coins can your family actually come up with?"
Madam Ye paused for a moment, then said, "Then I'll go take a look."
"Go quickly," Ye Meicang urged. "Take a quick inventory."
Madam Ye quickly went to count the purple coins in the house and finally got a number: "The family can still take out 1.7 million purple coins."
"What?!?!" Ye Meicang exclaimed in shock, "How come there's only 1.7 million left?"
Not to mention the three million he received in bribes back then, his salary over the past few hundred years has added up to nearly four million purple coins. How come he only has one million seven hundred thousand left now?
Madam Ye rolled her eyes and said, "Don't you use them at home? How many spirit herbs does your spirit horse consume every month? The tea and immortal wine you drink are all top-grade, and all of these cost money. And your immortal robes, the delicacies you eat, don't all of these cost money?"
"Not to mention the distant ones, our family spends nearly 30,000 purple coins every year on Xun'er's cultivation. And what about Xun'er's master? Can we not send gifts every year?" Madam Ye did the math for Ye Meicang and said, "You can calculate it yourself. We still have 1.7 million left. That's all thanks to my good management of the household!"
Ye Meicang realized that it was true. Upon closer inspection, he found that his wife was still wearing the fairy dress she had bought five years ago, and the accessories she wore were also from many years ago.
Ye Meicang felt both guilty and ashamed, but there was nothing he could do; he had to hand over three million right now.
So Ye Meicang confessed the matter to Madam Ye. After listening, Madam Ye not only did not blame Ye Meicang, but also asked in surprise, "Really? The Divine Firmament Emperor can really pardon you?"
"Would the Divine Firmament Emperor deceive a lowly fifth-rank official like me?" Ye Meicang asked.
Madam Ye immediately smiled and said, "That's wonderful! I've been living in constant fear all these years, and I can't even spend this money with peace of mind. Since the Divine Emperor has been so lenient, we must hand over these three million purple coins no matter what."
Ye Meicang said with a worried look, "But now, alas, it's far from that."
"It's alright!" Madam Ye said calmly with a smile, "Even if I have to go bankrupt and borrow money everywhere, I will help my husband get out of this quagmire and get a clean and peaceful life."
"Madam!" Ye Meicang was immediately moved to tears, and knelt down on the spot, kowtowing three times to his wife. "Madam, I will never forget your kindness in giving me a second life!" (End of this chapter)