“You embezzled one thousand two hundred taels of military pay, leaving the soldiers without winter clothes. Thirteen of them froze to death.”
“Do you plead guilty to this crime?”
Guo Pan had long since lost his nerve, his legs shaking uncontrollably. “I... I was only blinded by greed for a moment...”
The Divine Lady closed her eyes. “Right and wrong, merit and fault—all are destined. You should repent to those thirteen soldiers.”
The scene in the center of the hall changed.
A snowy night descended, and snowflakes began to flutter down in abundance.
The surrounding air suddenly turned frigid, so cold that teeth chattered and limbs grew stiff.
Guo Pan knelt on the ground, and looking down, he discovered that his armor had vanished.
In its place was a tattered winter tunic.
No, it wasn't even a winter tunic.
It was a thin piece of cloth, a few rags barely stitched together that could not block the biting wind at all.
His body shook uncontrollably.
The cold seeped out from his very bones; his lips turned purple, his fingers stiffened, and his toes lost all sensation. He curled into a ball, looking like a dog abandoned in the snow.
“Cold... so cold...”
“Help... help me...”
In the spectator stands, everyone watched this scene, especially the soldiers, whose eyes widened in shock.
An old soldier’s eyes suddenly turned red.
If it weren't for their families being so poor they couldn't even put food on the table, who would choose to join the army and live with their heads hanging by a thread?
Furthermore, the military camps were plagued by shortages of clothing and food.
Every winter, people would freeze or starve to death.
The old soldier's voice was hoarse. “So the imperial court has been sending us military pay all along... it was just being embezzled...”
Another soldier gritted his teeth and said, “Last year, Commandant Guo ordered my younger brother, Liuzi, to guard the city walls in the dead of winter. Liuzi froze into an ice sculpture on top of the gate, while he took Liuzi's pay to enjoy himself in brothels and pleasure houses!”
“Liuzi was just a child; he was only seventeen!” The soldier's eyes were bloodshot, and hot tears streamed down his face.
“Guo Pan isn't even human!”
The soldiers all instinctively clenched their fists.
Shen Jue came from a military background, and he hated the embezzlement of military pay and rations more than anyone present.
If it weren't for the invisible wall blocking him, he would have already drawn his blade to hack Guo Pan into a bloody mist.
The snow in the center of the hall grew heavier.
Watching Guo Pan freeze to death in the snow, the crowd felt a surge of immense satisfaction.
After a short while, the snowy night scene vanished.
“I... I'm still alive...”
Guo Pan, who should have frozen to death on the ground, slowly crawled up, looking around with lingering fear.
He was still in that strange Judgment Hall.
The bone-chilling cold from just now had been too real; he felt as if he had truly died once.
The Divine Lady on the high platform slowly opened her eyes and asked again.
“Guo Pan, you pocketed eight hundred jin of disaster relief grain, leaving the victims with nothing to eat. Sixteen people starved to death.”
“Do you plead guilty to this crime?”
Having experienced it once already, Guo Pan turned pale with fright and quickly tried to defend himself. “Divine Lady, the matter of the disaster relief grain was ordered by Governor Zhao! I was only responsible for transporting the grain out of the city. That grain was sold at a high price to the neighboring county by Governor Zhao's nephew. I never touched that grain!”
“Please be wise, Your Ladyship! Please be wise!”
The Divine Lady glanced at Guo Pan with an indifferent expression.
“In this matter, you were indeed not the main culprit.”
“However, you aided a villain and smuggled the disaster relief grain. The deaths of those sixteen people are indirectly related to you as well.”
The winter chill in the hall gradually faded.
In its place came a parching heat.
Guo Pan lay on the cracked earth under a scorching sun. His stomach suddenly cramped as if an invisible hand were stirring inside, twisting his stomach walls into knots.
“Hungry... so hungry...”
What he felt now was the kind of hunger one experiences after not eating enough for days, weeks, even months.
His stomach was shrinking, his intestines were churning, and his body was frantically sending signals to eat.
“Hungry... I'm so hungry...” His voice was so weak it was almost inaudible. His hands scrambled blindly on the ground, grabbing a handful of yellow soil and stuffing it into his mouth.
In the stands, the refugees burst into tears.
They were all people who had survived the famine. Along the way, they had eaten bark, grass roots, and Guanyin clay—anything they could find.
“That's how my wife starved to death...” a man murmured to himself, tears falling silently.
“These corrupt officials never gave us a chance to live...”
“Corrupt official! He deserves to die!”
Everyone cursed Guo Pan with righteous indignation, but the crimes he had committed were far from over.
The scene in the center of the hall changed again.
A field appeared before Guo Pan’s eyes.
It was fifteen qing of fertile land that he had forcibly seized from the people by abusing his position as Deputy Commandant.
The crops in the field were growing well, with golden ears of wheat swaying in the wind like a golden sea.
But soon, the golden waves turned into waves of blood.
An old farmer appeared before him, kneeling on the ground and clutching his leg, crying and begging him not to take the land away.
“My Lord, that is the work of my entire life. It is the only way my family can survive...”
No matter how the old farmer pleaded, he remained unmoved and acted high and mighty.
“My Lord, I beg you to show mercy...”
“You lowly commoners, get the hell away from me!”
As he spoke, he kicked the old farmer away.
The old farmer was already skin and bones; how could he withstand such a blow? He was sent flying, and the back of his head slammed heavily against a doorstep, blood splashing everywhere.
“Father... Father...”
A young girl with an obscured face suddenly rushed out of the house, throwing herself down beside the old farmer. Her hands trembled as she tried to cradle his head, only to touch a handful of sticky blood.
Her tears burst forth instantly.
The old farmer’s eyes were wide, his pupils already dilated, and his lips moved slightly. “Nannan... run... run fast...”
Before he could finish, his head slumped to the side.
His eyes remained open; he had died with grievances unaddressed.
Before the girl could even cry out, her hair was violently grabbed by a hand and she was dragged toward the house.
“Help... help me...”
The desperate cry for help tore at everyone’s hearts.
The Divine Lady said, “For your own selfish desires, you forcibly seized fifteen qing of farmland, drove seven people to their deaths, and violated three young women.”
“Guo Pan, do you plead guilty to these crimes?”
This was the third time the Divine Lady had questioned his crimes. Having experienced freezing and starving to death, Guo Pan didn't even dare to defend himself this time. He simply knelt on the ground, weeping bitterly and kowtowing.
“Divine Lady, I know I was wrong! I am willing to return all the seized land to its original owners!”
He raised his hand tremblingly and swore to the heavens, “In the future, I will definitely turn over a new leaf and do many good deeds to make up for my mistakes.”
“I beg for your forgiveness...”
“It is too late,” the Divine Lady said as she raised her hand. A dark, heavy token appeared in Her palm.
“Those who have the right to forgive you have already been reincarnated. You can only go to the Avici Hell to atone for your sins.”
“The State Preceptor is also a reincarnation of an immortal! My sister is favored by him! If you put me to death, he will—”
Guo Pan’s voice stopped abruptly.
Nine heavenly thunders descended from the dome simultaneously, freezing his silhouette in a flash of white light.
Immediately after, like a sand tower collapsing, he crumbled inch by inch from the top of his head, turning into flying ash.
“The Divine Lady is enforcing the way of heaven...”
One by one, the people knelt down, their eyes filled with fanatical reverence for the deity on the high platform.
“Long live the Divine Lady!”
“The Divine Lady’s merit is boundless!”
Watching this scene, the system asked in confusion, “Host, why does this scene look more and more like a cult...?”
Yun Shu ignored the system.
She maintained her persona as the Divine Lady and, with a wave of her sleeve, brought everyone out of the dreamscape.
She had earned enough Shock Value.
Next, she had to implement the next step of her plan.
Guo Pan had committed so many evil deeds; could the Governor of Xindu, who was in cahoots with him, be any good?
Regardless of the considerations, taking Xindu City was an urgent matter.
According to the plot development in the book, Xindu City was about to face a massive locust plague, and less than one-tenth of the crops would survive.
This might be the perfect opportunity.
Rate on N.U.
