Chapter 146 - Each Good Deed Begets Good Karma
Two months later, in Gu Hai"s library at the Gu Mansion...
Gu Hai was sitting in front of a desk. Standing before him were Gu Qin, Shangguan Hen, and Chen Tianshan, along with some of the managers of the Gu Mansion.
"Father, we have completely taken over the Jin Kingdom and the Lu Kingdom. Although there are still some rebellions happening from time to time, they have not caused any major harm. Some slight inconvenience during the transition period is rather normal!" A smile appeared on Gu Qin"s face as he gave his report to Gu Hai.
"Yes! My Lord, according to the reports sent by the Executives, Cai Kingdom, Lu Kingdom, Jin Kingdom, and the Chen Kingdom, have completely surrendered to our Gu Mansion. Now, they all belong to Gu Mansion"s territory. Only the Zhao Kingdom remains. However, with Manager Zhao stationed at the Zhao Kingdom, the Zhao Kingdom is also in chaos at this moment. More importantly, with Commander Gao attacking the Zhao Kingdom, many of Zhao Kingdom cities are surrendering on their own. I believe that it won"t be long before we have taken over the Zhao Kingdom!" an older manager shouted in excitement.
"The Zhao Kingdom is backed by the Peony Clan. Have the Peony Clan sent their disciples?" Gu Hai asked in a deep voice after taking a sip of tea.
"We haven"t received any such news yet!" Gu Qin shook his head.
"Peony Clan, ha! Currently, countless cultivators are rus.h.i.+ng to the Peony Clan, the Peony Clan"s disciples should have their hands full at this moment. Where would they have the time to manage the Zhao Kingdom?" remarked Gu Qin as the corner of Gu Qin"s lips rose into a smile.
Gu Hai nodded his acknowledgment of that point. "If so, then, pa.s.s my message to Gao Xianzhi and Manager Zhao to take over the Zhao Kingdom as soon as possible! Among the army, there must be a few Xiantian cultivators under Gao Xianzhi, don"t make me wait for too long."
"Yes!" Gu Qin promptly responded.
"Chen Tianshan, I heard that another bunch of cultivators has joined my Gu Mansion, is that true?" Gu Hai looked at Chen Tianshan.
"Yes, my Lord! Two months ago, the news of my Lord fighting off the five Nascent Soul demon kings astounded countless cultivators everywhere. Usually, we had a hard time recruiting the cultivators, but in a flash, about a thousand cultivators actually desired to enter our Gu Mansion!" Chen Tianshan answered, pleased.
"So many people have been recruited, they could also cause some trouble. Place them properly! Single them out!" Gu Hai said calmly.
"Yes, my Lord!" Chen Tianshan obliged right away.
"Shangguan Hen, how is your search going?" Gu Hai focused his gaze on Shangguan Hen.
Whereupon, Shangguan Hen furrowed his brow slightly as he shook his head and answered, "My Lord, your subordinates have been searching everywhere day and night, and we have indeed found some traces of some Divine Battalion disciples, but they are very cunning...!"
"You still have not found them?" Gu Hai cut off Shangguan Hen in a deep voice.
"Correct, my Lord!"
"Continue searching, don"t stop!" Gu Hai ordered heavily.
"Yes, my Lord!" Shangguan Hen answered right away.
Suddenly, Gu Hai knit his brow as his face turned red as if he was in some pain.
"Father, are you alright?" Gu Qin asked, alarmed.
"I am alright!" Gu Hai shook his head.
Last time, when the Life Severing Saber devoured the five Nascent Soul demon kings, which caused their strength to acc.u.mulate in his body. Being unable to make a breakthrough was causing him some pain.
"Is the drought in the five kingdoms serious this time?" Gu Hai turned his gaze to an older manager.
"Yes, my Lord! Judging from the various reports from everywhere, the drought this year is rather grave. All the fields have been laid barren. In addition, a locust plague has also struck many places. Whatever grain remained has been eaten clean by the locusts. The locust plague has left corpses everywhere in its wake. The folks with no food are somehow eeking out their lives by consuming tree bark. The situation is so tragic that the parents are even exchanging their children for food. This situation has been developing for a good few months already, and a fair number of people had already starved to death in many places!" that old manager reported, furrowing his brow ever so slightly.
Listening to the report, even Gu Hai furrowed his brow before he started lightly tapping the desk, contemplating.
"Every good I do will earn me virtue, earn me the karmic merit, earn me Karmic Fate!" Gu Hai narrowed his eyes ever so slightly.
"My Lord, is our Gu Mansion going intervene? Every place is suffering from famine. Even though our Gu Mansion has stocked up the grains, we can"t save the entire island!" that old manager said.
"We are going to intervene, we will do everything to provide relief!" Gu Hai stated in a solemn voice.
"But, my Lord, according to my calculations, the disaster this time is too grave. Even if we took over the five kingdoms and open up all the national treasuries, and even use all the Gu Mansion"s stocked grains, if we try to save the entire island, we can only provide relief for at most two months only. After two months, there will be nothing left to eat!" the old manager stated, worried.
"I said, we will do everything to provide the relief, pa.s.s my order to the entire Gu Mansion, to all the shops, they are not allowed to hike the prices!" Gu Hai commanded in a solemn voice.
"Yes, my Lord!" the worried old manager sighed, albeit reluctantly.
"I need all the karmic merit I can earn. As for the grain after two months, I will think of something!" Gu Hai stated in a deep voice.
"Yes, my Lord!" the old manager promptly answered.
The Jin Kingdom...
For the Jin Kingdom, it was a moment of crisis. The citizens in many places had already stopped caring about the Jin Kingdom, for many of them could not go on living anymore. Entire families after families were about to starve to death. Why would they even care about the national affairs?
The bark of some of the forests outside the cities had been cleaned off. Whatever could be eaten had already been eaten. Nonetheless, many people had still starved to death. In some dark and dreary corner inside and outside the cities, one could find skinny corpses of starving citizens lying around, because no one had the energy to bury them…
A family living in a small village...
A woman was holding a little boy in her embrace, sobbing. An old couple sat next to her, their faces lined with tears. There was a middle-aged man as well, who also bore a sad look on his face.
"I have already talked to Old w.a.n.g of neighboring village. If we give our Little Bao to his family, he, his family will give their child to us!" the downcasted middle-aged man told them.
"No, no, no, I don"t want to, I can"t give my Little Bao to his family, I won"t give him, I would rather die than give him to them!" sobbed the woman, hugging the little boy and breaking down into tears.
"Mother, I am hungry!" the little boy in her embrace said softly, also crying.
Suddenly, the middle-aged man knelt down on the ground. "Little Bao, I am sorry, but if I don"t give Little Bao to Old w.a.n.g"s family, our entire family will starve to death. Father, Mother, your son is unfilial. After the disaster has pa.s.sed, everything will be good!"
Having said that, the middle-aged man also broke into tears.
"No, no, no, I won"t let Old w.a.n.g"s family eat my child, I won"t give my Little Bao to Old w.a.n.g"s family, I won"t, I won"t, I won"t!" The woman started crying hysterically.
At this moment, Old Zhang, the old man of the couple, grabbed a stick and started beating the middle-aged man kneeling on the ground. "Vile sp.a.w.n, you disobedient son, how can you do this? I and your mother can die, we are old anyway. How can you possibly give Little Bao to Old w.a.n.g"s family to eat? I will beat you to death!"
As the heartbroken Old Zhang was beating the middle-aged man, the old woman stepped up and stopped Old Zhang before speaking, "Don"t hit him, he also has no choice. Our next door neighbor, Old Li"s family, has also exchanged their son with someone. We have implicated them, we have implicated them!"
Having stopped beating his son, Old Zhang, with a dismal look, looked at the old woman and said, a bitter smile on his face, "My wife, we can"t give Little Bao to Old w.a.n.g"s family to eat! Son, our grandchildren are starving, you can hand us over to them to eat!"
Hearing this, the old woman took a look at Old Zhang as a sliver of a mournful smile emerged on her lips. She slowly nodded in agreement.
"No, Father, Mother, don"t! I was wrong, don"t even think about it!" the middle-aged man suddenly hugged Old Zhang"s legs, crying.
"Old Li"s family next door has exchanged their son with someone. But when they finished eating him, they felt hungry again. The entire family hung themselves up in grief. My son, eat us, don"t give Little Bao to others, he is the root of our family!" Old Zhang started crying as he spoke.
"No, I won"t!" the middle-aged wailed, breaking into tears.
At this moment, a despondent look also appeared on the woman who was hugging the little boy. "Father, Mother, your daughter-in-law in unfilial, give Little Bao to Old w.a.n.g"s family!" Having said this, the woman started crying.
"Ma, I am hungry," the little boy whispered, still crying.
Hearing this, the entire family sank into a deathly silence. An oppressed atmosphere drowned the entire family, as if they didn"t want to live any longer.
Right then, sounds of gongs and drums came from outside the house.
"Mister Gu has opened up the granaries to provide relief, providing free gruel. Any villager who has nothing to eat can bring their bowl and line up at the farm!"
"Mister Gu has opened up the granaries to provide relief, providing free gruel. Any villager who has nothing to eat can bring their bowl and line up at the farm!"
Outside, someone was beating the gongs and drums as he shouted the same thing over and over again loudly.
Hearing this voice, the entire family who did not wish to any longer, lifted their heads together.
"Unfilial son, what are they saying outside? Mister Gu has opened up the granaries to provide relief, providing free gruel?"
"Mister Gu, isn"t he the richest man in the six kingdoms? My husband, son, daughter-in-law, grandson, we are saved!"
"Open up the granaries to provide relief, providing free gruel!?"
"Little Bao, my baby!" sobbed the woman as she hugged the little boy"s head, crying bitterly.
The entire family took their bowls and quickly made their way out of the house.
It was not just this family that was suffering like this, a vast majority of families had already gone through similar suffering.
The villagers started to gather at the granary in endless numbers.
The huge farm was already jam-packed with countless suffering villagers. One after another, more old and young people carrying bowls started to gather. All of their faces were emaciated and pallid.
Ten huge pots were set up at the farm, cooking gruel without pause. When the gruel was finally all cooked and done, it was poured into vats right away, and then carried to one side, where it was given to the drought victims. When the entire pot was emptied, the workers started cooking the gruel once more without a moment of delay.
Countless drought victims lined up in ten files, one by one, moving to the vat with the gruel.
The previous family of five were lined up far back in the queue. Finally, when it was their turn to receive the gruel, they handed their bowls over with trembling hands.
"Thank you, thank you!" Old Zhang told them. He was so moved that he broke into tears.
"There is no need to thank me! If you want to thank, then, thank my Lord Gu Hai, Mister Gu!" the worker providing the gruel said as he smiled.
"Yes, yes! Thank you very much, Lord Gu, thank you very much, Lord Gu!" Hot tears welled up in Old Zhang"s eyes.
The entire family, having received the gruel, were sincerely grateful. Meanwhile, the little boy crawled his way towards the big bowl and started to drink hurriedly, refusing to let go. In just a few moments, he had mowed down everything.
"Little Bao is saved!" the boy"s mother nearby broke into tears.
"Well, give me the bowl, I will give him another bowl!" the worker holding the ladle said, a smile on his face.
"Thank you very much, thank you very much!" the boy"s mother sobbed gratefully.
"As I have said, this is what my Lord instructed, my Lord Gu Hai, Mister Gu! If you want to thank, then, thank him! We are only running errands!" that smiling worker stated.
"Thank you very much, Lord Gu!"
The entire family, after having received the gruel, could not bear to eat it. They slowly retreated to one side, allowing the people behind them to receive the gruel.
After arriving in a secluded corner, the whole family, without wasting a single drop, drank the entire amount of gruel down. Very soon, a bit of ruddy complexion soon returned to their pallid faces.
"Thank you very much, Mister Gu! My son, daughter-in-law, Wife, Xiao Bao, thank Mister Gu for his graciousness! We should give kowtows to Mister Gu!" Old Zhang stated in an earnest voice.
"Mhmm!"
The entire family, dragging the ignorant Little Bao with them, knelt down on the ground, knelt down facing the northeast, and kowtowed facing the distant Gu Mansion, expressing their heartfelt thanks.
A lot of their fellow drought victims, after easing their hunger temporarily, also followed suit after witnessing this family kneeling.
The very same scene was taking place all across the Chen, Cai, Lu, and Jin Kingdoms.
Opening the granaries to providing relief to the drought victims was a matter of great kindness and generosity, a matter of great virtue.
In a flash, each sincere thought turned into a karmic merit before moving towards the Gu Mansion through an unseen force under the Heaven"s will.
One after another, the karmic merits started acc.u.mulating, before turning into Karmic Fate and rus.h.i.+ng into Gu Hai.
Inside the Soaring Heaven PaG.o.da at the Gu Mansion, Gu Hai was seated at the top of the paG.o.da, going through some local reports. Suddenly, a gale of wind appeared out of nowhere, rus.h.i.+ng into Gu Hai"s body in the blink of an eye.
It was that familiar feeling of Karmic Fate! One by one, karmic merits from all around the island gathered at the Gu Mansion, transforming into Karmic Fate before directly rus.h.i.+ng into Gu Hai"s body.
Gu Hai felt as if all the pores in his entire body had opened up in the blink of an eye. An extremely comfortable feeling washed through his body.
"Karmic Fate? Really, each good deed begets good karma! Every good thing done will be repaid in return! Oh, this feeling, I am about to have a breakthrough!" Gu Hai drew in a long, deep breath.
Editor"s Note:
During the course of translating this doc.u.ment, Ash made a typo and called the drought victims "draught victims" several times. After mercilessly needling him about ma.s.s numbers of drunkards dying by overindulgence in their beers, I corrected the error...