Chapter 107 The Yun Chi Kingdom, which destroyed gods and worshipped spirits, ultimately became a thing of the past…

The female doctor's words evoked pity in many of the men present.

No wonder He Cuilian looks so old; it turns out that she has given birth one after another without getting any rest, which has completely depleted her body.

Pregnancy is already incredibly difficult and dangerous for a woman, but her husband's family has turned it into a business, repeatedly forcing her to separate from her unborn child. It's utterly inhumane and depraved.

At this moment, the Prefect of the Capital ordered someone to remove the gag from Li Defu, but Li Defu no longer cried out for injustice. Faced with the contemptuous looks of those around him and the testimonies of the imperial physician and the female physician, he had no way to defend himself and could only lie on the ground, panting heavily with a pale face.

"Your Majesty, according to the laws of the previous dynasty, a husband who sells his wife's pregnancy is committing a transgression of yin and yang, and should be executed by dismemberment in the marketplace. This case should also be punished in the same way. What do you think?"

Because the new dynasty had just been established and all industries were yet to be developed, the laws of the current dynasty had not yet been revised, so the Prefect of the Capital could only punish according to the laws of Yunchi Kingdom.

Shen Hengzhen didn't seem to really care how the case would be judged; he simply waved his hand casually, tacitly approving the judge's ruling.

When the Prefect of the Capital publicly pronounced the sentence, Li Defu, who had been as still as a dead man, seemed to come back to life upon hearing the words "to be executed by dismemberment in the marketplace," and immediately began to shout loudly.

"Your Majesty! My lord! Even if I am guilty, is that woman innocent? If she hadn't begged the Divine Lord Mo Bei for the blessing of having sons in every pregnancy, how could my family have been so blinded by greed and committed such a wrong act? My family is poor, and if there are floods or droughts, we will go hungry. What else can we do but try to find a way? Am I supposed to watch my whole family starve to death?!"

The more Li Defu talked, the more wronged he felt, and he started crying with snot and tears streaming down his face.

"They say poverty makes people lose their will. When you're starving and about to die, and there's such a way to make money right in front of you, I don't believe anyone can resist the temptation! If anyone's to blame, it's that vile woman! She led our honest and law-abiding family astray!"

"You! Li Defu! Are you even speaking human language?!" He Cuilian was so angry that she lunged at him, wanting to tear Li Defu's mouth apart.

Those present privately discussed how shameless Li Defu's family was, but many others felt that Li Defu's words were not wrong.

He Cuilian, hunched over and withered, lunged at Li Defu but instead of harming him, she was kicked hard in the stomach by his chained feet and fell to the ground in a sorry state.

She groaned in pain, clutching her lower abdomen.

It was the female doctor who first noticed something was wrong. Pointing to the blood flowing from He Cuilian's vulva, she exclaimed, "Oh dear, she's pregnant! This blow could be fatal!"

Shen Hengzhen was furious. Looking at Li Defu below, he said coldly, "Drag this man away and have him torn apart by chariots in the marketplace. Execute him immediately!"

Li Defu was dragged away screaming all the way, and Shen Hengzhen then ordered Physician Li to treat He Cuilian.

Physician Li stepped forward with his medicine chest to examine He Cuilian's condition. After a moment, he shook his head and sighed.

"Your Majesty, this woman was not fit to conceive again. She was already at her limit, and just now she suffered a severe injury. The fetus has slipped, and she is now in the process of postpartum hemorrhage. She cannot be saved."

Looking at He Cuilian again, her lower garment was almost soaked with blood. She lay on the cold stone ground of the yamen, her eyes slightly open, her lips completely bloodless, and she had already stopped breathing.

Upon hearing this, Yun Tianjiao felt as if something was suddenly pressing down on her heart, making her feel extremely suffocated. She looked at Shen Hengzhen, her cat-like eyes filled with complex emotions.

Shen Hengzhen rose and walked to He Cuilian's remains, bent down and gently closed her eyes, and said in a deep voice, "He Cuilian, rest in peace. I will seek justice for you."

His actions truly shocked onlookers both inside and outside the government office.

That was the emperor of the new dynasty! The supreme ruler, the very one who would personally close his eyes for such a lowly woman, and even vow to seek justice for her! If she were alive today, she would probably feel that her death was worthwhile and that her life was not in vain!

However, a question inevitably arose in people's minds: Wasn't the person who killed He Cuilian already sentenced to be torn apart by chariots? Why did His Majesty say that he would "seek justice for her"? Could it be that he was referring to other members of He Cuilian's husband's family?

The crowd was still murmuring when suddenly the sound of armor clanging came from the side, and a large number of imperial guards poured into the government office.

Shen Hengzhen, also clad in armor, stood at the head of the table, drew his sword, and proclaimed loudly: "Although He Cuilian's death was due to the cruelty of her husband's family, Li Defu is right. The root of this case lies not in human error, but in divine calamity. Although the God of Ink Sorrow appeared to bestow grace, he pushed He Cuilian into an abyss of no return. Since the gods so readily manipulate the lives of mortals, I, as the Emperor, cannot stand idly by. Today, I will tear down the temple of that God of Ink Sorrow and smash his statues, so that he will understand that even gods must pay the price for their mistakes!"

Shen Hengzhen walked out of the government office, mounted his horse, and pointed his sword at a tall temple. The towering eaves of the temple were like those of a god, overlooking the entire city above the buildings of varying heights.

The most magnificent temple in the capital was the temple of the Heavenly Venerable Lin Shen, which has now been destroyed by Mu Ge. Therefore, this temple, which belongs to the God of Ink Sorrow, has become the largest temple of the Heavenly God.

Although the God of Joy does not manage specific matters like the other two deities, it is precisely because of the word "joy" that he can obtain joy and fulfillment in everything, making him the second most popular deity after the Heavenly Venerable.

The streets and alleys were crowded with people, but thanks to the Imperial Guards, a clear path was quickly cleared for Shen Hengzhen.

Shen Hengzhen turned his horse around and headed towards the Mo Bei Temple. The people on the street followed him like a tide. The Imperial Guards seemed to have been instructed in advance and did not obstruct the crowd, but only controlled the distance between themselves and the imperial carriage to prevent the crowd from getting too close.

Yun Tianjiao and Zhiwei were also in the crowd, slowly walking towards the direction of the Mo Bei Temple with the group.

As Shen Hengzhen rode forward, he felt two very noticeable gazes behind him. He subconsciously turned around, his gaze lingering for a moment on the black cat on the shoulder of a strange man before quickly looking elsewhere. Seeing nothing unusual, he turned back around.

The Temple of Ink Sorrow was located on the street next to the Prefectural Governor's Office, and it didn't take long to arrive. Whispers rippled through the crowd, and many wore expressions of fear. Reverence for the gods was a deeply ingrained habit among the people of Yun Chi. Now, their new emperor was leading the destruction of the temple and the toppling of the statues. Wasn't he afraid of divine retribution?

Shen Hengzhen understood what people were afraid of, so he reined in his horse and stood at the entrance of the temple. He took a bow and arrow from the soldier beside him, nocked an arrow, and with a whooshing sound, shot down the plaque of the Mo Bei Temple hanging high at the entrance.

The plaque fell and shattered on the ground with a loud crash.

The crowd suddenly fell silent, as if awaiting divine punishment. Some were so frightened that they knelt down in the street, kowtowing repeatedly to apologize to the God of Ink Sorrow.

Shen Hengzhen looked around, raised his sword to the sky, and shouted, "I, Shen Hengzhen, hereby swear that I will never believe in ghosts or gods in this life. Under my rule, I will never waste the people's hard-earned money on offerings. I believe that human effort can overcome anything, and that people can conquer nature. The people of the world will be well-fed and clothed only by the concerted efforts of officials and the people, and will never rely on so-called gods!"

He swung his sword down as if issuing a command, and the Imperial Guards surged into the temple. They smashed all the statues they saw with swords and axes, and kicked over and overturned the candles, incense burners, and altars. In the blink of an eye, the painted walls and carved beams decorated with purple irises were reduced to rubble and ruins.

Then the rumbling sound of wheels came from the other end of the street. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and gasped in surprise.

This... this... this actually means they've brought over the giant logs used for siege gates!

It seems His Majesty intends to completely destroy the temple of the God of Ink Sorrow this time!

The crowd parted, and the soldiers, shouting slogans, adopted a siege stance, striking the temple's main pillars with giant logs again and again. The sound of the logs hitting the pillars was deafening, and the entire temple began to tremble, causing the earth to shudder as well.

Ash and gravel fell in a flurry, and people kept scattering away. Even the most devout pilgrims had to stop praying and get up to flee in a sorry state.

Finally, with a loud bang, the Mo Bei Temple, which had stood in the Yun Chi Kingdom for nearly a hundred years, collapsed.

Dust settled on Shen Hengzhen's armored shoulders, but his expression remained unchanged. In his dark, deep eyes, the shadow of the fallen temple was reflected.

This seems to be a symbol, a signal, that the Shangshen Yunchi Kingdom has finally become a thing of the past, and the new dynasty of the future has already brandished its butcher's knife, challenging the entire divine realm.

After the dust settled, many people looked up at the sky, as if waiting for a divine intervention.

"Will the God of Ink Sorrow really not show himself? Our new monarch openly destroyed his temple, and he won't even come out to stop it?"

"Back then, that demonized Mugo destroyed the Heavenly Venerable Palace. Did you see the Heavenly Venerable appear?"

"So...so the gods in heaven are so easy to manipulate? They just let mortals destroy their temples and cut off their incense offerings?"

"Isn't there an unwritten rule that gods can't directly interfere in human affairs, nor can they harm mortals? So what?"

At the very moment the Temple of Ink Sorrow collapsed, the God of Ink Sorrow himself was kneeling in the main hall of the God Realm, apologizing to the Heavenly Venerable above him.

"It's all my fault, I... I only took pity on that woman, how could I have known it would lead to such a terrible outcome? I beg the Heavenly Venerable to punish me!"

The Heavenly Venerable looked extremely unwell, with a faint layer of black mist covering his face. He seemed utterly exhausted and waved his hand impatiently, saying, "Get up first. It's just a temple, nothing serious. I was in seclusion a while ago, and my own temple was smashed up too."

Mo Bei stood up, his face still showing apology.

The other gods, however, were not as easy to talk to as the Celestial Venerable. They worriedly said, "I'm afraid it's not as simple as just destroying a temple. This new emperor of the mortal realm has always harbored prejudice against the celestial realm. I wonder if he will use this incident as a pretext to further expand this trend of destroying gods. Alas, Venerable Mo Bei, you've really stirred up a huge hornet's nest this time!"

"Yes, if Shen Hengzhen goes crazy, I'm afraid he'll start a massive campaign to destroy gods. Where will we go to get offerings then?"

Panic quickly spread among the gods. Their longing for and dependence on incense offerings made them extremely uneasy about Shen Hengzhen's actions.

"Alright, everyone, there's no need to be so anxious," Lin Shen reassured, his face, though showing signs of illness, still displaying the composure and confidence of someone in a superior position. "That Shen Hengzhen is no ordinary mortal, have you all forgotten?"