"What are you doing? What are you doing?" Sha Chengyang was startled and wanted to stop them, but with just a few of them, how could they stop the crowd that was pouring out like a tide?
"Let them go!" Sha Mingyuan's face darkened as he sneered at the people pouring out of the city, threatening, "I won't stop you from leaving, but it's easy to leave, but it won't be so easy to come back later."
Hearing this, the crowd hesitated. Staying in Pingchuan City, while they'd endured constant bullying, at least they were still alive. Who knew what would happen in Huayu City? They'd heard a little about Huayu City, but hearsay was always false. It was said that the Huayu Temple had been in decline for years, and its reconstruction had only taken place within the past year. Could it really support so many people? Would they be escaping the tiger's mouth and falling into the wolf's den? If that happened, they wouldn't even have a chance to regret it.
"As the head priest of the Flower Rain Temple, I promise you that once you arrive in Flower Rain City, as long as I, Mu Hanyan, have a bite to eat, I will never let you go hungry. Anyone, including the priests of the Flower Rain Temple, who dares to oppress my people will pay the price tenfold or a hundredfold!" Mu Hanyan saw what they were hesitating and worried about, but she didn't get angry. It's human nature to worry about gains and losses, and since they had never been to Flower Rain City, it was normal for them to be worried.
She also did not describe the current prosperity of Huayu City. For the common people living in the water and hot water, the better she said it, the more difficult it would be for them to believe. For them, as long as they can fill their stomachs and are not bullied, it is heaven.
Chu Yanghe and the others nodded secretly. Although Mu Hanyan's promise was simple and plain, without the grandeur that the chief priest usually had, for these civilians, this was what they cared about most.
"As the chief priest of Fengcheng Temple, I promise you that if you are not satisfied after arriving in Huayu City, you can come to my Fengcheng Temple and become the citizens of my Fengcheng Temple." Chu Yanghe said loudly.
"As the chief priest of Qingning Temple, I promise you..." Fan Chengli quickly followed up. These people were strictly speaking the people of Qingning Temple, so he should have spoken first, but Chu Yanghe got there first.
"I will use the Xiafeng Temple..." Then, the chief priests of other temples also made promises.
After hearing the promises from the various temple heads, the people had no hesitation at all. Even if Mu Hanyan's promise was unreliable, could the promises of the other ten head priests also be reliable? Even if they didn't know much about the other temples, at least they knew the situation of Qingning Temple. They knew that accepting 10,000 or 20,000 people would be no problem. Soon, the people in the city rushed out of Pingchuan City.
After a while, most of the city's 20,000-plus residents had left, leaving only four or five thousand. These individuals either had close ties with the Sha family or worked for them, resulting in a much higher status than the common people. They had never been bullied or exploited by the Sha family, and even profited greatly from the people, unwilling to give up their existing status.
"Mu Hanyan, are you really determined to be an enemy of me, Sha Mingyuan?" Although Sha Mingyuan did not take these "untouchables" seriously, as the lord of a city, he still felt ashamed to see his people so eager to defect to others, and asked angrily.
"Master Sha, I just don't want to see these innocent people die with you." Mu Hanyan said lightly.
"Okay, okay. But just a few untouchables left. The Continent of Gods lacks everything except refugees. I want to see how many refugees your several temple main cities can accommodate." Sha Mingyuan said fearlessly.
There are many desperate refugees in the wilderness. As long as Pingchuan City opens its doors, many people will come.
"Indeed, our several temple main cities cannot accommodate too many refugees, but I think we can still accept refugees within a radius of ten thousand miles from Pingchuan City." Mu Hanyan said with a smile.
Sha Mingyuan's expression changed slightly. The news that Huayu City was accepting refugees had long since spread to Pingchuan City, but why were so many still willing to be exploited? It wasn't because they were stupid, but because the journey was too far, and even if they wanted to go, they couldn't. If all the refugees within a thousand miles of Pingchuan City poured into the major temples, even if Pingchuan City opened its gates, few would come. The journey was too long, and no one wanted to die on the way.
The remaining families looked at each other in bewilderment. They hadn't expected Mu Hanyan to pull off such a coup. They relied on exploiting the common people to maintain their well-being. If they didn't even have the common people, who would they exploit? They would then become pariahs, subject to the Sha family's constant bullying and oppression.
Thinking of this, many people were shaken, and some even quietly went home to pack up their belongings and prepare to escape.
"Hahahaha, your tone is quite loud. It's a pity that you forgot that my Sha family has the divine edict in hand. Pingchuan City has the same status as the main cities of your major temples. When I build the temple, it will become the thirteenth temple under the jurisdiction of the Temple of Life. Are you still afraid that no one will come then?" Sha Mingyuan laughed loudly.
Hearing this, those who had been wavering began to hesitate again. Once the temple was completed, it would be possible to recruit a large number of priests, and many more priesthoods would be created. Priests from even a little further away would flock to it, not to mention thousands of miles away. After all, for many priests, being able to hold a priesthood in the temple was a great honor and the hope for the continued prosperity of their entire family.
As the saying goes, those who are close to water get the moon first. If they stayed, their chances of rapid advancement would naturally be far greater than those of the priests who came later. Thinking of this, they had already taken half a step forward and then retracted it.
At that time, they did not know that this last moment of hesitation would become their lifelong regret.
"Close the gates and seal off the city!" Sha Mingyuan shouted upon seeing this.
With a dull creaking sound, the heavy city gate slowly closed.
"Let's go." Mu Hanyan glanced at the thousands of figures that gradually disappeared behind the city gate and turned to leave. She had already done all she could and should do, and these people were ungrateful, so she didn't bother to force them.
Mu Hanyan and others left Pingchuan City with tens of thousands of civilians.
As the number of people increased, the speed slowed down. It was not until sunset that they had only walked dozens of miles. Seeing that there were many old, weak and sick people in the team, Mu Hanyan ordered them to set up camp.
"This Sha Mingyuan is so ungrateful. We came to rescue him with good intentions, but not only did he not appreciate it, he even turned us away!" said a chief priest indignantly.
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