Journey to the West: Starting by taking Sun Wukong as my disciple!-Chapter 568 - 567: Struck by Lightning, Gone Mad
He pondered for a while in his heart, and ultimately decided to take an oath.
After all, not taking an oath would imply that he was indeed lying, but by swearing, the Heavens are so busy attending to so many people every day, it seemed unlikely that they would really pay attention to him.
With this thought, the County Magistrate spoke out, "I swear, everything I just said is true, if there is a lie in my words, let me be struck by lightning from the heavens, suffer a terrible death, and never be reincarnated as a human being in all eternity!"
After he finished the oath, he closed his eyes and didn’t dare to open them, waiting for a while. When he felt that nothing had happened, he slowly relaxed and looked at Tian Peng with a smug expression.
"How about that? I told you I wasn’t lying, but you didn’t believe me and insisted that I swear. Now I’ve sworn, and what I said was true."
Tian Peng sneered, and while no one was paying attention, he crushed a Spirit Stone and began casting spells near the County Magistrate’s feet.
Just as he finished speaking and was about to laugh and talk to the dignitaries from Kaifeng Prefecture, suddenly a bolt of lightning struck right beside his feet from the sky, followed by a thunderous roar.
Although the lightning didn’t strike his body, it gave the County Magistrate quite a shock.
His coat was struck by the lightning and a large part of it was scorched black.
After the startling thunderclap, everyone present was stunned.
The dignitary from Kaifeng Prefecture was also very surprised. Taking an oath was just a last resort for peace of mind, and not many were actually met with retribution.
Even if retribution did come, it would be much later. Such an immediate lightning strike at someone’s feet was truly rare.
The County Magistrate was really frightened, standing still on the spot, not daring to move.
His servant and head clerk were the first to react, kneeling on the ground and begging the heavens for leniency.
"Sovereign Heaven above, we truly didn’t intend to do such a thing, if you must punish, then punish the County Magistrate, we were all forced."
"Heavenly Father, we are wronged, we were all coerced by others, it was all the County Magistrate’s doing, we were just doing someone else’s bidding and couldn’t even get our monthly silver."
The servant supporting the County Magistrate suddenly let go, and without his support, the Magistrate fell to the ground.
This fall, however, seemed to bring him back to his senses.
He first kicked his servant, "You fool, I didn’t do anything, being struck by lightning is just a coincidence, you two dimwits, if you want to die, don’t drag me down with you!"
The servant, kicked by the County Magistrate, didn’t dare to speak again, but also didn’t dare to get up, merely kneeling motionless on the ground.
"Idiot!" the County Magistrate turned his head to the dignitary from Kaifeng, "Sir, this is merely a coincidence, we haven’t had rain here in a long time, maybe the heavens want to rain, and that’s why there was thunder, yes, it’s just a coincidence."
The dignitary from Kaifeng didn’t speak, mainly because it was too coincidental; he really hadn’t encountered such a thing before, and now, even if he wanted to believe it was a coincidence, he was somewhat apprehensive.
Seeing that he didn’t move, the County Magistrate hastily said, "I don’t believe it, if it really were the heavens punishing me, why would there be only a single bolt of lightning? This must be a coincidence, it cannot be taken seriously!"
Tian Peng sneered, alright, if you still want another one, then I’ll give it to you.
No sooner had his words fallen than another bolt of lightning struck down following his words.
If the first one could be called a coincidence, no one dared to believe this second one was accidental.
The bolt struck close by, completely tearing apart the Magistrate’s coat.
Even though the County Magistrate had been composed, he was now unable to utter a single word.
Earlier he could regard it as a coincidence, but now to claim coincidence again would be an insult to the intelligence of others.
In the present situation, the term coincidence truly did not suffice as an explanation, and not only the County Magistrate but also the group of elites watching were scared.
They’ve seen all sorts of things on the battlefield, but they had never witnessed a scene quite like this.
"It has already come to this, sir, can you still explain it as a coincidence?" Tian Peng asked.
The County Magistrate had already been scared senseless. He was in his sixties or seventies, his heart could not endure as much as younger people, and there was also great pressure weighing on his mind.
Now, because of the false oath he had made, he had been struck by lightning twice, and he had completely lost his sanity.
The hem of his clothing was gradually getting soaked, and those close by could already smell the stench.
Especially the young attendant beside him, who was still in shock, woke up instantly after smelling that odor but did not dare to move.
"Hehe... Haha." The County Magistrate lay on the ground, laughing foolishly in a muffled voice.
Upon seeing this, the attendant quickly called out, "Sir? Sir?"
The County Magistrate paid no attention to the attendant’s shouts but kept laughing foolishly.
Tian Peng frowned. Was this an act, or had he really been frightened into idiocy?
If he truly had been scared into idiocy, that would be one thing, but if it were an act, it wouldn’t be right to move against him now. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎
The official from Kaifeng Prefecture also came to his senses and looked at the County Magistrate, who was laughing foolishly, and asked, "Has he gone mad?"
"It must be that the heavens knew he was lying. In their anger, they have meted out punishment upon him."
"Heavens, please do not blame us. We are but poor folk. Punishing him alone is enough, please don’t blame any of us!"
After the attendant cried out, the registrar, who had not yet come to his senses, suddenly snapped to and started crying and shouting, kneeling down next to the attendant towards the place where the lightning had struck.
"Sir, what should we do now?" Tian Peng asked. "His mind is not clear, and we don’t know whether he’s truly insane or just pretending. Should we continue the punishment?"
The state of the County Magistrate was as if a few of his Three Souls and Seven Spirits had been scared off. He wasn’t a person from the underworld, so it was impossible to tell.
Whether to proceed with the punishment, however, depended on the response from the official of Kaifeng Prefecture.
"Even if he has gone mad, the necessary actions must still be taken," said the official from Kaifeng Prefecture.
Now that the order had been given, Tian Peng no longer considered whether the County Magistrate had really gone insane.
The official from Kaifeng Prefecture handed over the account book on tax collection to Tian Peng, "Take a look at this for yourself. Is there anything wrong with the taxes listed here? If there is, it’s evidence of a crime. Next, we will go to the village to search for evidence of his wanton killing."
Tian Peng took the account book and glanced at it, astonished by the records he saw.
Goodness, the County Magistrate was indeed ruthless.
The taxes recorded in the book were more than double what they had actually collected. Several records showed taxes as unpaid even though they were collected, and that wasn’t all—the dates were incorrect too.
In short, the account book keeping track of the taxes was all over the place, as if it had just been written hastily.
Seeing Tian Peng’s expression, the official from Kaifeng Prefecture knew that things were not as simple as they seemed; obviously, this book had been falsified.
"Leave a few men to watch over the County Magistrate and the registrar. The rest of us will go visit the village."
"Yes."
Two elite guards stepped forward from the group to keep watch over the County Magistrate and the registrar, while the remaining men left with the official from Kaifeng Prefecture.
They had just left from Tian Peng’s village, and this time they were going to check out other villages.
Tian Peng’s village had already improved a lot, and with this point of reference, only when visiting the other villages did the official from Kaifeng Prefecture truly understand what it meant for the people to have no means to live.
