Infinite Professions

Chapter 342 - 179: Establishing Authority

"The Land God is manifesting, the Land God is manifesting!"

Hundreds of villagers knelt on the ground, almost covering the threshing ground entirely.

"Rise!"

Song Wen was very pleased with this, and only after a moment did he call everyone to rise and continue displaying the dozens of Yellow Scarves behind him: "This time, the Land God has bestowed a hundred Yellow Scarves upon us, allowing me to select the brave young warriors within the village to wear them, protecting Little Huang Village and the Land Temples from bandits, becoming Yellow Turban Warriors!"

With these words, everyone immediately looked up, their eyes ablaze.

Yellow Turban Warriors!

Protected by divine power, impervious to swords and spears. Who wouldn’t desire such protection and ability?

Not only the people of the Song Family, but even the young of the Lu and Huang Families had fiery eyes, yearning for those Yellow Scarves on the tray.

Song Wen saw this and smiled inwardly, continuing to speak: "Our Little Huang Village now has over seven hundred souls, with the young and strong making up sixty percent, which is four hundred and twenty people. Among these four hundred, only one hundred can receive the Land God’s blessing!"

"The Land God has told me that these Yellow Scarves only work for those who truly believe and sincerely worship the Land God. If one’s heart is not devoted, or even disrespectful to the gods, then even wearing the Yellow Scarf will have no effect."

"Therefore, these one hundred Yellow Turban Warriors must be those who truly believe in the Land God and are willing to fight for both the Land God and our Little Huang Village!"

"Who among you has this sincerity and courage?"

Song Wen glanced around at all present.

"I, I, I!"

The young warriors of the Song Family shouted immediately, causing hesitation among the Lu and Huang Families.

If your heart is sincere, it works?

Then if it’s not sincere, it doesn’t work?

If this thing doesn’t work, won’t fighting bandits be a death sentence?

Thinking of this, some inevitably shrink back.

After all, faith is something even oneself may not be sure is steadfast.

But if some are unsure, others are firm.

"I swear to defend the Land God!"

"I swear to defend Little Huang Village!"

Song Wu strode forward, standing before Song Wen, "Even at the cost of my life, I will not let those bandits set foot in the village or offend the Land God in the slightest."

"Good!"

Song Wen nodded and solemnly took up a Yellow Scarf to tie onto Song Wu.

"Ha!"

With the Yellow Scarf tied, Song Wu showed his strength, ripping apart his shirt to reveal his muscular physique, then mimicked the guards and said, "Come!"

The two guards said nothing more, raising their weapons to strike at him, but like with Song Wen, sparks flew, and the weapons met resistance as if striking iron or stone, leaving only faint marks.

"The Land God is manifesting!"

Seeing this, the crowd below once again knelt in worship.

But Song Wen cursed inwardly: "Such wasteful behavior. Ripping a perfectly good shirt, wouldn’t taking it off suffice?"

Though internally grumbling, Song Wen maintained a smile, continuing to announce to everyone: "From now on, Song Wu will be the leader of our village’s warriors. Now, who else wishes to receive the Yellow Scarves?"

"I, I, I!"

At these words, the crowd erupted, with the Song Clan members shouting fervently, enticing the young of the Lu and Huang Families to follow suit.

Following procedure, Song Wen began announcing the list of warriors.

"Song Cai!"

"Song Ying!"

"Song Shan!"

"Song Jie!"

"..."

"Wang Chong!"

"Yang Ming!"

"Qin Sheng!"

"..."

"Lu Qing!"

"Huang Bin!"

"..."

When the list of warriors was announced, unsurprisingly, the majority were from the Song Family, including the nine sons of the Song Clan.

Though it seemed somewhat suspect, nobody dared criticize, for the Song Family’s devotion to the Land God was widely known. They even claimed the Land God was their ancestor. Since the selection prioritized faith, the Song Family holding a majority of the spots was entirely fitting.

Surprisingly, the Song Family did not monopolize all the spots; people from outside the three major families were chosen, and even the Lu and Huang Families received seven or eight spots each.

This was surely buying loyalty with a costly prize. Song Wen, as village chief, already had considerable prestige, and now, leveraging divine presence, garnered the villagers’ trust, causing even those outside the three families to lean toward him, and even leading to a shift among the Lu and Huang Families.

Lu Xuan and Huang Lin observed but were powerless to intervene, let alone protest.

With the Land God backing him, how could they protest?

Still, this worked well, as most of the Yellow Turban Warriors were from the Song Family, meaning they would bear the brunt of the bandit fights, sparing the Lu and Huang Families from life-threatening danger.

Soon, one hundred young warriors gathered before the temple, each holding three incense sticks, worshiping inside before receiving their Yellow Scarves, becoming the Yellow Turban Warriors of Little Huang Village’s Land Temple.

This time, they didn’t try testing with weapons again.

After all, divine power is precious and shouldn’t be wasted frivolously, and there wasn’t enough time.

"The bandits are brutal; sticks and stones won’t do!"

Song Wen had several men bring out four baskets of weapons: one filled with spears, one with broadswords, one with blade shield vine shields, and one with hunting bows and bamboo arrows.

Due to rampant banditry, the Court didn’t restrict village folks from armament, only barring them from hiding armor and powerful bows or crossbows.

With divine power, Yellow Turban Warriors didn’t need protective armor—sharp weapons sufficed. These spears, broadswords, and blade shield vine shields were ordinary weapons, easy to wield. Only the bows and arrows required more skill, but over the years, Song Family had led Little Huang Village to train in martial arts, learning archery, and could utilize them.

Quickly, a hundred Yellow Turban Warriors were fully armed, some wielding spears, others holding broadswords, some even carrying bows and arrows, matched with bodies strengthened by rice and fish, appearing somewhat formidable, albeit lacking fierceness.

"Good!"

Song Wen nodded in satisfaction: "Return home, ready your weapons, always prepared to fight the enemy!"