The Case File

Cautious Punishment Division.

Inside a room.

This place was filled with numerous files, a required study for Wu Ming as a Patrol Officer of the Cautious Punishment Division.

After bringing Wu Ming here, Zhao Hu instructed him to briefly look through all the files and then left.

"Jingye City Laws..."

Wu Ming picked up a file and looked at the text on it, a thoughtful expression on his face. Upon opening it, he found it contained various regulations and laws that the Cautious Punishment Division enforced in Jingye City. For example, night thieves would receive forty strokes of the cane if they were commoners, while martial artists would be sent to the mines.

Martial artists who 무고ly killed civilians, if fewer than three, would be sent to the mines; if three or more, they would be beheaded.

For disputes between martial artists, if there was a valid reason and no harm to civilians or significant destruction, the punishment would be decided based on the situation, ranging from 'innocent' to 'sent to the mines.'

The city laws recorded in this file were essentially the Cautious Punishment Division's methods for handling various situations within the city.

Wu Ming also discovered the characteristics of the Cautious Punishment Division's laws: punishments for martial artists persecuting civilians were extremely harsh, while those for fights between martial artists were more lenient. Furthermore, this was within the city; outside the city, they didn't interfere at all.

"The city laws of the Cautious Punishment Division are less about maintaining order in the city and more about ensuring the stable output of various resources in this land. Commoners are the most basic link in resource production, thus they are protected by the law. Conversely, martial artists themselves are major consumers of resources, so fights between martial artists are treated very leniently."

As he flipped through the files, Wu Ming quickly understood.

For instance, if martial artists agreed to a duel, even if one was killed in a fight on the street, the Cautious Punishment Division wouldn't intervene. However, for acts like night theft, robbery, human trafficking, or rape, the punishments were extremely severe.

This was because the former had a negligible impact on the city's order, but if the latter were allowed to continue, the entire city would descend into chaos, greatly affecting the daily lives of commoners and merchants alike. It would also disrupt the resource output of Jingye City and affect tax collection.

Of course, There were also some special clauses in the city laws. For example, killing an official of the imperial court, regardless of rank, was a capital offense!

If he, having killed Guo Huai, had made an enemy of Guo Xiang, and he were not an official of the Cautious Punishment Division, Guo Xiang could have directly confronted him and attacked him within the city, and the Cautious Punishment Division would not have intervened, regardless of whether he lived or died. But now that he had become an official of the Cautious Punishment Division, he was protected by imperial law. Not to mention a mere Guo Xiang, even the Black Fiend Sect could not openly attack officials.

However, for a powerful force like the Black Fiend Sect, there were naturally various ways to deal with officials of the Cautious Punishment Division. They would simply resort to underhanded tactics; as long as they weren't caught red-handed, they could deny everything afterward and engage in endless disputes.

After all, the Sect Master of the Black Fiend Sect inherited the title of a Fourth-Rank Marquis through generations, making his rank one level higher than the head of the Cautious Punishment Division. Moreover, the Black Fiend Sect was not based in Jingye City but hundreds of miles away, occupying a region to develop independently. Jingye City only had a branch of the Black Fiend Sect.

Wu Ming reviewed all the laws of the Cautious Punishment Division and memorized them, then began to look through other files.

—April 22nd, North City, East Screen Alley. Three households were robbed at night, losing dozens of taels of silver. The identity of the thief is unknown.

—April 24th, South City, Liu Residence was burgled. The thieves were discovered during the act and fled after killing two guards. The thieves used sabers and were at the Second Blood Forging stage, suspected of practicing the Whirlwind Saber Technique.

The remaining files recorded various cases that occurred in Jingye City. Most of them were unsolved cases, meaning the culprits were unknown, and information was severely lacking.

In addition to these, there were also cases where the identities of the thieves were confirmed, such as "Black Cloud Bandit He Tian." Many files even had a separate volume dedicated to him, detailing his various wicked deeds, with the final annotation stating that he had not yet been apprehended.

"A great bandit at Third Blood Forging, no wonder he committed so many atrocities and is still at large."

Wu Ming shook his head slightly as he looked at the file.

In Jingye City, reaching Third Blood Forging was already a transformation, making one a notable figure. However, the He Tian described in this file repeatedly committed robberies even before reaching Third Blood Forging. Perhaps it was through the resources obtained from his robberies that he eventually crossed the threshold of Third Blood Forging. After reaching Third Blood Forging, he became even more rampant, repeatedly committing evil deeds within the city, and his current whereabouts are unknown.

Although the Cautious Punishment Division was powerful, with more than one Patrol Officer at Third Blood Forging like Zhou Huaian, and even five supervisors at Fourth Blood Forging, it was still too difficult to find a Third Blood Forging bandit hidden within a large city of millions. Only when he committed another crime could there be a possibility of apprehending him.

There were as many as eight wanted criminals at Third Blood Forging like the Black Cloud Bandit He Tian in the files. As for wanted criminals at Second Blood Forging whose identities were confirmed, their numbers were even greater, reaching over a hundred.

"This city is truly not peaceful."

Wu Ming shook his head.

Previously, when he lived in Jingye City, his life was confined to a simple routine, traveling between the Seven Martial Alliance Outer Hall and Chen's Apothecary, encountering very few disputes. But now, working for the Cautious Punishment Division and browsing through the files, he could see how many cases occurred within a single year.

After briefly reviewing the vast number of files here, Wu Ming walked out of the room. Zhao Hu had already disappeared, and outside the room, "officials" of the Cautious Punishment Division could be seen coming and going from time to time. These "officials" were generally not martial artists and held no official rank, being the lowest-level staff of the Cautious Punishment Division.

Wu Ming walked a few steps forward and arrived in front of another room, which also contained many files.

Slightly surprised, Wu Ming entered the room and picked up a file to examine it. He found that the files recorded various conflicts that had occurred within the city, most of which did not constitute a crime. There were also some records concerning demonic disasters.

After a brief perusal, Wu Ming put it back in its place. Just as he was about to leave, his gaze happened to fall upon a file that looked somewhat different, placed not far to his left.

"Daoist Arts Unveiled, what is this?"

Wu Ming picked up the animal skin booklet. Its material was clearly more distinctive than that of other files, and the text on it made Wu Ming pause slightly. Upon opening it, he immediately saw lines of descriptive text.

—The world respects martial arts above all else, condensing blood energy and uniting spirit and body, using martial power to suppress all demons. However, the Daoist arts lineage manipulates the power of the soul; upon delving deeper, one can also master various techniques, no less potent than martial arts.

Spirit and body are intimately connected, corresponding one to one.