Case Files

Cautious Punishment Division.

Inside a pavilion.

Numerous case files were stored here. As a patrol officer of the Cautious Punishment Division, studying them was a required course for Wu Ming.

After bringing Wu Ming here, Zhao Hu told him to roughly go through all the case files before leaving first.

"Jingye City Laws..."

Wu Ming picked up a case file and looked at the words upon it, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face. Sure enough, when he opened it, it contained various statutes governing Jingye City under the Cautious Punishment Division's jurisdiction. For example, anyone caught stealing at night would receive forty strokes if they were registered civilians, while martial artists would be exiled to the mines.

If a martial artist slaughtered civilians without cause, they would be exiled to the mines if the death toll was three or fewer; if it exceeded three, they would be beheaded.

If martial artists came into conflict with one another, provided there was cause for the dispute, no civilians were harmed, and no severe damage was caused, the punishment would depend on the circumstances and could range freely from "not guilty" to "exile to the mines."

The city laws recorded in this case file were essentially the Cautious Punishment Division's methods of handling all manner of incidents within the city.

Wu Ming also discerned the defining feature of the Cautious Punishment Division's laws: punishment for martial artists harming civilians was exceptionally severe, while conflicts between martial artists were treated rather leniently. And that was only within the city. Outside the city, they simply did not care at all.

"The Cautious Punishment Division's city laws are less about maintaining order within the city than about ensuring the stable output of all kinds of resources in this territory. Common folk are the most fundamental link in resource production, so they receive the law's protection. Martial artists, on the other hand, are themselves great consumers of resources, which is why the laws are so lenient when they fight one another."

As he leafed through the case file, Wu Ming swiftly came to understand.

If martial artists arranged a duel, then even if one of them was beaten to death in a street battle, the Cautious Punishment Division would not intervene. Yet crimes such as nighttime theft, robbery, human trafficking, rape, and the like were punished with extreme severity.

That was because the former had a negligible effect on the city's orderly operation, whereas if the latter crimes were allowed to run unchecked, the whole city would descend into chaos. Both ordinary citizens and merchants would suffer enormous disruption in their daily lives, damaging Jingye City's resource output and affecting the collection of taxes.

Of course,

There were also certain special provisions in the city laws. For instance, killing an active court officer, regardless of rank, was a capital crime!

He had killed Guo Huai and made an enemy of Guo Xiang. If he were not an officer of the Cautious Punishment Division, Guo Xiang could come directly for him and attack him within the city; whether Wu Ming lived or died, the Cautious Punishment Division would not concern itself with it. But now that he had become an officer of the Cautious Punishment Division, he was protected by court law. Let alone a mere Guo Xiang—even the Black Fiend Sect could not openly lay hands on an officer.

However, for a colossal force like the Black Fiend Sect, if they truly wanted to go against an officer of the Cautious Punishment Division, they naturally had all sorts of methods. They would merely strike from the shadows. So long as they were not caught red-handed, they could flatly deny everything afterward, and it would become a matter of mutual wrangling.

After all, the Sect Master of the Black Fiend Sect inherited the title of fourth-rank marquis from generation to generation. In terms of official rank, he was a grade above the Director of the Cautious Punishment Division. Moreover, the Black Fiend Sect itself was not based in Jingye City at all, but hundreds of li away, where it occupied a territory and developed independently. Jingye City only had a branch helm of the Black Fiend Sect.

After going through the Cautious Punishment Division's laws once, Wu Ming had memorized them all. He then turned to the other case files.

—April 22nd, north of the city, three households in East Screen Alley were robbed by nighttime thieves, losing several dozen taels' worth of property. The culprits were unknown.

—April 24th, south of the city, the Liu residence was burglarized. The thieves were discovered during the theft and killed two guards before departing. The thieves used sabers, possessed Second Blood Forging cultivation, and were suspected of practicing the Whirlwind Saber Technique.

The remaining case files recorded all manner of cases that had occurred in Jingye City. Most were unsolved cases with no leads—there was no way to identify the culprit, and intelligence and information were sorely lacking.

There were also some in which the bandits' identities had been confirmed. For instance, "Black Cloud Bandit He Tian." Numerous case files had even been compiled into a separate dossier for him, recording his countless evil deeds. The final note stated that he had yet to be brought to justice.

"A great bandit at Third Blood Forging. No wonder he could commit so many atrocities and still roam free."

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

In Jingye City, reaching Third Blood Forging meant undergoing a complete transformation and becoming someone of consequence. Yet the He Tian recorded in this dossier had repeatedly committed theft before reaching Third Blood Forging. Perhaps he had relied on the resources gained through banditry to cross the threshold into Third Blood Forging. Afterward, he became even more brazen, committing evil time and again within the city, and his current whereabouts were unknown.

The Cautious Punishment Division was certainly powerful. There was more than one patrol inspector at Third Blood Forging like Zhou Huaian, and there were even five directors at Fourth Blood Forging. Yet when a Third Blood Forging bandit hid within a great city of several million people, finding him was still far too difficult. Only when he committed another crime would there be a chance to apprehend him.

There were eight more wanted criminals at Third Blood Forging like Black Cloud Bandit He Tian in these case files. As for identified wanted criminals at Second Blood Forging, there were even more—over a hundred in total.

"This city really isn't peaceful."

Wu Ming shook his head inwardly.

Previously, when he lived in Jingye City, his life had merely been a line between two points, traveling back and forth between the Seven Martial Alliance Outer Hall and Chen's Apothecary. He had encountered little conflict. But here in the Cautious Punishment Division, simply browsing the case files showed him how many cases had occurred in a single year.

After roughly reading through the large number of case files here, Wu Ming walked out of the pavilion. Zhao Hu had long since vanished, while outside the pavilion, clerks of the Cautious Punishment Division passed by from time to time. These clerks were basically not martial artists and held no rank; they were the division's lowest-level staff.

After walking a few steps forward, Wu Ming arrived before another room, which was likewise filled with many case files.

Slightly surprised, Wu Ming entered the room and picked up a case file to examine it. He found that it recorded certain conflicts that had occurred within the city. Most of these conflicts did not constitute crimes, and there were also some matters concerning Demon calamities.

After casually flipping through it, Wu Ming returned it to its original place. Just as he was about to leave, his gaze swept to the side, and he noticed a rather unusual-looking case file placed not far to his left.

"Daoist Arts Unveiled—what is this?"

Wu Ming picked up the demon-hide booklet. Its material was clearly more exceptional than that used for the other case files, and the words written on it made him pause slightly. Upon opening it, he immediately saw line after line of text.

—All beneath heaven revere martial prowess. By condensing Blood Qi and achieving Spirit-Flesh Oneness, one may suppress all Demons with martial force. Yet the lineage of Daoist arts harnesses the power of the divine soul. Once pursued deeply enough, it can also command every manner of method, no weaker than martial arts.

The divine soul and the fleshly body were intimately linked, corresponding to one another one by one.