Atonement Talismans were wondrous things, invented by some wise soul in the Church after the Continental-Island War, when the Church's tax revenues had plummeted. A palm-sized scrap of paper, too rough even to wipe your ass, with a few lines of divine instruction and some mysterious charms and symbols printed on it—that was all it took to turn the Atonement Talisman into the Church's most powerful money-making tool of the past thirty years.
Atonement Talismans cost next to nothing to produce. A single copper coin could print a dozen, yet the cheapest sold for ten copper coins apiece. Profits a hundred times over drove the entire Church wild. The wise and virtuous man who invented them had since become one of the Church's famed Scepter Bishops, overseeing its entire financial operation—a man of lofty rank and boundless power.
One Atonement Talisman could absolve you of a measure of sin. Buy enough of them, and you could wash away every last transgression, ensuring that after death you would not fall into Hell but ascend to the divine kingdom, where you would live in bliss forever beneath the light of the great Gods.
And new sins arose in humankind every day. So, according to the Church's teachings, everyone was best off buying one or two—or even three or five—Atonement Talismans each day to wash away the fresh sins they had committed. Just as, after Lin Qi had sold six Stabbing Swords that day, he had spent his last twenty copper coins on two Atonement Talismans from Father Balin.
Lin Qi did not actually believe in the talismans' power. He had just wanted peace of mind.
But how could ordinary folk know any better? They devoutly spent their hard-earned copper coins on all kinds of Atonement Talismans, and a steady torrent of money flowed into the Church's coffers. After the war, the Church swiftly became the wealthiest power on the continent.
In front of the Dragon Cavalry and the Copper Hats, Father Balin produced a thick stack of Atonement Talismans. Under the combined pressure of worldly authority and supreme divine power, the Dragon Cavalrymen and Copper Hats' minds went blank; they could no longer think straight. Obediently, they handed over every coin they had and each bought a large stack of talismans.
Father Balin nodded with satisfaction. Patting the few talismans remaining in his hands, he said smugly, "All right, your sins for today have been washed away. But remember: don't commit the same sins again. You interrupted my copying of the prayer scriptures and wasted Purification Holy Water. I'll send a bill to the Security Office and the Dragon Cavalry headquarters."
Mr. Grong puffed out his chest. He glanced at Lin Qi's smashed wooden door, then at the Dragon Cavalrymen and Copper Hats, whose faces had gone ashen. He did not want to push things too far. After all, unlike Father Balin, a representative of divine authority with powerful backing who could ignore the formidable forces behind the Dragon Cavalry and Copper Hats, Mr. Grong was merely a man of the secular world.
He cleared his throat, about to say a few words to smooth things over, when Lin Qi quietly moved closer and lightly brushed Mr. Grong's voluminous outer robe with his arm. Mr. Grong immediately sensed that the right pocket of his robe had grown a little heavier. It felt exactly like the times when some subordinate had furtively slipped gold coins into his pocket, hoping he would do them a favor.
Clearing his throat again, Mr. Grong reached into his pocket and felt a crystal medicine bottle whose shape was all too familiar. His heart began to pound. It was that miraculous potion—the one that could make an old tree sprout new buds. Mr. Grong coughed twice, discreetly took out a white handkerchief and wiped his nose, then put it back in his pocket and said unhurriedly, "Well, now there's only one matter left!"
Fixing the ashen-faced Dragon Cavalrymen and Copper Hats with a stern gaze, Mr. Grong said coldly, "The door you destroyed must be replaced, and you'll be fined three times the cost as punishment. You barged into the campus and disrupted normal classes, so each of you will be fined one gold coin. And you frightened the students here, so you must pay ten silver coins in compensation to every student in this dormitory building whom you disturbed."
He counted on his fingers for a while, then nodded thoughtfully. "Since you were acting under orders, I'll let you off with fifty gold coins. Pay up, and we'll call it settled!"
Mr. Grong felt that he needed to recoup some of the money he had spent early yesterday morning on a miraculous potion: thirty gold coins for a single bottle. Of the fifty gold coins, thirty would go to him; twenty would cover the negligible cost of repairing Lin Qi's door, and he would keep whatever remained as payment for stepping in on Lin Qi's behalf.
He was an Imperial lord, the head of academic affairs at Fifth University, and a great man who might one day take over as its principal. When he stood up for a student against the Dragon Cavalry and Copper Hats, he deserved a little compensation for his trouble. Otherwise, it would be an insult to his status.
With a modest smile, Lin Qi stood obediently beside Mr. Grong, just as any decent, well-behaved student should. He opened his eyes wide in innocent bewilderment, watching the ashen-faced Dragon Cavalrymen and Copper Hats as though puzzled that these burly representatives of state power had come after him.
The Dragon Cavalrymen and Copper Hats turned deathly pale. A fine of fifty gold coins?
They had come all the way here early that morning to arrest Lin Qi, and all the bribes they had received amounted to only ten gold coins. They had just spent every last coin they had on a pile of worthless scraps that could get them accused of blasphemy if they used them to wipe their asses, and now they were being fined fifty gold coins on top of that?
Driven to the end of his rope, the thin Copper Hat glared furiously and shouted, "Sir, we were only following orders!"
Mr. Grong flew into a rage. These men had violated the final clause of the Imperial Education Act, blasphemed against the Gods, and interrupted the copying of the prayer scriptures—and now they dared speak to him like that? He angrily swung his cane, ready to assert his authority, when Lin Qi suddenly remarked from beside him, "If you were following orders, then the main blame doesn't fall on you!"
With a touch of sorrowful compassion and a nearly saintly smile, Lin Qi gently asked the thin Copper Hat, "Then, respected officer, tell me: who sent you to arrest me? Who swore to you that there was solid evidence against me?"
Lin Qi continued solemnly, "You were only following orders. Even if you violated Imperial law, your sins have now been washed away. But the one who ordered you to arrest me—that is the true sinner! The deeper sin lies with him. He must be punished!"
The Dragon Cavalrymen and Copper Hats all fell silent. Their eyes darted about, as though they were hesitating over something.
A deep, powerful voice suddenly rang out.
"Yes. I admit I was in the wrong."
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