Fang Yun bid farewell to the dragons of the Eastern Sea and left through the Sea Eye. He then went to nearby Jade Sea City and used its Temple of Sages to teleport straight back to the capital.
Once again, Fang Yun buried himself in paperwork, handling affairs of state.
Unlike ordinary reforms, judicial reform was the most crucial of all. Calling it the foundation of a nation was no exaggeration.
Thus, officials from the various departments of the Grand Secretariat began a life of utter tedium, discussing one decree after another. Some laws involved such sweeping changes that an entire day of discussion often yielded no result, leaving them no choice but to suspend implementation.
The Hall of Punishment lived up to its reputation as the Sacred Academy institution second only to the War Hall in its ability to execute orders. In just ten days, every bandit group in Jing Kingdom with a permanent camp had been caught in a single net. The remaining fugitives would become targets of a sustained crackdown; dealing with them was not something that could be accomplished overnight.
The harsh crackdown on bandits proved an extremely effective deterrent to all manner of lawbreakers in Jing Kingdom. Even petty thieves stopped committing crimes. Serious incidents plummeted nationwide, and on one particular day, not a single person reported a crime across the country's hundreds of prefectures and counties.
Officials throughout Jing Kingdom had expected the Hall of Punishment to celebrate its success next. Instead, the hall merely offered a casual, "You have all worked diligently; keep up your efforts," before announcing that the Anti-Thug Campaign had entered its third phase.
Return legal authority to the state; crack down on private punishments and private prisons.
Unlike the previous phase, which had won universal acclaim, the third phase