The Hall of Punishment was like a sharp sword suspended above the heads of the entire human race.
On the tenth day of the third month, personnel from the Hall of Punishment mobilized everywhere, spreading across the Saint Origin Continent.
Like rain falling into a pond, they stirred ripple after ripple.
The Hall of Punishment's deterrent power was so great that many people fell silent even when they knew someone had been arrested.
At first, only scattered reports appeared on the Discourse Ranking, saying that some people had been arrested for preventing the women in their families from taking the Imperial Examination.
That night, Fang Yun issued a Sacred Judgment on the Discourse Ranking.
The instant they heard the words "Sacred Judgment," many scholars shuddered.
Ordinarily, a Sacred Judgment meant asking the sages to adjudicate a matter. But if a Half-Sage issued one of his own accord, something momentous must have happened.
The Hall of Punishment was a sharp sword; a Sacred Judgment was thunder.
Vast numbers of scholars entered the Discourse Ranking to read the Sacred Judgment.
Many felt their entire bodies turn cold after reading only the opening. By the time they finished, a hundred conflicting flavors churned within them.
This Sacred Judgment listed more than a thousand names.
First on the list was Hao Wenyi, Minister of Rites of the Qing Kingdom. He enjoyed immense renown there, with students flourishing like peach and plum trees throughout the land. Now he had been escorted to the Sacred Academy, where the Hall of Punishment would abolish his Literary Rank and strip him of his Literary Qi! He would be executed!
This Grand Academician's crime was not merely preventing the women of his own household from taking the Imperial Examination. He had also exploited his position to send private messages