A Cry for Justice

At the beginning of Sword Cultivation lay a stage known as "Nurturing Intent."

By using Sword Qi to nourish the ancestral aperture beneath the brow, at the very root of the nose, one transformed Sword Qi into one's own pure sword intent, then strengthened the soul.

The orthodox path of cultivation was divided into two steps: nurturing the sword and transforming intent.

Nurturing the sword meant finding a sword, then either tempering it with sword techniques or feeding it with the essence of heaven and earth, until it gradually gave birth to pure Sword Qi.

One would then use this as a foundation to sense that Outer Dao Sword Qi and follow its path to transform it into one's own sword intent.

Su Che was spared all that trouble. The ancient sword in the Sword Case at hand had originally been left behind by a Sword Cultivation practitioner of the previous generation, and the Sword Qi within it was abundant and vast as the sea.

Thus, he could easily guide the Sword Qi into his body and slowly transform it into sword intent.

After repeating this seven times, sword intent filled the ancestral aperture between his brows. Su Che finally sensed his limit and stopped cultivating.

If someone had observed him from outside at that moment, they would have seen a faint white gleam shining from between Su Che's brows.

That was the sword radiance produced when sword intent waxed and waned.

There was no obvious reaction in his body. The greatest changes were to his senses and thoughts.

The most striking changes came in two aspects.

First, his five senses were far sharper than usual.

Second, his thoughts had become much clearer.

There was nothing else especially miraculous about it.

"The first step of cultivation is to lay a solid foundation. Even Sword Cultivation is no exception."

Su Che gained some insight.

"It is like a child learning to walk. At first, their steps are unsteady. Only after their legs gain strength and their body becomes more coordinated can they finally walk steadily."

From this perspective, the Sword Cultivation system was not all that different from other systems.

"The Sword Case is both a protective treasure and the foundation of cultivation. As for the Heaven-Supporting Jun Sword, it is also an inheritance for practicing sword intent, not a means of fighting enemies."

"It is like what I read in books: there is the Dao and there are techniques. The Dao is a cultivation method for raising one's own realm, while techniques are methods of application. The Su Family's texts provide protective treasures and cultivation methods, yet no means of application. They were probably worried that after I took office, I would throw my weight around and get into trouble."

That elder of the Su Family had made very sensible arrangements. Considering the former owner's personality, "Little Tyrant of Danyang’s Iron Whip" was hardly a flattering title.

After cultivating, Su Che felt refreshed in body and spirit, so he simply began reviewing the case files concerning the stolen treasury silver nearby.

After reading through all the files, he found that the useful information within was truly quite limited.

Shanyin County's government treasury was divided into three sections: the Ever-Provision Treasury, the Grace-Offering Treasury, and the Price-Stabilization Treasury.

Simply put, the stores within the Ever-Provision Treasury covered daily expenses. The Grace-Offering Treasury chiefly stored taxes and local tribute to be submitted to the imperial court.

There was also the Price-Stabilization Treasury, used to aid disaster victims and regulate prices. Its accounts and case files were the simplest, because the treasury was simply empty.

The treasury involved in the incident was the Ever-Provision Treasury.

The Ever-Provision Treasury had sixteen treasury guards, divided into four shifts of four, patrolling day and night. The entire storehouse had been built of blue bricks. Theft prevention had been considered during construction, and a clumsy but effective method had been used: the main storehouse had only one front entrance.

The treasury guards normally only patrolled outside. There was only one key to the storehouse, and it was kept by Clerk Tian.

Whenever an expenditure was needed, Clerk Tian would take two scribes into the storehouse to withdraw the funds, count them face-to-face, then lock the main gate again.

In theory, this system was foolproof. If Clerk Tian conscientiously carried it out, there would not be many chances for the treasury guards to show their capabilities.

That was, provided Shanyin County had a City God.

A city where a City God resided naturally had a system of ghostly constables and netherworld generals layered one upon another, preventing demons and ghosts from causing trouble.

If some demon truly set its sights on Shanyin County's government treasury, the first obstacle it would face would be the ghostly constables under the Shanyin County City God.

In this present age of chaos, many cities no longer had City Gods.

The reason was simple enough. As guardians of mortal order, great numbers of City Gods and Earth Gods had continually clashed with demons, monsters, ghosts, and fiends that challenged that order. Most had already fallen.

"This so-called government treasury silver theft was most likely the work of some minor demon or little ghost. Shanyin County values it so highly not only because the Ever-Provision Treasury truly concerns everyone's interests, but probably more because they want to use it to test my mettle."

Su Che came to a judgment as well.

Therefore, this case not only had to be solved quickly, it had to be handled with flair.

Su Che continued turning through the case files, using their scattered fragments of information to ponder Shanyin County's local customs and conditions.

The ancients said that from a glimpse of one spot, one could see the whole leopard. With these case files, he could naturally draw conclusions about all of Shanyin County and the surrounding regions.

Red candles wept, and he remained sleepless through the night.

Su Che continued reading the files until the next morning.

His understanding of Shanyin County deepened another layer as well.

Seeing that the sky was dimly brightening while the sun had yet to rise in the east, Su Che decided to rest briefly on the bed.

The moment that thought arose, he heard a burst of urgent drumming outside.

Su Che hurriedly threw on his clothes, pulled on his official boots, and prepared to go out. Just as his hand reached for the door, he stopped.

That drumbeat had been low and resounding. Setting aside the impossible scenario of Northern Wei troops charging beneath Shanyin City's walls, it could only mean that someone had struck the Grievance Drum.

According to Great Liang law, every county yamen had a large drum outside, known as the Grievance Drum. If commoners were oppressed, they could use it to seek redress.

Once the drum sounded, the county's chief magistrate—the county magistrate himself—was supposed to personally hear the case.

Su Che remembered that under Great Liang's system, scenes where yamen runners stood in rows on both sides while the county magistrate took the bench with his adviser were actually quite rare.

Most disputes were settled at the level of clan elders and village heads.

Only a very small number of major or important cases reached the county commandant.

As for cases that required the county magistrate himself to spend effort managing them, they were basically either cases with great profit to be had or matters that those below truly could not handle.

Thus, the moment the Grievance Drum sounded, Su Che grew somewhat tense.

After all, the imperial court had clear laws: once the Grievance Drum sounded, only the county magistrate could render judgment.

This was meant to prevent locally powerful county assistants and clerks from colluding like fish in the same pond and arbitrarily ruling over the countryside.

But in Shanyin County, this was rather awkward. The county magistrate had never once arrived in the county, and before Su Che came, Shanyin County had not even had a single official dispatched by the imperial court.

So the Grievance Drum absolutely could not be allowed to sound.

Su Che vaguely remembered Clerk Tian mentioning the Grievance Drum during last night's drinking.

He had said that to prevent anyone from striking the Grievance Drum, he had simply ordered the drumsticks removed. In a few days, he had even planned to send someone to break the drum, ensuring it could never sound again and cutting off future troubles once and for all.

Now it seemed Clerk Tian had come up with that idea far too late.

Su Che finished dressing and headed straight for the county yamen entrance.

Shanyin County's Grievance Drum had not sounded for a very long time, yet someone struck it on the very day he arrived. This was clearly aimed at him.

After taking only a few steps, he heard an old woman shrieking in the distance.

"Wronged! Wronged! This old woman's daughter-in-law is a monster! My lord, you must uphold justice for me! Heavens, I cannot go on living..."