On July twentieth, Cang Yuan finally had some free time again.
After returning from morning court, he found Pan Long reading in his room.
"Young Hero Pan, I have a favor to ask." After a brief exchange of pleasantries, he continued, "Several cases arose during your travels through the Martial World. They were settled long ago, but your signature on the closing documents would bring them to a proper conclusion. What do you say?"
Pan Long smiled and nodded. "No problem. Let's go."
He had heard about this. When people of the Martial World fought out their grudges, they usually left as soon as the fighting was over—if they stayed, were they supposed to wait for someone to come seeking revenge? The Imperial Court could not simply walk away, though. It had to handle all the cleanup and loose ends. In the language of games, films, and television from Pan Long's previous life, that was called "washing the ground."
The ground had to be washed, the bodies collected, and the whole story pieced together. Every feud that ended in bloodshed eventually became a case file in the Imperial Court's archives.
If someone from the Martial World wanted to enter officialdom, or simply show support for the Imperial Court, there was a straightforward way to do it: find the case files directly involving him, review them as a party or witness, then fill out a simple document.
That document was not a "certificate of criminal conduct" or anything else meant to put him on trial. It signified his willingness to support the Imperial Court's account of the cases—or, put another way, his acceptance of the "Order" the Imperial Court represented.
His grandfather Pan Shou had done something similar before becoming Town Commandant of Dingfeng Town.
Back then, Imperial Court officials had