"Why should someone so talented not deserve a Palace Examination Slot?!"
Wang Qingshan's aura surged.
As someone in the late fifth realm, Wang Qingshan possessed an undeniably powerful aura.
Although the civil and military officials stood above them, many of the densely packed local officials had appeared only as projections, rather than in the flesh.
Wang Qingshan's aura naturally shielded Lin Ke, allowing him to speak freely.
Still, unexpected people always appeared.
"Your Beast-Taming Studio has twenty years of unpaid taxes." The Revenue Minister stepped forward, and the formidable pressure of the sixth realm, the gentleman realm, surged out, blanketing heaven and earth. "Wang Qingshan, when exactly will your Beast-Taming Studio settle its tax arrears?"
"Taxes? Tax arrears?" Wang Qingshan immediately faltered. "But those taxes simply..."
How were they supposed to pay the Beast-Taming Studio's taxes?
When Revenue Department officials came to assess how much tax they owed, their Beast-Taming Sects had animals and plants in abundance.
The problem was that, in ordinary sects, animals and plants counted as assets or food.
But in their Beast-Taming Sects?
Every last one counted as a person!
Taxes were levied by head, with one share of tax for each person.
And so the Beast-Taming Sects, which had inherited Zhuangzi's philosophy of roaming freely beyond worldly concerns, all came into the cities to open pet beast shops and spirit beast shops.
They had no choice. Without earning money, they could not even afford their taxes.
Lin Ke was rather speechless, too.
After all, every inch of soil and every stretch of space in the Divine Land was subject to taxation.
These so-called taxes were actually protection fees.
What were they being protected from?
Lin Ke did not know yet. At the very least, he was not qualified to know.
Still, he could vaguely guess