Gentlemen, it's time to enter the Banner of Ten Thousand Souls.

Chapter 346 Prohibited Business
Fengdu City has no government offices, only four departments: the Department of Detention, the Department of Soul Detention, the Department of Spirit Detention, the Department of Criminal Investigation, and the Department of Criminal Justice. The Department of Soul Detention is responsible for arresting, the Department of Spirit Detention is responsible for imprisonment, the Department of Criminal Investigation is responsible for interrogation and conviction, and the Department of Criminal Justice is naturally the place of final punishment.

However, minor mistakes generally don't need to be sent to the Department of Punishment. The ghost soldiers of the Department of Soul Capture also have the authority to maintain order and manage the situation. Minor matters only require a warning, while those sent for punishment are mostly serious offenses.

Qin Le had been in Fengdu City for some time, but had never seen such a scene before, so he asked Fang Hao out of curiosity.

In his eyes, his senior brother Fang Hao was far more knowledgeable than him.

Fang Hao shook his head and said, "These two people have no criminal record, and I don't know divination, so how could I know?"

The shopkeeper, who was carefully serving them, said tactfully, "Gentlemen, I have heard some rumors. If you would like to know more, I am willing to say a few words."

Qin Le said with great interest, "Tell me quickly, what crimes did they commit?"

Fang Hao remained silent, but casually took out an even larger gold ingot and placed it on the table, as if to tip the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper broke out in a cold sweat; this man was far too generous, it was almost frightening.

The shopkeeper, naturally, dared not accept the gold, and quickly explained, "That man from the Central Plains is a servant working for a certain imperial relative. He came to Fengdu City to do business..."

Before he could finish speaking, Qin Le interrupted, "How could doing business lead to being arrested? And what is a 'Shuren'?"

The shopkeeper had no choice but to explain: "Servants are the servants of nobles. They work for the imperial relatives and often have some official rank, but they are not important figures and can only be considered as clerks."

Qin Le laughed and said, "The way people in the Central Plains address each other is really complicated. People are just people, but there are also distinctions between horizontal and vertical lines, and then there are those who are considered officials and those who are not. It's really interesting."

Although he knew that Qin Le was no ordinary person, the shopkeeper couldn't help but secretly mock Qin Le's northern Xinjiang accent, though his expression showed no sign of it.

Fang Hao seemed curious as well, and asked, "What kind of business are you in? Why did you attract the attention of the Soul-Capturing Division? And judging from the scale of this, it seems like you've gotten yourself into serious trouble."

The shopkeeper said, "In my humble opinion, what they did was not a big deal. It was just that the two of them were working together to open a brothel in Fengdu City."

Qin Le then asked, "What is a brothel?"

The shopkeeper paused for a moment, then carefully described it as, "It's a place where men seek pleasure."

"Seeking pleasure? Hunting or wrestling, or drinking and eating meat?"

The shopkeeper was at a loss for words; this was already quite a straightforward explanation.

Fang Hao coughed and said to Qin Le, "It's a place where ordinary women sell their bodies for men's pleasure."

Qin Le seemed to understand, but then he realized that he shouldn't ask too many questions, so he kept quiet.

The shopkeeper nodded hurriedly and said, "That's exactly the kind of business. Fengdu City is now prosperous and wealthy, but it lacks a place for pleasure-seeking. Naturally, some people want to do this kind of business. This man came to the Northern Frontier and I heard that he has already made an agreement with a certain tribe to find some women from the Northern Frontier to open a unique brothel. If it's done well, he can make a fortune every day. However, it seems that this kind of business is not allowed in Fengdu City."

Fang Hao and Qin Le didn't react much, with Qin Le simply giving a curt "Oh." The innkeeper, however, seemed somewhat indignant on behalf of the two prisoners, sighing, "Brothels are everywhere. Fengdu City is so prosperous, and it's at the intersection of the Central Plains and the Northern Frontier. Those men who used to work there need to relieve their fatigue, so having a brothel is naturally a good thing. It's just that I heard the immortals of the Yellow Springs Sect can't stand this kind of business, so they directly rejected it."

Qin Le asked doubtfully, "But it doesn't have to come to arrest people. If you can't do business, then you shouldn't do it at all."

The shopkeeper smiled bitterly, "Unfortunately, these two don't think that way. Little do they know that brothel business is forbidden in Fengdu City. They've already invested a lot of money, and if they don't continue now, they'll lose money. That scoundrel just thought it was the manager of Fengdu City soliciting bribes. Officials always need to find an excuse to make things difficult for businessmen. Once they've collected enough money, they'll naturally let them go."

"Therefore, this man carried a full chest of gold and silver to find that Zhao Hezhou official, but he was still met with a cold shoulder and was even arrested and beaten with a rod for bribery."

Qin Le clapped his hands and laughed, "He deserves a beating! He said he was not allowed to do brothel business, but he still dragged others down with him. This person deserves to be beaten!"

Fang Hao glanced at Qin Le and thought to himself that this junior brother had a simple way of looking at things. No wonder he was called Qin Le; a pure heart naturally leads to happiness.

Seeing Qin Le's good mood, the shopkeeper disregarded his earlier sympathy for the peddler and quickly added, "That's right, bribing in public is going too far. Do they really think the officials of Fengdu City are like those corrupt officials from the Central Plains? If it were just that, he would only get a beating. But this peddler was not satisfied and continued to secretly collude, using the pretext of building a restaurant to try and build this brothel."

Upon hearing this, Fang Hao sighed and said, "This is a path to death."

The innkeeper chimed in, "That's right. They built this restaurant on the surface to run a normal business, but in reality, they still arrange for girls to accompany people for drinks and sex. They just use a lot of cover-ups. Fengdu City is right under the noses of the immortals. There's no such thing as something overt or covert that can be hidden from the immortals' eyes and ears."

"So, today their affair came to light, and Master Zhao directly led his men to shut down their brothel. I heard that when they were arresting people and sealing off the brothel, the two tried to deny it and even incited others to resist, but they were suppressed by the ghost soldiers."

Qin Le asked doubtfully, "How dare he? Is he a cultivator too?"

The shopkeeper laughed and said, "Your Excellency is unaware of this. These nobles' followers look down on everyone. In their eyes, immortals can kill, and nobles can kill too. They are not much different. I have seen many such scoundrels punished in Fengdu City. They think Fengdu City is the Central Plains."

Although the whole story had been explained, Qin Le asked with a puzzled look, "It's one thing for the people from the Central Plains not to understand the rules of Fengdu City, but why did that person from the Northern Frontier dare to cooperate with him? To us, the words 'Fengdu Yellow Springs' are more important than the Sacred Snow Mountain. How dare he offend the immortals of the Yellow Springs Sect?"

Fang Hao frowned and looked at the two prisoners being escorted again, but this time his eyes had turned golden.

Opening one's spiritual eyes is something all cultivators can do, but Fang Hao's spiritual eyes are somewhat different. They can see spiritual energy more clearly and see through many disguises.

Where Fang Hao's spiritual eyes could see, there was a strange shadow on the prisoner from the northern frontier, which seemed to pulsate as if it were alive.

"Not good! Junior brother, you must go to the Yellow Springs Palace immediately to report this!"

As soon as Fang Hao finished speaking, his figure disappeared and appeared above the procession of ghost soldiers in the blink of an eye.

Fang Hao drew his sword from his waist. The sword was golden, but it was not made of gold. Instead, it was covered with countless talismans.

The ghost soldiers in charge of escorting the prisoners thought someone was trying to break them up. They had just set up their formation when Fang Hao waved his talisman sword, and yellow talismans rained down from the sky.

(End of this chapter)