I bear witness to immortality in the human world.

Chapter 49 Files
The Department of Cautious Punishment.

Inside a room.

There are many files here, which are essential knowledge that Wu Ming, as an inspector of the Censorate, needs to understand.

After bringing Wu Ming here, Zhao Hu had Wu Ming look through all the files before leaving.

"The laws of Jingye City..."

Wu Ming picked up a dossier, looked at the text on it, and showed a thoughtful expression. After opening it, he found that it was indeed some articles and regulations of the Shenxing Division under the jurisdiction of Jingye City, such as those who committed theft at night, which were punishable by forty strokes of the cane for civilians and exile to mines for military men.

If a martial artist kills civilians without cause, the offender shall be exiled to a mine if the number of victims is three or fewer, and beheaded if the number of victims is more than three.

If martial artists fight each other, and there is a reason for the conflict, and it does not harm civilians or cause serious damage, then the punishment can be determined freely between 'innocent' and 'exiled to the mines', depending on the circumstances.

……

The city laws recorded in this file are basically the methods used by the Censorate to deal with various situations that occur within the city.

Wu Ming also discovered the characteristics of the Shenxing Division's laws: the punishment for martial artists who persecuted civilians was very severe, while the punishment for fighting among martial artists was relatively lenient. This was even within the city; if it happened outside the city, they would not care at all.

"The city laws of the Shenxing Division are less about maintaining order in the city and more about maintaining the stable production of various resources in the city. Ordinary people are the most basic link in resource production and are therefore protected by the law. On the contrary, martial artists are major consumers of resources, so fighting among martial artists is very lenient."

After flipping through the files, Wu Ming quickly understood the situation.

If martial artists challenge each other to a duel, even if one is killed in the street, the Censorate will not intervene. However, crimes such as nighttime theft, robbery, human trafficking, and rape are punished severely.

The former has a negligible impact on the city's order, but if the latter situations are left unchecked, the entire city will descend into chaos. The daily lives of ordinary people and merchants will be greatly affected, and the city's resource production will also be damaged, impacting tax collection.

of course,

There are also some special provisions in the city law. For example, killing a high-ranking official of the imperial court is a capital offense, regardless of rank!
For example, he killed Guo Huai and became enemies with Guo Xiang. If he were not an official of the Shenxing Division, Guo Xiang could have come directly to him and attacked him in the city. Regardless of whether he lived or died, the Shenxing Division would not have taken charge. But now that he has become an official of the Shenxing Division, he is protected by the laws of the court. Not to mention a mere Guo Xiang, even the Black Fiend Sect cannot openly attack an official.

However, for a powerful force like the Black Fiend Sect, if they really had to deal with the officials of the Cautious Punishment Division, they would naturally have various methods. They would simply resort to underhanded tactics. As long as they were not caught on the spot and denied everything afterward, it would just be a matter of arguing back and forth.

After all, the sect leader of the Black Fiend Sect has inherited the title of a fourth-rank marquis for generations, which is a higher rank than the head of the Cautious Punishment Division. Moreover, the Black Fiend Sect is not located in Jingye City at all, but hundreds of miles away, occupying a territory and developing independently. There is only a branch of the Black Fiend Sect in Jingye City.

Wu Ming read through the laws of the Censorate and memorized them all. Then he started looking through other files.

—On April 22, three households in Dongping Lane, north of the city, were burglarized at night, losing dozens of taels of valuables. The perpetrators are unknown.

—On April 24th, in the south of the city, the Liu residence was burglarized. The thieves were discovered during the theft, killed two guards, and fled. The thieves wielded a knife, their cultivation level being the second stage of Blood Coagulation, suggesting they had practiced the Returning Wind Knife Technique. …

The remaining files record various cases that occurred in Jingye City. Most of them are headless cases, meaning that the culprit cannot be found and it is unknown who did it. Intelligence and information are very lacking.

In addition, there are some cases where the identities of the thieves are clearly identified, such as "Black Cloud Thief He Tian". Many files even have a separate volume dedicated to him, recording his various misdeeds, and the final note is that he has not yet been brought to justice.

"A thief who has coagulated blood three times, no wonder he has committed so many evil deeds and is still at large."

Wu Ming looked at the file and shook his head slightly.

In Jingye City, being able to reach the third stage of blood coagulation is already a complete transformation, making one a figure of importance. However, He Tian, ​​as recorded in this document, committed numerous thefts before reaching the third stage of blood coagulation. Perhaps it was through the resources obtained from these thefts that he was able to cross the threshold of the third stage of blood coagulation. After reaching the third stage of blood coagulation, he became extremely rampant, committing numerous evil deeds in the city. His whereabouts are currently unknown.

The Censorate is powerful, with many patrol officers like Zhou Huai'an who have achieved three blood coagulations, and even five chief officers who have achieved four blood coagulations. However, it is still too difficult to find a bandit who has achieved three blood coagulations hiding in a city with millions of people. Only when he commits another crime will there be a possibility of capturing him.

Similar to He Tian, ​​the Black Cloud Thief, there are eight other wanted criminals in the case file who have had their blood coagulation three times, including "Blood Blade" and "Crimson Fiend Hand". As for wanted criminals whose identities have been confirmed after their blood coagulation twice, there are even more, numbering as many as a hundred.

"This city is really unsafe."

Wu Ming shook his head inwardly.

Previously, his life in Jingye City was nothing more than going back and forth between the outer hall of the Seven Martial Alliance and Chen's Pharmacy. He rarely encountered any disputes. But after arriving at the Shenxing Division, he could see how many cases had occurred in a year by browsing the case files.

After roughly reviewing the numerous files, Wu Ming left the room. However, Zhao Hu had already disappeared. Outside the room, 'clerks' from the Censorate were coming and going from time to time. These 'clerks' were basically not martial artists, were not ranked, and belonged to the lowest level of staff in the Censorate.

After walking a few steps forward, Wu Ming arrived at another house, which also contained many files.

Slightly surprised, Wu Ming entered the room, picked up a file and began to examine it. He found that the file recorded some conflicts that had occurred in the city, most of which did not constitute criminal offenses. In addition, there were some matters concerning the demonic calamity.

After flipping through it briefly, Wu Ming put it back in its original place. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly noticed a file that looked a little different to his left.

"The true meaning of the Daoist teachings, what is this?"

Wu Ming picked up the demon leather book. Its leather was noticeably better than the materials used in other documents. The text on it also made Wu Ming pause slightly. After opening it, he immediately saw lines of text descriptions.

—In this world, martial arts are revered. By condensing blood and qi and uniting the spirit and flesh, one can suppress all demons with martial force. However, the Taoist lineage, which controls the power of the soul, can also master various methods after delving into them, and is no less powerful than martial arts.

The soul and the body are closely related and correspond one-to-one.

(End of this chapter)