Chapter 1 The Will of the People

The Tongtian Drum was established by the founding emperor of Daheng, with the original intention of allowing the emperor to listen to the people's opinions, leaving a way for those who had great grievances but had no way to appeal, retaining a glimmer of hope.

Of course, after the Tongtian Drum was sounded, whether right or wrong, guilty or innocent, the final judgment would be based on guilt, otherwise the emperor would not have to do anything else every day, just listen to the people knocking on the drum and chatting.

After a thousand years of Daheng, times have changed, and even the Tongtian Platform, where the Tongtian Drum was kept, has long been covered in dust.

Even if someone was willing to risk their lives, wanting to knock on the Tongtian Drum to redress a grievance, the gate lock of the Tongtian Platform would have long been rusted, making it impossible to enter.

Yan Chong's words about knocking on the Tongtian Drum were merely a figure of speech.

His real intention was to bring the matter before the Emperor.

He was a fourth-rank Jinzhang Butou (Golden Badge Constable), not an unknown nobody who could be easily manipulated.

Although the Jinzhang Butou of the Six Doors rarely attended court, they were qualified to enter the palace to meet the Emperor.

"Yan Chong! Speak more politely, this Vice Minister Pei has no malice, he just wants to maintain the face of the court and lock the ripples of this matter within the Ministry of Justice," Shi Huang, the actual head of the Six Doors constables, said.

These words sounded like he was blaming Yan Chong, but in reality, he bluntly revealed the Vice Minister's true intentions.

Although both Shi Huang and Jin Buyi were Shenbu (Divine Constables) of the Six Doors, Jin Buyi was still a bit behind Shi Huang.

At least within the Six Doors, the most admired by the many Jinzhang and Yinzhang Butou (Silver Badge Constables) was Shenbu Shi Huang.

Shi Huang could also be regarded as the 'Chief Constable' in the truest sense.

Seeing their boss stand up to speak, Yan Chong and Jin Sanniang both breathed a sigh of relief.

Before returning, their biggest worry was that no one in the court would speak for them, and that everyone would unanimously choose to let them take the blame and indulge Jin Buyi.

Although this possibility was not high, the current environment was special, and in order to maintain the activity of top combat power, it was impossible to know what kind of decision the court would make.

Now it seemed that within the Six Doors, they were choosing 'morale'.

Supporting these constables who had suffered 'grievances' was equivalent to stabilizing the hearts of all the Six Doors constables, otherwise, if they strongly supported Jin Buyi and chose to abandon a group of constables returning from Yunmeng Marsh, it would almost mean that ordinary constables...even if they reached the status of Jinzhang, their life, death, honor, and existence were not important.

This would be an extremely great blow to internal cohesion.

As for why the life and death of some Six Doors constables would be related to the entire Six Doors constable system?

During that day and night in the capital, those constables must have done something.

They had already used their own methods to inform their close friends, forming a certain public opinion effect with the advantage of numbers.

The on-site video retained in the Jinzhang Badge of the Jinzhang Butou was solid evidence, making it impossible for Jin Buyi to quibble.

"Lord Duke! These constables are defying their superiors, no matter what the reason, this trend cannot be encouraged!" Vice Minister Pei still wanted to argue.

But he heard the Minister of Justice, Yuan Shen, say, "Alright! Return to the Ministry of Justice first, and all those involved in the incident will be placed under separate custody, waiting for the court to decide."

In the dungeon of the Ministry of Justice, Ye Chuxiao entered for the first time as a prisoner.

Without the seal on his body, and with a temporary prison seal imprinted on the back of his neck, Ye Chuxiao finally experienced the feeling of being in prison.

The entire dungeon of the Ministry of Justice was filled with an oppressive, gloomy, and dull atmosphere, as if every breath was labored.

This was a completely different perspective and feeling from that of a jailer.

"Boss! This cell is specially reserved for you. It not only has a full set of living facilities, but also the bedding and sheets have been replaced with new ones, and the toilet has been flushed many times to ensure there is no smell at all. There are also fruits, pastries, and snacks in the storage cabinet. Alcohol will only be supplied in limited quantities after midnight...this is also what you stipulated," several jailers surrounded Ye Chuxiao, diligently arranging his cell.

Although people say that people leave and the tea cools, the situation was not yet settled, and Ye Chuxiao's position had not been removed, so these jailers would not immediately become indifferent.

Even if they didn't have great wisdom, who could lack petty cleverness?

On the contrary, not only did no one come to kick him when he was down, but many people planned to come and offer help to seize the opportunity and leave a good impression.

Not only Ye Chuxiao, but Jin Sanniang and Yan Chong also received warm 'hospitality'.

Several Yinzhang also had their own comfortable small single rooms.

Only those Tongzhang (Bronze Badge Constables) suffered a little. After all, their positions were low and their words carried little weight, and it was inevitable that they would be ignored.

"Alright! You can all go and get busy!" Ye Chuxiao waved his hand, dismissing the jailers.

Then he sat cross-legged on the bed, replaying the entire cause and effect of the incident in his mind.

"Overall, there will be fluctuations, but the general direction will not change."

"Now that we have safely returned to the capital, justice is on our side."

"Not only because we are in the right, and not only because we have the support of many mid- and low-level Six Doors behind us, but also because Dragon King Yuan Jia and Dragon Queen Yuan Meng have seized the court's sore spot, and Dragon King Yuan Jia also maintains the good weather and prosperity of the seven states around Yunmeng Marsh, which is much more critical and important than a Jin Buyi."

"Although Intent Realm cultivators are very precious, they are not as important as the stability of the country. Intent Realm cultivators are still experts 'below the boundary', only Undetermined Realm cultivators are above the boundary and can ignore the rules to a certain extent."

Thinking of this, Ye Chuxiao adjusted his breathing and tried to mobilize his True Qi.

But the True Qi became extremely lazy, lying dormant in his Dantian Qi Sea, without moving at all.

Ye Chuxiao tried shaking his Spirit Root, collecting the energy of heaven and earth.

This time there was some feedback, but at the same time, the Prison Suppressing Artifact deep underground also reacted. Just a ray of divine light shot out, causing Ye Chuxiao's head to ache, and he dared not be presumptuous again.

"When I was a jailer before, I didn't feel it thoroughly. Now that I'm really in jail, I can finally empathize with the feelings of those prisoners."

"Everything in the line of sight and feeling is dark and cold. If this goes on for a long time, people will go crazy. No wonder they are so eager for the series of welfare policies I introduced."

"It seems that I can raise the level a bit in the future and charge a higher fee," Ye Chuxiao thought.

In the early morning, the Hengtian Bell in the imperial palace rang twenty-eight times. The bell sound spread throughout the capital city. The majestic and domineering sound, if it fell into the ears of sinister and evil people with guilty consciences, would even shock and shatter their courage.

In Hengyu Palace, above the main hall, the civil and military officials of Daheng were lined up on both sides.

The seventeen or eighteen-year-old young emperor sat high on the dragon throne. Behind the dragon throne, the Empress Dowager sat on the phoenix couch, but was hidden in the clouds, making it impossible to see her true face.

But her aura was mysterious and profound, showing that the Empress Dowager, who shook Daheng, was also a powerful cultivator, not to be underestimated.

Below the Emperor, there were also some seats on the steps on the left and right sides.

However, except for an old eunuch sitting with his eyes closed on the third step on the right, seemingly dozing off, the remaining seats were only placed with fans, swords, spears, jade brushes, and other items, representing their owners in participating in court affairs.

No one expressed any objection to this behavior.

The cultivation world respected the strong. Even the Emperor had to be humble to those who were strong enough.

Unless the Emperor himself was also an unparalleled expert.

Fist and power combined into one.

Only then could he suppress the current era and have the final say.

However, such a monarch was often only the founding emperor who met the conditions.

Most of the emperors who succeeded him later lost power or lost their fists, or even lost both.

The young emperor's gaze swept over those empty seats one by one, a trace of disappointment in his eyes.

As for the only old eunuch present, his gaze subconsciously skipped over him, not daring to look or linger for too long.

At this time, the official of the Ministry of Rites in charge of presiding over the early court took the lead to step forward and read out the more important contents of the court discussion selected by the three provinces and six ministries.

If any minister had any opinions or ideas, they could raise the tablet in their hand, and then the Emperor would decide whether to summon them to ask for suggestions in court.

The officials who met the Emperor did not perform the three bows and nine kowtows and other dregs. After all, the court officials were basically powerful cultivators, not only with profound cultivation, but also with prominent backgrounds. Some officials' families were much older than the court. Too many humiliating so-called 'rites' would only drive real talents and strong people out of the court, leaving only mediocre and incompetent people.

The myriad realms were connected by the Fortune Ship, and some cultivators who had seen the various scenery outside could not be framed and bound by traditional things and rules.

It could be said that although imperial power was strong, it did not completely override ministerial power.

The royal family and the courtiers were in a very delicate balance.

When Tang Sudong was in power, in a sense, ministerial power suppressed imperial power, so much so that the world only knew there was Prime Minister Tang, but did not know there was an Emperor.

If it were not for Tang Sudong's many measures that almost stood on the opposite side of all vested interests, he would not have seemed to be 'an enemy of the world' and finally chose to sacrifice himself to the Dao, injecting a trace of vitality into this world again and placing hope in the future.

One by one, proposals related to the livelihood and life of countless people were put forward and quickly passed.

Most of the issues brought up for discussion had actually already had answers before they were brought up.

Generally speaking, those that could be resolved had already been mostly resolved in the past, and even if they 'recurred', they could be handled according to the previous procedures.

Those that could not be resolved still could not be resolved, and more discussion was not of much significance.

Only a few proposals were controversial, and simple courtier duels also contained some undercurrents of power struggles.

Of course, high-end power struggles sometimes also used the simplest methods.

"The Governor of Hedong reported that the case of the massacre of many officials on the Han River that occurred several months ago has been resolved."

"The perpetrator is Laoren Shipi (Old Man Shipi), who has now been captured by Dragon King Yuan Jia of Yunmeng Marsh and needs to be handed over to the Ministry of Justice for interrogation before a decision can be made," the official of the Ministry of Rites read, looking at the tablet in his hand.

This seemingly small tablet had long been imbued with powerful information storage magic, capable of storing the contents of a library and calling it up at any time.

Hearing this issue, the young Emperor's butt seemed to have grown nails, squirming restlessly, seemingly wanting to look back, but not daring to, struggling fiercely.

"This matter does not need to be discussed any further, execute him after the autumn harvest!" The Empress Dowager's voice came from the clouds, her voice clear and melodious. Her voice did not sound like a woman in her thirties or forties at all, but rather like a girl of eighteen or nineteen.

Six Doors Shenbu Shi Huang stood out from the side and said, "Empress Dowager, Laoren Shipi has no grievances with those officials. Why he killed them on the Han River remains to be investigated. Please allow this old official to investigate carefully."

The court was briefly plunged into an eerie silence.

'Small officials' below the fourth rank and without any news channels might still be a little confused and not know what was happening.

But officials above the third rank and with good sources of information knew that Laoren Shipi and many other evil experts were all secretly recruited followers of the Empress Dowager.

It was precisely because the Empress Dowager had these evil experts as her followers that she was still able to firmly hold the young Emperor in her hands under the powerful pressure of ministerial power, using the position of Empress Dowager to control the power of speech in the court.

Laoren Shipi was tacitly allowed to lead a team to intercept a group of constables returning from Yunmeng Marsh on the Langya River.

At that time, this behavior was recognized by many court bigwigs.

Now, Shi Huang did not use Laoren Shipi's attack on a group of constables as a breakthrough point, but instead attacked the blood case on the Han River building ship several months ago, firing the first shot.

This move was clearly a strategy of 'besieging Wei to rescue Zhao'.

Similarly, Shi Huang's sudden attack was actually approved by many people.

Otherwise, someone would have stood up to 'compete' with Shi Huang at this time.

Instead of allowing Shi Huang to question the Empress Dowager and force her onto the stage.

"Since Duke Shi is interested, then let's investigate!" The Empress Dowager said lightly, as if she was not worried at all about being dragged into a scandal and pulled down.

In this way, it was as if Shi Huang's punch had landed on cotton.

A look of astonishment flashed across the young Emperor's face, and then he lowered his head to hide the disappointment on his face.

However, many officials present, including the Empress Dowager, were powerful cultivators. The little expression he was hiding was simply a close-up live broadcast in their eyes.

The cultivation world was so cruel that it did not give a young emperor time to grow.

It was like a group of people choosing a monkey to be their nominal leader.

The monkey certainly thought that it had really become the speaker and wanted to master real power, so it bared its teeth and claws, making various intimidating and deterrent behaviors, gesticulating...but these behaviors were all ridiculous and laughable in the eyes of people.

The young Emperor...was like that monkey.

Only when Tang Sudong was there, even if he would not really promote his naive and immature ideas, he would still listen carefully and give mature advice at the same time.

"Then may I ask the Empress Dowager, what should be done if the mastermind is found out?" Shi Huang did not back down at all and continued to push forward.

Pa!

A hand warmer was thrown out of the clouds: "Shi Huang! Do you still have me in your eyes?"

"Are you saying this because you are dissatisfied with me?"

"What exactly...are you trying to do?"

She was throwing a tantrum!

The Empress Dowager was at a loss, but at this time, she chose not to reason and directly threw a tantrum.

Sometimes, it was not that so-called 'high-end' people handled things in a high-end way, but that people standing far away unconsciously blurred and sublimated them when they looked up.

Just like the parliament imagined in TV dramas, where parliamentarians discussed issues by citing classics and expressing their opinions, with constant debates.

In the real world, the parliament would start fighting at the slightest disagreement, with sticks and chairs flying around, and spitting and greeting the old mother.

A cloudy and misty way of dialogue was only suitable for a few people with tacit understanding to pull each other in a small area.

When facing more people, being simple and direct could better highlight the effect.

"Empress Dowager! Please respect yourself!" Shi Huang said seriously.

"I don't want face today, what else do you want to do, Duke Shi?" The Empress Dowager said.

"Then you can't send people to kill Ma Bao, the Governor of Xichuan, Xue Ding'an, the Sima of Hedong, and a total of eleven Daheng officials, even if they plan to bring out the late Emperor's secret edict to force you to return power to the Emperor," Shi Huang simply stopped pretending and spoke frankly.

The hall was now eerily silent.

However, some people stood out from the ranks, vaguely led by Shi Huang.

Among them was Yuan Shen, the Minister of Justice.

Afraid?

Afraid of what!

Who was Shi Huang?

The chief constable of the Six Doors, that is, the head of the public security system.

Moreover, he was a hereditary duke, with deep roots in the Daheng court.

No matter how high the Empress Dowager's power was, she could not control him.

Moreover, the Empress Dowager openly arranged for evil cultivators to harm officials above the fourth rank, which had stepped on the pain points of many courtiers.

They had to limit the Empress Dowager's power.

They could not let her continue to develop so wantonly.

"The late Emperor's secret edict?"

"Duke Shi! Don't talk nonsense about non-existent things," the Empress Dowager said loudly.

Shi Huang did not speak and took out half a piece of bright yellow imperial edict from his sleeve.

The Empress Dowager's aura instantly weakened.

"Alas...the late Emperor left early, and you old officials will bully our orphans and widows."

"Very well! I am tired, Duke Shi, do whatever you want!" After saying that, the cloud cluster moved, floated out of the deliberation hall, and went towards the harem.

The young Emperor looked eagerly at the half of the 'secret edict' in Shi Huang's hand, but saw that Shi Huang very calmly stuffed the 'secret edict' back into his sleeve, without any intention of announcing it.

As far as Shi Huang was concerned, the Empress Dowager, who was usurping power, privately weaving factions, and recruiting evil cultivators to eliminate dissidents, was a qualified politician.

She had a mature vision and judgment.

For the development and maintenance of the Daheng Dynasty, it was beneficial overall.

On the contrary, this young Emperor was immature but full of vitality and desire, without corresponding abilities, yet he held the great treasure of the world...this was a disaster for the common people.

Any inadvertent decision from the top could cause an inestimable turmoil among the people.

The Empress Dowager was gone!

But the Emperor was still there.

So the court discussion continued.

After the official of the Ministry of Rites read out several routine issues, he finally spoke about the Six Doors Shenbu Jin Buyi harming his colleagues.

"This matter will be investigated by our Six Doors ourselves, with officials from the Ministry of Justice assisting in supervision," Shi Huang said with a dark face.

The other court bigwigs, on the strength of his charge just now, nodded one after another and said, "Agreed!"

The old eunuch, who had been sitting on the chair with his eyes closed to rest his mind, opened his eyes: "Those two little loaches are not allowed to go to the top of Yao Mountain. They can go to the other four places and try their own skills."

Shi Huang, who had just confronted the Empress Dowager so that she could not step down, was now extremely respectful to the old eunuch: "Yes! Duke Zhenhai!"

The incident, which was thought to cause court disputes, was settled in such a way, seemingly easily.

The Ministry of Justice and the Six Doors would conduct a self-investigation...which was equivalent to saying that how Ye Chuxiao and others would be handled and how Jin Buyi would be handled all depended on what the officials inside the Six Doors and the Ministry of Justice thought and how they looked at it, and the complexity index dropped several times in a straight line.

The result came out the next day.

The dead Six Doors constables, although not on official duty, died because of Jin Buyi, this Shenbu.

Therefore, the compensation was all paid from Jin Buyi's private property and was 50% higher than the Six Doors' regular compensation.

The surviving Six Doors constables were all demoted by half a level, and then it would depend on their merits whether they could return to their original positions.

This was also the meaning of the matter. After all, this operation did not belong to the official operation of the Six Doors. In essence, these constables who followed were mostly driven by their own desires and greed.

Of course, not daring to disobey Jin Buyi's orders was also the key.

Therefore, they were only demoted by half a level each.

Ye Chuxiao also changed from a Yinzhang Butou to a Yinzhang candidate.

His rank was lowered from the seventh rank to the eighth rank.

As for Jin Buyi, he was stripped of his position as a Six Doors Shenbu and temporarily detained in the fifth floor of the Ministry of Justice dungeon, becoming a cellmate with Ying Shu.

When he would be released would depend on when the court needed him to atone for his sins.

After being released from prison, Ye Chuxiao immediately took the painting to see Yuan Shen, the Minister of Justice.

At the same time, he asked Yuan Shen for some painting techniques and the secrets of painter cultivation.

Yuan Shen did not accept Ye Chuxiao's painting, but he was willing to give Ye Chuxiao more guidance on painter cultivation for the sake of that 'Fog Mountain Crow Map'.

In just over half a month, Ye Chuxiao regained his position as a Six Doors Yinzhang because of his meritorious service in rescuing his colleagues.

Half a month later, he was exceptionally promoted to a Jinzhang candidate, becoming a fifth-rank official, which was already a proper middle-level official of Daheng.

If there was a major court meeting or a major celebration, he would also be qualified to enter the imperial palace and participate in the grand event.

In the courtyard that Ying Shu gave to Ye Chuxiao, Ye Chuxiao was wearing a snow-white robe with his hair loose, standing barefoot on the white sand beach, painting.

The skills and methods of a painter, like calligraphy, also have similarities with Fu (talisman) cultivators.

Often, cultivators who were mainly Fu cultivators also practiced painting or calligraphy as auxiliary cultivation methods.

Ye Chuxiao had a batch of old dragon skin, and he planned to make good use of it in the next period of time.

Although his cultivation was only at the Wonderful Realm, with his Spirit Root aptitude, as long as he spent enough time and energy, and gathered enough majestic energy, he could draw powerful enough talismans on the old dragon skin.

After all, in addition to the talismans drawn in the void on the spot, those pre-made talismans were originally a means of pre-setting, reserving, and strengthening energy.

Ye Chuxiao had advantages in making talismans, and they were not small.

Before implementing it, Ye Chuxiao had to improve his own abilities first.

Applying the painting skills learned from Yuan Shen and then combining them with the art of drawing talismans was what Ye Chuxiao needed to train himself on now.

Yi Feng and Lan Ying served by the side, curiously looking at the painting that was taking shape in Ye Chuxiao's hand, their eyes full of curiosity and yearning.

"Painting landscapes!"

"Landscapes are boring!"

"Why don't you paint beauties? There is such a big beauty imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice dungeon, don't you know how to take advantage of it?" A voice suddenly came from the side, startling the two butterfly envoys.

Ye Chuxiao was very calm, and his brushstrokes were still smooth.

"You can still find this place. It seems that you either figured out Ying Shu's background long ago, or you left a scent on me," Ye Chuxiao said without raising his head.