Chapter 1 What Happened?

What kind of person would barge into a VIP room in a restaurant, kneel before a stranger they couldn't even be sure was a big shot, and beg them to right their wrongs and avenge their grievances?

It could only be someone truly desperate, someone who would grasp at even the slightest straw.

"Get up, now. Don't cry."

Su Zhou stood up and helped the dark-skinned old fisherman to his feet. He reached out and wiped away the man's tears, the young man meeting his bloodshot eyes, studying his face.

Although his face was covered in dust and wrinkles, it was clear that this fisherman hadn't lived a bad life before. His dark skin was undoubtedly the result of years of working outdoors, but his physique was good, indicating that he had never gone without food and drink for long, until recently.

Su Zhou realized that he had actually seen this fisherman near the city gate when he drove into Qixin City.

At that time, because the examining priests couldn't identify Aalborg, they negotiated with Aemon. Su Zhou, who was observing the lives of the Qixin City residents, saw this fisherman from a corner in a small alley, staring at them from afar.

At that time, Su Zhou had already noticed that the man had lost both hands, meaning he might be a thief or some kind of economic criminal, such as someone who bought low and sold high, or hoarded goods.

He wasn't surprised at the time, since there were criminals everywhere, but he was a little curious about the man's situation—because, according to the information Su Zhou knew, most criminals didn't live in cities, as they would face discrimination and even abuse every day.

After all, the Covenant Codex protected normal people, and criminals had no human rights. People could freely despise them, and didn't have to love them—and in some places, there were even situations where people deliberately bullied criminals to vent their anger, which wasn't illegal, and no one felt any psychological pressure when oppressing criminals.

So, in some places, there were even criminal villages, where criminals who didn't deserve to die could escape discrimination.

But this fisherman was not only able to stay in the city without being despised, but he could also sneak into a restaurant and come to the VIP room. This was indeed unusual.

"It's hard to imagine…"

At this moment, Aemon was also somewhat surprised. He looked at the old fisherman, who had been helped up by Su Zhou and was choking with sobs, unable to say anything other than "Thank you, thank you, sir." He couldn't help but murmur, "Are there really innocent good people who have been wronged?"

Although the gray-haired priest knew that there was no absolute right or wrong in the world after following Su Zhou, and that even gods could make mistakes, let alone humans—but this was truly the first time in all these years that he had seen a false accusation on the Holy Flame Continent.

Even the one he experienced as a child had been reversed before the case was closed, and justice had been served.

"No, that's not right."

But soon, Aemon denied his own statement: "Strictly speaking, this is just the first time I've encountered a criminal who can be confirmed as being wrongly accused—I can't even be sure that every criminal I've encountered before was guilty."

"Just like Sara…"

At this time, after the old fisherman had calmed down a little, Su Zhou invited him to sit down. His calm attitude also affected the man, making him less nervous and afraid.

Then, Su Zhou asked, "What exactly happened? Old man, can you tell me in detail?"

"Even if you were indeed wronged, we need to know the ins and outs in order to seek justice for you."

"I…" The old fisherman took several deep breaths, his voice trembling as he began to speak, but before he could say his first sentence, footsteps came from outside the VIP room door again.

"Sir, confirmation successful! That is indeed the Sea King, Aalborg! You may proceed."

The joyful voice of the examining priest could be heard. Soon, the VIP room door was opened, and the middle-aged priest in white robes with a red trim said to the people inside with a smile, "Congratulations, everyone, for catching a Sea King. I'm afraid even the Lord will bestow a divine revelation of grace… Wait, Old Chuck?!"

The examining priest looked at the old fisherman with surprise. He widened his eyes in shock, and then said with some anger, "Who let you in here?! Don't disturb the rest and mission of the lords!"

As he spoke, the examining priest strode forward, reaching out to take the fisherman named Old Chuck away.

"No, don't!"

Old Chuck stood up in a panic, as if trying to escape.

But Su Zhou shook his head, and an invisible wall of spiritual power blocked the examining priest, while also pressing Old Chuck back into his seat.

"Let him finish speaking."

The young man's calm voice was like a decree. For a moment, even the somewhat angry examining priest lowered his hand and stopped in place, ceasing to act. He turned his head to look at the somewhat timid old fisherman, then sighed and said, "What's the use, Old Chuck? Although everyone knows that you're helpless, you did commit a crime…"

"Let him finish speaking."

Su Zhou repeated again, and there was no other sound in the VIP room.

"Sir, this is what happened…"

After a long while, the old fisherman's voice finally sounded slowly. He began to recount the beginning of everything in a somewhat stumbling manner.

It was actually a very simple story.

Old Chuck was fifty-seven years old this year. Forty years ago, he was the most skilled fisherman in the entire Qixin City and the surrounding Qixin Lake. Every time he went out to sea, he would harvest the most fish. Once, he even fought a crocodile with his bare hands and killed it, becoming a hero for miles around, and winning the admiration of a beautiful woman in the city, eventually winning her hand in marriage.

Naturally, there were many people who admired the beautiful woman, and this brought Old Chuck a large number of rivals in love, one of whom was an apprentice priest in Qixin City, who soon became a formal local priest and won the appreciation of the local high priest.

In the Holy Flame Country, no job was superior or inferior to another, everyone had a bright future. Old Chuck and his wife lived happily ever after, and even if his rival in love was a priest, it couldn't affect their lives.

So, decades passed. Now, Old Chuck's children were all working in other places, and he himself no longer went out to sea to fish. Instead, he began to cultivate lake products, raising river shrimp and shellfish. His business could be considered prosperous, and after his wife passed away a few years ago, Old Chuck, saddened, regarded his business as his last spiritual sustenance.

Such a life wouldn't be bad, and if there were no accidents, Old Chuck would probably live out his life like this—but accidents always happen.

Recently, abnormal celestial phenomena had appeared throughout the Holy Flame Continent, such as droughts, floods, or soil erosion… As the core of Qixin City, Qixin Lake also had many problems.

First and most importantly, there was too much silt in the river channels upstream of Qixin Lake, causing serious silting and blockage. Secondly, as one of the largest freshwater lakes in the headquarters area of the Holy Flame Continent, Qixin Lake was designated as a source of water for rainfall by several God-Blessed Domains around it.

In response, the Central Sanctuary issued two temporary decrees: "River Channel Renovation" and "Concentrated Water Extraction"—before the river channel renovation was completed and the drought situation was alleviated, fishing and aquaculture in Qixin Lake were temporarily prohibited.

The essence of this decree was to prevent the river channel renovation and water extraction activities from affecting the local aquaculture and fishing industries, and to prevent the interests of ordinary people from being harmed. After all, sometimes when spells are cast, there is no way to distinguish between people and fish, or between wild and farmed creatures.

However, Old Chuck's former rival in love, who had become the local high priest, smelled an opportunity in this.

The content of the decree issued by the Central Sanctuary was that "before May 30, 307, all fishermen and fish farmers should end all work" and "before June 3, 307, Qixin City should begin river channel renovation." This was a very detailed decree, leaving no room for trickery.

However, while the decree was fine, people were not necessarily so.

Theoretically, this decree should have been posted in "public places" ten days before its official implementation, and publicized to everyone once or twice—this would ensure that all those being notified were well prepared.

However, the high priest of Qixin City knew very well that because Old Chuck had a bad relationship with him and rarely, or rather, never came to the area around the Qixin City Temple, he used his influence to hang the decree notice at the entrance of the temple hall, and the publicity was also done there.

This was also a public place with even more traffic than the center of the square, so neither the priests nor ordinary people felt that there was anything wrong with it. During this period, the high priest also paid for it himself, in the name of "rewarding and assisting fellow priests in the fight against the disaster," and increased orders to several restaurants. As the largest supplier of local restaurants, Old Chuck was naturally so busy that his feet barely touched the ground, and he didn't have the time or energy to pay attention to the situation in the city.

This was naturally not surprising at all. Many of the priest teams who were invited to help fight the disaster praised the high priest of Qixin City, considering him a generous good fellow and a good priest of the Lord. This behavior even affected several nearby God-Blessed Domains. Basically, every city that was helped would hold a banquet for the priest teams that came to fight the disaster.

Thus, when Old Chuck learned of the existence of the decree, it was already June 2, 307. And the next morning, the high priest of Qixin City, whose prestige had greatly increased, had already found him with a team of local clergy.

In the name of "being blinded by profit and disobeying the decree," the high priest sealed up Old Chuck's fish farm in accordance with the temporary decree of the Central Sanctuary, and declared on the spot that he had violated the Covenant Codex and was a criminal. Then, in front of him, he released all the farmed river shrimp and shellfish, destroyed the fish farm, and detained him in the detention center.

With the facts before them, none of the priests felt that there was anything wrong with this.

Old Chuck was instantly crushed.

Moreover, because of the previous orders, Old Chuck had signed long-term supply contracts with many restaurants and hotels in the city, with whom he had a direct interest, and the last wave of deliveries had not yet been completed, nor had they been canceled.

So, a few days later, Old Chuck was charged with "fraud."

"That's about it. Last week, Old Chuck was convicted of several crimes during the trial, and had both hands cut off in accordance with the Covenant Codex."

In the end, because Old Chuck became somewhat distraught again as he spoke, choking up and unable to speak, the examining priest sighed and completed the subsequent events for him: "Everyone thinks Old Chuck is quite pitiful, and unlike ordinary criminals, so they didn't drive him out of the city—Old Chuck used to be an old supplier to this hotel, so that's probably why they turned a blind eye and let him in."

"Don't you think that high priest of Qixin City is problematic?"

Hearing this, Aemon couldn't help but question, his expression filled with indignation: "This is not how a priest should act! This is, this is…"

"This is retaliation."

Because there was no such word in the local language of the Reincarnation World, Su Zhou directly created a word and used soul transmission to tell the two of them the meaning of the word. The gray-haired priest immediately repeated it in a daze: "Yes, this is retaliation! By the Three Lords, didn't anyone question it?!"

"The Lord hasn't punished us, so how can this be wrong?"

In response, the examining priest was somewhat dissatisfied and retorted loudly to Aemon: "The Codex Decree is written in black and white, we acted according to the law, so how can it be wrong?"

Although he also felt a little sympathy for Old Chuck, he still felt that there was nothing wrong with this: "And in the final analysis, according to the decree, Old Chuck did commit a crime—this is a fact that no one can deny. Who told him not to even inquire about it? Everyone else knew, so why didn't he?"

Shaking his head slightly, the examining priest looked at Old Chuck and clicked his tongue: "We do think he's pitiful, but pitiful people must have hateful aspects."

These words left Aemon speechless, and he could only frown.

And in his heart, his doubts about the "Covenant" and the "Codex" grew larger and larger.

"The Covenant, the Lord's Covenant Codex, how could it be such a ruthless thing? How could it be, why is it being implemented like this…"

"Tch… What's so strange about that? Only the fire people with heads like stones would think that there are no injustices in this world."

In response, Aalborg, who was kneeling to the side, broke his silence for the first time. The sea pirate looked at the old fisherman with a sneer and shook his head: "It's just a pity that this good sailor isn't by the sea—I can tell that he's skilled—otherwise, he would have chosen to escape to the sea after being convicted, and wouldn't have had his hands chopped off like this."

"Over the years, I've seen hundreds of thousands of people leave the land and enter the sea. Some of them are indeed inherently evil, but most of them are ordinary people who have suffered injustice. I never thought that there would be priests who knew nothing about this. You really have been brainwashed badly."

Saying this, the red-haired, rainbow-bearded sea pirate revealed a smile that could be described as "evil." He mocked, "I thought all priests were robots who studied precepts and learned to lose their humanity, hahaha!"

This time, Aemon didn't even have a reason to refute the evil pirate, and could only remain silent.

"Don't overthink it, Aemon. The decree is indeed not wrong, what's wrong is the method of execution, and the human heart."

Finally, it was Su Zhou who spoke to comfort Aemon.

Then, the young man turned his head to look at the old fisherman, who was still covering his face with his arms and crying. He sighed, "As expected, I thought that the stricter the Covenant, the more complex the precepts, the easier it is for situations to be handled in a one-size-fits-all manner."

"Especially in the Holy Flame Country, this orderly society that values rules and regulations, it's not surprising that some guys who look for loopholes and play with the order appear."

After listening to Old Chuck's crying, Su Zhou wasn't surprised by this situation at all.

——Tyranny of the majority, unchangeable rules, one-size-fits-all administration… That's right, the Holy Flame Country has been around for three or four hundred years. In ancient times, it would be considered the late stage of a dynasty. The drawbacks of a social system should indeed be appearing.

Thinking of this, Su Zhou turned his head to look at Aemon, who was frowning. He chuckled and said, "Do you understand, Aemon?"

"Yes, my lord."

Aemon nodded slightly and bowed to Su Zhou, saying somewhat heavily, "I understand."

"Whether it's judgment or order, 'love' should indeed be more important… Our policies and decrees should be issued for the happiness of the people, to make the people live better, and not to be used by priests to retaliate against people they don't like, or to implement a one-size-fits-all approach."

"Mm." Su Zhou was very happy that Aemon could understand his meaning. He didn't care about the astonished look on the examining priest's face, or exclamations like "What did you say?! My lord?!," but instead raised his head and looked out the window of the VIP room, at the Qixin City Temple, which wasn't very far away.

The young man's pupils narrowed slightly, locking onto the strongest figure in the temple. He said calmly, "The people of wind and fire are, after all, independent intelligent beings who yearn for freedom. Strict laws cannot completely restrain them, and they can always find various loopholes."

"It's fine at first, but if the laws never change, the enforcers don't make their own judgments, and always take a one-size-fits-all approach, then the good people who abide by the law will instead be bullied by the villains who exploit the law."

A gentleman can be deceived with principles, and the vast majority of ordinary people who abide by the law are like this. Of course, Old Chuck may have been too ignorant and made a mistake, but should he have had his hands cut off and bear the infamy of a "criminal"?

When did judgment and punishment become so straightforward, allowing for no rebuttal at all?

He, Su Zhou, wasn't that kind of person at all! He would even argue with himself, so how could he enforce the law like this!

"Then what should we do, my lord?"

Aemon asked Su Zhou with concern. He had now completely realized that the current Fire Country might not be as peaceful as he had imagined.

Since Qixin City had already seen this kind of deliberate exploitation of order and the Codex, then the entire continent must be the same.

The thought that thousands upon thousands of ordinary people would be judged as criminals and have their hands and feet cut off, or even be directly judged to death, in the same way as Old Chuck… made him feel chills.

In response, Su Zhou could only sigh.

"I was originally thinking of taking a carriage and witnessing the lives of the people of the Holy Flame Continent along the way, witnessing the good and bad of this order, and finally talking to the Lord of Fire about how to correct the deficiencies in it."

"To be fair, a strict Covenant Codex isn't necessarily a bad thing, and love as an obligation is, in my opinion, nothing more than a mandatory moral code—but now it seems that simple corrections are probably not enough. From small things, one can see the big picture. Even priests, as grassroots administrators, will use the decrees to seek personal gain and retaliate against people they don't like. Then this order has begun to rot from the root."

"It's hard to save, it's hard to correct."

Su Zhou wasn't a saint, nor was he a perfectionist. He could accept that an order had shortcomings, but he couldn't accept that the change in an order wasn't a change for the better, but a fall in the direction of evil.

So he made up his mind.

"My lord, are you saying?"

Aemon seemed to have sensed something, and he raised his head to look at Su Zhou in surprise.

Then, the gray-haired priest saw that his lord's body was surging with vast spiritual power, and invisible fluctuations rapidly spread out, covering the entire city, and even spreading to the entire surrounding area of Qixin City.

"What I mean is, since it's already impossible to correct it."

Speaking in a low voice, Su Zhou suddenly reached out his hand, and cyan-purple spiritual power flames surged at his palm, as if burning—and at that moment, a sharp cry suddenly came from the distant Qixin City Temple, and then a fat figure, dragged by spiritual power, crashed through the door and was directly pulled out of the temple, then rapidly flew toward the VIP room of the restaurant.

The young man watched calmly as the high priest of Qixin City screamed as he fell from the sky, passed through the window of the VIP room, and landed in the center of the hall with a heavy thud.

Then, with his back to everyone, he smiled softly: "Since the order has a fundamental problem."

"Then, it's time to begin the 'Renovation.'"