Thirty Years of Demon Slaying at the Demon-Slaying Department - Chapter 37

Chapter 37: Against the Law

“Going against the law?” Lu Xun scoffed. “A wise emperor knows to change the laws when needed. With how many talents we have now, the emperor is doing the right things.”

Li Xun had extreme respect for Emperor Jing Tai and would always compare him to the Founder of Great Qian and Emperor Guang Ming, who had revived the empire from the brink of destruction.

The citizens would always worship the founder of an empire as a godly being as these founders were people who had gone from being a peasant to a ruler. It wasn’t something that normal people could ever hope to achieve.

An emperor who had saved an empire from the brink of destruction was praised a lot as well. Even though these emperors might seem much more reliable than the founder, in reality, saving a sinking ship was much easier than building one from scratch.

“When the empire almost went bankrupt years ago and could not support the militaries on the north and south, Emperor Jing Tai changed the laws and forced the government officials to pay taxes. Not only that, he even made sure that even the cultivators of the Taoist and Buddhist Sects had to pay taxes as well for the first time ever,” Li Xun said with his utmost respect. “The officials and even the two sects tried to persuade the emperor to call off the decision. It reached the point where some even revolted. However, the emperor killed anyone who was against his rules and forced the rest to pay their taxes.”

Zhou Yi’s first impression of the current emperor, Jing Tai, was that he was a smart emperor but had reigned over the empire for too long.

There were rumors that the emperor had fallen sick ten years ago, and the crown prince was governing the state in his stead. Zhou Yi was surprised to find out that now, the crown prince had fallen sick as well. The emperor still had the energy to educate and raise the next generation.

It was all thanks to Li Xun that he could learn more about Emperor Jing Tai.

The Taoist and Buddhist Sects were part of the reason Great Qian could succeed, which was why the founder stated in his laws that people associated with these two sects were exempted from taxes.

The truth was that, throughout all the histories, not one empire had once requested the two sects to pay taxes. For a normal official to force powerful cultivators to pay taxes was something quite impossible.

However, Emperor Jing Tai managed to do the impossible.

Not only people associated with the two sects had to pay property taxes, but they also had to work for the Deity-worshipping Department and the Demon Slaying Department. They also had to pay taxes for all the expensive Spiritual plants they had planted inside of Great Qian.

Basically, it was a similar tax that farmers had to pay.

People revolted against the idea and formed the 18 Rebels to overturn the emperor. Anyone who wasn’t stupid could tell who was behind the 18 Rebels.

After hearing Li Xun talked about what Emperor Jing Tai had done, Zhou Yi had newfound respect for him.

The taxes on the two sects, dubbed the Divine Being Tax, were one of Emperor Jing Tai’s most impressive feats. He had also made a lot of changes to better the lives of his citizens. He would be hailed as a wise emperor by future generations.

“I also heard that you once said that the emperor had praised Xu Fengxian, the Dragon General who repelled the 18 Rebels attack, as a talent of governance too, right?”

Zhou Yi was uncomfortable seeing Wang Bo’an’s name on the memorial to the throne. An opportunist had always disgusted him more than a rebel who upheld their beliefs.

“That’s right! Sir Wang is the second to receive such high praise from the emperor. Some are speculating that he could be as successful as the Dragon General in the future,” Li Xun explained. “It won’t be long before he becomes an important official.”

“You’re wrong,” Zhou Yi said as he shook his head. “Wang Bo’an will become an important scholar in the future that will be more successful than the general.”

“Are you sure? The Dragon General is a first-grade level fighter and is known as the Martial Saint, but Sir Wang is still a seventh-grade…”

Li Xun couldn’t help but feel something was off with Zhou Yi’s compliment. It sounded like the latter was praising Wang Bo’an, but it also felt as if there was a sense of irony in his words.

“Do you really think a martial artist can hold the same importance as a scholar?”

“Don’t they?” Li Xun was completely confused now. The Great Qian was founded on the basis of martial philosophy and had two Martial Saints throughout its history. The status of a martial artist had always been on par with a scholar.

They continued their conversation for a short while, then Zhou Yi began his transcription work until the morning roll call.

After making sure that the Demon Slaying Lieutenant had left, Zhou Yi snuck into with the dungeon using his magic.

When he returned from his daily demon-slaying, he was surprised to see Zhang Cheng had already arrived.

“You’re early today,” Zhou Yi exclaimed.

“Yeah… I think I’m getting old… My back hurts like hell…” Zhang Cheng sighed as he rubbed his back.

“Seriously? Which lady at the Spring Breeze Court did this to you?” Zhou Yi was utterly shocked to learn that someone could make Zhang Cheng, a higher-third-grade cultivator, suffer. Either the opponent was a demon, or Zhang Cheng simply had rough sex last night.

“No, it’s not the ladies’ fault. Those bastard old things from the White Cloud Monastery cast spells on me when I wasn’t paying attention!” Zhang Cheng was mad. “Why should I pay when I can I just pluck those tea leaves myself?”

Zhou Yi couldn’t help but shoot a thumbs up at Zhang Cheng. The head monk of the White Cloud Monastery was a first-grade cultivator. The fact that Zhang Cheng only suffered back pain after fighting the monk’s attack meant that Zhang Cheng was powerful as well.

Zhang Cheng did not realize that he had just unintentionally told Zhou Yi his actual strength, a second-grade martial artist trained in Daywalker Yin God Form. However, he was much weaker when compared to Master Changchun, who was trained in the Yang God Form.

Naturally, since Zhang Cheng was working for the Demon Slaying Department, the head monk of White Cloud Monastery wouldn’t go all out on his punishment. Instead, he only gave a small warning to avoid any clashes with the department.

The two continued their conversation until their shifts ended.

On his way back, Zhou Yi walked past the administrative building of the capital and saw a large group of people gathered outside.

A scholar was announcing the royal decree. He was using Taoism magic so that everyone could him the announcement, even from afar.

“…This is the chance for my emperor to make a name that will last for eternity!”

It was obvious that the scholar was reading A Call of Arms on Demonic Beings.

The scholar kept repeating the whole thing again and again as more and more people gathered around him.

“Looks like it’s going to be busy soon…” Zhou Yi shook his head and left.

Despite looking down on Wang Bo’an, he wasn’t particularly against Emperor Jing Tai’s decision to carry out an all-out attack on the demons.

Demons and humans upheld different values. Some of the principles that demons believed in were evil in nature from a human’s perspective.

A human who had killed and pillaged was considered a heavy crime, but such an act was normal for demons.

If the Great Qian could eradicate the demons, the world might not be peaceful just yet, but at least the death rate would drop by a hefty 70% to 80%.

Being backed up by the emperor himself, the content of A Call of Arms on Demonic Beings spread like wildfire and had successfully lit the citizens’ will to fight the demons.

The palace soon issued an order for every related official to inspect any demon they found. Each demon would be subjected to an investigation through mind-reading magic. Those who tried to fight back would be sent to the Demon Slaying Department. As for the cultivators who trained in demonic magics, they quickly hid from plain eyes to avoid being caught.

Just as Zhou Yi had predicted, it wasn’t long before the Resource Division got busy.

The amount of paperwork they had to do had doubled in an instance.

However, Zhou Yi was actually enjoying the process. The high the number of demons, and their quality, would directly affect his own training. Now that he could slay a dozen demons in Cell B every day, his growth had reached new heights.

There was another surprise waiting for Zhou Yi as well.

He finished his transcriptions for the week and took it to the Scholar’s Library. There, He Yongyan had good news waiting for him.

The Tale of Executioner had become a best-seller.

The book was already a hit when it was first introduced, but because of the memorial to the throne that Wang Bo’an had written, the store had added another 50,000 copies in just half a year.

“And that’s only in Luojing!” He Yongyan added. “We have branches in other states as well! The numbers are way higher than what I just told you. But… We also have a small problem. Some smaller stores have started reprinting the book, and it won’t be easy to stop them.”

The owner of Scholar’s Library had already prepared the profit share for Zhou Yi from selling 30,000 copies, which totaled to around 2500 dollars.

“Don’t worry about it. I was hoping that more people would get the opportunity to get their hands on the book,” Zhou Yi said. He could feel his wallet getting heavier.

Most of the methods to earn fast cash were prohibited by law, but what Zhou Yi did wasn’t part of it. Technically, he didn’t break the law.

However, if one were to be corrupted because of greed, no amount of money could repair the person.

There was no way Zhou Yi wanted to find his name on the Demon Handbook one day because of his corrupted soul, or else it would be awkward when he ran into the demons he had once killed in hell.

“Eh? Why are you here?”

“I made a mistake?”

“A mistake? What? Did you accept a bribe? Wait, could it be that you corrupted your soul?”

Zhou Yi thought of the conversation he would have it that were to happen and quickly dismissed the thought. He would rather fill his pockets with money from a legit job instead.