CH 212

Chapter 212 – Give an Inch and They’ll Take a Mile

“The husband of that woman is this laborer?”

A handsome youth wearing a luxurious satin robe walked into the small courtyard, looking much like a nobleman’s son. He glanced down at Zhang Shun disdainfully.

“Young Master Ming, this is him,” the slave martial artist who unleashed the flying kick just now said respectfully. His expression had done a complete turnaround compared to before, and he was now bowing and scraping before the youth.

Zhang Shun struggled on the ground for a while, but was ultimately unable to clamber to his fours. “W-What did… you guys do… to Xiuxiu?” he managed to stammer out.

The youth revealed a lewd, nefarious smile, smacking his lips with relish. “So her name was Xiuxiu. She actually had quite a pretty face, and her body was really irresistible. At first, she put up quite a fight, but in the end, she started to beg for more… Mm, that delectable taste…”

Zhang Shun’s heart began to tremble with anger. In his fit of rage, his struggling became even more violent. He tried to get to his feet, but the moment he did, the ribs that cracked earlier pierced into his thorax. With anger still burning in his wide eyes, he slowly fell over, dead.

The luxuriously dressed youth suddenly found the whole matter very dull. He waved his hand and said, “Toss this guy’s corpse out along with his son’s. We’re leaving.”

“Yes, Young Master Ming.”

Several of the slave servants came forward and picked Zhang Shun up, then tossed him into an old well outside the small courtyard.

Thud!

The old well had dried up long ago, and at the bottom of the well lay the corpse of a small boy. Now, another corpse joined its company, landing heavily on top of it.

… …

There were two youths above the clouds. One of them was riding on a flying sword Magic Treasure, and the other was riding a flamehawk spiritual beast. The two of them were watching the events happening below them in the Zhang family village.

“Senior Martial Brother Gou, why did you stop me?” Qin Huamao asked, a glint of anger flashing in his eyes as he looked over at the youth riding the flamehawk spiritual beast.

Gou Lezhan shook his head and replied, “Junior Martial Brother Qin, you’re already at the Dao Foundation stage. Why do you still handle matters so impulsively? Things are like this in every Province under the Sacred Sect’s jurisdiction. You might be able to intervene now in a mortal’s matters, but would you be able to keep doing that for every other mortal in the world?”

Qin Huamao shook his head. His tone was resolute as he spoke. “As profound cultivators, there are things we do and things we don’t do. In other Provinces, we might not be able to make a difference, but the two of us were given orders to defend this Province for 100 years. I refuse to allow anything like this to happen again here!”

Gou Lezhan stared at him like he was getting to know him again for the first time, with a gaze that one would only use to eye a complete idiot.

There were tens of thousands of Dao Foundation stage disciples in the Shangqing Sacred Sect, but it wasn’t unusual at all for someone like Qin Huamao to appear amongst them.

Gou Lezhan no longer tried to stop him, and immediately let him go.

A sword light imbued with the power of heaven and earth flashed past. The nobleman’s son and several of his vicious slave servants were still walking in the Zhang family village, but their expressions suddenly froze in place. A moment later, a myriad of radiant sword lights slashed them into ribbons and obliterated the power of heaven and earth in their body, leaving behind no traces of their existence.

Many residents of the Zhang family village witnessed the sight. They immediately knelt to the ground and began to silently pray.

Still above the clouds, Qin Huamao looked down towards the old, dried-up well where the corpses of the father and son were buried and let out a long sigh. “Let’s just head towards the provincial capital, Senior Martial Brother Gou.”

… …

In the spacious Ming Clan compound, it was a scene of mourning, draped in pure white.

(TL: In Chinese culture, white is the color for mourning, not black.)

Eyes rimmed with red, Ming Xushi kicked open the pavilion door and shouted angrily, “Drag this lowly wench out and beat her to death!”

In the pavilion, there was a beautiful, delicate woman, also dressed in luxurious attire. She was being dragged out by several vicious slaves without any regard or sympathy for her appearance. They began to beat her with a baton, bringing down blow after blow upon her tender body.

It hadn’t even been a year since she gave birth to Zhang Xiaoniu, and her body was still weak. After receiving only two blows, she immediately fainted. Blood began to seep through her clothes.

Ming Xushi stormed over and ruthlessly slapped the slave who was staring distractedly at her body. “Filthy slave, who told you to stop? I told you to beat her to death!”

… …

She had a dream.

In this dream, she and her family, Zhang Xiaoniu and Zhang Shun, were seated in a circle in their run-down but comfortable wooden house.

Zhang Xiaoniu didn’t know how to speak yet, and was just gurgling happily as he nestled in Zhang Shun’s arms.

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She picked up a needle and thread, and under the illumination of the pale moonlight, began to sow the cotton-padded jacket in her hands. The cotton-padded jacket was old and shabby, but it was spotlessly clean. There were several places where it had already been patched up, the needlework meticulous and durable.

Zhang Shun gave a silly chuckle and reached out his hand to ruffle Zhang Xiaoniu’s hair. He looked up and said to her, “Xiuxiu, we don’t have enough rice at home. Earlier this afternoon, I heard that the provincial capital was recruiting forced labor. I already signed up. Tomorrow I’ll be off to contribute my labor and earn us a few silver taels. That way I’ll be able to buy you some meat so you can eat well and get some nutrition.

She gave a quiet nod, turning her head away.

Two streams of tears began to soundlessly run down her face.

She woke up from that dream, the scene splintering and shattering into fragments.

… …

“Junior Martial Brother Qin, if you’re going to keep making trouble like this, I’m going to report this to Affairs Hall. I will record every single one of your deeds. They’ll definitely remove you from your position as an envoy of Anxi Province!” Gou Lezhan said, his face dark as he eyed the jade slip that recorded the tributes in Qin Huamao’s hand. “It would have been fine if we just embezzled a bit of the tribute, but you actually dared to reduce the tribute levied on the mortals? You’re courting death!”

The two of them had already been in Anxi Province for 10 years by this point. Gou Lezhan was just like most of the other envoys in any other ordinary Province who would just search for an area with abundant spiritual energy to cultivate in seclusion. He would occasionally play around with a beautiful woman or two, but aside from that, was never interested in the ordinary affairs of the Province.

This time upon leaving seclusion, he found out just how recklessly audacious Qin Huamao had been. He had reduced the percentage of the tribute from 80% of the Province’s harvest down to 60%!

Qin Huamao knew that he was somewhat in the wrong. But he was still reluctant to admit to it and said, “Senior Martial Brother Gou, you know how much those mortals are left with after paying 80% of their harvests in tribute, don’t you? After converting to silver taels, what are they left with? They don’t have enough to feed their own families!”

Putting away the tribute jade slip, he continued to persuade patiently. “Before we came, do you know how many of the provincial soldiers starved and died because they had to endure the harsh patrol to watch over the Sacred Sect’s spiritual plants and medicines day and night?”

“If we reduce the tribute from 80% to 60% of the harvests, the difference to us would be negligible, even supposing we only considered the most ordinary Golden Feather Flowers in the calculation. But it would save hundreds, thousands of lives, ensuring that they wouldn’t starve to death!”

“You and I both came cultivated to this point from mortal origins. There’s no harm in acting in goodwill, and in fact, it can even be considered a good thing. Senior Martial Brother Gou, I don’t want my share of the embezzled tribute anymore. You can take it all, alright?”

After the Qin Huamao’s tirade ended, Gou Lezhan was left somewhat speechless for a few moments. He finally shook his head and replied, “I won’t interfere in this matter anymore. But you better not go too far! Ten years ago when we first arrived, you immediately executed the entire Xu Clan that was ruling this province, putting dirt on Senior Martial Brother Liu’s name. To this day, I still don’t dare to reply to Senior Martial Brother Liu’s jade slip!”

“The younger generation of the Xu Clan was acting too tyrannically. They were preying on the people. Their deaths weren’t undeserved!” Qin Huamao declared, brushing off his words. “You can go now, Senior Martial Brother Gou. I will oversee everything here properly.”

Gou Lezhan wasn’t interested in participating in the mortal affairs of the Province. He just wanted to quickly pass these 100 years. He didn’t say anything more, and flicked his sleeves and left.

But at this time, he still didn’t know that the phrase “give an inch, and they’ll take a mile,” would eventually become all too fitting here.