Chapter 215: Typical Figure of Great Zhou's Law

The moment Dong Wuwei proposed the Three Bonds Order, it was already destined that he would never become the Commander of the Human Sovereign Hall, let alone the fact that he could even sacrifice his own son.
This was a man who would do anything for his ideals.
Jiang Li could guarantee that if he recruited him into the Human Sovereign Hall, he would definitely work harder than Zhang Konghu, and the year-end spirit stones given to him would be more than those given to other commanders.
But his ideals were completely at odds with Jiang Li’s.
Dong Wuwei wanted to become another Dong Zhongshu, but Jiang Li was no Han Emperor.
“Your ambitions are too big, too chaotic. Maybe there will be a monarch who agrees with your thoughts, but it won’t be me,” Jiang Li said all he needed to and left.
Having the wise lord he yearned for reject him directly, Dong Wuwei felt a flood of emotions, as if his lifelong pursuit had been severed with no road ahead.
The twenty years of preparation had all been for nothing.
Dong Wuwei sat in the teahouse, drinking cup after cup of cold tea.
“Father.” Dong Wuwei’s son found him sitting dazed in the teahouse.
In Dong Wuwei’s son’s memory, his father had always been ambitious, full of ideals and aspirations; he had never seen him so lost before.
Dong Wuwei had this child after going into seclusion and never told him about his background.
“Xi’er, was my philosophy wrong?” Dong Wuwei asked instinctively.
Dong Xi didn’t answer.
Seeing his son silent, Dong Wuwei felt somewhat relieved. No matter what he had done, at least his son still thought of him as a flawless father.
So he encouraged, “Don’t hold back, think carefully, even if it’s a minor mistake, just say it.”
Dong Xi shook his head, “Father asked Xi’er to speak, so Xi’er will naturally speak. It’s just that Xi’er feels you are wrong in too many ways and didn’t know where to start, so I was organizing my thoughts.”
Dong Wuwei was stunned.
Dong Xi indeed obeyed his father’s orders, but he never thought that was the right thing to do.
“For example, you talk about the bond between ruler and subject, believing that as long as ministers listen to the ruler, the nation can be well governed. That’s too one-sided.”
“You only see the relationship between ruler and subject, but not the relationship between ruler and the people.”
“When a monarch dies, a successor ascends, and the country remains the same.”
“But when the people die, the national fortune disappears, the country loses its meaning, and the nation falls into ruin. Thus, the country is based on the people.”
Dong Xi’s thinking was a bit naive and had some errors, but the underlying ideas were fundamentally different from Dong Wuwei’s.
Only now did Dong Wuwei realize that he had treated his son merely as proof of his impartiality, never truly understanding him.
He now realized he was wrong, terribly wrong.
His son was not a tool, nor a vessel to inherit his ideals, but a person with his own thoughts!
“Enough.” Dong Wuwei’s voice trembled.
Dong Xi immediately stopped talking, thinking he had said something wrong.
“You… still want to cultivate? Father can help you.”
The ten precious years Dong Xi had wasted could be completely made up with Dong Wuwei’s Fusion Stage abilities.
Dong Wuwei began to reflect on whether the ideals he had clung to all these years were correct, whether he had misunderstood his ancestor Dong Zhongshu, or perhaps the ancestor was wrong to begin with.
These were things he couldn’t figure out immediately, so he decided to stay here, to make it up to his son, care for his wife, and teach his students.
Jiang Li, who had hidden his aura, witnessed this scene and only then truly left to find the next candidate for commander.
……
The second candidate was a rogue cultivator.
To reach the Fusion Stage as a rogue cultivator, his talent was evident.
Moreover, after becoming a Fusion Stage cultivator, he had neither established a family nor joined any faction, continuing to walk alone.
He was from the same hometown as Jiang Li, a Great Zhou native.
This rogue cultivator had been famous for a long time; Jiang Li had heard of him even when he was still in the Foundation Establishment Stage, a well-known Fusion Stage cultivator.
Now that Jiang Li had reached the Mahayana Stage, this man was still a famed Fusion Stage cultivator of Great Zhou.
When Jiang Li found him, he was negotiating—or rather pleading—with Great Zhou officials.
“Please, wipe my criminal record clean. Just a few days ago, Commander Liu from the Human Sovereign Hall approached me and included me in the list of potential commanders.”
“What if the Human Sovereign finds me suitable, but then sees all my crimes and decides not to take me? I’d lose out big time!”
“Du Ping, you’re a Great Zhou citizen. You know the rules.” The Minister of Justice looked troubled as he spoke to Du Ping, an old acquaintance known by every citizen.
Du Ping, the Drunken Immortal, a famous offender, had been to jail more often than he had gone home, hailed as Great Zhou’s model figure for law violations, Great Zhou’s lawbreaking trailblazer, and more.
The Great Zhou authorities often used Du Ping as a public example to show: see, even Fusion Stage cultivators must go to jail if they break the law.
The story Jiang Li had heard back in Great Zhou went like this:
Du Ping, a Fusion Stage cultivator, after getting drunk, stripped off his shirt and rolled around sleeping on the street, severely disturbing social order and causing a bad influence. For violating public security laws, he was fined five hundred low-grade spirit stones and detained for ten days.
The Ministry of Justice reminded: lawbreaking after drinking is still punishable; drink rationally, don’t learn from Du Ping, and don’t deliberately avoid sobering up to enjoy the drunkenness.
Du Ping, Fusion Stage cultivator, bought fake wine, demanded ten times compensation, was given ten jars of fake wine, got enraged, and smashed the shop.
The merchant selling fake wine was ordered to recall the fake wine and jailed for three months, while Du Ping, for damaging property, violated public security laws and was detained for fifteen days.
The Ministry of Justice reminded: seek legal help when facing difficulties, don’t act impulsively and break the law.
There were many such examples.
After Jiang Li left Great Zhou, he didn’t really keep up with this rogue cultivator who was blacklisted by the Ministry of Justice.
He remembered there was even a research project in the Ministry about how to get Du Ping to stop committing crimes.
“Rules, yeah, I know, I know,” Du Ping grinned and pulled out a storage ring, handing it to the Minister of Justice. “There’s eight thousand high-grade spirit stones inside.”
The Minister of Justice recoiled as if seeing a snake, slapped the storage ring to the ground. “Du Ping, how dare you try to bribe me! Are you trying to get me killed?!”
Great Zhou officials caught accepting bribes were immediately sent to the Celestial Prison.
“No, no,” Du Ping hurriedly denied, “then what did you mean by rules…”
The Minister of Justice glared at him, “Of course I meant, if you broke the law, don’t even think about erasing your criminal record!”
“Then doesn’t that mean I can’t join the Human Sovereign Hall?”
“You lose all sense of reason whenever alcohol’s involved. I told you a hundred times to drink less, not to be impulsive, and you always promised there’d be no next time.”
“When I was still a mere constable, the first person I arrested was you for drunken disorder. Now I’m the Minister of Justice, and you’re still breaking the law after drinking!”
The Minister of Justice pointed at three towering piles of case files beside him. “These are all your offenses over the centuries!”
If he destroyed these, wouldn’t he have no criminal record… Du Ping was tempted.
The Minister of Justice sneered, “Don’t blame me for not warning you. Destroying case files is a crime even more serious than breaking the law. Besides, all of this has already been backed up onto jade slips. Even if you destroy them, it’s useless.”
Du Ping slumped in defeat.