Chapter 216: True Knowledge Comes from Practice

In Great Zhou, the distinctions between violations and crimes were very clear, unlike other nations where the two were lumped together.
Violations referred to breaches of civil law, breaches of public security regulations.
Crimes referred to breaches of criminal law.
“But if you have to deliberately dispel the effects of alcohol after drinking, what’s the point of drinking at all?”
“I’m not asking you to dispel the effects, but don’t use drunkenness as an excuse to cause chaos!” The Minister of Justice corrected Du Ping’s thinking. “Also, have you been flying while drunk again recently?”
“Yeah, according to the regulations, I violated Article 165 of the Public Security Regulations and should be detained for fifteen days. When are you planning to lock me up?” Du Ping could recite the Public Security Regulations backward and forward, his understanding of the law far exceeding ordinary people, and he was more familiar with Great Zhou’s jails than any prison warden.
Some particularly studious prison wardens even sought him out specifically to consult him on legal issues and prison management problems.
Great Zhou prohibited flying without first dispelling the effects of alcohol because it easily caused cultivators to lose control mid-air and crash to the ground, possibly injuring others.
Du Ping often violated this rule and knew it like the back of his hand.
“It’s changed now. His Majesty considered this behavior too egregious, so the prohibition on flying after drinking has been moved from the Public Security Regulations to the Criminal Law. In other words, it’s no longer just a violation, it’s a crime. According to regulations, you have to be imprisoned for six months.”
Du Ping stared dumbfounded. “When did this change?”
“It was announced on the first day of last month and took effect on the first day of this month. You flew drunk on the second day. If not for your surprised look, I’d think you committed the crime on purpose.” The Minister of Justice spoke plainly.
“I just like drinking, not breaking the law!”
“Hmph, who knows?”
Jiang Li had thought that after five hundred years, Du Ping would have calmed down. Now it seemed this cultivator who set himself against the law kept making the same mistakes without a hint of change.
It showed just how stubborn his will was.
The Minister of Justice also had a headache over Du Ping. Having a Fusion Stage cultivator obediently accept punishment certainly demonstrated that even cultivators were equal to mortals under Great Zhou law, but someone who kept cycling in and out of prison was no good either.
Treating the prison like home completely undermined the punitive power of the law—what face did Great Zhou’s legal system have left?
The Minister of Justice’s greatest achievement was punishing a Fusion Stage cultivator hundreds of times.
His greatest stain was punishing the same Fusion Stage cultivator hundreds of times.
The Minister of Justice even wished Du Ping would just leave Great Zhou.
Please, let our Ministry of Justice rest for a bit.
But Du Ping firmly rejected this wish, declaring steadfastly that he was born a Great Zhou man and would die a Great Zhou ghost, and leaving was impossible!
Great Zhou is my home, I love Great Zhou.
Du Ping had violated every part of the Public Security Regulations, from prostitution to gambling to street brawling.
The Minister of Justice could hardly believe it—a dignified Fusion Stage cultivator, actually suppressing his cultivation and brawling with thugs while drunk.
As a fellow Fusion Stage cultivator, I feel ashamed for you.
The Minister of Justice felt Du Ping was a disgrace to all Fusion Stage cultivators.
He even proposed to Ji Zhi to create a new law called the Du Ping Law specifically to punish Du Ping, but Ji Zhi rejected it, reasoning that laws could not be made for one person alone.
Now that Du Ping had stopped violating the Public Security Regulations, he had begun stepping into criminal law territory.
Please, heavens, send someone to clean up this mess.
“Du Ping?” Jiang Li revealed himself.
“Jiang… Human Sovereign?” Du Ping, seeing Jiang Li, was overjoyed, as if seeing his superior.
As cultivators of the Nine Provinces, it was everyone’s goal to become the Human Sovereign. If they couldn’t, joining the Human Sovereign Hall was the next best thing.
Du Ping was no exception.
“Human Sovereign.” The Minister of Justice saluted Jiang Li.
The Minister of Justice was a trusted aide of Ji Zhi and had often been present when Jiang Li met with Ji Zhi.
“All these cases are yours?” Jiang Li walked over to the three one-person-high stacks of case files and casually flipped through them, feeling that Du Ping’s life could be summed up in one sentence.
Spent the first half of his life diligently cultivating, only to spend the second half living in prison.
The Minister of Justice reminded Jiang Li, “Five hundred years ago, Du Ping’s case files only filled a stack and a half.”
“You’ve broken quite a lot of laws.” Jiang Li sighed.
“This just shows that I abide by the law,” Du Ping explained.
Jiang Li was speechless. Technically, Du Ping really did abide by the law—after all, he accepted all his punishments honestly, and accepting punishment was part of following the law.
“Most of your troubles are caused by alcohol.”
“My cultivation technique is related to alcohol. If I don’t drink, I can’t cultivate.”
Du Ping’s issues weren’t actually serious. Among Fusion Stage cultivators, he barely counted as decent in conduct.
People like Ma Zhuo, the two commanders, had even been arrested once in Great Yong for selling indecent books.
If they lived in Great Zhou, they probably wouldn’t have fewer imprisonments than Du Ping.
But Jiang Li still wanted a normal Fusion Stage cultivator.
He felt that among the Human Sovereign Hall’s Fusion Stage and above cultivators, only he and Commander Liu were normal.
“If you can drink without breaking the law or committing crimes, you can join the Human Sovereign Hall,” Jiang Li finally gave a slight concession. “If you have no new violations or crimes for the next fifty years.”
Du Ping gritted his teeth. “Deal!”
Fifty years wasn’t long for a Fusion Stage cultivator. At worst, he could just go into seclusion for fifty years!
“Seclusion doesn’t count,” Jiang Li reminded him.
The Minister of Justice added, “Human Sovereign, you’re overthinking. Du Ping can still drink and violate laws even during seclusion. Please check Volume 127 of his case files.”
Jiang Li found the volume the Minister referred to, which recorded that Du Ping had gotten drunk during seclusion, sleepwalked out of his retreat, wandered thousands of miles, arrived at a tavern, drank wine, and floated away without paying spirit stones.
That jar of wine wasn’t expensive enough to qualify as theft under criminal law, otherwise, the Ministry of Justice would have charged him with theft.
Though it didn’t meet the threshold for theft, the act of not paying was still a violation, so they punished him under public security law.
“……”
Jiang Li felt that Du Ping might as well just live in prison for life.
After Jiang Li left, Du Ping bent over and started writing a letter. The Minister of Justice curiously asked, “What are you writing?”
“I think there are some areas of Great Zhou law that need revising. The punishment for flying after drinking is too severe and doesn’t align with the principle of proportional punishment. I’m writing to the court to suggest it be reduced to probation or a lighter sentence.”
Great Zhou encouraged its citizens to submit opinions and suggestions about the law.
The Minister of Justice was speechless. After breaking the law for hundreds of years, Du Ping had gained such deep insight into the law that he had written multiple letters pointing out flaws in the legal system.
Great Zhou was even considering awarding him a banner of commendation for his contributions to legal scholarship.
“Here, all done.” Du Ping handed over the letter to the Minister.
The letter had tens of thousands of words. The Minister skimmed through it and found it clear and easy to understand, whether judged by the Four Elements Theory or the Three Layers Theory, it all made sense.
He felt Du Ping’s grasp of legal theory was bone-deep. Someone who didn’t know better might think this was written by a top law student from Great Zhou Imperial Academy.
What was this if not the ultimate embodiment of “knowledge gained from practice”?
True knowledge comes from practice?