Chapter 320: The Era of Jiang Li in the Nine Provinces

“Many thanks for your help, Human Sovereign.” Meng Chun bowed to Jiang Li, grateful for him reconstructing her body.

“It was no trouble at all, Senior Meng Chun…”

“I’m not the Great Dream Hermit anymore, so I’m not really your senior. Just call me Meng Chun.” She cut off Jiang Li’s respectful address. If calculated by age, she had only just been born—less than two months old.

“Meng Chun, aside from those in the Tribulation Stage, you’re now among the peak combatants in the Nine Provinces. Very few things here pose any threat to you. The Nine Provinces today may be very different from what you remember. Since peace reigns now, you might want to explore it a bit. I’ve got other matters to attend to, so I’ll take my leave first.”

“If the Human Sovereign is busy, Meng Chun won’t delay you.” She made no move to stop Jiang Li.

…

The Mysterious Secret Realm was located on the border of the Great Zhou. After parting ways with Jiang Li, Meng Chun decided to take a stroll through the Great Zhou first.

“The Great Zhou Dynasty…” Meng Chun had heard of its name long ago. However, based on the Great Dream Hermit’s memories, she had rarely visited this place. The Secret Realm had been placed on the border simply because the environment here seemed nice.

Through the cultivators who had entered the Mysterious Secret Realm, she’d gained some understanding of the current Nine Provinces, though it was far from comprehensive. She’d long wanted to experience it firsthand—to see Jiang Li’s era, a Nine Provinces no longer under threat from Extraterritorial Demons.

Meng Chun veiled her face in public. Her near-immortal aura combined with the veil only added to her allure, drawing many glances as she walked the streets.

From past experience, she assumed that despite her current appearance, there would still be some lecherous fool who’d be tempted by her beauty and try to abduct her.

“You there, stop a moment.” Someone called out to her.

Here we go, Meng Chun thought. Knew someone would be after my looks.

“Please show your identification.” Two officials of the Great Zhou politely stopped her.

They had already noticed this woman appearing in town out of nowhere without any registration and suspected she had snuck in.

“…” Meng Chun had no such thing as an ID.

“No ID?” The two officers exchanged knowing glances as if they’d just stumbled upon a golden opportunity. “Then please come with us.”

Yep, here it is, Meng Chun thought. These two are probably planning to take me somewhere secluded to extort me.

“Name?”

“Meng Chun.”

“Age?”

“Forty-nine days.”

“Huh?” The official found that odd but still noted it down faithfully.

“Place of origin?”

“None.”

“Are you willing to register your household in the Great Zhou?”

“…Willing.”

Meng Chun never expected that the first thing she’d do after her rebirth was to register her household information.

“Your cultivation?”

“Integration Stage.”

“Hss—” The two officials looked at each other, unable to hide their excitement.

At first, they’d suspected she had snuck into the Great Zhou. But then, they noticed how curious she seemed about everything and figured she was likely a senior cultivator who had emerged after a long seclusion.

Due to the length of such seclusions, the Great Zhou had trouble keeping track of these cultivators, making them hard to manage.

Registering one of these reclusive experts was considered a great merit—something that would reflect well in their year-end assessments and might even earn them promotions.

If they could register an Integration Stage cultivator into the Great Zhou system, then that promotion would practically be guaranteed.

But the two of them weren’t strong enough to determine her cultivation, so they brought her to the city lord.

At that moment, the city lord was presiding over a case.

“Ma Xi sent men to abduct a woman, committed indecent acts, attempted to bribe officials—charges of attempted kidnapping, attempted rape, and attempted bribery. Taken together, these offenses merit a thirty-year sentence. Considering that Ma Xi is at the Nascent Soul stage…”

Here we go, Meng Chun thought. The city lord is probably going to reduce or dismiss the sentence because Ma Xi is Nascent Soul stage.

In the Great Dream Hermit’s memories, even though the Great Zhou was a nation of laws, there were still shady dealings.

“A Nascent Soul cultivator has a life span of five hundred years, so the sentence should be proportionately increased. Final judgment: Ma Xi is sentenced to one hundred years in prison.”

Meng Chun was stunned. The current legal environment in the Great Zhou was far better than what the Great Dream Hermit remembered.

“But I’m Nascent Soul stage!” Ma Xi roared. Even if he had abducted a woman, in other nations he could pull some strings and throw in a few spirit stones to settle it. How come in the Great Zhou he still had to go to jail?

And for a hundred years, no less.

He’d heard that the Great Zhou treated everyone equally under the law, but he never expected it to be this absolute.

Wasn’t it supposed to be equality among Foundation Establishment cultivators, or equality among Nascent Soul cultivators?

The city lord, who was at the Soul Formation stage, showed no fear in the face of Ma Xi’s released pressure. He pinned him to the ground and sealed his cultivation.

“Throw him in prison.”

In the past, the city lord might have looked the other way and let Ma Xi go.

But things were different now. The Zhou Emperor had been furious over the Qingcheng Jiang Family affair and was cracking down on corruption. Every year, time-law-specialized royal family members were dispatched to investigate officials’ conduct over the past year. Any malpractice would be severely punished.

And there was no upper limit on which level of official could be held accountable.

If the city lord let Ma Xi go, he’d be the one behind bars instead.

The Great Zhou imposed harsh standards on officials—but in return, their salaries were outrageously generous. The city lord had cultivated from the Golden Core stage to Soul Formation just from those salaries.

His next goal was to become a court official in the imperial capital.

His cultivation was already sufficient—what he needed now was merit.

If he could catch a few textbook violators of Great Zhou law, like Integration Stage cultivator Du Ping, then he’d have the merit he needed.

“This person is…?” The city lord noticed he couldn’t see through Meng Chun’s cultivation.

The two officials gave a simple report of what had happened, and the city lord immediately perked up.

Recruiting an Integration Stage cultivator into the Great Zhou? That would earn him exactly the kind of merit he needed.

He went all out in a duel with Meng Chun and was effortlessly defeated. It quickly became clear that she really was at the Integration Stage.

“Welcome to the Great Zhou.” The city lord personally handed her the ID.

The Great Zhou’s ID was a metal fish token that required a soul imprint.

“Also, the fish token contains the full text of the Great Zhou Law. You might want to study it.” the city lord reminded her.

Most people had to stick the fish token to their foreheads to read it, but Meng Chun could simply use her divine sense.

The Great Zhou Law’s reputation was well-earned—its content was ridiculously extensive and covered every imaginable aspect of life. What intrigued Meng Chun most was the Spirit Treasure Law.

The phenomenon of Spiritual Treasures gaining sentience had only begun in recent years. The Mysterious Secret Realm opened only once every ten years, so Meng Chun hadn’t known about this until Jiang Li protected her a few days ago and mentioned it.

To increase the compatibility between cultivators and Spirit Treasures, Ji Zhi had established Spirit Treasure Halls across the land, staffed with professional cultivators to teach others how to better cooperate with these sentient artifacts.

Curious, Meng Chun went to audit a class at one of the Spirit Treasure Halls.

Before even entering, she overheard the instructor say: “When dealing with Spirit Treasures, we must be strict…”

Meng Chun thought, what else would cultivators be but strict with them? Obviously they’d treat Spirit Treasures as tools and command them.

“…strictly follow the Spirit Treasure Law to ensure their rights.”

“All you Spirit Treasures out there, pay attention too. The Great Zhou guarantees your rights but also requires you to fulfill your duty of supporting your master. It’s a relationship of mutual effort and mutual gain…”

Inside the Spirit Treasure Hall, Meng Chun also witnessed cultivators working in tandem with Spirit Treasures in battle—the difference was obvious compared to using stiff, non-sentient ones.

She even saw representatives from the Dao Sect visit the Great Zhou to present the latest Spirit Treasure cultivation method developed from the Yin-Yang Heaven Seal. Many Spirit Treasures advanced on the spot; it was a spectacular sight.

…

Jiang Li hadn’t deliberately left Meng Chun to explore the Nine Provinces on her own—he genuinely had other matters to attend to.

The system had issued a new quest: locate the shattered fragments of the Ladder to Immortality.