Zhang San, please behave yourself!
Chapter 283 - 272: I, Zhang San, am actually...

Chapter 283: Chapter 272: I, Zhang San, am actually...

"Zhang San, by setting fire to someone else’s house like that, isn’t that going a bit too far?"

Zhang San’s brows slightly furrowed as he glanced at Cui Jiu, whose face was filled with innocence, and retorted, "Wasn’t that fire set by Governor Wen himself? What does it have to do with me?"

Instead, Cui Jiu was stunned into silence by Zhang San’s question.

Zhang San continued to explain, "I certainly didn’t start the fire; that fire was started by Wen Baohua himself. He set his own house ablaze, what does that have to do with me? Cui Jiu, you can’t slander me like that! Do you realize how serious a crime arson is?"[Note 84]

Cui Jiu, curious, asked, "Then why did you use the Blow Wind Technique towards Wenzhou City? You were clearly helping him set the fire! Even if you’re not the murderer, you’re an accomplice."

Zhang San grimaced, looking helplessly at Cui Jiu and said coldly, "Isn’t it possible for the wind to blow out a fire? Look at a candle; I blow it out, and it goes off, right?"

Cui Jiu nodded slightly, feeling as though Zhang San had made some sense.

"So, when a house is on fire, with flames that big, I thought if I used an even stronger wind, I should be able to blow out the fire, right? Wasn’t I being kind-hearted?"

Upon hearing Zhang San’s words, Cui Jiu felt it made sense too, since he often blew out candles himself.

However, for some reason, Cui Jiu always felt that something wasn’t quite right, but he couldn’t pinpoint what it was at the moment.

"Wait... I think I’ve figured it out. Your problem is that you stole Wen Baohua’s money, right? Even though that money is ill-gotten gains, you still stole it, didn’t you?"

Zhang San raised his middle finger at Cui Jiu and exclaimed angrily, "You’re talking nonsense!"

"These three ships are here because I wanted to protect Wen Baohua’s property from harm, so I had him store it here. Am I not doing a good deed?"

Cui Jiu nodded.

"Then, based on all the things Wen Baohua did in Wenzhou, your Heavenly Punishment Sect claimed that the money was ill-gotten and decided to ’Punish on Heaven’s Behalf,’ hence you confiscated all those ill-gotten gains, right?"

Cui Jiu kept nodding.

"So in the end, isn’t it your Heavenly Punishment Sect that stole it? What does it have to do with me? I’m just an innocent passerby, catching a free ride on a convenient ship."

After saying that, Zhang San couldn’t help but ask, "Are you insisting on pinning a crime on me today?"

Cui Jiu smiled awkwardly and replied, "How could that be? I know you had trouble over in Lingzhou, Fengdu County, and you haven’t fulfilled the imperial edict’s orders. You’ll definitely have to go to the Capital to admit guilt. I was thinking of giving you some practice now so you can learn how to escape criminal responsibility after committing a crime. It seems, though, that you’re quite experienced in this area."

Zhang San said coldly, "Is it possible that I simply haven’t committed any crimes? As long as I subjectively believe I haven’t committed a crime, then in reality, I haven’t!"

Seeing Zhang San’s confidence, Cui Jiu could only nod in satisfaction, "That’s right! Just say that!"

Zhang San was speechless.

Soon, the three large ships came to a deserted shoreline. Cui Jiu led Zhang San off the ship and then pointed to a withered dead tree ahead, its interior long since hollowed out, whispering, "This is the entrance, but I can’t go in. You’ll have to enter by yourself."

Zhang San nodded; after all, his predecessor was supposed to be from the Heavenly Punishment Sect, and he had also helped the sect gain merit this time.

Logically, the Heavenly Punishment Sect wouldn’t trick him.

Thus, Zhang San walked toward the inside of the tree.

The moment he took a step towards the tree, Zhang San noticed a formation light up beneath his feet.

Although he didn’t know what kind of formation it was, the spinning world in that instant made Zhang San realize it might be a Teleportation Array.

It seems the Main Altar of the Heavenly Punishment Sect might not be located in the Sword South Path.

The reason they had sent him to Sword South Path was probably just to get him away from Chuan-Yu Road.

True to its reputation as a sect that the Town Martial Office had never managed to eradicate, the Heavenly Punishment Sect indeed had some tricks up its sleeve.

When Zhang San was able to see his surroundings clearly again, he found himself at one end of a corridor, needing to cross it to reach the other end.

As Zhang San appeared, torches on the walls of the corridor lit up automatically on both sides.

Zhang San observed the torches, engraved with many Runes he didn’t recognize, which seemed to form a combination similar to a voice-activated light, only these lit up upon detecting someone approaching.

Zhang San walked forward, counting the torches on the walls as he went, a total of four hundred and fifty-two.

At the end of the corridor stood two massive stone doors.

The stone door on the left bore four characters "Heavenly Punishment Road"; the stone door on the right had four characters "Punishment of Righteousness."

Zhang San knew that behind these doors must be the Main Altar of the Heavenly Punishment Sect.

But when Zhang San placed his hands on the doors and pushed forward with force, he found that these stone doors seemed somewhat thick and heavy, immovable.

Not being able to push the doors open was not a disgrace, but Zhang San was worried it would embarrass him if he expended a lot of effort to push them open.

This could easily give the impression to people of the Heavenly Punishment Sect that his strength was lacking.

So Zhang San gave up trying to push both doors at the same time and stretched out his hand to push forcefully against the door on the left with "Heavenly Punishment Road" carved on it.

Creak! Rumble rumble rumble—

As Zhang San forcefully pushed open the left stone door, the faces of the people standing in the grand hall behind the door revealed satisfied smiles.

Unless the Sect Hierarch himself came, no one else could open both doors; one could only push one of the doors.

At this moment, it appeared to be a choice between the left and right door, but in reality, it was about whether one wanted to push open the "Heavenly Punishment Road" door or the "Punishment of Righteousness" door.

And Zhang San’s choice this time was exactly the same as it had been originally.

With the stone door opened, Zhang San stepped in.

At this moment, a voice reached Zhang San’s ears.

"Keep walking forward, you will naturally stop when it’s time to."

Zhang San looked at the backs of the people in the grand hall and confidently walked forward.

Although he didn’t know how he would be arranged within the Heavenly Punishment Sect after this, he couldn’t show any signs of nervousness; otherwise, it could lead to being looked down upon.

Zhang San walked past the crowd at the very back of the grand hall; he passed by some cultivators who clearly had a very strong aura; he even nearly arrived at the three empty seats at the top of the grand hall.

At this moment, almost everyone was behind Zhang San, but no one had yet told him to stop.

Zhang San looked down at the stairs, gritted his teeth, and took a step forward.

Above the stair, there were three empty chairs.

However, as Zhang San continued up the stairs, no one had yet asked him to stop.

Zhang San went up and, looking at the three chairs of the Heavenly Punishment Sect’s grand hall within reach, turned back to face all the people of the Heavenly Punishment Sect in the hall behind him.

At this moment, under the solemn and serious atmosphere of the grand hall, everyone kneeled on one knee towards Zhang San.

"Welcome, Saint Heir, back!"

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Legal Trivia

Arson, more accurately called the crime of setting fire, is derived from Articles 114 and 115 of our country’s Criminal Law.

Officially named [Setting Fire, Flooding, Explosives, Disseminating Dangerous Substances, Endangering Public Safety by Dangerous Means], it comprises two articles because Article 114 applies when serious consequences have not yet resulted, thus the sentence is three to ten years of fixed-term imprisonment. If it results in serious injury or death, or causes significant loss to public or private property, the sentence shall be no less than ten years of fixed-term imprisonment, life imprisonment, or death.

So, don’t play with fire, and the same goes for experiencing any of the other dangerous activities mentioned above.

If one day you accidentally find yourself in trouble, please do not say you have read my book. Thank you.

Legal Trivia

The number of torches here is an Easter egg; the four hundred and fifty-two torches correspond to the total of 452 articles in our country’s Criminal Law.