Chapter 224: Chapter 224

'Officials and martial artists don't mess with each other.'

Thinking about that strange saying reminded Il-mok of something that happened recently. It was a few days after he’d finished taking care of the Heavenly Orchid Society.

It was a few days after they'd cleaned up the Heavenly Orchid Society.

It all started with a question from Seon-ah.

“Why did the government just sit back and do nothing while trash like the Heavenly Orchid Society and the Red Serpent Gang were hurting people?”

Hearing such a naïve question from Seon-ah, Il-mok paused to consider his response.

Should he try to protect her innocent view of the world, or just tell her how things really are?

In the end, he decided to tell her the truth. She’d already seen too much, and she wouldn’t have bought the lie anyway.

“I looked at their ledgers. Turns out, those scumbags were paying their taxes on time. As far as the government’s concerned, as long as the tax money rolls in, they couldn’t care less about anything else.”

The people at the top didn't give a fuck about how the people below were living. As long as the tax money kept flowing, everything was peachy.

“But they were hurting people!”

“And with the money they squeezed from the people they were hurting, they paid their taxes. Isn't that a lot easier for the government than chasing down every single person for tax money? Even better, because the criminals are the ones doing the dirty work, the people hate them instead of the government.”

Hearing Il-mok’s bleak explanation, Jin Hayeon, who'd been listening to their conversation, chimed in.

"What a horrifying story. As I thought, our Divine Cult needs to hurry up and reclaim the Central Plains to save the common people."

Jin Hayeon stared intently at Il-mok as she said this, clearly expecting him to lead that noble cause.

But Il-mok had no intention of spearheading anything like that.

"Even if our Divine Cult does reclaim the Central Plains, it wouldn't be easy. This place is just way too damn big.”

When both Jin Hayeon and Hyeokryeon Seon-ah looked confused, Il-mok continued his explanation.

"Take Lanzhou here, for example. It takes two solid weeks to get to the capital, Beijing. And that's only if you travel non-stop using your lightness skill or riding a horse without rest. Information travels so slowly that if the local bureaucrats send a letter full of lies, there’s basically no way for anyone in Beijing to know what’s really going on.”

Even back in the much smaller modern South Korea, embezzlement and corruption were commonplace.

You even had crazy bastards who thought it was totally normal to take vacations abroad on the taxpayer's dime.

It got so bad that people started saying, ‘The problem isn’t that the country has no money; it’s that it’s full of thieves.’

If that was true even in modern South Korea, then it was a no-brainer that corruption would be everywhere in a place this ridiculously huge with such crappy communication.

"In that sense, the Central Plains is truly an excellent place for villains to operate. Corruption is everywhere, so evil factions can team up with dirty officials to get powerful. But even the places run by honest officials aren’t safe.”

"I understand why places ruled by corrupt officials would be dangerous, but why would places governed by honest officials be unsafe too?"

At Seon-ah's question, Il-mok answered.

"Same reason, for the land's just too big. If a criminal who committed murder or other crimes runs away to another province or hides somewhere in one of the countless mountains scattered across the Central Plains, it’s practically impossible to find them. So you’re always going to have guys who commit crimes thinking, ‘If I get caught, I’ll just run for it.’”

“Doesn’t the government have its own martial artists? Can the bad guys really get away that easily?”

“They can catch normal people, but anyone who's learned martial arts could definitely shake off their pursuit. Except for Beijing, counties near the borders, and maybe the provincial capitals, most government offices barely have any experts on their payroll."

"Are experts working for the government really that scarce?"

"Hmm. I wouldn't say scarce, it's more a matter of priorities. From the Emperor's perspective, his own safety comes first, so if there's a talented expert, his first thought is to make them a bodyguard. His second is to send them to the border.”

Jin Hayeon scoffed at his explanation.

"I can't understand how a leader can be so small-minded. In our Divine Cult, the strongest person becomes the leader."

Her comment made Il-mok give a strained laugh.

He wasn't laughing because he agreed with her.

'That whole ‘strongest person becomes leader’ rule is the exact reason the Cult goes to hell every time a Heavenly Demon dies.'

He couldn't say that to her without risking being branded a heretic.

'Besides, being a good governor and being a good fighter are totally different things. What kind of idiot would put someone in charge just because they're good at fighting and then be surprised when they run the country into the ground?'

This was another thing he couldn't bring himself to say.

Swallowing the words stuck in his throat, Il-mok cleared his throat and changed the subject.

"Ahem. What I meant was that rooting out evil in the Central Plains is incredibly difficult. I'm not certain about this, but I suspect that strange practice of officials and martial artists not interfering with each other probably came about for this reason as well."

Il-mok pieced together his theory about the strange policy by using everything he knew from his years in this world and then cross-checking it with his memories from the modern world.

"Since it’s impossible to control a country this huge perfectly, I suspect they grant martial artists a certain degree of freedom. These martial artists will naturally form factions to seize their own interests. From the Imperial Court and government's perspective, wouldn't it be easier to manage these clustered groups rather than hunting down individual criminals scattered in all directions? Then they just need to deal with any faction that crosses the line."

Seon-ah nodded at his explanation. "Then what kind of things would count as crossing the line?"

Il-mok just smiled at her question.

"Why don't you think about that one yourself, Seon-ah?"

Thinking back on that day, Il-mok almost had to laugh.

It wasn't because of Seon-ah’s innocent question.

'That was a close one. I almost walked right into that landmine.'

What were examples of crossing the line?

Jin Hayeon and Hyeokryeon Seon-ah, who had been right in front of him at the time, were perfect examples.

Because the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was the best example there was.

'With doctrines like that, of course they'd be branded as rebels.'

According to their teachings, a god called the Heavenly Demon would descend, destroy the existing order, and bring peace to the common people. Any dictator who saw that doctrine would consider it a rebel faction.

'It's actually impressive they're still around. Maybe since they were already kicked all the way out to Xinjiang, the government figures it's not worth the trouble to poke them?'

Most of Xinjiang's land was wasteland. They might try to conquer it if it were easy pickings, but from the Han Dynasty's perspective, it was basically useless since the resistance would be so fierce.

'If they'd just wiped them out sooner, I wouldn't have gotten dragged into all this shit!'

If the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult hadn't existed, he might still be living peacefully as an innwaiter right now.

Whatever the case, this unwritten rule about officials and martial artists not interfering with each other had emerged from a tangle of various interests.

And in Il-mok's opinion, the current state of the Central Plains was strange in some ways.

'It’s definitely easier to manage organized groups than a bunch of martial artists running around causing trouble everywhere. But the Murim Alliance is a different story.'

The whole hands-off policy only works as long as you can still crush anyone who steps out of line.

Even the Nine Sects and One Gang, or the Seven Great Families, could be handled by the Imperial Court if they really wanted to.

But the Murim Alliance, which united all of them, was a different beast entirely.

'Hmm. Did they just get too big for the government to take down? Or maybe the Alliance just looks united on the outside, but they're actually a mess of infighting. Oh. Wait, are they keeping them around to deal with the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult? After all, they said the Alliance was the one that stopped the last two Heavenly Demons, not the Imperial Court.'

Though several possibilities came to mind, none of them was certain.

There was practically no information about the Imperial Court's side of things.

While Il-mok was organizing his thoughts about the unwritten rule, Hong Gae, who had finished his own contemplation, spoke up.

"Now that I think about it, this is strange. What the Ghost Valley Master and his guys did is a way bigger deal than us doing a little construction on the mountain and in town.”

Il-mok nodded in agreement.

If the Demonic Cult was one thing that made the Emperor get off his throne, the Blood Cult was another.

The government couldn't care less if one or two people died, but when the body count hit the hundreds or thousands, they had to go on the warpath.

It was a problem because a whole chunk of the workforce that paid taxes and did all the grunt work was suddenly gone.

From that point of view, what Ghost Valley Master and his disciples had done this time should have been more than enough to get the government involved.

The fact that they'd killed over a hundred people was bad enough, but the bigger problem was that they'd created addicts. People hooked on the Butterfly Dream Grass couldn't possibly work properly.

And Il-mok already knew why the government hadn't stepped in.

It was all thanks to the journal left behind by the Ghost Valley Master's disciple.

By the time Il-mok descended the mountain with Hong Gae and arrived at Pingliang County, the sky was darkening.

They first went over to a mansion where the beggars and a carpenter were working on repairs. Inside, the beggars were looking after a handful of people from town whose symptoms were especially bad.

Fortunately, there weren't that many of them.

Since the Ghost Valley Master and his disciples had spread their influence slowly, the newest converts hadn't been exposed to as much of the Butterfly Dream Grass.

On the other hand, the reason you didn't see many people who were as badly addicted as the beggars was simple.

'...Because most of those people had already been used as sacrifices.'

As if reading Il-mok's thoughts, the demonic sword vibrated faintly with a low hum.

'First things first, I need to set up a care system for them, like the one we made in the Peach Blossom Ridge.’

As Il-mok organized his thoughts while looking at the serious addicts, one of the Beggars’ Gang members approached Hong Gae.

“We’ve got a situation that’s a little tricky for us to deal with, Boss.”

"What's the problem?"

“Uh... it's about the government.”

“I knew it. Looks like the officials are finally making a move.”

Hong Gae frowned as if things were about to get messy, but the beggar shook his head.

"That's not it. It’s that the government office is full of addicts.”

“Even the county magistrate. He’s in as bad a shape as anyone here.”

And just like that, the reason the government had done nothing about the disaster in Pingliang County became crystal clear.

The first people the Ghost Valley Master and his disciples had targeted were the county magistrate and other government workers, along with the beggars of Pingliang County.

While Hong Gae was pondering what to do about this...

"Even if they're government people, if they’re this sick, they’re just people who need our help. We should bring them here for treatment right away, don't you think?”

Il-mok, who had already known that the magistrate and government officials were addicted, stepped forward and spoke.

He was fully planning on ‘taking care of’ them.

“And while they’re in recovery, we can just handle the local government’s work.” Follow current novels on novelFirｅ.net

That way, he could kill two birds with one stone and take care of the magistrate’s job, too.

Hong-gae, realizing what Il-mok was really up to, scowled. "What are you talking about? The Maitreya Luminous Cult can’t just take over the government’s job. Obviously, we have to report this to the capital in Lanzhou and ask for a new magistrate!”

Hong Gae’s objection just made Il-mok smirk. It was a look of pure ridicule.

"A beggar who's never paid a single coin in taxes their whole life, and a martial artist from the Beggars’ Gang who advocates for officials and martial artists not interfering with each other, is now calling for the government. Even a passing dog would laugh at that."

While Hong Gae was momentarily speechless at Il-mok's sharp jab, Il-mok continued.

"Also, do you know who'll come as the new magistrate? What if it’s some corrupt bastard? Can you even imagine the fresh new hell that would break loose in this town, which is already hooked on that grass?”

Finally coming to his senses, Hong Gae snorted.

“Hah. You think I can’t see what you’re really doing? You just want to take all the money you make from the mountain and the town and do whatever you want with it!”

Hong Gae's accusation was accurate.

Under the laws of the Han Dynasty that currently ruled the Central Plains, all land in the realm belonged to the Emperor, the Son of Heaven. So if they developed Mount Kongtong without permission and made money from it, the government would obviously find fault with them.

“Now I get it! You knew the magistrate was hooked on the grass this whole time!”

At Hong Gae's accusation, Il-mok answered shamelessly.

"I didn't know. I just figured something was wrong when the government stayed quiet even when the Ghost Valley Master was causing trouble. And anyway, isn't the Beggars' Gang supposed to be on the side of the people, not the government? If the officials get involved, do you honestly think a single coin of the money we make on the mountain will ever get back to the townspeople?”

That last question from Il-mok finally shut Hong Gae up.