Chapter 92: Chapter 92: Indiscriminate Killing of Innocents
Translator: 549690339
Even if the daughter of his superior was fond of Zhang Han, she disapproved of indiscriminate killing. She pleaded with him to let her go, but Zhang Han ignored her pleas and forcibly took her away.
In broad daylight and under the public gaze, he slew the family of the bride-to-be’s fiancé, abducted his bride, and did not even attempt to hide his actions. This was a blatant provocation to Yelang Kingdom.
Zhang Han’s superior almost died on the spot out of sheer outrage.
Yelang Kingdom had to capture Zhang Han and execute him publicly, or they would lose face.
But Zhang Han killed every single emissary. With every battle, his cultivation strength grew mightily. He eventually reached the Divinity Transformation Stage and executed the reigning Monarch, making himself the new ruler of Yelang Kingdom.
As Monarch, Zhang Han made his superior’s daughter the queen, and scoured the nation for its most beautiful women to add to his harem.
From then on, Zhang Han was extremely brutal and unpredictable. Chambermaids who accidentally spilled soup, eunuchs who had made eye contact with concubines, officials who dared to voice their dissatisfaction with his rule. As soon as Zhang Han perceived them as threats to his authority, he ordered their immediate beheadings.
He also instituted severe laws, designating theft of any amount over one tael of silver as a capital offense. Despite warnings from ministers who had studied at Great Zhou that such laws could not sustain long-term rule, Zhang Han ignored them. When they opposed him, he had them put to death.
Suddenly, everyone in Yelang Kingdom lived in fear. They dared not drink alcohol, fearing they might cause a ruckus while drunk, damage property, and be charged with sedition — a crime punishable by death.
The owners of taverns didn’t know whether to be happy or not. Indeed, no one was causing trouble after drinking, but the number of people who frequented the taverns had decreased significantly.
Some ministers became so terrified that they planned to retire and return to their homes. Zhang Han claimed that prime aged ministers with Nascent Souls attempting to retire were guilty of deceiving the ruler and ordered their execution.
Another minister who had sustained internal injuries in his youth requested to retire and lead a solitary life at home. Zhang Han deemed his desire as a sign of disloyalty and executed him as well.
With these two precedents, no other ministers dared to express the desire to retire and go home. Every time they left their homes for court, they would make their wills, fearing that they might never return.
One minister saw Zhang Han’s rapid advancement in cultivation and suspected him of practicing dark arts. He reported to Great Wei Empire.
However, no matter how hard Great Wei tried, they could not find any trace of Zhang Han practicing dark arts. In the end, they could only conclude that Zhang Han was highly gifted and had a penchant for killing.
If one practiced the dark arts, the resentment of the deceased would linger on their body, which Zhang Han did not have.
Moreover, to practice dark arts, one must kill personally. It doesn’t count if one orders guards to kill or introduces strict laws to increase capital punishment. None of these methods could enhance one’s cultivation in dark arts.
Zhang Han was furious when he learnt that someone had reported him to the Great Wei Empire for practicing dark arts. He accused the minister of treason and sentenced his entire family to death.
From then on, no one dared to question Zhang Han.
Zhang Han was sitting in his warm room, reviewing reports, trying to find reasons to execute someone from between the lines of the ministers’ documents. Unfortunately, the ministers had become more careful. The reports either brought him minor joys like abundant harvests or minor worries like lower crime rates. Amongst other inconsequential matters, one was that the executioner had become a very popular job.
Perhaps he should make an incognito trip to see if there was anyone in the civilian world who deserved to die.
“Click. ”
A slight noise from beside him, a maid trembling slightly as she touched the lid of the teacup, created a small noise.
With a swish, the maid’s face turned deathly pale. She knelt on the floor, kowtowing, pleading for mercy.
Zhang Han, impatient, waved his hand: “You disrupted my concentration while
I was reviewing the reports; take her out and behead her.”
He thought he was fair. Since the previous maids were executed for similar minor offenses, not killing this one would be unfair, wouldn’t it?
“Guards? Guards!”
Seeing that the guards didn’t immediately carry out his order, he became irate, assuming that the guards outside must have been slackening off.
Such dereliction of duty must be punished by death.
The door of the warm room opened, and a young man said to the two guards at the door, “You two wait outside. Don’t come in. Can you do that?”
The two guards dared not dissent and nodded profusely.
After the young man came in, he said to the maid, “You wait outside first. I have something to deal with the Monarch.”
The maid, feeling as if she had been granted amnesty, fled the warm room.
Zhang Han saw someone overruling his commands but he dared not utter a word.
Cold sweat dripped from him, his hands trembling.
Zhang Han tried to maintain his composure: “May I ask for what matter the
Human Emperor is here for? Is there any way I can assist you?”
“Didn’t I say it already? I am here to handle matters.” Jiang Li laughed, “I need your help specifically, or more accurately, to handle you.”
“Me? The Human Emperor is joking. I have not violated any rules of the Imperial Palace. Why would the Human Emperor want to deal with me? After all, you are the Human Emperor, you can’t indiscriminately kill innocent people.”
Jiang Li was amused by Zhang Han’s words, “I, as the Human Emperor, cannot indiscriminately kill innocent people. But you, as the ruler of a small state, can kill indiscriminately? Is there such a principle in the world? Aren’t you taking advantage of honest people?”
Jiang Li continued, “I have been killing for a few months, and now there is only one God-hidden Cult follower left, you. Congratulations, you’ve been lucky, the last one alive.”
Jiang Li didn’t dare entrust the matter of handling the God-hidden Cult followers to anyone, even the leaders of the Imperial Palace, the fewer people who knew about the God-hidden Cult, the better. Even Yu Yin, whom Jiang Li had blackmailed, didn’t know that Sun Yuan was a dark arts practitioner.
In the past few months, Jiang Li had carried out the slaughter according to the sequence in the name list and ensured that they didn’t leave behind any clues related to the God-hidden Cult. Now, it was time to wrap things up, and Zhang Han was the last one.
Though Zhang Han was at a high level, his position in the organization was rather low. He didn’t have the credentials to preach, and was under the most strict Six Harmonies Sitting Spell. He couldn’t divulge any information about the God-hidden Cult.
Hearing “God -hidden Cult” from Human Emperor Jiang, Zhang Han felt a chill down his spine, his last shred of hope was extinguished.
Even now, he believed that what he gained was the power of God-hidden, not the power of Virtue. But he realized this practice was eerily similar to the dark arts, it was just exploiting the loophole in Jiuzhou’s definition of dark arts.
“Originally, you knew that there was a problem with the God-hidden power, and you happened to be an executioner, so you could gain the God-hidden power. If you stopped there, I wouldn’t be chasing you.”
Jiang Li was reading Zhang Han’s materials with his legs crossed and spoke leisurely, “Later, you killed villains to gain God-hidden power, and I wouldn’t kill you for that.”
Zhang Han tried to argue, but Jiang Li ignored him and continued, “But then you changed. You were intoxicated with the feeling of gaining God -hidden power, you wanted to become stronger, but there were no more villains for you to kill. The fact that your beloved woman got married was the turning point which made you start killing indiscriminately.”
“Eventually, you became the Monarch, wielded supreme power, and used your power to kill, thus discarding any suspicion of practicing the dark arts.”
Seeing this, Zhang Han hurriedly interjected, “Yes, I’m not practicing dark arts, this is my own power!” “Hmm, I know your God-hidden power is not dark arts.”
“Then…” Zhang Han rejoiced.
“Consider me as one who kills indiscriminately.” Jiang Li didn’t give Zhang Han a chance to argue. He casually flicked his index finger, and Zhang Han, who was at the Divinity Transformation Stage, died without stating a reason.
Jiang Li did not tell Zhang Han that this was actually the power of Virtue, and that the followers of the God-hidden Cult had caused incalculable harm to Jiuzhou and must be dealt with completely.
Why bother explaining to him?
