Chapter 665
Establishing Human Laws
"Your subject, Lin Ruhai, the Water God of Songjiang, pays respects to His Majesty the Great Emperor of Lingtai Dongming Shenxiao." Lin Ruhai entered the main hall and kowtowed to Zhuang Yan.
Zhuang Yan spoke, saying, "Rise."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Lin Ruhai bowed and rose, then stood respectfully in the main hall.
Zhuang Yan asked, "Lin Ruhai, I ask you, how much benefit does the Songjiang Spirit Spring bring each year?"
Upon hearing this question, Lin Ruhai immediately began to calculate in his mind. After a moment, he replied, "Your Majesty, the annual income of Songjiang Lingquan is approximately 3.2 million."
At this point, Lin Ruhai added, "Many wineries that brew immortal wine have signed long-term contracts with Songjiang Prefecture, so they can reliably buy that much spiritual spring water from Songjiang Water Mansion every year. There are also some that are purchased in small quantities, and it's hard to say for sure about that part."
Zhuang Yan picked up an account book and said, "The annual income of Songjiang Lingquan is about 3.2 million, and your Songjiang Water Mansion pays 2 million to the Nanyue Divine Mansion every year, is that right?"
Upon hearing this, Lin Ruhai immediately became anxious and said, "Your Majesty, this is the profit-sharing arrangement set by the Great Emperor of Nanyue. Twenty percent of the annual revenue from Songjiang Spirit Spring will be handed over to the Nanyue Divine Palace, while the Water Palace will retain one-tenth."
Lin Ruhai spoke very quickly, as if afraid that if he slowed down even a little, Zhuang Yan would have him dragged out and beheaded.
Zhuang Yan smiled faintly, placed the account book on the table, and then said to Lin Ruhai, "Don't be afraid. Since it was the distribution set by the Great Emperor of Nanyue, I will not pursue it."
Lin Ruhai breathed a sigh of relief, then bowed and kowtowed, saying, "Your Majesty, I thank you for your great kindness."
Zhuang Yan waved his hand and then said, "But this profit sharing will be changed. Starting this year, you will have to hand over 90% of the profits from Songjiang Water Mansion to Nanyue Divine Mansion every year, and keep 10% for yourself."
Lin Ruhai was immediately at a loss upon hearing this. Seeing his expression, Zhuang Yan asked, "What's troubling you?"
Lin Ruhai said, "Your Majesty, in order to transport the spiritual spring, I recruited a lot of water palace soldiers and generals. If only 10% of the profits are retained in the future, I'm afraid we won't be able to support these water palace soldiers and generals."
"If we can't afford to support them, we'll cut them off," Zhuang Yan said. "It's not about the quantity of soldiers, but their quality."
How could Lin Ruhai dare to disobey Zhuang Yan's words? He quickly kowtowed and said, "Your subject will obey Your Majesty's decree."
Zhuang Yan then asked, "I heard you just got married?"
Lin Ruhai quickly bowed and said, "I am grateful for Your Majesty's inquiry. I just married Jia Min, the daughter of Marquis Rongxiang, a little over two months ago."
Zhuang Yan nodded and said, "Alright." Then he waved his sleeve and presented a pot of imperial wine to Lin Ruhai. "This is imperial wine bestowed upon me by the Jade Emperor. Today I bestow a pot upon you. Take it back and you can drink it with your wife. May your love last forever."
Lin Ruhai was greatly shocked upon hearing this. He quickly reached out his hands to accept the imperial wine, then kowtowed and said, "Your subject Lin Ruhai kowtows to thank Your Majesty Shenxiao for your great kindness."
Zhuang Yan waved his hand and said, "You may leave."
"Yes." Lin Ruhai accepted the order, then bowed in thanks, rose, and took his leave.
After Lin Ruhai left, Zhuang Yan said to Chi Ling, "Pass on my decree to Huo Ling Zhenxian, asking her to come to Nanzhanbuzhou to see me."
Chi Ling nodded and said, "Yes."
Five days later, the Fire Spirit Immortal arrived at the Southern Mountain Divine Palace. Seeing her covered in frost and snow, Zhuang Yan couldn't help but ask in surprise, "Is it snowing in the Mountain and Sea Continent?"
Fire Spirit Immortal stepped forward to pay her respects to Zhuang Yan, but Zhuang Yan said before she could, "No need for formalities, come and sit down."
Zhuang Yan pointed, and saw that a seat had already been set up beside His Majesty in the hall. Huo Ling Zhenxian stepped forward, bowed to Zhuang Yan, and then sat down.
At this moment, Chi Ling, Ye Meicang, Ling Feiling, and others stepped forward and bowed to Huo Ling Zhenxian, saying, "Greetings, Lord Huo Ling."
Fire Spirit Immortal smiled slightly and reached out to help them up, saying, "Please rise, everyone, there's no need for such formalities."
The crowd bowed in thanks and rose, then stood on either side of the main hall.
Then Huo Ling Zhenxian said to Zhuang Yan, "Your Majesty, it is not Shan Hai Zhou that is snowing, but Bei Ju Lu Zhou. This year, the snow in Bei Ju Lu Zhou started early and fell heavily."
Zhuang Yan nodded slightly and said, "It seems you've done quite a bit in Beiju Luzhou."
Fire Spirit Immortal laughed and said, "I was just about to report to Your Majesty that Beiju Luzhou is now full of vitality. Under the governance of the Northern Mountain Divine Palace, all kinds of industries are thriving, and many gods, cultivators and demons are making use of their skills."
Upon hearing this, Chi Ling asked in surprise, "Then don't they cultivate?"
Fire Spirit Immortal smiled and said, "Those who cultivate can naturally cultivate in peace, but those cultivators and demons with poor talent or no chance of becoming immortals should all come out and make a living, seeking other ways out."
At this point, True Immortal Fire Spirit smiled and said, "That's fine too. Knowing that you can't become an immortal, yet still heading down the path to death, you'll only end up as a pile of bones in obscurity. It's better to come out and build a foundation; maybe you can find another way out."
Ye Meicang then asked, "Then Beiju Luzhou must be very lively now?" "Very prosperous," Huo Ling Zhenxian said, "Immortal cultivators from all over the world of Yanfu go to Beiju Luzhou to buy all kinds of rare treasures, spirit beasts and immortal objects. The number of immortal shops alone has reached the scale of two in each state."
Upon hearing this, Ling Feiling couldn't help but exclaim with delight, "So, the cultivation world of Beiju Luzhou is already comparable to those bustling cities in the mortal realm?"
Fire Spirit Immortal laughed and said, "It's even better than that."
The Fire Spirit Immortal continued, "The largest immortal palace in Beiju Luzhou is located at the foot of Mount Heng in the north, and its scale far exceeds that of Chang'an City in the Tang Dynasty."
Then, True Immortal Huoling added, "According to predictions, 'Hengshan Immortal Workshop' will provide the Northern Mountain Divine Palace with an annual income of five million this year." At this point, True Immortal Huoling remembered something and immediately said to Zhuang Yan, "Your Majesty, I have clarified the tax system with the Northern Mountain Divine Palace. The Northern Mountain Divine Palace shall pay 60% of its annual income to the Mortal Jade Palace every year."
Upon hearing this, Zhuang Yan clapped his hands and laughed, "Good, good, your thoughts and considerations are thorough and meticulous, I am very pleased."
After saying that, Zhuang Yan said to Huo Ling Zhenxian, "I have basically clarified the annual revenue of the Southern Mountain Divine Palace. I called you here to work with the Southern Mountain Divine Palace to formulate a tax system. Since you have already set a precedent in the Northern Mountain Divine Palace, let's continue with the 40/60 split."
Fire Spirit Immortal immediately cupped his hands and replied, "Your subject obeys the decree."
Then the Fire Spirit Immortal continued, "How about this, let the Heavenly Lords of each region be responsible for supervising and collecting taxes from each region? What does Your Majesty think?"
“Okay,” Zhuang Yan said. “We already have the Western Heavenly Lord. Now we only need the Heavenly Lords for the East, South, North, and Central regions, as well as the Heavenly Lords who oversee the four seas.”
After pondering for a moment, Huo Ling Zhenxian said, "Your Majesty, this matter cannot be rushed. There is no suitable candidate yet."
Zhuang Yan nodded and said, "Take it slow, there will always be a suitable candidate. Here's what we'll do: in the coming days, you can look at the archives of the Southern Mountain Divine Palace and learn about the situation in the Southern Continent. Minister Ye, Grand Commandant Ling, you must cooperate well with Lord Fire Spirit."
Ye Meicang and Ling Feiling immediately stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Your subjects obey the decree."
Then Zhuang Yan stood up and said, "Grand Commandant Chi Ling."
Chi Ling quickly stepped forward, bowed, and said, "Your subject is here."
Zhuang Yan said, "I hereby order you to gather all the divine generals and accompany me on a tour of the four continents."
Chi Ling bowed and said, "As you command."
Zhuang Yan's tour began in the Southern Continent, and he did not allow Qi Ying'e to report this to the surrounding world.
The divine path of the Southern Continent has just undergone a major purge. If this news were to be spread to all directions, then the gods in various places would have nothing to do but wait to welcome Zhuang Yan.
Zhuang Yan's tour this time was also extremely slow, taking his time to visit and observe each state one by one.
He plans to thoroughly tour the four continents this time, and in the process, fill in any gaps and gradually perfect a book called "Human Law".
Zhuang Yan first spent ten years touring the Southern Jambudvipa. During his tour, he focused on summoning the local deities.
The reason why Zhuang Yan did not target these Divine Marquises during his great purge in the Southern Continent was because they were all confidants of the Southern Mountain Emperor.
Afterwards, the Great Emperor of Nanyue will still return to govern Nanzhanbuzhou, so we will leave them alone for now.
However, Zhuang Yan did not remain inactive. To prevent a repeat of the incident involving Marquis Zhu Yu of Anlu, Zhuang Yan stripped all the gods of Nanzhanbuzhou of their duties of governing their respective regions.
In other words, from now on these deities will be deities, and they can hold one position in the Nanyue Divine Palace, but they can no longer hold the positions of local deities.
This will minimize the harm caused by these people. If they still insist on doing evil even after all this, then we will have no choice but to resort to violence again.
After spending ten years touring the Southern Continent, Zhuang Yan spent another eight years touring the Eastern Continent, eleven years touring the Northern Continent, and nine years touring the Western Continent.
Finally, it took another four years to inspect Zhongshan Haizhou. The reason why it took so long to inspect Zhongshan Haizhou was firstly because Zhongshan Haizhou was too small compared to the four major continents, and secondly because Zhongshan Haizhou had always been under the watchful eye of Chenhuan Yufu, and so far there had been no cases of local deities committing evil deeds.
Forty-two years passed in the blink of an eye. When Zhuang Yan returned to Buzhou Mountain, the divine path of the entire Yanfu Great World was completely under his and Chenhuan Jade Palace's strict control.
Although many Heavenly Lords have not yet arrived, the framework of their respective Heavenly Lord Palaces has been established. Apart from lacking a Heavenly Lord, everything else is complete, and under these circumstances, each Heavenly Lord Palace is already able to perform its functions normally.
These forty-two years of travel also allowed Zhuang Yan's cultivation to grow rapidly, making him realize that as the supreme ruler of the human world, his Dao was in the human world.
These forty-two years of travel allowed him to come to understand everything about humanity, the joys and sorrows, the happiness and sadness of all living beings, and the waxing and waning, birth and death, prosperity and decline of all things.
Therefore, after returning to Buzhou Mountain, Zhuang Yan began to formulate the "Human Laws" based on what he had seen and heard during his forty-two years of travels in the human world.
When Zhuang Yan opened the gleaming golden jade slip before him, with a mere thought, a row of large, golden, immortal characters immediately appeared: "Heavenly Laws - Human Laws." (End of Chapter)