Baoan County was not too far from the Baiyue prefecture capital of Guangzhou. Sandwiched in between, Dongyi formed a direct route. Bordering the sea to the east, Baoan faced Huáxià's famous islands of Xiangjiang and Haojing across the water, making it virtually the back garden of Xiangjiang and Haojing.
Walking along the flat, wide avenue and breathing in the fresh, pleasant sea breeze blowing from the deep ocean, Jiang Yan and his senior sister felt their spirits lift. They both stretched out their arms to inhale the unique spiritual Qi of the ocean. A faint golden light emerged all over Senior Sister Fairy Furong's body—this was the natural manifestation of a human Cultivator newly absorbing spiritual Qi.
Although Baoan, an emerging city in the Baiyue territory of Huáxià's Southern Province, was inferior to Dongyi in administrative rank, its economic development, cultural heritage, and influence from the Western world far surpassed Dongyi, easily placing it on par with the prefecture capital of Guangzhou. Suddenly, with a loud crash followed by a scream, a voice cried out, "Aiya! My bones and arms are all broken!" Following the sound, Jiang Yan and his companion walked over and saw an old woman in her fifties or sixties with white hair lying on the ground, unable to move. A large pool of bright red blood pooled on and beneath her, and she kept letting out agonizing groans. A large crowd of onlookers had gathered around, but not a single person dared to step forward and help the old woman up. At this moment, Jiang Yan stepped forward and asked with concern, "Old timer, how are you? Are you badly hurt?" "Shall I help you up and take you to a nearby medical hall for treatment?"
"Young man, you can see I'm covered in blood. Do you think I'm badly hurt? Be a good person to the end and help me up!"
"Alright, old timer." Jiang Yan crouched down and helped the lying old woman up. Senior Sister Fairy Furong did not stop Jiang Yan, but simply looked on coldly as her junior brother helped the old woman to her feet. At that moment, taking advantage of Jiang Yan's inattention, the old woman swayed and collapsed straight to the ground, crying out loudly at the same time, "Come and look, everyone! Come and look! This young man knocked me down and even slapped me! My bones and arms were broken and fractured by him!" Pointing a trembling finger at Jiang Yan, she cursed loudly, "You thousand-cut scoundrel, knocking me into this state! You must pay for my medical expenses and compensation for mental distress; don't even think about leaving without three thousand taels of silver!" With that, she wailed even louder. The surrounding onlookers looked at each other in dismay, with no one stepping forward to speak a fair word.
Suddenly, three suspicious young men appeared from the side, walking toward the old woman lying on the ground and shouting loudly, "Ma! Ma! Ma! Who knocked you into this state?" Two of them also yelled, "Auntie! Auntie! Who knocked you into this state? We'll make him pay until he's bankrupt!" The old woman pointed at Jiang Yan and said, "Son, niece! This is the person who knocked me down!" Hearing this, the three of them flew into a rage and shouted, "So it was you brat who knocked down my mother and aunt! Hand over the money if you know what's good for you! Compensate us with three thousand taels of silver right now, or we'll report you to the authorities immediately! Besides, there are so many people here as witnesses!" Jiang Yan was completely stunned as he looked at the old woman and these three suspicious individuals. He had simply gone to help the old woman, so how had he suddenly become the culprit who injured her? Jiang Yan could not help arguing loudly with them, "Make yourselves clear! Exactly who is the culprit? Otherwise, I won't let this rest with you!"
The loud quarrel here had already alerted the officials. As it happened, Magistrate Wang of Baoan County was patrolling the streets in person today. Hearing the fierce argument, he hurried over. Magistrate Wang stepped forward and looked closely. "Oh, it's you folks!"
Magistrate Wang had been present at the public trial assembly in Dongyi Commandery, so he naturally recognized Jiang Yan and Fairy Furong. Magistrate Wang sternly waved the onlookers back, took Jiang Yan, his senior sister, the old woman, and the three suspicious individuals back to the county yamen, and earnestly advised Jiang Yan, "Be very careful from now on and keep your wits about you." He then escorted Jiang Yan and his senior sister straight out of the county yamen. As for the old woman and the other three, they were all sentenced to three years of re-education through labor, with a fine of five hundred taels each!
Emerging from the county yamen, Jiang Yan wept with a sense of grievance. "Senior Sister, why didn't you say a single word for me the whole time?" At that moment, Senior Sister Fairy Furong spoke in a deep, earnest tone, "Junior Brother, Junior Brother! It's not that your senior sister refused to help you; it was to teach you a lesson. Actually, your senior sister knew all along that the old woman was completely faking it. The blood flowing from her body was also fake, created by smearing a large amount of chicken and pig blood on herself specifically to extort and defraud you of your money. Your experience in the martial world is still shallow, and you are easily taken in by scams. From now on, follow your senior sister to learn more and think things through carefully. Sometimes what your eyes see is not necessarily the truth; your eyes can deceive you as well. Only when your heart and eyes work together to ponder deeply... In short, the martial world is treacherous and human hearts are malicious. Traps like the ones popular in Huáxià—such as 'touch-porcelain' staged accidents, dropping money to split it, 'dying while walking,' 'dying while sleeping,' and lamp-assessment damage claims—are all true-to-life examples of the multifaceted and malicious intentions found in the world."
After listening attentively to Senior Sister Fairy Furong's earnest guidance, Jiang Yan swept away his previous unhappiness and was instantly filled with confidence. The two of them, like a pair of soaring little birds, an intimate couple, and innocent children, bounded forward joyfully. Along the way, they chased each other, exchanging endless sweet words, until they unknowingly arrived before a magnificent, cloud-piercing, luxuriously decorated towering building. Jiang Yan cried out in surprise, "Senior Sister, look at how luxurious and magnificent this building is! It must have at least a hundred floors from top to bottom!" "Yes, Junior Brother," replied Senior Sister, "This is also my first time seeing such a luxurious building."
As it turned out, this building was Huáxià's famous Emperor Building, a landmark of Baoan County in the Baiyue territory. It was said to have been personally designed and supervised by Liang Shicheng, Huáxià's top architectural design master, taking six years and costing three hundred million taels of silver to complete. Jiang Yan then said, "With such a luxurious building, Senior Sister, why don't we go up for a visit and take in the beautiful coastal city view of Baoan County?" "Junior Brother, I was thinking the exact same thing."
Just as the two of them were about to walk into the luxurious building, four ruffian-like young men swaggered past them, saying as they walked, "The brothers' luck was really good today; in no time at all, we reeled in a thousand taels of gleaming silver. Let's go! Tonight we're heading to Yuelai Tavern to drink our fill!" These four men were none other than the local hoodlums Wufa, Wutian, Lisi, and Wang Er, who never engaged in honest work and specialized in extortion, fraud, and petty theft. Because they had not caused any loss of life and were not arch-criminals, the authorities merely issued warnings and fines whenever they caught them, which only fueled their arrogance. It turned out that these four had just used the "touch-porcelain" scam and the dropped-money-splitting trick today to swindle two innocent young gentlemen out of their money. At this moment, Jiang Yan said to his senior sister, "Senior Sister, let's ignore them. Anyway, the money they swindled wasn't ours. Let's hurry along!"
Senior Sister Fairy Furong then said, "Junior Brother, the fact that you can think this way shows great progress! But you can't look at it that way:
'Because we are Cultivators, and the creed of Cultivators is to rob the rich to aid the poor, and to punish the wicked to protect the good—just as the saying goes: When you see injustice on the road, shout out! When it's time to act, make your move!'"