Cultivation: Beginning with the Heart Reflecting Heaven and Earth

With a creak, the door opened, and long-awaited sunlight streamed into the room. Lu Qian shielded his eyes with his hand before he saw two people walk in.

"Brother Lu, how have you been?"

"Lu Qian, you can leave now!"

The two people then spoke, and it took Lu Qian a while to recognize them: one was Chu Liu, and the other was Li Jingchen.

For a while, Lu Qian had hardly seen any outsiders. Fortunately, he had been working on analyzing the seed identification and was almost finished when people came in.

"How long have I been detained?"

The cabin was always completely dark, making it impossible to distinguish between day and night. Lu Qian had no idea how long he had been imprisoned.

"It's been almost half a month."

Li Jingchen replied calmly, "I could have released you much earlier, but some things hadn't been settled, so I couldn't take care of you."

There was simply no way to attend to him, so Lu Qian stayed here for who knows how many more days. He wanted to say something, but in the end, he said nothing.

The Canghai Sect is not a place where reason prevails, although it does follow rules. So, no one has done anything to Lu Qian during this time.

If this happened in the mortal realm, and someone captured you and locked you up for half a month, they'd use every means possible to stop them.

However, the Canghai Sect is a celestial sect, and whatever it does will leave a trace. Therefore, since Lu Qian is innocent, no one dares to use torture to extract a confession, which is a stroke of luck amidst misfortune.

Even so, it is possible to detain Lu Qian here by using the excuse that the investigation was not thorough.

Anyway, when asked, they can say that it was just simple detention, without any restrictions or torture, which is all within their scope of duty.

There are rules within a sect, but within those rules, one can suppress someone without leaving any room for criticism.

"How are they?"

Lu Qian did not reveal their names, but Li Jingchen certainly knew who Lu Qian was asking about.

"Zhang Baoshan has been taken to the Array Pavilion and placed in solitary confinement. He is not allowed to leave the mountain for three years. You don't need to worry about him dealing with you personally."

"Wu Ling'er, who framed you, will be sent to Red Sand Island on the front lines for five years. The chances of her returning after five years are probably less than 50%."

"Others involved in the theft of sect property in the pearl harvesting case had their cultivation abolished and were expelled from the sect, some were exiled outside the sect, and others were also placed in confinement."

Hearing about the punishments these people received, Lu Qian found it somewhat laughable.

Zhang Baoshan was probably the mastermind behind the pearl-picking case, but he was only put in solitary confinement. Wu Ling'er was the one who exonerated him and was sent to the front lines.

Others involved in the pearl-picking case suffered punishments ranging from having their cultivation abolished to being exiled or imprisoned; almost all of them committed lesser crimes than Zhang Baoshan, the mastermind.

As for Lu Qian, he was simply released; no one mentioned any compensation or anything like that.

If Lu Qian is compensated, it would mean that someone in the Punishment Hall made a mistake, but they were just doing their duty and did not do anything wrong, so no compensation is needed.

Anyway, Lu Qian is just an outer disciple, so there's no need to care about his opinion.

"Let's go, Brother Lu. I've already booked a banquet at Shikeju to welcome you back and give you some good news."

Chu Liu smiled and changed the subject, then looked at Li Jingchen, "Senior Brother Li, would you do me the honor of joining us?"

Li Jingchen declined calmly, "No need, I have things to do."

After leaving the punishment hall, Lu Qian and Chu Liu walked on the road toward Shikeju. Lu Qian had heard of this place but had never been there. It was a tavern run by the spirit chefs of the sect, where a meal would cost at least several dozen spirit stones. How could he possibly afford it?

If you order a few more dishes, you'll spend hundreds of spirit stones. Usually, only some inner disciples in the late stage of Qi Refining can occasionally come to Shikeju.

"Brother Lu, are you still angry?"

Chu Liu looked at Lu Qian's face with a smile, "If I say that these things are nothing, you will definitely think that I am talking without thinking, but in fact, it is like this. After you come out, you will find that the days inside will be the most comfortable period of your life."

Lu Qian understood his meaning. "Brother Chu, do you mean they won't let me go after I get out?"

He had anticipated this. Regardless of the reason, since the other party hadn't crushed him immediately, they certainly wouldn't let him off easily and would continue to exert their strength.

Since they've already become enemies, everyone knows the principle of eliminating the root of the problem. That means we can't use magic here. We still need to be careful about the impact within the sect, otherwise his bones might turn to ashes.

Chu Liu smiled faintly and asked in return, "Many people within the sect believe that the Punishment Hall has great power, but in reality, even with conclusive evidence, matters still drag on for a long time. Brother Lu, do you know why this is?"

Lu Qian replied nonchalantly, "Of course, it's because many of them have extraordinary backgrounds, making it troublesome for the Criminal Investigation Department to deal with them."

Chu Liu remained noncommittal upon hearing this, but continued to ask, "It's true that those people have powerful connections, but don't the people in the Punishment Hall have connections too? The Punishment Hall has even greater power, so why are they still wary of them?"

Lu Qian was stunned. He hadn't considered this issue before, but now that he thought about it, he did feel a bit conflicted.

If Zhang Baoshan and his associates had powerful enough connections, they should have been released long ago, without having to wait for trial. But if their connections aren't powerful enough and the evidence is conclusive, why keep dragging it out? It's as if they're worried about something.

Seeing that Lu Qian couldn't answer, Chu Liu continued, "Actually, most sects have an Internal Affairs Hall, or something like that, which is in charge of internal affairs. But my Canghai Sect doesn't have this institution. We only have a vaguely similar Punishment Hall. Don't you find that strange, Brother Lu?"

At first, Lu Qian didn't think much of it, but he quickly realized something: "Without an organization like the Internal Affairs Hall to manage internal affairs, it means that the sect can't actually manage many things, so the Punishment Hall is constrained in its actions?"

He seemed to understand something.

Chu Liu nodded naturally, "That's right, that's the point. The sect has 108 peaks, which is actually equivalent to 108 sects. Each sect has a lot of autonomy. Some of the lower-ranked branches are okay, because they don't dare to oppose anything in the face of the sect's banner."

"But the Dao lineages are different, especially the top-ranked ones. They are the masters of the sects. To them, the sects are just a loose alliance. Why would they be willing to let outsiders interfere in their affairs? So once anything involves the Dao lineages, it becomes very difficult to handle, even if it's a small matter."

Lu Qian immediately had a question: "If that's the case, wouldn't the Canghai Sect's leader be rendered ineffective? If a foreign enemy invades, will they have to fight their own battles?"

Chu Liu couldn't help but laugh, "That's not the case. Every lineage has a lineage leader, and there's a tacit understanding between the lineages. When major events occur, they will convene a lineage leader meeting to decide everything about the sect."

Lu Qian understood and looked at Chu Liu, "So, in other words, the Dao Lineage is actually the true Canghai Sect, and the disciples of the Dao Lineage are the true members of the Canghai Sect. When the sect encounters problems, the Dao Lineage can discuss and make decisions. The open and covert struggles within the sect are actually the open and covert struggles among the disciples of the Dao Lineage?"

"I didn't say that."

Chu Liu first shook his head in denial, then added, "Otherwise, why would so many people be so obsessed with the outer sect competition, wanting to join the Dao lineage?"