The Magistrate: Chapter 78 (Patreon)

Welcome to the start of a new month. Last month was super productive for me despite being mildly ill the last couple of weeks. I wrote 50k words for the draft of Unorthodox Farming 3, which is fantastic. I hope to do the same again this month.This chapter is huge and a little all over the place. It will receive more editing than other chapters, so any thoughts you have on this one are welcome. I hope everyone has a good month.

Chapter 78

A Living Sword

Six months after being appointed the 1st Minister, Tobias shared tea with Upper Magistrate Yun in his office. The 1st Minister's office had survived the war with only minor looting. Tobias had filled the empty shelves with his manuals and manuscripts, trying to ignore the typical social convention for displays of wealth. Or so he thought. Servant Ho had commented on them while delivering a meal, pointing out that the value of Tobias's work would make those who visited him feel like paupers.

Until his comment, Tobias had mistakenly thought that those who visited him were merely intimidated by his cultivation and sage title, but based on the way they snuck glances at his work, he'd been wrong. Tobias had decided to keep them where they were because the damage was done.

Tobias turned the page, reviewing the census data that Upper Magistrate Yun's people had collected. Unlike previous censuses, this one required all mortals in The Three Kingdoms to be accurately accounted for, not just mortals of wealth and good standing. Convincing the magistrates to lower themselves to interact with these citizens, rather than estimate their numbers, had not been difficult after the corruption purge his clone had orchestrated.

No one was willing to say no to him or shirk their duties. And most still shuddered in his presence. Tobias was considered to be both the most honest and brutal 1st Minister in the history of The Three Kingdoms. No official, no matter how high or well-connected, had been exempt from his purge or criminal charges. Thousands of officials had been executed, and thousands more were dismissed with large fines or had property confiscated. Thousands more were dismissed for failure to perform their duties.

The loss of so many officials was not without its issues. Mortal required sleep. They required time off. They could not manage their workload and the workload of everyone else who had been removed. So, Tobias had sent his tax collectors to the Great Clans and sects, requesting that they provide pills to increase their productivity.

The lowest-ranked officials in the Capitol and major cities were now all initiating realm cultivators and practising his Weary Disciple body cultivation method each day. This had quadrupled their productivity and made up for the officials Tobias purged.

The Divine Council couldn't even complain about his actions. Historically, The Three Kingdoms had a significantly smaller bureaucracy. It was achieved through cultivation. The old laws he was supposed to implement required all low-ranked officials to be in the initiate realm. There were even bylaws about the kingdom giving them resources if they could not achieve this on their own.

Tobias finished reading the collected data and sighed. "How accurate is this?"

Upper Magistrate Yun lowered his cup. "It has a 3% margin of error for the population and up to a 35% margin of error for production capacity and earnings. Few will be completely honest about how much they earn or produce for fear of raising taxes."

Tobias was afraid he would say something like that. There had been relatively few large-scale battles between higher realm cultivators, but there had been many between the lower realm cultivators. These lower realm cultivators had been supported by cultivator guards and conscripted troops, which had led to millions of deaths. After all the deaths caused by the famines, The Three Kingdoms now only had four young men for every five young women.

"Draft the documents to temporarily rescind the law prohibiting low-status mortals from taking second wives. This rescinding only applies to those who were conscripted to fight during the civil war, and it will only last for five years."

Upper Magistrate Yun made a note for his underlings. "I believe extending this opportunity to those who fought against the Divine Council will be viewed poorly, 1st Minister."

It had taken Tobias's clone months to teach Upper Magistrate Yun to speak his mind and voice his objections in person, but Tobias was happy it had worked.

"The census shows we lost a fifth of our population due to famine and fighting. My mandate is to restore The Three Kingdoms to its former glory, not reward the winning side. We cannot afford to lose future growth due to a lack of children. Those who were conscripted also lack the ability to travel, so they can only choose additional wives from the local population."

Lower Magistrate Yun's face changed with understanding. "Ah. Restricting this to only the conscripts who fought for the Divine Council will deprive those areas that fought against them from receiving the same population growth."

Tobias nodded.

"May I make a suggestion?"

Tobias flicked his fan, giving his permission.

"The census shows that some of our best farming regions received the highest losses. I believe we need to take steps to correct this."

Tobias has seen the same thing. However, very few regions had not experienced some form of depopulation, and none were in a position to lose able-bodied workers. "Forcefully relocating serfs or peasants will cause local issues. You may offer incentives in the least affected locations, but nothing beyond this. I have another solution to this problem, but it will take a few years to implement."

Tobias was going to test what happened when you gave peasants cultivation training and resources in these areas. It would give him a reasonable idea of how much doing so improved productivity. Tobias had read widely in his former life. He knew that society hadn't developed because people had become smarter, but because they had become more productive. When the needs of the many were effectively addressed, a society could flourish.

Tobias picked up the census data. "I want copies to be prepared for the Divine Council and others to be delivered to the Imperial Archives. Once, you have done that, you and your underlings may go into seclusion until your cultivation is consistent with your ranks."

Upper Magistrate Yun cupped his hands and bowed. "Your generosity will not be forgotten, 1st Minister."

Usually, someone in Upper Magistrate Yun's position would have to purchase their own cultivation resources, but Tobias was having it funded by The Three Kingdoms. Tobias wanted a small, loyal, hardworking, efficient, and corruption-free bureaucracy, and this was the only way to achieve it quickly.

Tobias dismissed Upper Magistrate Yun and headed for the 1st Emperor's hidden realm. Enough of Peace Master So's spirit herbs had ascended to the sage realm that he was finally confident that they could remain inside the realm during the entire dao storm, which would hopefully give them what they needed to know whether Tobias was right about realms also applying to dao.

Tobias knew his divinity prevented him from being able to understand the dao whispers to gather insights, but this did not apply during a dao storm or when someone or something was undergoing a tribulation. Under these conditions, the dao whispers were as clear to him as they were to a prodigy. However, unlike most prodigies, Tobias had studied extensively. His time reading Peace Master So's collection had taught him that cultivators likely approached gathering dao insights to form comprehension to achieve dao enlightenment incorrectly.

Tobias had cross-referenced everything the collection held until he was relatively certain there was a much better way to reach dao enlightenment. Hopefully, he would be able to test his theories during the dao storm.

Stepping into the 1st Emperor's hidden realm was like stepping into Peace Master So's hidden realm. The destruction of so many nascent soul realm spirit herbs as they failed their tribulations, returning their cultivation to the world around them, had stabilised the chi saturation. The successful ascensions of spirit herbs to the sage realm further enhanced it.

Peace Master So had cared for his own cultivation realm with meticulous attention to detail for centuries. He had never once experimented with it, because the loss of his realm was too much to bear. However, the loss of the 1st Emperor's realm was not his problem.

The successful ascension of spirit herbs to the sage realm had intrigued Peace Master So, so he'd decided to experiment, pushing the boundaries of what he understood and what he thought was possible. The cost of his experiments with nascent soul realm spirit herbs already greatly exceeded the total wealth of any of the Great Clans, and he had shown no sign of stopping. If he could understand how to forcefully strengthen a hidden realm, he could apply the same techniques to his own hidden realm.

If he accidentally destroyed the 1st Emperor's hidden realm in the process, well, that was just an unfortunate problem The Three Kingdoms would have to deal with on their own. The Divine Council didn't have the power to reprimand him. And Peace Master So refused to listen when Tobias had asked him to stop.

Tobias nodded to several of his professors as he passed them. He had summoned them when Peace Master So complained that his clone didn't have enough time to discuss the changes he was making. Tobias had spoken with his clone and discovered that Peace Master So was treating him as a soundboard, which was why he had replaced him with professors.

The professors had been working under Xu Ling to make Tobias's spirit gardens more efficient, but were limited by how much they could change without affecting production. Here, that wasn't an issue as the lower realm spirit herbs were frequently destroyed by dao storms. They'd been making steady progress.

Tobias found Peace Master So in the centre of the realm, glaring at eighty-eight sage realm spirit herbs that were aligned in a natural formation. The idea was to use the barriers the sage realm spirit herbs created to remain in the realm during the storm, since they had successfully come through multiple storms unharmed. Others had not been so lucky.

Tobias cupped his hands behind his back as he stopped beside Peace Master So. "Are they causing you problems again?"

"They don't want to do what I want them to do," Peace Master So complained. "They refuse to work together."

Tobias glanced at the layout, noticing that each spirit herb was only shielding itself. They were clustered in complementary patterns inspired by pills. The idea was to make them view themselves as part of a greater whole.

Tobias summoned the right bottle of pills from his storage ring. He tossed it into the middle of the corresponding spirit herb formation. The spirit herbs immediately merged their barriers into a single barrier, acting as a group. "You forgot to introduce the dao concept that would unite them."

Peace Master So turned to him, pouting. "How could you have possibly known that would work, Senior? It took me days to figure it out."

"Spirit herbs lack a mind, which means they either operate on pure instinct or follow their nature. As they lack a mind, they lack dao concepts beyond their existence. You have to introduce them to those concepts in order for them to incorporate them. However, the moment you remove those concepts, they will revert to their natural state, because they lack the mind to remember."

Tobias walked over and placed his hand against the barrier, trying to push through. He instinctively knew that it was impossible for him to do so. The power of the barrier was beyond him. It was likely beyond anyone except those in the sage realm.

"This will be an effective way of preventing them from being stolen by anyone in The Three Kingdoms," Peace Master So said. "The Divine Council will still be able to steal the nascent soul realm spirit herbs, but only if they come here themselves, which is unlikely, because I'll be very upset with them if they touch my work."

Tobias frowned as he tried to probe inside the barrier. "I'm not sure if I'm sensing this correctly, but I get the impression they like being in this state."

"They do. They're sharing the cost of maintaining that barrier, which is significantly less despite the additional strength. This allows them to improve their cultivation faster. The nascent soul realm spirit herbs responded the same way. The core realm and below don't. They don't have the instincts to harness related dao concepts."

Tobias found that fascinating and wished he had the time to study the phenomenon.

"Are you ready for the test, Senior?"

Tobias could sense his disciples heading for the exit, so he nodded that he was. Peace Master So quickly threw out other pill bottles, causing other large barriers to form.

Then he turned to Tobias. "How would you go about making them merge these barriers?"

Tobias examined the position of the barriers and the way the chi was flowing around him. "I'd introduce a pill that incorporates all their daos. Since no such pill exists, it would have to be a spirit pill."

Peace Master So groaned. "Senior is no fun."

Peace Master So placed one hand on Tobias's shoulder and held out the other, forming the necessary spirit pill. The barriers immediately merges covering them in a dome. The saturation of chi within the barrier rose beyond even what Tobias had felt in Peace Master So's realm.

However, it was far from the right place for Tobias or anyone else to cultivate. The chi within the barrier wasn't neutral. It was saturated in the various daos of the spirit herbs. Daos that were trying to both open and cleanse body and energy meridians at the same time.

Tobias tried to push his aura through the barrier, but discovered that he couldn't. "We have a problem."

"Senior can't push his aura through the barrier."

"Can you?"

"Yes, but it requires a little effort."

"Is there a point to staying in here if we can't sense what's going on?"

"I believe that as the spirit herbs begin to ascend and the dao storm intensifies, the barrier will weaken, allowing you to sense what is happening beyond."

Sage realm tribulations could last for days, but Tobias had already set aside his time to study the dao storm. Even if this turned out to be pointless, he had everything he needed inside his storage ring to get some work done.

He'd finished studying the archives and now knew all the laws and government programs that could be reinstated. All he had to do now was consolidate the laws and regulations, write up proposals for additional laws that would need to be implemented to meet The Three Kingdoms' needs, and then figure out how much everything would cost to implement it all.

However, implementing any of the old national projects was currently impossible. The Three Kingdoms had lost a lot of its tax base and the contents of the treasury. The nation was broke. The Divine Council was going to need to loan The Three Kingdoms enough money to get things off the ground. If they didn't, it would be centuries before anything got done.

Even with everything he'd earned, Tobias could barely fund the currently government for a decade. Majordomo Wo's accounting ledgers could prove it.

His majordomo had nearly spat blood when Tobias informed him that they would have had to pay all the taxes on their earnings if Cloud City, despite its tax-exempt status. Paying those taxes had been the simplest way to fix The Three Kingdoms' lack of government funding and cut off anyone's ability to claim that he avoided paying his share.

His corruption purge had set a new standard, and Tobias had to adhere to it more than everyone else. Having a corrupt 1st minister would ruin what he was trying to create.

"Have you considered the implications of remaining for the entire dao storm?" Tobias asked.

"I expect a slightly larger portion of the ascending spirit herbs to survive because of my assistance. However, the natural formations I've created will be destroyed in the process, rendering them ineffective, so there will be no significant difference from my presence. However, from this point forward, each cleanse should slowly become more effective. I'll know how effective it is once this cleanse is complete, and I will be able to update you on how much longer it will take to transform the realm. I will be back momentarily."

Peace Master So vanished from inside the barrier and appeared in the sky above. Tobias watched his slowly spin in a circle as he spread his nascent soul realm spirit herbs across the realm. The dao storm soon began, starting in the distance before circling the realm. It was a violent visual display which he couldn't sense.

Peace Master So was beside him long before it arrived.

***

Hours later, Tobias's mind burned with heavenly knowledge as he tried to absorb the sword dao rampaging across the realm, cutting at the barrier before him. Behind him, Peace Master So was directing his chi to reinforce the struggling barrier. At the same time, a dozen sage realm tribulations blazed in the sky above. It was a world of chaos, and Tobias noticed none of it.

His mind floated on the winds as his aura perceived every cut, every slice, and lunge the sword dao made. Countless sword arts streamed through his consciousness, all vying for his attention. Tobias grasped the natural laws, understanding and fusing them into his being over and over again, ignoring anything that a cultivator would find useful. The 1st Emperor had been a sword saint, one blessed with divine skill. This skill had followed him through his days, but it had begun in the mortal realm. Tobias wanted to understand that beginning.

Peace Master So gritted his teeth while Tobias remained oblivious to everything except the dao of the sword.

***

Days later, Tobias stood in his private courtyard inside the 1st Minister's residence, going through a series of elaborate mortal sword forms. Each movement was designed to push a core realm cultivator to its limits. They were the culmination of hundreds of sword saints' experience, refined by sword dao. Comprehending the experiences hidden within the sword dao had instilled Tobias with peerless ability. A sword now felt like a natural extension of his body. The way he needed to stand when holding it came to him as easily as breathing. Every motion felt natural and every step perfect. The forms he performed appeared to be honed over millennia of experience.

However, ten thousand years of swinging a mortal sword meant nothing before cultivation techniques and spells. Everything Tobias had learned was little more than an entertaining trick, devoid of dao comprehensions. Comprehensions which currently elude him.

Peace Master So politely clapped when he was done. "Why gather and comprehend these mortal insights? I understand they are the insights of countless sword saints, but they will not help you comprehend sword techniques."

Tobias returned the sword to his storage ring as he walked over and took a seat beside Peace Master So. "There is little point to gathering sword dao insights if I don't practice a metal chi cultivation method. I might be able to steal a technique, but I cannot perform that technique well enough for it to hold any significance."

Peace Master So groaned. "The reason we are studying dao storms is not for you to gain techniques, but to learn how they are gained."

"Which is why I started with mortal realm insights through natural laws. Once I can master how to gain these insights, I can gather dao insights and try to form comprehensions."

"Do you know how to do so now?"

Tobias shook his head. "It was impossible for me to comprehend these insights in the past. They came to me in fragments like conversations where I kept missing words. It was only the presence of the sage realm sword dao that allowed me to hear the conversation clearly."

"Dao does not have realms, Senior."

"Whether or not dao has realms is irrelevant. I did not comprehend anything until the sage tribulations began."

"Would you like to experience it again. I can have the realm ready in as little as five days."

Tobias hesitated because Peace Master So had stressed how close he'd come to dying from the dao storm on multiple occasions.

"We have more sage realm spirit herbs now, so it will be safer."

"Further dao storms may not be helpful."

"Why would you say that?"

"My lack of comprehension may be caused by the lack of focus behind the sword dao. The 1st Emperor's hidden realm is a repository of sword saints and sage realm cultivators' insights. My inability to perceive what I want may be related to that."

"You're suggesting that watching a dao storm caused by a single technique would be more effective. It isn't. I've tested this with my disciples many times. They can't comprehend a tenth of what you have."

Tobias sighed. "Fine, we'll do it again."

***

Tobias sat inside the barrier created by the sage realm spirit herbs, chuckling to himself as the last tribulation faded from the realm and the dredges of the dao storm fled. The answer had been so obvious that he'd should have realised it before they entered. It wasn't even that complicated.

Peace Master So flopped onto the nascent soul realm spirit moss beside him. "You worked it out."

Tobias summoned a piece of paper from his storage ring. He flicked his finger towards it, using his fingernail as a dao focus. The paper was cut in half, using only the dao of cutting. It was a small part of the dao of sword, but Tobias now understood hundreds of insights related to it. The top half of the paper tumbled to the ground.

Peace Master So raised an eyebrow. "That was hardly an impressive display."

Tobias smirked. "Comprehending techniques through dao storms is extremely difficult."

"Which is why I asked you to study this with me, Senior. Now, tell me what you discovered."

"You don't focus on comprehending the technique, you focus on comprehending the dao of the technique."

Peace Master So's eyes lit up, glowing with excitement. "Then you go away and practice the technique, using the dao to guide you."

"Exactly. Comprehending techniques through a dao storm is not pointless, but so extremely difficult that you shouldn't use it as a teaching method. The only reason I made so much progress the last time we were here was because of all the tests we ran before it. I didn't learn a single initiate realm technique despite days of trying. Yet, during this last day, I gathered hundreds of dao insights for a sage realm technique without any trouble."

"Do you have a method for doing so?"

"I do, but I've been mostly operating on instinct. I need to run more tests. I'll write down my thoughts for you before you begin the next cleansing cycle."

***

No matter how hard he tried, Tobias couldn't weave the dao insights he'd gathered into a comprehension. He had tried everything he could think of, along with everything that he'd read, before eventually admitting that it was likely impossible for someone with his divinity. However, this hadn't discouraged him, because he had the perfect research partner.

Peace Master So sat beside Tobias in the hidden realm, collecting sword dao insights and weaving them into comprehensions while the dao storm raged. The sage had initially refused to participate in the experiment, stating that he did not want to corrupt his dao path with sword dao. Tobias had pointed out that the presence of those willing to fight on his behalf had strengthened his peace aura in the past, so his being able to defend himself was likely aligned with his dao path.

However, it was only when Tobias couldn't take their research any further himself that Peace Master So accepted the risk. By that point, Tobias had significantly improved the sage's ability to gather dao insights, creating a method that, while more time-consuming, was far easier and more effective.

Dao was no different from any other aspect of cultivation, it appeared. It required a strong foundation. However, the cultivation world didn't view dao this way. Cultivators tried to reach for the heavens instead of digging in the dirt.

Forming dao comprehensions without gathering a large number of dao insights was possible. However, this progress was short-lived. It was only after gathering hundreds of dao insights that the way forward became easier.

Watching Peace Master So progress his understanding of sword dao had been incredibly interesting for Tobias. Peace Master So only understood a fraction of the natural laws that Tobias understood, which greatly affected his ability to gather sword dao insights. Tobias could gather hundreds during a single storm. In contrast, Peace Master So could initially only gather a dozen despite his superior cultivation.

Once Tobias had expanded Peace Master So's understanding of natural laws related to sword dao, the number of dao insights he could gather during a storm had multiplied by a factor of three.

Natural laws may not be dao, but they allowed for an easier understanding of dao that were related to them. The fact that Tobias had been able to prove this with Peace Master So's help was beyond either of their wildest expectations.

Tobias continued to ignore the storm while studying Peace Master So's transformation. They had been testing various techniques for forming dao insights into comprehensions, and this latest experiment showed much more promise than their previous attempts. Tobias could actually sense the other sage's dao changing before him in real time.

Peace Master So was weaving together the insights he had gathered, forming comprehensions. With each new comprehension, his peaceful aura grew stronger as his ability to defend himself increased, proving Tobias was right about his dao path.

Tobias was looking forward to sparring when this was over. He physically couldn't keep up with the other sage, but each of them had gathered the mortal insights of sword saints who had once cultivated here, and sparring helped them both more easily gather the dao insights they had left behind. It changed their academic understanding into a practical one.

Tobias sucked in a breath as Peace Master So's aura suddenly swelled, taking on a depth that he never experienced before. His aura hadn't even been this strong when those old monsters had come to his valley to protect him from the khans.

While Tobias sat, a second dao entered Peace Master So's aura. Tobias recognised what had happened immediately. Peace Master So had achieved a dao enlightenment related to the sword. He had become a living sword.

It was relatively common in the Han Clan, with over thirty members having achieved it in the past. For those who could walk the path, it was considered the first step. The 1st Emperor had achieved six sword enlightenments before he ascended, and each one made him more deadly in battle, until he was unequalled on the continent.

For the purposes of dao, Peace Master So was now a sword, capable of using his own body to create powerful sword dao projecting without a weapon. Tobias's trick with the paper was just a pale imitation of what the sage would now be able to do, which was likely why his peaceful aura had grown so strong. Peace Master So would now be walking around with the ability of a true sword saint to back up his peaceful intentions.

Dao whispers flowed from the sage's body as he underwent his dao enlightenment. Each whisper reached Tobias as a clear conversation because of the dao storm, proving that he had gathered what he needed to attain his own dao enlightenment, if he were able. These whispers told a story, and that story was of a foolish young sage who had raced for the heavens instead of digging in the dirt.

Tobias could tell that Peace Master So's dao enlightenment was weak. The boy had found the bare minimum he needed to attain enlightenment and thrown it together to see what would happen. The effect was a dao enlightenment, but one that was much weaker than it should have been.

Tobias chuckled.

This was the exact same thing he had done to achieve his peace enlightenment. Since then, he'd spent centuries trying to incorporate dao insights and comprehensions into that enlightenment to strengthen it. Incorporating these insights and comprehensions into an existing dao enlightenment was significantly harder than merging them when you underwent the initial dao enlightenment, and Tobias's friend had just created another headache for himself.

Peace Master So opened his eyes, a strained look on his face. "Before you say anything, let me point out that we are doing this for research purposes, and I think it's going very well."

Tobias smiled, and Peace Master So relaxed. "This is true. However, you'll need to collect your disciples if you want our research to continue."

Peace Master So frowned because he clearly hadn't expected the response. "Why?"

"You're technically a true sword saint now. The Han Clan's records show that the moment their family members achieved sword dao enlightenment, they began making much faster progress. I can't trust your results now."

Peace Master So gave him a guilty look before brightening up again. "Considering how impactful this has been for my dao, I have to imagine it will help my disciples just as much as it has me. The risks shouldn't be too great."

Tobias scowled. "Are you a master who risks their disciples' future for their own progress or one who takes on those risks themself so that their disciples do not have to?"

Peace Master So groaned. "I just achieved dao enlightenment. You're supposed to give me a present, not a lecture."

"Sometimes a good lecture is a gift in and of itself," Tobias replied, before beginning his lecture on being a proper master in earnest.