I Can See Your Combat Power

People of the world, defined simply by good and bad, is too one-sided and arbitrary.

Human nature is complex, there is no fixed standard to measure one’s goodness or evilness. A small-time crook could risk his life protecting his mother, while a seemingly kind elder might be a hypocrite. This is the true face of humanity, with both good and evil aspects.

A wise man who understands human nature would not simply judge a person as good or bad, because most people tend to be a grey mix of both, leaning more towards one or the other.

Most people are just ordinary, doing good things occasionally, and bad things at times.

So, to judge whether a society has more good people or bad people, one should change the perspective and observe whether there are more rule-abiding people or rule-breaking ones.

Order is more suitable than simple goodness or evil in judging the current state of a city or a community.

Generally speaking, Xiling is an orderly city, where various families can live peacefully without turbulence, and the majority of bandits and villains are kept at bay beyond the city walls.

As a commercial city with many jobs available, the vast majority of Xiling civilians can secure their own livelihoods.

But there will always be a group of people who are unwilling to live such ordinary lives. They admire power and aspire to control others’ destinies, but sadly, they can’t withstand the monotony and boredom of martial arts practice and falter at the smallest threshold in the Martial Arts Realm—the peak of Mortal Realm.

Feeling that they might be limited by their own talents and unable to progress further, they leave the martial arts school to make a living.

Their form of livelihood is to loiter on the streets, extort money, and live in a daze.

They form gangs, run rampant on the streets, and talk condescendingly to others. Yet, they become obsequious in front of clan martial artists and martial arts masters, trying their best to curry favor and brag after they have established a connection: about their years of close friendship with so-and-so, and how they can solve all problems.

Encountering a weaker person, they bully mercilessly, then say: actually, with my status in the jianghu (underworld), I wouldn’t bother myself with a small fry like you. But if you do this and that, I’ll let you off this time.

Tang Luo doesn’t see any value in the existence of such a group of people, so he wants to set a rule for them: Xiling now has the Five-Acre Order, either you go farming; or you get a job; or you can join the Righteous Gang and do business with Gong Zheng. Even if you don’t want to do anything and stay at home, I won’t stop you.

But if you continue living by oppressing the kind, I’ll send you to reincarnate, let you be wealthy and powerful in your next life without so much effort! This is the core logic of this rule.

To him, the Security Bureau of Xiling is just a facade. It’s a department established by the noble families to deal with trivial matters of the public, but those in the bureau don’t really care about the lives of the civilians. The ones truly managing the civilians are these gangs, while the Security Bureau merely manages the gangs and collects money as their work.

If that’s the case, what’s the point of having the Security Bureau?

Therefore, the Righteous Gang is a force he cultivates to replace the Security Bureau. According to the current logic of the bureau, commanding the gangs directly would be more efficient, eliminate the middlemen, and nothing would be impossible!

This idea has been circling in Tang Luo’s mind for a long time. He hasn’t found the right person yet. His original plan was to use Celeritas to produce a loyal Toffler expert to handle this after entering the Fierce Realm, but unexpectedly he met Gong Zheng.

Although there are many flaws in this person, as long as his wife and daughter are in his hands, it should not cause too much trouble.

Therefore, Tang Luo left the Star Pavilion in a good mood and walked towards Mi Bai’s stall.

Just across the street, Tang Luo saw the figure of Mi Bai indulged in writing, and Old Xu grabbing Yang Fan and whispering something.

As Mi Bai finished the last character on the poster, he looked up to see Tang Luo approaching his stand and quickly came around to bow deeply to him. “Brother Mi, what’s this for?” Tang Luo helped Mi Bai up.

With a stirred expression, Mi Bai didn’t want to get up: “If not for Brother Tang’s Five-Acre Order, I don’t know how many people in Xiling would have suffered from hunger and cold this year. Please accept this bow from me!”

“Shush, speak lower. If I’m recognized, I won’t be able to come to your shop in the future.”

Fortunately, there weren’t many people around in the early morning. Otherwise, just because of Mi Bai’s shout, Tang Luo would be surrounded. But he really didn’t deserve such deep respect from Mi Bai, so he tried lifting him up.

How could the strength of someone in Mortal Realm be compared to that of the Toffler Realm? Tang Luo held his arms and straightened them up with ease, saying casually: “With Xiling’s price of grain, it doesn’t matter that much whether one owns a farmland or not. But given the current price, if the farmland cultivation order is not released to the public, I fear they won’t survive this winter. Everyone can see this, so there’s no need for you to thank me for the Five-Acre Order.”

Ascribe all credit to himself? There’s no big task in the world that a single person can accomplish. Tang Luo is just the initiator of the policy, he is not the one creating the register, measuring the land, managing the system, or even the one farming the land, so he doesn’t think he’s anything extraordinary.

Well, apart from being more advanced in cultivation, more handsome, more intelligent, having a more stunning family background, and a more open-minded personality, he is not much different from an ordinary person, right-

Tang Luo, with a smiling face, stood beside Mi Bai and pointed at a ink painting on the stall and asked, “You know how to paint as well?”

“It’s nothing much…” Mi Bai was about to be modest, but someone interrupted him.

“Old Bai is a true genius! Look at this painting, look at these words!” Old Xu Yin heard Tang Luo’s words and rushed out with pride on his face: “I tell you, if Old Bai can’t become the number one calligrapher in Xiling, it would definitely be your loss!”

Even Tang Luo was blushing at hearing such words, not to mention the modest and reserved Mi Bai. All he could do was give a bitter smile and say, “Brother Xu, you flatter me too much. I can’t accept that.”

“Yes, yes, you can!” Old Xu Yin waved his hands repeatedly: “My brother has arrived too, you said you’d treat us to a meal, when will that be?”

Mi Bai suggested to the two, “It’s springtime now, the sunshine just right. We can enjoy the outdoors at Red Cloud Mountain tomorrow. I will prepare some light meals and wine. What do you think, Brother Xu, Brother Tang?”

Spring outing? I like that. Tang Luo squinted and said, “Sounds great! I will bring some desserts and snacks too!”

After a full month of intense research, he could use some refreshing scenery to clear his mind.

The most excited among the three was Old Xu Yin. Back in Yuanzhou, he only had competitors and no friends. His clan brothers and sisters merely saw him as a model, rather than a friend. And after his reputation for being frivolous spread, the girls in the clan didn’t want to be anywhere near him. The respected son of a saintly family had only subordinates and no friends around him, which felt lonely.

Moreover, being able to sense the unseen through the Tongming Sword Body, where the so-called “six senses” refers to the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind!

Therefore, Old Xu Yin who has a mind capable of sensing the unseen could judge a person’s attitude toward him purely based on feeling. No matter how well you hide it, it’s no use. Most people who approached him did so with selfish motives, so naturally, he wasn’t interested in forming any connections.

But after coming to Xiling, he first met Mi Bai, a person of pure-hearted nature, and then a cousin who didn’t treat him like a member of the sacred land. This made him as happy as if he had two brothers.

Going on a spring outing was an entirely new experience for him. He was so excited that his eyebrows almost shot up to his forehead, “Spring outing is good, spring outing is good! I will bring some pen, ink, paper, and inkstone. Old Bai, you can draw when you’re in the mood.. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to capture the images of us three brothers immersed in the beauty of the mountains and rivers?”