Chapter 936: Ignorance of the Law Is Not a Reason for Breaking the Law

"Hold on, hold on," Luo Hongxia said, pressing a hand to her head as she tried to absorb the flood of information. "Are you saying she's True Person Zhuiyue, the founder of our Immortal Palace?"

"Yes."

"She's the one who stole the herbs?"

"Yes."

"And it took you a whole day to finally catch her?"

"Yes." Immortal Fairy nodded vigorously, her large, sparkling eyes gazing up at Luo Hongxia, shining as if glowing.

"So, how many years are you planning to sentence her for at the Immortal Palace?"

Luo Hongxia's mind couldn't process it quickly. Things were happening too fast. In the blink of an eye, True Person Zhuiyue, the revered ancestor who was supposedly in secluded cultivation, had become a criminal facing sentencing? Confusion, doubt, and bewilderment flickered across Luo Hongxia's face.

Seeing Luo Hongxia's confusion, Immortal Fairy, with her perceptive mind, immediately understood her predicament and empathetically said, "It's the avoidance principle, right? I understand. If Palace Master Luo finds it difficult, you can imprison her in our Way-Seeking Sect!"

In the spiritual space, Lu Yang, who was watching the commotion, suddenly started coughing. "Fairy, you mustn't, you mustn't!" Lu Yang quickly interjected.

"Is there a problem?" Immortal Fairy thought her idea was perfectly fine.

"Fairy, have you forgotten? True Person Zhuiyue cannot leave this avatar, and this avatar cannot leave Bai Ye's territory."

Immortal Fairy had clearly considered this already. "Hmph, I thought it was something serious! We can just move the Ancestral Laurel Tree to our Way-Seeking Sect. Our sect has plenty of space." She anticipated Lu Yang's next question. "Oh, you're going to say the laurel tree will die if it leaves the Great Snow Mountain, right? That's a minor issue too. We can just move the Great Snow Mountain to our Way-Seeking Sect! Our sect has plenty of space."

In the blink of an eye, Immortal Fairy had already merged the Laurel Immortal Palace into the Way-Seeking Sect.

"...I think this isn't really about whether our sect has space or not." Lu Yang worried about Senior Brother Dai's heart, and if he himself would be beaten upon returning. Heaven and earth bore witness, this truly had nothing to do with him; it was all Immortal Fairy's doing.

"Are you going to arrest me?" Bai Ye asked. As night fell, Bai Ye gained control of the body; True Person Zhuiyue could only appear during the day. In fact, it was Bai Ye who had flown Immortal Fairy to Luo Hongxia's cave dwelling. Luo Hongxia had already learned Bai Ye's identity from Immortal Fairy's account. It was then she realized that, in her shock over the identities of True Person Zhuiyue and Bai Ye, she had momentarily forgotten her manners.

"Greetings, Tree Ancestor."

"Just call me Bai Ye."

"Greetings, Tree Ancestor Bai Ye."

Bai Ye had never appeared in public because people tended to be too reserved around her. Senior Brother Lu Yang was good; he didn't act reserved even after learning her identity.

"If you want to see A-Ri, you'll have to wait until morning." Bai Ye's arm turned to wood, then grew and extended, forming the shape of a small stool. With a sharp chop from her left hand, she severed the stool, and her arm returned to its original form.

Lu Yang's eyes twitched as he watched. So, Bai Ye had been conjuring those small stools herself every night when she came to his place.

Sitting on the small stool, Bai Ye excitedly turned to Immortal Fairy. "Senior Brother Lu Yang, continue the story! You should talk about entering the Imperial City."

Storytelling wasn't Immortal Fairy's strong suit, so she wisely returned control of the body to Lu Yang.

"After the trip to the East Sea, Old Meng dragged me to the Imperial City..."

Luo Hongxia was also interested in Lu Yang's experiences. Rather than just waiting until morning, she preferred to listen to his stories.

"And so, I reported the Fourth Prince for rebellion, and he was imprisoned..."

"Later, the Fifth Prince was also imprisoned..."

"And because we tried to steal the imperial throne, the Xia Emperor and I almost ended up imprisoned too..."

Luo Hongxia's eyelids twitched as she listened. With Lu Yang telling stories, the night passed quickly.

As day replaced night, the moon gradually ignited with flame, signaling the arrival of morning.

"Xiao Ye, let me use the body."

The identity shifted. Although the appearance remained the same, True Person Zhuiyue's gaze was noticeably sharper, devoid of Bai Ye's innocent naivety and ignorance.

"Greetings, True Person Zhuiyue." Although she had known for a while that the person before her was True Person Zhuiyue, Luo Hongxia still found it hard to connect the peerlessly beautiful woman in the portraits with this diminutive figure.

"Xiao Luo, right? Bowing is a rule set by Jiang Pingan and others in the imperial court. Our Immortal Palace doesn't need so many rules."

"Yes."

"Regarding your theft of herbs from the medicinal storeroom..."

"How can you call it theft? I founded this Immortal Palace; naturally, the herbs are also mine."

"It's true that you founded the Immortal Palace, but after you passed the position of Palace Master to True Person Jingchuan, ownership of the Immortal Palace was also transferred to True Person Jingchuan. Then, True Person Jingchuan passed it to the third Palace Master, the fourth Palace Master... all the way to my generation. Therefore, strictly speaking, all assets of this Immortal Palace are under my ownership. Your unauthorized use of medicinal ingredients is considered an unauthorized transfer of ownership and indeed constitutes theft."

"I... I'm the founder of the Immortal Palace!" True Person Zhuiyue weakly argued.

Immortal Fairy understood True Person Zhuiyue's point and once again took control of Lu Yang. "You're trying to say that the criminal law stipulates that ordinary elders over 75 years old don't have to go to jail, and cultivators can refer to this rule, right? You don't look like you're a hundred thousand years old. Did you freeze yourself in between? How old are you this year? Are you seventy-five thousand years old?"

"Stop, stop, I'll go to jail."

"Actually, your act of theft doesn't require jail time," Luo Hongxia kindly reminded her. "As long as you compensate the Immortal Palace and obtain its forgiveness, you can be sentenced to probation, or even be exempt from criminal punishment."

True Person Zhuiyue was overjoyed. "I knew, Xiao Luo, you're on my side." Compensating the Immortal Palace and obtaining its forgiveness would both be easy.

"However, your act of poisoning the Ancestral Laurel Tree caused severe harmful consequences and constitutes the crime of endangering public safety by releasing dangerous substances. Given that you're facing multiple charges, it might be difficult for you to receive probation."

"I..." True Person Zhuiyue, for the first time, suffered from not knowing the law.

Immortal Fairy kindly reminded her, "Not knowing the law is no excuse for breaking it."

Then Luo Hongxia turned to Immortal Fairy again. "Lu Yang, while your intrusion into the hot springs doesn't constitute a crime, it did disturb public order, which is an administrative offense. You'll need to be detained for a few days." Luo Hongxia had been looking for Lu Yang precisely because of this incident.

"But I was chasing someone at the time!"

"However, the situation at the time wasn't so urgent that you couldn't bypass the hot springs."

"I..." Immortal Fairy found that even knowing the law was useless.

Lu Yang put a hand to his forehead. He knew things would come to this; he'd just consider it a life experience.

"Don't worry, Xiao Yangzi," Immortal Fairy said with great responsibility, "how could I let you go to jail? This matter has nothing to do with you."

Lu Yang was surprised: "Fairy, are you going to...?"

"I, this fairy, will possess you for a few days and serve the jail time for you."