Chapter 17

General people would think Gan Tian looks more like her mother Gui Taiyin, but that's just what general people think. Let Gan Tian speak for herself; she feels she is more like her dear father Gan Cheng. Looking like her mother Gui Taiyin is merely formal resemblance, while resembling her father Gan Cheng is spiritual resemblance.

Of course, if you said that out loud, nobody would believe it... as elusive and infinitely distant as the blue sky and white clouds, Jiang Jun, and this little sweet bean Gan Tian, look alike?

One can only say stereotypes are deadly! No matter what others think, Gan Cheng truly is a most filial father to his daughter. Gan Tian has two dimples at the corners of her mouth; this is taking after Gan Cheng—whenever Gan Cheng laughs deeply, Gan Tian feels as if she is looking in a mirror.

In front of Gan Tian, there is no Jiang Jun at all—just a loving, playful dear father.

Gan Tian pressed her knees together and obediently sat on the small stool placed on the footboard before the main hall's great seat—though such a place doesn't seem like it would have a small stool, but since Jiang Jun said there should be one, naturally there is.

As for Jiang Jun himself, he took a cotton towel and, being a most filial father, wiped Gan Tian's hair.

Although there are many ways to dry hair quickly, Jiang Jun still used this most time-consuming and labor-intensive method.

"Tiantian, don't move around! Dad is wiping your hair..." Gan Cheng nagged.

Gan Tian furrowed her brows: "Dad, hurry up! Isn't there a method where you just wave your hand and dry the hair?"

Gan Cheng laughed helplessly: "There's no such method... even if there are some spells that can dry hair, they can't be used on you—you're not allowed to look at these right now!"

Gan Cheng, the good father, pressed down the small shoulders of the silly maiden at home: "Wait another year! Wait another year and you'll learn to use your spiritual power. Then Dad will teach you all the spells he knows, and you'll be able to dry your hair quickly—though, as Dad saying, I still like slowly wiping Tiantian's hair like this."

"Tiantian was so affectionate toward Dad when she was little, don't you remember? Nowadays she spends less and less time obediently staying by Dad's side." Gan Cheng, with difficulty, had just gotten Gan Tian's hair half-dry, then took the comb handed by the maid and slowly combed Gan Tian's hair.

Lord Jiang Jun certainly isn't skilled at this, but because he was truly earnest and attentive, in the end he didn't pull out a single hair of Gan Tian's.

Setting the comb aside, Gan Cheng asked the attendant standing nearby with hands lowered: "What about the person who was just brought over?"

His voice sounded somewhat absent-minded, and indeed it was; Gan Cheng, while selecting something on a tray held by a maid on the other side, finally had his eyes light up and chose a pair of hibiscus jade hairpins. Compared to others, there's nothing particularly special about them, but the color matches Gan Tian's pink dress today very well.

Gan Tian's hair was parted down the middle into two sections, and Gan Cheng tied them into a pair of low ponytails, then fastened the hibiscus jade hairpins—for Jiang Jun, braiding hair is something he can't do; ten years ago he humbly learned from a hair-combing maid, but it was useless. Those dexterous hands capable of forming any hand seal are just for show, completely useless!

So... a hairstyle like low twin ponytails became Gan Tian's common choice.

Gan Tian actually thinks this is pretty good; compared to various tight scalp buns, she's still more accustomed to this.

Moreover, what's the big deal about hairstyles? A good-looking person looks fine even with loose, disheveled hair.

"Does it look nice?" Gan Tian turned and presented herself as a flower stand for her dear father to see.

Gan Cheng couldn't be more pleased; he clapped until his palms hurt, saying, "Which family's little fairy can compare to my Tiantian?"

"Jiang Jun, the River God of the Washing Silk River has been temporarily detained; knowing you wanted to personally interrogate him, they didn't send him to Lord Liu's office." The attendant replied in full detail.

Lord Liu is one of Gan Cheng's aides, specifically responsible for punishment and judicial affairs.

Gan Cheng grunted, then took Gan Tian's hand: "Come on... Tiantian, let's go check out the 'bad guys'. According to what I've heard, they've done many bad things and have caused you trouble, right? When the time comes, you can decide how to punish them, okay?"

"Huh? Me?" Gan Tian pondered a moment, then shook her head: "No... I don't know the 'Immortal Rules', so it's better to punish them however their crimes deserve—Dad surely knows how the Immortal Rules are stipulated, right?"

"Of course!" Gan Cheng answered with ringing conviction... in fact, he was feeling guilty.

Immortal Rules and such... back when he took the celestial official exam, he had memorized them, but so much time has passed that he hardly uses them anymore and has long forgotten them. Moreover, even if he hadn't forgotten, they'd be useless—his celestial official exam was from nearly two hundred years ago, an old almanac, and the Immortal Rules have been revised quickly in recent years; who knows what they're like now!

To be frank, the Immortal Rules formulated by celestial immortals often don't work at all here among earth immortals! Celestial immortals aren't necessarily nobler than earth immortals—earth immortals, historically speaking, have an even longer lineage, so they've also left behind many things that can be called 'customary law', some of which even conflict with the Immortal Rules set by celestial immortals. In such a situation, earth immortals doing as they please has long become customary.

But how strange—why would the Purple Star Emperor send the captured persons to Dad's place? Gan Tian lowered her head and kicked her feet, a little puzzled.

Gan Cheng smiled without speaking—generally speaking, when celestial immortals capture immortals who have broken the Immortal Rules, they definitely handle it themselves. But if the offender is an earth immortal? Then the matter becomes a bit more complicated, to be handled case by case. This time, out of consideration for the power of the Yangtze River lineage's water deities, they would normally return it to the water god's own household to handle "family affairs".

But normally they wouldn't send it to Gan Cheng's place; the Washing Silk River is a tributary of the Shaking Marsh, and by rights sending it to the Water Lord of the Shaking Marsh would be enough. The fact that it was sent to him clearly shows someone knew the full story and deliberately sent it here just to vent anger.

He didn't really want to say these things to Gan Tian, so he changed the subject: "Tiantian, do you really not want to punish them yourself?"

"No." Gan Tian shook her head like a rattle drum: "This shouldn't be my doing! They should be punished according to their faults."

Gan Cheng stroked his daughter's soft little ears and smiled.

This is good... immortals like them are often not destroyed by external force; their destruction comes from their own lack of restraint—power, all kinds of power, there's simply too much of it, and many times they can do as they please. Even if they are merely ordinary immortals, they have the power of life and death over mortals.

After holding such a role for a long time, a person's disposition will change. At first it's just a little bit of wantonness, seemingly insignificant. But little by little it accumulates, and when the desire becomes too strong without any dam, they run wild.

Being unable to control oneself is self-destruction in itself!

And his daughter, even if those around her indulge her, always retains a principle that to others looks foolish or strange—this itself doesn't help in seeking the Dao or seeking power, but it allows one, before attaining the true Dao, not to be destroyed or warped by one's own excessive desires.

The River God and the River God's grandmother of the Washing Silk River were detained together, along with several aides, all cultivators, so they were all sent over. Gan Tian recognized two of them: one was the scholar who collected gift money at the gate, and the other was the officiant of the wedding ceremony.

In Gan Cheng's explanation, Gan Tian learned that the cultivation world rarely has the death penalty—probably because people with cultivation talent are simply too few. Originally lacking personnel, execution is seen by many as a tremendous waste! Still, "death may be avoided, but living punishment is inescapable"; some punishments are not necessarily lighter than execution.

However, the problem with the Washing Silk River's River God is that he is truly very cunning!

They clearly just wanted to gather wealth, so why make things so complicated? To lower any possible risk.

Since ancient times there has been a tradition of deities marrying—so-called marriage is actually a beautified way of speaking. In fact, it's just ordinary people seeking divine blessings by offering sacrifices; the offerings contain everything, and naturally they also include living people as the "bride".

This tradition continues to the present; although minor deities are no longer allowed to privately demand sacrifices without cause, if ordinary people sincerely wish to offer sacrifices, it seems no one would refuse.

In short, it belongs to a large gray area of operational space, and the Washing Silk River's River God is exploiting exactly that.

Everyone knows he is extorting the people of Cocoon Town, but left no evidence. At the same time, he didn't demand sacrifices, but said he intended to marry—the Immortal Rules also don't prohibit immortals marrying mortals.

Since it's a marriage, the bride brings along some dowry, and wedding guests give gift money... these really can't be considered faults.

This is like officials who, after taking office, always like to celebrate longevity, take concubines, and then hold grand celebrations... could their subordinates possibly pretend not to notice? Certainly they'd have to give gifts, and the gifts couldn't be too meager!

Everyone knows this counts as corruption, but if it weren't for being toppled over some other offense, this kind of "corruption" would forever remain merely theoretical, and the parties involved wouldn't be punished for it.

"So this can't be regulated?" Gan Tian wrinkled her nose, feeling this was too dark!

Gan Cheng stroked his daughter's ears again, then deliberately gave a deep, inscrutable smile: "It's not that it can't be regulated—wherever one passes, there are traces... those who do such foolish things are even less able to leave no trace; saying there's no evidence proving coercion is actually not true—it's just that investigating is a bit troublesome."

The Washing Silk River's River God and company were tightly bound by the Immortal-binding Rope; hearing footsteps approach, they all lifted their heads—their faces were ashen! If at first they still harbored a lucky hope, thinking they'd cleaned up neatly and would be fine, now they know fear.

They were actually sent straight to Jiang Jun of the Cloud Dream Marsh! Although we don't know what's inside, for them such a "small matter" actually requires Jiang Jun's attention. But one can guess, this isn't a good omen.

"It's you!" The grandmother lifted her head and saw Gan Tian, exclaiming in shock: "How could it be you!?"

Gan Tian made an "mm" sound, the corners of her mouth curving up: "It's the 'River God's grandmother'! How could I not be here? My family lives here."

The River God's grandmother stared blankly; after a while she finally understood what was happening, and her face grew even more ashen.

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Thanks to the little angels who cast domineering votes or poured nutrient solution for me during the period from 2020-04-21 09:00:55 to 2020-04-22 07:42:47~

Thanks to the little angels who poured nutrient solution: I am a lucky little cookie 5 bottles; cute dumpling 2 bottles; phoenix flower blooms again 1 bottle;

Thank you very much for everyone's support; I will continue to strive!