Thumbing through the book Kael found the section he was looking for after a few minutes of grumbling in frustration. Skimming through various laws he found the section he was looking for.
Mortal Code - Mortals are bound by various codes created in their plane. The core and common attributes are; be benevolent, uphold justice, do not lie, be true to oneself, loyal, and courageous. Repay benefactors after receiving deeds of grace, and in the pursuit of bringing villains to justice do not overlook the concepts of forgiveness and compassion.
That is not too hard I suppose, but there were worse laws somewhere in here, let's see.
Heavenly laws - The Heavenly Laws are not upheld by people, but by the heavens itself. Most mortal laws reflect these in some way, but they are not truly discussed often in the lower realms. The below laws directly impact your Karma and can have immediate punishments handed down.
Immortals shall not kill mortals - Self defense is fine, but remember, tricking heaven by enraging a mortal emperor into attacking you with his army so that your mortal family can rule after you destroy it will not slip by. The intent of what is done is heavily mandated by the heavens
Thou shall give piety to one’s parents, teachers, and ancestors. - You will give respect to those who brought you into the world, supported you, and your ancestors who passed along your bloodline.
As you Sow so shall you Reap - The law of cause and effect on the scales of good and bad.
Thou shall take responsibility for one's actions - Everything you do and say should be followed through on. If you create a mistake you should fix it. If you give your word you should follow it.
Be true to oneself - Live life with a clear conscience. The more you stray from your true self the more impact it will have on your future life.
Do not waste the gifts of the heavens. - Squandering or wasteful use of heavens gifts is a term mortal use constantly. When someone is doing something silly, like taking the same herb for the 10th time, even though each use reduces effectiveness by 10%, this is the wasteful use of heavens gifts. This is a subtle law of heaven, and it is to protect the world from the blight of wasteful tyrants. Ore, stones, herbs, and any resource birthed by a world/plane are all the gifts of the heavens. If someone is truly wasteful they may eventually lower a tribulation.
Thou shall not lift oneself higher than the heavens itself. - Do not try to break the natural laws of the realms you are in. The most common form of this comes from alchemy and refining. High-level alchemy and refining will directly lower a tribulation upon the creation of the item as heaven attempts to destroy it. The heavens always give everything a chance to live though, so if the tribulation is defeated the heavens will accept whatever was created. Every cultivator will also reach this point when they step from the houtain to the xiantian (When one become an immortal from a mortal.)
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There was still a few more that seemed they might be useful to know.
Code of Jianghu - If one finds oneself walking the rivers and lakes the following morals should be adhered to.
When trading blows that do not involve a personal grudge, dirty tricks, and low blows should be avoided.
Innocent family members of your enemies should not be implicated by your enemies actions.
Respect elders according to their age and/or status.
Obey all of your master's teachings and commands.
Once you have acknowledged a master, do not accept the teachings of another without your master's approval.
As immortals should not kill or harm mortal cultivators for no reason, mortal cultivators should not kill or harm mortal non-cultivators for no reason.
You shall not sexually violate another.
You shall not have sexual relations with the dao companions of friends.
Your word is your bond.
After reading over and memorizing the laws and codes Kael thought, it is impossible people follow all that shit. Unless Earth was the most wretched hive of scum and villainy, I don’t buy it. The only thing more hardcore than those laws is the boy scout's code. I refuse to believe that most worlds are full of a bunch of brownies and Webelos. Although, now that I consider it, a civilization that uses girl scout cookies as currency could be acceptable.
Regardless, I am not buying it. People are too greedy and disingenuous. Also, in all those novels benefit reigns supreme over everything. It’s like the corporations on earth, shitting on the little people to make a buck. I’m going to assume all the worlds are like that. Wait, two of those were codes, not laws. The heavenly laws also talked about karma, which appears to exist, and about punishments being immediately handed down. This needs to be researched more.
Starting back at the table of contents he began to search for punishments, karma, and laws. After 15 minutes of jumping to a page, to be redirected to another page, only to be redirected back to the first page, Kael finally decided to check the index. Scanning through he was annoyed at his previous waste of time as it took only moments to find, Heavenly Punishments - Pg 1,886.
Going to page 1,886 he began to read the section on heavenly punishments, which was long and detailed. After reading a section on the Fires of Karma, and how an extreme evildoer would have their body and soul reduced to nothingness, Kael decided these were rules he should not break. Interestingly he found that all of the punishments also reduced the punished person's negative karma and burned their positive karma as part of the balance. He may not have found anything about how to gain positive karma, but still, this was something he kept even more firmly in mind than the heavenly laws.
After finishing everything, Kael felt like he had benefited from the knowledge gained. However, he was still confused while thinking, Those laws kind of make sense, but making your grandpa into a ring is clearly a violation of heavens laws! What the hell, this book digs pits for you to step into! Whatever, I just won’t buy a ring of my grandpa and won’t worry.