Scripture of Days Past

After speaking with the villagers, Chu Qiguang carried all the tied-up living corpses out of the cellar, then summoned Chitter and Chatter and instructed them to transport the living corpses to the basin. The two Chongming Birds made a few more trips, transporting a total of fifteen villagers, Jin Ji, and various resources such as tools, dried rations, and clothes to the basin.

The villagers were already quite obedient to Chu Qiguang, and with the two Chongming Birds keeping an eye on them in the basin, Chu Qiguang had no qualms leaving them there on their own to begin construction on the village.

Over the next few days, Chu Qiguang worked tirelessly, visiting a few other villages in Azure Sun County to resolve some fiend-related problems.

There was a sparrow fiend that wanted revenge on some villagers over mass deforestation, so it defecated on their heads every day. Chu Qiguang was able to convince it to come to his new fiend village, while the villagers simply thought that Chu Qiguang had killed it for them.

There was a goat fiend that had defected from the Great Qian Empire, and it posed as a mountain god, swindling an entire village into worshiping it and presenting it with daily offerings. Chu Qiguang slew the fiend, then took its body to the Daoist temple to be incinerated.

There was a cat fiend that had become a fervent follower of the Profound Origin Dao Lord. However, the Heavenly Master Religion didn’t accept fiends, so it tried to start a new competing religion. It was captured by Chu Qiguang and sent to the basin.

There was a fish fiend that was lashing out at nearby villagers for contaminating the river it lived in. Chu Qiguang called upon Chitter and Chatter to capture the fiend and transport it to the river in the basin.

There was a villager in South Gully Town who had gone insane after catching his wife in the midst of an affair. He underwent demonification and went on a killing rampage, but Chu Qiguang put him to rest.

There was also a group of bandits posing as fiends and committing crimes on the border between Azure Sun County and the neighboring Yong Province. They were tracked down and slain by Chu Qiguang as well.

After a few days of tireless efforts, almost all the fiends and demons that had previously been causing trouble in Azure Sun County had been removed in one way or another. As a result, Chu Qiguang was being lauded as a hero.

The Daoist priests of the Daoist temple and the bailiffs of the county office felt as if a massive burden had been lifted from their shoulders, and they were also very thankful to Chu Qiguang.

***

One morning, Chu Qiguang arrived at the county office with Chen Gang, carrying the head of the bandit leader.

He was welcomed by the new chief constable, Chen Feng, who handed him the reward of twenty taels of silver, then explained, ”The reward is supposed to be fifty taels of silver, and I can assure you that I haven’t taken even a single copper coin, but quite a few other people in the county office have taken a cut. I’m sure you know the rules by now.”

Indeed, Chu Qiguang had already become very familiar with the bureaucratic system of the Great Han Empire. The imperial court provided barely any funds to the local governments, so they all had to find their own ways to make money. As a result, corruption had become very prevalent and widely accepted.

Chu Qiguang took ten taels of silver, then gave the other half to Chen Feng and said, ”This is for you, Head Constable Chen. If you hadn’t provided those leads, I wouldn’t have been able to figure out that they were actually bandits posing as fiends.”

Chen Feng hurriedly refused, but Chu Qiguang insisted, and it was only upon Chu Qiguang’s repeated insistence that Chen Feng finally accepted the offering.

He had thought that Chu Qiguang would use his connections to the Wu Clan and the Daoist temple to demand even more money, but he was surprisingly much more easygoing than expected.

”You are an incredibly generous man, Young Master Chu,” Chen Feng praised. ”I must thank you on behalf of the people for everything that you’ve done for this county.”

Chu Qiguang exchanged a few compliments with Chen Feng, then finally revealed the true purpose of his visit.

”It’s only after hunting fiends these past few days that I’ve come to realize how difficult life is for the people. That’s why I want to ask you for a favor.”

”Go right ahead,” Chen Feng immediately prompted.

”Going forward, if you receive any tips about fiends and demons in our county, please inform me right away,” Chu Qiguang requested. ”After I take care of them, I’ll split the reward with you fifty-fifty.”

Chen Feng was ecstatic to hear this, but at the same time, he was rather perplexed. This simply sounded too good to be true. After mulling it over extensively, the only conclusion he could reach was that Chu Qiguang was simply different from everyone else, and that he was truly doing this solely out of heroism and for the sake of the people.

He’s a little young and naive, but his intentions certainly can’t be faulted.

After visiting Chen Feng, Chu Qiguang left the county office, and he said to Chen Gang, ”Chen Feng has agreed to send people to contact you as soon as he receives any tips about fiends or demons in the county. Make sure you always have some money on hand for compensatory bribes.”

”You can count on me, Brother Chu!” Chen Gang replied with an excited nod. ”We’ve managed to make the same arrangement with the Daoist temple as well, so we’ll be receiving tips from both the Daoist temple and the county office! On top of that, we also have the cat and dog fiends constantly scouring the county, so I’m sure no fiends will be able to slip through the cracks.”

At the moment, the Daoist temple’s Daoist priests had all their attention focused on the Wang Clan Village graveyard and the virtue treasury. In comparison, the money they earned from slaying fiends and demons was nothing more than pocket change, so they were more than happy to have Chu Qiguang take on those jobs for them.

Was this all a part of Brother Chu’s plans? I really do still have a lot to learn!

”Why’re you so excited?” Chu Qiguang asked. ”You need to calm down. We’re trying to hunt fiends to help the people. If you go around acting so excited about it, people are going to grow suspicious of our intentions.”

Chen Gang immediately put on a stoic facade, while Chu Qiguang shook his head in exasperation. Chen Gang was perfect as a bodyguard or henchman, but he really couldn’t be entrusted with much else.

As the two of them passed by the courtyard rented by Wang Cailiang, they noticed that it had been completely sealed up.

The public statement released by the Daoist temple claimed that Granny Sun was so distraught from losing her grandson that she underwent demonification before attacking Wang Cailiang and his servants. In the end, Daoist priests were able to arrive on the scene in time to save Wang Cailiang, but they still took him back to the Daoist temple for an exorcism.

Wang Chengwang was nearly scared to death after hearing the news. Thankfully, he now had connections to the Hao Clan and the Daoist temple through their joint business venture, so he was able to receive insider information that Wang Cailiang was only being held in the Daoist temple for an exorcism.

I’ve been so busy that I haven’t gotten around to it, but I really should ask Qiao Zhi about what this demonic tainting is, Chu Qiguang mused to himself.

Upon returning to his courtyard, Chu Qiguang was greeted by a group of sickly thin villagers, who appeared to have been waiting for him for quite some time. The villagers immediately surrounded Chu Qiguang and began talking over one another in their excitement.

”Young Master Chu! You got rid of that fiend on that mountain for us!”

”That goat fiend fooled all of us!”

”We brought you some eggs, Young Master Chu. It’s not worth much, but it’s all we have to offer.”

Chu Qiguang tried to refuse the basket of eggs from the grateful villagers, but he ultimately caved to their insistence and accepted their offering.

”I only did what was expected of me, everyone. If you encounter any more trouble involving fiends or demons, go and report it to the county office, and I’ll be sure to come and help you out whenever I can. Chen Gang, take everyone to a restaurant for a good meal. Don’t be stingy, make sure everyone leaves with full stomachs.”

The villagers gave a collective cheer, then showered Chu Qiguang with more praise and gratitude before leaving with Chen Gang.

After returning to the courtyard, Chu Qiguang picked up the napping Qiao Zhi in his arms and struck up a conversation. ”Is the demonic tainting really going to become more severe, Master Qiao? How bad will it become?”