Scripture of Days Past

Chu Qiguang put on his mask before entering the village with Chen Gang, and his first impression was that the village was much cleaner and more organized than before.

This was a very welcome change. In the past, many of the fiends had urinated and defecated wherever they pleased to mark their territory, leaving the entire village shrouded in a pervasive, foul stench.

Not only was this extremely unhygienic, but it also increased the risk of plagues and diseases. To combat the problem, Chu Qiguang had ordered Qiao Zhi to launch a new hygiene campaign in the village, which included the construction of public toilets and prohibitions against public urination, defecation, and territorial markings.

Of course, having come from a modern society on Earth, Chu Qiguang was accustomed to maintaining higher standards of personal hygiene. However, when the hygiene campaign was first introduced, it was met with a great deal of resistance from the fiends of the village.

In their eyes, public urination and defecation were both highly efficient and a fundamental right, whereas holding it in until they reached a public toilet was a waste of time and a violation of their basic rights.

They collectively insisted that public urination and defecation were fiendish traditions that had been honored since ancient times, and they implored Master Omniscient to respect their rights.

Initially, Chu Qiguang tried to reason with them, but that didn’t work at all. Even after receiving an education, these fiends were still fiends at heart, and some habits were not so easy to reform.

Thus, Chu Qiguang heeded Qiao Zhi’s advice and adopted a new approach to reasoning with the fiends in the most effective way possible: by beating them into submission.

At the same time, he introduced a system of punishments and rewards.

Those who violated the newly implemented hygiene rules received different punishments based on the severity of their transgressions, while fiends who reported such violations were rewarded.

In addition, he instructed Qiao Zhi to distribute a large amount of propaganda promoting the benefits of using public toilets and maintaining good personal hygiene.

Under Qiao Zhi’s strict supervision, these measures were swiftly and forcefully implemented throughout the village. As the village grew cleaner, the fiends gradually began upholding the rules themselves without the need for supervision.

At that moment, a cat fiend who had only recently arrived in the village crouched down on the street to relieve itself, only to be immediately confronted by Old Tu, the dog fiend.

”Don’t go spraying your piss and shit everywhere! Can’t you see how clean this place is? Hold it in and use one of the public toilets like everyone else!”

Chu Qiguang was very pleased with the cleanliness of Hidden Fiend Village. As he and Chen Gang passed through the plaza at the center of the village, he saw several fiends fitting muzzles onto a group of newly-arrived living corpses.

However, Chu Qiguang could see that a few of the fiends weren’t taking the task seriously. He turned to Chen Gang with a displeased expression and said, ”Looks like some of the fiends still haven’t learned to show the living corpses of the village the respect they deserve. Those ones over there used to be labor reform fugitives, right? Judging by their attitude, the labor reform system is still lacking.

”Before these labor reform fugitives are reintegrated into society, we have to make sure that the reform has actually been effective. Otherwise, a rotten apple will remain a rotten apple. Living corpses form the backbone of our village’s labor force, so the way one treats them says a great deal about one’s values. This is not something to be taken lightly.”

”Yes, Brother Chu,” Chen Gang replied.

He didn’t fully understand everything Chu Qiguang had just said, but he did his best to commit as much of it to memory as possible so he could reflect on it later.

Among the labor reform fugitives, Chu Qiguang spotted the fox fiend, Maiden Thirteen, and her sister.

She had been standing around with a bored, disinterested look on her face, but her eyes instantly lit up when she spotted Chu Qiguang. She rushed toward him dragging her sister along with her.

As she approached, she revealed her fiery-red tail and urged her sister to do the same.

Her sister’s expression instantly stiffened, and she protested reluctantly, ”Why should I? All powerful fiend kings strive to attain human forms. There’s a very good chance that Master Omniscient is a Dao Comprehension-state cultivator, and he clearly likes to present himself in his human form, so surely he would prefer to see us in our human forms as well.”

”You never know what these powerful figures are into,” Maiden Thirteen disagreed. ”I heard that Master Omniscient really likes grooming cats. Maybe he’ll take a liking to our furry tails as well.”

At Maiden Thirteen’s insistence, her sister reluctantly revealed her tail as well. In contrast to Maiden Thirteen’s large, fiery-red tail, her sister’s tail was small and white, resembling a ball of white yarn.

”My King! Have you finally come out of seclusion?” Maiden Thirteen asked in a warm and enthusiastic voice.

Chu Qiguang nodded, then asked, ”How’ve you been doing lately?”

”I’ve been doing splendidly!” Maiden Thirteen replied. ”This village is a prosperous safe haven for all fiends, and I want to do everything in my power to make it an even better place.”

As she spoke, Maiden Thirteen was doing her best to flaunt her seductive figure, and her fiery-red tail swayed conspicuously behind her.

Chu Qiguang was rather intrigued by the sight of the sisters’ tails.

I didn’t know fox fiends could still have such large tails even in their human forms.

Sensing Chu Qiguang’s interest in her tail, Maiden Thirteen immediately turned to the side, showing off more of her tail along with her voluptuous bottom. Almost all the male fiends in the vicinity stopped dead in their tracks and gawked at her seductive display.

Even Chen Gang felt a rush of blood to his lower body, and he hurriedly looked away to suppress his lustful urges.

However, Chu Qiguang’s interest in her tail was nothing more than a cursory one, and he asked, ”How long has it been since you left the labor reform class?”

Maiden Thirteen’s expression involuntarily darkened slightly at the mention of the labor reform program.

”Half a month,” she replied

As part of the labor reform program, she had been forced to spend all day reading and performing manual labor while living with a group of rugged and vulgar countryside fiends. It has been a truly unpleasant experience.

”What work are you doing in the village right now?” Chu Qiguang asked.

”Right now, my sister and I are responsible for taking the planters from the fiends to the blood pool to be replenished,” Maiden Thirteen replied.

It seemed like a waste for a fifth-state martial artist like her to be performing such a menial task, so Chu Qiguang asked, ”Have you learned maths yet?”