The Prefectural Office

In the early morning, the snow in the Jiang Family courtyard had yet to fully melt.

At first light, Jiang Qiaoqiao left home and went door to door along the street, asking the neighbors whether they had any old clothes that needed mending.

Before long, Jiang Qiaoqiao noticed that the aunties were acting a little strange. They were being far too enthusiastic toward her.

Normally, the aunties from each household pitied the two siblings and treated her well, often asking after their welfare.

But this time, they were overly warm, and kept beating around the bush as they curiously asked what identity Xu Suwen had.

Naturally, Jiang Qiaoqiao did not know. Seeing that she would not say, the aunties immediately smiled and said she was getting older too, and that they had a distant nephew...

Jiang Qiaoqiao was so frightened that she grabbed the clothes and ran off in a puff of smoke.

Jiang Yun naturally knew nothing of this.

He had meditated through another night. Though he had accumulated a meager amount of Magic Power within his body,

it was doubtful that even a single Lightning Palm Strike could be cast with it.

So he had to make other preparations. After all, an Evil Haunt was hidden within the prefectural office. If he encountered it again as he had last time, he would not be left flustered and helpless.

Jiang Yun busied himself preparing all sorts of things.

First, he found Uncle Wang, who sold live poultry, and said with a smile, "Morning, Uncle Wang. I want a rooster."

The middle-aged man, covered in feathers as he squatted outside his shop slaughtering live fowl, looked up and grinned. "Oh, Jiang Yun. One rooster, right? Fifteen copper coins."

Jiang Yun's eyes widened. He had not expected a single rooster to cost so much.

He felt the few dozen copper coins he had taken from the cabinet at home, forced out a smile, and said, "Then I only want the blood, not the chicken. Two copper coins should do it."

Uncle Wang froze. Chicken blood was usually drained away during slaughter and was generally worthless. He asked doubtfully, "What do you want chicken blood for?"

Jiang Yun did not answer. Somewhat pained, he counted out two copper coins and handed them over. "Save all your rooster blood for me from now on."

He was not a miser. On the contrary, in his previous life, he had been quite generous. Whenever he was short of money, he would simply grab a handful from his own temple's donation box.

The elders at the temple had turned a blind eye to it. After all, once they died, the Daoist Temple would belong to Jiang Yun anyway.

Later, after the young monk from the neighboring temple heard Jiang Yun talk about it, he followed suit and started grabbing handfuls from the donation box whenever he felt like it.

The monk who had eaten meat at every meal ended up eating vegetarian fare for quite a long time.

In short, he was not the penny-pinching sort. But now, he truly had no money. These copper coins had all been earned by his younger sister.

Jiang Yun had no face to be generous.

"Uncle Qi, doing carpentry work? Got an unused ink line? Lend me one."

"Uncle Miao, do you have any unused chopsticks at your restaurant? Preferably ones diners have used a lot."

"Aunt Huang, open up. It's me. Is my uncle home?"

"Did the trees Uncle chopped down include any hundred-year-old ones?"

After freeloading all the way down the street, Jiang Yun finally gathered a pile of miscellaneous items.

By the time he returned home, dawn had only just broken. He immediately began arranging the items.

Daoist Arts had one greatest difference from the Buddhist School, the Confucian School, and other cultivation systems.

Perhaps it was to spread Subduing Demons and Exterminating Devils among the people, or perhaps it was a matter of making the techniques widely available. Let that be the term for it, at least.

In any case, the Daoist School possessed certain methods that even ordinary people with no spells whatsoever could use.

Though they were not even worthy of being called beginner-level techniques, they gave ordinary people means to deal with Evil Haunts. Perhaps these methods were not particularly powerful, and could only handle Demons and Monsters of limited strength.

But that was already astonishing enough.

Thinking of this, Jiang Yun could not help secretly wondering, Perhaps this was one reason Demons and Monsters sprang up everywhere after the Daoist Sect disappeared?

Just as he finished most of his preparations, Qian Bochou's hearty laughter came from outside the courtyard. "Brother Jiang!"

When Jiang Yun opened the courtyard gate, Qian Bochou was practically glowing with joy, every step brimming with force and vigor.

"What about the task Lord Xu assigned?"

Jiang Yun thought for a moment before saying, "We found the demon we dealt with that day."

Qian Bochou sucked in a breath and pointed at his own nose. "Don't tell me we're supposed to deal with the Evil Spirit?"

Jiang Yun shook his head. "Not exactly."

Qian Bochou let out a sigh of relief. All that talk yesterday about climbing mountains of blades and plunging into vats of boiling oil had merely been him imitating the dramas and spouting nonsense.

"But it's close."

"Huh? Fight a monster? Me?" Qian Bochou pointed at himself.

Jiang Yun quickly told Qian Bochou the general details of their task.

Though Xu Suwen did not want too many people knowing about this, there was no way to keep it hidden if Qian Bochou was meant to help.

After hearing everything, Qian Bochou sucked in a sharp breath and could not help asking, "That monster is hiding in our prefectural office? Damn it, hurry, back to the prefectural office!"

With that, Qian Bochou turned to leave. Jiang Yun hurriedly slung his cloth bag over his shoulder and jogged after him. "Hey, Constable Qian, don't rush off. Wait for me."

A fast horse was parked outside the courtyard. Jiang Yun held onto Qian Bochou from behind as the horse galloped all the way.

The ride jolted Jiang Yun until his insides felt thoroughly scrambled.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa."

After stopping the horse, Qian Bochou wore a grim expression and led Jiang Yun into the prefectural office.

"Constable Qian, why are you here so early today?"

"Constable Qian..."

Along the way, the clerks in the prefectural office greeted Constable Qian, but he ignored them all.

This was Jiang Yun's first time entering the prefectural office. It was enormous, truly enormous!

Following Constable Qian, he passed through courtyards large and small that stretched on in an endless expanse, covering a vast area and boasting beautiful scenery.

Flowers and green grass had been planted everywhere, along with unusual trees and lush plants. Butterflies and insects fluttered about.

He had no idea why Qian Bochou was in such a hurry, so he could only follow him into a small courtyard.

Upon entering a little room in the courtyard, Qian Bochou opened a half-meter-long chest. Only after seeing the glittering pile of silver inside did he finally let out a heavy sigh of relief.

"Good thing the money's still here."

"Huh?"

Jiang Yun, who had rushed all the way here through wind and dust, froze. So this bastard had been worried about his own money?

Holding his money chest, Qian Bochou said, "Don't laugh at me, brother. This is all I own."

"Why don't you keep your money at home? Why leave it at the office?"

Qian Bochou replied as though it were only natural, "I live at the office, so of course my money stays here."

Jiang Yun glanced at the chest in his arms. "You've skimmed quite a bit of money over the years, haven't you? You still can't afford a house?"

"Don't mention it." Qian Bochou waved a hand, a strange expression on his face as he sighed. "Back then, I was young and high-spirited. I became the youngest constable in Nanzhou Prefecture, riding high on the spring breeze."

"And then?"

"Then I married one wife and took seven concubines."

Jiang Yun was puzzled. "Enjoying the blessings of having all the wives you could want—isn't that a good thing? What does it have to do with moving into the prefectural office?"

"I couldn't handle it, truly couldn't." Shame appeared on Qian Bochou's face. "I had just gone to sleep in Third's room when Fourth came knocking before long."

"By the time I finished in Fourth's room, Seventh started acting coy again."

"Gritting my teeth, I barely managed another round with Seventh."

"I thought I could finally get some sleep."

"Then my principal wife sent someone over."

"In one year, I lost thirty pounds. I could barely lift my saber anymore."

"With no other choice, I hid out in the prefectural office. Only then did things quiet down a little."

Listening to Qian Bochou, Jiang Yun was left somewhat dumbstruck. He shook his head, came back to himself, and said, "Enough. Let's handle the Important Matter."

"Which important people live in the prefectural office?"

"Those who live here are probably the most suspicious."

Qian Bochou pointed at himself. "I live in the prefectural office. I'm the biggest shot."

"The officials all have homes of their own and do not normally stay at the prefectural office. Unless there's something major going on, they usually only come by in the afternoon, near nightfall, to make a round."

"Take me around first," Jiang Yun said.

"You really want to catch a monster?"

"Doesn't Constable Qian want to advance?"

Qian Bochou took a deep breath. After hesitating for a moment, he could only grit his teeth and lead Jiang Yun around the entire prefectural office.

Jiang Yun took out some Chicken Blood, smeared it over his eyelids, and looked around.

After making the rounds, the strange thing was that there was not the slightest sign of anything amiss anywhere in the prefectural office.

There was no Demonic Qi, no Evil Qi.

Jiang Yun was puzzled. That Evil Haunt was not particularly strong. It could not possibly conceal its Evil Qi so perfectly. If it was in the prefectural office, it would definitely reveal a flaw.

They made nearly two full circuits of the prefectural office without finding anything.

"Constable Qian, is there anywhere we haven't gone?" Jiang Yun asked.

"No." Constable Qian shook his head. "I've shown you everywhere."

"The prison?" Jiang Yun asked. He had not seen any cells during their tour.

Logically speaking, a place like the prefectural office should have a prison.

"There is... there is an underground dungeon." Qian Bochou suddenly began to stammer. "But I didn't bring the key. How about we go another day?"

"We go now," Jiang Yun said. "Of course, if Constable Qian is unwilling, I can only invite Miss Xu over."

"Fine, fine."

Watching Qian Bochou's strange behavior, Jiang Yun followed behind him.

A measure of wariness rose in his heart. Could there be something wrong with Qian Bochou too?