Demon-Slaying Bureau

Biodata

Background

The Demon-Slaying Bureau was founded by the Great Zhou Dynasty's founding ancestor after he unified the realm. It gathered extraordinary individuals to hunt demons and monsters, which had previously devastated human lands and fed on humans. Its creation is credited with driving the surviving demons into deep mountains and restoring order to the realm 1.

The Bureau's prison is a particularly restricted installation. It is described as the Bureau's “core heartland,” unknown even to most members of the imperial clan 1.

Headquarters and Prison

The Bureau is accessed through a side hall in the imperial palace bearing its name. A split floor opens into a hidden passage leading underground 1.

• The prison lies one hundred zhang beneath the imperial palace, protected above by palace guards and inner-court experts and below by Demon-Slaying Bureau demon slayers 1.
• Its prison contains demons and monsters captured alive rather than immediately executed 1 2.
• Prison cells use immense iron doors, mechanisms, steel spikes, and chains anchored into walls to restrain dangerous captives 2.
• The Scale-Bone Snake Demon, a fourth-level Acquired Realm demon responsible for the deaths of one hundred thousand people in Green Mountain Town, is one documented prisoner 2.

Organization and Recruitment

The Bureau includes demon slayers and prison menials. Demon slayers pursue and capture hostile demons, while prison menials perform routine care and resource-extraction duties within the dungeon 1 2.

Menial posts in the prison are reserved for descendants of individuals who rendered meritorious service to the Bureau. Zhou Ping'an was admitted because his father, Zhou Bu'er, died pursuing a great demon while serving as a demon slayer 1 4.

• Zhou Bu'er — Former Demon-Slaying Bureau demon slayer; died eighteen years earlier while pursuing a great demon 1.
• Zhang San — Eighth-level Acquired Realm martial artist who supervises Zhou Ping'an and manages the Scale-Bone Snake Demon 1 2.
• Ma Er — Bureau member who provides Zhou Ping'an with a uniform, extra Demon Blood Pills, and advice concerning demon techniques 1 3.
• Nie Wushuang — An errand runner and son of the Marquis of Yong'an. Despite his status, he cannot obtain a prison-menial post because he lacks the required family service record 4.

Prison Practices

Captured demons are maintained as Bureau assets. Their blood can be harvested for cultivation, while their long lives and historical knowledge make them potential sources of information on hidden spiritual medicines 2 3.

The Bureau's standard handling instructions for the Scale-Bone Snake Demon require two large barrels of blood to be drawn each month and food to be provided every two days, provided the demon is not starved to death 2. Zhang San and Ma Er caution Zhou Ping'an not to kill the demon prematurely because it may still yield further valuable information 4.

Equipment and Materials

• Demon-Slaying Bureau Menial Handbook — A handbook issued to new prison menials. It records the Bureau's history and includes the Qi Nourishing Art 1.
• Qi Nourishing Art — A foundational cultivation method compiled by generations of Bureau experts from techniques across the realm. It is a Bureau secret not passed outside the organization 1.
• Black menial uniform — Lightweight, breathable black clothing issued to prison workers 1.
• Demon Blood Pills — High-value Bureau medicinal pills; each is said to be worth one hundred taels of gold, with black-market prices reaching a thousand taels 1.
• Black iron keys and doors — Used to secure prison cells containing demon captives 2.

Story Role

Zhou Ping'an enters the Bureau after presenting a demon-inscribed token left by his mother to the manager of the Treasure Pavilion. The manager brings him through the imperial palace and into the secret prison, where Zhang San recognizes him as Zhou Bu'er's son and accepts him as a new menial 1.

The Bureau provides Zhou Ping'an with shelter, a cultivation method, Demon Blood Pills, and a position overseeing the Scale-Bone Snake Demon. Zhang San then uses the prison's demon-blood resources to initiate Zhou Ping'an into body cultivation, allowing him to sense spiritual energy despite his blocked meridians and leaking dantian 1 2 3.

As a prison menial, Zhou Ping'an extracts a thousand-year ginseng location from the captive snake demon. Zhang San retrieves the spiritual medicine, and Zhou Ping'an uses it alongside Demon Blood Pills and the Dragon Transformation Art to reach the first level of the Acquired Realm after one year 4.