Ci Prefecture governed six counties and was also home to the Cizhou Branch Censorate.
Under Great Liang's official system, this place had a Recording Clerk Military Adviser from the Night Pacification Bureau and a Judicial Inspector Thousand-Household Officer from the Imperial Demon Hunters stationed here.
The county commandants usually only handled public security. When it came to slaying demons and capturing ghosts, the Night Pacification Bureau and the Imperial Demon Hunters were the ones to look to.
The Night Pacification Bureau contained cultivators who had pledged themselves to the imperial court.
The Imperial Demon Hunters were the court-bred, true-blue iron fists for catching demons.
The two sides regarded each other as rivals, yet also cooperated quite often.
Today, Shi Chibao, the Judicial Inspector Thousand-Household Officer of the Ci Prefecture Judicial Investigation Office, sent his men to invite Adviser Liu of the Night Pacification Bureau over to discuss matters.
The Judicial Inspectorate Office was not large. Most of it lay underground, with seven levels in all, suppressing every sort of demon and ghoul. The yamen above ground was low and squat, showing none of its former majesty.
Shi Chibao possessed the cultivation of the Confucian School's Sixth Grade. He had once studied under Yuelu Mountain, and his Imperial Map Sacred Judgment Art was exceptionally pure. Within the Imperial Demon Hunter system, he was regarded as one of the rising talents most likely to challenge the Fifth Grade.
He was not tall, wore a long beard, and usually favored plain blue robes. He looked like a middle-aged scholar, utterly unlike a cruel official who held the power of life and death over an entire region.
Behind the main hall of the Thousand-Household Office hung a Rising Sun Over the Sea painting. Above it was a plaque made of dark yinwood, bearing the four characters: "Day Patrol, Night Roaming."
The hall was filled with bookshelves, with a small area enclosed in the center. Several Imperial Demon Hunters clad in Kylin Robes were examining case files and drafting dossiers there.
Case files lay atop a heavy rosewood desk. Beside Shi Chibao sat a cup of freshly brewed Longjing tea. After taking a sip of the sweet, lingering tea, he asked the Hundred-Household Officer beside him, who was approving documents.
"Did you use torture on the water monster captured a few days ago?"
"The water monster of Chen Family Village was of the Seventh Grade. It posed as a deity and demanded young boys and girls. We dispatched men to capture it. It was a carp that had cultivated Buddhist methods into a spirit, with a fragmentary Divine Register within its body. Its bones have been pierced and its soul shackled. The day before yesterday, we received an official order from Jiankang to execute it on the spot. Torture has already been administered. The fragmentary Divine Register dissipated and returned to heaven and earth. We obtained one demon core and several other miscellaneous items, all of which have been placed in the treasury."
Shi Chibao nodded.
"Hundred-Household Officer Li, select a few capable men from among your Banner Officers and personally make a trip to Yongning County. There are demon cultists trafficking children and refining magical artifacts. It appears to be the work of witchcraft and curses. Be extra careful on this trip. Report to me at once if anything changes."
The Hundred-Household Officer surnamed Li rose, cupped his fists to Shi Chibao in salute, accepted the order, and departed.
The Imperial Demon Hunters had been established during the early founding years of the Liang dynasty. Back when the founding Taizu Emperor began his enterprise, he had an exceedingly elite guard under his command.
Seeing that the great age of the Human Path was declining and the times were turbulent, he consolidated them into a force dedicated to investigating and hunting all manner of demons, monsters, and ghosts, while also overseeing intelligence gathering and information collation.
After operating for so many years, they had established the Northern and Southern Offices in Jiankang City, as well as Judicial Inspector Thousand-Household Offices in every prefecture, secretly patrolling all incidents in the prefectures and counties.
They could be considered the most elite and loyal force under the Liang Emperor.
For generations, Shi Chibao's family had served in the Imperial Demon Hunters. He had been diligent and conscientious in his post at the Ci Prefecture Judicial Investigation Office, and overall, he had not allowed any major disturbances to arise within his jurisdiction.
Yet there was something on Shi Chibao's mind today that prevented him from feeling at ease.
The problem still lay with Guobei County and Shanyin County.
Early that morning, he had received two official dispatches. The first came from the county commandant of Shanyin County, while the other had been sent by the county magistrate of Guobei County.
Guobei County's document was simple enough. It was a self-congratulatory report from the county magistrate, claiming that under his governance, the various ghosts and deities in the county had greatly diminished, presumably all having moved elsewhere.
The county was now as tranquil as a calm sea and clear river. Apart from a few old ghosts that had lingered for years and were still putting up a cornered beast's resistance, there were no other problems for the time being.
However, the county's resources were limited, so he requested the Imperial Demon Hunters' assistance in conducting an on-site inspection to determine whether some other change had occurred.
Shi Chibao treated Guobei County's document as nothing but fart.
The Confucian School's Sixth Grade possessed the Son of Heaven Aura Observation Art. At close range, it could observe changes in vital auras and find a means to defeat an enemy; at a distance, it could observe the changes in mountains, rivers, vegetation, clouds, and mists to determine future developments.
Killing Intent hung across the skies of Guobei County, its color dark and profound. This was precisely the sign of yin energy condensing and the Ghost Path flourishing.
Most likely, a few old ghosts in Guobei County had happened to leave to visit friends and relatives, and the county magistrate had claimed the credit for himself.
Throughout the entire document, he had not even stated which vicious ghosts he had slain or which old ghosts he had driven away. He was clearly muddling right and wrong.
Shi Chibao had developed a pair of iron eyes through years of official correspondence. With one glance, he saw the problem within.
The other letter came from Shanyin County.
This letter, however, forced Shi Chibao to take it seriously.
First, Shanyin County's magistrate was not in the county. The letter was jointly signed by the county assistant magistrate, the registrar, and the county commandant.
This meant the matter had reached the point where the three of them had no choice but to submit a joint report. It had to be a major incident.
The second point was the special identity of Shanyin County's commandant.
Shanyin County's commandant was surnamed Su and came from the Duling Su Clan.
The Imperial Demon Hunters had always been managed by the inner court. The newly appointed eunuch superintendent of the Imperial Stud Directorate was also surnamed Su. Shi Chibao had already caught wind that after a few years in the post, this man would likely advance another step to become the Seal-Holding Eunuch of the Imperial Stud Directorate, concurrently serving as Superintendent of the Imperial Demon Hunters.
This Commandant Su was one of their own whom he could not afford to offend.
If that identity was merely the reason he had to pay attention, the contents of the newly arrived letter drew even more of his concern.
The prefectural treasury had been robbed by a great demon; treasonous words had suddenly appeared in an ancient temple within the county; a host of ghosts had joined with demons in an attempt to rebel.
Shi Chibao's first reaction was disbelief.
Any one of these matters was absurd enough. For all three to occur together was even more impossible.
Yet he could not simply disbelieve it.
Because every one of these matters was a major affair he could not ignore.
For this reason, he had repeatedly observed the situation around Shanyin County today. His conclusion was that Shanyin County remained the same Shanyin County it had always been.
Either a master had concealed the workings of heaven, or someone in Shanyin County was up to something.
Shi Chibao now strongly suspected that the one playing tricks was the newly arrived Commandant Su.
But the problem was that Commandant Su was someone he could not afford to offend.
Therefore, Shi Chibao ordered his subordinates to summon the Night Pacification Bureau's leader in Jiangzhou, Commanding Vice Commissioner Liu Yu, to discuss the matter together.
Whatever happened, they would discuss it and handle it together.
Otherwise, the Imperial Demon Hunters might treat a trivial matter as weighty and handle it as a top-priority affair, while the Night Pacification Bureau might treat a weighty matter as trivial, dismissing it as some foppish young master of Shanyin County letting out a loud fart.
They would become a laughingstock for no reason at all.
Shi Chibao felt that the two sides should discuss it and present the same attitude.
"Reporting to you, Thousand-Household Officer, Commanding Vice Commissioner Liu Yu of the Night Pacification Bureau has arrived."
One of his Chief Banner Officers announced it from outside. Shi Chibao adjusted his robes and went out to receive him.
The Imperial Demon Hunters' Judicial Inspector Thousand-Household Officer and the Night Pacification Bureau's Commanding Vice Commissioner were counterparts. They were of the same rank, so there was no reason for Shi Chibao to remain seated in the yamen and have Liu Yu come pay respects to him.
The moment he stepped out of the yamen, Shi Chibao saw Liu Yu, the Night Pacification Bureau's Recording Clerk Military Adviser, wearing an unpleasant expression.
Heavy rain was falling in many places today. Everyone, please stay safe.
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