No Small Matter

"Commander Shi." The Recording Secretary of the Nightwatch Office cupped his hands in salute.

"The region is unsettled. Thank you for your hard work, Secretary Liu." Shi Chibao hurried forward to greet him.

"There's nothing to say. It's simply our duty."

As he spoke, Liu Yu stepped through the gates of the Judicial Thousand-Household Office.

The Nightwatch Office had been established later than the Embroidered Riders. The Embroidered Riders had originally been transformed from the elite troops of the dynasty's founding, while the Nightwatch Office had later been formed by recruiting cultivators aspiring to fame and achievement. Its main yamen stood within Jiankang City, another special agency belonging solely to the Emperor.

Its leader bore the title of Nightwatch Observer, and since he generally also held the office of Attendant-in-Ordinary, he was respectfully called the Attendant Observer.

Most of the Nightwatch Office's strength was stationed in Jiankang. Its local branches did not possess the same scale as the Embroidered Riders; only provincial capitals had divisional offices, each overseen by a Recording Secretary who managed their affairs.

Though the Nightwatch Office had few personnel, its ranks were exceptionally lean and capable. Whenever they acted, it was no trifling matter—their targets were great demons and colossal monsters.

"Captain Shi, we both serve the court and share His Majesty's burdens. Our two offices have always sailed in the same boat through storm and swell. What hardship or trouble could there be? It is all our duty."

Liu Yu added this, and it truly gave Commander Shi a whiff that something was amiss.

This Liu Yu usually pushed off any request Shi made, shrugging it away like five, six, five. For him to sing such lofty praises today, there had to be something else afoot.

"Brother Liu, please. I invited you here today mainly because..."

"Matters of law are not passed to six ears. Let's speak inside."

Liu Yu's expression turned grave as he raised a hand to stop Shi Chibao from continuing.

Seeing the solemn look on the other man's face, the Embroidered Rider Thousand-Household Officer signaled with his eyes to those around them, then led Liu Yu straight to a secret chamber on the first underground level of the Thousand-Household Office.

Yellow Heaven Sect high-ranking Daoists had used golden powder ground from the bones left behind by several generations of reincarnated eminent monks to inscribe talismans that blocked eavesdropping. There were also thunder seals left by masters of the Divine Firmament Dao to suppress demons, along with an entire set of River Diagram transformations from Mount Yuelu.

This was where the Judicial Thousand-Household Office ordinarily handled confidential documents.

Once his subordinates had served freshly brewed tea and several fruits and pastries, Shi Chibao dismissed everyone else and asked Liu Yu, Secretary Liu, directly.

"Brother Liu, has some extraordinary change occurred?"

"Something happened in Guobei. You don't know?"

Liu Yu picked up a green tangerine from the table and peeled it.

"Hm? I did know something happened in Shanyin..."

Shi Chibao had received a memorial reporting the incident in Shanyin, but he knew absolutely nothing about affairs in Guobei County.

"What major matter could Shanyin possibly have? Has Lord Dushan decided to become a monk?" Liu Yu muttered, "It's the Yin-Yang Dharma King. He ordered the city sealed and entered seclusion. All the ghosts under his command have gone home."

The Yin-Yang Dharma King? Shi Chibao searched his memories of the official documents he had read. This had nothing to do with him.

"The Yin-Yang Dharma King is a fourth-rank master of the ghost path, renowned across the whole realm. For him to enter seclusion for no reason, something major must have happened."

Liu Yu's words made Commander Shi somewhat nervous.

That Dharma King's temperament, put kindly, was that he loved liveliness; put bluntly, he was a show-off. Sweeping his own doorstep clean and shutting himself away to cultivate was absolutely impossible for him. Throwing his gates wide open and feasting guests from all four directions—that was his nature.

Something had definitely happened.

Liu Yu put a bitter tangerine segment into his mouth.

"It's just unclear whether it's good news or bad."

"I just observed Guobei's direction. There hasn't been any change in the color of the clouds..."

"My dear brother, if the Son of Heaven's art of gazing at qi were infallible and could see a thousand years in a glance, the realm would not be in the mess it is today. I've already sent people to Guobei County to gather intelligence..."

"Have they returned?"

"Why would I come knocking if they hadn't?" Liu Yu looked at Shi Chibao. "I heard the ghosts and monsters have undergone some changes. Something major may be happening. There are two sources for this intelligence: one from cultivators in Guobei County, the other from Lady Snow of the White Cang River. They corroborate each other, so it should be correct."

"I have intelligence here as well." Shi Chibao took out the official dispatch Su Che had written from his sleeve and handed it to Liu Yu. "Brother Liu, do you think it's possible that Guobei County and Shanyin County are actually part of the same matter?"

Liu Yu skimmed the dispatch at a glance, then solemnly returned it to Shi Chibao and began scratching his head.

Shi Chibao took a sip of tea and waited while Liu Yu pondered for a moment.

"Brother Liu, what do you make of this?"

"Ah?"

Secretary Liu looked at Commander Shi. "Judicial Officer, have you noticed that I've grown much older?"

Shi Chibao nearly burst out laughing. Liu Yu came from the Daoist inner-alchemy lineage and was an accomplished master of the Golden Elixir path. Though he had entered officialdom for worldly wealth and rank, even when he closed his eyes and breathed his last, his face would surely still resemble that of a vigorous young man.

When Shi had studied at Mount Yuelu, he and his friends had often mocked that lineage as practicing the divine art of saving face.

Even at death, they would still have one handsome face left.

"Guobei and Shanyin are truly troubling." After considering it, Secretary Liu looked at Commander Shi. "Better believe it exists than believe it does not."

According to Shanyin County's memorial, the matter was of grave importance. They could not make their own judgment; they had to report it immediately.

Whether it was the Judicial Thousand-Household Office or the Nightwatch Office's divisional branch, neither could bear responsibility for such a matter.

Their duty was to guard against every risk. Failing to remain alert was already the greatest dereliction of duty.

"Shall we submit a joint report again?"

Shi Chibao proposed.

"I think not. Let's use the old method. You draft the document first. My legs are quick—using the Armor-Horse Earthshrinking Art, I can reach Jiankang in two days and one night. I'll deliver your memorial to the Embroidered Riders, then report to the Nightwatch Office's main bureau myself. As for you, follow the old method: take a team and personally go to Guobei to hold the fort."

At this point, Liu Yu's voice trailed off.

The Nightwatch Office Recording Secretary's own judgment was that if anything had truly happened, it would be in Guobei County. Yet Shanyin County's present circumstances could not be taken lightly either.

"Guobei County says its seas are calm and rivers clear, while Shanyin County says heaven and earth have been turned upside down. If we leave Shanyin alone and go hold the fort in Guobei, it will be difficult to explain if anything happens later."

Captain Shi said to Liu Yu, "I'll take a team to Shanyin first."

"Then go to Shanyin."

Liu Yu seemed to recall something and suddenly smiled.

"Come to think of it, there's something interesting."

"What?"

"A few days ago, the main bureau sent me an order to keep an eye on that newly appointed County Commandant in Shanyin County."

"Oh? What's special about him?"

Shi Chibao's curiosity was piqued as well.

"Special? Where would I find the spare time? A fox caused trouble in the prefectural office a few days ago and stole over a thousand taels of silver. I've been pursuing that case until now, and still have no result."

"Don't your people regularly patrol the prefectural treasury?"

"That fox is highly skilled. Its methods resemble those from Cloud-Deep Unknown Place in the Eastern Sea, deep and unknowable."

Shi Chibao suddenly recalled an amusing tale he had heard some time ago about the Censorate making fools of themselves.

"What's wrong with the demons of this world? They've all become so fierce. Have you heard? A few days ago, a monkey demon turned the Censorate upside down."

"Enough talk. We could go on forever. Hurry and draft the document—I still need to set out."

Shi Chibao nodded and began laying out the Four Treasures of the Study in the secret chamber, then started writing.

Thanks to Mister Bu'er for the reward, and thanks to Thorn Crown, Actually I Am a Sheep, and Yang Xian Ben Biao for the monthly votes.

Thank you, everyone.