"Captain Shi." The Night Pacification Bureau's Recording Secretary Military Adviser cupped his hands in salute.
"With the region unsettled, thank you for your efforts, Adviser Liu," Shi Chibao hurriedly greeted him.
"There's nothing to say. It's all part of our duty."
As Liu Yu spoke, he stepped through the gates of the Judicial Inspectorate Office.
The Night Pacification Bureau had been established later than the Imperial Demon Hunters. The Imperial Demon Hunters had originally been transformed from the elite troops of the dynasty's founding, while the Night Pacification Bureau had later been formed by recruiting cultivators aspiring to fame and achievement. Its original office lay within Jiankang City, another special agency belonging solely to the emperor.
Its leader bore the title Night Pacification Observer. Since he generally also held the official title of Palace Attendant, he was respectfully called the Palace Attendant Observer.
The Night Pacification Bureau's main force was stationed in Jiankang. Its local branches did not possess the scale of the Imperial Demon Hunters; only the capital cities of each province had branch offices, each led by a Recording Secretary Military Adviser overseeing all affairs.
Though the Night Pacification Bureau had few personnel, its ranks were exceedingly capable. Whenever they acted, it was never ordinary—they captured only colossal demons and monstrous fiends.
"Captain Shi, we both serve the court and share His Majesty's burdens. Our two offices have always crossed the river in the same boat. What hardship or worry could there be? It is all our duty."
Liu Yu added this, and it truly gave Captain Shi a whiff of something being amiss.
This Liu Yu—when Shi Chibao had asked him to handle matters before, he usually shoved them away with every excuse under the sun. For him to be singing such lofty praises today, there was absolutely something fishy going on.
"Brother Liu, please. I invited you here today mainly because..."
"Matters of law are not passed to a sixth ear. Let's speak inside."
Liu Yu's expression turned solemn. He raised a hand, stopping Shi Chibao from continuing.
Seeing the gravity on the other man's face, the Imperial Demon Hunter captain signaled with his eyes to those around him, then personally led Liu Yu straight to a secret chamber on the first underground level of the Judicial Inspectorate Office.
Golden powder ground from the relic-bones left behind by several generations of reincarnated eminent monks had been used by a Yellow Heaven Sect master to inscribe runes that blocked eavesdropping. There were also thunder seals left by Divine Firmament Sect experts to suppress demons, along with an entire set of River Diagram transformations from Yuelu Mountain.
This was where the Judicial Inspectorate Office ordinarily handled confidential documents.
Once his subordinates had brought over freshly brewed tea and set out several fruits and pastries, Shi Chibao dismissed everyone else and directly asked Adviser Liu Yu.
"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 only knew that something had happened in Shanyin..."
Shi Chibao had received a memorial reporting trouble in Shanyin, but he knew absolutely nothing about what had happened in Guobei County.
"What major trouble could Shanyin have? Is Lord Dushan making a fuss about becoming 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 through the official documents he had read in his memory. This had nothing to do with him.
"The Yin-Yang Dharma King is a Fourth Grade of the Ghost Path, one of the foremost in the entire realm. If he has gone into seclusion for no reason, something major must have happened."
Liu Yu's words made Captain Shi somewhat nervous.
That Dharma King's temperament—put nicely, he loved liveliness; put bluntly, he was a peacock. Sweeping his own doorstep clean and shutting himself away to cultivate was absolutely impossible for him. Throwing his doors wide and feasting guests from all four directions was more his style.
Something had definitely happened here.
Liu Yu popped a sour tangerine segment into his mouth.
"It's just unclear whether it's good news or bad news."
"I just observed Guobei's direction. There hasn't been any change in the clouds..."
"My dear brother, if the Son of Heaven's art of observing qi could be infallible and see a thousand years at a glance, then the realm would not be in such a mess today. I've already sent people to Guobei County to investigate..."
"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 change. Perhaps something major is about to happen. There are two sources for the intelligence: one came from cultivators in Guobei County, the other from Lady Snow on the White Cang River. They corroborate each other, so there should be no mistake."
"I have news here as well." Shi Chibao took out the dispatch Su Che had written from his sleeve and handed it to Liu Yu. "Brother Liu, do you think it's possible that what's happening in Guobei County and Shanyin County is actually one matter?"
Liu Yu skimmed through the dispatch at ten lines 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 think of this?"
"Huh?"
Adviser Liu looked at Captain Shi. "Inspector, have you noticed that I've aged quite a bit?"
Shi Chibao nearly laughed aloud. This Liu Yu came from the Daoist elixir-cauldron lineage, a master whose Inner Elixir had achieved considerable success. Though he had entered officialdom for worldly wealth and honor, even when he closed his eyes and breathed his last, his face would surely still resemble that of a man in his prime.
When Shi Chibao had studied at Yuelu Mountain, he and his friends had often mocked that lineage for practicing a face-saving divine art.
Even at death, they would still have one handsome face left.
"Guobei and Shanyin are truly vexing." Adviser Liu considered it, then looked at Captain Shi. "Better to believe it exists than believe it does not."
According to Shanyin County's report, the matter was of grave importance. They could not be allowed to make the judgment themselves; it had to be reported at once.
In a matter like this, neither the Judicial Inspectorate Office nor the Night Pacification Bureau's branch office could shoulder the responsibility alone.
Their duty was to guard against every risk. Failing to remain alert was already the greatest dereliction of duty.
"Then shall we submit a joint report?"
Shi Chibao proposed.
"I think not. Let's use the old method. You draft the document first. My legs are quick; with the Armor Horse Earth-Shrinking Art, I can reach Jiankang in two days and one night. I'll deliver your memorial to the Imperial Demon Hunters, then report separately to the Night Pacification Bureau headquarters. You should do as before—personally lead a team to Guobei and hold the fort."
At this point, Liu Yu's voice halted as well.
The Night Pacification Bureau Recording Secretary Military Adviser's own judgment was that, if there truly was trouble, it lay in Guobei County. But Shanyin County's current situation could not be taken lightly either.
"Guobei County says its seas are calm and rivers clear, while Shanyin County says heaven and earth have turned upside down. If we leave Shanyin County alone and go hold the fort in Guobei, it will be hard to explain later should anything happen."
Captain Shi said to Liu Yu, "I'll lead a team to Shanyin first."
"Then go to Shanyin."
Liu Yu seemed to think of something and suddenly smiled.
"Come to think of it, there's something interesting."
"What?"
"A few days ago, headquarters even sent me an order telling me to keep an eye on Shanyin County's newly appointed county commandant."
"Oh? What's special about him?"
Shi Chibao's curiosity rose as well.
"Special? Where would I find the leisure for that? 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 without any result."
"Don't your people constantly patrol the treasury?"
"That fox's methods are extraordinarily clever, like the methods used at Cloud-Deep Unknown Place in the Eastern Sea."
Shi Chibao suddenly recalled an amusing tale he had heard some time ago about the Censorate making a spectacle of itself.
"Who knows what's going on with the demons in this world? They've all become fiercely spirited. Did you hear? A few days ago, a monkey demon turned the Censorate upside down."
"Enough chatting. Once we start, there'll be no end to it. Hurry and draft the document. I still need to get on the road."
Shi Chibao nodded and began spreading out brush, ink, paper, and inkstone in the secret chamber to write.
Thanks to Mister Bu'er for the reward, and thanks to Thorn Crown, Actually I'm a Sheep, and Ram-Fish-Ox-Horse for the monthly tickets.
Thank you, everyone.