Su Che discovered that things differed somewhat from what he had imagined.
An ancient temple, a young sword-wielding hero, a Wood Wraith, a tree-demon grandmother, and a beautiful female ghost...
That was how the scene should have looked.
Yet this thing lying abandoned beneath the grass in the courtyard seemed to possess a texture halfway between gold and jade.
Su Che keenly sensed it.
Something was wrong. The whole style had changed.
The so-called Five Elements were metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. They generated and restrained one another, evolving into the foundation of all things.
Judging by the Five Elements,
the vegetation qi of this Withered Wood Meditation Courtyard was flourishing, corresponding precisely to the element of wood.
That thing last night had glowed green like a wheel, and green too belonged to wood.
But this thing before him had the texture of gold and jade. If it had truly been severed from last night's demon, then that demon clearly ought to have belonged to metal.
Metal restrained wood.
Su Che sorted through his thoughts.
Perhaps his understanding of the transformations of the Five Elements was still too shallow for him to penetrate their mysteries.
Third Young Master Su took a yellow silk kerchief from his sleeve.
This had been a gift from the Yellow Heaven Sect when he had left the capital to take up his post.
It was a piece of yellow silk woven from Shu Brocade, upon which the venerable masters of the Yellow Heaven Sect had used jade brushes and cinnabar to write countless Edicts of Supreme Clarity Sealing Spirits.
The incantations flowed without end, their spiritual qi restrained within. It contained the lofty arts of the Yellow Heaven Sect's Six Heavens and possessed the might to ward off ghosts and gods.
It was itself a treasure that could seal demons when advancing and protect its bearer when retreating.
So I was originally a gadget-build player. You have the grueling training of the Ten-Mile Slope Sword God emerging from seclusion, while I have the skill to throw everything on one desperate gamble and slay the Moon-Worshipping Sect Master.
Using the Yellow Heaven Sect's talismanic silk, Su Che picked up the strip that was neither gold nor jade, carefully wrapping it layer upon layer. Then he called for the herb gatherers to continue on their way with him.
In times like these, even under a bright, cloudless sky, no one wished to linger here any longer than necessary.
The group followed the mountain path onward toward Shanyin County.
Once the herb-gathering man named Zhou Si learned Su Che's identity, he became exceedingly cautious in both word and deed.
This disappointed Su Che somewhat.
He had been hoping to learn more about Shanyin County from the leader of these herb gatherers.
Yet Zhou Si's tight-lipped, overly careful manner made one thing quite clear.
The officials of Shanyin County, high and low alike, evidently had a bad reputation.
That was why the common people feared officials as tigers.
Su Che recalled the materials he had once read.
Great Liang divided county-level administrative regions into four categories.
Capital counties, upper counties, middle counties, and small counties.
Capital counties were those containing the capital. Jiankang alone was divided into three counties, and together with Jiangling's two counties, there were five in all.
As for upper, middle, and small counties, they were classified according to the number of registered households. Under the old system of the previous dynasty, counties with more than ten thousand households were upper counties, those with more than five thousand were middle counties, and those with fewer than five thousand were small counties.
After the previous dynasty fell, the realm descended into chaos. Warlords carved up the land, and war raged endlessly without a day of peace.
Demons and devils seized the opportunity to profit, ghosts and monsters violently devoured blood offerings, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism fought one another, while powerful clans ran rampant and corrupt officials squeezed the people dry.
It was a living picture of the apocalypse.
Registered households gradually dwindled, and the population grew scarcer by the day. Thus, when Great Liang was founded, it simply designated counties with over five thousand households as upper counties, those with over three thousand as middle counties, and those under three thousand as small counties.
Guobei County and Shanyin County were the jewels of Dongyang Prefecture, neighboring one another. During the previous dynasty, both had been upper counties with more than ten thousand households. Even after years of warfare, both had maintained populations of over five thousand households.
Now, each had its own troubles.
Guobei had ghosts; Shanyin had demons.
Guobei County had a long history and had been established earlier than Shanyin. Not to mention its flourishing population, it had repeatedly suffered the ravages of war during the conflicts at the end of successive dynasties.
The historical records alone recorded six massacres of the entire city.
Congealed resentment was the finest soil for nurturing vicious ghosts.
If Guobei's trouble was man-made calamity, then Shanyin's problem was a "natural disaster."
Shanyin's trouble lay in its excellent feng shui.
It rested against Mystic Mountain to the south, with three rivers winding around it. It fully deserved the eight words: "where spiritual essence gathered and Creation bestowed its favor."
If one found a feng shui master to survey the lay of the mountains and rivers, things such as "Water Dragon Falls," "Crouching Ox Ground," "Phoenix Eye," "Qilin Slumber Hollow," and "Sky Beyond the Well" might not be everywhere one looked, but one could certainly find several.
And that was precisely where things went wrong.
With good feng shui, people buried here could bless their descendants, while things dwelling here could become demons and monsters.
Shanyin County had an especially large number of demons.
Among the county's officials, the magistrate was surnamed Xue. He was a jinshi graduate of the imperial examinations. Though he was nominally the county magistrate, he had in fact long served under the provincial vice censor-in-chief and did not come to the county to conduct official business.
There was also a county deputy magistrate and a registrar. The deputy magistrate was surnamed Jiang and ordinarily oversaw all county affairs. The registrar was surnamed Tian and handled documents, inspections, criminal matters, and related business.
Both came from prominent local clans, and they were the true regional lords who held the lives and fortunes of Shanyin County's people in their hands.
Outside the east gate of Shanyin County Town, inspectors had long been supervising constables and patrolmen as they erected a canopy. Red and yellow satin had been wound around the bamboo frame, fluttering briskly in the wind.
Nearly a hundred constables and patrol officers stood in formation, dressed in black gauze hats and official robes, sabers hanging from their waists. Some carried crossbows and halberds, while others bore bows and arrows.
At a glance, they truly gave off the air of battle-hardened elite troops.
Magistrate Jiang was fat and tall, like a Guardian King Vajra from outside a temple gate stuffed into clothes two sizes too small. No matter how one looked at him, something seemed off.
Registrar Tian was short and slight, with a red, bulbous wine-soaked nose. He tucked both hands into his sleeves, wearing an expression of heavy concern.
"My lord County Deputy," Registrar Tian said, habitually clearing his throat, "what is the background of this newly appointed county commandant?"
This was one of his conversational techniques. In truth, Registrar Tian had long since sent people to investigate exactly who Su Che, Third Young Master Su, was.
He was merely throwing out a brick to draw forth jade, coaxing Magistrate Jiang into speaking. Otherwise, one tall and one short, they would simply be standing here beneath the sun.
It was truly rather stifling.
"The Duling Su Clan. Originally military men from Yongzhou. There is nothing much to say," Magistrate Jiang said, though he let out a quiet sigh in his heart.
Some matters might be dismissed aloud, yet still set one's heart burning.
When would his Shanyin Jiang Clan finally leap through the dragon gate and achieve the standing of a household like the Su Family?
"During the imperial army's northern expedition more than ten years ago, their entire household was nearly wiped out in the defeat at Fangtou. Apart from one member of the older generation who remained in the Palace Administration, only three are left."
A eunuch, Registrar Tian knew. That elder of the Su Family ranked far from low within the inner court, which consisted of the Twelve Directorates, Four Offices, and Eight Bureaus.
And recently, he might very well take another step forward.
"Besides those lost at Fangtou, three remain in the Su Family's current generation. The eldest has just been appointed Governor of Beiyu and General Who Pacifies Bandits, and now serves under Grand Commander Wei."
Great Liang followed the rule of civil and military sharing the same path. Military generals concurrently holding local civil posts, or civil officials receiving military titles, were common occurrences in the provinces.
At the mention of Wei Huaiwen, that pillar of the realm whose name alone could strike terror into enemy hearts, the conversation between Magistrate Jiang and Registrar Tian paused for a moment. This name alone was enough to make any Liang man pause and feel reverence.
"The Second Young Master serves as a Secretariat Gentleman. I hear he is a modest, principled gentleman and once studied at Yuelu Mountain. And then there is our County Commandant Su..."
Magistrate Jiang looked at Registrar Tian. "I heard this fellow led a group of young ruffians to surround the carriage of the wife of some assistant director from the Ministry of War..."
"Oh?" Registrar Tian looked astonished.
"...That lady was already forty-nine. Her eldest granddaughter was nearly ready to marry..."
"What a blazing temper," Registrar Tian said, stunned.
In these troubled times, early marriage and childbearing were quite common. The lady Su Che's former self had molested indeed had several children and grandchildren.
"Later, he ran into students traveling for study from White Deer Grotto. They caught him and gave him a thorough beating. His family probably did not want him causing further trouble, so they sent him here to vent his temper on us."
Magistrate Jiang looked at Registrar Tian and instructed him, "The prefectural household has already sent people to explain matters. We just need to humor him carefully. In a few months, when his relatives in the capital think of him, they will promote him elsewhere. Then our cultivation will have reached fruition."
"I rather hope his temper is fierce," Registrar Tian said, rubbing his brow. "Let him set three fires and thoroughly smoke out Shanyin County."
Magistrate Jiang's expression immediately grew tense. "What? Has silver gone missing from the treasury again?"
Registrar Tian sighed. "The accounts never match. The discrepancy is nearly a hundred taels now. I cannot tell whether someone is smuggling funds out, or whether some demon practitioner skilled in the Five Ghosts Transporting technique has arrived."
"This has been going on for nearly a month, hasn't it?"
"After today, exactly fifty days."
"Would a demon practitioner capable of Five Ghosts Transporting steal only two taels a day?" Magistrate Jiang frowned tightly at his colleague.
Who could be that muddleheaded?
Magistrate Jiang asked himself: if he knew the Five Ghosts Transporting technique, he would start by emptying Registrar Tian's home clean. Why would he steal five taels today, then rest for two days?
"It will be perfect if he is here. Let him deal with it."
Magistrate Jiang looked into the distance, but there was still no sign of Third Young Master Su.
He had probably run off somewhere to sleep among flowers and lie beneath willows, hadn't he?
Old Jiang recalled his youthful days. Back then, he had been an indestructible copper pea, impossible to boil soft or smash flat, ringing loud and proud.
"Reporting to the two lords... huff..."
A dust-covered clerk came rushing out through the city gate.
"Catch your breath before you speak," Registrar Tian said, staring at him. "What is it? Has more silver gone missing from the treasury?"
"The new county commandant... the new county commandant has arrived..."
"He has arrived?" Magistrate Jiang's lips went dry.
That little bastard, why was he not following the rules? When a new official assumed office, it was customary to erect a canopy at the east gate and welcome him with a reception.
There was even a name for it: purple qi came from the east.
That Su fellow truly did not follow the rules.
"Hmph. What are you still standing around for? Have someone take all this down."
The county deputy magistrate glanced at the registrar.
"Come. Let us meet him."
"Please wait, my lord." Registrar Tian caught Magistrate Jiang by the arm.
"That County Commandant Su—how many people have come with him? Did you order the government office to prepare food?"
Registrar Tian asked the clerk.
"This student has ordered the kitchen to prepare a meal. County Commandant Su has no other attendants, only a bookboy."
Registrar Tian turned to look at Magistrate Jiang.
Their gazes met.
Magistrate Jiang gave a chuckle.
"You are still the sharper one, brother."
"Traveling light, changing his appearance—this Third Young Master Su understands how the world works."
"After soaking in the capital for all those years, he ought to understand a few things. As the Sage said: teaching by example is better than teaching by words."
Magistrate Jiang called out to several inspectors at his side.
"Stop standing around. Once you finish clearing this up, dismiss everyone."
Registrar Tian added, "The rest may leave, but the three inspectors are to return to the yamen shortly and welcome County Commandant Su together."
The three inspectors looked at one another, unable to make sense of the situation. They could only agree.
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