Proclamation Against Demons

Zhou Yi sent the fox demon away, finally laying one of his worries to rest.

Carrying the fox demon's soul on him posed a risk of exposing his identity if he encountered an expert born with a keen sensitivity to demonic aura.

Life returned to its peaceful routine: slaying demons, reporting for duty, copying scriptures, and occasionally visiting the Spring Breeze Pavilion for some artistic enrichment.

Day after day passed, and his Dao Attainment grew with each one.

His immediate priority was buying a house, joining the ranks of property owners in the imperial capital and fulfilling an obsession from his previous life.

With a budget of three to four thousand taels, he could only choose the most remote location, and the property could not be too large.

Zhou Yi did not mind somewhere remote. It would spare him interruptions.

Of all the wards in the Luo Capital, houses were cheapest in the Prospering Teaching Ward, which was essentially the Capital's slum. Anyone with status or standing would never buy property there.

Even so, a house with a small courtyard cost 3,300 strings of cash.

"I serve in the Demon-Slaying Bureau. Don't try to fool me."

Zhou Yi demanded, "I remember the cheapest houses last year cost three thousand strings. This location is worse than that one was, so why is it three hundred strings more expensive?"

"So you're an official of the Demon-Slaying Bureau! Rest entirely assured, sir. I truly haven't inflated the price."

Looking aggrieved, the broker explained, "Housing prices in the capital haven't stopped climbing for years. If this family weren't in a hurry to repay gambling debts, it would cost another hundred or two hundred strings in a few months."

Zhou Yi could not help feeling his teeth ache. Even in another world, he could not escape being squeezed dry by housing.

The property stood in the eastern part of the Prospering Teaching Ward, a single-courtyard residence at the end of a deep alley.

Solid walls lined both sides of the alley, and the houses along it had entrances facing other directions. It was effectively a private entrance to a single residence, hidden deep within the lane.

The alley was only three feet wide. Unless passersby looked closely, they would never imagine a courtyard lay inside.

Zhou Yi liked it at first sight. It perfectly suited the saying that the greatest hermits hid amid the city.

He discreetly cast a spell to probe the broker and confirmed that he truly was not lying.

Gritting his teeth and closing his eyes, Zhou Yi took out the three thousand taels in banknotes he had exchanged beforehand, then added three cash notes worth a hundred strings each.

"I'll buy it!"

"What did I tell you? Officials of the Demon-Slaying Bureau really are generous!"

The broker accepted the banknotes with a beaming smile. Houses in the capital never lacked buyers; even a pigsty could be called rustic charm.

"Hm? Sir, please let go!"

Zhou Yi reluctantly released the money, then went to the household registration office to draw up the contract and collect the title deed.

The Demon-Slaying Bureau's name proved very useful. Every department he visited served him tea and water, which improved his mood somewhat.

After two lifetimes, he finally had a place to call his own.

The courtyard covered roughly five or six hundred square meters. Besides the main house, there were east and west wings, and a jujube tree with a trunk as thick as a thigh grew in one corner.

It was midsummer, and the leaves cast cool shade. Beneath the tree stood four simple stone stools and a rough, uneven stone table, where the former residents had probably eaten their meals.

Zhou Yi looked through the three rooms. They were practically bare walls; everything of value had been taken away, conveniently saving him the trouble of clearing it out.

Dust Removal Spell, Cleansing Spell...

He cast a succession of spells, gathering all the dirt and dust into a single ball and tossing it into the latrine in the corner.

"I won't need this latrine anymore either. I'll just leave the outside as it is."

Zhou Yi pointed a finger. The ground remained perfectly still, but beneath it, heaven and earth had been overturned.

Whether little fairy maidens' shit stank, he did not know, but Zhou Yi had long surpassed the realm of grain abstinence. Anything he ate would be broken down and dissolved by his magical power.

"The broken furniture is useless too."

Earthly Pole True Flame surged out, burning through all the junk and leaving nothing but three bare rooms.

Zhou Yi made a trip to the western market and bought bedding, tables, chairs, pots, bowls, ladles, and basins. With all the furnishings in place, his home took on an entirely new look.

He also paid a carpenter separately to make a custom plaque, with the inscription written in his own hand.

He had originally planned to name it "Willow Spring Residence," but that sounded like a restaurant or tavern, so he changed it to "Breeze Cottage."

The final alteration concerned the courtyard's feng shui. There was no need to install formations or wards, nor to gather spiritual energy. Would that not plainly announce that its owner was someone extraordinary?

Zhou Yi merely smoothed the flow of energy. Gentle breezes flowed freely, stagnant air dispersed, and wisps of cool wind drifted through the courtyard.

"From now on, this is home..."

By the time Zhou Yi had finished putting everything in order, it was nearly evening. He went to the Ministry of Works and invited his colleagues to enjoy themselves at the Spring Breeze Pavilion, celebrating his housewarming.

Once drunk, they went their separate ways.

He returned home, lay back, and fell asleep.

He did not remain half asleep and half awake. He withdrew his warning spells, and for the first time, the Yellow Court Dao Scripture ceased circulating after more than ten uninterrupted years.

Everything he had experienced over those eleven years seemed like a dream or illusion. Only now that he had a home did it seem to become real.

Morning.

Cock-a-doodle-doo-

Zhou Yi slowly woke to the crowing of a rooster. It was still early outside his window, with lingering stars and the dawn moon hanging on the horizon.

"That was a good night's sleep..."

Zhou Yi let out a long breath. Magical power began flowing through his body once more, and he vaguely sensed that heaven and earth had grown a little clearer.

The people of the Prospering Teaching Ward were already bustling about, heading to work or setting up their stalls as another busy day began.

He strolled leisurely along, in no hurry to reach the Ministry of Works, stopping for a taste whenever he caught an enticing aroma.

After eating his fill at seven or eight stalls, he had spent less than fifty copper coins. At the Spring Breeze Pavilion, even a casually ordered plate of greens cost over a hundred.

Last night's housewarming celebration had exhausted every last coin of Zhou Yi's remaining three hundred taels in banknotes. The only thing to blame was cultivators' robust constitutions: drinking cost them far too much money.

Compared with the Spring Breeze Pavilion, Zhou Yi preferred the atmosphere of ordinary streets and everyday life. It was genuine rather than ostentatious, full of human warmth.

Great Qian had neither buses nor subways. The Prospering Teaching Ward lay more than a dozen wards away from the Demon-Slaying Bureau, a two-hour journey on foot.

Zhou Yi found a secluded spot and used the Five-Element Escape Technique to travel through earth and stone, soon arriving outside the Demon-Slaying Bureau.

His colleagues in the Ministry of Works greeted him warmly.

A year had passed, and everyone had already shared three of the four great bonds of brotherhood. They all got along quite well.

When Li Xun saw Zhou Yi arrive, he beckoned mysteriously.

"Come here, come here. Let me show you something good."

Zhou Yi had assumed it would be something indecent, such as one of Li Xun's beloved illustrated books. Instead, it was a scroll of Imperial Paper.

Imperial Paper was not merely yellow paper. Its texture resembled bright yellow silk, and written upon it were the words: Proclamation Against Demons!

It is said that enlightened rulers contemplate danger in times of peace, and loyal ministers dare to remonstrate with frank words. Since heaven and earth were unified and all beneath the heavens brought together...

Now demons run rampant, laws are severed and statutes cast aside, befouling the state, harming the people, and poisoning humankind...

We must ascend the heights and beat the drums, shed our blood and brandish our spears. Demons and followers of crooked paths shall surely crumble like earth and shatter like tiles...

The sage sovereign's honor or disgrace hinges upon this day; glory that shall endure a thousand ages rests upon this very moment...

Respectfully issued as a proclamation.

The yiyou day, the first day of the seventh month, in the fifty-first year of Jingtai.

Signed: Wang Bo'an.

"Wang Bo'an?"

Zhou Yi looked puzzled. Was this not the fellow who had written Ten Strategies for Pacifying Demons?

Li Xun asked, "You know Academician Wang?"

"We met once."

Zhou Yi asked in confusion, "Wasn't he Compiler Wang?"

"Your news is long out of date. Half a month ago, His Majesty personally annotated Proclamation Against Demons, praising him as a talent capable of governing the realm!"

Li Xun said enviously, "In just a few days, he was promoted to Hanlin Academician."

A Hanlin Compiler ranked at the lower ninth grade, while a Hanlin Academician ranked at the upper seventh grade. This was no mere three-rank promotion, but a leap of nine ranks.

Zhou Yi frowned slightly. "Doesn't that violate the law? According to the Promotion Examination section of the Great Qian Code, written by the founding emperor himself, no one can rise three ranks at once without military merit!"

Wang Bo'an had originally struck him as an impractical idealist who vainly hoped to reconcile humans and demons.

Now it seemed that the so-called Ten Strategies for Pacifying Demons had merely been written to cater to the tastes of the crown prince serving as regent.

Zhou Yi still did not know that Wang Bo'an had submitted a memorial titled Ten Fallacies in Tales of the Executioner. Otherwise, he would certainly have been struck dumb.