Selling Ghosts, Swindling Demons

The bonfire blazed fiercely.

Du Si set aside drying his clothes and first took out his half-damp books, one volume at a time, to dry by the fire.

One of them, Tales of the Executioner, printed by Top Scholar Hall, caught Zhou Yi's attention.

Top Scholar Hall paid him over a thousand taels in royalties each month, allowing Zhou Yi to live very comfortably in the Capital.

Zhou Yi rose and came over, asking with a smile.

"Young Master Du, I've come from the Luo Capital. Is Tales of the Executioner available in Hengyang too?"

"Ah! Yes. And you are?"

Du Si had been wholly absorbed in drying his books. Hearing the voice, he looked up and studied Zhou Yi, who had refined features and the cultured bearing of a scholar.

"Zhou Yi, from Zhou Family Village in Hengyang. I'm returning home to visit my family."

Zhou Yi drew closer without ceremony and stirred the fire with a branch. A wisp of Earthly Pole True Flame merged into it, and the heat immediately rose considerably.

"Zhou Family Village... I haven't heard of it."

Learning that they hailed from the same region, Du Si could not help feeling closer to him. "This book sells extremely well. My father specially ordered it from Top Scholar Hall and told me to carry it with me, saying it could ward off evil."

"Ward off evil? Haha, your father is quite right!"

Zhou Yi smiled. "The book contains many simple, practical folk methods. They can spare you a great deal of trouble when you're away from home."

Du Si carefully dried the volume, saying admiringly, "Its author, Hermit Willow Spring, must be an extraordinary man. They say he's a virtuous great scholar from Jixia Academy. Once I reach the Capital, I must pay him a visit."

At that moment, the caravan leader, who had been quietly watching them, also came over when he saw Tales of the Executioner.

"Young Master Du, we heard an immortal wrote that book to save people from suffering."

The leader took a roll of red cloth from inside his robe. Several sheets of paper were wrapped inside. "Before setting out this time, we specially paid a scholar to copy down the immortal's words."

The papers contained the commentary at the end of each story in Tales of the Executioner. Some urged people to stay away from demons, some explained how to identify them, and others offered maxims and formulas for calming the mind and resisting temptation.

Zhou Yi asked, "Do those methods work? I'll take a copy along next time I travel."

"They do, they do! Last time we went to Jin County, we passed a paupers' graveyard and ran into a ghost wall. We kept going round and round, unable to get out. In the end, Erdan's virgin urine broke it."

The leader called to one of his companions, "Erdan, you'd better keep yourself pure. If your virgin urine stops working one day, you'll get us all killed."

Erdan muttered, "I still want to find a wife!"

"Hahahaha..."

His companions burst into laughter. Someone teased that once they reached the commandery seat, they would take Erdan to lose his virginity.

Zhou Yi laughed along with them, showing none of an immortal's lofty bearing. His joy came straight from the heart.

All the way from the Luo Capital, everything he had seen and heard had been tragic. Before demons, ordinary people were like cattle and sheep awaiting slaughter, and gloom had inevitably gathered in his heart.

Now, one book and a few sheets of paper had cleared his spirits like clouds parting to reveal the moon.

Though he could not save this troubled world, he had at least done something useful for humankind.

Outside the mountain god's temple, bitter wind and cold rain raged. Inside, warmth and merriment filled the air. On hearing that Zhou Yi had come from the Capital, everyone clamored for him to tell them about the Luo Capital's splendor.

Zhou Yi was just about to speak when, looking back, he realized that in nearly two years of living in the Luo Capital, he had done little each day besides work his shift and return home to copy scriptures. It was much like his shut-in life in his previous world. The lively place he had visited most often was Spring Breeze Pavilion, where he went drinking.

Should I talk about the girls dancing at Spring Breeze Pavilion? That would tarnish my scholarly image...

"The Luo Capital just has more people and more carriages. It's no different from an ordinary commandery seat. Why don't I tell you a story I heard instead?"

Zhou Yi changed the subject. Countless encounters with demons and ghosts flashed through his mind as he began slowly, "There was a man called Song Bo in Nanyang Commandery. While traveling at night, he encountered a ghost. He asked the ghost who it was..."

"...Song Bo bit the tip of his tongue and spat his yang blood onto the ghost, then carried it to the Demon-Slaying Bureau's offices and collected a reward of two strings of cash."

A desolate mountain, an ancient forest.

A ruined temple, rain at night.

A bonfire, a ghost story.

The merchants and Du Si barely dared breathe. Only when the story ended did they release long sighs of relief.

Du Si praised him. "Song Bo had courage and wit. He toyed with that ghost in the palm of his hand. Impressive!"

"So ghosts fear blood from the tip of the tongue. We ought to practice regularly, lest we meet a ghost and be too afraid of the pain to bite through."

The caravan leader murmured, "And once we catch a ghost, we shouldn't kill it. We can take it to the Demon-Slaying Bureau for a reward!"

"Master Zhou, tell us another! You're better than the storytellers."

"Those storytellers all tell the same tales. They change a few things from Tales of the Executioner and pass them off as new stories to swindle us out of our money."

Delighted by the fresh tale, the merchants all clamored for more.

Zhou Yi chuckled, intending to frighten them with a horror story. He could not let this atmosphere go to waste.

At some point, the mountain god's temple door had opened.

Mountain wind poured inside, making the flames surge and dance.

One merchant rose to close the door and discovered a figure crouching outside.

In the firelight, the figure became clear: a pretty young woman.

She was soaked from head to toe, her thin clothes clinging to her skin. Her arms hugged her chest as she shivered, revealing a glimpse of snowy white flesh.

Rumble-

Lightning flashed and thunder roared. The wind and rain intensified, and the woman's face had turned blue from the cold.

"Who are you?"

The merchant stepped back, his hand instinctively pressing against the woodcutting blade at his waist.

"I'm a daughter of the Huang family in Guning Commandery. I lost my way in the mountains, then got caught in this downpour..."

The merchant was about to speak when the leader rose and tapped his shoulder three times. He said loudly, "Miss Huang, if you don't mind our company, come inside to shelter from the rain and warm yourself by the fire."

"Thank you, uncle!"

The woman rose and entered the temple, trembling with every step. Her graceful curves quivered along with her, drawing the merchants' eyes.

She sat beside Du Si and pulled her clothes open to warm herself, exposing still more alluring flesh.

Du Si frowned and turned his face away.

The leader took a bamboo flask from his pack and said with a smile, "Miss, this is rice wine we brewed ourselves. Have some to warm yourself in this cold."

"You're such a kind man, uncle. I'll be sure to repay you properly."

The woman's voice was ethereal. As it entered their ears, it felt like tiny insects crawling inside, making their entire bodies itch.

She gently unscrewed the bamboo flask, tipped back her head, and gulped down a mouthful.

A layer of white fur slowly sprouted over her slender, fair neck.

The delicate fingers holding the flask turned into white-furred claws.

"Now!"

With a furious shout, the leader whipped out his woodcutting blade and slashed at the woman.

The other merchants moved with astonishing coordination. Clearly, they had already received some signal and prepared their ambush.

Five sharp woodcutting blades and two pointed spears struck the woman almost simultaneously.

"Ah!"

The woman shrieked. Several holes opened in her body, yet no blood flowed.

Pfft! Pfft!

A sound like a leaking bellows rang out, leaving only a crumpled human skin where she had stood.

A white-furred weasel over three feet long tore through the back of the skin and darted out of the mountain god's temple, leaving a trail of blood behind.

"She-she-she was... a demon!"

Du Si stared blankly, his face filled with shock and lingering fear.

Zhou Yi pressed his lips together in a quiet smile. The moment he saw the bamboo flask, he had more or less guessed how things would end for the weasel.

One account in Tales of the Executioner: Strange Accounts told of Steward Shi of Huling County, who suspected his son had married a fox spirit and sought advice from a local elder on how to expose her.

The elder dug up yellow rice wine brewed on the fifth day of the fifth month and told Steward Shi to find a way to trick his daughter-in-law into drinking it. Sure enough, she revealed her true fox form and was finally beaten to death by the household guards.

Yellow rice wine was yang in nature, and the Dragon Boat Festival was the day when yang energy reached its yearly peak. Wine brewed then could suppress demonic and ghostly energy, forcing demons and ghosts to reveal their forms.

The leader sighed in frustration. "There goes a fine pelt. That weasel was too crafty."

"Demons hold bitter grudges. It might not have left yet."

Before Zhou Yi had finished speaking, the scene inside the mountain god's temple changed drastically.

The ruined temple amid the rainy mountain night transformed into a glittering, magnificent palace.

Red gauze curtains filled the palace, and the rich scent of incense drifted through the air. Faint sounds of women laughing reached their ears.