According to the etiquette of sorcerers, Chu He should have returned the gesture in the same way. If his seniority was lower than this young onmyoji’s, he should have bowed with the same hand gesture. If his seniority was higher, he should at least have nodded in approval.
But Chu He just stared at him with an innocent and bewildered look. After a moment, he tentatively extended his hand. “My humble surname is Chu. H-Hello?”
Aida suddenly laughed. “Lanyu, Mr. Chu is just an ordinary person. Don’t scare him!”
Chu He played along with a smile, which made the young man look at him several more times before retreating with deep suspicion, saying nothing more.
An incident had occurred on the construction site where the mayor was inspecting with foreign investors, causing a sensation throughout the city’s police department. A moment later, seven or eight police cars came screaming from a distance. Before the lead car had even come to a full stop, the team captain and his subordinates scrambled out. Seeing Mayor Huang, they could barely speak a coherent sentence. “May-may-may-may-mayor Huang! We’re sorry, we’re sorry we’re late. Where-where-where-where, where did it happen?!”
The person in charge of the construction site on the other side also rushed over. Seeing the scene, his legs immediately went weak. “This really has nothing to do with us! We follow all safety and civilized construction regulations! We don’t know anything! I-I-I-I-we will definitely cooperate with the investigation!…”
The noisy commotion gave Mayor Huang a headache. The director of the exhibition center, with great perceptiveness, quickly shooed away the person in charge of the construction site and then hurried to pull the team captain over to look at the large splatter of human remains. Several police officers quickly set up a yellow cordon around the area. Everyone backed away, and those who had witnessed the jump were sternly separated by the police and taken aside for questioning.
Taking advantage of the moment when no one was paying attention, Mayor Huang stealthily pulled Chu He aside. “What do we do? That little Japanese guy has found me out! What do we do now? Will they catch me and eat me?!”
Chu He asked, surprised, “Is weasel meat tasty?”
“I don’t know if it’s tasty, but it’s definitely edible!” Mayor Huang said with a mournful face. “It’s a pity my three hundred and some pounds of divine fat. What will happen if it ends up on a little Japanese person’s dinner table?! And even if I sacrifice myself, the country won’t recognize me as a martyr, you know! President Chu! President Chu, you have to hold the line this time! If anything happens, you must cover the rear and let me escape first!”
“…” Chu He flicked his sleeve and walked away. “Stop being a disgrace!”
The weasel’s enormous body trembled like a delicate flower. He was about to chase after him with tears streaming down his face when a hand suddenly clapped his shoulder. “—Mayor Huang.”
The weasel spun around as if electrocuted. Aida Yoshihide was standing behind him at some point. He asked politely, “May I have a word?”
In an instant, lightning flashed and alarms blared in his mind. All the fat on Mayor Huang’s body tensed up. “Wh-what is it?”
However, Aida Yoshihide did not suddenly attack him with a demon-revealing mirror, nor did he cackle sinisterly and pull out a golden cudgel to beat him back to his original form. None of the thousand and one dramatic scenes Mayor Huang had imagined happened. Aida Yoshihide even smiled politely. “The deceased translator was one of our Japanese people. According to our tradition, Lanyu would like to perform a ceremony at the site of the incident to pray for his soul. Is that acceptable?”
The place where the translator had jumped was a semi-finished floor of the construction site. Half of it was poured with concrete, while the other half’s rebar was still exposed. It was about ten meters above the ground.
This should have been a fire-break layer in the middle of the building, very narrow and low. After bending down to enter, Chu He looked around and found it hard to imagine how the translator had stepped on the rebar and crawled through the scaffolding to jump. For someone taller, it would have been a tight squeeze just to get in, let alone jump.
Mayor Huang, panting, leaned against the corner and asked, “Have you found anything out yet?”
The team captain, holding several evidence bags, shook his head while wiping his sweat. “The ground is covered in dust, and there’s only one set of footprints coming in. We can also rule out the possibility of climbing or being pulled. Plus, with the testimony of seven or eight witnesses, we can basically conclude it was a suicide for now.”
Mayor Huang let out a sigh of relief. “Suicide is good, suicide is good.”
That was a very tactless thing to say. Normally, the team captain would have probably laughed, but at this moment, in this place, the thought that rose in everyone’s mind was: Suicide is good, suicide is good!
Lanyu, who had been silent since entering, drew a five-element yin-yang talisman on the ground in a radiating circular pattern. Then he asked everyone, including all the police officers, to step back, and he sat in the middle of the array. At this point, only Mayor Huang, Chu He, Aida Yoshihide, and himself remained in the fire-break layer. Lanyu murmured a few words, and suddenly the circular array rose from the dust, emitting a multicolored glow.
The light flowed like a solar halo, very brilliant and magnificent at first glance, but after looking at it for a while, it gave one a sense of spiritual dread. Mayor Huang rubbed his eyes uncomfortably and asked Chu He in a low voice, “Can you tell what its origin is?”
Chu He didn’t answer. A faint wailing of ghosts could be heard from the circular array. Before long, a male ghost with a bleeding head struggled to emerge, its bloody hand reaching for Aida!
Lanyu’s brow didn’t move. He raised his hand and slapped a spiritual talisman on the fierce ghost’s forehead with a smack. Instantly, the ghost’s wailing stopped. The talisman emitted an invisible flame, and within seconds, it burned the fierce ghost’s soul to ashes!
“Ahhhhh—”
The last shriek vanished into the air along with the scattered ashes. Instantly, the multicolored light flared up, almost completely engulfing the onmyoji in the array!
“This isn’t a prayer for blessings, is it?” Mayor Huang said, stunned. “Dispersing the soul to nourish the core of the array, isn’t this a demon-subduing array?!”
Just as he spoke, the circular array suddenly transformed into a giant hand glowing with white light! The hand was gaunt, with long, curled nails. As if it could see, it circled the small space, and then, like a viper locking onto its target, it suddenly stopped in front of Mayor Huang!
In that split second, Chu He pulled the weasel and yanked it behind him with lightning speed—
In that instant, he was so fast it was as if he wasn’t pulling a three-hundred-plus-pound fatty. At the same moment, the giant hand descended from the air and stopped right in front of Chu He!
The sharp nails formed by the light were less than five centimeters from the space between Chu He’s eyebrows. One step further, and they could have pierced straight into his eye sockets.
Yet Chu He didn’t even bat an eyelash.
A few seconds later, the giant hand slowly retreated, bit by bit. The light faded and dissipated at a visible rate, and after about ten more seconds, it gradually disappeared into the dust-filled air.
“My sincerest apologies!” Aida Yoshihide scrambled up, looking very regretful. “I forgot that this array is only harmless to sorcerers and ordinary people. It might be a little damaging to a demon’s inner core—Is Mayor Huang alright? Was he frightened? Lanyu, go check on Mayor Huang!”
Chu He raised a hand and blocked him.
Mayor Huang had disappeared, replaced by a round, fat weasel lying on the ground, trembling with extreme fear. This posture made it look as if it were kowtowing to the Japanese. Its four legs were weak, and it took a long time for it to struggle to its feet, trembling, and shakily transform back into human form.
The Fatty Huang’s face was flushed red. Although he kept shrinking back, the faint smell of urine was still clearly noticeable—he had wet his pants.
“I’m, I’m fine,” the weasel said, retreating in shame. “I’ll go change—change my pants. You guys—you guys chat first…”
He stumbled out. In his dazed state, he nearly tripped over his own feet at the elevator door, steadying himself by grabbing the wall.
He actually looked a bit ridiculous. Aida let out a distinct chuckle. Mayor Huang, whether he heard it or not, hurried away with his head down and shoulders hunched.
Lanyu panted slightly and suddenly bowed deeply to Chu He. “I’m sorry, it was my negligence…”
“It’s because he looks so much like a human,” Aida chimed in with a laugh. “I forgot for a moment that this array can sometimes completely destroy a demon’s inner core—in that sense, Mr. Huang is actually quite lucky! Hahahaha!”
Chu He turned his head and gave Aida a calm look.
“Well, Mr. Chu, don’t be offended. Sometimes we play little jokes on demons, but times have changed. We don’t easily take a demon’s life anymore…”
Before Aida Yoshihide could finish, Chu He had already turned and walked out.
Aida Yoshihide’s laughter stopped abruptly. After a moment, he snorted. “This lowly demon is actually lucky enough to guard this excellent feng shui spot.”
Lanyu sighed. “Uncle Aida…”
“What?”
“The headmaster ordered me to assist you,” Lanyu said slowly after a pause. “But he did not say you could order me to kill at will. So for the next week, you should probably handle things yourself.”
Aida strode over and grabbed the young onmyoji’s hair. “What do you mean by that?!”
The young man did not flinch. Aida stared at him for a long time before finally gritting his teeth and softening his tone. “You know very well that the Earth Womb requires seven living souls as a sacrifice. Since we’re already here, how can we back down? Besides, the first one to die was one of our own. With such a huge leverage in our hands, the one surnamed Huang won’t have the guts to defy us!”
“But…”
“Are you afraid of that guy surnamed Chu? He’s just an ordinary person!”
“An ordinary person who is about to become a demon.” The onmyoji shook his head gravely. “It’s already difficult for a demon to become a demon, let alone a living person. I’m worried he has a powerful demon clan protecting him. It will be very troublesome then.”
Aida was unconcerned. He retorted, “Even if it’s troublesome, are you and I afraid we can’t get away? The Way of Onmyo from the Han and Tang dynasties has already declined. In today’s China, besides that Zhou Hui who can’t easily leave the capital, who else from the Esoteric Sect is our opponent?”
The young onmyoji hesitated for a moment before finally sighing.
“You don’t know,” his voice was almost inaudible. “In this vast world, there are still many people you and I cannot afford to offend…”
Chu He walked out of the construction site and saw Mayor Huang, who had already changed his pants, sitting alone on the steps.
It was getting late. The sun was setting, twilight was gathering, and flocks of birds, a rare sight in the city, flew across the sky, rushing into the distance. The weasel held his large, fat head in one hand, his ears drooping, and stared blankly at the distant flock of birds, lost in thought.
Chu He walked over to him and sat down on the curb beside him.
“You know,” the weasel’s muffled voice came, “am I not doing a good enough job as a human?”
Chu He said, “You’re already doing very well.”
“Then why does no one still treat me like a human?”
This was a question that even Chu He found difficult to answer. He thought for a long time, so long that even Mayor Huang thought he wouldn’t say anything more. Then he suddenly said, “Maybe you haven’t done enough.”
“Huh?”
“If you do a little more, and do it better, it should be about right.”
The Fatty Huang blinked his small eyes. After pondering for a long while, he grudgingly accepted this explanation. He let out a long “Oh—” and said, “Then, I can work a little harder on that…”
Chu He nodded in approval, then was suddenly poked by Fatty Huang’s finger. “—Hey, President Chu.”
“Hm?”
“We’ve known each other for so long, but I still don’t know why you, a perfectly good human, insisted on becoming a demon.”
Chu He turned his head and stared at him. The weasel tilted its head innocently. Although the fatty tried his best to hide it, the undisguisable envy and inferiority were still visible in his eyes.
“…This,” Chu He paused, feeling complicated. After a full few seconds, he managed to say, “This… I once had two sons.”
The Fatty Huang was instantly shocked. “What? When did you get married and even have sons?!”
“However, my eldest son was killed, and my second son was also abducted. I exhausted my primordial spirit trying to save my eldest son, but failed. From that day on, I fell into demonhood.”
Mayor Huang was dumbfounded. After a moment, he rolled up his sleeves. “Who? Who harmed your whole family?! Tell your brother who it was, I’ll f—ing kill them!”
“Save it, will you, fatty?” Chu He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “First, lose some weight, then cultivate for another five hundred years. Maybe then you can barely serve as cannon fodder in front of that person!”
“What kind of f—ing joke is that! No one can do such a wicked thing that invites heavenly retribution! Come on, tell me the name. Who did it? Your brother will make this his life’s goal!”
The Fatty Huang scrambled up from the ground. Just as he was about to shout, the sound of a car approaching came from a distance. In the setting sun, a black sedan came into view. The car’s paint was gleaming, and the iconic round headlights and round grille reflected a dazzling light.
The Fatty Huang’s attention was immediately diverted. “Damn, how did they find this place?!”
Chu He asked, “Who is it?”
At that moment, from the construction building behind them, Aida Yoshihide and the onmyoji named Lanyu were also walking out. The moment they saw the car, they both took a half-step back. Then, the awesome-looking Bentley Mulsanne stopped in front of everyone. The door opened, and several people got out.
Leading the group was a woman in her thirties with a graceful figure. She had large breasts, a slim waist, and was wearing high heels. Her wavy hair was very charming; she must have been even more of a heartbreaker in her youth.
Behind her was a handsome young man, well over 1.8 meters tall, with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and long legs. He wore a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses on his deeply chiseled, extraordinarily handsome face and was dressed in a motorcycle leather jacket. No matter where he stood, he looked like he was in a Hollywood movie.
The Fatty Huang: “…”
Compared to this group, Fatty Huang and President Chu instantly looked like rural peasant entrepreneurs.
“Hello everyone! Yo, Mayor Huang is here too!” The woman flirtatiously flicked her wavy hair and extended a hand to Aida Yoshihide with a beaming smile. “My humble surname is Li. I’m the director of the provincial foreign guest reception office. Just call me Li Hu—Mr. Aida, I’m so sorry I couldn’t be there to welcome you yesterday!”
Aida shook her hand, but his gaze uncontrollably went past her to the young man behind.
At that moment, the expression on Aida’s face was very strange, as if he was trying to hide extreme curiosity and astonishment, but couldn’t, which made his facial muscles appear slightly stiff. “Excuse me, may I ask who this is…”
The young man nonchalantly took off his sunglasses and extended his hand—but before Aida could shake it, his hand changed direction in mid-air and reached toward the young onmyoji. “Little beauty, what’s your name?”
“…” Lanyu said, “My humble surname is Yan, my given name is Lanyu. May I ask who you are—”
“My name is Zhou Yi. The Zhou of King Wu of Zhou.” The young man had a roguish smile on his lips. “The Yi of number one in the world.”
