In accordance with the courtesies of the sorcerer community, Chu He should have returned the greeting in the same manner—if he was of a lower generation than the young Onmyoji, he should have bowed with the same gesture; if he was of a higher generation, he should at least have nodded in approval.
But Chu He stared at him with an innocent, bewildered look, then tentatively extended a hand after a moment: “My surname is Chu, no need for courtesies. Nice to… meet you?”
Aida immediately chuckled: “Lanyu, Mr. Chu is just an ordinary person, don’t scare him!”
Chu He cooperatively smiled, which made the young man look at him several times before doubtfully backing off and remaining silent.
An incident occurred at the construction site where the mayor was inspecting with foreign businessmen, causing a stir throughout the entire city’s police department. Soon, seven or eight police cars sped towards them from afar. Before the first car had even stopped, the squadron leader and his subordinates scrambled out, almost unable to speak coherently when they saw Mayor Huang: “Mayor Hu-Hu-Hu-Hu-Huang! I’m so sorry, we’re late, wh-wh-wh-wh-where did it happen?!”
On the other side, the person in charge of the construction site also rushed over. Seeing the commotion, his legs immediately went weak: “This really has nothing to do with us! We followed all the safety and civilized construction regulations! We don’t know anything! I-I-I-I-I will cooperate with the investigation!…”
Mayor Huang had a headache from the noisy commotion. The exhibition center director, quick-witted, immediately reprimanded the construction site manager, then quickly pulled the squadron leader to the scene to see the scattered human remains. Several police officers quickly put up yellow tape around the area. Everyone retreated, and those who had witnessed the jump were reprimanded by the police and taken aside for questioning.
Taking advantage of no one noticing, Mayor Huang furtively grabbed Chu He: “What should I do? That little Japanese guy found me! What do I do now? Will they catch me and eat me?!”
Chu He asked curiously: “Does weasel meat taste good?”
“I don’t know if it tastes good, but it’s definitely edible!” Mayor Huang wailed, his face twisted: “What if my three hundred catties of divine fat end up on a Japanese dinner table?! And my country won’t even recognize me as a martyr, okay?! Mr. Chu! Mr. Chu, you must stand firm this time! If anything happens, you must cover my retreat and let me run first!”
“…” Chu He flicked his sleeve and walked away: “Stop embarrassing yourself!”
The weasel’s massive body trembled like a delicate flower, tears streaming down its face as it was about to chase, when suddenly a hand patted its shoulder: “—Mayor Huang.”
The weasel spun around as if electrocuted, only to see Yoshinobu Aida standing behind him at some point, politely asking, “May I trouble you for a moment?”
For a moment, electric light flashed wildly and alarms blared. Mayor Huang’s entire body of fat tensed up: “Wh-what is it?”
However, Yoshinobu Aida didn’t suddenly erupt and shine a demon-revealing mirror on him, nor did he cackle sinisterly and pull out a Ruyi Jingu Bang1The Ruyi Jingu Bang (如意金箍棒) is a magical staff wielded by Sun Wukong (the Monkey King), a main character in the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West.
It’s a legendary weapon capable of changing its size, length, and weight at will, from a tiny needle to a massive pillar. It’s incredibly powerful and is often depicted as weighing 13,500 jin (approximately 8,100 kilograms or 17,857 pounds). to beat him back to his original form. None of the thousand and one dramatic scenarios Mayor Huang had imagined occurred. Yoshinobu Aida even smiled very politely: “The deceased translator was a Japanese national. According to our tradition, Lanyu wishes to perform a ritual for his deliverance and blessing at the site of the incident. Do you think that’s acceptable?”
The place where the translator jumped was a half-finished floor on the construction site. One half was poured with concrete, while the other half of the rebar was still exposed, about ten meters high from the ground.
This should be a very narrow and low fire barrier in the middle of the building. After Chu He bent down and entered, he looked around and wondered how the translator managed to step on the rebar, crawl through the scaffolding, and climb in to jump—if someone was taller, it would be a squeeze just to get in, let alone jump down.
Mayor Huang panted, leaning against the corner, and asked, “Have they found out anything yet?”
The squadron leader, wiping sweat, shook his head, holding several evidence bags: “The ground is covered in dust, with only one set of footprints, so we can rule out climbing or being pulled. Combined with the testimonies of seven or eight witnesses, we can initially conclude it was a suicide.”
Mayor Huang breathed a sigh of relief: “Suicide is good, suicide is good.”
These words were truly unrefined. Normally, the squadron leader would probably have laughed, but at this moment, in this place, the thought that arose 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, radiating in a circular pattern. He then had all the living people, including all the police officers, retreat, and sat in the center of the formation himself. At this point, there were only four people left in the fire barrier: Mayor Huang, Chu He, Yoshinobu Aida, and himself. Lanyu muttered something, and suddenly the circular formation rose abruptly from the dust, emitting a multicolored glow.
The light flowed like a solar halo, looking incredibly splendid and magnificent at first glance, but after a long look, it gave people a sense of awe and dread. Mayor Huang uncomfortably rubbed his eyes and whispered to Chu He, “Can you tell what its origin is?”
Chu He didn’t answer. He just saw faint ghostly wails emanating from the circular formation. Before long, a male ghost with a bloody head struggled to emerge, its bloody hand reaching out to grab Aida!
Lanyu’s brow didn’t flinch. He raised his hand and slapped a spirit talisman onto the evil ghost’s forehead with a smack. Instantly, the ghost’s wail stopped, and the spirit talisman emitted invisible flames, burning the evil ghost’s soul into ashes within seconds!
“Aaaahhhhh—”
The last wail disappeared into the air with the scattering ashes. Instantly, the multicolored light surged, almost completely engulfing the Onmyoji in the formation!
“This isn’t a blessing, is it?” Mayor Huang exclaimed, “Shattering the soul to nourish the core of the formation, isn’t this a demon-subduing array?!”
As he spoke, the circular formation suddenly deformed, transforming into a giant hand radiating white light! The hand was withered and gaunt, with long, curled nails, as if it could see, it patrolled around this small space, then, like a venomous snake locking onto its target, it suddenly stopped in front of Mayor Huang!
In that split second, Chu He grabbed the weasel and yanked him behind him like lightning—
At that moment, he was so fast it didn’t seem like he was pulling a fat man weighing over three hundred catties. At the same instant, the giant hand came down from the air, stopping abruptly in front of Chu He!
The sharp fingernails formed by the light were less than five centimeters from Chu He’s brow. One more step, and they would have plunged straight into his eye socket.
Yet, Chu He didn’t even twitch an eyelash.
A few seconds later, the giant hand slowly receded, bit by bit. The light faded and dissipated at a visible rate. After about ten more seconds, it gradually vanished into the dust-filled air.
“I am very sorry!” Yoshinobu Aida scrambled up, looking very remorseful: “I forgot that this formation is only harmless to sorcerers and ordinary people, it might cause some damage to a demon’s inner core—is Mayor Huang alright? Was he scared? Lanyu, go check on Mayor Huang!”
Chu He raised a hand, blocking him.
Mayor Huang had vanished, replaced by a plump, round weasel, its entire body sprawled on the ground, trembling with extreme fear. It looked as if it was bowing to the Japanese man. However, its four limbs were so weak that it struggled for a long time to stand up, shaking, and then transformed back into human form.
Fatty Huang’s face was flushed. Although he kept shrinking back, a faint smell of urine clearly emanated—he had wet his pants.
“I, I’m fine,” the weasel retreated in embarrassment, “I’m going to change—change my pants, you—you guys talk first…”
He stumbled out, and because he was dazed, he almost tripped over his own feet at the elevator door, fumbling to steady himself against the wall.
He looked somewhat ridiculous, and Aida let out a clear chuckle—Mayor Huang didn’t know if he heard it or not, taking three steps at a time, head down, shoulders hunched, and quickly left.
Lanyu breathed slightly, then suddenly bowed deeply to Chu He: “I’m sorry, it was my oversight…”
“Because it looked too much like a human,” Aida interjected with a laugh, “I completely forgot that this formation can sometimes completely destroy a demon’s inner core—so, in that sense, Mr. Huang was actually very lucky! Hahahaha!”
Chu He turned around and gave Aida a calm look.
“Well, Mr. Chu, please don’t take offense. Sometimes we do play a small joke on demons, but times have changed, and we won’t easily harm a demon’s life…”
Yoshinobu Aida’s words were unfinished when Chu He turned and walked out.
Yoshinobu Aida’s laughter stopped abruptly. A moment later, he snorted lightly, “This lowly demon actually has the good fortune to guard such an auspicious place with excellent feng shui.”
Lanyu sighed, “Master Aida…”
“What do you want?”
“The sect leader ordered me to assist you,” Lanyu hesitated, then slowly said, “but he did not say that you could casually order me to kill. So, for the matters of this coming week, please try to handle them yourself.”
Aida strode forward and grabbed the young Onmyoji’s hair: “What do you mean by this?!”
The young man didn’t flinch. Aida glared at him for a long time, then finally gritted his teeth and softened his tone: “You clearly know that the Earth-Born Fetus requires seven living sacrifices. We’re already here, so how can we back down? Besides, the first one to die was one of our own. The guy surnamed Huang has such a huge handle on us; he won’t dare to defy us!”
“But…”
“Are you afraid of that guy named 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 becoming one? I’m worried that there’s a powerful demon race protecting him, and that would be very troublesome.”
Aida was indifferent and retorted, “Even if it’s troublesome, are you and I afraid of not being able to escape? The Onmyodo of the Han and Tang dynasties has already declined. Nowadays, in China, besides Zhou Hui, who rarely leaves the capital, who else is an opponent for our Esoteric Sect?”
The young Onmyoji hesitated for a moment, then finally sighed.
“You don’t know,” his voice was barely audible, “There are still many people in this vast world that you and I cannot afford to offend…”
Chu He walked out of the construction site to find Mayor Huang, who had already changed his pants, sitting alone on the steps.
By now, it was late, with the setting sun casting long shadows as dusk settled. Flocks of birds, a rare sight in the city, soared across the sky, flying off into the distance. The weasel rested his chubby head in one hand, ears drooping, staring blankly at the distant birds, lost in thought.
Chu He walked up to him and sat down beside him on the curb.
“You say,” the weasel’s muffled voice came, “Am I not being a good enough human?”
Chu He said, “You’re already very good.”
“Then why does no one treat me as a human?”
This question was difficult even for Chu He to answer. He thought for a long time, so long that even Mayor Huang thought he wouldn’t say anything more, when he suddenly heard him say, “Maybe you haven’t done enough yet.”
“Huh?”
“If you do a little more, and do it even better, it should be about right.”
Fatty Huang blinked his small eyes, pondered for a long time, but still reluctantly accepted the explanation. So he let out a long “Oh—” and said, “Then, I can try a little harder…”
Chu He nodded approvingly. Suddenly, Fatty Huang poked him with a finger: “—Hey, Mr. Chu.”
“Hmm?”
“You know, we’ve known each other for so long, and I still don’t know why you’d rather not be a human and insist on becoming a demon?”
Chu He turned to stare at him. The weasel tilted his head, feigning innocence. Although the fat man tried his best to hide it, the undeniable envy and inferiority could still be seen in his eyes.
“…This,” Chu He paused with complex emotions, taking several seconds to finally manage to say, “This, I once had two sons.”
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 became a demon.”
Mayor Huang was dumbfounded. After a moment, he rolled up his sleeves: “Who, who harmed your whole family?! Tell your brother who it is, and I’ll beat him to death!”
“Can you just save it, fatty?” Chu He said exasperatedly, “You should lose some weight first, then cultivate for another five hundred years, and then you might barely be able to be cannon fodder in front of that person!”
“What the hell are you talking about! No one can do such a wicked thing that would incur divine wrath! Come on, tell me his name, who did it, brother, I’ll set that as my goal right now!”
Fatty Huang scrambled up from the ground, just about to shout loudly, when suddenly, a car approaching from afar made a “whoosh” sound. In the setting sun, a black sedan approached from a distance, its body gleaming, its iconic round headlights and grille reflecting dazzling light.
Fatty Huang’s attention was immediately diverted: “Damn, they found us?!”
Chu He asked, “Who is it?”
At that moment, from the construction building behind them, Yoshinobu Aida and the Onmyoji named Lanyu also walked out. The moment they saw the car, they both simultaneously took half a step back. Then, the incredibly flashy Bentley Mulsanne stopped in front of everyone, the car door opened, and several people stepped out.
Leading them was a voluptuous woman in her thirties, with a full bust, slender waist, and high heels, her wavy hair very charming; she must have been even more captivating in her youth.
Behind her was a young handsome man, over 1.8 meters tall, with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and long legs. He wore Ray-Ban sunglasses on his deeply chiseled and exceptionally handsome face, dressed in a motorcycle leather jacket, looking like he was shooting a Hollywood movie no matter where he stood.
Fatty Huang: “…”
Compared to these people, Fatty Huang and Boss Chu instantly looked like rural peasant entrepreneurs.
“Hello everyone! Oh, Mayor Huang is here too!” The woman seductively tossed her wavy hair and smiled as she extended her hand to Yoshinobu Aida: “My surname is Li, I’m the director of the provincial foreign guest reception office, just call me Li Hu—Mr. Aida, I’m really sorry I couldn’t welcome you yesterday!”
Aida shook her hand, but his gaze uncontrollably went past her to the young man behind.
At that moment, Aida’s expression was very strange, as if he was trying to hide extreme curiosity and astonishment, yet unable to conceal it, making his facial muscles slightly stiff: “Excuse me, this is…”
The young man nonchalantly took off his sunglasses and extended his hand—however, before Aida could grasp it, his hand turned in mid-air and reached out to the young Onmyoji: “Little beauty, what’s your name?”
“…” Lanyu said, “My humble surname is Yan, and my given name is Lanyu. May I ask you—”
“My name is Zhou Yi, Zhou of King Wu Ling of Zhou.” The young man had a carefree smile on his lips: “Yi of ‘number one in the world.'”
