Volume One: Menial Duties in Changshui County Chapter Twenty-Four: Promising Great Profit

There is no such thing as retirement in this world.

When one grows old and their energy wanes, the Demon Slayer Bureau would never keep on such menial workers.

Cultivating martial arts is a possible path.

Do you think these servants don’t wish to advance in martial cultivation? Of course they do, but they have no means to do so.

The Demon Slayer Bureau does possess the most common martial arts manuals of the entire Great Zhou Dynasty, but unless you make an extraordinary contribution, they would never allow you to practice them for free.

For a menial worker, making a special contribution is nearly impossible.

Lu Jiuzhang glanced at the martial arts manual on the table. It was not the ubiquitous kind found everywhere in Great Zhou, but one called the “Ninefold Chaos Technique.”

The name certainly sounded impressive, though Lu Jiuzhang had no idea how powerful it actually was.

Many martial arts manuals are in fact quite poor, difficult to reach any profound level with.

“This manual comes from my own sect,” Zhou Cheng explained. “I was once a disciple of a sect in Anxi Prefecture. When it was destroyed, I joined the Demon Slayer Bureau to avoid being hunted by my enemies.”

“There are many sects like mine throughout Great Zhou, all of them unremarkable, with few experts, and always at risk of annihilation.”

“Almost every day, a sect is wiped out, while others are founded by ambitious souls who style themselves founders of a new order.”

“Of course, such a founder is merely self-proclaimed—there’s little substance behind the title!”

“The three most renowned sects in Great Zhou are all first-rate: the Divine Martial Sect, Zhongnan Hall, and Hundred Flowers Valley.”

“The signboard of the Divine Martial Sect was inscribed by the founding emperor himself, binding it closely to the dynasty. Hundred Flowers Valley’s disciples are mostly women, while Zhongnan Hall stands aloof, rarely heard of in the martial world.”

Lu Jiuzhang was hearing all this for the first time.

Mainly, Changshui County was so remote and cut off that few people knew of these matters.

“The ‘Ninefold Chaos Technique’ is extremely difficult to cultivate, and its ceiling is only the seventh rank of martial cultivation,” Zhou Cheng added. “It’s not as good as the manuals of the top sects, but far better than nothing.”

Seventh rank was the highest possible?

That seemed rather underwhelming.

Yet for ordinary folk, entering the ranked grades at all is already a miracle; seventh rank is almost unimaginable.

“The reason the ceiling is seventh rank? Because the founder of our sect only reached that level. After over eighty years of history, no one save the founder ever surpassed eighth rank, and by my generation, not even that.”

Zhou Cheng sighed.

His sect’s limits were so low, and the manual itself so difficult—not concise enough.

If he’d cultivated a different manual, Zhou Cheng might have reached eighth rank long ago.

“To have something to cultivate is blessing enough!” Lu Jiuzhang replied with a wry smile. “Thank you, Master Zhou, for this gift!”

“That’s enough. Go on, and cultivate well.”

Zhou Cheng waved him away—he had said all he could, and it was time to go home for dinner.

As for why he was giving Lu Jiuzhang the manual, in truth, someone else had asked him to do so.

Besides, Zhou Cheng had a good impression of Lu Jiuzhang, so he agreed.

...

As Lu Jiuzhang left the Demon Slayer Bureau, he periodically checked the place at his chest where he kept the manual, afraid he might lose it.

A martial arts manual capable of raising one to the ranks was highly valuable.

The cheapest would fetch several taels of gold—thousands of silver, in other words.

Or else, one could be rewarded with it for an outstanding deed.

Both ways were nearly impossible for ordinary people.

So, even if the “Ninefold Chaos Technique” only allowed cultivation up to seventh rank, Lu Jiuzhang agreed without hesitation.

This was an opportunity one could only dream of!

As he neared his home, Lu Jiuzhang saw, from a distance, someone standing at his door.

How odd.

When his elder brother Lu Huaigu was alive, it was rare for any visitor to come in half a year.

Now that Lu Huaigu was gone, there always seemed to be someone waiting at the door for him every few days.

Though he didn’t know who this person was, this was the county town, after all; as a menial worker of the Demon Slayer Bureau, he was also an official of sorts, so there was nothing to fear.

Summoning his courage, Lu Jiuzhang stepped forward and cupped his hands. “May I ask whom you seek?”

“Are you Lu Jiuzhang?”

The person slowly turned.

Only then did Lu Jiuzhang notice that the individual was, in fact, a woman.

Her pectoral muscles were simply too prominent—despite dressing in men’s clothes, her gender was obvious at a glance.

“That is I. May I ask, miss, what business brings you here?”

Lu Jiuzhang inquired.

“I dislike being called miss. Address me as Supervisor Zhao. I am from the Thousand Machines Pavilion.”

The woman spoke calmly.

There was no denying her beauty—a trace of heroic spirit between her brows.

As for her dislike of the term “miss,” Lu Jiuzhang muttered inwardly that he had no way of knowing her preferences or identity in advance; how could he know what she wished to be called?

“Supervisor Zhao, is your visit perhaps about the corpse pearl?”

At the mention of the Thousand Machines Pavilion, Lu Jiuzhang instantly understood her purpose.

“Indeed. Name your price. If it’s reasonable, I can get you anything you desire.”

Supervisor Zhao looked at Lu Jiuzhang, her tone not arrogant but brimming with confidence.

As if to say: as long as your request is within reason, I can make it happen.

Clearly, a scion of a great family—vastly different from the old man Lu Jiuzhang had met at the Pavilion last time.

“I honestly don’t know what I want.”

Lu Jiuzhang shook his head.

Truthfully, he wanted to ask her to simply kill Chen Xuanfeng, but he held back.

Such a request was obviously unreasonable—the corpse pearl wasn’t nearly valuable enough to warrant assassinating Chen Xuanfeng.

Besides, no matter how deep its background, the Thousand Machines Pavilion was still just a great mercantile house, while the Demon Slayer Bureau was an official institution; Chen Xuanfeng was even the deputy commissioner of the county’s bureau.

To assassinate Chen Xuanfeng was to provoke the Demon Slayer Bureau itself.

Some lines must never be crossed, just as one should never open the door to arbitrary tribute; once such precedents are set, disaster follows.

“I see your house is rather old. I can give you money to renovate it,” Supervisor Zhao offered. “I’ve reviewed your file: you’re a menial worker in the county’s Demon Slayer Bureau. I can also provide you with a martial arts manual to help you advance and become a Demon Slayer Guard or even a Slayer proper.”

“If need be, I can use my connections to have you transferred to the Anxi Prefecture Demon Slayer Bureau.”

In Supervisor Zhao’s eyes, everything in the world had a price. If one refused, it was simply because the price wasn’t right.