Thirty Years of Demon Slaying at the Demon-Slaying Department - Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Better To Copy Than To Buy

The next day.

Zhang Cheng came to work at the Resource Division looking fresh and with flushed cheeks. It seemed like he was in a pretty good mood.

Ever since Zhou Yi came, Zhang Cheng had just let himself go and was slacking on the job every day.

After all, he was the Resource Division’s only ace at Upper-Third-Grade. Even Chief Secretary Chen had no other option but to show him respect. When they had first met, Chief Secretary Chen had only ceremoniously uttered a few sentences of concern, and that was about it. Zhang Cheng barely had to do any work and yet, he was receiving the highest amount of pay.

There were two kinds of people who thrived in the workplace: the ones who had tons of good connections, and the ones whose skillsets were irreplaceable.

In many cases, the former had to give way to the latter.

Zhou Yi took out a tiny wine jug and said with a smile, “Brother Zhang, this is a ten-year Pear Blossom Wine exclusive to the Pingzhen District. Have a taste.”

Zhang Cheng sniffed the wine’s aroma and said with satisfaction, “Bootlicking this early in the morning? What are you up to, kid?”

Zhou Yi asked, “Brother Zhang, I’m kind of getting into Taoist scriptures recently. You read a lot of those so, would you mind introducing some to me?”

On the market, scriptures were as abundant as the hairs on an ox. But it was not easy to determine their authenticity. In order to make money, many bookshops would ask random Taoist priests to write whatever gibberish and then put someone else’s name as the writer. After all, the idea of copyright does not exist in Great Qian.

Instead of attempting to distinguish the authenticity of each and every book, Zhou Yi might as well ask Zhang Cheng for recommendations.

“I have a few scriptures right here. Let me find where they are.”

Zhang Cheng rummaged through the piles of books and found a few with blue covers.

“Words of Spiritual Master Qingjing”, “Uncovering Mysteries With Spiritual Master Fei Yunshan”, “Cui Gong’s Annotation”, “Words of Spiritual Master Fubo of the Eastern Seas”…

“These are my manuscripts. Remember their names, there should be plenty on the market.”

Zhang Cheng praised him, “You’ve experienced too many killings in the dungeon. Now, you should read more of the sages’ works, contain your rage, cultivate your mind, and you will naturally be able to prolong your life.”

“Thank you for your guidance, Brother Zhang. I’ll start copying them right away after I’m done with today’s tasks.”

“That’s very promising of you, and it means you’re worthy of being taught! After all, one will definitely read a book when they’re copying it themselves. Copying a book once is better than reading it ten times over!”

Zhang Cheng popped open the wine jar and took a quick sip. The rich aroma of wine floated to the division next door.

Pear Blossom Wine was clear in color, sweet in flavor, and rich in taste. During its brewing process, a special method was used to extract and infuse the flavor of pear blossom petals, hence infusing the wine with the fragrance of the flower.

According to the standards of his previous life, Pear Blossom Wine that was kept for over 60 years would make it equivalent to spirits.

The Great Qian Dynasty had had the technology of distilling alcohol for a long time. Others, such as edible salt, glass, gunpowder, and cement, had similar or even better technologies, which itself had shattered Zhou Yi’s dream of becoming a tycoon.

Listening to Zhang Cheng’s guidance, Zhou Yi was deeply awe-struck.

“It turns out that copying books is so effective. Since I have plenty of time, I might as well do it several times.”

“Firstly, you can understand the wisdom of the sages within the books. Secondly, you can sell the books that you copied. Having copied so many works, I would say that my calligraphy skill is already at an eight to nine out of ten.”

Having lived in the capital for half a year, he had seen many scholars selling their works on the streets. In comparison to those, Zhang Cheng’s calligraphy could be considered top-notch.

Zhang Cheng may not have the talent of a calligraphy master, but having lived long enough and written enough characters, he had vaguely created his own unique style.

If he were to devote himself to calligraphy, he might be able to create his own “Zhang Font”.

“Slacking off at work, copying books and slowly enlightening one’s spirit… And even earning money on the side…”

Killing three birds with one stone!

…

Tongfu Inn.

Zhou Yi stood upright in front of the table with his wrist hanging in the air. He was copying “Words of Spiritual Master Fubo of the Eastern Seas” character after character.

During the day, he had already finished reading 12 Taoist scriptures. Out of everything he read, the first volume of the book titled “Persuasion” was the only one that explained what Spirit was.

The mind decays due to sexual desires; Qi exhausts in anger…

With mind and Qi no longer in balance, one’s spirit becomes scattered…

Spirit amplifies itself by thousand fold, and so does the Qi. One becomes many and many becomes one…

Those whose spirits are heightened have the clarity of soul. They come and go according to their heart’s desire, like a misty dream, like an ethereal being…

The content of the Spiritual Master’s words was not complete. It was composed of various quotations, expressions, verses, the thoughts and deeds of Spiritual Master Fubo, and famous aphorisms similar to Buddhist verses. The work itself resembled handwritten notes that were rather messy.

Every time Zhou Yi made a copy of it, he would acquire new insights from the work’s core ideas.

There were books on the market that annotate Spiritual Master Fubo’s quotations, which were similar to ‘reflection after reading’ of future generations. Zhou Yi picked a few to read and benefited a lot from them.

Zhou Yi cultivated in the Huang-ting Scripture and hence could be considered as a Taoist Cultivator, barely. However, his basic knowledge was far worse than that of an orthodox Taoist Cultivator.

Regardless of their Cultivation Base, the Taoist priests who annotated Spiritual Master Fubo’s quotations and published their work in their own name at least had the confidence to understand the scripture’s meaning.

Unfortunately, most of them included their own selfish ideals into the copied work. They were even suspected of degrading the original work so as to elevate their own reputation in the field. By degrading their competitors, they were attempting to fool readers into believing their own concept of Taoism.

“Even Spiritual Masters have foolish desires…”

Zhou Yi comprehended the essence of those works, recopied Spiritual Master Fubo’s quotations, and gained even more new insights.

All of a sudden.

A gust of violent wind blew open the window and knocked over this work. Several pages of the Taoist scripture he had just copied were now stained with ink.

Zhou Yi faintly furrowed his eyebrows, turned around, and walked to the window. He looked out and saw a dozen constables on the street outside, searching the nearby stores.

He closed the window and continued to copy the book.

After a while, there was a knock on the door.

The innkeeper’s voice followed, “Are you asleep, Mr. Zhou? The Six Gates is here for room inspection.”

Creak!

Zhou Yi opened the door and noticed that behind the innkeeper were five constables.

The leader of the constables was wearing standard green uniform while the other four were wearing black. The moment the door opened, they immediately looked at every corner of the room.

Constables of the capital city’s Six Gates were temporary workers in various local counties. They were officials of the Law Enforcement Department, on par with second-grade officials of the imperial court.

The innkeeper said apologetically, “Sorry for disturbing, Mr. Zhou. This is Ms. Li from Six Gates. A thief escaped the city’s dungeon today, so it’s imperative that they conduct strict searches in the city.”

“Of course, you may come in.”

Zhou Yi moved aside as he muttered to himself. The Six Gates actually recruit female constables as well. The Great Qian Dynasty was a lot more open-minded than he thought.

The female constable with the surname Li walked into the room to observe while her four subordinates searched through the boxes and cabinets.

“Hey, be careful with that. That vase is an antique from centuries ago. How can a thief possibly hide in there…”

The innkeeper carefully replaced the large vase. If Zhou Yi remembered correctly, this vase was one of the second-hand goods the inn acquired from the West Market last week.

Zhou Yi stood in front of the desk and glanced at the roof beam.

Constable Li, who had been observing everyone’s expression, suddenly jumped on a roof beam and exclaimed in surprise.

“There are footprints in the dust, someone was here just now!”

All of a sudden.

Another person opened the door and entered the room. It was a middle-aged man in patron clothes. His eyes were drowsy. It seemed that he had just woken up.

“Mr. Innkeeper? What’cher doin here in the middle of the night?”

“A thief was here. How in the world are you able to just sleep through everything and not even know that a thief was here?!” the innkeeper yelled.

The innkeeper went on to introduce the newcomer to everyone in the room: “This is my newly-recruited waiter. He’s from the Yuzhou Prefecture. He doesn’t know how to speak our official language.”

The middle-aged man was taken aback. With panic on his face, he said, “I com’in peace! Carry on with ya good work!”

Constable Li looked at the middle-aged man, then went back to inspecting the traces on the roof beam in an attempt to determine the person’s direction of escape.

Zhou Yi however, took a close look at the middle-aged man. The skin on his face was surreal. Looking at him carefully, he could even see pores and unshaved bristles.

The exposed hands of the middle-aged man have broad palms, swollen joints, a rough and dark complexion, and were full of calluses. At one glance, one could tell that those were caused by long hours of physical work.

Unfortunately, no matter how great a disguise, it was useless before the Spirit Eye Technique.

Zhou Yi’s eyes flashed as he easily saw through his disguise. The Yuzhou accent of the middle-aged man was also just a part of the disguise.

“Exquisite Qing-gong, lifelike disguising technique, it is no wonder you are able to escape the dungeon,” he said out loud. “You could’ve escaped today, but my manuscripts are ruined because of you. For that, you shall have to pay!”

Zhou Yi unleashed the Qi Inspection Technique and saw the Peach Blossom Star flickering above Bai Yutang’s head, and that of Constable Li trembling.

An intermittent red thread connected the two together.