Master Will Back You Up

“Young Daoist Li, you’re taking a walk?”

“Yeah?”

“Young Daoist Li, have you taken dinner? Let’s go for a meal!”

“I’ve already eaten, thank you.”

On the way back, some of the villagers who had taken their dinner greeted him warmly. Some who had just started cooking invited him over for a meal. Li Chu smiled and responded to each of them.

Deyun Monastery had been here for so many years now, so the villagers in the surrounding villages were very familiar with the master and disciple pair. Li Chu, too, had always been popular. Besides, who wouldn’t like a handsome, modest, and polite young Daoist?—especially the village’s young ladies.

It did not matter if he was handsome or not. Instead, it was mainly because they liked Daoists.

No one could have imagined that this seemingly harmless-looking young Daoist had just killed the Water Fiend by the river.

Li Chu could not be bothered to show off either.

In his view, splitting the river with a sword strike was nothing great.

He had heard the talk from a storyteller in Yuhang Town about a person with the surname “Tong” in Kunlun Baiyujing who was claimed to be invincible. When two countries in the west had shown disrespect towards Baiyujing, he immediately broke off two peaks from the Kunlun Mountains and flew over with one in each hand as he forced their submission.

There was also a clan in the Eastern Sea that raised dragons for a living. The Heluo imperial household had wanted to force them to serve the court. The clanspeople then controlled nine heavenly dragons in retaliation, kicking up a devastating tsunami that flooded Sizhou, wiping out all life there. It was only when the Emperor personally went upon the altar to admit his mistake and carved out twelve islands for them to build their country did they relent.

This was what you call Great Divine Techniques, a grand scene to behold.

Forget those afar. He already had a great one in his master close by, how could he dare to be prideful?

After that, it was another round of monster grinding that needed not be elaborated.

Late in the night, Li Chu had a strange dream.

In his dream, he once again came to the bank of Blackwater River and saw a golden-scaled carp with six white whiskers poking its head out of the river. Its form then flickered and suddenly transformed into a white-bearded old man.

The old man bowed at him. “This old one is of the koi clan in Blackwater River. Water Fiend had occupied our home and caused troubles all these years, yet we were powerless to drive it away, so we dared not speak out. Today, you have slain that Water Fiend and thus fulfilled the long-held wish of our clan, so this old one specially came here to thank you.”

Li Chu said, “There is no need to thank me, it is my duty as a cultivator to defeat evil and protect the Dao.”

“Haha.” The old man laughed. “With you adhering to the right path so fervently, I’m sure your luck will be abundant and your life long!”

As he said that, he turned around, transformed into a stream of light again, and entered the water, kicking off a big wave.

Li Chu suddenly woke up and realized it was now dawn.

“And he purposely came into my dream to thank me? Why? It is just an insignificant act, not like I care anyway.”

Li Chu muttered this to himself, but the corners of his mouth rose subconsciously.

The koi had psychic abilities and were one of the rare intelligent aquatic races. It was said that they could help people turn around their luck, which was why so many wealthy families often raised koi as fish for Feng Shui.

By getting its blessing, perhaps he might really get lucky.

After breakfast, he came to the front hall and repeated the same routine.

What was different today, however, there were soon sounds of footsteps outside.

They sounded hasty, and Li Chu immediately sat upright and wore a serious look.

There were two types of visitors to the monastery. One was the common believers. The incense money from them was in the long term. While they would often provide offerings, the amount was not large. In contrast, the other type would only offer prayers should there be an urgent need. They often needed gods’ help urgently so they would be much more generous with their offerings.

And the one with such hasty footsteps was often a big fish.

As expected, the one entering the monastery was indeed a big fish.

The person was wearing an embellished brocade, and black official headgear on his head. His waist hung a long blade in a black scabbard, and his feet were wrapped in an official cow leather boot. Although his figure was slightly off-shape and his appearance unassuming, he still had some heroic aura to him with his outfit and many years of accumulated imposing mannerisms.

Li Chu was very familiar with this person. He was the chief constable of Yuhang town, Zhou Dafu.

For him to look for Li Chu meant that there must have been another ghost-related case in town. Otherwise, a person like him, who would go to the Full Spring Parlor many a dozen times, would never step into Deyun Monastery to give an offering.

“Young Daoist, long time no see heh. I’ve even started to miss you.” Zhou Dafu smiled as he sat on the cushion opposite Li Chu.

“Thank you for your thoughts, Constable Zhou.” Li Chu replied calmly. “For you to come looking for me, is there another thorny case in town again?”

“I was going to come to give my offerings,” Zhou Dafu said before pausing for a moment. “But it just happened that there was a new case last night.”

Li Chu had almost memorized his script word for word, and could not be bothered to respond to that, so he just nodded. “Go on.”

Zhou Dafu also cut to the chase and said, “It is a really bizarre case! A murder case happened in the cloth merchant Xue’s place. Both he and several other servants were killed. Their deaths are very gruesome! But weirdly enough, only the men had died! All males in the house, including the gardener, were not spared, but the females were all unscathed. Even the young wife of cloth merchant Xue who slept on the same bed with him was fine!”

“Oh?”

Li Chu was also puzzled. He had never encountered this kind of incident before, but then again, he had not seen much himself. There were many strange evil beings in this world, so it would be normal for something strange to happen.

“After the investigation, I suspect that it might have to do with a vengeful spirit.” Zhou Dafu continued. “So I’d like you to come with me to inspect the place.”

“Sure.” Li Chu nodded.

“You might need to stay overnight there.” Zhou Dafu added.

Li Chu immediately frowned.

If he had to stay in town for the night, he would not be able to train tonight, and his grinding record thus long would be broken.

Zhou Dafu quickly said, “I can pay extra.”

He had plenty of contact with Li Chu before and knew Li Chu’s character well, so he knew there were extra charges if the job required him to stay overnight.

If someone from the government were to ask a cultivator for help, they would receive a bounty, and according to the difficulty of the case, the value would differ. However, overall, it was still quite considerable.

In fact, Zhou Dafu could go to Hangzhou City to seek help from a higher authority. There’s an Imperial Bureau station there, and one could ask the help of those cultivators under the imperial court. But the Imperial Bureau’s staff were always busy, and seeking their help gives off the impression of incompetence, and one’s credit would be diminished. So, the chief constables in towns would generally prefer to look for cultivators around them.

Although there was an additional expense in terms of bounty, it was paid by the imperial court. Can public money even be called money?

This way, Li Chu would receive the bounty while Zhou Dafu would receive the credit.

‘You may very well earn, but I’m not losing out either…’

When Li Chu heard this, his brows stretched immediately. “What are you saying, Constable Zhou? For the sake of the peace of this town, of course I cannot stand aside. I’ll go and inform my master!”

“You sure are righteous.” Zhou Dafu said.

Li Chu got up and went to the backyard. After taking a few steps, he did not forget to re-emphasize. “It’s not about the money.”

“Naturally.” Zhou Dafu agreed with a smile, but at the same time he said in his heart, ‘I’ll be damned if I believed that.’

Li Chu came to the backyard.

Yu Qi’an was still sitting by the stone table, reciting the scriptures in his hand. His clothes were fluttering, so was his immortal Qi.

“Master.” Li Chu said. “The town’s Constable Zhou had summoned me to help deal with a case related to a vengeful spirit. I might not be back tonight.”

Yu Qi’an raised his eyes and said with concern. “Be careful with everything and stay safe. If there are evil that you cannot deal with, save your own life first, and come back to tell your master. I will back you up.”

“I understand!”

Hearing this, Li Chu slightly perked up. This was the reason he was full of confidence every time he went out for errands.

His master would back him up!

With Yu Qi’an’s words, he could do anything. If he was to run into a monster that he could not deal with, he could come back to his master for help, and how reassuring was that.

…

After watching Li Chu leaving with the iron sword on his back for a while, Yu Qi’an returned his gaze to the picture book in his hand.

And then his murmur could be vaguely heard. “If there is an evil being that even you cannot deal with, you definitely must come back to tell me… and when the time comes, both of us will flee together… as long as we survive, there is nothing to be afraid of…”

A gentle breeze blew and flipped the cover of the picture book, and on it were three big words—

The Nine-tailed Turtle

.