Chapter 356: Leader |
Chen Shi felt a spark of curiosity: "What else ridiculous has happened to me?"
Wu Qingyu said, "It's nothing major. Just don't stay too close to Nannan from now on. It was she who grabbed the two of us."
Chen Shi grew even more suspicious.
Nannan was the reincarnation of the Righteous Official, the last face of the Ten Kings of Hell, famed for being iron-faced and impartial, and the only Yama who had not been captured by the Thirteen Great Clans.
Could it be that she and her son had committed atrocities in the underworld, and that was why they fell into the hands of the Righteous Official?
Chen Tang devised all sorts of demon-extraction protocols, thought through every contingency, and then dragged Granny Sha, Du Yiran and the others to rehearse.
Chen Shi arrived at the Minor Heaven and saw that during the time he had been extracting demons, Yu Tiancheng and the others had already developed the Minor Heaven into a fairly substantial settlement, with pavilions, terraces, and all the usual facilities. The palace architecture here was designed by Chen Tang, modeled on the Six Ministries system, establishing six palace departments: Personnel, Revenue, Rites, Military, Justice, and Works.
At present, the Celestial Court's manpower was limited, so six departments were more than sufficient.
Personnel Department: Du Yiran; Revenue Department: Chen Tang and Shao Jing; Rites Department: Li Tianqing and Sha Qiutong; Military Department: Blue Goat and Celestial Fox; Justice Department: Zhuge Jian and A Zhuo; Works Department: Situ Wen.
Next was the Works Department led by Situ Wen, mainly replicating the court’s firearm designs and forging talisman-weapons and magic treasures.
The Revenue Department handled finances and distribution of talisman-weapons and magic treasures.
The Personnel Department appointed incense masters and hall leaders across the land.
The Justice Department monitored for corruption such as bribery and embezzlement, and also solved difficult cases in various locales.
The Military Department handled evil spirits and demonic transformations that local forces could not manage.
Chen Tang personally designed the Celestial Court’s six departments, far improving on the original Court structure, and making full use of everyone’s talents.
At present, each department had only three to fifty people, often low-level clerks from the court’s Revenue Department or Chen Shi’s disciples; another portion were talents recruited from Red Mountain Hall and the Lu Ban Sect.
In the Minor Heaven there was also a separate office responsible for liaising with local halls; that office was run by private school teacher Fu Leisheng and used Celestial Court tokens to communicate with hall branches. It was not counted among the six departments.
In the Western Ox New Continent there were fifty provinces, and forty-seven of them already had Celestial Court branches. These were established under the name of the Red Mountain Hall Talisman Master Association to recruit talisman masters, help the common people exorcise and eliminate spirits, and let talisman masters make a living while learning better techniques and receiving superior instruction.
Zhuge Jian told Chen Shi, "From the reports gathered from the branches, as the celestial changes worsen, evil spirits are increasing rather than decreasing. Talisman masters from the association have already helped as many people as possible, solving more spirit cases, but the spirits keep multiplying. Moreover, in some places, demon seeds may have appeared."
"Demon seeds?"
Chen Shi’s face turned grave. "How can you tell a demon seed?"
Zhuge Jian said, "It's hard to distinguish. Some demon seeds disguise themselves as rare, soon-to-emerge treasures. Last time in Honghe Province, a demon seed hid beneath the river, blooming light at night that brightened the sky with illusions. Many cultivators thought a treasure was about to be born and rushed to the scene, seeing palace towers faintly below the river. They went down into the water to explore. Those cultivators—every one of them—died; no one returned alive. Our Red Mountain Hall talismans suspected a demon seed and the Honghe branch reported it to the Minor Heaven. When we investigated, we confirmed the scene in the river was an illusion produced by a demon seed to lure people."
Chen Shi frowned slightly.
"Red Mountain Hall has many experts; I dispatched some people and we dealt with that demon seed," Zhuge Jian continued. "Such demon seeds are easy to find and handle. But some demon seeds blend into the crowd and become very hard to detect. Their behavior is indistinguishable from ordinary people—eating, drinking, excreting, sleeping—nothing obvious. But at night they go out and eat people. Those around them do not guard against them and can be devoured in an instant. Our Red Mountain Hall talismans have uncovered several such cases. The demons are powerful, and we’ve lost many talisman masters in the process."
Chen Shi was about to respond when the liaison officer reported: "Instructor, an old man claiming to be Tong Qianshou, head of the Medicine King Sect, is outside and asks to see the Instructor."
Chen Shi smiled, "The medics have arrived."
He straightened up and left the Minor Heaven at once. Zhuge Jian followed him outside and saw a yellow cloud hovering at the village entrance, veiling the surroundings. Under the cloud crouched a massive Yellow Tiger, and beside it a lean, spirited old man led a group of medics to the outskirts of Huangpo Village.
The old man glanced their way and hurried forward, "Which of you is Chen Shi, Chen the Top Scholar?"
Chen Shi replied with a smile, "Master Tong, good to see you. Have you visited the Medicine King's ancestral temple?"
That old man was Tong Qianshou. In the underworld they had both been skeletons and had not seen each other's faces until today.
Tong Qianshou knelt quickly, "If not for you, Top Scholar Chen, our Medicine King Sect would likely never have returned to the ancestral temple, nor received the Medicine King's guidance!"
The medics behind him instantly knelt as well.
Chen Shi helped them up and said, "All in a day's work. No need for such ceremony. Please stand."
Tong Qianshou's gratitude overflowed, "To be honest, our Medicine King Sect has many hopeless leaders—my master, my founder, and so on. The lineage of the Medicine King has lost more than half of its tradition. Today we finally return to our roots; restoring and revitalizing the Medicine King Sect is only a matter of time. The benevolence of Top Scholar Chen has saved us!"
Zhuge Jian watched, full of admiration: "Truly befitting the True King. Just as we lamented a lack of medics, the Medicine King Sect arrives! Master Tong's loyalty to the True King is absolute—if the True King told him to rebel, he'd probably do it!"
He felt puzzled. Recently Chen Shi had supposedly been beaten to death, become a corpse, and was performing exorcisms at home as a skeleton. How had he, as a corpse, convinced the Medicine King Sect to join the Celestial Court and brought in such a large force?
Chen Shi said, "Master Tong, I have something to discuss."
They moved to a quiet place. Chen Shi explained that Red Mountain Hall lacked medics and many talisman masters were wounded or disabled. Tong Qianshou laughed, "This is a small matter for us. Your kindness cannot be repaid. From now on, Red Mountain Hall's wound care and pill refining can be entrusted to our Medicine King Sect."
Chen Shi thanked him.
Tong Qianshou said, "Nonsense. Our sect used to practice medicine around Bozhou, where herbs are abundant. But since the ancestral temple is on Qianyang Mountain, our Medicine King Sect will relocate to Qianyang Mountain!"
He hesitated, then asked, "Top Scholar Chen, is my disciple Sang Xixi still alive?"
Chen Shi was surprised: "Xixi hasn't returned yet?"
Tong Qianshou shook his head, "She has not returned. Did she die heroically in sacrifice?"
Chen Shi smiled, "How could she have died heroically? She is now Interior Affairs Minister in the Heavenly Pool Kingdom, an official of high rank."
Tong Qianshou was stunned and completely at a loss as to how this could be.
"That girl became Interior Affairs Minister in the Heavenly Pool Ghost State. When she returns to the mortal world, I will even hand over the sect leader position to her. She will become head of the Medicine King Sect."
Tong Qianshou blinked, "What did I miss?"
Chen Shi remembered something and told Tong Qianshou, "I need the Medicine King Sect’s help to send a large group of people into the Heavenly Pool Kingdom. I—cough—have some matters that require their handling."
"'I'?" Tong Qianshou misheard.
Chen Shi forced his expression to look normal and restrained his smile.
"In front of you stands the new generation ruler of the Heavenly Pool Kingdom, the leader chosen by one hundred and twelve ghost tribes, the undying light of the Yin Mountains' hundred thousand peaks, Chen Shi, Lord Chen!"
Tong Qianshou jumped, incredulous.
They harvested herbs in the underworld at great risk—many disciples literally put their heads on the line. In Bozhou, the Medicine King Sect lost dozens of disciples to such expeditions every year!
In the Heavenly Pool Kingdom they were the lowest of the skeleton ghost tribes, bullied and endangered with no status.
How had Chen Shi, also a skeleton ghost, become the Heavenly Pool ruler?
Tong Qianshou wondered where the previous ruler had gone.
His mind raced: "Lord Chen must have had skilled people secretly remove the former king so he could ascend smoothly!"
In the following days, Tong Qianshou entered the Minor Heaven and was startled by what he saw. He met more of the Celestial Court and, through indirect inquiries, confirmed that Chen Shi had many powerful people around him, reinforcing his suspicions.
With a nervous heart he approached Chen Shi and, stammering, asked to join the Celestial Court.
Zhuge Jian told Chen Shi, "True King, the Celestial Court is recruiting now. In my opinion, we should not be picky."
Chen Shi glanced at Tong Qianshou. Tong Qianshou was anxious but said, "I may be old, but my medical skills are among the best. The imperial physicians of the Western Capital are mere novices before me!"
Chen Shi reluctantly agreed, "Very well, let Master Tong join the Celestial Court under the codename 'Medic'."
Tong Qianshou breathed a sigh of relief and thought, "At least I'm in. Even if I later hand the sect leader position to my unfilial disciple Xixi, my status will not fall below hers!"
He had his own calculations.
In the past two years celestial anomalies had increased in frequency and the countryside was swarming with spirits. The Medicine King Sect alone could not survive.
If someday a catastrophe occurred, having Red Mountain Hall’s talisman masters, the Celestial Court’s experts, and the Medicine King anchored was rock-solid security.
"Besides, the Medicine King Sect also has channels in the underworld," he told himself.
Relocating the Bozhou Medicine King Sect to Qianyang Mountain would take time. Tong Qianshou assigned the relocation to other executives, prepared fake-death elixirs, set up spirit halls and coffins, and had Shao Jing, Yu Tiancheng, Li Tianqing and dozens more lie in coffins and take the elixirs, awaiting the medicine to take effect.
"Do not worry; when the drug runs its course you will come back to life."
Tong Qianshou said, "When you meet the underworld officers, don't panic. Bribery smooths paths with them; our sect has experience."
They lay down together, saying they were not nervous though their hearts raced.
Their pulses raced and eyelids grew heavy. Suddenly their hearts stopped and each one appeared in a gloomy spirit hall, marveling.
Tong Qianshou also rose from his coffin while his physical body remained in the coffin. He said in a deep voice, "Wait. The underworld officers are coming! Keep the joss paper we gave you ready!"
Soon a wave of yin qi arrived. An underworld officer pushed a small boat across the river of mist and came to their side.
Tong Qianshou, Li Tianqing and the others presented joss paper imbued with incense energy. The underworld officer was a Horse-Face guard; seeing no other ghosts around, he pocketed the joss paper and said, "Don't do this again."
They were soul-hitched and brought aboard the boat, which carried them toward the Heavenly Pool Kingdom.
Near the capital their boat stopped.
Tong Qianshou led everyone ashore; the underworld officer dispersed into a gust of yin wind and vanished.
Tong Qianshou guided them toward the capital, "Come, let's go see the ruler!"
Before long dozens of skeleton ghost tribes had appeared in the Heavenly Pool capital, looking around curiously and chattering excitedly.
They even crowded near higher-ranked ghost tribes like rare specimens and repeatedly voiced their astonishment.
"You are moving too slowly!"
Tong Qianshou frowned, "When will we arrive at the palace to pay respects to His Majesty?"
The ghost tribes in the capital eyed the newcomers with displeasure. These skeleton ghosts’ strength was not weak; many possessed Primordial Spirits!
Was Lord Chen building his own bureaucratic base by recruiting so many skeletons?
Crown Prince Xiang Kun scowled as he watched these skeletons head to the palace. If Chen Shi were forming his own cadre, his status would steadily stabilize, making it harder for the prince to seize the rulership in the future!
"What should we do now, Your Highness?" an accompanying ghost god asked.
"Wait," Xiang Kun whispered. "With those old hands in the capital, it's hard to move against him now. He also has powerful ghosts like the Great-Headed Ghost Woman by his side; we can't strike him down. We must wait for a perfect opportunity!"
He let his gaze flicker, "I have patience. Other powerful ghost clans may not. They will take action to try to kill Chen Shi, and then an opportunity will appear!"
Back in Huangpo Village, Chen Shi, Granny Sha, Chen Tang and the others made final preparations and once again traveled down to the Yellow Earth Slope in the underworld.
Wu Qingyu watched them enter the underworld and said softly, "My husband is meticulous, but even he can miss things, and he is not flexible. Demon extraction involves many variables and will likely have omissions and mistakes. I will trouble you to keep an extra eye on him."
Below the Yellow Earth Slope, the massive shadow of Huo Dog slowly receded and sank into the underworld.
Wu Qingyu thought of the cyan ghost hand on Chen Shi's chest, and the imposing, boundless figure of the Ghost Hand's Master flashed before her eyes. She sighed and whispered, "We are starting the demon extraction. I do not know if it's good or bad. But Little Ten is now a normal person and no longer your emperor. You cannot keep our son trapped in the underworld forever..."