Scripture of Days Past

Chapter 139: Enriching the People

Wang Cailiang had been present the entire time while Chu Qiguang reprimanded the cat and dog fiends, and standing behind him was Fish Egg.

Ever since Chu Qiguang took Wang Cailiang as a subordinate, Fish Egg had been tasked with keeping a constant eye on him to ensure that he didn't do anything rash.

However, that really wasn't necessary. Even though Wang Cailiang and his entire clan had undergone fiendification, the Daoist priests at the Daoist temple had been unable to detect anything amiss with their condition. Ever since then, Wang Cailiang had become completely submissive to Chu Qiguang.

In his eyes, Chu Qiguang had to be some unfathomably powerful great fiend. However, the thought of turning his back on the Profound Origin Dao Lord to side with fiends still left him feeling rather dejected.

Am I going to have to start eating people? Can I still take part in the martial examination?

Chen Gang could tell what he was thinking just from his expression, and he gave Wang Cailiang a reassuring pat on the shoulder as he said, "It's awesome being a fiend. It's much better than being a human. You'll start to enjoy it once you get used to it."

However, his encouraging words were met with a disdainful look from Wang Cailiang, who sneered, "Get your hand off me! This robe cost thirty taels of silver!"

Chu Qiguang could tell that Wang Cailiang was still reluctant to accept his fate, and he was clearly feeling uneasy about the future.

However, Wang Cailiang was going to be very useful. He had managed to bear the burden of the knowledge of the Elixir of Undying without undergoing demonification, which meant that he would be able to use the incantations in the Elixir of Undying to control living corpses.

At the moment, he and Wang Cailiang were the only ones capable of controlling living corpses. If he tried to share the incantations with anyone else, the burden of the cursed knowledge could prove too much for them to bear, so it would be a significant risk.

Furthermore, Wang Cailiang and the Wang Clan would be perfect agents to act on his behalf. After all, once he entered the Demon Vanquishing Department, he would have to stop doing business with Grand Secretary Wu and the Daoist temple, at least on an official basis. In that scenario, Wang Cailiang would stay in Azure Sun County and serve as his spokesperson.

With the cat fiends keeping a constant eye on the Wang Clan and with Chu Qiguang able to turn the entire clan into rat fiends on a whim, there was no way Wang Cailiang would dare to betray him.

With that in mind, Chu Qiguang smiled and offered Wang Cailiang some encouragement. "Brother Wang, have you forgotten about our lofty aspirations of rising up the ranks in the officialdom and conquering the north?"

"Of course not, it's just that right now, I..."

Wang Cailiang's voice trailed off into a dejected silence.

"Don't be disheartened," Chu Qiguang encouraged. "I'll take you to the Wang Clan to see Wu Wei in a couple of days. Going forward, I'll need you to deal with the prominent clans of the county in my stead. Once you become well-acquainted with them, the status of your Wang Clan will also rise."

Wang Cailiang's eyes lit up slightly upon hearing this. He had been trying to enter the county's elite circles for a long time.

"As for your future, if you still want to take part in the martial examination, I'll have someone from the Wu Clan give you a recommendation. If you have any questions about martial arts, you can ask me," Chu Qiguang continued.

Wang Cailiang knew that Chu Qiguang had defeated Jiang Longyu, so there was no doubt he was qualified to instruct him. With Chu Qiguang instructing him in martial arts, his chances of passing the martial examination will surely increase.

"If you want to do business with me, you're welcome to do that as well. I'll make you my spokesperson in Azure Sun County, and you can handle my business dealings with the Wu Clan and the Daoist temple on my behalf."

After hearing all of these enticing promises from Chu Qiguang, Wang Cailiang felt that becoming a fiend wasn't so bad after all.

"Right now, I need you to do something for me, Brother Wang," Chu Qiguang said.

***

Late at night, a low incantation rang out from the darkness on Plum Mountain.

All the living corpses stumbling aimlessly across the mountain turned toward the direction the voice had come from, then began hobbling their way there.

At the foot of the mountain, Chu Qiguang and Wang Cailiang stood side by side, watching the living corpses approach.

Disgust and fear we're written all over Wang Cailiang's face. In his eyes, using living corpses like this was just about as blasphemous and atrocious as something could get.

In contrast, Chu Qiguang was looking very excited. "Now that we've cleared Plum Mountain of living corpses, we've done the entire county a great favor. The people nearby can come here to mine coal now, which will give them another source of income. On top of that, the people of Azure Sun County will be able to buy cheap coal, so fewer people will freeze to death this winter."

After hearing Chu Qiguang's selfless exposition, a sense of admiration welled up in Wang Cailiang's heart. At the same time, he felt ashamed of his own narrow-mindedness.

Brother Chu is doing this for the sake of the county, yet here I am, jumping to conclusions and thinking the worst of him when I don't even know his intentions.

"Can people keep mining here? There used to be a spirit vein here, didn't there?" Wang Cailiang asked.

"The spirit vein is already ruined, so the imperial court no longer cares about it," Chu Qiguang replied with a shrug. "If anyone tried to bring that up, we can just say the damage was caused by the Ding Clan's past mining operations."

From there, Chu Qiguang and Wang Cailiang spent close to a day and a night guiding over a hundred living corpses to Hidden Fiend Village.

As Wang Cailiang watched Chu Qiguang, who had taken on his bipedal feline form, excitedly assign the living corpses to all the fiends lined up nearly before him, he felt as if he were in a dream.

Jin Ji was ecstatic at the sight of the living corpses. "This is fantastic! Our farming efficiency will improve significantly with these things helping us!"

Of course, Chu Qiguang wasn't just going to let the fiends use the living corpses without any sense of decorum. Instead, he arranged a ceremony in which all the fiends paid their respects to the dead. After which, he personally fitted every single living corpse with a sacred "mask of glory".

Officially, it was a symbol of honor granted to the living corpses as a gesture of appreciation for their service, but in reality, the masks were just glorified muzzles to prevent the living corpses from biting people.

Under Chu Qiguang's propaganda, serving Hidden Fiend Village even in death, was considered an unmatched honor.

His intention was to instill a sense of respect and care for living corpses in the fiends of the village. Otherwise, if they treated the living corpses like mere tools, their worldviews could become warped, and they might be led down a sinister path.

All the living corpses were chained in place, while Chu Qiguang stood before them, with all the villagers of Hidden Fiend Village behind him. Together, they paid their respects.

Under Chu Qiguang's supervision, everyone swore vows to respect and cherish living corpses, as well as carry forward the spirit of death.

The earnest expressions on the fiends' faces as they swore these vows once again reaffirmed to Chu Qiguang that they were very impressionable, easily influenced blank slates.

In contrast, Wang Cailiang had no idea what to make of the sacred yet incredibly cursed ceremony unfolding before his eyes.