Chapter 17: Demon Core Cultivation Method

Li Chaosheng skidded down to the foot of the county town. It was just the fifth watch, yet the east was already showing a pale dawn, and a crowd of farmers pushing carts to sell goods had already gathered outside the city gate.

Farmers generally slept and rose early, so they came to the gate ahead of time. When it opened they’d go in, sell the eggs they’d saved and the firewood cut yesterday, buy some trinkets from the town, then head home as daylight came so they wouldn’t miss working the fields.

There was no way around it these days. If you didn’t work hard you wouldn’t have enough to eat. In this ancient time that didn’t have modern machinery to automatically do the work for you, getting food was the primary worry hanging over every commoner’s head.

An autumn dawn was rather cold. The commoners left their carts to one side, several of them huddled together, squatting at the base of the city wall with their hands tucked into their sleeves, chatting idly.

Those who often went into town to sell things knew each other and were friendly. They chatted as if they were old acquaintances. Li Chaosheng leaned against the wall and listened. Topics came from all over, all kinds of oddities from the countryside.

“Hey, Old Zhang, I heard your village did well this year? You can eat seven-tenths full, right?”

“Ah, Old Li, seven-tenths? If we can manage five-tenths we’re lucky. There was some grain in the fields, but the government takes forty percent, the landlord takes thirty percent, so what falls to our mouths is less than thirty percent. In summer we stretch it, mix in wild greens and locust flowers to make it six or seven-tenths, but in winter there are no wild greens—just endure it. If we can be half-full, we thank heaven.”

“Hey, that’s already great, Old Zhang, half-full is a huge blessing. We should thank the county magistrate, really. I’ve heard magistrates in nearby counties have raised taxes to five tiers, so for poor folks like us there isn’t even twenty percent left. They say people in other counties are scraping tree bark to fill their bellies.”

“If they can eat tree bark they’re lucky. You two don’t even know. Further out they’ve been eating pure soil to survive, where’s there even bark to scrape? Northern barbarians are attacking us, bandits plague some places, the court sends troops every day, taxes change from day to day. For us, living one more day is enough.”

“Ain’t that the truth. Enough, don’t talk about this anymore, talking about it just makes the heart ache…”

The old men huddled by the wall and chatted. Li Chaosheng heard every word perfectly and couldn’t help but sigh. How hard life was. The common people’s sole wish was to have enough to eat. Such a simple desire.

Unfortunately the government seemed unable to satisfy that. It was the bleak scene of a dynasty in decline.

But this was none of his business. He was just a lowly Ninth-Rank Nightwatcher of the Nightwardens and publicly, he was no more than a minor executioner. Great affairs of the world weren’t his concern.

Li Chaosheng hugged his shoulders and leaned against the wall for a doze. He hadn’t slept all night and was tired. A short rest would give him the energy to go home and see what treasures the Killing Scripture had for him.

Just like that, Li Chaosheng fell asleep. 45 minutes later, with a dong, the morning bell rang from the gate tower. As the bell tolled, the tightly closed gate slowly opened and the farmers squatting by the wall rose. Some shouldered poles, some pushed wheelbarrows, and they lined up to head into the town.

Li Chaosheng rubbed his eyes and woke. Sleeping a little made him feel much better. He tidied himself and followed the line into town. He knew the soldiers guarding the gate well, so after a greeting he was let in.

If it had been an unfamiliar guard, Li Chaosheng, carrying a ghost-head blade on his back, would certainly have been thoroughly questioned: are you a rebel, how dare you bring a blade into the city? But as an executioner there’s no problem. People reasonably expected him to have a knife.

Once inside, the breakfast stalls came out to setup for the day one after another. Li Chaosheng patted his stomach. He was a bit hungry, so he found a vendor selling fried flatbreads, ate a few fresh from the pan, drank a bowl of soy milk, and picked at some pickled greens to make do for breakfast.

This hardly fit Li Chaosheng’s current 500 taels of silver status. But he didn’t care. He packed a few flatbreads from the shopkeeper and went home. At home his little turtle had crawled out of a copper basin but had flipped over again. Li Chaosheng laughed, righted the animal, and casually tossed a flatbread in front of the little turtle.

Li Chaosheng actually didn’t know what the little turtle liked to eat. Whatever he ate, the turtle ate too. If it died from anything it ate, that would only prove it was only that amazing a turtle.

Back in his room he fastened the door, spread the bedding, and lay down to let his consciousness enter the Sea of Consciousness. Soon he found himself beneath the White Jade Bone Mountain. A suction pulled him onward and dragged him into the Stele Forest.

At the same time the classic slogan of the Killing Scripture appeared: Killing is not meant for bringing harm to the life of others. It is the Dao protecting all living beings!

Clack, clack…

After the slogan, an abacus clicked. To work hard at killing to exchange for longevity. Heaven and Earth would tally the accounts clearly.

The abacus clicked a few times then stopped. A gigantic Human-Skin Catalog descended from the sky, turned over on its own without wind, flipped a page and halted. A wisp of green smoke drifted by and a human face materialized: Pockmark Chen. The Killing Scripture offered its evaluation:

Chen Kui (Human) Level: D, Fifth Grade.

Clack, clack…

One life trades for one item, lives and items are settled fair and square. Reward: Paper-Cutting Sect’s Paper Man Technique.

“Paper-Cutting Sect, Paper-Cutting Technique.”

Seeing Pockmark Chen result in such a prize, Li Chaosheng’s eyes curved into crescents. This was a great treasure. Pockmark Chen’s terrifying ability to control paper men was still vivid in his mind, and this thing could even be used as surveillance. If he faced danger later he could send it in to scout!

Clack, clack…

Li Chaosheng was secretly excited when the abacus clicked again and the Human-Skin Catalog flipped another page. This time the face of the straw-hat corpse-driver appeared, and the system gave its evaluation.

Liu Wu (Human) Level: D, Fourth Grade.

Clack, clack~

One life trades for one item, lives and items are settled fair and square. Reward: Demon Core Cultivation Method!

“What is that?”

Li Chaosheng stared at the reward, completely baffled. The system had awarded a rag-like piece of cloth covered in tadpole-like script he couldn’t read at all. The squiggly marks didn’t look like human writing.

“What a wasted chance, the system gave me trash.”

Li Chaosheng was a little disappointed, but it was quickly replaced by joy at obtaining the Paper-Man Technique of the Paper-Cutting Sect. Even if the second drop was trash, the Paper-Man Technique alone was worth the effort. Besides, he also gained 500 taels of silver. The journey had not been in vain. It seemed this Nightwardens post was truly good work.