[You have sold a piece of old clothing and obtained a bolt of linen.]
[You have sold a worn-out oil lamp and obtained a common roadside stone.]
Er...
[You have sold a well-worn kitchen knife and obtained a refined iron dagger.]
[You have sold a bowl of mixed-grain porridge and obtained a bucket of glutinous rice.]
[You have sold a jar of well water and obtained a barrel of mountain spring water.]
[You have sold a bundle of dry firewood and obtained a basket of charcoal.]
Song Ciwan enthusiastically tried selling all sorts of things. Finally, after the sixth sale was completed, the Heaven and Earth Scale suddenly sent a message.
It turned out that, including the "Eighty Percent Hermit's Qi" and other items she had sold earlier, she had made a total of ten sales today.
The Heaven and Earth Scale had a daily limit on sales, and that limit was exactly ten times!
Song Ciwan reluctantly stopped, still wanting more. Ten sales a day wasn't a small number. As long as she kept at it for a while, it would be more than enough to stock up on all sorts of necessities—clothing, food, shelter, and transport—within the Heaven and Earth Scale.
Grain in hand, no panic in the heart—this too was a form of security.
Song Ciwan said to the Big White Goose, "Big White, the common folk of Huaxia have a particular trait. Do you know what it is?"
The Big White Goose: "HONK, HONK?"
Song Ciwan: "Want to know? Hehe, I'm not telling!"
The Big White Goose flapped its wings, leaping three feet into the air. "HONK HONK HONK!"
Goose feathers flew as she darted about the courtyard.
At the beginning of the hour of the Serpent, Su Yang City entered its curfew.
The night gradually deepened, and a fine drizzle began to fall, tangling with the autumn wind.
In Jishan Square, Song Ciwan was at home, deep in her Cultivation. She gradually entered a state of sublime detachment, oblivious to the affairs of the mortal world.
But in the seemingly peaceful Su Yang City, all sorts of strange incidents were breeding wantonly in dark corners, seeping in through every crack.
The Lantern Hanging Department's Demon Slayer Guard was already severely understaffed, and the needle on the Demon-Seeking Compass was spinning wildly.
In one wealthy household, Demonic Qi suddenly erupted; after more than a dozen people died in succession, it was discovered that the master's new concubine had been secretly worshipping a Fox Demon in her boudoir.
A Night Watchman had his vital essence drained in the middle of the night; the investigation revealed that his time-keeping Leaking Pot had spawned a demonic consciousness.
A Scholar, engrossed in his late-night studies, tried to murder his wife. When the Demon Slayer Guard arrived and subdued him, they discovered he wasn't reading a book at all—it was a painted demon!
...
There were far, far too many. The manifestations of Demon Fiends were bizarre and varied. If tales of these demon-slaying exploits were to spread, the citizens of Su Yang City would have so much new fodder for gossip each day that they'd never run out.
Meanwhile, in the backyard of the Xu Residence in the northern part of the city, bodies lay strewn everywhere. The scene was utterly gruesome.
Rainwater dripped, clinging stickily to everyone. Demon-slaying Captain Zhang Ping, holding a dead Fox Demon in one hand, kicked aside the corpse of a black clerk blocking his path. "All right," he said, his voice hoarse. "Clean up and head back to make arrangements. For the fallen, it's the usual compensation: one hundred taels."
With that, he turned and left, carrying the Fox Demon's corpse.
Rainwater rippled out from his feet. Behind him, some of the black clerks had numb expressions, while others' eyes darted about.
"Brother Zhang, wait for me!" The newly arrived Demon-slaying Captain, Tao Feng, hurried to catch up. Their footsteps faded into the rainy night, one after the other. Tao Feng's voice was tinged with fear. "Brother Zhang, that Fox Demon today was incredibly powerful! It must have had a hundred years of cultivation, nearing Spirit Communication, right?"
Zhang Ping remained silent. Tao Feng continued, "But of course, that just shows how incredible you are, Brother Zhang! A hundred-year Fox Demon, and you captured it with ease. That Blood-Breaking Saber technique of yours... it was like a clap of thunder that makes gods and ghosts flee! The flash of the blade..."
The more Tao Feng spoke, the more excited he became, praising Zhang Ping's magnificent prowess, but Zhang Ping only grew quieter.
Finally, Tao Feng sighed. "These last two weeks, more and more Demon Fiends have been appearing. You look away for a second, and a whole bunch of them have sprung up. The Qing Guang Grand Array can only stop Great Demons from entering the city, but these Little Demons are like rats. They just sneak in somehow. It's so damn annoying!"
Zhang Ping suddenly said, "That's not right."
"What?" Tao Feng was a little confused.
Zhang Ping said, "The Demon Fiends didn't just start increasing these past two weeks. It's been happening since the beginning of this year."
Tao Feng was new this year. He didn't know that in years past, the Demon Slayer Guard had actually been a cushy government post!
Zhang Ping's voice, mingled with the sound of the rain, was muffled and low. "It started at the beginning of the year, when the Hengshui Dragon King acted out in a fit of fury..."
Tao Feng couldn't hear clearly and asked, "Brother Zhang, what did you say?"
...
Zhang Ping stopped in his tracks as a sudden clap of thunder split the sky. RUMBLE!
In the flash of white light, it looked as if the river of heaven was pouring upside down, and the rain turned into a torrential downpour.
In the middle of the night, Song Ciwan was jolted from her transcendent state of Cultivation. She opened her eyes to a flash of lightning outside her window. The Big White Goose, HONKING in alarm, darted out of its little nest and flapped its wings in the courtyard until it was soaked to the bone.
Song Ciwan braved the rain to carry it back inside, then threw on a straw raincoat and hurriedly scrambled onto the roof to replace the tiles and patch it up.
There was no other choice. When it rains, it pours. It was pouring rain outside, and drizzling inside. If she didn't brave the storm and fix it now, she wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight.
The Big White Goose peeked its head out from the doorway, honking anxiously, "HONK!"
Song Ciwan said, "Be good. Just wait here."
As she gathered tiles and repaired the roof, she could hear that the heavy rain had woken her neighbors on both sides as well.
A chaotic medley of the neighbors' shouts and voices filled the air. "Celestial Lord! Why is it raining like this?"
"There's water pooling in the house! Hubby, get up and fix the roof!"
"SOB SOB SOB... Darling... what's wrong with you?"
In the distance, a desolate wail seemed to rise, piercing the curtain of rain.
The rain didn't stop until just before dawn.
In the east, the first rays of sun ignited the rose-tinted clouds, breaking through the dawn with a thousand beams of golden light.
But the streets and alleys were still filled with puddles, everything drenched and dripping.
Song Ciwan took her oil-paper umbrella, instructed the Big White Goose to guard the house, and then left for work.
On her way, she overheard neighbors discussing: "The eldest of the Feng Family is dead. And someone from the Guo Family, too. He was carried back last night, all bloody. I heard his body was covered in claw marks!"
"Claw marks? Hiss! Is this the same as that one from the Song Family? Killed by a demon?"
"Yeah, exactly the same. Someone from the authorities even came and gave out fifty taels in compensation..."
Song Ciwan walked past the gossiping crowd. The "A Grain of Sand in the Sea" technique she had cultivated last night was already showing some initial effect; no one noticed her as they continued their self-absorbed conversations.
She then understood. The piercing wail from last night's storm was because another junior official in Jishan Square had died.
In Su Yang City, the demon scourge had become so rampant that being a quick-class black clerk was now the second most high-risk profession, just behind being a menial worker at the Washing Room.
That's right—a menial worker at the Washing Room was still more dangerous.
When Song Ciwan arrived at the Washing Room, she heard Steward Wu finish roll call and say to another steward, "Five are missing from the Grass Washing Room, three from the dissection room. The City Patrol Department sent word. They're all dead."
The other, Steward Hu, frowned. "These menial workers. Every time it thunders, a few more of them die. What a nuisance. Forget it, just transfer three more people from the Second Wash Room."
They discussed human lives with cold indifference, and just like that, Song Ciwan and two other new workers were reassigned to the Grass Washing Room.
This was Song Ciwan's first time entering the Grass Washing Room. Placed within it were the complete, undissected corpses of Demon Fiends.
To be honest, the sight was a bit overwhelming.
Especially when Song Ciwan touched the corpse of a Fox Demon, and the Heaven and Earth Scale appeared on its own once again!
A faintly glowing red, ethereal wisp of qi appeared on the Balance Plate: [Fox Demon Enchantment Essence. Weight: one tael, three maces. Sellable.]