The next day, in the morning.
The grand doors of the Taoist Temple where Fan Wu resided were once again banged on forcefully, loud enough to wake him from his sleep.
His first thought upon awakening was that the deeds of his swindler master had been exposed!
Those who had been conned out of their money were coming to settle scores!
Fan Wu instantly became alert, almost instinctively drawing the nearly two-meter-long Demon-slaying Sword.
He prepared to go out and cause a bloodbath.
Then he would leave Qiulong County.
However... with his heightened senses after allocating his Attribute Points, he could hear an anxious voice from outside his chambers—
"Daoist Priest Fan! Daoist Priest Fan! A major incident has occurred! Something grave happened last night!"
"Daoist Priest Fan!!!"
It was the voice of Head Arrestor Liu, his tone urgent, even a bit panicked and fearful.
It seemed unrelated to his swindler master's affairs.
Fan Wu realized he had been overthinking.
As if nothing had happened, he sheathed his sword and put on a slightly ill-fitting Daoist robe, quickly washing his face and rinsing his mouth.
He took up his sword and stepped out.
Upon opening the temple's grand doors, Fan Wu saw Head Arrestor Liu and a group of constables that looked oddly familiar to him.
It was the same group from the previous night.
Every one of them looked fearful and were all sporting dark circles under their eyes.
It was apparent that after Fan Wu returned to the temple last night, something uncanny had occurred that scared them sleepless till dawn.
"Daoist Priest, you've finally come out!" On seeing Fan Wu, Head Arrestor Liu was more enthusiastic than if he'd seen his own father. He rushed forward and grabbed Fan Wu's Daoist robe, sobbing and snotting all over.
Possibly because of Head Arrestor Liu's peculiar occupation, the moment he reached out, Fan Wu was already thinking about drawing his sword to strike.
Fan Wu even fantasized that Head Arrestor Liu might pull out a pair of silver handcuffs for him.
Thankfully, such an event did not transpire.
"Daoist Priest Fan, the evil spirit— it's too vicious! You didn't kill it last night, it's still there!" Head Arrestor Liu spoke at breakneck speed: "We brought that shackle back to the county office last night, and then the county office became haunted!!"
"How could we have any means to deal with a ghost? We could only hurry out of the county office and run to the nearby Earth Temple. We didn't even dare to come find you in the middle of the night, fearing that we might encounter the evil spirit blocking our path."
"We didn't dare to close our eyes for a moment last night. Only when daylight came did we dare to leave the Earth Temple and report the matter to the Magistrate."
Upon hearing this, Fan Wu didn't respond right away; he was analyzing the information Head Arrestor Liu had spilled.
The county office was haunted last night?
Do they suspect it was the Green-faced Water Ghost?
Impossible!
The Green-faced Water Ghost had already been blasted to pieces by him, and the golden finger prompt had appeared, earning him the Attribute Points.
Fan Wu remembered the strange talismanic script he had found on the dilapidated shackle of the Green-faced Water Ghost last night.
At that time, he had suspected...
Was the Green-faced Water Ghost not as simple as it appeared on the surface?
Now, with Head Arrestor Liu's account of the uncanny incidents at the county office, Fan Wu was sure his suspicion was correct.
Damn!
How could Qiulong County—a backwater place—experience one thing after another like this?
He had only wanted to stay in Qiulong County for a day before claiming the reward from the Magistrate.
Then he planned to use those rewards as travel expenses for leaving Qiulong County.
But now it turns out that another incident had happened after just one day's stay.
And it was yet another affair involving demons and devils.
Seeing that Fan Wu remained silent, Head Arrestor Liu thought he hadn't said enough and hurriedly continued: "After learning of this, the Magistrate ordered us to invite all the cultivators in Qiulong County to exorcise the ghost from the county office."
"The Magistrate also said that whoever can eliminate the ghost in the county office will be granted five hundred taels of silver and twenty mu of fertile land... as a reward!"
"Although I shouldn't make assumptions about the Magistrate, I have the impression that he doesn't seem very eager to return to the county office."
"And the first immensely capable person in Qiulong County I thought of... was you, Daoist Priest!"
"So I've come specifically to ask the Priest to come out of retirement once more."
Head Arrestor Liu spoke cautiously, clearly deeply impressed by Fan Wu's formidable actions the night before.
Well, thank you very much!
I'm the first one you thought of!
Fan Wu could hardly resist the urge to twist Head Arrestor Liu's head a few times.
But in order to maintain his identity as a "true disciple of a great Daoist master," he had to force out what he considered to be a reasonably refreshing smile.
And he had to keep up the smile while he said, "The Green-faced Water Ghost from last night, I'm sure it's already scattered to the winds. What you encountered in the government office might be something else."
Head Arrestor Liu seemed to have an epiphany and did not doubt the truth of what Fan Wu had said for a second.
Slapping his hand forcefully, he exclaimed, "With Daoist Priest Fan's skills, how could he fail to kill that evil spirit!"
"Hiss! But when you say it's something else... Could it also be some kind of wronged spirits or demons? Priest, do you think I've just been unlucky recently, always bumping into these kinds of things?"
"Perhaps it's just your luck that's been poor these last few days," Fan Wu vaguely replied, then remembering something, he asked, "The shackles you brought back to the office, are they still there?"
Head Arrestor Liu was taken aback, scratching his head sheepishly and answered with some embarrassment, "I... I didn't dare to check, and I don't know if they're still there... after all, I'm just a mortal."
"How about giving me an amulet, Priest? I... I can pay you in silver!"
Head Arrestor Liu was truly frightened.
He wasn't afraid when he was beside Fan Wu because he knew Fan Wu was powerful, with a genuine talent for slaying demons.
But he couldn't stay by Fan Wu's side forever, could he?
He had to go home and take care of his wife and children, didn't he?
Head Arrestor Liu feared that one night on his way home, when he was all by himself, he might encounter something filthy.
That would cost him his life!
Fan Wu glanced sideways.
He caught a key word.
Silver!
He was in need of silver!
"Fine!" Fan Wu didn't beat around the bush, for he couldn't create truly lethal talismans, but that didn't mean he couldn't make something that could protect one from harm.
The materials were simple, a worthless scrap of talisman paper + a pinch of incense burner ash.
And just like that, the work was done.
The talisman paper was useless, but the ash from the incense burner had proven useful the night before.
With this so-called "amulet," Fan Wu smoothly obtained the fund he needed for his getaway—the first payment of fifteen taels of silver.
Although Head Arrestor Liu was an arrest officer in Qiulong County, the county was not very wealthy to begin with; this was two months of his salary!
The other constables could only envy him.
They simply couldn't afford to buy an amulet.
Armed with an amulet, Head Arrestor Liu finally felt a little braver, but this newfound courage wasn't directed at Fan Wu.
On the contrary, his manner of speaking to Fan Wu was even more sycophantic than before, "Please, Taoist Priest, let's lead you to the government office. The Magistrate must be growing anxious."
Upon hearing this.
Fan Wu, realizing that he couldn't easily extricate himself, carefully pocketed the fifteen taels of silver and accompanied Head Arrestor Liu to the government office.
Fan Wu had his own considerations.
Head Arrestor Liu had just mentioned that the Magistrate of Qiulong County had been so terrified that he had summoned all the accomplished Daoists in the area.
Wouldn't that mean...
That the government office would be brimming with all sorts of people, ranging from the highest to the lowest, and that there should be some true masters among them!
In such a situation...
He could just coast by without effort.
Yes!
Perfect!
...
...