Mythical Creatures Series 1: Ah-Jiang

Mythical Creature Series 1 Ah-Jiang (Chapter 01)

Mythical Creature Series 1 Ah-Jiang

Chapter 01

Shi Tou's surname was Shi and named Tou.

He worked at the Yamen(1) of An Ling. He went from wiping the knife for the head Constable ever since he was seven to passing the test at age eighteen. Those thirteen years passed within the blink of an eye for him to become the Constable(2) he is today.

Even though he had just reached twenty, aside from the old ban head(3), he had been working at the Yamen the longest.

An Ling wasn't too big nor too small of a place, but in the past thirteen years, the magistrate has been changed nine times. It was unknown as to why each magistrate was changed, but anyone who came here wasn't able to keep the position for long. Some were transferred to different districts while most of the others had no good stories to tell. Dying of illness within the period of being here, being found guilty of crimes for their own actions or going missing after traveling outside. It even escalated as far as one choking to death just from drinking a mouthful of water...basically, it was either to be dead or be crippled.

After a long time passed, the official black gauze hat(4) of An Ling Yamen became the evilest existence within the whole Kingdom of Da Zhan. If the emperor saw any official that was an eyesore to him, heh, transfer that old crap to An Ling! After putting on that hat, it was time to wait for the god above to take care of him!

The emperor has used this trick for ten years, but the new magistrate that came two years ago was a lucky one. He had coincidentally met a monk of unknown background passing by and since the monk has accepted and ate the meal that the magistrate offered, he directed the magistrate to the right path. The monk pointed towards the Yamen's east gate and said, "The gate facing northeast is where the yin gate is at, and ten miles out from the east is the insidious land where evil lives."

Ten miles east from the Yamen happened to be Pu Jiang(5) and coincidentally, that place hasn't been very peaceful for the past couple of years. It didn't matter whether one was fishing, crossing the river, washing their clothes, or swimming in the water, many of them ended up drowning in the river. Therefore, rumors spread fast that within the deep waters of Pu Jiang, there lived a man-eating monster.

Constable Shi still remembered──the night from two years ago where the night wind was cold with only silence all around, it was the perfect timing for one to commit murder. He has just started to do this job for only two days, and never did he thought the higher-ups would give him such a difficult job by ordering him to go with the old bald donkey(6) at midnight(7) to the shore of Pu Jiang to exorcise the evil.

It was the 15th of August that day, the time of the Ghost Festival(8) where waves of chilling wind would last for a certain amount of time. Even the night patrollers(9) would take a night off so that they don't disturb any ghost and become their target!

Constable Shi followed behind the bald donkey with a huge sword equipped by his waist, wearing a fu tou hat(10) and a robe(11). He had dark eyebrows and bright eyes as he stood seven feet tall. He was definitely a strikingly handsome and good young lad.

When the monk was deciding who to go with him earlier, his eyes were locked on Constable Shi. Cold sweat ran down handsome Shi's back from the stare he got and he did not have the guts to stand up for himself at that time. Then unexpectedly, the old bald donkey smiled kindly and pointed at him, "This young man has the thickest blessings out of them all, I'll(12) be taking him!"

Since the decision was approved by the magistrate, despite how unwilling Constable Shi was, he still had to carry the burden of everyone's hope on his two shoulders and followed the old bald donkey to exorcise the evil.