Yin Yang Soul Searcher

Bai Jueming reached out and caught the token; it was the very token that had been returned after the investigation that day. The words "Yin Yang Hall" were engraved on it. He truly hadn't expected such a small token to save his life; it was most likely a magical artifact crafted by the Craftsmen's Hall. Bai Jueming bowed in thanks.

"Brother Shan, I'll take this kid to catch Zhang He first," Zhou Dahai said.

Li Zhengshan waved his hand, signaling them to depart. The two men accepted the order and took their leave.

After leaving the lobby, Zhou Dahai asked Bai Jueming to wait a moment before heading to his office. When Bai Jueming returned, he was followed by four martial artists.

It turns out this guy called for thugs. Onmyoji have poor physical fitness, so if they really need to use force, they still have to rely on these thugs.

The group exited through the gate, where the clerk had already prepared the horses. Zhou Dahai mounted his horse first and said to Bai Jueming, "Before reaching the fifth rank, our Yin-Yang Masters are relatively weak, so each Yin-Yang Master can recruit five warriors to protect themselves. These warriors will also assist them in solving cases."

Bai Jueming nodded thoughtfully: "Why is that? Doesn't our Yin Yang Palace have its own martial artists? Why do we need to recruit them ourselves?"

Zhou Dahai tugged at the reins, slowing the horse down a bit: "Of course, the Yin-Yang Palace has its own martial artists, but this is just one of the benefits the Grand Preceptor provides to our Yin-Yang Masters. These martial artists follow us on cases, and the Yin-Yang Palace provides them with a large amount of cultivation resources. Moreover, these cultivation resources are not comparable to the junk outside; they are all treasures refined by the Craftsmen's Hall."

At this point, Zhou Dahai waved to the four people behind him, signaling them to slow down, and then lowered his voice to say, "Moreover, after the Yin Yang Palace provides them with cultivation resources, they will hand over 10% to me according to a certain ratio, or convert it into silver and hand it over. This is our benefit."

Hearing this, Bai Jueming was about to speak when Zhou Dahai interrupted him, saying, "I know what you're thinking. Won't this make the martial artists resentful and stop helping wholeheartedly? Don't worry, I made these things clear to them when I recruited them. They are all volunteers, and even so, many people are still scrambling to give us money."

After listening to Bai Jueming, he finally understood why the Yin-Yang Palace didn't use its own warriors. Only a fool would give up such high benefits; using the Yin-Yang Palace's own warriors wouldn't earn them any commission. They could only bully rogue cultivators.

Bai Jueming vaguely remembered that in his previous life, the kitchen's purchasing agent was a relative of the boss, and many vegetable and meat vendors would scramble to give him money. During holidays, they would even offer him cigarettes and alcohol. Why? Just to get the purchasing agent to buy their products. Everyone made money; this kind of mutually beneficial relationship was impossible to stop.

"Brother Hai, why did you only recruit four people? Aren't there five slots for each Onmyoji?" Bai Jueming asked.

"How dare you bring that up!" Zhou Dahai said angrily. "Last time, I led five people with Brother Shan to catch the people who were stealing the mine. One of them, who was weaker, was injured in the battle. He went home to recuperate. While he was recovering, I couldn't recruit any new people, and I couldn't take any of the cultivation resources from the Yin Yang Palace. Plus, I lost one of my protectors!"

Bai Jueming said sullenly, "Brother Hai, I'm a victim too. If I had known it was something this serious, I would never have dared to go. Another day, another day after I get my monthly salary, I'll invite Brother Hai to Tongfu Restaurant for drinks to apologize."

Tongfulou is one of the top restaurants in Beijing, offering a wide variety of delicacies. It is said that the chefs there once cooked in the imperial palace.

However, the cost per person was also high, ten taels of silver, which would be twenty taels for two people, exactly Bai Jueming's monthly salary. Bai Jueming had shown his sincerity, after all, Zhou Dahai knew that Bai Jueming was new here and probably didn't have much money. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gotten into such big trouble for fifty taels.

Sure enough, Zhou Dahai smiled upon hearing this; "No need for that, I know you're penniless. Just treat me to a meal at Qingyue Tower when you've made some money."

Before Bai Jueming could speak, Zhou Dahai laughed loudly and quickly spurred his horse to gallop.

Qingyue Tower, that's a brothel, one of the best in the capital. If it were just for drinking and music, twenty taels would be enough. But this fat guy specifically requested to drink there; it'll probably cost over a hundred taels. What kind of behavior is this? Shouldn't this be split equally...?

Thinking of this, Bai Jueming cracked his whip and quickly followed...

The group arrived at Hua'an Street, where "Jia's Pharmacy" was located opposite "Chen's Pharmacy," its decor quite luxurious. Bai Jueming wondered, with such extravagant decor, was this a place for ordinary people to buy medicine? Or, as he had guessed, did it only cater to high-ranking officials and nobles?

Zhou Dahai was the first to dismount, brandishing his token and shouting, "The Yin-Yang Hall is handling a case. All bystanders on the street, please make way. People in the pharmacy, stay where you are!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the people on the street scrambled to get away as if they were avoiding a plague. Through the gate, one could already see a few scattered people buying medicine and the shop assistants standing still.

Is the Yin-Yang Palace's handling of cases this domineering? It's practically like an imperial edict; the common people under the feudal imperial system have no human rights whatsoever.

Then Zhou Dahai turned around and said, "Old Li and Old Zhang, one of you guard the front door and the other the back door. Don't let anyone in. And don't let anyone out. You two come with me to get the person."

As soon as he finished speaking, one of the men in black leaped and flipped over the high wall, while Old Zhang went to block the back door alone. Old Li stood at the entrance, surveying the crowd on the street to prevent anyone from getting close. The remaining two followed behind Zhou Dahai.

"Can this few people really handle it? Two to block the door, two to arrest people," Bai Jueming asked.

Zhou Dahai scoffed, "Heh, don't underestimate these four. They're all fifth or sixth-rank experts. Capturing one ordinary person is enough. Even if the other side has experts helping them, this is the capital, they can't escape."

Having said that, he strode into the pharmacy, and Bai Jueming followed immediately. Inside, they saw the shop assistants and customers standing trembling in place. Zhou Dahai went straight to the counter, pointed at the shop assistant behind him, and said, "You, take me to see your manager."

The waiter, who was also seeing this for the first time, swallowed hard before saying, "Sir, our manager is on the second floor."

"Take us to him," Zhou Dahai threatened, his face contorting with rage.

"Yes, yes, sir, please follow me." With that, the shop assistant walked around the counter and headed towards the stairs.

Bai Jueming and Zhou Dahai exchanged a glance and followed the waiter up the stairs. The waiter stopped in front of a room and lowered his voice, "Sirs, this is our manager's room."

"Break down the door!" Zhou Dahai drank.

After saying that, Bai Jueming stepped forward, put his arm around the waiter's shoulder, and then stepped aside.

Two men in black kicked the door open with both feet, and a group of people rushed into the room. The room was empty, the windows were wide open, and there was leftover breakfast on the table.

"He escaped through the window?" Bai Jueming released the waiter, walked to the window, looked down, and smiled. He saw the shopkeeper slowly sliding down the rope. "Just an ordinary person, as expected," Bai Jueming nodded towards Zhou Dahai, gesturing for him to come and see.

Zhou Dahai watched the shopkeeper run away coldly. Not long after, Old Zhang, who was guarding the back door, grabbed the shopkeeper and jumped in through the window.

At this stage, martial artists can grab ordinary people as easily as picking up a chick. After throwing the shopkeeper to the ground, they left the room.