A Good-for-Nothing

125. An Interview (1)

Translator: Dragon Rider

The examination rooms were actually a couple of spacious classrooms, not the kind of examination hall that people pushed the door open and went directly inside. He Zheng followed a staff member through a corridor and then arrived at the place for the interview around the corner.

Though applicants still in line outside the corridor were not far away, the babble of voices of them seemed to be kept out of these classrooms. Before he came here to attend the interview, Zu Zhichong had disclosed to him that on this occasion all examiners were top-ranking officials of the Counter-demon Committee, that he needed to mind his manners. He Zheng knocked at the door. After hearing someone inside say “Come in”, he pushed the door open and entered.

The classroom was almost empty. Apart from a platform, there were three desks placed in front of it. On the chairs sat a men and two women, two of whom were acquaintances of He Zheng’s – one of them was Zhen Daoyuan, and the other one Tan Lubai of the Wuwei-shizi Counter-demon Committee.

The third examiner was a woman appearing to be thirty or so, who had taken very good care of her health. She was wearing a cheongsam, her hair neatly combed. The outer corners of her eyes were slightly upturned, her lips thin and delicate, all of which were features representative of classical beauties most commonly seen in traditional Chinese realistic paintings.

Though a pretty woman, she was emanating a brooding air. The coldly upturned corners of her eyes, in particular, made He Zheng feel that she was not really a nice person.

The woman flicked a glance at the form in her hand, fixed her eyes on He Zheng and impassively asked, “Applicant 008, He Zheng?”

Her voice was as crisp as the sound of jade ware cracking but mingled with flintiness, which was fairly blood-curdling.

Hardly anybody could remain composed beneath this kind of gaze, but clearly He Zheng was not among those who’d have been scared in these circumstances.

“Yes. Good morning, examiners. I’m He Zheng, an apprentice of Xuanqing of the Qingwei Sect.” He Zheng made a bow and a self-introduction.

“Xuanqing?” That woman cast a look at Tan Lubai sitting beside her, and then said blandly, “Xuanqing has been in closed-door cultivation for quite some time, hasn’t he? When did he apprentice you?”

This kind of interrogatory tone struck He Zheng as very unpleasant.

Tan Lubai gave a gentle smile. She had an air about her typical of a Chinese teacher, which made her seem quite approachable. She said, “Xuanqing took a couple of days off from his closed-door cultivation and apprenticed He Zheng.”

“Pooh,” the woman sneered and her eyes raked He Zheng from head to toe. “So you’ve been Xuanqing’s apprentice for merely a couple of days. How much could you possibly have learned from him?”

Since there was a stipulation that applicants were not allowed to carry weapons, He Zheng hadn’t brought the Shadow Sword.

Zhen Daoyuan blandly picked up his pen from the desk and said, “You’ve got the Shadow Sword, I suppose?” in a seemingly casual tone of voice.

The woman’s countenance slightly changed as she heard the words “the Shadow Sword”.

He Zheng noticed this. He inclined his head. “Yeah.”

“The Shadow Sword… Whatever.” The woman suddenly smiled. For some reason, her hostility towards He Zheng disappeared. She languidly leaned against the back of her chair and said, “Let the interview commence.”

Zhen Daoyuan said, “Since you’re a disciple of the Qingwei Sect, I want you to tell us what you know about the grades of Fu materials (Fu is a piece of rectangular paper on which magical figures are drawn by Chinese Taoist priests to invoke or expel spirits and bring good or ill fortune).”

He Zheng had really put some effort into preparation for this interview, and he had lodged the ABC of exorcism firmly in his mind.

“Fu materials are graded according to quality. There are five grades: golden, silver, purple, blue and yellow. Golden ones are of the highest quality, silver ones the second highest, yellow ones elementary-level.”

Zhen Daoyuan nodded.

The woman suddenly said, “If one day you encounter someone corrupted by demonic Qi: which Fu do you think should be your first choice?”

“A lightning Fu.”

“What if you’re seriously injured and unable to conjure lightning?”

“Then I’ll lay a circle. A Lightning Circle doesn’t cost much energy but could bind demonic Qi very quick.”

The woman queried, “What’s your perception of being an exorcist?”

“Purging this world of all evil entities.”

Zhen Daoyuan was rather surprised to hear this reply of He Zheng.

Zhen Daoyuan inquired, “Provided one day you’re possessed by a demon, what would you do?”

Of course He Zheng would want to survive, as anybody would, but He Zheng knew he would probably fail this interview if he gave an honest answer to this question.

He thought about it for a few moments. When Tan Lubai knocked at the surface of her desk reminding him he was running out of time, He Zheng looked fixedly at the three examiners in front of him and replied, “I’d try to survive,” his eyes firm and certain.

Brows of the woman and Zhen Daoyuan noticeably corrugated in a frown of displeasure. The woman observed sharply, “A coward mortally afraid of death.”

“Currently I’m not ready to fearlessly sacrifice myself for anything. If I’m possessed by a demon and bound to die, I’ll resign myself to my fate, but if there’s a chance of survival, however slim it is, I’ll try to destroy that demon and live.”

“If all exorcists cling to life and fear death like you do, those martyrs who took up the positions of the fallen and rose to fight one after another, wouldn’t their sacrifice have been for nothing?! You’re not ready for it, yet you had the nerve to take this examination? This is how they teach their children in He family?”

“This has nothing to do with He family, and I never said I’d drag out an ignoble existence.” He Zheng, unafraid of the woman’s gaze, looked her squarely in the face, his mouth a thin line. “In my opinion, it is inadvisable and unwise for one to easily give up their life.”

This remark manifestly angered that woman. She furiously sprang to her feet from the chair, pointed at the door and snapped, “Get out! Your presence is a humiliation to this place!”

Surprisingly, He Zheng calmed down. “After what I’ve been through during the past few days, I’ve come to realize that everybody should learn to act according to the actual circumstances. For instance, if one day I’m possessed by a demon and I kill myself without thinking, will the demon die in the wake of my death? If it lives, wouldn’t my sacrifice be in vain? The demon will just transfer into another vessel and do what it’s got to do. Obviously my death will be pointless.

As long as I still have my consciousness, I won’t give up my life. In that hypocritical situation, I can do much more by staying alive than by committing suicide. I won’t give up on myself.

But if the demon will perish with my death, I’ll willingly sacrifice my life for the cause, without a single moment’s hesitation.”