[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-imperial-enforcer-with-an-eight-hour-workday":3,"chapter-the-imperial-enforcer-with-an-eight-hour-workday-the-imperial-enforcer-with-an-eight-hour-workday-chapter-491":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Imperial Hound on an Eight-Hour Shift",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},2225549,4113,"Chapter 491: True Original Sword Dao","the-imperial-enforcer-with-an-eight-hour-workday-chapter-491",491,"\u003Cp>\"Has Little Lu heard the story of the monkey going to fetch the scriptures?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hmm?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Wushuang tilted her head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What do you mean?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Miao waved his hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"*Heh*, nothing... it seems the Great Shu doesn't have Wu Cheng'en.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He tucked his hands into his sleeves, pulled his cloak tight to cover half his body, and walked forward slowly, speaking as he went.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"In short, it’s a story about a monkey taking three animal friends and a pretty boy to the Western Heaven to fetch scriptures. On the way, they pass by a temple, with clouds of rosy light and a thousand strands of auspicious air.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The pretty boy goes in and sees the temple full of Bodhisattvas and Arhats, thinking it’s a Buddha’s dojo, and changes into monk’s robes, ready to dismount and kowtow. But the monkey steps forward and smashes it with a stick, smashing out a temple full of demons.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What Buddhas and Bodhisattvas? They were all demons in disguise, creating a magnificent dojo just to lure people in to eat them.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although Lu Wushuang didn't know why Li Miao suddenly wanted to tell such a story, she understood what he meant. She looked around and nodded with a smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Indeed... shallow ponds have many turtles.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She used a \"hidden word method\" here, only saying the second half of the phrase, actually referring to the first half she didn't say, which was—\"small temples have big demon winds.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Miao rubbed his nose and nodded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His state was wrong now, but his five senses had inexplicably strengthened, even more keen than in his intact state. But precisely because of this, he was becoming increasingly annoyed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It smelled bad.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The scent of incense ash, sandalwood, and burning paper money, mixed with the stench of rotting corpses, drilled straight into his nose.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were few pedestrians on both sides of the street, only piles upon piles of incense ash on the ground. Every door had a string of Buddhist beads hanging on it, polished until they shone, without a single fingerprint.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sound of chanting scriptures came from all around, but even Nana-ko could feel that the fear in those sounds far outweighed the piety, and one could even faintly hear suppressed crying.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for what this fear and crying were because of... a swaying black object appeared at the edge of Nana-ko’s vision. Upon realizing what it was, she lowered her head abruptly, holding the ox cart’s reins with one hand, while subconsciously taking a few steps forward to grab the corner of Li Miao’s dark cloak.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Wushuang looked at her with disdain, curled her lip, turned to look at the black corpse swaying on the pole, and smiled at Li Miao.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The craftsmanship is poor.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Miao nodded in agreement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Indeed.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If you want to hang a corpse, you can't burn it. After burning, the whole body is full of grease, and no matter how tight you tie it, it’s easy to slip off. You also can't hang it by the neck; the neck rots the easiest, and once it rots, half the torso falls off with a *plop*, which is hard to clean up, and after shoveling, the ground is all stinking.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It’s best to thread a rope under the shoulder blades and then drive a wooden stake through the crown of the head, connecting the head and shoulder blades, so it can hang for a long time.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It’s best to lay down oil paper underneath to catch the corpse oil, otherwise it will be like this—no matter how much incense you burn, you can't suppress the stench.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Wushuang nodded in agreement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Indeed, the work is too crude.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Katsuragawa Mountain Castle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After several hours of travel, the group finally arrived at this city closest to the center of Japanese Buddhism, Enryaku-ji. But they didn't encounter any guards; the city gates were wide open, and no pedestrians were in sight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When they entered the city, they saw this eerie situation—symbols of Buddhism were everywhere, and the sound of chanting lingered in their ears, yet every few steps they could see a charred corpse hanging on a pole; besides that, there wasn't a single person on the street.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eerie.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If they hadn't had expectations after meeting those murderous monks, even Li Miao and Lu Wushuang would have been taken aback.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the two were talking, a whimper suddenly came from behind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"*Ugh*... so stinky.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Miyoshi Ryota covered his chest and rubbed his eyes, sitting up on the ox cart. He didn't react for a moment, only rubbing his eyes. When he was slightly more awake, he sniffed, opened his eyes, and scanned the area, then suddenly opened his mouth wide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Katsuragawa... Mountain Castle!?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"How did I get here!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Wushuang turned her head and smiled. \u003C\u002Fp>",803,"2026-06-17T21:41:17.211Z","2026-06-18T03:13:38.468Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","d9ee33584a89ef73380d848cae71235e97f2944da3ddb11913ff586d046a03ac","the-imperial-enforcer-with-an-eight-hour-workday-chapter-492","the-imperial-enforcer-with-an-eight-hour-workday-chapter-490",647,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-imperial-hound-on-an-eight-hour-shift-cover.jpg"]