Any who carry written messages but have lost them should go to the Court of Exorcism immediately to report the incident for an investigation and a separate dispatch. Those required to recover the message within a time limit but fail to do so will be beaten a hundred strokes with the heavy rod. Those who recover the loss within the time limit will be exempt.
Any spirits dispatched to their placements but who refuse to go without authorization will be exiled to a distance of three thousand li. Those who violate repeatedly will be executed. Any spirit officers, clerks, and soldiers who, during the pursuit of ghosts and devils, harm life and receive bribes will be given two years’ penal servitude. Those who cover it up or let the perpetrator flee will be punished for the same crime as committed by the perpetrator. If the perpetrator manifest him/herself at the altar but later dies for any causes, records and reports from the officers and clerks should be made known in detail.
Any spirit officers, famous mountains and great rivers, city gods and earth gods, and those administrators at the third rank, upon encounters with any written documents from the Court of Exorcism, should verify the seals and signs, guard them strictly and cautiously, and respond immediately. Those who do not treat them seriously shall be given two years’ penal servitude.
Any spirits who are dispatched by the Court of Exorcism but do not set off overnight, for one day’s delay shall be given one year’s penal servitude; for ten days’ delay, the penalty should be one level higher, until reaching three years’ penal servitude.
Any evil spirits already expelled but who are covered from leaving by such gods as the Six Jia, earth gods, and stove gods without authorization, the gods shall be given three years’ penal servitude. If any human lives are lost, they shall be exiled to a distance of three thousand li. Those who are kept and stopped by edicts from Heaven can be exempt.
When common people report an incident to rite officers, if they receive the case but do not act upon it, or if they act upon it in a perfunctory way, or if they thoughtlessly enter it into the category of offences by spirits, they shall be beaten a hundred strokes with the heavy rod. This does not include cases where dispatchments are made upon separate incidents before any reports are made.
Any gods on duty committing random adultery with common people’s wives shall be exiled to a distance of three thousand li. Serious cases shall be reported to Heaven for decision. If the perpetrators are gods or spirits administering the place, an extra level of penalty shall be added. Any spirits who harm people’s lives for no reason, steal properties of the human world, and who are captured for refusing to be investigated, shall be executed. City gods and earth gods who administer the area but give free reign to the perpetrators shall be convicted with the same crime. Those who fail to notice the crime shall be beaten a hundred strokes with the heavy rod.
Any spirits who are dispatched but do not set off immediately to their business shall be beaten a hundred strokes with the heavy rod. In serious cases which threaten human lives, they shall be given two years’ penal servitude. If any death is involved, they shall be exiled to a distance of three thousand li. Those who have received edicts or talismans but refuse to go shall be executed.
