Section of the Great Wu
Any things generated and nurtured by earth should yield plants during years of disaster. Any spirits who go in and out for no reason and cause unregulated wind and rain that lead to loss of crops and human lives shall be exiled to a distance of three thousand li. Immortal officers should arrest and imprison those perpetrators from the Six Lands and report in detail to the Office of Heaven.
Any spirits who steal money from people, with the amount reaching a thousand coins, shall be exiled to a distance of two thousand li; if the amount is less than a thousand coins, they shall receive two years’ penal servitude. If they steal things from offerings and sacrifices, regardless of the amount, they shall be annihilated. In cases where the chief [gods] of the various places knowingly indulge evil spirits doing harm under their administration, it is up to the spirit clerks who are on daily patrols to submit a copy of the report. Violators shall be beaten one hundred strokes with the heavy rod. (trans. adapted from Hymes, p. 33, fn. 27.)
Any paperwork about controlling evils should be delegated to spirit officers and clerks on duty that day. Those who delay the delivery or deliver to unspecified places or damage the message shall be beaten one hundred strokes with the heavy rod. Those who secretly open and peek into the sealed message shall be given two years’ penal servitude. Those who either lose or leak the content of memorials and documents shall be exiled to a distance of three thousand li.
Any spirits who capture human souls without authorization shall be exiled to a distance of three thousand li. Those who cause death shall be executed.
Any spirits who do not arrive when summoned or show disobedience and disrespect shall be given three years’ penal servitude.
Any spirits who are not on the mission of an arrest should not mingle with living beings. Those who disobey shall be beaten one hundred strokes with the heavy rod. This excludes demoted immortals from the Office of Heaven. Any spirits who request sacrifices for unauthorized reasons shall be given two years’ penal servitude. Those severe perpetrators shall be sent to the Eastern Peak for conviction. Those who refuse arrest shall be executed.
Any spirits who hide in human households for no reason, cause random evil and harm, or stay overnight without leaving shall be beaten one hundred strokes with the heavy rod. Those who stay over five days shall be given an extra level of penalty, until reaching two years’ penal servitude. Those who refuse to set off upon dispatchment shall be executed.
Any people who fall ill for ten days to a month without recovering from the illness and who enter close relationships with ghosts and devils in their dreams, the local Earth God should be delegated to prepare a detailed report of the event and send to the Eastern Peak for the destruction [of the spirits involved]. Those who disobey shall be beaten one hundred strokes with the heavy rod.
When officers from the Court of Exorcism issue the Heavenly talisman and delegate the terrestrial gods of mountains and rivers to arrest ghosts and devils, those who do not act immediately but show disobedience or negligence shall be given one year’s penal servitude.
