Chapter 378
Chapter 378
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 378
>Chapter Title: Sima Lan
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Chapter 378: Sima Lan
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> “Qi Mo? Liang Mo?” Li Huowang was completely unfamiliar with both terms. Did the Mohist school split into different branches? And what was this Liang Mo that the evil cultivators followed?
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> Glancing at the gaunt man beside him and the black bird on his shoulder, Li Huowang thought for a moment before finally speaking up. “Brother Sima, what exactly is Qi Mo, and what is Liang Mo?”
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> Sima Lan was astonished that Li Huowang didn’t even know this. Soon, the blind black bird on his shoulder spoke up:
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> “They were originally from the same path, but one person has one thought, ten people have ten thoughts, a thousand people have a thousand thoughts—everyone has their own ideas. With the death of the Grand Master, the Mohist school naturally splintered.”
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> “Though the Liang Mo still follow the Mohist tenets of understanding ghosts, heeding Heaven’s will, and defying fate, they’ve twisted the original Grand Master’s intentions and veered onto the wrong path. They’ve colluded with the Dongzhen Hall, ultimately turning into these neither-human-nor-ghost monstrosities they are now.”
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> Hearing his bird say this, Sima Lan’s expression grew much graver, as if he were recalling something unpleasant.
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> He could see it clearly now: whether someone was an evil cultivator depended on whether they threatened the stability of Great Liang. Otherwise, no matter how repulsive their actions, they were still an upright sect.
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> Li Huowang awkwardly held back any further questions. It was just some sect schism—nothing more than others’ troubles. He had his own worries to attend to.
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> Now that he knew Beifeng was a heart elemental capable of escaping illusions, his next step was to figure out where Beifeng was and how to pry the method of escaping illusions from him.
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> Cooperation? He’d discarded that option immediately. The Sitting Oblivion Dao couldn’t be trusted, and if they learned of his heart elemental identity, he’d never know peace again.
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> The only thing he could do was track down Beifeng and wrench the method from him by force.
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> As for how to do that, this Heavenly Surveillance Bureau was the most crucial tool he had right now. Why else would he go to all this trouble infiltrating it?
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> After walking down the corridor for a bit, Li Huowang’s sharp ears picked up some unusual sounds coming from within the walls.
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> The thudding of wood striking something, the flapping of bird wings, and hurried footsteps.
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> Li Huowang ignored it and kept following Sima Lan. Just then, a man resembling a eunuch passed by humbly, head bowed low and hugging the wall, moving without a sound.
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> As he brushed past Li Huowang, he swiped at the wall corner, and suddenly a section of the wall slid open.
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> In that instant, Li Huowang caught a glimpse inside. At a spacious windowsill in the distance, birds of all shapes and sizes were constantly taking flight and landing.
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> A eunuch attendant nearby removed the slips of paper from the birds’ legs, placed them into small bamboo tubes, and let them slide down thin strings into a bizarre contraption pieced together from bamboo. At first glance, it resembled a spider covered in bamboo tubes.
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> But this bamboo spider was clearly moldy, dotted with patches of mold of varying sizes. Not just the exterior—the wooden gears turning inside were covered in mold spots as well.
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> Amid the clacking sounds, the message slips removed from the birds’ legs were distributed through the “spider’s” pipes to the eunuchs all around.
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> These eunuchs, with practiced efficiency, sorted the slips before them into categories, then placed them into the small square compartments behind them, like those in an apothecary cabinet.
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> Eunuchs, messenger birds, bamboo spider—everything moved with remarkable speed and precision, each performing their assigned tasks methodically.
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> As Li Huowang pondered the information hidden within this setup, Sima Lan suddenly turned left ahead of him, proceeding down past rows of tightly shut doors.
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> “Remember these markings. Rest Gate or Birth Gate—either works. Don’t take a wrong turn.” With a push from Sima Lan’s hand, a dimly lit yet somewhat hazy great hall appeared before Li Huowang.
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> The hall was filled with many screens. The shadows projected onto them—some sitting, some standing—proved that someone was behind each one. Yet their voices were utterly indistinct; even Li Huowang couldn’t make out what they were saying.
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> Walking through this forest of black silhouettes and strange, muffled voices, Li Huowang felt an overwhelming sense of the bizarre. Was this really the Heavenly Surveillance Bureau, and not some ghost market?
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> Truth be told, when he’d first entered, his heart had raced quite a bit, fearing his identity would be exposed. Fortunately, it had all gone smoothly—Zhuge Yuan’s spindle had proven extremely useful.
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> Li Huowang carefully observed his surroundings. He noticed that this place was like the rest: the screens and pillars around him were speckled with mold spots, making what should have been a grand hall feel dirty and antiquated.
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> “Brother Sima, does this place often get that southern damp wind? Everything’s molding over.” Li Huowang asked casually.
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> “Maybe. It never happened before—it only started at the beginning of this year.”
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> After saying that, Sima Lan pointed ahead with his hand. “First time here? Go get yourself clocked in with the Lingtai Lang first, then I’ll explain everything in detail.”
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> Following the direction the bird flew, Li Huowang soon spotted a man in the distance, left hand behind his back, expression grave as he pinched his fingers in calculation.
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> The man wore a long robe and had an utterly ordinary face. He stood behind a high counter like those in a pawnshop.
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> If not for the location, Li Huowang might have mistaken him for a storyteller from a teahouse.
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> “Nangong, one Geng flag, clocking in a shift.” Sima Lan’s bird flew to the desk and pecked at the surface with its beak.
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> The man who’d been calculating didn’t even glance at Li Huowang. With utmost composure, he extended his hand from behind his back. “Hand over your token.”
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> The man surnamed Nangong felt the patterns on the token, then tossed it right back. “N’erjiu, right? Erniu mentioned you before he left.”
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> Li Huowang recalled that the registrar’s name was something like Erniu.
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> Watching Sima Lan chat idly with Nangong, Li Huowang began pondering his next move.
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> Just as Sima Lan finished talking and was about to lead Li Huowang onward, Li Huowang suddenly spoke up.
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> “Brother Sima, I’m new here—dare I ask, whose jobs do we take them from?”
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> Sima Lan seemed a bit surprised but didn’t show it. “Since your token’s already flagged, you don’t take jobs from anyone. You pick your own.”
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> Sima Lan led Li Huowang back into the great hall and pulled open a screen, stepping inside.
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> Behind the screen was nothing but a table and a few stools. Sima Lan’s bird pecked at the tabletop once more with its beak.
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> Soon, a fair-skinned eunuch entered and bowed deeply to Li Huowang and Sima Lan. Their three shadows were likewise cast onto the nearby landscape screen.
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> “Ask him whatever jobs you want—he got here just this morning, so he knows everything. You can also learn from him how many lower-ranking Heavenly Surveillance Bureau members there are locally and pick who to bring along as your assistant.”
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> Hearing Sima Lan’s words, Li Huowang looked at the eunuch before him, thought for a moment, and asked: “Is this how jobs are usually assigned?”
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>(End of chapter)