Chapter 377 - Sima Lan

“Qi faction? Liang faction?” Li Huowang had no idea what Sima Lan was talking about.

Is the Mo Family separated into two different factions? Why is the Liang faction considered evil?

Li Huowang stared deeply at the skinny man with a black bird on his shoulder for quite a while before finally asking. “Senior Sima, what are the Qi faction and the Liang faction of the Mo family?”

Sima Lan was confused about why Li Huowang seemed ignorant of the two factions, but he chose to reply, and the black bird on his shoulder spoke in his place, "They were once united, but their cultivation led them into nurturing different ideologies, which resulted in a clash of ideologies after the family head's death.

"The family split into two factions by then. The Liang faction believes in ghosts, fate, and destiny, but they've misunderstood the family head's teachings. They walked down the wrong path and allied themselves with the detestable Dongzhen Sect, becoming half-human bastards."

Sima Lan’s expression was soured, and he looked like he had recalled something he didn't want to remember.

Li Huowang went silent; he knew that the Liang Kingdom's standards when it came to orthodox, official organizations were quite loose. The Liang Kingdom would recognize an organization as an "official" organization as long as it would bring profits to the kingdom and would not harm it; it didn't matter whether the organization's practices were evil or upright.

Li Huowang didn’t ask any more questions out of courtesy. It had already become clear to him that the Mo Family's issue was the difference in ideologies and techniques.

Li Huowang had to focus on his own issues first before even thinking about anyone else's issues. Li Huowang had learned that Bei Feng had the method to stop the hallucinations of a Strayed One, so Li Huowang just had to find Bei Feng and learn that method from the latter.

Cooperation?

It was his first choice, but he cast it aside immediately. The Sitting Oblivion Dao couldn't be trusted. If they found out that Li Huowang was a Strayed One, Li Huowang’s life would forever be chaotic.

The only thing Li Huowang could do was find Bei Feng and extract the information from the latter.

To do that, Li Huowang had to find a helper within the Surveillance Bureau. He was sure that he could find someone useful, and that was actually one of the reasons he decided to join the Surveillance Bureau.

They walked along the hidden passageway.

Li Huowang’s keen ears picked up some noises. He could hear wood clanking against each other, birds flapping their wings, and the footsteps of people running around.

Li Huowang ignored those noises and followed closely behind Sima Lan. Just then, an eunuch appeared in the distance. The eunuch lowered his head and walked silently on one side of the passageway.

The eunuch passed by Li Huowang and pushed a brick on the wall.

A low rumbling echoed as the same wall opened, revealing a room. Li Huowang looked around and saw a massive window on one end of the room; a variety of birds flew in and out of the room through the window.

One of the eunuchs inside the room untied the papers tied to the birds' feet before placing those papers in a bamboo tube. The eunuch then dropped the bamboo into an odd structure—an array of bamboo pipes that resembled a spider.

The bamboo spider exuded the smell of mold, and it looked quite aged. Even the gears made out of bamboo inside of it had been devastated by mold. Regardless, the bamboo spider was still working, and its gears turned and clacked as it worked.

The letters inside the bamboo tube were distributed to the eunuchs in the room.

The eunuchs skillfully placed the letters into their own categories before placing them all into a cabinet that resembled a medicine cabinet.

Eunuchs, carrier birds, a bamboo spider. Every single one of them moved fast and efficiently to fulfill their role in the Surveillance Bureau.

Li Huowang's curiosity was piqued when Sima Lan turned and started walking toward a nearby staircase. Li Huowang snapped back to reality and followed after Sima Lan, who turned left to go down the stairs.

“Memorize the markings. You can enter from both the Gate of Rest and the Gate of Life. Make sure not to enter the wrong door,” Sima Lan said, pushing one of the doors open to reveal a dim hall.

The hall was filled with screens. There were shadowy figures either standing or sitting behind those screens, which meant every screen was occupied. They were so close to Li Huowang, but even his keen ears couldn't quite make out their conversation.

Goosebumps broke out all over Li Huowang as he walked through the forest of screens amidst the muffled voices in the hall. Li Huowang had to reassure himself that he was in the Surveillance Bureau, not in a town filled with ghosts.

Li Huowang was worried that his identity would end up getting revealed the moment he entered. Fortunately, the spindle that he had received from Zhuge Yuan was pretty effective.

Li Huowang looked around and found that the interior of this hall was similar to the previous hall. The screens and pillars were riddled with molds. Li Huowang didn't expect that the grand hall would be so musty and dirty.

“Senior Sima, why is everything here moldy? Is the ventilation here that bad?” Li Huowang asked casually.

“Maybe. The molds appeared at the beginning of this year; they weren’t here last year,” Sima Lan replied. Then, he pointed at something and said, “Since this is your first time here, go ahead and register yourself over there. Once you're done, I'll tell you more about certain things.”

Li Huowang followed Sima Lan's finger and saw a plain-looking man in the distance.

The plain-looking man wearing a long robe was counting something with his fingers behind a tall counter. The tall counters reminded Li Huowang of the counters at the pawn shops of the modern world.

If Li Huowang had no idea that he was in the Surveillance Bureau, he would have thought that the plain-looking man was a storyteller working in a tea shop.

Sima Lan’s black bird flew toward the tall counter and pecked the plain-looking man.

The plain-looking man didn't even glance at Li Huowang; he continued counting in one hand while he extended his other hand to Li Huowang and said, “Give me your identity token.”

The plain-looking man's surname was Nangong, and he stroked the engraving on the token for a few moments before throwing it back to Li Huowang. “You must be Er Jiu. Erniu told me about you before he left.”

Li Huowang nodded. He could still remember that Ji Xiang’s real name was Feng Erniu.

Nangong started talking with Sima Lan.

Meanwhile, Li Huowang mulled over his next steps.

Eventually, the conversation between Nangong and Sima Lan ended. Sima Lan turned to Li Huowang and got ready to bring him somewhere else.

Li Huowang stared at Sima Lan and asked, “Senior Sima, who should I find if I want to accept missions?”

Sima Lan was surprised, but he didn't show it on the outside as he replied, "You've become a Banner, so you don’t need to accept missions from others. You have to choose your own missions.”

Sima Lan then led Li Huowang to the great hall and pulled open one of the screens.

A table surrounded by a few stools was behind the screen.

Sima Lan’s bird pecked the table, and a pale-looking eunuch arrived. The pale-looking eunuch bowed toward Li Huowang and Sima Lan. At this point, Li Huowang had become one of the shadowy figures he saw behind the screens earlier.

“Ask him if you need any missions. He has the latest list of missions, but of course, those missions were updated this morning. If you need any help from someone below your rank or from someone idle, you can ask him to enlist them for your mission."

Li Huowang nodded at Sima Lan's explanation and turned to the pale-looking eunuch, asking, “How do I accept missions?”