Mutated Tao

When it saw Li Huowang bringing out the torture tools once more, Han Fu’s Nascent Soul was beyond terrified.

“Wait! Stop, stop, stop, stop!” The little head did its best to tilt back from fear while trying to distract Li Huowang. “I really don’t know much about the Sitting Oblivion Dao! If you want to fight against them, then go and find the Surveillance Bureau! They know a lot about them!”

“Surveillance Bureau?” Li Huowang lowered the tools and thought about it. “Weren’t they employed by the Emperor to deal with evil beings? They know a lot about the Sitting Oblivion Dao?”

The Nascent Soul nodded its head. “Yeah! They are sworn enemies! The Surveillance Bureau captures and kills any members of the Sitting Oblivion Dao! This is even more so the case since two hundred years ago when the Emperor of Dongxia was switched with someone from the Sitting Oblivion Dao. After that, he then led the entire nation to its ruin. Since then, the Surveillance Bureau has placed the Sitting Oblivion Dao very high on their list! Also, when it comes to the Sitting Oblivion Dao, they would be happy to share any and all information without holding back. Qing Qiu, Liang Kingdom, the kingdom of Si Qi, and Hou Shu are all in cahoots with the Surveillance Bureau. They surely know something about the Sitting Oblivion Dao.”

“Oh? Is that so?” Li Huowang sat on the stool and pondered about it.

Since Bei Feng is one of the Four Joys of the Sitting Oblivion Dao and both parties are sworn enemies that have been fighting for years, the Surveillance Bureau must have information on Bei Feng! Maybe I really could find details about Bei Feng through the Surveillance Bureau.

Li Huowang was not desperate enough to directly search for Bei Feng and try to force him to spill out the secrets about getting rid of the confusion and sense of doubt of a Strayed One. Instead, he first needed to confirm whether or not Bei Feng really was a Strayed One that had gotten rid of the sense of confusion and doubt that Strayed Ones normally suffer from.

Even though he wanted it to be the truth, he would never forget that it was another member of the Sitting Oblivion Dao who had told him about that.

Thus, before acting he had to first confirm the truth, or this time, he might end up being tricked by a dead member of the Sitting Oblivion Dao.

Only after confirming that Bei Feng was indeed a Strayed One and had gotten rid of the confusion and sense of doubt that Strayed Ones suffer from would he decide his next course of action.

“Surveillance Bureau…” Li Huowang mumbled before once again focusing on the Nascent Soul in front of him. “Tell me everything about the Surveillance Bureau. The more you tell me, the less pain you will have to feel.”

Through Han Fu’s Nascent Soul, Li Huowang understood that the Surveillance Bureau was a department that handled matters that the regular soldiers couldn't; this included things like getting rid of evil beings that had slipped into the city and other supernatural issues.

And one of their highest priority targets was the Sitting Oblivion Dao.

“Do they only care about the Sitting Oblivion Dao? What about the other sects like Ao Jing Sect or the Righteous Monastery?” Li Huowang was puzzled.

The Nascent Soul’s single remaining eye was filled with confusion. “Why would they care about them? They are proper sects.”

“Bullshit! What do you mean proper sects?! They…!” Li Huowang stopped and thought about it. After thinking it through, he realized that there was indeed no reason for the Surveillance Bureau to deal with them!

One of them was just a group of people who loved torturing themselves while the other was a group of monks that, at most, broke the taboo of sex. No matter how many sins they committed, most of them were committed within their sectors and didn’t affect the daily lives of other people, nor did it affect the Emperor. It was clear that they were allowed as long as they didn’t do anything majorly disrupting. The Righteous Monastery was even capable of being built within the heart of a city, clear evidence that it was allowed.

Li Huowang knew that the Emperor must know about what the Righteous Monastery was doing, but since he did not interfere with their actions, it meant that the Emperor had allowed them to do so…

Originally, Li Huowang had thought that both of those sects were evil sects, but after experiencing the world, he now knew that both of those sects were much better than the bandits or the robbers.

In fact, the nuns from the Benevolent Nunnery were considered literal Bodhisattvas during these chaotic times. The nuns were just greedy, dirty, and gluttonous while not hurting anyone.

“Aren’t you a disciple of Luoism? Would the Surveillance Bureau not come and apprehend you after killing so many people?” asked Li Huowang as he revealed the nineteen lifespan pills in front of the Nascent Soul.

“Cultivators would kill people from time to time for the sake of their cultivation. As long as you don’t kill people with wealth and power, the Surveillance Bureau would normally just ignore you,” said the small head.

“Hehe… So much for the Surveillance Bureau being responsible.” Li Huowang smiled bitterly.

The Nascent Soul understood the sarcasm and explained, “The Surveillance Bureau doesn’t have a black-and-white relationship with all of us. Sometimes the Surveillance Bureau would request other sects to do their business and we would just do it.”

With this, Li Huowang now knew that the Surveillance Bureau had a rigid internal structure but was more lax toward outsiders. Most of the issues like Han Fu cultivating on his own would be ignored by the Surveillance Bureau.

To the Surveillance Bureau, all they needed to do was to keep tabs on and employ some of the lone cultivators as freelancers. Then, as long as they got their job done, they would get their payment even without needing to meet up.

“The Surveillance Bureau's major enemies are sects like the Sitting Oblivion Dao or extremely dangerous Evil Beings. But their most important mission involves dealing with the Natural Disasters,” continued the Nascent Soul.

“Wait, did you just say Natural Disasters?”

Li Huowang perked up. He knew that at least two Natural Disasters had occurred before. One was the disappearance of ‘Decay’ while the other was the disappearance of ‘Lies’ that Han Fu told him about.

The one in charge of handling the Natural Disasters was the Surveillance Bureau!

Li Huowang slapped his head for being so slow. The characters for the word Surveillance Bureau were already hinting that they dealt with Natural Disasters[1]. To think he couldn’t unravel the connection between the two even though it was so simple.

“Since the Surveillance Bureau deals with Natural Disasters, how do they resolve them?” Li Huowang asked the Nascent Soul. He was quite curious about this crazy world.

“I don’t know! I’m not from the Surveillance Bureau! I’m not lying!”

In the first place, Li Huowang hadn’t expected it to know and was already satisfied that it had known so much.

“Daoist Li, is Han Fu’s Seven Star Sword with you?” asked the Nascent Soul.

This attracted Li Huowang’s attention. “Seven Star Sword? You mean the bronze coin sword?”

“Yes! Let me tell you how good it is! The Seven Star Sword was forged by our Master using 184 pieces of bronze coin during the Wu Hour of the Fifth Day of the Fifth Month of the Shen Year; that coincides with not only the Eight Solar Terms, but also with one of the Three Festivals! It could easily get rid of the evil energy from Er Hei and Wu Huang; this makes it very effective at dealing with evil beings!”

1. The name of the Surveillance Bureau in Chinese is 监天司, with 监 meaning to watch, inspect, or supervise; 天 meaning skies or heavens; and 司 meaning department, bureau ☜

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