The Unruly Immortals

Hearing Li Huowang's question, the eunuch hurriedly explained with great respect.

"To answer the master, standard tasks are accepted like this below Geng Banner, but if you go higher, it's quite different..."

Listening to the eunuch's detailed explanation, Li Huowang realized that this was the same thing Tuoba Danqing had told him previously.

The Astrological Bureau is strict inside and relaxed outside; if one wants to climb higher, the corresponding constraints become increasingly strict.

By the time one reaches the Rank of Record of Appearance, it's basically no different from becoming an official in the imperial court. You have an Official Robe and superiors to manage you.

However, in return, one could obtain some of the good things hidden within the Astrological Bureau that others couldn't see, such as methods to disperse one's obsessions for extending life, as well as various Cultivation Techniques and treasures not disclosed to outsiders. The higher your rank, the better items you could exchange with your salary.

Of course, if you're just a loose force like Li Huowang, naturally, you wouldn't have those. At most, you could exchange some ordinary items with Elixirs for Yangshou.

As for when one could enter the inner circle of the Astrological Bureau from the outer ring, it all depended on each person's actions over time.

Only when the leadership of the Astrological Bureau felt that a person was diligent enough and smart enough, and that their background was completely trustworthy, would they send someone to discuss in detail.

But Li Huowang, of course, didn't care about any of this; he had his own goals. "What tasks related to the Oblivion Path are there within the Bureau?"

"Master, please wait a moment. This servant will fetch them for you." The eunuch bowed his head and slowly retreated from behind the screen.

Seeing Li Huowang's actions, Sima Lan frowned slightly, and Sixi, the blind bird at her side, asked, "Why are you only looking for Oblivion Path tasks?"

"I have a vendetta against them," Li Huowang gave an answer that couldn't be more normal.

Sima Lan didn't know whether to believe him or not, but she didn't ask any further.

After a while, the eunuch came back, holding a stack of papers covered in writing.

"My lord, these are..." Before he could finish speaking, Li Huowang snatched them up and started flipping through.

However, after looking through them from start to finish, Li Huowang didn't find any trace of Bei Feng.

When Li Huowang looked up again, he found that Sima Lan had gone without him knowing when.

He couldn't be bothered to care and directly asked the eunuch at his side, "Why are these all about small fry? And they're just suspects, not even certain information. Are there no tasks like dealing with Sixi and Sanyuan?"

Hearing Li Huowang's words, the eunuch was so frightened that he turned pale. "Oh lord, if there really were tasks involving Sixi and Sanyuan, that would be an enormous matter. The Bureau would have sent people to deal with it right away. How could there be time to pick and choose slowly!"

"That servant tells you, sir, tasks naturally come in various types. Those like Sixi and Sanyuan from the Oblivion Path would be considered level B, very urgent, sir. Swift action is of the essence; they can't be left here for slow selection."

Li Huowang nodded in understanding; it seemed reasonable that if they didn't respond quickly to high-level members of the Oblivion Path, the citizens of Da Liang might suffer immensely due to their machinations.

But at the moment, Li Huowang faced a dilemma; he was already here but had no clues about how to find Bei Feng.

After pondering for a moment, Li Huowang asked the eunuch once more, "Are there any records related to Sixi and Sanyuan here? Anything will do."

"Um... One moment, master, this servant will search for you."

Li Huowang had only asked casually, but to his surprise, the eunuch really brought back a huge stack, "Master is of Geng Banner; naturally, you can see these."

Li Huowang took the books from him and started flipping through quickly, still aiming to find Bei Feng.

After all this time, I finally made a breakthrough; Bei Feng was last seen in Tanyang County of Wuzhou three years ago.

According to the records from the Astrological Bureau, when he appeared, it was to control a Xinsu together with Dongfeng.

Moreover, he claimed that if the Xinsu did not follow their instructions, Bei Feng would kill the Xinsu's family in the illusion.

Seeing this, Li Huowang frowned and continued to read patiently.

As one of the Sixi, Bei Feng's strength was naturally formidable; he could plunge a person into bewilderment in an instant and could even switch bodies with another by collaborating with Dongfeng.

If they wished, by merely looking at someone, they could swap bodies with that person, and this ability would astonishingly persist even after they had swapped.

Back then, Tanyang County was in complete chaos, as wives found themselves in their grandmothers' bodies while husbands ended up in their grandsons'.

The natural order of kinship was utterly disrupted by their deceit.

Importantly, as one of the Sixi, Bei Feng was exceptionally skilled at manipulating people's shadows; under their deception, some quickly became accomplices.

Not only this, when they were undefeatable, Bei Feng turned a seventeen-year-old girl into one of the Wutiao of the Oblivion Path within a short hour through deception.

The outcome was, at the expense of a Record of Appearance and the life of a bureau deputy, they seized the Xinsu and the life of Dongfeng.

Li Huowang perused the documents in his hands over and over, engraving every detail about Bei Feng in his memory.

He already knew about the Record of Appearance, and the so-called bureau deputy was likely of high standing, and this was the result of over a dozen people's efforts, which in itself sufficiently proved Bei Feng's might.

What's more, Bei Feng's power was peculiarly strange, being able to switch people's bodies. And he could even turn a normal person into one of his own simply through deception.

At this moment, Li Huowang felt immense pressure, finally understanding the true strength of the Sixi of the Oblivion Path.

And now, for him to contend with such an adversary was exceedingly difficult.

If there was any good news, the only consolation was that Li Huowang no longer saw his enemy as an indistinguishable foe.

"However, is it really possible for Bei Feng to threaten people within a Xinsu's illusion?" Li Huowang pondered with a flicker of doubt.

The thought of his mother and Yang Na being threatened by the Oblivion Path, or even completely deceived by them, contorted Li Huowang's expression fiercely.

"My Lord...? Do you have any further instructions?" the eunuch asked cautiously.

Li Huowang handed over the pages in his hand, "Take it back."

"Yes, My Lord." Just as the eunuch was about to withdraw behind the screen, Li Huowang suddenly stopped him.

"Wait, with my current badge, can I access most of the books in the bureau?"

"Yes, My Lord, you can consult anything from the first to the fourth collection."

Hearing this, Li Huowang clenched his fist, "I want books and records on Xinsu—the more detailed, the better."

Li Huowang knew he was a Xinsu, but there was always a question pressing on his mind, and that was, what exactly is a Xinsu?

Since I'm here, naturally, I must see how the Astrological Bureau defines Xinsu!