Agent 054

  He learned a lot of secrets from Judge Yu Yuan, and Lin Xu spent some time figuring out the connections between them. Then, he said calmly:

  "May I ask, Judge Yu, what does the underworld need me to do next?"

  Judge Yu Yuan, who always wore a professional smile on his face, walked slowly to Lin Xu's front, rarely with a serious expression, and said:

  "It is imperative that you, the esteemed deity, exert your utmost effort to preserve this realm and allow the underworld to collect the vengeful spirits. We will periodically open the passage for transfer. If you, the deity, have no objections to this, please sign below on this document."

  Lin Xuan took the document and scanned it, due to his work, he was very familiar with the tricks of the trade. He didn't see any hidden traps in the document, but Lin Xuan didn't rush to sign it either. Instead, he asked:

  "This Mount Hua seems like there's nothing particularly outstanding about it, why are the various great gods in the underworld looking at Lin with a different gaze?"

  Upon hearing this, Yu Yuan burst out laughing and said with a smile:

  "I don't know if you want to hear the truth or just polite words."

  Lin Xu heard this and immediately laughed, continuing to say:

  "Oh, I'd like to ask for your advice in person."

  It was as if he deliberately lowered his posture and drew closer to Lin Xu, at which time Judge Yu Yuan's attitude was unusually frank, speaking straightforwardly:

  "To be honest, there's no one more suitable than you, so even if it's not ideal, we'll have to make do. If I had to say something nice, then it would be that your abilities are extraordinary and from now on, we can rely heavily on you."

  At the sound, Lin Xu couldn't help but pat Yu Yuan's shoulder and said:

  "Haha, this sentence is indeed a big truth! Since you said so, I'm much more at ease now."

  Capturing a vengeful spirit sounds simple, but once Lin Xu got his hands on it, he realized that this job was extremely troublesome!

  The authentic Netherworld is a professional institution that accommodates the spirits of the dead, and it also requires a group of professionals like Hei Bai Wu Chang, Ox-Headed Horse-Faced to take turns making appearances. Before each operation, they must first go to the Judge's place to check the Book of Life and Death, find out in advance which ghosts are about to die, and then send someone to lie in wait beside them until the target takes their last breath, at which point they immediately take action to summon the soul. The Netherworld's system has been running for who knows how many years, all major and minor matters have been put on track, and many things can be handled simply by following established procedures. For the Mountain God Temple to handle this matter is like a young maiden getting married for the first time, everything must be done from scratch, how could it possibly go smoothly?

  A few days later, the usual tranquility of the old mountain temple was broken, and the noisy sounds echoed through the temple, with people bustling about everywhere, as if all the yin soldiers and ghostly guards were busy to the point of dizziness.

  "Get your hands and feet moving, hurry up and hang the sign. It's crooked, I said it's crooked! This side doesn't need a desk, who moved that chair here? Are you blind, quickly move it back. You, what are you standing there stupidly for, go help!"

  Standing at the entrance of a grand hall, Lin Xu watched as Zhang Xin and Wang Liang worked busily, while he himself felt at a loss for what to do.

  For the first time as a proxy for the underworld business, I really felt like a novice driver on the road, suddenly unable to distinguish east, west, south and north.

  Racking his brains and searching deep into his memory for half a day, Lin Xu suddenly remembered something. When he was in the second year of high school during summer vacation, he and several classmates who were close to him made an appointment to visit Mount Tai together, and at that time, they heard many mythological stories from the tour guide's introduction.

  In legend, the Eastern Emperor of Great Mountain governs the underworld of Huaxia, and he set up institutions such as the Three Courts and Six Ministries and Seventy-five Courts under the Dongyue Temple. The main departments include the Department of Judgment, the Department of Investigation, the Department of Inspection, the Department of Mercy for the Multitude, the Department of Protection from Punishment, the Department of Merit, and the Department of Birth Registration. There are so many other small departments that it makes one's head spin just looking at them.

  The number of institutions under the Dongyue Temple is probably more complicated than the bureaucratic system in the mortal world, and the essence of the institutional layering in Chinese official culture is also fully revealed. Although the experience of predecessors can be borrowed for reference by later generations, Lin Xu did not want to make the institution under his hands so cumbersome, nor was he willing to support a large number of idle bureaucrats. After weighing the pros and cons, Lin Xu decided to imitate the modern police bureau's institutional setting, adding some new departments outside the existing system of various government offices in the Shangshen Temple, specializing in handling various business related to the underworld.

  The Criminal Division, as the name suggests, is responsible for handling cases of vengeful spirits and ghosts that harm people or seek revenge.

  The Department of Pacifying Spirits, in charge of managing various local spirits causing trouble or refusing to accept summoning and other minor matters.

  The Immigration Department is responsible for handling the paperwork and formalities with the underworld authorities for the handover of the deceased's soul, obtaining the personal data of the person about to pass away from the other party, and handing over the collected souls on time. It's all just a lot of paperwork.

  Population Management Office, nothing much to say, specializing in recruiting souls and guiding ghosts, basically doing the same job as Ox Head and Horse Face, with not low requirements for martial arts.

  The sudden outbreak of the Huainan White Lotus Sect, and the series of events that followed, left Lin Xu no time to deal with the Wokou invasion. As time passed, after a long period of fermentation and brewing, the small trouble finally evolved into a big problem.

  After continuously plundering the numerous villages, towns and markets along the southeastern coast of the Great Qin Empire, the people of Dongying returned with a full load, proudly spreading the news of their discovery of the New Continent back to the islands of Dongying.

  This explosive news first moved not only those rōnin who, like the pirates, had no place to call their own. News of a new world emerging overseas also thrilled those Japanese deities who were distressed by the limited land of Japan and could only live on small islands.

  Japan calls itself a divine country, claiming to have eight million gods, most of which belong to the external heavenly god system, and the remaining minority is a member of the local national god system.

  The Amatsu-kami, who first appeared in Eastern Japan as an invader, has already completed the process of colonization and reversal of roles. The true indigenous gods of the Japanese archipelago, the Kunitsu-kami system, have been suppressed to the point of being unable to turn over.

  The heavenly kami occupied the dense forests and fertile plains of Honshu's central and southern regions, leaving only those poor rural areas that they looked down on to be retained by the earthly kami.

  In the bones, there was a Tianjin god full of ambition and aggression. For the Guo god who stubbornly defended the cold and barren land in the distant north and other remote areas, it was really not worth mustering much spirit to conquer again. Even if they conquered that poor mountain and evil water, I estimate that no Tianjin god would be willing to rule that place, and even if they reluctantly went, it would be equivalent to being exiled as a criminal. Since this is the case, why bother sending troops on a distant expedition?

  This time, the situation is completely different. In the vast new continent to the west, there are numerous ordinary people and natural resources that are thousands of times richer than the islands of Eastern Japan. According to the description of this batch of first-time adventurers, plundering has basically not encountered resistance.

  A group of wolves in a crowded space, seizing the opportunity to devour each other, suddenly faced with such a fat piece of meat, it's hard not to be tempted.

  As news of the New Continent spread, the Eastern Islands were in an uproar. Unlike ordinary people who needed to make thorough material preparations before setting sail across the ocean to participate in the plunder, the Tianjin gods, confident in their own strength, gathered together and rode the dark wind and clouds, flying westward without hiding their tracks. They yearned for conquest, they yearned for plunder, and they sought new living space. Of course, all of this was premised on their plans succeeding.

  When tens of thousands of Eastern Heavenly Tianjin gods take collective action at the same time, the supernatural powers they bring about are enough to cause strange phenomena to appear between heaven and earth.

  At dawn, Lin Xu stood in the garden of the old mountain temple, gazing at the eastern red sun that was half-hidden by black clouds, and murmured:

  "I've heard of purple energy coming from the east, but black energy? What kind of nonsense is this?"

  Lin Xue felt a sudden surge of ominous energy while meditating in the quiet room, so he rushed out to watch the sunrise. The observation result also verified Lin Xue's previous ominous premonition, a group of dark and blurry black air enveloped the rising sun, which was clearly an omen of heavenly warning.

  At this time, it was too late to think more, Lin Xu called Zhang Xin, the deputy general, and instructed him:

  "Zhang Xin, get the men ready immediately. I have a bad feeling, we're going to be busy."

  His appearance and demeanor were similar to those of Zhang Fei, the fierce general. Deputy General Zhang Xin had fought for a lifetime, and after his death, he was transformed into a ghost soldier who was accustomed to licking blood from the blade. He was never one to shy away from trouble, and with a pat on his chest, he guaranteed:

  "Yes sir, I'll go prepare right away."

  Generally speaking, Huo Mountain is sandwiched between the upper reaches of the Yangtze and Huai rivers. The straight-line distance from the coastline is not too far, but attacks from the sea will not easily advance into the vast mountains. If you ask about the reason, it's very simple: most of the prosperous towns and cities are built on fertile plains, so when foreign invaders come, they don't go to occupy these rich lands first, but instead lead their troops to drill into the mountain valleys - aren't they preparing to change careers and hunt?

  The first wave of attacks by the Tianjin God, who came from afar in the eastern islands, also chose a point of attack that was not beyond reason, and clearly pointed to the prosperous area downstream of the Yangtze River.

  Along the coastline, in the directions of Donghai Prefecture, Guangling Prefecture, Piling Prefecture, and Wu Prefecture, which are divided between the Yangtze River's north and south banks, a large-scale invasion campaign unfolded with both sides advancing simultaneously. The main characters of the warring parties were the Eastern Heavenly God of Japan and the native Huaxia gods.

  Three hundred years ago, the gathering of immortals summoned by the Heavenly Court exhausted most of the Eastern Divine Sect's power in this realm, which is why this world was eventually abandoned in a hurry.

  That year, the impact was far-reaching, and even a large city like Yangzhou with a population of hundreds of thousands did not have a single garrison officer on duty. Although the yinbing ghost soldiers and mid-to-low-level officials in the Yangzhou City God Temple resisted the invasion with all their might, the Tianjin God, who claimed to have 80 million divine spirits, lacked nothing but human resources. The efforts of these local gods were quickly offset by the huge numerical advantage of the invaders, and it was only a matter of time before they fell.

  As the first to be affected, Kuaiji and Wu Prefectures had their temples destroyed by Tianjin God one after another. Lin Xu's heart stirred as he stood under the old mountain temple at the foot of Tianzhu Mountain. It was as if in that instant, the veil shrouding the future lifted a corner, allowing him to glimpse many fleeting scenes.

  Although he had felt that something was amiss earlier, Lin Xu did not expect things to become so complicated. He stood up and paced back and forth, anxiously saying:

  "Can't help but feel a sense of foreboding early this morning, and sure enough, big trouble has arrived."