Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

Chapter 552 354 Appointment to the Wenku and Summoned by Yushu_2

The old Dou Cha did not respond; the matter was too far-reaching, with layers upon layers of insider stories, which he dared not judge lightly.

This thousand-year-old Prison Demon had unfathomable thoughts; who knew if it would later pledge loyalty to Yushu. It was best to err on the side of caution, as trouble often came from incautious talk.

...

The document room was located in the southwest of the Divine Prison. On the surface, it appeared to be an ordinary courtyard, but underneath, several extensive storage layers had been excavated to store jade scrolls and case files.

The document room was subordinate to the Archive House Manager of the Prison God Temple, a department parallel to the storage room.

However, compared to the lucrative storage room, the document room was thoroughly a drab government office.

Libraries, archive rooms, it has always been so—tranquil indeed. They can produce talents, but they certainly don't lead to wealth.

Having entered the Archive House, Zhao Sheng smoothly met with the person in charge, presented his Identity Token, and made his purpose clear.

The manager of the warehouse, Mr. Gu Liudan, was a stodgy and cold-faced man.

With a bit of sensing, Zhao Sheng could tell that this person was also a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, with cultivation between the third and fourth layers.

The Prison God Temple truly deserved to be a provincial high temple. Even a mere warehouse manager was in the Foundation Establishment Realm. They could serve as the head of a temple if delegated to a state.

Seeing someone new report for duty, Gu Liudan squeezed out a hint of a smile, "Welcome to our department, colleague. From now on, we are all in the same boat. The document room has two managers. I've already notified them. Old Zeng should be arriving soon too."

No sooner said than done.

In a blink of an eye, a thin old man with a worried face walked in from the door.

"Haha, this one looks unfamiliar; you must be the new colleague. This old man's surname is Zeng, given name Lang, I joined a few years before you. May I ask your Daoist title?"

"My Daoist title is Sanbao, mundane name Zhao Sheng, I've seen Brother Zeng," greeted Zhao Sheng with a smile to this Mr. Zeng.

Under spiritual sensing, Zhao Sheng was slightly taken aback; he couldn't grasp this person's depth of cultivation. Perhaps he was another expert who kept a low profile.

"Good, good, 'spirit, vitality, and mind' are indeed the three treasures of a person. Your Daoist title is well chosen. It's even better that you are joining the document room! Finally, I can take a breather. An old fool like me always has to put in the effort to instruct a bunch of blockheads, it's downright maddening!"

"Humph, Old Zeng, if you frequented the Red Chamber less, would the document room be in such a mess? If you gave up that habit, I would have long since given up my position as the manager to you."

"Ay, I dare not. This old man still wants to enjoy a few more years. If I took the position of manager, wouldn't that kill me, this old donkey!"

Gu Liudan interrupted with a look of disgust, "Enough, stop babbling nonsense with me. Take Junior Zhao to familiarize himself with the place."

"At your command! Junior Zhao, let's go."

Zhao Sheng followed Young Master Zeng out of the room, along the corridor, towards the back courtyard.

"Junior Zhao, you must be an old hand here in the temple too. There's no need for this old man to remind you of the need for caution in your words and actions. You understand that. As it turns out, our document room isn't so complicated. Nor are there many rules. The daily task is to collect and file documents and jade scrolls sent from the county government and from our own Divine Prison. Do you understand, Junior Brother? Isn't it simple?"

"Previously, I was a Prison Guard. I have some understanding of the document room's duties."

"Haha, that's good. Then this old man can rest easy."

The two quickly entered a very ordinary large courtyard.

In the courtyard sat row upon row of small, blue brick courtyards, where green-robed Daoists, with their hands full of jade scrolls and books, hurriedly scurried back and forth, looking extremely busy.

Young Master Zeng led Zhao Sheng past one small courtyard after another

There were no signs above the doors of the small courtyards, yet Young Master Zeng knew them as if they were his own treasure: "Monster Room, Ghostly Room, Demon Cultivation Room, Evil Cultivation Room, Heretic Room...

Overall, the document room has thirteen subdivisions, each managed by four or five scribes.

Upon seeing the new manager, these scribes quickly greeted him with a respectful bow, terrified.

The scribes were mere mortals, as different from Zhao Sheng and Young Master Zeng as the earth is from the sky, so their manner was exceedingly humble, not daring the slightest disrespect.

"Our document storehouse has thirteen underground archive rooms, each heavily fortified with prohibitions. You must always carry your Identity Token when entering, otherwise, you will definitely be killed by the Prison God Puppets guarding the archive. Bear this in mind!"

Upon arriving at the underground archives, Zhao Sheng almost thought he was back in the Divine Prison.

The underground storehouse was not small, with a cold and gloomy interior. The corridors were narrow, and a lingering, dense spectral atmosphere seemed to connect directly with the Divine Prison, or else it wouldn't carry this eerie feeling—possibly both were excavated at the same time; otherwise, it wouldn't look so ghastly.

On each side of the doors to every layer of the storehouse, there stood two giant Black Armor Puppet guards wielding halberds, emanating an air of cold indifference. To his surprise, they resembled the Golden Core Puppets that guarded Avici Hell.

The thirteenth layer underground document archive could only be fully accessed by two appointed managers; other clerks were only allowed to enter their corresponding layer. If someone inadvertently entered another layer, they would be immediately killed by a puppet, no questions asked.

Young Master Zeng led Zhao Sheng through several layers of the archives. The area was packed with bookshelves like a dense forest, and jade scrolls and files were piled up like mountains, filled with the scent of decay. Many files were covered with a thick layer of dust.

As they walked, Zhang Cheng explained to Zhao Sheng, "Our job is pretty simple. Every day, we just have to supervise our clerks to archive and categorize, while also filtering any useful information. As long as no one makes a mistake, and no one leaks any secrets, we'll be fine. We can spend our days drinking wine, listening to music, living a life more carefree than the immortals."

Though he didn't speak of it, Zhao Sheng knew their duties were far greater than what Young Master Zeng had described.

In the document room, keeping tight-lipped about secrets was of utmost importance, followed closely by unswerving loyalty to the Heavenly Dao Sect.

Zhao Sheng had an extremely clean background, plus many years as a prison guard, having passed numerous tests, he was finally able to smoothly transition to the position of manager.

Young Master Zeng briefly went over the workflow and reminded him of several important points.

Zhao Sheng immediately understood how the document room operated normally.

Collecting, organizing, summarizing, and archiving testimonies and files was a tedious and time-consuming task.

Fortunately, managers didn't have to get involved in these trifles; as long as nothing went wrong in the room, a manager really had quite a leisurely job.

"Hehe, this old man has been on duty for a month and is already worn out. Junior brother, you are young and energetic, perfect for sharing the load."

"Alright."

Eager for a break, Young Master Zeng hastily handed over his duties to Zhao Sheng and then vanished in a flash of tunneling light.

Zhao Sheng's eyes narrowed, a silent alarm going off in his mind – this person must be at least at the Foundation Establishment-Late Stage, if not possessing even higher cultivation.

...

Zhao Sheng quickly adapted to life in the document room. It was both busy and simply monotonous.

As an Archive House Manager, if one wanted to diligently fulfill their duties, there was never a lack of tasks, but if one wished to be lazy, ordinarily there was nothing much to be done.

Take the long-standing manager, Young Master Zeng, for example; he couldn't even be bothered to visit the various sub-rooms, content to remain undisturbed unless a clerk sought him out.

Upon Zhao Sheng's arrival, Young Master Zeng was truly delighted from the bottom of his heart. Within the first two months, combining persuasion with claims of accustoming to departmental affairs, he somehow managed to put Zhao Sheng on duty for two consecutive months.

As for himself, he only came back three or four times in two months, each time reeking of alcohol, his body exuding a fragrant aroma, undeniably a salacious old ghost with a penchant for booze.

Young Master Zeng was extravagant with Spirit Stones, not only emptying his own pockets but even several times shamelessly borrowing from Zhao Sheng.

After lending him more than three hundred Spirit Stones, Zhao Sheng was not ready to lend any more.

After all, having just risen from a hard-working prison guard, he couldn't forsake his image of frugality.

It was almost comical, a figure who might be a Golden Core Cultivator had fallen into such a pitiful state.

It made Zhao Sheng wonder if everything he saw was just an illusion.

More than two months later, one day, Young Master Zeng suddenly showed up, urgently saying, "Junior Brother Sanbao, come quickly with me. The temple priest has summoned you."

"The temple priest is looking for me?" Zhao Sheng was puzzled.

In the two months since starting this position, he had already learned that the new temple priest in the temple was none other than an acquaintance from the past, Yushu Taoist.

Yet why would this person suddenly summon him, and for what purpose?

There is an old saying: "In the temple, there is no hierarchy, only a thousand oddities."

Ever since Zhao Sheng accepted Dou Cha's goodwill, he had been considered one of his faction.

Yushu and Dou Cha were not on good terms, and their conflicts had nearly become public knowledge, a fact Zhao Sheng was well aware of.

"Brother Zeng, what does the temple priest want with me?"

"How would I know? But it should not be something bad. Think about it, there aren't many Foundation Establishment Cultivators in the temple; if placed in a lower state, you could be a temple head, managing three thousand miles of rivers and mountains. The temple priest probably wants to see you, after all, a prison guard advancing to Foundation Establishment Cultivator is a rare sight in a hundred years."

"Back when I advanced to Foundation Establishment, I basked in glory for a few decades, handling tens of thousands of Spirit Stones every year. Those days... tsk tsk, you couldn't even imagine how it was!"

Chatting as they walked, the two soon entered a modest courtyard.