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After leaving the office, Sun God greeted the receptionist and took me along. When we stepped outside, he even made a point to say goodbye to the Old Man at the gate—Old Man had just started listening to Liu Lanfang's storytelling after finishing Guo Degang. Truly a devoted drama fan!
"Uncle Sun? No, that doesn't sound right. Uncle Ri? Still not it." Once outside, I wanted to ask Sun God some questions, but I really didn't know how to address him. By seniority, I would just call Xing Du "Uncle Xing," but in terms of age, how many of them were not a thousand years old? What should I call Sun God then? "Uh, what should I call you?"
"Whatever you like. Generally, we immortals with celestial status don't care much about seniority. As long as there's no direct seniority relationship, we treat each other as brothers. After all, we've lived for so long that age differences are hard to discuss; it's better not to bother with it. Anyway, us Cultivation folks are all quite carefree," Sun God explained carefully. "Before I became an immortal, I was called Wenliang."
"Then should I call you Uncle Wen?"
"Absolutely not! That sounds too much like a leader. How about this: we can all be Brothers, and you can just call me Brother Wen," Sun God said with a look of alarm, quickly shaking his hand. "I can't be called 'uncle' by you."
I didn't catch what came after Brother Wen.
"Hey, Brother Wen, you mentioned earlier that you live for a long time; do immortals have lifespans too?" I asked curiously. It made sense; before seeing Uncle Xing, I had never actually seen an immortal. But having grown up reading scriptures and biographies of various deities, I naturally wanted to ask these questions that had puzzled me for so long.
"Immortals are just a step above mortals; there's nothing particularly impressive about it. Given that, it's not strange for immortals to have lifespans as well. Of course, those who are true Great Immortals are different. Most of us in the Celestial Rank are left over from the Investiture of the Gods, and some ascended later on. Without further breakthroughs, our lifespans are pretty much the same as when we were mortals; it's just calculated differently—one day for us equals one year for mortals. Of course, there are many ways to extend one's lifespan," Brother Wen said seriously, revealing many secrets considered confidential among mortals.
In simple terms, immortals are like those officials; they have certain privileges but nothing fundamentally changes. So if we calculate using the one day equals one year method: if I'm considered 1 year old this year, then I have 8 more years left. If I spend about 5 years accumulating Merit to rank up in the Celestial Rank, then I still have years left—if each year is counted as 65 years for me, that means I still have 195 years of life left! In other words, I could live for another five thousand years in Huaxia!
"Hey, Brother Wen, where do immortals go when they die?" I asked again.
"I don't know; after all, I've never died myself. But I suppose they wouldn't go to hell."
"Are there any immortals who die young?"
"There are! You know about Sun Wukong? He definitely has the fate of an immortal in his hands," Brother Wen said with a hint of gossip.
"Who is that?"
"I don't know his name either, but think about it: back then when they attacked Flower Fruit Mountain, there were hundreds of thousands of Soldiers. With that monkey's abilities, he could easily take out quite a few with just a ripple effect. But I don't know how many actually died; after all, such an embarrassing matter wouldn't be publicized by Zhang Yuhuang. However, it's certain that there were casualties!"
"Who is Zhang Yuhuang?"
"Brother Wen" pointed up and said, "Who else could it be? Our highest leader."
"Aren't you afraid of him giving you shoes for speaking ill of him?"
"Don't worry, although the Jade Emperor has the Thousand-Mile Eye and Listening Ear around him, they aren't always on duty. As long as we don't mention his full name, we'll be fine."
The Jade Emperor's full name is Hao Jin Que Wu Shang Zhi Zun Zi Ran Miao You Mi Luo Zhi Zhen Yu Huang Da Di. Who would call someone by such a long name?
"Speaking of Sun Wukong, I just remembered something. I need to accumulate enough Merit to rank in the Celestial Rank. That old man won't treat me like he does with the monkey, will he? If he gives me the title of Bima Wen, I won't live to see my death." I said anxiously. More importantly, I don't have the ability or courage to cause a ruckus like Sun Wukong.
"He won't. Although Bima Wen is also a proper eighth rank, unless you know some high-ranking officials or have some skills to back you up, you'll start from being a Soldier." Brother Wen glanced at me with a look that suggested I was dreaming. "Besides, do you really think that monkey could cause a stir in the palace? It's just acting with Buddha." I forgot that this person could read minds.
"What rank is the Sun God?"
"Eighth rank."
"And Soldiers?"
"They have no rank."
I was stunned. So my fifty years of hard-earned Merit only gets me a chance to be cannon fodder? And I'd have to serve a million years in the army!
"There are exceptions; some people become high officials right away." Brother Wen read my thoughts. "For example, Erlang Shen, Nezha, Thunder God, and so on."
"Erlang Shen is Old Zhang's nephew; Nezha's father is Towering King; his master—no, Taiyi—and Thunder God is also Yun Zhongzi's disciple. They either have family power or backing; how can I compare to them?" I said indignantly. "They were all meritorious officials during their deification!"
"As if you don't have any backing," Brother Wen muttered under his breath, though I couldn't hear him. "There are those who rely on themselves too; look at Tang Seng. He's just an ordinary person, but by obtaining the Western Scriptures, he became a Buddha."
"Nonsense! Tang Seng is the disciple of Tathagata and transformed from Golden Cicada! If he were truly an ordinary person, would he even have the chance to obtain the Western Scriptures?"
"Ah, young people should have ambition. Besides, you're still far from that. Look at me, even though I'm underground, I'm much freer than those up top." Brother Wen's nature was neither hot nor cold; he was best at smoothing things over. I began to understand why he became the Sun God.
"So it turns out that the upper world and the lower world are the same?" I looked up at the sky, completely despairing of my childhood fantasies. "If I had known, I wouldn't have learned all this nonsense from Pervert. It made it hard for me to find a job, and now I'm stuck here as a temp with no future."
"Hehe, what are you worried about? Look, we've arrived." Brother Wen chuckled as he spoke to me.
I looked up and saw a tall building ahead, five stories high, with three large brass characters hanging on one side—Student Council!
"Uh, what does that mean?" I almost turned around to leave. What kind of cute setting is the Student Council? What does it have to do with the Sun God?
"There was no other place for us, so Old Wen allocated us an office in the Student Council, but we have nothing to do with them." Brother Wen's demeanor became awkward. "Don't worry; ordinary people can't see us." Old Wen should be Wenquxing.
"But they can see me!" I exclaimed in frustration. "Why are you gods so out of touch?"
"This is still an experimental unit, after all. It hasn't been established for long."
"How long has the Heavenly Bureau of Human Affairs been established?"
"A month."
"Is human time still based on the upper world?"
"Human time."
"What about my so-called seniors who are already ranked in Celestial Rank?"
"That's true; humans used to need management, so there were still a few who became immortals," Brother Wen said honestly.
"Like who?"
"Ji Gong, Eight Immortals," Brother Wen struggled to recall, "I think that's it." Finally, he shrugged his shoulders helplessly.
"Pfft, Old Bastard, trying to trick me with deities!" I no longer called him Master but referred to him as Pervert. "I'm done with this; whoever wants to do it can do it." Those are all famous figures; not only are the Eight Immortals profound Daoists, but Ji Gong is also an Arahant, the Dragon Subduing Arhat!
"That works too; go have a bowl of soup and come back."
"Where to?"
Brother Wen pointed at the ground: "Hell!"
"Meng Po Soup?" I asked in surprise. "On what basis?"
"Originally, there wasn't much to say, but Old Man Xing specifically asked me to tell you a bit more confidential information." Brother Wen smiled mysteriously. "Otherwise, why would I be so chatty?"
"You guys are just trying to fool me into coming here." I jumped up and shouted, "Forget it, forget it; consider me unlucky. I've never met a good person in my life!"
"Not leaving?" Brother Wen grinned.
"Not leaving! Not leaving! Who says you can take a life without working? What kind of unethical company is this?"
I've already started viewing the court as a company. Look, e is that old man, several high-level Daoists are like consultants, such as Supreme Old Lord. The upper management includes Towering King and Erlang Shen; the Four Great Kings could be considered the security department (looking at the South Gate). Giant Spirit and Nezha are middle management; these are all people who just need to talk. Then there’s a group that actually has to work, like Sun Wukong's former position as Bima Wen, and the God of Wealth is probably the busiest one along with Kitchen God and Fu Lu Shou—there are plenty more! In such a big company, don’t they need a few temporary workers? I'm just here to take the blame for them! A pitch-black blame!
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