Shen Le, If You're Going to Do Something Reckless, Don't Jump in the Pond!

The director of the Special Affairs Bureau Southwest Branch had been rather troubled lately.

The southwest region bordered foreign countries to begin with, and they had to deal with head-lowering curses, gu poison, child-raising ghosts, and all sorts of bizarre techniques with endless variations.

When it came to self-cultivation and strengthening one's foundation, they definitely could not compare to orthodox cultivators.

But when it came to being devious and sinister, harming people without leaving a trace—especially disguising harmful spells as beneficial ones, such as bringing someone good luck to fool wealthy businessmen and celebrities—

For some reason, they were simply better than orthodox Buddhist and Daoist cultivators. Much better.

Orthodox Daoists, truly powerful cultivators, would rather live in remote mountains and ancient forests, cultivating in seclusion. They might never leave the mountains or see another person for their entire lives.

Orthodox Buddhists, those cultivators with genuine compassion and great merit, did travel among the people in their daily lives, observing strict monastic rules and saving those in suffering.

But with their torn shoes, torn hats, and tattered cassocks—

Well, it was difficult to make the public see them as lofty and impressive.

Thus, the Special Affairs Bureau Southwest Branch had an exceedingly complicated task: defending against those strange foreign cultivators and their strange techniques, preventing them from causing harm within the country.

Not to mention that they had to work closely with border defense forces, helping expose all manner of illusions, fend off various offensive spells, and intercept all kinds of harmful items from entering the country.

Their everyday work had them wishing they could use women as men and men as beasts of burden—no, that was wrong. Cultivation did not distinguish between men and women. Everyone had to work like a nuclear-powered donkey.

Even so, they still felt understaffed.