After arriving in Malsheem, Huo Ling did not waste much time.
He swiftly found the devils' administrative offices and began submitting himself for review, department by department.
Even with the recommendation of Bael, the acting lord of the first layer, Avernus, not a single required procedure could be omitted.
He advanced through department after department, passed through enormous offices one after another, and traded schemes and probing tests with devil after devil.
One local specialty after another passed from Huo Ling's hands into those of the devil officials.
The procedures here were far more numerous than every administrative process Huo Ling had gone through in his entire life.
From what clothes to wear, what documents to bring, and what words to say, to what tone and vocabulary to use while speaking.
How far each step should be, and what one ought to do each day in Malsheem.
Even how many breaths one took daily in Malsheem, how much magic power one absorbed, and how many devils one met each day were subject to strict limits.
This was rigorous order, meticulous order. So long as one violated even a single point, every prior procedure would be rejected and sent back to begin anew. Even Huo Ling's local specialties could not change that outcome.
Here, Huo Ling learned every sort of political method, political techniques and tactics he had never heard of or even imagined.
Many officials, while receiving Huo Ling or after finishing their audience with him, were taken away by other devil officials.
Devils being promoted was a common sight here. Likewise, devils being demoted in rank was something often seen.
Every devil who was demoted let out howls pitiful enough to wrench the heart.
Matching those cries were the savage grins of their former subordinates or the superiors who