Chapter Fifty-Eight: The Six Paths and Ten Categories

Meng Fan convened a small internal meeting. Seated around the table were only Meng Fan, the seven temporary workers, and Gao Dazhuang—nine people in total.

Meng Fan took the seat at the head of the table and spoke first: "The grassroots framework of the 139th Division has now been assembled with supplementary personnel dispatched from above. It currently consists of over three thousand active personnel, along with the Wolf Guards and others."

"As for the middle management structure, I intend for you all to take on those roles."

Xiao Zizhai and the others looked at each other, momentarily at a loss. No one had told them before they came here that they would be entrusted with such heavy responsibilities!

Seeing their reactions, Meng Fan smiled and then distributed a relevant document to everyone present.

"Moving forward, the 139th Division will be organized according to the Six Paths and the Ten Categories, forming the Six Bureaus and the Ten Departments. The Six Bureaus will primarily handle external operations, while the Ten Departments will manage the internal affairs of the 139th Division. Of course, their responsibilities may also intersect."

"The Six Paths consist of the Upper Three Paths and the Lower Three Paths."

"The so-called Upper Three Paths are the Three Good Paths, namely: the Deva Path, the Asura Path, and the Human Path. The Lower Three Paths are the Three Evil Paths, namely: the Animal Path, the Hungry Ghost Path, and the Hell Path."

"The Ten Categories are: Heaven, Earth, Man, Spirit, and Ghost; Naked, Scaled, Hairy, Feathered, and Shell-bearing."

"They are also divided into the Upper Five Categories and the Lower Five Categories."

"The Upper Five Categories are composed entirely of gifted individuals, serving to a certain extent to oversee the Lower Five Categories."

"As for the Lower Five Categories..."

"Naked refers to creatures without body hair or covering, such as humans; Scaled refers to creatures with scales on their surfaces, such as fish and dragons; Hairy refers to creatures with fur or hair, such as tigers, leopards, and bears; Feathered refers to creatures with feathers, such as birds; Shell-bearing refers to creatures with hard shells, such as insects and turtles."

"To some extent, they are no longer traditional creatures in the true sense, much like the Chaos you encountered previously."

"Now, let us proceed with your appointments."

Meng Fan began to read out the assignments. Everyone listened intently with serious expressions.

"Gao Erzhuang belongs to the Heavenly Department, tasked with establishing the Heavenly Net defense mechanism. Gao Dazhuang belongs to the Earthly Department, tasked with establishing the Earthly Net, specializing in external intelligence gathering and reconnaissance. The two of you will work together to build the Heaven-Earth Net."

"Understood!" Gao Dazhuang stood up to accept the command.

"꒰*ॢꈍ◡ꈍ꒱✿ Um, leave it to me!" Gao Erzhuang also sent an emoticon to let everyone know.

"Wang Zhenqiu belongs to the Divine Department."

"The Divine Department, eh? Sounds quite interesting," Wang Zhenqiu said with a giggle, though a hint of seriousness flashed in his eyes.

"Chen Duo belongs to the Human Department."

"Okay." Chen Duo nodded gently without any objections.

"Feng Baobao belongs to the Deva Path."

"Got it!" Feng Baobao made a gesture, appearing extremely obedient. In fact, before coming here, Xu Xiang, Xu San, and Xu Si had given her strict instructions.

As long as no physical harm was done to Feng Baobao, she should obey them and not resist. Indeed, Feng Baobao carried this out very well.

"Old Meng belongs to the Animal Path. From now on, you will need to devote more attention to the logistical support, domestication, and related work of the Wolf Guards, Old Man. Of course, other animals might appear in the future, and you will need to manage them as well," Meng Fan indicated.

Old Meng nodded and promised, "Rest assured, leave those little wolf cubs to me."

The 139th Division currently had nearly three hundred and sixty wolves. Although these giant wolves possessed a certain increase in intelligence, they could not compare to humans, so a capable person was urgently needed to coordinate them.

This could also be considered a bit of selfishness on Meng Fan's part. Old Meng hadn't been very happy with his previous job as a temporary worker, so it was much better to let him come here and be the master of the wolves.

Actually, it wasn't much different from being a zookeeper, and for Old Meng, staying with animals was much more comfortable than staying with humans. It could be considered returning to his roots.

"Xiao Zizhai belongs to the Asura Path."

A glint reflected off Xiao Zizhai's glasses. He raised his head slightly and self-deprecatingly remarked, "It really suits me quite well."

In terms of typical Buddhist typology, Xiao Zizhai was the image of an Asura—possessing both Buddhist nature and a murderous intent. The two personalities balanced each other: he used his Buddhist nature to suppress his murderous intent, and his murderous intent to protect his Buddhist nature.

He was a true practitioner. A craving for killing was his nature. The phrase before the Buddha, "Xiao Zizhai, you can do it," represented his Buddhist nature. Practicing Buddhism meant cultivating the mind, controlling inner demons, and stubbornly refusing to compromise in his attempt to master himself.

Xiao Zizhai didn't care about killing people, but he didn't want to be controlled by the desire to kill into random slaughter either. He was a deeply contradictory character.

In life, he cultivated no good karma, loving only to kill and set fires; suddenly, the golden shackles snapped open, and the jade locks were torn apart here. Look! When the tidal bore arrives at the Qiantang River, today at last I know who I am!

Whether Xiao Zizhai would eventually attain Buddhahood or become a demon remained to be seen in the future!

"Black Pipe belongs to the Hell Path."

Black Pipe scratched his head, stood up, and asked with rare hesitation, "Um, Heavenly Artisan, what will my specific duties be?"

With a playful look, Meng Fan replied, "What else can you do in the Hell Path? Handle the dirty work, of course. If we capture people in the future who have committed unforgominly heinous crimes, you will be the one to take charge of them."

Hearing this, Black Pipe's face twitched. He had no choice but to sit back down speechlessly, muttering in a muffled voice, "Fine then."

After the reading of the assignments concluded:

"You may all disperse first. Gao Dazhuang, stay behind."

When everyone else had left, Gao Dazhuang asked, "Heavenly Artisan, did you keep me behind for something?"

"The first batch of Dragon Tooth Rice has been catalyzed and cultivated by me. Aside from the necessary seed retention and the quota to be delivered to the higher-ups, there is still some left over."

"I intend to have your A and B squads consume it first. This is also a requirement from above, as we need to produce a detailed data report on its effects, though I will decide who gets to consume it."

Gao Dazhuang immediately understood Meng Fan's intention. As the first beneficiaries, squads A and B would undoubtedly outpace others.

If luck was on their side, it wouldn't be impossible for his two squads to gain a few more gifted individuals.

"Heavenly Artisan, thank you!"

Meng Fan shook his head and offered his explanation: "Normally, you people have already forged your bodies to a limit. Giving it to you is simply to maximize its efficacy."

Even so, Gao Dazhuang could not afford to take this favor lightly.

Without Meng Fan's methods to force-ripen the crop, waiting for the next batch of Dragon Tooth Rice to mature would probably take another year.

Actually, Meng Fan held quite a favorable view of Gao Dazhuang and the others. He hadn't expected that this world would actually contain counterparts similar to those in the television shows he had watched previously.

Perhaps they were merely the tip of the iceberg in this world, with everyone being the protagonist of their own life.

After Gao Dazhuang left, Meng Fan took out the document he had just read. At the very bottom was another list of names: Wang Ye, Zhuge Qing, Ma Xianhong, Liu Wukui, Zhang Chulan, Lu Linglong, Feng Xingtong, Feng Shayan......