The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#183 - Judge

The junior clerk's words sounded like they were begging for a beating, and coupled with his even more irritating voice, it was enough to strongly dissuade any ordinary person curious about the Department of Celestial Observation.

However, after he finished speaking today, he found that the two people and a cat in front of him hadn't moved. Then, Lu Jing took out the wooden牌 from his怀 and handed it over.

The junior clerk took the wooden牌, saw Lu Jing's name appearing on the back, and the lazy expression on his face immediately disappeared. He handed the wooden牌 back to Lu Jing with both hands, and then asked politely, "Newcomer?"

"Yes, I just passed the academy assessment a few days ago," Lu Jing replied.

"No wonder, I was rude earlier," the junior clerk then explained, "Usually, those supervisors in the department enter directly without asking if anyone is there. When I heard you calling out, I thought you were some loafer from somewhere."

Lu Jing said, "We are indeed here for the first time and don't know the rules here."

"It's okay, there's a first time for everything. I'll take you inside."

After speaking, the junior clerk led the way, taking Lu Jing through the hall, but not in the direction of the Star Observation Tower.

Lu Jing was a little curious and asked, "Doesn't the department usually handle official business in the Star Observation Tower?"

"Yes, but you definitely can't enter directly from the main entrance," the junior clerk replied. "It's mainly to prevent ordinary people from accidentally entering, especially since there are so many princes and princesses in the capital. If they really get interested one day and insist on coming up to see the stars, we can't stop them, can we?

"However, what they end up climbing isn't the real Star Observation Tower."

"Is that so?"

While speaking, the junior clerk's footsteps stopped in front of a wall. Then, he first lit the second candle on the candlestick next to him, and then picked up a T-shaped wooden hammer and struck the fifth chime bell on the right three times.

After a moment, as the sound of the bell subsided slightly, a large door appeared on the wall.

The junior clerk gestured for them to enter.

Lu Jing thanked him, silently memorized the junior clerk's previous actions, and then led A Mu and the black cat through the door in the wall.

After entering, he only felt a darkness before his eyes. When he opened them again, Lu Jing found that he was already standing inside a tall building.

The building was a scene of busy activity.

In the center was a huge bronze tree, with hundreds of nightingales perched on it, chirping incessantly, and new nightingales were flying in from the crescent-shaped window on the south wall.

The nightingales that flew into the Star Observation Tower all had notes tied to their legs. Some flew upstairs, but more landed downstairs, obediently lining up.

They waited for the blue-robed people to come forward, untie the notes from their legs, feed them, and then fly up to the bronze tree to rest.

In addition, some nightingales that had rested enough were called down from the bronze tree by the blue-robed people, had notes tied to them, and then flew out of the crescent-shaped window.

Although there were many nightingales in the building, everything seemed to be in order.

Lu Jing, A Mu, and the black cat were all stunned by the sight.

One person, one wooden人桩, plus one cat, obviously didn't expect the mysterious Department of Celestial Observation's Star Observation Tower to be a large nightingale breeding center.

Then, a blue-robed person who was feeding the nightingales suddenly put down the small basin containing dried insects in his hand, walked up, and pointed to the black cat on A Mu's head, asking, "Is this cat yours?"

Lu Jing couldn't answer this question. Theoretically, he brought the cat in, but in fact, he couldn't control A Mu's new friend at all.

A Mu himself didn't seem to understand, but the little wooden人桩 nodded anyway.

"Please take good care of your cat, so it doesn't eat the nightingales in the department," the blue-robed person said, then asked, "I wonder, are you two...咦, you're not human, are you a strange creature?"

The blue-robed person was afraid that the black cat would hurt A Mu, so he was very close to him, and finally saw through the little wooden人桩's disguise.

A Mu was so scared that he quickly hid behind Lu Jing again.

The blue-robed person was a little curious and raised his head to ask Lu Jing, "Is this your strange creature? I don't think I've ever seen it before. Hmm, there's no similar record in the册."

Lu Jing nodded, "I'm a freshman from the academy this year. I want to bring A Mu, oh, that is, this little wooden人桩, to the academy to study, so I came to the department to register."

"I see," the blue-robed person nodded. "Then I'll take you to the Appraisal Department first."

Lu Jing couldn't help but worry when he heard this name, "How are you going to验 A Mu?"

"Generally speaking, the appraisal of strange creatures is a very complex and tedious process, because strange creatures themselves cannot be measured by common sense, so we can only determine their function and assess the possible harm they may cause through their past actions and necessary tests and observations."

"But..." the blue-robed person changed his tone, "There are exceptions to everything."

"What do you mean?"

The blue-robed person didn't answer immediately, but asked instead, "Has this...A Mu ever caused trouble in the world or stained his hands with the blood of mortals?"

Lu Jing shook his head, "As far as I know, he hasn't. A Mu is very timid and hasn't even bullied small animals."

"Although they all agreed to register all the strange creatures in the world for management, most people didn't want to reveal all their cards, and they could naturally understand what the younger generations were thinking a thousand years later, so there was this extra rule.

"Otherwise, supervisors are in contact with strange creatures all their lives, and the Department of Celestial Observation can't find out if they secretly hide a few. Rather than making both sides uncomfortable, it's better to take a step back."

The blue-robed person said, "Not only A Mu, but if you have other strange creatures to report and register in the future, as long as they pass the judge's judgment, and then return to the department for review at least once every three years, it's fine."

"Thank you for telling me."

"Ha, it's my duty. Let's go, we'll go see the judge."

The blue-robed person then led Lu Jing to the Appraisal Department located underground.

Lu Jing originally thought that the judge was a master in the Department of Celestial Observation, but he didn't expect it to be a貔貅 statue.

The statue was about two people tall, like jade and gold.

Lu Jing in his previous life had also heard of the name貔貅. Legend has it that this mythical beast obeyed the Jade Emperor and patrolled the heavens, specializing in preventing妖魔鬼怪 from wreaking havoc in the heavenly court.