After hearing our report, Captain Fang's brows furrowed.
"This is beyond me. We'll need help from comrades at Bureau 749."
"Bureau 749 again? Captain Fang, what exactly is this organization? Why so mysterious?" Er-Ge blurted.
Fang replied, "I don't know much either. Only that they guard Huaxia in a realm… different from ours."
The next day, two Daoists — one old, one young — arrived at the National Security building. It was none other than Master Zhang and his company.
Master Zhang introduced them. "This is my junior martial brother, Lin Xuan. Mischievous by nature. Our master sent him down the mountain to temper himself."
Lin Xuan's gray-blue robe hem was still smudged with incense ash. His hair was bound with a crooked peachwood pin, a stray lock dangling over the scar on his brow. Seventeen, maybe eighteen — a teenage Daoist.
We were dumbstruck. Er-Ge couldn't hold back. "Elder Daoist, you've got to be kidding. The age gap between you two brothers is what, fifty years?"
Master Zhang stroked his beard. "Our master never picked disciples by age. Eighteen years ago, while strolling at the foot of the mountain, he found this boy in a snake's nest, clutching a serpent by the neck for fun. The snake didn't even bite him. Master judged his spiritual roots strong and took him as his final disciple. What could I do?"
Lin Xuan's eyes flicked to me, then to Liu Siyu. With a mischievous grin: "Senior brother, do these two call me Shishu then?"
Liu Siyu and I froze. Master Zhang waved it off. "I only gave them life-bound jade. They are not formally my disciples. Call them however you please — none of my concern."
"Oh, good. From now on, we'll keep it straight: you two call me Shishu, I'll call you Senior Brother, Senior Sister."
The whole room went blank.
"Don't mind trivialities," Fang cut in, eager to shift topics. "You two, hurry and look at this."
Qin Xiao brought up yesterday's satellite map. Master Zhang took one glance, and his expression hardened.
"This is the work of Japanese Onmyoji. The formation is called Dou Zhuan Xing Yi — 'Shifting of Stars.' It can siphon away our nation's fortune. The backlash is immense, but the array's nexus must contain a vessel with vast spiritual power to store such qi."
Lin Xuan said, "Senior brother, if I'm not mistaken, their nexus lies at the Oriental Pearl Tower."
Master Zhang nodded gravely. "This case is troublesome. Only the Abe clan, descendants of generations of Onmyoji, could construct such a formation. Seems Bureau 749 must bare its fangs this time."
Er-Ge couldn't help himself. "Can you please tell us what Bureau 749 actually is? We're dying of curiosity."
Master Zhang stroked his beard. "Ah, Bureau 749… That is a long story. Some say unsolved mysteries in science are but gateways to breakthroughs; some lights must be extinguished in darkness; some truths are destined to crumble into dust. The true 749 lies forever folded within the creases of history.
"Science and mysticism have never truly opposed each other. You study zero and one, the binary. We study yin and yang. You speak of quantum entanglement; we speak of spirits. Different domains, different language. To enter the world yet cultivate within it — that is greatness: to define destiny for Heaven and Earth, to open peace for ten thousand generations. That is the creed of 749.
"Our history stretches back to Emperor Qin Shi Huang. After unifying the realm, he founded a special organization named Xuanji. It held immense authority, answering only to the First Emperor. Its duties were threefold: one, to seek the Dragon's Lair — determining imperial tomb sites; two, to anchor the Dragon Veins — to prevent dynastic collapse; three, to forge Immortality — the art of eternal life. The first bearer of the Xuanji Order was none other than the famed Xu Fu."