A Pawn's Passage

As soon as the scholar’s soul dispersed, the giant palm holding Qi Xuansu disintegrated. Qi Xuansu fell back to the ground and regained his freedom.

At this point, they had captured He Nian and killed the scholar, Bai Yongguan, Zhu Cheng, and Xia Chang. Out of the seven cultists in Zhang Yuelu’s divination, only Lin Zhenyuan and the Shaman were missing.

Qi Xuansu searched the scholar’s body and found nothing on him. He wondered if the scholar had hidden his money elsewhere or if he had handed it over to the Lingshan Witch Cult. He guessed it was probably the former.

After all, the scholar was a mid-level member of the Lingshan Witch Cult, so he should have amassed some private funds. However, the scholar did not have a magical receptacle, so he had to hide his money somewhere. Qi Xuansu wondered who would be so lucky to have kept these cultists’ money since they were dead.

According to the rules of the Daoist Order, a heretic’s wealth was considered dirty money, so the money would have to be surrendered to the Order.

Spiritual objects were quite common in the Daoist community, but they were not so common outside the community. If Zhang Yuelu was not a member of the Daoist Order, even if she were a rare Banished Immortal, she would not have been able to obtain a magical receptacle with her level of cultivation.

However, since she was in the Daoist Order, she was given a magical receptacle and a semi-immortal object, which the top leaders of the Lingshan Witch Cult would not have. This was the benefit of the Daoist Order.

Therefore, it was unreasonable to judge outsiders according to Daoist standards. Whether one could possess a spiritual object before the Heavenly-Being stage was highly dependent on one’s financial resources and luck.

Not long after, Zhang Yuelu came over and saw Qi Xuansu standing in front of the scholar’s body. Although she had expected Qi Xuansu to defeat the opponent, she was still in awe.

She sighed. “Tian Yuan, you always manage to surprise me. I feel incompetent compared to you. I have a higher level of cultivation, but I let several cult demons escape. On the contrary, you always defeat opponents stronger than you and even manage to kill them.”

Qi Xuansu waved his hands repeatedly and said modestly, “You fought all the tough battles. I was just picking up the slack.”

That was true. Qi Xuansu could only defeat the scholar by relying on his physique and the element of surprise. However, if Qi Xuansu were to face off with Lin Zhenyuan, Zhu Cheng, and Xia Chang, he would probably lose miserably.

Thus, it was evident that Zhang Yuelu fought with skill. Moreover, she fought consecutive fierce battles, so she was at the point of exhaustion. If Zhang Yuelu was at her peak, the scholar would not have withstood one blow from her.

Seeing that Zhang Yuelu wanted to deny it, Qi Xuansu interrupted her. “You and I should stop flattering each other in private. Save these praises about me for when you talk to the Hall Master.”

Zhang Yuelu smiled and said, “Alright. Let’s destroy this underground palace first, then I’ll report the situation to the Hall Master.”

While they were talking, the Black Robes and the Green Phoenix Guards defeated the other cultists. Following the death of the scholar, some of the Lingshan Witch Cult believers surrendered, while others resisted and were shot to death. After all, the Black Robes and the Green Phoenix Guard had the advantage in numbers and could overwhelm a few Xiantian Beings from the Lingshan Witch Cult.

Wang Zicheng ordered the Green Phoenix Guards to cremate the heads piled in front of the six-armed Wu Luo statue. Then, he asked the Black Robes to place explosives around the statue and escort the surrendered Lingshan Witch Cult members out of the underground palace.

The Green Phoenix Guards searched the underground palace thoroughly but could not find Lin Zhenyuan or the Shaman. They could not find anything useful either, like a list of cult members. Perhaps Lin Zhenyuan had kept it. However, cultists rarely put their names on paper, so it was difficult to uproot them.

The rest of the Black Robes and the Green Phoenix Guards transported the bodies out of the underground palace, leaving only a few personnel to assist Zhang Yuelu, Qi Xuansu, Wang Zicheng, and Company Commander Zhao.

Company Commander Zhao commanded his men to blow up the Wu Luo statue. With a loud bang, the underground palace shook. Gravel and dust flew everywhere, and the statue turned into a pile of rubble.

Then Company Commander Zhao asked his men to place explosives at various load-bearing pillars of the underground palace, intending to completely destroy the cultists’ stronghold.

Finally, Company Commander Zhao asked Zhang Yuelu and Wang Zicheng for instructions. “Mage Zhang and Pacification Commander Wang, shall we retreat from this underground palace?”

Wang Zicheng turned to Zhang Yuelu for her opinion. After all, the Daoist Order was more proficient at dealing with matters involving the Ancient Immortals.

Zhang Yuelu scanned the area again and nodded. “There should be no problem here. Let’s retreat.”

Qi Xuansu, Zhang Yuelu, and the rest exited the underground palace, leaving only two soldiers behind to lay the fuse.

After Zhang Yuelu and Qi Xuansu were above ground, they found that the entire Xia Mansion had been sealed and heavily guarded by the Green Phoenix Guard. The courtyard far away from the underground palace was filled with corpses, which were being sorted by the police officers, cadets, and coroners.

The corpses of the Black Robes and Green Phoenix Guards needed to be identified and treated with care. The government would arrange for funerals and compensation for their families. On the other hand, the corpses of the Lingshan Witch Cult members were tossed aside and piled up together, waiting to be burned in one go.

The remaining prisoners were escorted back to the local Major’s Office, where the Green Phoenix Guard would interrogate them in detail.

Wang Zicheng sent someone to notify the local Lieutenant Colonel’s Office. Although Lin Zhenyuan, the Lieutenant Colonel, was found to be a cultist, there were still two Senior Majors who could temporarily take charge of the Lieutenant Colonel’s Office. That was because the local Major’s Office lacked manpower.

Zhang Yuelu found a secluded place and used the mother-child talisman to contact the Tiangang Hall Master.

Qi Xuansu stood far away, waiting for the result.

At this moment, the two Black Robes who were responsible for laying the fuse finally exited the underground palace. Everyone backed away from the area to avoid being accidentally injured.

The Black Robes gained approval from Company Commander Zhao before igniting the fuse and detonating the explosives in the underground palace.

Qi Xuansu only heard continuous muffled explosions coming from underground. The ground shook, so much so that several buildings and walls collapsed.

This continued for a while until the large underground palace was completely destroyed.

The county magistrate and other officials were also extremely busy. Since there were many servants in the Xia family, the dead needed burial and compensation, and the surviving ones had to be properly settled.

The Imperial Court set up a Mercy Hospital with medical officers to take in the widowed, the poor, the sick, the elderly, the weak, and the disabled. Children who had the intention of becoming Daoists would be sent to the Wanxiang Daoist Palace. The local government would then communicate with the local Daoist Mansion after the case was settled.

Qi Xuansu had never participated in such bureaucracy, so he could only stand aside and watch. About 15 minutes later, Zhang Yuelu ended the conversation with the Hall Master and came to Qi Xuansu’s side.

He asked, “If two cultists in the Yuxu stage were equal to two Huangmerits, what merits would five cult leaders in the Guizhen stage count for?”

Zhang Yuelu did not beat around the bush. “Xuan merits, of course. The Hall Master has already decided that the Daoist Order will take credit for the five cult leaders. The rest of the credit will go to the Imperial Court. But stopping the divine descent will be counted as a joint effort between the Daoist Order and the Imperial Court.”

Qi Xuansu calculated. “Killing two Guizhen stage cult leaders will grant me two Xuan merits. Including the Xuan merit I got from killing Desmond, I have exactly three Xuan merits. If I kill a demon in the Heavenly-Being stage on my own, will it equate to an Earth merit?”

Zhang Yuelu nodded and explained, “I’m not sure about the Imperial Court’s merit system, but the Daoist Order counts stopping the Ancient Immortal’s divine descent as an Earth merit, which equates to three Xuan merits. Excluding the Imperial Court’s share, we had one Xuan merit and two Huang merits from before. Adding the five cult leaders we took down, it totaled six Xuan merits and two Huang merits.”

Qi Xuansu pondered. “Qing Xiao, you deserve the most credit for hindering the cult demons’ operation this time. I was merely tagging along. Now, I already have two Huang merits, so I’ll be happy if you can give me another Huang merit and two Xuan merits to make up three Xuan merits. You can take the remaining four Xuan merits and one Huang merit. That way, I can be promoted from a sixth-rank to a fifth-rank Daoist priest!”

Zhang Yuelu shook her head. “It’s not that simple. Although the Daoist Order values ??young people, it also has a tenure system.”

“What’s a tenure system?” Qi Xuansu couldn’t help but ask.

“To put it bluntly, the so-called tenure system is for us to gain the minimum years of experience in a certain rank.” Zhang Yuelu explained.

“The Daoist Order has two systems: one for rank and another for position. Examples of positions are deacons, superintendents, deputy hall masters, and so on. The rank system is from the ninth rank to the first rank. For example, the Deputy Grand Master is a position, but he is also a first-rank Tianzhen Daoist master.”

“At a low rank, one’s position and rank are not related. For example, a seventh-rank Daoist priest or a fifth-rank Daoist priest can be deacons. The gap can be quite wide. But when you reach a higher rank, one’s position and rank are inseparable.

“The most obvious example is the Grand Master position. No one will accept a Grand Master of a lower rank or a higher-rank Deputy Grand Master. The Grand Master must have the highest rank within the Daoist Order. Thus, a lot of positions and ranks are tied together. That is also why the position of a Daoist priest often becomes a benchmark for one’s rank. It’s actually a system consisting of nine ranks and twelve levels.

“That’s how the tenure system came into being. One’s rank promotion is strictly restricted based on the minimum required years for a Daoist priest to stay in a certain rank.

“According to regulations, a seventh-rank Daoist priest must wait for one year to advance to the sixth rank and another year to advance to the fifth rank. From there, it takes two years to advance to the fourth rank and three years to advance to the third rank. It’ll take three more years to get promoted to the second rank.

“Based on this calculation, it will take at least seven years for a seventh-rank Daoist priest to be promoted to a third-rank Daoist master, no matter how talented they are or how many merits they have accumulated.

“Since positions are limited, one can only be promoted if there is a vacancy. It’s hard to say how many years it will take for someone to step down from a position before another person gets promoted. If you’re lucky, this will only take a few years. But if you’re not lucky, it will take more than ten years.”

Qi Xuansu understood. “So, even if I have three Xuan merits, I won’t be promoted to the fifth rank immediately and will have to stay in the sixth rank for one year, huh? Instead of one Xuan merit and three years of assessment, I’m exempted from two years because of the two Huang merits?”

Zhang Yuelu nodded. “That’s right.”