A Pawn's Passage

Finally, the paper crane stopped in front of a dilapidated house.

Qi Xuansu was not in a hurry to make a move. He asked, “If we capture her, should we hand her over to the Green Phoenix Guard?”

Zhang Yuelu glanced at him. “Why, do you feel bad for her?”

“Of course not!” Qi Xuansu explained, “I’m not so stupid as to mess with a seductress. They can manipulate men’s hearts and defraud people of money. They know everyone’s weaknesses. Did you think that I was joking when I said that I might not be able to control myself?”

Zhang Yuelu dragged her tone. “Ohhh...”

Then she asked, “Then what do you suggest we do?”

Qi Xuansu proposed, “I think she should have a lot of illegal money. Instead of handing her over to the Green Phoenix Guard, we should take this opportunity to fill up our own pockets. After all, one’s loss is another person’s gain.”

Zhang Yuelu teased. “I was wrong to think that you’d fall in love with that scammer. Now I can see that you have fallen in love with her Taiping coins. But since this is stolen money, it should be returned to the victims.”

Qi Xuansu grunted disapprovingly. “Do you really think that the Green Phoenix Guard will be so ethical? It’s good enough that they don’t ask the victims for money. Rather than letting the Green Phoenix Guard take advantage of this situation, why don’t we gain from it?”

Of course, Qi Xuansu’s assumptions were not groundless. The Green Phoenix Guard Lieutenant Colonel’s Office in Luzhou colluded with the Taiping Sect to openly execute the Fengtai County Magistrate’s family.

Zhang Yuelu was a little hesitant. She also knew that the Daoist Order should not be compared to the Imperial Court. A third-rank Youyi Daoist priest could be demoted for abusing his servants, but dignitaries of the Imperial Court could kill a domestic slave at will without any consequences.

What Qi Xuansu mentioned was highly probable. It was also almost impossible for them to find the victims by themselves.

Zhang Yuelu was not surprised by Qi Xuansu’s thoughts. He was not a flowerbed priest who had been raised in the sheltered environment of the Jade Capital. Such flowerbed priests could not withstand the slightest bit of rough weather and dared not bend the rules.

On the other hand, priests like Qi Xuansu were like weeds that could grow in harsh weather. They could withstand many hardships and setbacks and were extremely tenacious. However, their disadvantage was that they would likely disregard rules and etiquette to achieve personal goals. Most of them dabbled in the gray areas of society and were not considered good people in the ordinary sense.

Among the Nine Halls, the main focus of Beichen Hall and Tiangang Hall was fighting. The priests from Jade Capital mostly consisted of flowerbed priests and were no longer the elites from back then who defeated the Confucian School. Thus, the previous Grand Master constantly transferred priests from the local Daoist mansions to fill the vacancies at Tiangang Hall and Beichen Hall. This gave people like Qi Xuansu an opportunity to enter the Nine Halls.

Due to this, Daoist priests like Zhang Yuelu, who could withstand hardships and abide by the rules, were seen as rare and valuable assets. As long as they were capable and had a high level of cultivation, most of them would be promoted to important positions.

While the two were talking, someone rushed out of the dilapidated house. Zhang Yuelu had quick reflexes. She quickly turned the Amorphous Paper in her hand into a soft whip. With a flick of her wrist, the Amorphous Paper coiled around the person, restraining her.

In an instant, the trapped person turned into a paper figurine and fluttered to the ground. The paper crane that Zhang Yuelu planted on the dancer earlier flew out of the house staggeringly and landed in front of Zhang Yuelu.

With a wave of her hand, the paper crane turned back into a piece of paper and merged with the Amorphous Paper.

Qi Xuansu asked, “What does this mean? Did we lose track of that scammer? Did we get tricked?”

Zhang Yuelu groaned. “Yeah. She must have discovered my paper crane and deliberately left it here with the paper figurine. She’s probably long gone by now and nowhere to be found. We’ve underestimated her.”

Qi Xuansu was in awe. “She’s good. No wonder those Green Phoenix Guards at the Lieutenant Colonel’s Office can’t catch her. I wonder if she has any accomplices.”

“She probably does.” Zhang Yuelu said thoughtfully, “I still can’t figure out what her motive is for dancing on the grass platform in broad daylight.”

Qi Xuansu quipped, “If I knew, I would have been a scammer myself. Speaking of which, we should also be careful, because those scammers may take revenge on us.”

“Will they dare to take revenge?” Zhang Yuelu was slightly startled.

“Just like how the Ancient Immortals dare to retaliate against the Daoist Order, these scammers will probably retaliate against us. As the saying goes, if you don’t nip the problem in the bud, it’ll come back to bite you.”

Zhang Yuelu nodded. “This reminds me of the Jiangnan case. It’s better if we keep our guard up.”

Qi Xuansu only knew the final result of the major Jiangnan case from the bulletin and did not know the details of it. He could not help but ask, “I remember that the Jiangnan case involved embezzlement. The officials forged reports of merchant ships sinking to steal goods. Didn’t they think about the repercussions of this? It was a short-term gain, and the Ancestral Court would have found out sooner or later.”

“It’s not that simple.” Zhang Yuelu shook her head. “The Ancestral Court and the Holy Court had a treaty to increase trade with each other, so the Ancestral Court ordered the Jiangnan Daoist Mansion to oversee this process.

“The amount of silk, tea, and porcelain was to be doubled due to this expansion. However, due to time constraints, the Jiangnan Daoist Mansion proposed a strategy to temporarily make up for that year’s shortfall by transporting corresponding goods from other Daoist mansions.

“The Jiangnan Daoist Mansion’s plan was to return these goods to the respective Daoist mansions after they increased production. The Ancestral Court agreed with this strategy and decided to transport goods from the Liaodong and Qizhou Daoist Mansions to fill the gap.

“Tian Yuan, I’m sure you’re aware of how corruption works. Everyone involved in this process wanted to receive kickbacks, so by the end of it, there weren’t enough goods left to fill the gap when the ships arrived at the Jiangnan Daoist Mansion.

“Seeing that the delivery date previously agreed upon with the Western Continent merchants was approaching, the Jiangnan Daoist Mansion had no choice but to fabricate a shipwreck in an attempt to explain the shortfall of goods.

“However, the books still didn’t check out due to the large shortfall. It required more than a dozen shipwrecks to explain the numbers. But doing so will only raise suspicion that something fishy is going on.

“So the Jiangnan Daoist Mansion came up with another idea, secretly colluding with the secret associations to burn their warehouse. In fact, the warehouse was empty. But this fire would be able to explain the shortage of goods. At most, they would end up with a charge for dereliction of duty, which was far less severe than a corruption charge. Most importantly, they would be able to keep the illegally obtained goods.

“Duzhi Hall noticed something wrong with the books and reported it to the Ancestral Court. The Ancestral Court ordered Beichen Hall to investigate the matter, dispatching people to the Jiangnan Daoist Mansion for investigation. That was when the Jiangnan Daoist Mansion started to panic and silence those involved, blaming the secret societies for those deaths.

“This embezzlement case turned into a major case involving corruption, collusion with secret societies, and defiance against the Ancestral Court. These three charges were collectively known as the major Jiangnan case. That’s why so many people were punished to set an example for the masses.”

After listening to this, Qi Xuansu lamented, “Some people are stuck between holding onto the past and facing an uncertain future.”

Zhang Yuelu also sighed. “You mentioned earlier why they thought the Ancestral Court wouldn’t find out, right? Actually, everyone understood the principle of not going overboard with their greed and having some restraint. Kickbacks were also common, so most people would turn a blind eye to them. The problem was that everyone didn’t exercise restraint and expected others to have self-control. The senior officials of the Jiangnan Daoist Mansion also hoped that their subordinates would know when to stop and to look at the bigger picture.

“The original Jiangnan Daoist Mansion Master was also eager for quick success, wanting to complete the assigned task regardless of the cost. They deviated from the Ancestral Court’s intentions. The original Jiangnan Daoist Mansion Master knew of the problems going on, but he didn’t impose any restrictions or punishments to deter such actions.

“He thought it would be fine as long as he could fill the gap and complete the transaction with the Western Continent merchants on time. He didn’t consider the intentions of the Ancestral Court in signing this treaty with the Western Continent.

“Even if the Jiangnan Daoist Mansion completed the transaction and made a great contribution by gaining millions of Taiping coins for the Daoist Order, it showed that the internal process of the Jiangnan Daoist Mansion was riddled with problems.

“After this incident, the Jiangnan Daoist Mansion Master was transferred out of the Jiangnan Daoist Mansion. His subordinates also hoped that the Daoist Order would turn a blind eye to this and that it was enough for one person to take the fall.

“Those people also knew that their situation was precarious since the Duzhi Hall and Beichen Hall had their eye on them after fabricating the shipwreck. But those corrupt individuals still refused to spit out some of the goods they embezzled.

“In fact, if they had given out enough goods to pass the inspection from Duzhi Hall and Beichen Hall, they would have been able to continue running rampant in the Jiangnan Daoist Mansion. But those people refused to part with their profits because they were greedy and expected others to spit out their gains. In the end, they were executed, and their homes were ransacked.

“Everyone was busy guarding their own profits, even though they knew that they were all on the same sinking ship. All they did was hide in a corner on the ship before it sank.”

Qi Xuansu remained silent for a long time.

The facts of this case were not complicated, but they encapsulated human nature perfectly. Compared with the politics in the Daoist Order, the fight for territory between gangs in the real world was like child’s play.

Zhang Yuelu murmured, “After experiencing this, I understood what my life’s goal was. The Daoist Order has reached the point where it must be rectified. But to do that, I have to climb to a higher position. It’s not enough to make such changes as an Omniscient Sage or a Virtuous Great Sage. I have to be one of the three Deputy Grand Masters or even the Grand Master to achieve my goal.”

Qi Xuansu felt a little ashamed. His goal was just to get married and have a stable career. It was such a stark contrast to Zhang Yuelu’s ambition.