A Pawn's Passage

As Zhang Yuelu said, Qi Xuansu was a quick learner, but he lacked foundation and innate qualities. However, this was her assessment by using herself as a baseline. Since she was a genius, it indicated that Qi Xuansu’s comprehension was decent, but he could not keep up because his body was akin to a rickety boat. This was why Qi Xuansu wasted more than 20 years stuck in the Kunlun stage.

Therefore, Qi Xuansu understood the theory of the fist intention without needing Lei Xiaohuan to explain much. However, Qi Xuansu’s body struggled to learn it.

This was the difference between Qi Xuansu and geniuses like Zhang Yuelu.

In this regard, Lei Xiaohuan felt helpless, as it was difficult to assist when one’s body was not capable. All Qi Xuansu could do was practice repeatedly. She was also glad that Qi Xuansu was not a dumb student who would blame his master for his inabilities. At least he was smart enough to comprehend the theories. Thus, Lei Xiaohuan had a relaxing time teaching him.

After Lei Xiaohuan finished teaching Qi Xuansu the fist intention, she left the Taiping Inn because Sub-Tiangang Hall sent news that Feng Bo had gotten away. They only managed to injure Feng Bo but could not kill or arrest him. The reason Sub-Tiangang Hall managed to injure Feng Bo despite his high cultivation was due to their strength in numbers. Feng Bo could defeat a Guizhen-stage priest easily, but not ten. That was why he fled.

Lei Xiaohuan decided to visit Yongzhou because she heard that was where Feng Bo was most active. If she found him, she would kill him. However, if Feng Bo escaped to Lingnan, then she would not chase after him. She was not hunting him down to avenge Qi Xuansu. She just had not fought in a long time, so this was the perfect opportunity to move her muscle.

Pei Xiaolou agreed with this. He was not worried about his wife’s safety because Lei Xiaohuan was a genuine Wuliang-stage Martial Arts Practitioner in the Everchanging Realm. She was considered outstanding among the many Sages. Even if Feng Bo, a Xiaoyao-stage Heavenly Being, joined hands with his counterpart from the Heavenly Court—the God of Rain, Yu Shi—to go against Lei Xiaohuan, they might not be able to defeat her.

In this regard, Pei Xiaolou had learned his lesson through blood and tears. There was no way he could beat Lei Xiaohuan, especially since he was not as powerful as his brother, Sage Donghua.

After Lei Xiaohuan left, Pei Xiaolou told Qi Xuansu more about his wife. Although Lei Xiaohuan was now a Daoist disciple, she did not hold a position within the Daoist Order. She was a second-rank Taiyi Daoist master, but she would not have been respected if it were not for Sage Donghua being her brother-in-law.

In the Daoist Order, having a high level of cultivation was not enough. One’s position was also important. Otherwise, there would be no competition for the position of Grand Master. But only having a position without sufficient cultivation was also unconvincing. Thus, these two elements complemented each other.

For the position of Grand Master, leadership skills were most important. The sixth-generation Grand Master had a high level of cultivation. However, he was still controlled by the three Deputy Grand Masters. In the end, the sixth-generation Grand Master became disheartened and ascended to the heavens ahead of schedule.

On the other hand, the fifth-generation Grand Master ruled the Daoist Order with an iron fist, even daring to change the Deputy Grand Master on a whim. He was later referred to as the most authoritative Grand Master. Thus, one’s character and ability were equally important.

Pei Xiaolou went about his own business after gossiping. He was under the orders of the Earthly Preceptor to carry out an inspection, so he would have to write a report on the Sub-Tiangang Hall’s abuse of power in a formal document. The Earthly Preceptor could choose not to read it, but Pei Xiaolou still had to write the report.

The Daoist Order prohibited the hiring of clerks and personal assistants, so everyone had to write documents themselves. Except for those who were gifted in writing, most people had to write a draft first and revise it repeatedly.

Of course, with such policies, there were still loopholes that people exploited. Many high-ranking priests left the report-writing to their close disciples. They would check the work and edit it accordingly before copying it. This way, it would train the disciples, enabling them to get in touch with paperwork as early as possible. It would also save them the trouble, killing two birds with one stone.

Many disciples had risen to great heights because of their good writing, which was regarded as a shortcut to promotion, second only to blood relations.

This made many Daoist disciples dissatisfied, thinking that judging one’s superiority based on writing documents was equivalent to the Confucian and Imperial examinations.

Unfortunately, Pei Xiaolou did not accept a disciple, so he had to write the report by himself.

When Qi Xuansu felt that his injuries were almost healed, he decided to leave Xijing Prefecture and continue his journey to Longmen Prefecture, which was not far away.

During the Qi Dynasty, there were two capitals—Xijing Prefecture in the west and Longmen Prefecture in the east.

Beimang Mountain stood between them.

After Empress Mingkong replaced the ruling Li family in the Qi Dynasty, she moved the capital to Longmen Prefecture and carried out extensive construction. In addition to building the Wanxiang Palace, which was the predecessor of the Wanxiang Daoist Palace, she also built a summer palace in Beimang Mountain.

During the Chongyang Festival, tourists would flock to Beimang Mountain for a getaway. The evening view from Beimang Mountain was known as one of the eight best scenic spots in the world. After sunset, the lights from the thousands of homes below the mountain illuminated the night like stars in the sky. If one ascended the mountain and looked far away, one could enjoy a panoramic view of the Yiluo River.

Later, the palace was destroyed during the war with the Golden Horde and was occupied by an evolved tree demon. When the Daoist Order and the Great Xuan Dynasty conquered the area, they subdued the demons in the area and rebuilt this palace as the Zhongzhou Daoist Mansion.

That tree demon even became a disciple of the Zhongzhou Daoist Mansion. Many people who advocated not exterminating demons and ghosts regarded this tree demon as a stellar example. However, in the past hundred years, the tree demon rarely appeared, so no one knew whether it was still in the mortal realm.

Those who advocated not exterminating demons were quite hypocritical. Dragons were considered a type of demon, but the Daoist Order killed almost all the dragons in the rivers, lakes, and coastal waters in order to build their large fleet of flying ships. The remaining dragons only survived extinction by fleeing to the deep sea. Even now, the Daoist Order would organize hunting expeditions to the deep sea from time to time to kill more dragons for their resources.

Yet, these people did not protest against killing dragons by boycotting flying ships. If they really supported their cause, they should have walked to Kunlun Mountain instead of taking the flying ship. Why were they discriminating against dragons but lenient toward tree demons, snake demons, fox demons, and the like?

In short, the two parties argued endlessly and often brought this up. Perhaps that was why the tree demon no longer appeared in plain sight.

In addition, Beimang Mountain was once the foundation of the Daoist Gezao Sect. This Daoist sect was the remnants of the Zaoge Cult, which practiced dark and sinister magic. Since there were countless tombs of past emperors on Beimang Mountain, the yin energy in the area was strong, so it was suitable for raising ghosts and cultivating zombies.

As such, the auspicious Beimang Mountain turned into a land of ghosts, with ghostly yin energy permeating the air. The gloomy atmosphere and shadows of ghosts scared the tourists away. No one dared to step foot into the area again.

During the tumultuous times of the former Wei Dynasty, famine and war were rampant, and corpses littered the streets. Back then, the Golden Horde captured half of the empire. Wherever the cavalry went, they massacred cities and plundered the land.

At that time, the north of the Yangtze River was mostly barren land, with nine empty houses out of ten. Corpses piled up in the fields, and refugees migrated south. It was like hell on earth.

That was when the Zaoge Cult built a ghost nation in Beimang Mountain, attracting thousands of ghosts into Beimang and raising countless living corpses and ghost soldiers. Due to this, the Zaoge Cult was extremely powerful for a while, growing to half the size of the Daoist Order.

Once they swept away their opponents in the mortal realm, the Zaoge Cult turned its attention to greater heights. They intended to create immortals with human power. This became the predecessor of the Daoist innovation project as well as the Eight Tribes and the Cult of Fates.

After the Holy Xuan defeated the Zaoge Cult, the remnants of the cult converted to Daoism, forming the Gezao Sect. The Holy Xuan then merged the Gezao Sect into the Quanzhen Sect. That was why the task of innovation was assigned to the Quanzhen Sect.

The Quanzhen Sect devoted itself to restoring the former appearance of Beimang Mountain, cleaning up all kinds of ghosts and zombies left by the Zaoge Cult and getting rid of the yin energy in the area. That way, Beimang Mountain would once again have beautiful skies and clear waters instead of the gloom that never seemed to dissipate.

At the same time, the Quanzhen Sect built two huge manufacturing plants at the Zaoge Cult’s ghost nation, each one comparable to the size of a county. They then inherited the various legacies of the Zaoge Cult’s intention to use human power to create immortals.

After the restructuring, these two plants were taken over by Huasheng Hall. Due to this, Feng Bo regarded Beimang Mountain as the core sphere of influence of the Daoist Order and dared not set foot in the area.

Originally, Qi Xuansu was hesitant to take this route. After all, this was where Huasheng Hall’s manufacturing plants were located. He had learned his lesson from his experience at the manufacturing plant in Cuowenbu.

This place was heavily guarded, but he had lost his Daoist identity, so he would be at risk of being caught.

Pei Xiaolou helped him solve this problem by giving Qi Xuansu a badge from the Daoist Order, specially given to representatives of the Imperial Court. The Daoist Order often cooperated with the Imperial Court, such as the joint development of firearms between Tianji Hall and the Divine Armory. Thus, this badge would make it more convenient for those from the Imperial Court to have access to Daoist territories. This badge from Pei Xiaolou could be used in conjunction with the badge from Qin Wubing to avoid further inquiries from the Daoist Order.

Moreover, only second-rank Taiyi Daoist masters were qualified to issue this type of badge. Therefore, for an outsider to infiltrate Daoist territories, one must coordinate with an insider. The high-ranking Daoist priest could be careless, but most of the time, it was an internal problem within the Daoist Order.

After the tragedy in Cuowenbu’s manufacturing plant, the Daoist Order revamped the system to tighten security, making it easier to determine who would be held accountable if something were to go wrong. In other words, whoever issued these badges would bear the responsibility if there was a problem.

As a result, Sages became more cautious when issuing badges and dared not issue them at will like in the past. Moreover, before entering a manufacturing plant, there would be a more detailed inspection process to confirm the badge’s authenticity and origin, ensuring that these badges were not obtained through other means.

Qi Xuansu did not plan to enter the manufacturing plant and only wanted to pass by Beimang Mountain, so his two badges should be enough.