A Pawn's Passage

Zhang Yuelu paced the room with her hands behind her back.

It was unlikely that Pan Cuiqing would think to investigate Wan Xiuwu’s past relationships in the Wanxiang Daoist Palace. Usually, this would only come up later as the case progressed.

Who had provided Pan Cuiqing with the information that Qi Xuansu and Wan Xiuwu had an old grudge?

She thought of Yue Liuli’s past relationship with Wan Xiuwu and Yue Liuli’s current relationship with Pan Cuiqing. The answer seemed obvious.

It was Yue Liuli who told Pan Cuiqing about the old grudge between Qi Xuansu and Wan Xiuwu.

Why did Yue Liuli do this? Why did Yue Liuli suspect Qi Xuansu when he was already dead?

Zhang Yuelu thought it could be a guilty conscience. She then recalled what happened between Yue Liuli and Qi Xuansu when they met in Shangqing Palace. Yue Liuli was indeed a little uneasy. Back then, Zhang Yuelu did not think much about it. Looking back now, Yue Liuli seemed a little afraid of Qi Xuansu.

This made it clear that Yue Liuli was somehow involved in the old grudge between Wan Xiuwu and Qi Xuansu. So after Wan Xiuwu was murdered, Yue Liuli was more flustered than sad, immediately suspecting Qi Xuansu. Yue Liuli was also suspicious of Zhang Yuelu because of the latter’s relationship with Qi Xuansu.

So what happened that year?

Although Zhang Yuelu and Qi Xuansu had gone through many life-and-death situations, they had only known each other for a short time. She certainly did not know everything about that man.

Zhang Yuelu came to her senses and ordered, “Mu Jin, please write a letter to the Wanxiang Daoist Palace in the name of Tiangang Hall. Request access to the relevant files from Class A, Bingzi Year.”

Mu Jin responded and left quickly.

Zhang Yuelu came to the desk again and began to write down her many speculations.

She had no way to investigate Qin Wubing, Pei Xiaolou, or the Ghost Kingdom’s Three Yin Beings at the moment. All she could do was report it to the Hall Master, Sage Cihang.

However, she did not have concrete evidence to support her claims, so Zhang Yuelu did not intend to make this an official report. Instead, she wrote a long personal letter in the capacity of a disciple asking for advice.

After writing the letter, Zhang Yuelu handed it over to Tian Baobao and instructed, “Don’t send this in the name of Tiangang Hall. Use my private rapid post talisman with Sage Cihang.”

“Yes, Deputy Hall Master.” Tian Baobao solemnly answered.

As Zhang Yuelu’s status rose, she would inevitably need someone to assist her in managing paperwork and mundane chores. At the moment, Mu Jin and Tian Baobao filled the role of her secretaries, with Mu Jin being the chief secretary. It was also more convenient because they were all women.

Zhang Yuelu began to rethink how she could deal with Wei Wugui.

Since this case involved more than just Wan Xiuwu, Zhang Yuelu decided to pursue it to the end.

Thus, she decided to go to Longmen Prefecture next.

Once there, she could check the relevant files at the Wanxiang Daoist Palace. Moreover, there were various signs that showed Wei Wugui had gone to the Longmen Prefecture after leaving the Ghost Pass.

In fact, she even thought about informing the Zhongzhou Daoist Mansion to arrest Wei Wugui directly, or dispatching her subordinates to search for Wei Wugui. However, she gave up on this after some consideration.

She was not pedantic. A lack of evidence was just one of the reasons she decided to wait. More importantly, she was more interested in seeing Wei Wugui’s next move in hopes of catching a bigger fish.

......

At this time, Qi Xuansu was unaware that his identity as Wei Wugui had been targeted by Zhang Yuelu.

Qi Xuansu and Liu Hu were on the way to Shimen County, where Zhongzhou’s Everbright City was located.

There were many ways to practice the Dao. Some mastered sword techniques, used talismans, developed elixirs, performed divination, raised corpses, fornicated, and many more.

The Purple Immortal Mountain was a mega-brothel for those practicing the art of fornication. It was even more popular than the well-known upscale villas in Jiangnan and the Imperial Capital.

During the Mingyong Era of the previous dynasty, before the Daoist Order was reunited, a small sect practicing the art of fornication used countless manpower and financial resources to hollow out the Purple Immortal Mountain and build a city inside this mountain.

In addition to a group of prostitutes, there were countless musicians, tailors, craftsmen, and servants who lived there, making it a convenient place that had everything so that there was no need to leave.

The owner of this place was a self-proclaimed king, who was known as the Ecstasy Sect Leader and the King of Purple Immortal Mountain.

This colossal villa was named Ecstasy Paradise.

To guests all over the world, this place was a paradise that allowed them to forget about their dull lives. However, to the workers there, it was a place that was easy to get into but hard to escape from.

The workers were not just women. There were also men who would service female guests. Some were cruelly sold by their parents because of poverty, and others were trafficked. There were even rumors that many good-looking men and women were abducted to the Ecstasy Paradise and forced to work. Regardless of one’s origin, it was impossible to ever leave this mountain if one came here to work.

After the Holy Xuan revived the Daoist Order, he banned this place and ordered the rehabilitation and resettlement of these workers.

However, to the Holy Xuan’s surprise, many of them were unwilling to leave Purple Immortal Mountain and even begged him not to ban this place.

Some people stayed because they had nowhere else to go, while some were accustomed to life in Purple Immortal Mountain. In Ecstasy Paradise, they did not have to worry about being clothed or fed. They could also earn a lot of money. On the contrary, they were not sure what they could do for a living if they left this place.

Moreover, the simple life outside could not compare with the lavish lifestyle in Ecstasy Paradise. Many of them wanted to be waited on rather than be self-reliant on household chores.

Since there were various entanglements of interests, many Daoist elders also held objections. In the end, the Holy Xuan compromised and retained the Purple Immortal Mountain, but he added a few rules. No one was allowed to use deception or coercion to force women into prostitution, and all workers were free to leave if they wished to. If anyone violated the rules, they would be severely punished once discovered.

Due to this, Purple Immortal Mountain’s recruitment had not declined and even increased over the years. Every year, many good-looking men and women wanted to work in Purple Immortal Mountain voluntarily.

Moreover, due to the high wages, those from ordinary families could earn a lifetime of savings in one year at the Purple Immortal Mountain. This place was their “get-rich-quick” scheme. After all, no one would know if someone had worked in Ecstasy Paradise before.

That was because ordinary people did not have the money to visit such places. A former worker from Ecstasy Paradise could easily marry someone after retirement, as no one would know of their history.

If they were fortunate, they could become a revered courtesan or a famous performer, someone who could only be admired from afar but not approached casually by just anyone. By then, they would be in the company of the elite, interacting with the rich and noble.

In Qi Xuansu’s view, it was easier to travel through Purple Immortal Mountain because this place had people from all walks of life, yet it still had the protection of the Daoist Order. If a large group of people decided to ambush him, it would immediately attract the Daoist Order’s attention. If it was only a few assassins, he was confident that he could take them down.

Since this was not something that could be done in the open, the mastermind would continue hiding behind the scenes while hiring more assassins to take down Liu Hu.

As soon as Qi Xuansu arrived in Shimen County, he realized that he made the wrong move because there were many Green Phoenix Guards and officials gathered there at this time. They had the county on lockdown because they were investigating a series of murder cases.

Qi Xuansu and Liu Hu were detained at the border.

Fortunately, Qi Xuansu met an old acquaintance—Eighth Tianyang, the Green Phoenix Guard Senior Major whom Qi Xuansu had met at the Feilong Inn in Salt Lake.

Back then, Qi Xuansu worked with the Green Phoenix Guard to kill members of the Heavenly Court. After that, they parted ways in Xiping Prefecture, and Qi Xuansu headed to Cuowenbu in the West Gobi.

Qi Xuansu did not expect Eighth Tianyang to be transferred here to investigate the case. But on second thought, Eighth Tianyang had to constantly move if he wanted to get promoted.

Left with no other choice, Qi Xuansu decided to meet Eighth Tianyang with his true appearance.