A Pawn's Passage

Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu chatted for a while longer, but their topic of conversation was still related to the Anchor the Monkey operation.

Before they knew it, morning had arrived.

Recently, Ke Qingqing had been assisting Su Li, so she would not come over until the afternoon. That was why Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu were the only ones in the office.

Zhang Yuelu had other matters to handle and got up to leave, but before long, she returned. This time, she brought Yao Pei along.

Qi Xuansu immediately knew something was up.

Yao Pei had been staying unusually clear-headed lately, which made Qi Xuansu wonder if she had used up her entire year’s worth of clarity. Upon entering the office, she immediately sealed the space with her Staff of Merit, then pulled out a stack of encrypted messages. “Saves me from running around to find you all.”

The three of them sat down in the office’s lounge, which had a somewhat Western style. Yao Pei sat alone in a single chair, while Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu shared a two-person bench.

Yao Pei made no effort to hide her grave expression. She first glanced at Qi Xuansu, then turned to Zhang Yuelu. “This is the latest encrypted message from the ‘Buddha.’ I’ve done an initial translation, so take a look.”

Qi Xuansu reached out to take the sheet. Meanwhile, Zhang Yuelu leaned in to read.

At first glance, both of them were startled because the header was shockingly bold. It read, “The Golden Tower Council Meeting: 24 Omniscient Sages.”

The two hesitated slightly. Qi Xuansu said, “According to the rules, we aren’t allowed to read records at this level. Only Sages have such clearance.”

Yao Pei replied, “We’re already at the point where the dagger is out. What’s left that can’t be seen? Go ahead and read it. If I have the clearance, you both do too.”

Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu exchanged a glance and began reading together.

Yao Pei continued, “While you’re reading, I’ll summarize our mission. Following the principle of majority rule, the Golden Tower Council has reached a unified stance. The Northern Dragon is a matter of national security, so it cannot be harmed. Therefore, any action related to the Northern Dragon must be suppressed or stopped. The crux lies at Wuxing Mountain, which is located in the Zhili region, next to the Imperial Capital. Surrounding it are the Green Phoenix Guards, the Divine Central Guards, the Tianchen Division, and the Xuanhui Court, which are all formidable obstacles. When the time comes, the Golden Tower Council will dispatch a Virtuous Great Sage to personally oversee things in the capital to prevent unexpected incidents. In principle, this Great Sage will not intervene directly, nor will the Imperial Court’s Immortal-level experts. Our main task is to assist this Great Sage in entering Wuxing Mountain to subdue the Monkey. Or to put it more bluntly, we, the so-called ‘Five Fingers,’ are the real striking force. The Great Sage is merely a signal of stance and deterrence.

“The main focus and difficulty lie in two aspects. First, we have to break through the many layers of obstruction within Wuxing Mountain. These obstacles include Heavenly Beings at the Wuliang stage and Zaohua stage, and even Pseudo-Immortals. The second challenge is to subdue the Monkey without harming the Northern Dragon. This is the core mission of this operation.

“In principle, no one within the Daoist Order should directly participate as an obstacle, but nothing in the world is absolute, and we cannot be careless. We especially cannot rule out the possibility of the Imperial Capital Daoist Mansion acting on its own.”

For a long while, the office was filled with silence.

Only the sound of pages turning could be heard.

Even factional struggles had their advantages. Once the Golden Tower Council reached a decision, no one would openly defy it. Sage Qingwei was the Second Omniscient Sage of the Golden Tower Council, so he would have to comply and execute it.

From this perspective, the Quanzhen Sect did not rely solely on Qi Xuansu. There were other channels, perhaps from within the Taiping Sect or even from the Imperial Court itself. In short, all kinds of evidence converged at the Golden Tower Council, eventually overpowering the Taiping Sect and allowing the resolution to pass.

But since this was a secret record, it meant only a handful of people knew. The Imperial Court knew the Daoists were going to act, but did not know exactly how or when.

The deliberation confirmed that Sage Donghua would have full authority over the matter. In other words, Sage Qingwei would not know the specific plans. Even Sage Cihang and the Great Sage stationed in the Imperial Capital would not have the full picture.

Soon, Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu finished reading the records, and neither spoke.

Perhaps one day, the three of them would ascend to the Golden Tower Council and participate in such deliberations as leading figures. But they were still too young and inexperienced for that. For now, they could only observe.

After a moment, Qi Xuansu broke the silence. “What’s the specific timing?”

Yao Pei did not speak and simply handed over another piece of translated cipher.

Qi Xuansu took it and looked.

There was only one word written. “Eve.”

Qi Xuansu froze for a moment, subconsciously thinking this was encrypted, but it was the translated result.

The time for action had been set to be New Year’s Eve.

Now, it was already December 20th, which meant they had less than two weeks before they had to act.

This truly was a good date.

Zhang Yuelu mused, “This date is easy to guess because it’s so special. But it’s precisely this reason that makes it seem more unlikely.”

Yao Pei finally spoke. “I hope that by then, we’ll be standing atop Wuxing Mountain watching the fireworks.”

Zhang Yuelu and Qi Xuansu both gave a bitter smile.

Qi Xuansu even thought that if only it were on Tianshou Mountain, he could summon the Three Yin Beings. If the three Pseudo-Immortals—Master Wan, Master Yin, and Madam Bai—descended together and joined forces with them, they could certainly secure the victory.

“Could this Great Sage be either Ananda or Kassapa?” Qi Xuansu asked.

Yao Pei answered with something completely unrelated. “The Daoist Order has a total of 12 first-rank Spirit Guards.”

Qi Xuansu was shocked. “That many?!”

Spirit Guards in the Daoist Order were akin to tools, barely valued. It was the Daoist priests who stirred storms and caused upheavals, while Spirit Guards worked tirelessly without complaint. It was a bit like how, in the late Wei Dynasty, civil officials controlled military officers. Even high-ranking generals were often bossed around by lower-ranking civil officials.

So the presence of Spirit Guards was truly minimal. Qi Xuansu had always thought there were only a few first-rank Spirit Guards, but he had not expected there to be as many as 12.

Zhang Yuelu showed no surprise at all, which indicated that she was already aware of these internal details.

Qi Xuansu felt helpless. His time as a high-ranking Daoist was too short for him to know such details. He could not blame Zhang Yuelu for not telling him. After all, she would not randomly ask if he knew how many Spirit Guards the Daoist Order had. If she did, Qi Xuansu would most likely have replied, “What does that have to do with me?”

Now, it really did concern him.

Seeing Qi Xuansu’s expression, Yao Pei further explained, “These 12 first-rank Spirit Guards are further categorized as Six Dings and Six Jias. Six Ding Spirit Guards are stationed across various regions, acting as gatekeepers permanently stationed in various sensitive regions, like the Ghost Kingdom or overseas in Borneo. These high-ranking Spirit Guards do not swear fealty to any of the three sects. Instead, they are only subordinate to the Grand Master. This is also why the struggle for the Grand Master’s seat among the three sects is so critical.”

Qi Xuansu thought, No wonder the fifth-generation Grand Master could replace the Deputy Grand Masters as he wished. But again, the sixth-generation Grand Master was still sidelined with these 12 first-rank Spirit Guards at his command. It’s no wonder people judged him as weak.

Also, the Heavenly Court was indeed audacious to copy the Daoists by setting up their own Six Dings and Six Jias, though all of them were just Xiantian Beings and could not compare to the 12 first-rank Spirit Guards.

Qi Xuansu said, “But right now, there’s no Grand Master.”

Zhang Yuelu replied, “Only the Golden Tower Council can stand equal to the Grand Master, so for now, the Spirit Guards will temporarily follow the Golden Tower Council’s orders, not the orders of the Great Sage Lunzhi.”

Yao Pei continued, “The Six Jia Spirit Guards will take the lead. In the past 30 years, there have only been three recorded deployments of first-rank Spirit Guards. The most recent was when a first-rank Tianzhen Daoist master and two first-rank Spirit Guards attacked Wu Luo’s divine kingdom. Although they fought on Wu Luo’s home ground and all three suffered varying degrees of injury that required years of recovery, they still made Wu Luo pay a heavy price, forcing the Great Witch to seal off her divine kingdom. Then there was the recent Western Region war, led by the Spirit Guard Jia Shen. Before that, when a corpse tide broke out in the Western Region, the Daoist Order deployed a first-rank Tianzhen Daoist master, a first-rank Spirit Guard, 12 second-rank Taiyi Daoist masters, over 100 third-rank Youyi Daoist masters and fourth-rank Jijiu Daoist masters, and countless lower-ranked Daoist priests and ordinary Spirit Guards. The Cult of Fates members involved were completely annihilated.”

Qi Xuansu said, “This is the fourth time, then.”

Yao Pei nodded. “Yes.”

Qi Xuansu asked, “What level of cultivation would a first-rank Spirit Guard roughly have?”

Yao Pei replied, “At minimum, they’re equal to a Zaohua-stage Heavenly Being. But the first rank is the highest they can climb. Unlike us Daoist priests, there aren’t any Spirit Guard Deputy Grand Masters or Grand Masters. So their strength varies. Some are Zaohua-stage Heavenly Beings, while others are at the Pseudo-Immortal level. At that level, it all depends on individual talent.”

Spirit Guards were quite similar to the vessels used by Ancient Immortals for a divine descent. Some vessels were naturally compatible and could hold most of an Ancient Immortal’s power. Others that were less compatible could only hold a portion of that power. Spirit Guards were the same. The better they fit with the Spirit Guard armor, the higher their cultivation.

Naturally, the Daoist Order gathered top talents more easily than the secret societies. If these first-rank Spirit Guards fell into the hands of secret societies, they would be the perfect vessels for the Ancient Immortals, allowing the Ancient Immortals to walk freely in the mortal realm.

But anyone with some sense knew that it was better to be on equal footing with a Sage than to merely be a vessel. That was why, in 200 years, the Daoist Order had only ever had one case of a first-rank Spirit Guard defecting.