A Pawn's Passage

After Yao Pei and Zhang Yuelu left, Qi Xuansu sat alone in his office, carefully sorting through the many changes of recent days.

Just as Yao Pei had said, they had finally reached the moment when the dagger was unsheathed and true intentions were revealed.

Last New Year’s Day, he had encountered Wu Luo. This New Year’s Day, it seemed he would spend it at Wuxing Mountain. Both occasions were unforgettable.

Time had not exactly flown. In the blink of an eye, two years had passed since his mission to retrieve the Xuan Jade at Fengtai County. Since then, he had been to the Jade Capital, the Western Region, Yishan City, Yunjin Mountain, Cuowenbu, Bohai Prefecture, Jinling Prefecture, Wanxiang Daoist Palace, and the Imperial Capital. He had traveled through 11 of the 19 states, fought in dozens of battles, escaped death many times, survived heavy injuries, and even lost his arm more than once. But his cultivation had climbed steadily, rising three major levels from the Kunlun stage to reach the Xiaoyao stage.

In two years, he had risen from the seventh rank to the fourth rank. He had grown from a wandering Daoist to a Superintendent of Ziwei Hall. One could hardly call that slow progress.

Unfortunately, such rapid promotion came at a cost. It required “battle merit” to support it, and the greater the merit, the closer one had to teeter on the edge of life and death. Sitting in the office every day would not earn him that many accolades.

Qi Xuansu currently had two Xuan merits. One came from handling Zhang Wuhen’s resurrection at the Upper Palace with Yao Pei, who conveniently took the larger share of the merit. The other Xuan merit came from his reconnaissance work at Wuxing Mountain. Given that it had involved Pseudo-Immortals and was extremely dangerous, one Xuan merit did not seem like much in exchange. It only seemed easier because Madam Qi had been shielding him. After all, everything seemed nice and cool while sheltering under a big tree. By that logic, people like Li Changge and Yao Pei probably found it even easier to earn merits.

To rise from the fourth rank to the third rank, he would require 3 Earth merits, which were equivalent to 1 Heaven merit or 9 Xuan merits. That meant Qi Xuansu was still short by 7 Xuan merits.

Beyond that, the tenure system required a fourth-rank Jijiu Daoist master to serve a minimum of 3 years before advancing to the third rank. This would be the last time tenure mattered, as advancing from the third rank to the second rank was by selection only.

Qi Xuansu definitely had not yet served enough time. In fact, he had not met the time requirements for his prior promotions either. Since he had already been exempted before, it was unlikely they would bend the rules for him again. He would probably have to grind out the years in the fourth rank. However, the Daoist Order had another special system that supplemented the tenure system, called the position-based rank system.

The position-based rank system essentially mirrored the structure where the Grand Master was above the Nine-Rank System and the Deputy Grand Masters were special first-rank Tianzhen Daoist masters. That meant a Daoist’s rank corresponded to the office they held. If they left that post, the position-based rank vanished in accordance. By contrast, formal rank remained fixed and was not changed by shifts in one’s position, unless they were demoted under special circumstances.

Qi Xuansu thought that if he could successfully complete this Anchor the Monkey mission and survive, he would likely receive a position-based rank. As Madam Qi put it, it would probably be a Half-Step Third Rank.

But all of it depended first on surviving this mission.

If he died inside Wuxing Mountain, then everything would be for nothing.

By noon, Ke Qingqing and Wang Chongnian had both returned.

Qi Xuansu gave them both instructions. With the end of the year approaching, many tasks should be wrapped up quickly and not dragged out.

This explanation was perfectly reasonable. No one would suspect that this year’s end truly marked a critical threshold. For the poor, year’s end was hard, as they feared creditors knocking at the door. For the Daoist Order and the Imperial Court, it was no less difficult.

Ke Qingqing and Wang Chongnian obliged. Since the Daoist Order did not place much importance on the New Year, work continued as usual. Daoists with families would only get a day off on New Year’s Eve. Those without families would have to cover for their colleagues.

It was well known that most ordained Daoists were concentrated in the Quanzhen Sect, so over the years, it had always been Zhou Jiaoxian who oversaw the New Year’s Eve duties in the Imperial Capital Daoist Mansion. Li Ruoshui, being of the Li family, and Shi Bingyun, who would usually head to Prince Jin’s mansion, rarely stayed at the Yuhuang Palace.

By tradition, the Emperor would host a banquet for the court officials on New Year’s Eve to celebrate together. The Daoist Order would also send representatives, who were usually either Li Ruoshui or Shi Bingyun. A solitary figure like Zhou Jiaoxian would not attend such things.

In other words, on New Year’s Eve, the Imperial Capital Daoist Mansion would be completely under Zhou Jiaoxian’s control.

This showed that Sage Donghua had thought through the timing well, knowing the situation in the Imperial Capital. It was not just for the sake of ambushing the Imperial Court on their festive day.

Qi Xuansu told the two deacons to prepare early and deliberately teased, “If you don’t finish before New Year’s Eve, you’ll stay behind and work shifts alongside the Quanzhen Sect disciples. Don’t blame me for being heartless.”

Ke Qingqing’s eyes lit up. “Will Deputy Hall Master Zhang also be here for the New Year?”

Qi Xuansu replied irritably, “No, Deputy Hall Master Zhang will be at Yunjin Mountain for the New Year.”

The light instantly faded from Ke Qingqing’s eyes. Clearly, she did not care about her direct superior and was only interested in her superior’s future partner.

Qi Xuansu signaled for the two of them to leave.

Ke Qingqing added, “Superintendent Qi, won’t you be joining for the upcoming West City cleanup? You always used to lead the teams personally, but we haven’t seen you in the past few days. Superintendent Su even asked about you specifically.”

Qi Xuansu shook his head. “I won’t be going over the next few days. I need to get ready, then head to Yunjin Mountain with Deputy Hall Master Zhang for the New Year. You know, the Zhang family’s threshold is high. If I don’t prepare properly, I’m afraid I won’t even get through the door.”

Ke Qingqing laughed. Wang Chongnian also could not help himself.

Clearly, being a matrilocal son-in-law wasn’t easy, and the bigger the family, the harder it was.

Though Qi Xuansu was not exactly a matrilocal son-in-law, there were some similarities.

This reason was the perfect excuse, leaving no room for doubt. People might comment that Qi Xuansu was giving himself special treatment for tagging along with Zhang Yuelu, but even so, it was only natural.

After the two left, Qi Xuansu activated the formation and took out the golden-purple fish talisman, preparing to contact Madam Qi to report the news he had just received.

Although Madam Qi most likely already knew about this through other channels, she always faulted Qi Xuansu for not taking the initiative in telling her things.

Compared to regular mother-child talismans, one-to-one links like the license or fish talisman offered better confidentiality. Qi Xuansu did not need to spell everything out clearly, so he was not too worried about leaks.

After listening to Qi Xuansu’s report, Madam Qi showed little expression. Unlike her usual self, she did not launch into business talk or small schemes. She simply said, “When the day comes, I might not be able to look after you. So you need to be careful and take care of yourself.”

Qi Xuansu grunted as a simple acknowledgement.

Madam Qi continued, “If you sense things turning bad, run. Survival comes first. Don’t stake your life chasing titles and merits. The world is vast, and staying alive is the greatest gift. All those flowers blooming atop your crown and the clouds swirling underfoot are just illusions. Living is the only truth. Even if you can’t stay in the Daoist Order, it doesn’t matter. Worst case, you just go back to being a wandering Daoist. With such a big world out there, it’ll be easy enough to find a place to stand.”

This time, Qi Xuansu did not just give a brief acknowledgement. He said, “I’m a veteran of Jianghu by now. I understand at least this much.”

“A veteran, my ass!” Madam Qi snapped, her tone serious. “You’ve followed me for a few years on the road, and now you think you’re some seasoned old hand? You haven’t even walked as many roads as I’ve crossed bridges. You’re still just a young sprout, so don’t brush off what I’m saying, and don’t go throwing your life away in a hotheaded rush for someone else.”

Qi Xuansu was silent for a moment before muttering, “Fine. You take care too. Don’t fall victim to someone’s schemes.”

Madam Qi snickered. “Since when did it become your turn to worry about me? All right, that’s all I have to say. It’s up to you whether you listen or not. It’s year-end, so I still have all kinds of ledgers to close.”

Qi Xuansu nodded.

Madam Qi ended the conversation without hesitation.

Qi Xuansu put away the golden-purple fish talisman, exhaled a long breath, and strode out.

In the blink of an eye, it was December 23rd. That was the day True Lord Siming ascended to the heavens.

True Lord Siming was also known as the Kitchen God. Essentially, he was the master of the household, overseeing all big and small matters in the home.

The Kitchen God was flanked by two attendant deities, one holding a good deeds jar and the other an evil deeds jar, constantly recording the family’s behavior. At the year’s end, the accounts were totaled and reported to the Heavenly Emperor. On December 24th, the Kitchen God left the mortal world to make his report and only returned on January 4th.

This was the common folk’s understanding. To Daoists, True Lord Siming would not literally ascend to the heavens to meet the Heavenly Emperor. His so-called ascent referred to his incarnation returning to his divine kingdom, carrying the incense power gathered to reunite with his true form, before descending again. It was precisely because of the Kitchen God Festival that True Lord Siming had not thoroughly perished like True Lord Taiyang.

Heavenly Sovereign and Earthly Sovereign were deities that emperors throughout history had personally worshipped at the Heaven and Earth Altars, with souls returning to the heavens and spirits sinking into the earth, jointly governing life and death. The Daoist view was that the Heavenly Sovereign was the Heavenly Emperor, but after the Heavenly Emperor’s ascension, the Heavenly Sovereign no longer resided in the mortal realm, leaving only the Earthly Sovereign, also known as the Earth Queen Lady, who solely wielded the forces of yin and yang, overseeing the underworld.

Later, the Earth Queen Lady merged into the heavens and earth, becoming one with the cosmos. The heavens and earth no longer needed deities, and most authority returned with her to the heavens. Only a small portion of the yin-and-yang and life-and-death authority was split into four, governed by True Lord Taiyin, True Lord Taiyang, the Green Emperor, and True Lord Siming. When the Green Emperor also merged into the cosmos, only True Lord Siming remained to oversee part of the life-death cycle.

For the Daoist Order, this Kitchen God Festival was difficult to openly ban. It also carried a rather ironic undertone.