A Pawn's Passage

Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu brought Lin Yuanmiao away from Wuxing Mountain and returned to the Imperial Capital. The journey was uneventful. Everything had already settled like dust after a storm.

Upon returning to the Yuhuang Palace located in the Xuanshang North District, Zhang Yuelu parted from Qi Xuansu.

This journey to Wuxing Mountain had greatly benefited Zhang Yuelu. In particular, after True Lord Ziguang helped her fully refine the Thunder Talisman, her cultivation rose. Now, she was only a hair’s breadth away from the Wuliang stage, with no further bottlenecks, so she needed to first stabilize her rapidly elevated cultivation level.

The next part would be simple. As long as she cultivated steadily, she could reach the Wuliang stage in as little as a month or, at most, three months. In doing so, Zhang Yuelu would become the first among the three Daoist prodigies to step into the Wuliang stage, and likely the youngest Heavenly Being of that level in the entire Daoist Order.

In this regard, Qi Xuansu would never surpass Zhang Yuelu. Even if he were to obtain another piece of Xuan Jade today and immediately break through to the Wuliang stage, he was still one year older than her.

As for Qi Xuansu himself, he did gain some benefits from being possessed by True Lord Ziguang. First and foremost, he acquired over 1,000 marks of divine power out of nowhere. Combined with his existing 900-plus marks, he now had more than 2,000 marks of divine power. This was an impressive amount for a Heavenly Being at the Xiaoyao stage, enough for him to spend freely for some time. This was merely True Lord Ziguang’s remnants, which were of little value to her. Thus, she simply abandoned it, which also showed just how enormous the divine power expenditure was for a single divine descent.

Secondly, apart from his Taiyin Spiritual Statue, Qi Xuansu gained the Ziguang Spiritual Statue. At first glance, it might seem that he obtained it too easily, but on closer thought, it was anything but. The experience of being possessed by an Ancient Immortal and surviving it was not something just anyone could have. Even Qi Xuansu himself would not be able to replicate this rare event. Besides needing a Longevity Stone Heart, a divine descent required over 10,000 marks of divine power and, most importantly, a critical moment of fate.

Beyond that, True Lord Ziguang healed all of his injuries. Whether it was Qin Quanxiao cutting off his legs or severing his spine, none of it left behind any hidden damage. The same went for Zhang Yuelu. This spared both of them considerable recovery time. Without True Lord Ziguang’s help, even if their lives were not at risk, they would have needed a significant period to recuperate.

However, Qi Xuansu’s own cultivation had not increased much. It was still the same as before. His progress in cultivation could not even be compared to Zhang Yuelu’s.

Even though Qi Xuansu used the Cicada Shedding Realm to make up for part of his lacking aptitude, the gap remained massive. After all, not all Banished Immortals were equal in caliber. The Cicada Shedding Realm merely allowed a Rogue Cultivator to reach the minimum threshold, while Zhang Yuelu was clearly far above that baseline. Her previously slow progress was due to her being distracted by too many responsibilities, not because of a lack of talent.

First of all, Qi Xuansu was a Rogue Cultivator, while Zhang Yuelu was a Banished Immortal. This was a fundamental difference. Though Qi Xuansu could be considered a manmade Banished Immortal, he lacked the essential Qi Refiner lineage. Therefore, he could not achieve the Lesser Five Qi Convergence.

Li Changge, after acquiring the complete set of Xuan Jade, obtained the Lesser Five Qi Convergence. That was why he could use the Tribulation Substitute in a fight against Yao Pei. Meanwhile, Qi Xuansu lacked this foundation and could only use the Cicada Molting Technique, which was merely an empty shell easily seen through by others. This was the gap in lineage.

Secondly, Qi Xuansu possessed only a Rogue Cultivator’s method of integration, whereas Zhang Yuelu had inherited a Banished Immortal’s system of integration, as well as the untouched, original Five Thunder Celestial Heart Method. This was the fundamental gap in their cultivation.

With all these factors combined, the difference in their cultivation progress was staggering. One year of Zhang Yuelu’s effort was roughly equivalent to ten years for Qi Xuansu. If Zhang Yuelu could reach the Wuliang stage in three months, then Qi Xuansu would need at least three years. Therefore, while Zhang Yuelu could pursue the inner elixir path, Qi Xuansu would do better to focus steadily on the outer elixir path.

This was why Zhang Yuelu needed to stabilize her rapidly advancing cultivation, while Qi Xuansu had no such need.

Qi Xuansu went to his office, only to see that Ke Qingqing was already there. She followed behind Qi Xuansu, sneaking up and whispering, “Superintendent Qi, do you know any insider details about what happened last night?”

He countered, “What happened last night?”

“The earthquake, of course. The whole Yuhuang Palace felt it yesterday. I even heard that some Spirit Guards only returned in the second half of the night. Did something happen at Wuxing Mountain?” Ke Qingqing was certainly well-informed.

Qi Xuansu questioned, “What good does it do you to know so much?”

Ke Qingqing replied, “Just curious, that’s all.”

Qi Xuansu warned, “Well, you’d do well to heed my advice. Stop snooping around. The Mansion Master is not in a good mood.”

Ke Qingqing blinked, seemingly understanding something.

Qi Xuansu added, “Even if you figure something out, don’t go around spreading it. Loose lips sink ships.”

Ke Qingqing quickly nodded. “Understood.”

Qi Xuansu went to the study and picked up the latest bulletin from the table. One of Ke Qingqing’s duties was to prepare the day’s bulletin for him. Whether Qi Xuansu read it or not was another matter, but she had to prepare it nonetheless.

The first news on the bulletin was the changeover of the Acting Grand Master. From today until June 30th, the Earthly Preceptor would serve as the Great Sage Lunzhi, overseeing the affairs of the Daoist Order with the authority of the Grand Master.

This was already well known and nothing particularly interesting. Moreover, since the Heavenly Preceptor and Earthly Preceptor were allies, there was no way any mistakes would occur during the handover.

The second piece of news concerned the Lune Kingdom’s involvement in the conflict between the Nederland Kingdom and the Ibia Kingdom. With the Daoist Order’s continuous mediation, the situation in West Shakya was stabilizing and had not affected normal trade. However, this move by the Daoist Order did not solve the root cause. The three-sided conflict still existed, and once tensions built up again, fresh conflict would inevitably erupt.

The third news was about the steadily advancing dialogue between the Daoist Order and the Holy Court. Recently, a Cardinal from the Holy Court had personally written a book titled The Seven Victories, which discussed their doctrines. That alone was not noteworthy. What was impressive was that the entire book was written using high-quality Eastern classical script.

The bulletin quoted an excerpt from the book, which discussed the sin of gluttony, one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Were it not for terms like “Saint Francis” and “goddess,” it would be nearly indistinguishable from the classics of the Three Religions. Naturally, this astonished Qi Xuansu, as he himself did not possess such mastery of classical prose, yet a Cardinal from the distant Western Continent clearly did. It showed that the Holy Court also had scholars dedicated to Eastern studies, just as the Daoist Order had scholars to study Western teachings.

After all, only by knowing both oneself and the other could one remain undefeated. The reason both sides had maintained relative harmony was largely due to geographical distance. If they were neighbors, they might have long since been at each other’s throats.

The fourth item on the bulletin was about the numerous pirate groups that were recently active in Nanyang. They were suspected to be linked to local powers from Fenglin, Nanyang, and Lingnan. The Daoist Order issued a decree for the Borneo Daoist Prefecture and the Lingnan Daoist Prefecture to cooperate and eliminate the pirates within a set deadline, ensuring safe sea routes to protect commercial trade.

The fifth item concerned the outbreak of war in Fenglin, triggered by infighting among the Three Noble Houses, each with a claim to the position of Regent. The Daoist Order had no intention of intervening in their internal conflict. As per usual practice, the Daoists would support whoever emerged victorious. They only cared about controlling Fenglin itself and could not care less about who was at the helm.

However, the deadlock among the Three Noble Houses and the Daoist Order’s abstention led to greater turmoil across Fenglin. Regional daimyos began to stir, using the pretense of restoring power to the Fenglin emperor to try and overthrow the ruling Regent.

What truly unsettled the Daoist Order was that this simple act of restoring power to the Fenglin emperor was morphing into a call to expel the Dao.

This so-called “Expel the Dao” movement advocated for rejecting Daoist influence, seeking to free Fenglin from Daoist control and achieve autonomy.

Upon reading this, Qi Xuansu’s expression grew solemn.

A hundred years ago, the Daoist Order and the Donghai Navy launched a joint naval and aerial campaign, pressing down on Xiujing City and forcing the then-ruling Regent to surrender.

The Regent adopted a pragmatic stance, but this provoked resentment from many daimyos and samurai, who saw it as a humiliating surrender. Aligning with opposing court nobles, they incited the Fenglin emperor to reject the treaty and expel the Dao. The Regent responded by arresting and executing many dissenters, triggering mass purges. The opposition party retaliated by assassinating the Regent. It was only with the strong backing of the Daoist Order that his successor managed to suppress the rebellion.

Fifty years ago, the opposition party once again persuaded the emperor of Fenglin to issue edicts abolishing the treaty, closing the ports, and expelling Daoist priests. They burned Daoist temples and launched attacks on both the Daoist Order and the Donghai Navy’s fleets. In retaliation, the Daoist Order deployed seven Yinglong Warships and dispatched 5,000 Spirit Guards ashore, forcing the rebellious daimyos to submit once more.

After nearly a decade of warfare, the local warlords eventually yielded and pledged allegiance to the Regent. In the ensuing decades, the opposition party reconsidered its strategy, focusing solely on criticizing the Regent’s faction without mentioning expelling the Dao again. In response, the Daoist Order also withdrew from involvement in Fenglin’s internal affairs.

This latest internal struggle within the Regent’s faction gave the regional daimyos a chance to rise again. Thus, the Expel the Dao movement began to resurface.

If left unchecked, Fenglin might soon plunge into another massive upheaval.

The Golden Tower Council officially stated in the bulletin that peace and stability in Fenglin must be maintained and that local powers must not be allowed to exploit the situation to cause chaos.

This signaled that the Daoist Order was about to intervene in Fenglin’s internal affairs once again.