A Pawn's Passage

Li Zhuyu was not disappointed. The Black Robes and the Spirit Guards uncovered several interesting findings from the wreckage of the Western ship.

First on Li Zhuyu’s list was live captives.

There could never be an actual roster of operatives. Such a list could have existed deep within the Holy Court’s upper echelons, but it would never be at the front lines because once it was leaked, the entire network would be uprooted. Li Zhuyu had no delusions of obtaining this list. She merely needed some captives so that she could pry open their mouths, extract a few names, and follow the trail from there.

This time, there were three survivors who were not on the crew roster. Rather, they were listed as passengers. On a ship this suspicious, the meaning of such an identity needed no explanation.

Li Zhuyu ordered the Spirit Guards to escort the captives to the Nanting Protectorate’s military camp for strict confinement. This was to prevent them from escaping and conveniently dying.

One of them immediately declared his willingness to cooperate with the Daoist Order as long as his life was spared.

At this stage, Li Zhuyu was in no rush. Such cooperation was welcome, but negotiations could proceed at her leisure.

In truth, Li Zhuyu did not care how many Holy Court operatives were killed. The Holy Court was vast, comparable in scale to the Daoist Order. Thus, killing a few changed nothing. True killing mattered only in open warfare. On their covert front, killing was the least important function. The true mission was tracing clues, identifying internal traitors, and purging infiltration.

The Black Robes also hauled up a chest from the sea.

This chest was what the Central Plains called a magical receptacle and what Westerners called a Space Bag.

The chest was not locked. Inside was a full set of Arcane Alchemy prosthetics, likely the spare replacement parts for the captain. However, he died at Qin Hengjun’s hands before ever using them.

Although this was not the Daoist Order’s first encounter with Westerners, Arcane Alchemy creations almost always carried self-destruction mechanisms. Even when seized, they were usually damaged. It was rare to obtain such an intact piece.

For the Daoist Order, such items were invaluable. By dismantling and studying these Arcane Alchemy creations, they could learn Western techniques and inspire advances in their own craft. That way, they could identify weaknesses and develop effective countermeasures.

Submitting this set of items to the Tianji Hall and the Huasheng Hall would earn official merit.

When the Black Robes dove underwater into the sunken wreck, they found a well-sealed vault at the bottom deck, filled with large quantities of Gold Crowns and Eagle Coins.

In the Nanyang region, Gold Crows and Eagle Coins were widely accepted due to frequent trade between the East and West. Since this group of Westerners posed as merchants, carrying large sums of money was perfectly plausible. This was likely their capital for recruiting mercenaries.

Though paper cash notes were convenient, they came with many restrictions, making it troublesome for shady Jianghu dealings. As such, many Jianghu people disliked going to banks and preferred cold, hard gold and silver coins.

After salvaging the wreckage, Li Zhuyu ordered a tally. These coins amounted to roughly 240,000 Taiping coins once converted.

This money would be confiscated and redistributed based on contribution. Half would go to the Nanting Protectorate and the other half to the Daoist Mansion as compensation for casualties and as a bonus.

This brought genuine smiles to the Spirit Guards and Black Robes who had fought in the operation.

For Qi Xuansu, the only important harvest was the live captives to find out who were the traitors collaborating with the Holy Court. If the traitors were proven tied to the Wang family, combined with Yao Pei’s and Lu Yuting’s progress, they could advance from three fronts and topple Wang Jiaohe, the current Mansion Master.

The welcome banquet ended and Jiang Hedao deliberately kept Qi Xuansu behind.

This treatment was expected, since Qi Xuansu had been dispatched by the Golden Tower Council, and so was Great Sage Jiang. Who else would Jiang Hedao brief with? Certainly not Wang Jiaohe, who had worked with Chen Shuhua for decades.

This was a signal that even the dullest could sense. The Golden Tower Council had shown their stance, which went strongly against Wang Jiaohe.

Great Sage Jiang temporarily resided in the Wood Palace, which was a lush haven of rare flora. It was an ideal summer retreat and the designated guest quarters within the Sheji Palace.

When the two arrived, Jiang Hedao dismissed the attendants, then glanced at Qi Xuansu and said, “The deficit in your body is severe.”

Qi Xuansu was not surprised that an Immortal could see through his condition at a glance. He had also faintly heard that with the Grand Master’s seat vacant, all of the Grand Master’s immortal objects were stored in the Zixiao Palace under Jiang Hedao’s custody. Thus, during the Wuxing Mountain battle, Great Sage Jiang had gone to the Imperial Capital with multiple immortal objects, subtly restraining the emperor.

For this pursuit of Chen Shuhua, the Golden Tower Council made it clear they would dispatch a Virtuous Great Sage with immortal objects. Thus, Jiang Hedao became the obvious choice, with several immortal objects in hand. This sheer count granted him an overwhelming advantage. Moreover, Chen Shuhua had already used the Taisu Mystical Arts three times and was undergoing a major rebirth. If she were to duel Jiang Hedao, she would surely die at his hands.

Qi Xuansu roughly recounted what had happened that caused this deficit. After all, the Scripture of Zuriel was war spoils, nothing secret.

“Sit.” Great Sage Jiang gestured for Qi Xuansu to take a seat.

Qi Xuansu did not stand on ceremony and sat opposite the Great Sage.

Great Sage Jiang said, “Before I came to Nanyang, I met with the Earthly Preceptor.”

Qi Xuansu was slightly startled.

Somehow, to this day, he had still never met the Earthly Preceptor. He did not know whether it was a coincidence or if the Earthly Preceptor was deliberately avoiding him.

After all, Qi Xuansu was no longer an obscure junior. As an eighth-generation disciple of the Quanzhen Sect and given his connection to Madam Qi, the Earthly Preceptor should have met him by now. Yet the Earthly Preceptor showed no intention of seeing him, leaving Sage Donghua to handle everything.

Among the three Deputy Grand Masters, the Earthly Preceptor was also the most mysterious.

Sometimes, Qi Xuansu could not help but wonder if the Earthly Preceptor avoided him because of Madam Qi. Could there be a rift between the siblings because of the rebellious younger sister who left the Daoist Order? But judging from the attitudes of Yao Pei, Yao Shu, and Sage Donghua, that did not seem likely.

Qi Xuansu had even asked Zhang Yuelu about this. After all, she was on good terms with the Earthly Preceptor, who promoted her from the beginning.

According to Zhang Yuelu, she had only met the Earthly Preceptor once. At that time, she was nothing like her present self. She was still a low-ranking Daoist with mediocre cultivation and no family backing. That was when the Earthly Preceptor gifted her a simplified version of the Six Void Tribulations. After that, they had little contact. The gap between them had been far too great to have any meaningful conversation.

Zhang Yuelu was not a machine without feeling. At that time, she was at a low point in life and was assigned to Beichen Hall. She was practically a discarded pawn with a bleak future, so she hardly dared think of reforming the Daoist Order. Thus, when she suddenly received a summons from the Earthly Preceptor, who was so many levels above her in all aspects, she felt so nervous that she kept her head bowed the entire time, barely daring to look up at him.

Later, their communications were mostly via messengers sent by the Earthly Preceptor. That was why Zhang Yuelu became familiar with the various Deputy Palace Masters of the Chongyang Palace of Immortality.

One could even say Zhang Yuelu and the Earthly Preceptor had a long-standing relationship, despite having little direct contact.

Qi Xuansu’s only takeaway was that the Earthly Preceptor’s presence must be formidable if even the legendary Zhang Yuelu could be nervous. But Zhang Yuelu had since grown in courage and confidence, and so had Qi Xuansu. Now, when he faced Great Sage Jiang, he could remain calm because he had seen enough of the world and held enough rank. A few years ago, Qi Xuansu might have been so frightened he could barely speak.

Yao Pei surely knew many inside details, but Qi Xuansu’s relationship with her was nowhere near deep enough for her to share them.

Great Sage Jiang continued, “Your promotion to the second rank and position as Chief Deputy Mansion Master have been set long ago. It was merely the dissenting voices in the Golden Tower Council that delayed your appointments until now. With Chen Shuhua’s defection, the opportunity presented itself to make up for the delay. The Earthly Preceptor feels that you should be compensated for this, so this is your reward.”

Qi Xuansu was excited.

The Earthly Preceptor surely was generous.

With that, Great Sage Jiang drew an item from his sleeve.

It resembled an ancient knife-shaped coin and a curved crescent moon. Its whole body was jade-green, half-transparent, with blood-like streaks within, giving the green stone a deep, vivid red undertone.

“A Xuan Jade!” Qi Xuansu exclaimed.

His guess had been correct. The Yao family did have a few pieces of Xuan Jade. After all, they had overseen the creation projects for generations, so how could they not know the importance of the jade? They would have collected them.

It turned out that the Earthly Preceptor was just as generous as Sage Qingwei.

This was a gift Qi Xuansu could not possibly refuse.

Great Sage Jiang casually brushed a hand across the Xuan Jade, instantly activating it, saving Qi Xuansu the trouble of needing more divine power to do so.