A Pawn's Passage

Qi Xuansu emerged from the depths of the Nether Prison with an expressionless face.

Huangfu Ji lifted his chin slightly. The Spirit Guards understood and silently headed deeper into the Nether Prison to clean up the aftermath.

“It’s stifling in here. Let’s take a walk outside.” Huangfu Ji turned and headed out.

Qi Xuansu walked alongside Huangfu Ji.

The scenery outside the Nether Prison was quite pleasant, with lush greenery stretching all around them.

Huangfu Ji asked, “Have you made up your mind?”

Qi Xuansu replied, “The arrow is already nocked. There’s no turning back.”

Huangfu Ji merely nodded and said nothing more.

The two strolled slowly along a narrow path. Qi Xuansu reached out, lightly brushing his hand over the green leaves lining either side of the path.

Qi Xuansu said, “I need to return to Jade Capital once the celebration is over, so I’ll have to leave matters here in the Southern Continent to you, Brother Li Ming.”

At some point, the way Qi Xuansu and Huangfu Ji addressed each other had changed. They had abandoned the somewhat distant form of address like “Fellow Daoist.” Instead, Huangfu Ji now addressed Qi Xuansu directly by his courtesy name, while Qi Xuansu usually appended Brother to Huangfu Ji’s courtesy name. These were quite intimate forms of address, signifying that their alliance had grown even stronger.

Huangfu Ji’s reply was exceedingly brief. “Rest assured.”

Qi Xuansu could return ahead of schedule if his official appointment was brought forward.

Though Ziwei Hall might not have the authority to independently decide appointments at Qi Xuansu’s level, it could adjust the specific order in which they were made. After all, personnel changes on such a large scale had to be carried out gradually, batch by batch, to ensure overall stability.

Ziwei Hall still had the final say over whose position would be adjusted first and whose would come later. As such, making a minor adjustment within that sequence would not be difficult.

With Sage Donghua backing him, Qi Xuansu was not like Zhang Yuelu, who insisted on handling everything without asking others for help. When he needed a favor, he would ask for one. In Sage Donghua’s eyes, this was even a sign of closeness.

After what happened to Zhang Wuyue, Qi Xuansu had already made his decision. He would ask Sage Donghua to prioritize the adjustment of his current position. His appointments as Omniscient Sage and Wanxiang Daoist Palace Master could be postponed for the time being. There was no need to rush them. They could first relieve him of his position as Chief Deputy Beichen Hall Master and appoint Li Changge as his replacement.

Since this already fell within Ziwei Hall’s scope of responsibility, the Taiping Sect would have little grounds to object.

That way, once Qi Xuansu completed the handover with Li Changge, he could return to Jade Capital.

Since Qi Xuansu’s formal appointment had not yet come through, he held no official position and was merely an ordinary Sage for the time being. That way, he was entirely free to make a trip to Nanyang or travel to Jiangnan or Jade Capital and personally handle the matter concerning Li Minghuang.

In any case, there was little point in him remaining in the Southern Continent. He could simply leave the subsequent matters to Huangfu Ji.

Huangfu Ji had also given him sufficient assurances.

After the two parted ways, Qi Xuansu contacted Sage Donghua.

In fact, the master and disciple pair had always maintained regular contact. It grew more frequent after the personnel reshuffle began. Although Qi Xuansu was far away in the Southern Continent, he was deeply involved in this round of personnel changes.

Apart from matters concerning himself, Qi Xuansu’s main focus remained on Nanyang. Now that Xie Jiaofeng had fallen, someone still needed to take his place. As the former Chief Deputy Mansion Master, Qi Xuansu’s opinion was to have Chen Jianchou take over. Back when Qi Xuansu was in Lion City, Chen Jianchou had served as his secretary and remained by his side, so he was very familiar with the situation in Lion City, which would make it easier for him to carry out his work.

Moreover, apart from the Chief Deputy Mansion Master and Second Deputy Mansion Master, there was no strict requirement for the other Deputy Mansion Masters to be a Sage, nor was their exact rank particularly important.

As originally planned, Ji Jiaozhen would directly assume the position of Third Deputy Mansion Master.

There would be no issue with Xu Jiaorong serving as Chief Deputy while Chen Jianchou served as her assistant. They did not need to avoid working together as mother and son because there were simply too many such cases in the Daoist Order. Sage Qingwei was the Beichen Hall Master, while his adopted daughter, Li Zhuyu, was the Deputy Hall Master. No one had seen them recuse themselves over their relationship.

When Qi Xuansu contacted Sage Donghua, he mainly raised these two matters. The first was to relieve him of his position as Chief Deputy Beichen Hall Master ahead of schedule. The second was to recommend Chen Jianchou to replace Xie Jiaofeng.

After hearing him out, Sage Donghua agreed to both requests. In a sense, Sage Donghua was perhaps a little too indulgent toward Qi Xuansu.

Sage Donghua acted with remarkable efficiency. Jade Capital soon reached a decision and proclaimed it throughout the realm.

According to the decision made on the third day of the Golden Tower Council’s sixth meeting, Qi Xuansu was relieved of his positions as Plenipotentiary Envoy of the Daoist Order and Chief Deputy Beichen Hall Master. Li Changge was relieved of his position as Chief Deputy of the Imperial Capital Daoist Mansion and appointed as Envoy of the Daoist Order and Chief Deputy Beichen Hall Master. Qi Wu was appointed a first-rank Tianzhen Daoist Master and Virtuous Great Sage.

Generally speaking, except in cases of concurrent appointments, one would first be relieved of one’s old position before being promoted to a new one. Being relieved of a position was not the same as being dismissed from office. The former was usually a precursor to promotion, so no one would think that Qi Xuansu had fallen from power or was about to be taken down. Everyone simply regarded it as perfectly reasonable. At most, they found it somewhat strange that his removal and new appointment had not been announced together. They also wondered why there was such urgency to relieve Qi Xuansu of his positions.

However, more people were concerned with the newly appointed Virtuous Great Sage Qi Wu.

No one had ever heard of this person before, much less knew who this person was. Yet all of a sudden, Qi Wu had ascended to the first rank in a single step, becoming a Virtuous Great Sage and taking a seat in the Golden Tower Council. Moreover, Qi Wu was not replacing an existing Virtuous Great Sage. Instead, an entirely new position had been added, increasing the number of Virtuous Great Sages to eight. More importantly, there had not been the slightest rumor beforehand, which meant that the appointment had been unanimously approved by the Golden Tower Council, with virtually no opposition.

Quite a few people began to discern something unusual from this.

There was only one possible explanation for this. A certain veteran of the Daoist Order must have attained immortality.

The Daoist Order was vast and filled with mysterious experts. There were indeed many Pseudo-Immortals who had withdrawn from worldly affairs to devote themselves entirely to cultivation. It was perfectly reasonable for one of them to emerge from seclusion after attaining immortality. Perhaps this person had already been promoted to an honorary Great Sage before retiring, so the only suitable promotion now was to Virtuous Great Sage. That would explain everything.

In truth, Qi Wu was none other than Madam Wu. She could not possibly name herself as the Seven Feather Five Fires Fan, so they settled on homophones instead.

Qi Xuansu was returning to Jade Capital, and Madam Wu would be returning with him. Thus, the council took the opportunity to settle Madam Wu’s appointment as well.

Madam Wu could be considered an exception among exceptions.

The Fox Immortal of Qingqiu Mountain had failed to enter the Golden Tower Council because of her race. Although the Daoist Order taught all without distinction, that did not mean there were absolutely no taboos. For more than 200 years, the Golden Tower Council had always remained firmly in the hands of the Central Plains People. There were two key requirements—one had to be from the Central Plains, and one had to be human. Thus, Chen Shuhua and the Fox Immortal of Qingqiu Mountain had been excluded.

Some might point out that Madam Wu was likewise not human. However, Madam Wu’s seniority was simply too extraordinary, stretching all the way back to the Holy Xuan Era, enough to justify breaking precedent.

Moreover, Madam Wu had extensive connections within the Western Daoist Order dating back to the era of Tantai Yun. If the Daoist Order refused to grant her an appointment, the Western Daoist Order might simply seize the opportunity to keep Madam Wu for itself. Thus, whether the Golden Tower Council wanted to appoint her or not, it had little choice but to do so.

With that being the case, how could the Fox Immortal of Qingqiu Mountain possibly compare with Madam Wu? Their cultivation might be roughly equal, but the gulf in seniority, accomplishments, and prestige was simply too great. Things like prestige, accomplishments, and seniority often required long years to accumulate. If one were to calculate generations strictly, Madam Wu could be counted among the first-generation disciples, placing her at the very least in the same generation as the Holy Xuan, Donghuang, and Elder Yao. One could even place her a generation above the Holy Xuan, among the generation of Elder Xu. Fortunately, the Daoist Order no longer placed much emphasis on generational seniority. If they truly followed Confucian hierarchy, Qi Xuansu would have to kneel on the ground and address her as his venerable ancestor.

That was why Madam Wu was an exception.

On the other hand, Zhou Mengyao was born into a distinguished Daoist family in the Central Plains, but she carried historical baggage.

There was even less need to mention True Lord Ziguang. Back when the Ancient Immortals invaded the Kunlun Paradise, she had been the one who colluded with them from within. She should consider herself lucky that the Daoist Order had not dug up her old crimes and settled accounts with her, so how could she possibly expect them to allow her into the Golden Tower Council?

Simply put, the others did not have sufficiently impeccable backgrounds. Madam Wu had no such concerns. In a way, she had her nonhuman nature to thank for that. If she had been human, she would have been qualified to compete for the position of Grand Master.

Strictly speaking, Madam Wu had come into being because of the remnant soul of that female immortal.

With Madam Wu’s appointment settled, everything had fallen naturally into place.

All that remained was to wait for Li Changge to arrive in the Southern Continent and complete the handover with Qi Xuansu. After that, Qi Xuansu could return to Jade Capital together with the newly appointed Virtuous Great Sage.

Before that, Qi Xuansu still had a few arrangements to make.

According to Qi Xuansu’s original plan, he intended to bring Zhang Wuyue back to Jade Capital. After all, the Huasheng Hall was undoubtedly more capable than the Western Huasheng Hall, so perhaps there was still a chance to turn things around.

However, Ixchel descended into the mortal world through Unulatu specifically to meet with Qi Xuansu.

After gaining the divine authority of night, Ixchel had become a Quasi-First-Tribulation Immortal. Her divine might could not be underestimated, and her authority extended across numerous domains, including but not limited to the moon, death, darkness, fear, and the soul.

Ixchel did Qi Xuansu a favor by offering to personally intervene and help.

A promise from a First-Tribulation Immortal was naturally even more reliable than the Huasheng Hall.

Although the Huasheng Hall was the principal inheritor of the creation project and had comprehended the principles of creation, many of the project’s methods had exceedingly high requirements. Qi Xuansu might be able to withstand them, but with Zhang Wuyue’s meager cultivation, he might not survive the process. Audrey was no ordinary person either. She was the vessel of a Fallen Apostle, and her capacity to endure such methods was far beyond Zhang Wuyue’s.

Viewed from this perspective, the Huasheng Hall was indeed inferior to Ixchel for the task.

After thinking it over repeatedly, Qi Xuansu ultimately decided to entrust Zhang Wuyue to Ixchel and let her take him back to her divine kingdom for treatment.

Qi Xuansu naturally knew that a debt of favor was difficult to repay, but he was willing to bear it.

No matter what, Zhang Wuyue was his brother-in-law. Was Qi Xuansu really supposed to stand by and let Zhang Wuyue spend the rest of his life mentally incapacitated?