A Pawn's Passage

Traveling from the Jade Capital to the Yu Kingdom was much closer than traveling to the Southern Continent.

That very afternoon, the flying ship carrying Qi Xuansu’s Corpse Liberation Incarnation and Chen Jianchou descended onto Guijian Lake.

This time, Pei Xiaolou came to welcome them.

The moment Qi Xuansu saw him, he greeted him as Martial Uncle. But Pei Xiaolou repeatedly waved his hands and said, “Please don’t. Hearing you call me that makes me uncomfortable. Let’s just keep our respective forms of address. You have no idea how much Old Lin and Old Ji have teased me about this. So don’t call me Martial Uncle. When we’re working, let’s just address each other by our official titles.”

Qi Xuansu did not insist. “Then I’ll keep things official, Deputy Mansion Master Pei.”

“Ah, that feels much better.” Pei Xiaolou stroked his chest in relief.

There was still some distance from Guijian Lake to the Sheji Palace, so along the way, Qi Xuansu took the opportunity to ask Pei Xiaolou about the recent situation in Nanyang.

Pei Xiaolou said, “Overall, things are still fine. The Zhang family exerted its influence, and Great Sage Lan personally spoke with Mansion Master Yao. Mansion Master Yao still understands the importance of the bigger picture, so the matter involving Xie Jiaofeng hasn’t implicated anyone else. The old Daoist priests haven’t caused any trouble either. With the Heavenly Preceptor’s threat hanging over them, they still hope to respectfully escort Chief Deputy Zhang out of Nanyang as soon as possible. The only thing is the Heavenly Court...”

Qi Xuansu’s heart stirred. “What about the Heavenly Court? They still dare to make a move?”

Pei Xiaolou replied, “How should I put it? The Heavenly Court has indeed made a move. But instead of resorting to violence, they reported a large number of people in the Daoist Mansion for misconduct.”

Qi Xuansu was taken aback. “How did they report them?”

Pei Xiaolou replied, “The bribe-givers reported the bribe-takers.”

Qi Xuansu said in surprise, “Under the Daoist Order’s laws, those who offer bribes are also guilty of an offense. Isn’t this killing the enemy while sacrificing themselves?”

“Exactly.” Pei Xiaolou said, “I have no idea what the Taiping Sect is thinking. I think they’ve gone mad.”

Qi Xuansu pondered briefly. “I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. Once widespread, systemic corruption comes to light, the two positions that cannot escape responsibility are the Mansion Master, who oversees personnel affairs, and the Second Deputy Mansion Master, who oversees legal affairs. Since Mansion Master Yao chose to safeguard the overall interests of the Daoist Mansion, they want to teach him a lesson. Second Deputy Xu is also at the critical juncture of being promoted to Chief Deputy, so a problem like this will affect her as well.

“There’s also another reason. They were coming after me, but their plan simply missed its mark. This has nothing to do with the fact that I once served as Second Deputy Mansion Master, because everyone knows that my main purpose in taking that position was to go after Wang Jiaohe and Chen Shuhua. Once I brought down Wang Jiaohe and Chen Shuhua, my mission was complete. Everything else had nothing to do with me. The key point is that when I was Chief Deputy, they tried both openly and covertly to recruit Chou Zheng. Isn’t that right, Chou Zheng?”

Chen Jianchou immediately replied, “Yes. Deng Yushi of the Heavenly Court invited me to tea and wanted me to do some work for them. I turned him down.”

Qi Xuansu raised his index finger and jabbed it in the air a few times. “This is exactly what it means when people say that good people are rewarded. You and Qing Xiao have exercised self-restraint and held firmly to your principles, so none of their underhanded schemes can touch good people like you. If you think about it, had you failed to restrain yourselves back then, you would truly have fallen into their trap by now.”

Chen Jianchou said, “I still feel somewhat frightened in hindsight. Not only do these people exploit every possible opening, but they also lay their traps far in advance. It was only because my parents died young and I have no wife or children that they had no other way to get at me. If I had a family, I’m afraid they might have bypassed me entirely and gone after them. If my family didn’t know any better and secretly accepted benefits from them without telling me, then I truly wouldn’t be able to clear my name no matter how much I tried to explain.”

Pei Xiaolou sighed. “Women often speak of entrusting their lives to the wrong man and say they must find a good man to spend their lives with. For men, a virtuous wife truly keeps calamity from the household. One must certainly be vigilant in this regard.”

Qi Xuansu reminded him again. “Chou Zheng, this time, you’ll be in Lion City, a place full of worldly temptations. You absolutely must exercise self-restraint and not give others something to exploit you with. Wealth is merely an external possession, and beautiful women are just made-up skeletons. The two temptations of wealth and lust are poisons that will kill you slowly. You still have a long road ahead of you.”

Chen Jianchou understood the implication behind these words. If he ran into trouble, then even if Qi Xuansu successfully rose to the top in the future, it would be difficult for him to make an exception and promote Chen Jianchou. Even setting morality aside and considering only self-interest, he still had to exercise restraint.

Li Minghuang understood this principle. He was simply too arrogant to care. In any case, he had no aspirations of becoming the Grand Master, and a good reputation could not put food on the table. Moreover, he was exceptionally gifted and had hopes of attaining immortality. As long as he did not commit a grave crime like Wang Jiaohe and Chen Shuhua by betraying the Daoist Order, his Immortal-level cultivation alone would eventually be enough to secure him the position of Virtuous Great Sage. Thus, he simply did not care.

Great Sage Lan was one such example. With sufficiently high cultivation, his position was unshakable as long as he did not make any major mistakes. Hun Ahau was another example. It was only because his cultivation was high enough that he could make a comeback. If he did not possess Pseudo-Immortal cultivation, Qi Xuansu would not have handpicked him for the mission.

Qi Xuansu himself had said that these issues of personal conduct alone, even if placed on the scales against Li Minghuang, could weigh him down somewhat but could never crush him completely.

Had Qi Xuansu not personally stepped in to suppress Li Minghuang, Lu Yujue truly would not have been able to do much about him.

Chen Jianchou could not compare with Li Minghuang in terms of talent, and his background imposed further limitations on him. Thus, he could not afford to act as unscrupulously as Li Minghuang did.

Qi Xuansu suddenly remembered something. “By the way, who exactly is Li Minghuang’s adoptive father? To make someone as arrogant as Li Minghuang lower his head and become his adopted son, he can’t be an ordinary person. All I know is that his name is Li Tianqing and that he once had a conflict with Sage Qingwei. I really don’t know much about him beyond that.”

Pei Xiaolou was a seventh-generation disciple and considerably older than Qi Xuansu, so he knew quite a lot about such matters. “It’s perfectly understandable that you don’t know much about him. Li Tianqing has kept a very low profile these past few years, rarely showing himself and mostly living in seclusion. It’s not that he doesn’t want to make any moves. Sage Qingwei has been suppressing him.

“The Li family is a rather strange clan. Every few generations, someone of astonishing talent emerges who happens to be rebellious to the bone. It may be somewhat disrespectful of me to put it this way, but that’s simply the truth. The Holy Xuan was one such person. Back then, he relied heavily on the Li family while simultaneously suppressing it. Sage Qingwei was the same when he was young. He was extraordinarily gifted, contemptuous of the family elders, and unwilling to submit, often acting in ways no one expected.

“You should have heard that many of the Li family’s seventh-generation disciples suffered at Sage Qingwei’s hands back then, including Li Tianyue and Li Tianlan. However, the one who truly led them was actually Li Tianqing. Sage Qingwei’s courtesy name is Zhi Qing, so there was even a saying back then referring to them as the Two Qings of the Li Family. You could say that if Sage Qingwei had died prematurely along the way, Li Tianqing would have been the one to rise to the top. That was why, after Sage Qingwei came to power, he suppressed Li Tianqing more harshly than anyone else, to the point that Li Tianqing practically disappeared from the Daoist Order.”

Qi Xuansu summed it up. “So it’s a succession struggle within the Li family.”

Pei Xiaolou said, “But Li Tianqing hasn’t completely lost his influence. He merely moved from the forefront to behind the scenes, somewhat like Yao Yi—Yao Pei’s father, my brother-in-law, and Yao Shu’s elder brother.”

Qi Xuansu came to a realization. Setting aside the sixth-generation disciples and considering only the seventh generation, if the Three Daoist Heirs were regarded as the number-one figures of their respective sects, then each of the Three Daoist Sects had a hidden number-two. For the Zhengyi Sect, it was Zhang Jucheng. For the Quanzhen Sect, it was Yao Yi. For the Taiping Sect, it was Li Tianqing.

Pei Xiaolou continued, “Li Tianqing is Li Minghuang’s adoptive father and his backer. He was the one who introduced Li Minghuang to the Imperial Preceptor. Li Tianzhen also has very close ties with Li Tianqing. Otherwise, how could he wield so much power at such a young age?”

Qi Xuansu suddenly understood many things.

When Li Minghuang abandoned Zhang Yuyue, he had essentially given up Zhang Jucheng as his father-in-law. The adoptive father he chose would therefore have to be superior to Zhang Jucheng, or at the very least, no less influential than him.

In that case, Li Minghuang’s choice of Li Tianqing made perfect sense. Zhang Jucheng was a number-two figure, as was Li Tianqing. In essence, Li Minghuang had chosen the Taiping Sect over the Zhengyi Sect and the Li family over the Zhang family.

This also explained the subtle relationship between Li Changge and Li Zhuyu on one side, and Li Minghuang and Li Tianzhen on the other. Li Minghuang had not known that Lu Yujue had returned to Jade Capital because someone must have deliberately kept it from him. An ordinary person would not dare do such a thing, so that person was most likely Li Zhuyu.

Then everything made sense. Li Minghuang was Li Tianqing’s adopted son, while Li Zhuyu was Sage Qingwei’s adopted daughter. The conflict between their fathers had carried over into their generation as well.

This was something that could be exploited.

Li Minghuang had not chosen Sage Qingwei as his adoptive father, or rather, Sage Qingwei had not taken Li Minghuang as his adopted son because he already had Li Changge.

In short, each of the Three Daoist Sects had its own complications. Ironically, the Zhengyi Sect’s shortage of promising successors had made matters simpler. Zhang Yuelu was the only suitable candidate, with no other alternative. This was also the main reason the main branch of the Zhang family had compromised so quickly. If there had been anyone capable of competing with Zhang Yuelu, they would never have conceded defeat so readily.

Qi Xuansu thought of another question. “Speaking of Su Yi, her mother would technically be my Martial Aunt, but I don’t know much about her either.”

Pei Xiaolou replied, “Her full name is Pei Shenfu. She is a second-rank Taiyi Daoist priest but currently holds no specific position within the Daoist Order and mainly works with the Taiping Bank.”

Qi Xuansu asked curiously, “Why are all your names completely different in the Pei family? Aren’t you all supposed to be in the Xiao-generation, like you and Pei Xiaoyun?”

Pei Xiaolou replied listlessly, “As long as you’re capable enough, you can change your name to something more distinctive. Sage Qingwei changed his, hence Li Wugou. My eldest brother and second sister changed theirs too, and so did Yao Yi. I’m not capable enough, so I had no choice but to keep my birth name.”

Qi Xuansu thought about it. “That really does seem to be the case. Qing Xiao changed her name. She was originally called Zhang Xinyue. Madam Wu changed hers too, to Qi Wu. Hmm...I changed mine as well.”

Pei Xiaolou said, “I think Little Yin is about to change hers too. Everyone calls her Qi Xiaoyin now.”

Qi Xuansu joked, “That puts her in the same generation as you. You’re both of the Xiao-generation.”

Pei Xiaolou was not annoyed. “If you’ve got the nerve, go say that to your master too.”

Qi Xuansu waved his hand. “My master didn’t use a generational name.”