A Pawn's Passage

Little Yin slowly opened her eyes and felt a ray of sunlight shining through the window onto her face. She instinctively shut her eyes again but quickly remembered that she was no longer afraid of sunlight.

Even so, Little Yin was in no hurry to get out of bed and chose to laze around instead. She merely spread out her divine consciousness to sense everything around her. The breeze was gentle, and the sunlight was warm, while faint sounds of a festive commotion drifted in from the distance.

She had had a very, very long dream about another version of herself.

However, she had only been an observer. She did not know what the version of herself in the dream was thinking nor what she intended to do. She also could not control her. She had merely experienced the dream through that person’s perspective, and nothing more.

By the time she woke up, she could only remember a few scattered fragments. Everything else had completely vanished from memory.

Even those scattered fragments were rapidly fading. Before long, she would probably forget them too.

Little Yin was nothing like Qi Xuansu and the others, who could often go more than ten days without sleeping. She had to go to sleep on time every single day.

Just as she was thinking about going back to sleep, Little Yin suddenly heard voices outside.

One voice belonged to Old Qi. “She still hasn’t woken up? Madam Wu said it should be around today.”

Another voice replied, “I checked on her two hours ago, and she still hasn’t awakened. But there was nothing wrong with her. You should’ve seen the way she was sleeping, sprawled out in every direction, even blowing a snot bubble.”

Little Yin recognized that voice. It belonged to Old Lin!

Under ordinary circumstances, Old Lin was always a man of few words, but when it came to Little Yin, there were some exceptions.

Still, Old Lin was not wrong. Little Yin never curled up in her sleep, nor did she lie straight like some sleeping beauty. Instead, her limbs were sprawled out wide, which was much more fitting for her personality.

The moment Little Yin heard Old Lin’s voice, she sprang upright, leaped out of bed, and rushed outside without even bothering to put her shoes on properly.

“Old Lin!” Little Yin cried out, throwing herself into Lin Yuanmiao’s arms.

A gentle smile finally appeared on Lin Yuanmiao’s usually expressionless face. “Zaohua stage, huh? You’re almost catching up to me.”

Qi Xuansu smiled. “It’s good that you’re awake. Well then, I won’t disturb you two old friends while you catch up.”

With that, Qi Xuansu turned and left.

With the wedding date approaching, Qi Xuansu had plenty to keep him busy.

Zhang Yuelu had formally assumed office as Chief Deputy of Tiangang Hall, while Yao Pei had likewise taken office as Chief Deputy of Ziwei Hall. Together with Li Changge, who was the Chief Deputy of Beichen Hall far away in the Southern Continent, the Daoist Three Prodigies were now all in their proper places.

Qi Xuansu still remained outside the ranks of the Daoist Three Prodigies. The difference was that in the past, Qi Xuansu had been desperately chasing after them from behind, whereas now, he was walking far ahead of them.

After all, there was a considerable difference between an Omniscient Sage and an ordinary Sage. That was because an Omniscient Sage retained considerable authority even without holding a specific office. So naturally, Qi Xuansu was far ahead.

Zhang Yuelu assumed her new role without much difficulty.

After all, the Tiangang Hall Master was Sage Cihang, who was both Zhang Yuelu’s master and her sole superior. As such, Sage Cihang would not make things difficult for her. Second, Zhang Yuelu was already a familiar face at Tiangang Hall and knew its affairs well, so there was little chance of her subordinates deceiving her. Her return to Tiangang Hall this time was like coming home.

Put simply, when those at the top promoted younger people, they had to consider appearances and public opinion. They could not simply let someone rise to the top in a single leap. Advancement had to proceed in an upward spiral.

One needed both achievements and connections within the halls of Jade Capital, as well as grassroots experience and leadership experience in the regional Daoist Mansions. The end result was someone of outstanding ability, with a complete résumé, still in the prime of life and ready to shoulder major responsibilities.

Qi Xuansu had gone even further than Zhang Yuelu. He not only had experience at both the upper and lower levels, but he had also spent time gaining experience in the other Daoist halls, having served in all three of the Three Great Halls.

In the regional Daoist Mansions, he had taken down powerful behemoths and overseen economic and trade development. More importantly, his also had military achievements. He had participated in the Fenglin Campaign as a mid-ranking official, personally leading in battle, and had later participated in the Northern-and-Southern Continent Campaign as a senior official, helping direct certain military operations and intelligence work.

This made him accomplished in both civil and military affairs.

Now, Qi Xuansu was going to round out his experience in policy and theory at the Wanxiang Daoist Mansion. After that, he would govern a region, taking sole responsibility for its affairs and presiding over a Daoist Mansion. Eventually, he would become a Hall Master.

The only thing left after that would be to personally command an army as a Sage Commander, like Sage Donghua and Sage Qingwei, overseeing the overall situation.

Such a résumé could no longer be described as merely complete. It was practically perfect, leaving no room for anyone to find fault.

Of course, there was another consideration behind all this. If younger people were to be entrusted with important positions, they needed experience at the grassroots level and had to work their way up step by step. This was not merely about gilding their résumés, going through the motions, or making them reminisce about hardship. Rather, it was meant to familiarize them with the system and, at the very least, teach them how the Daoist Order operated from top to bottom.

At the same time, by interacting with people in different positions from the lowest ranks to the upper echelons, they could understand the attitudes, personalities, and concerns of people at each level. Then, when they eventually became important decision-makers, they would at least know what was going on and would not be easily deceived by their subordinates.

This would also allow them to build up their own team. As Qi Xuansu had risen through the ranks, his own circle had grown step by step rather than coming together all at once.

A young emperor raised deep within the palace would be utterly removed from the realities of the world. Unless he possessed exceptional natural talent, he would inevitably end up being manipulated at will by the ministers of the court.

That was why successive emperors of the Great Xuan Dynasty had never been a match for successive Grand Masters. Even setting aside the disparity in strength between the Daoist Order and the Imperial Court, the emperors were thoroughly outclassed by the Grand Masters in terms of personal ability alone. The systems through which the two sides were trained and tempered were completely different. A Grand Master might have shortcomings, but none of them were ordinary. That was because a mediocre person simply could not make it through the entire process.

It was not until the sixth-generation Grand Master, a good-natured man who had risen to power under unusual circumstances, took office that the Great Xuan Court finally produced an extraordinarily gifted emperor, Emperor Jiushi. Only then did the balance between the two sides begin to falter.

The Great Xuan Emperor began probing the Daoist Order’s limits, to the point that the roles of attacker and defender were beginning to reverse.

There had been 11 emperors during the Great Xuan Dynasty, though the present emperor corresponded to the seventh generation of Daoist disciples. Even including Emperor Gaozu, who belonged to the generation above the Holy Xuan, there had only been eight generations in total. However, several emperors along the way had died without heirs. Some had cultivated to such a high level that producing descendants became extremely difficult. Some had left the imperial household to pursue the Dao, and others had died young. In short, there had been several instances of a younger brother succeeding an elder brother, passing the throne within the same generation. Thus, eight generations had produced 11 emperors.

Of these 11 emperors, 6 of them married Li family empresses. The current Empress Dowager herself was from the Li family. By seniority, she was the Imperial Preceptor’s niece, which made her Sage Qingwei’s cousin. The current emperor’s late first empress had also come from the Li family and was the Empress Dowager’s niece, the same generation as Li Tianqing and Li Tianyue.

Naturally, there had also been no shortage of Imperial Princesses marrying into the Li family, with Princess Chiying being the most recent example.

It was simply that the titles as descendants of the Primordial Daoist Ancestor, heirs of the Holy Xuan, and foremost aristocratic family of the Daoist Order were so dazzling that people tended to overlook another identity of the Li family—the in-laws of the Great Xuan royal family.

This was also the identity the Li family mentioned least, ranking even behind their status as descendants of the Qi Dynasty. After all, emphasizing it too much would make it sound as though the Li family depended on the Qin royal family, and that simply would not do. The Li family could not afford to lose their dignity like that. The two families were equals in status. A woman of the Li family did not marry up to an emperor, nor did a princess marry below her station.

Any ordinary family would have benefited enormously from possessing even one of these distinctions, yet the Li family held all of them at once, enough to inspire envy throughout the world.

That said, beginning with the Holy Xuan, this 200-year marriage alliance had indeed formed the foundation of cooperation between the two sides.

As usual, Li Ruoshui went to the palace that day to meet the Empress Dowager. In terms of seniority, Li Ruoshui belonged to the same generation as Sage Qingwei and was one generation above Li Tianqing. Thus, she and the current Empress Dowager were cousins of the same generation.

However, the two families generally did not calculate seniority too precisely, because it would become far too complicated. For example, Li Changge and Princess Chiying’s generational gap was not merely that of grandfather and granddaughter but extended all the way to the great-grandparent generation. The only solution was for each side to look at their own family’s seniority. When even that became impossible to sort out, they simply followed the Daoist Order’s example and used official titles.

Thus, when Sage Qingwei, Li Changge, and the others met the Empress Dowager, they simply addressed her as “Empress Dowager.” They could hardly have Li Changge calling the Empress Dowager his niece while the Empress Dowager called Li Changge her grandson-in-law. That would be far too confusing, even more tangled than Qi Xuansu and Yao Pei’s relationship as uncle and niece or junior brother and senior sister.

Li Ruoshui usually entered the palace to chat with the Empress Dowager and maintain their close relationship. By now, she was a frequent visitor.

The Emperor’s residence was named Tianqing Palace. The Empress’s residence was called Dining Palace, the Empress Dowager’s the Wansheng Palace, and the Crown Prince’s the Tianzhen Palace.

The Empress Dowager’s residence displayed the full splendor of the imperial household. Every type of exquisite and precious object could be found there, enough to overwhelm the eye. By comparison, the Daoist Order could truly be summed up with a single word—frugal.

Back then, it was the Imperial Preceptor who made the decision to marry the Empress Dowager to the late emperor, who was something of a tragic figure. He had the misfortune of reigning during the “glorious days” of the fifth-generation Grand Master.

Even among the Daoist Order’s successive Grand Masters, the fifth-generation Grand Master was considered the most domineering. He had even replaced all three Deputy Grand Masters. Even the present Three Deputy Grand Masters had not dared oppose him. That alone showed just how overbearing he had been.

Naturally, the fifth-generation Grand Master did not spare the Great Xuan Court either, repeatedly interfering in imperial affairs. The restructuring of Taiping Bank to strengthen the Daoist Order’s control was merely the tip of the iceberg. Faced with the fifth-generation Grand Master, the late emperor dared not voice his frustrations. His pent-up resentment fueled the Three Corpses within him, which increasingly ravaged his body and vitality. No medicine or treatment could save him, and in the end, he passed away at an early age.

Thus, Emperor Jiushi ascended the throne at less than 20 years old and adopted Jiushi as his era name. At the time, the Empress Dowager was not yet 50 years old.

In the blink of an eye, it was now the 46th year of the Jiushi Era, which meant that Emperor Jiushi was in his sixties.

The Empress Dowager had also grown very old.

When people grew old, aside from concerning themselves with their children and grandchildren, they tended to spend their time reminiscing about the past.

After talking about Princess Chiying for quite some time, the Empress Dowager suddenly said, “I dreamed of the late emperor yesterday.”

Li Ruoshui was taken aback.

The Empress Dowager continued, “The late emperor told me that he could not accept it. He could not swallow that grievance.”

Li Ruoshui felt a chill run down her back and did not dare respond rashly.