A Pawn's Passage

The huge explosion caused by the capsized flying ship finally alarmed the Kunlun Daoist Mansion and, by extension, the Jade Capital.

The Kunlun Daoist Mansion and Tiangang Hall soon sent their personnel to Yongzhou. This was a big incident, so the Tiangang Hall Master personally went to the site. That was how Zhang Yuelu, who was still gliding in the air, was rescued. The Tiangang Hall Master settled her down on solid ground and dispatched Spirit Guards to seal off the area, ordering a search within a 250-kilometer radius for the flying ship’s wreckage.

The Spirit Guards from Tiangang Hall temporarily set up a tent for the Hall Master, where Zhang Yuelu was brought over to recuperate.

The tent had carpets, tables, chairs, and other items. A detailed map provided by the Kunlun Daoist Mansion was hung on the wall. It was not much different from the Black Robes’ tent during wartime.

Zhang Yuelu sat alone in the corner, her eyes dazed and hollow. Her face was terribly pale, resembling a sickly beauty and invoking pity from others. This led many people to believe that she had suffered a serious injury during the battle on the flying ship and had not yet recovered from the shock.

At this time, many people came in and out of the tent to report on various matters to the Tiangang Hall Master.

The flying ship had exploded over Zhaling Lake and Eling Lake, which were outside the Kunlun Pass. Therefore, most of the flying ship’s wreckage and the remains of the victims fell into the lake, making the search all the more difficult. Ordinary Spirit Guards could not dive deep into the water, so the Daoist Order had to dispatch Spirit Guards of the third rank or above.

Moreover, the flying ship had disintegrated at an altitude of several thousand feet. The wreckage and fragments did not fall vertically due to the strong winds. Thus, the remnants might have fallen outside the 250-kilometer radius. Additional manpower would be needed to expand the search area.

The Tiangang Hall Master instructed his subordinates to first complete the search within the 250-kilometer radius, with the main focus on rescuing any survivors and recovering the flying ship’s Dragon Pearl. After reinforcements arrived, they would expand the search area and conduct underwater searches.

Besides the search, there were also inquiries and letters from various parties. Coincidentally, this incident had simultaneously alarmed the three Deputy Grand Masters.

Since this flying ship departed from Shangqing Palace, most of the passengers were disciples of the Zhengyi Sect. Thus, the Heavenly Preceptor was bound to ask questions. This incident happened on New Year’s Day, the same day that the Earthly Preceptor would transfer the title of the Great Sage Lunzhi to the Imperial Preceptor.

With such a big incident happening on such a sensitive day, the Deputy Grand Masters could not turn a blind eye to it. What was more, Zhang Yuelu was also one of the passengers on this flying ship. She was well known by the Deputy Grand Masters, as she was the grandniece of the Heavenly Preceptor. Her talent was also highly valued by the Earthly Preceptor, who had promoted her as the Deputy Tiangang Hall Master. The Imperial Preceptor knew of Zhang Yuelu because of her duel with Li Tianzhen.

Thus, the Tiangang Hall Master had to personally reply to the three Deputy Grand Masters’ letters, reporting the situation in detail.

There were also inquiries from other halls, such as Beichen Hall, Huasheng Hall, the Kunlun Daoist Mansion, and so on. After this incident, Beichen Hall would have to conduct an investigation and internal audit for loopholes so that they could prevent such a thing from happening again. Huasheng Hall asked about the casualties and whether support was needed.

The Kunlun Daoist Mansion had to be involved because this incident happened on their territory, so they wanted to minimize any punishments by volunteering to help. In fact, this crash did not cause much of a loss to the Daoist Order, but it had a negative impact. So, someone would inevitably take the fall for this when the Golden Tower Council began their interrogation.

First and foremost, the Kunlun Daoist Mansion would not be able to shirk responsibility for the large expanse of ungoverned area. Due to this, they did not provide timely rescue to the flying ship.

The Tiangang Hall and Beichen Hall would also have to bear responsibility because this incident was caused by the secret societies. Finally, the Wuzhou Daoist Mansion would also be charged with neglecting security precautions on the flying ship.

......

Zhang Yuelu seemed like a complete outsider at the moment, numb to everything around her and not wanting to get involved. She just sat alone in the corner of the tent, deep in her own thoughts.

Although the old priest who destroyed the flying ship was a Lingshan Witch Cult member, he also had the divine power of the True Lord Siming. This indicated that the Cult of Fates was also involved in the incident. However, that was secondary because the Daoist Order could still deal with Wu Luo’s projection, no matter how powerful it was.

The main thing that bothered Zhang Yuelu was that the Lingshan Witch Cult accurately found out that there were no Heavenly Beings onboard the flying ship this time. All passengers were of the fourth rank or below. How did they get to know this information?

The first suspect that came to mind was the Ziguang Society. Since Zhang Yuelu used to work in Beichen Hall, she could easily differentiate the characteristics of the various secret societies. Shangqing Palace had the list of passengers, so it would mean that the Ziguang Society had infiltrated the Shangqing Palace or had a close relationship with a priest from the Shangqing Palace.

Regardless of which option it was, the Zhang family would not be able to escape being interrogated since there was a spy among them.

At this moment, another person walked into the tent and bowed respectfully to the Hall Master. After the Hall Master waved his hand in dismissal, the woman quickly walked over to Zhang Yuelu.

The woman kneeled in front of Zhang Yuelu, placed her hand gently on Zhang Yuelu’s knees, and called out softly, “Qing Xiao.”

Zhang Yuelu slowly raised her head to see that it was Mu Jin.

Mu Jin lived in Jade Capital. She came along with the Tiangang Hall Master and was tasked with being a liaison. After all, this search was the responsibility of Tiangang Hall and the Kunlun Daoist Mansion. Although the Tiangang Hall Master was in charge of the overall situation, many things required coordination between various parties, which was Mu Jin’s responsibility.

When she finally had some free time after coordinating the search, Mu Jin immediately came over to check on Zhang Yuelu.

Regardless of Mu Jin’s relationship with Qi Xuansu, Mu Jin was close to Zhang Yuelu, having worked for the latter since their days in Beichen Hall.

Zhang Yuelu’s eyes focused on Mu Jin, but she did not speak.

“Tian Yuan…” Mu Jin probably felt bad for Qi Xuansu, so she addressed him by his courtesy name for the first time.

“Tian Yuan…” Zhang Yuelu repeated the name in a whisper, her voice hoarse.

Mu Jin gently patted Zhang Yuelu’s back and consoled her. “I’m sorry. The deceased is gone, but those alive will have to move on.”

Zhang Yuelu slowly closed her eyes in dismay. “I wouldn’t be here now if it weren’t for Tian Yuan.”

Mu Jin did not know what to say. She only disliked Qi Xuansu because she was jealous of him for stealing Zhang Yuelu from her. But, in all honesty, she did not hate him, especially after finding out that he had sacrificed himself for Zhang Yuelu. So at this moment, all grudges were forgotten.

When Zhang Yuelu opened her eyes again, she declared, “It looks like I’ve transferred to the Tiangang Hall at the right time. I will cancel all my vacation days and strive to become a third-rank Youyi Daoist master as soon as possible. That way, my position as Deputy Hall Master will be justified.”

Mu Jin reminded her. “But with the tenure system, it will take three years for a fourth-rank priest to be promoted to the third rank. You’ve just been promoted to the fourth rank, so even if you have accumulated enough merit, you still need to stay in the fourth rank for two more years before you can get promoted.”

Zhang Yuelu said with determination, “There are no absolutes in anything. I will be the exception.”

Mu Jin pondered for a moment before registering this. She exclaimed, “Exception? Do you mean advancing to a Heavenly Being?”

After the Daoist Order established the Nine-Rank System, aside from the Grand Master, everyone had to be given a rank, and there was a strict system for promotions.

At lower ranks, one’s position and rank were not tied together. But as one climbed up the ranks, the two would become inseparable. One’s position would be closely related to one’s rank. That was why there were, in fact, nine ranks and twelve levels.

Under this circumstance, the tenure system had strict limits on the minimum number of years a priest had to remain in a certain rank. According to regulations, a seventh-rank priest must wait at least one year to advance to the sixth rank and at least another year to advance to the fifth rank. Then it would take a minimum of two years to advance to the fourth rank and another three years to advance to the third rank. Promotions to the second rank were based on recommendations and availability.

However, there were exceptions to this system, which were reserved for people with extraordinary talents, like Donghuang from the Holy Xuan Era. Donghuang was already a Heavenly Being before he was 20 years old. He was a genius, even more talented than the Holy Xuan.

Donghuang was already a Deputy Grand Master when the Nine-Rank System was established. But if he had to be promoted strictly according to the tenure system, Donghuang would have been a Heavenly Being before he was even promoted to the fourth rank. If that were the case, it would have been an awkward situation.

Thus, to deal with special circumstances, such as the talented Donghuang, the Daoist Order added a special regulation. A Heavenly Being with enough merit could be exempted from the tenure system and could be promoted to a third-rank Youyi Daoist priest. However, a promotion to the second rank would still be based on recommendation and availability.

Zhang Yuelu said expressionlessly, “I’m only a step away from becoming a Heavenly Being, and it won’t be difficult for me to accumulate merit in Tiangang Hall.”

“I understand.” Mu Jin nodded.

Zhang Yuelu's eyes turned cold. “The Lingshan Witch Cult said that using their heads in exchange for merit is a high-risk game. I’d like to see which one of us can last longer in this game.”

“Alright.” Mu Jin did not know how to persuade Zhang Yuelu, so she sighed. “What about Tian Yuan’s vacancy?”

Zhang Yuelu’s eyes darkened, but she still answered, “We still don’t know if he’s dead for certain. You can take over his job temporarily. After three months, mark him as missing, and after three years—”

“Alright, I understand.” Mu Jin could feel the sadness radiating from Zhang Yuelu, so she did not raise any objections.

In such incidents, the Daoist Order would allocate funds for compensation. Thus, most people would not want to drag it out for long and would presume that the victim was dead. However, Zhang Yuelu was right. If they did not find Qi Xuansu’s body, they could consider him missing first before presuming he was dead.

Furthermore, Qi Xuansu had no family, Daoist companion, or master. Zhang Yuelu only heard of him mentioning someone called Madam Qi, who did not seem to be in the Daoist community. Zhang Yuelu did not know where she could find that woman, so she had no way of giving Madam Qi the pension. Even if Zhang Yuelu exchanged all the pension to hell money for the dead, she would not even know where to burn them, as Qi Xuansu did not have a final resting place.

More importantly, Zhang Yuelu still held onto a small sliver of hope that Qi Xuansu might be able to return one day. Thus, this was the best course of action.