A Pawn's Passage

Members of secret societies would never refer to themselves as cult demons because they believed in their own cause and believed themselves to be the best. The terms “cult demon” and “secret society” were only used by orthodox authorities like the Daoist Order and the Imperial Court.

Therefore, when Qi Xuansu referred to the Heavenly Court members as cult demons, the Heavenly Court members immediately knew that Qi Xuansu was a member of the Daoist Order, especially because of his clothes.

It was difficult for people who had never been in the Daoist order to grasp the disdain and contempt hidden between the words “secret society.” If Qi Xuansu were an ordinary traveler, he should have been intimidated by the Heavenly Court.

The Heavenly Court did not dare to openly confront the Daoist Order, unlike the Ziguang Society, the Cult of Fates, and the Lingshan Witch Cult. However, they were still brave enough to capture a lone Daoist disciple.

It was a pity that they met Qi Xuansu after he had obtained the Xuan Jade. In the Daoist community, Qi Xuansu was regarded as the best among the low-ranking Daoist priests. He could also fight against less skilled fourth-rank Jijiu Daoist priests. His strength should not be underestimated.

After Qi Xuansu dealt with Ding Chou, he stood in the sandstorm and did not rush back to the inn. He could not trek across the desert in a sandstorm, but he could stay in it briefly. Not to mention, the wall of the inn’s courtyard was shielding him from a direct hit.

…...

Previously, Qi Xuansu and Madam Qi talked through the mother-child talisman, where he learned many secrets.

The piece of Xuan Jade from Yulan Temple symbolized life, so it could be used to control one’s blood qi. That was why Qi Xuansu seemed to be practicing two lineages, with supernatural regenerative abilities that resembled those of Martial Arts Practitioners in the Flesh and Blood Realm.

In fact, Qi Xuansu did not have the essence of Martial Arts Practitioners, which was to integrate the body and spirit. Qi Xuansu was still far from that. Likewise, someone who cultivated innate qi might not necessarily be a Qi Refiner. They might be a Rogue Cultivator or a Banished Immortal.

Of course, there were different types of Xuan Jades that had different magical powers. One could also accumulate the Xuan Jade’s magical powers. If Qi Xuansu could get another Xuan Jade of Life, his blood qi would become stronger. His regenerative abilities would also be amplified, to the extent that if he were decapitated, his head could regenerate a new body. He would be undying.

However, not everyone could fuse the Xuan Jade’s abilities into their bodies. Those who could use the Xuan Jade were mostly Heavenly Beings with a high enough cultivation level or people who had been specially transformed, such as Qi Xuansu, who had an Auxiliary Heart.

In fact, both the Auxiliary Heart and the Xuan Jade came from the early years of the Holy Xuan Era, where inventions were encouraged. Back then, the Holy Xuan put the Zhengyi Sect in charge of supernatural matters relating to ghosts and gods, the Taiping Sect in charge of human affairs, and the Quanzhen Sect in charge of inventions.

This period of invention had an extremely far-reaching impact. Such inventions included Spirit Guards, Rogue Cultivators, the Eight Tribes, Tianji Hall, Huasheng Hall, Imitation Qiongqi Blood, Imitation Torch Dragon Blood, Corpse Poison, Soul-Returning Incense, flying ships, upgraded mother-child talismans, and so on. These inventions changed the development of the world.

At the time, the Quanzhen Sect was in charge of inventions, so in the early wars against the Ancient Immortals and the Daoist Order, the Quanzhen Sect rarely made an appearance. Even when the Ancient Immortals sneaked into the Jade Capital, only two Deputy Grand Masters fought in the battle. The Great Sage of the Quanzhen Sect was absent from that fierce battle.

Later, the Holy Xuan restructured the Ancestral Court and established the Nine Halls. Personnel arrangements, finances, and ceremonies that were originally the responsibility of the Virtuous Great Sage were assigned to Ziwei Hall, Duzhi Hall, and Ciji Hall, respectively. Supernatural matters relating to ghosts and gods that were originally the responsibility of the Zhengyi Sect were assigned to Beichen Hall and Tiangang Hall.

Meanwhile, human affairs that were originally the responsibility of the Taiping Sect were handed over to Shibo Hall and Fengxian Hall. Inventions, which were originally the responsibility of the Quanzhen Sect, were given to Tianji Hall and Huasheng Hall. That was how the Holy Xuan transferred the three major sects’ original responsibilities to the Nine Halls, which were only subjected to the orders of the Grand Master.

This was to pave the way for dissolving the three major sects in hopes of a united Daoist Order. However, the dispute between the Buddhist Sect and the Daoist Order disrupted the Holy Xuan’s plans to dissolve the three major sects. Thus, the three major sects coexisted with the Nine Halls.

When the Quanzhen Sect was put in charge of inventions back then, many different factions arose within the sect, each with different opinions. Some focused on firearms and mechanisms; some focused on incense power; and some focused on spells and talismans.

One of the factions specialized in studying the blood of various mythical beasts with the intention of transfusing this blood into the human body. Another faction specialized in cultivating zombies, intending to form armies of the dead. There were about a dozen more factions with different invention ideologies.

The Holy Xuan and the Earthly Preceptor at that time rejected some of these ideologies out of deep-seated considerations. The rejected ideas included studying the human body, intending to copy the real form of Martial Arts Practitioners but it ended in creating inhuman monsters. Another example was studying the blood of wild beasts and creating various half-demons and so on.

The rejected ideas were either too cruel, dubbed against human ethics, or too difficult and impractical. Eight of these rejected factions later left the Daoist Order and continued their own research, forming the secret society called the Eight Tribes.

There were also some other factions or individuals who joined other secret societies, such as the Qingping Society and the Cult of Fates. This should have been stopped, but at the time, the Daoist Order was too busy dealing with the war against the Buddhist Sect. Thus, these people managed to slip away.

In fact, Rogue Cultivators also came from one of the factions. The initial purpose was to imitate and mass-produce Banished Immortals. The result was successful, but due to the exorbitant cost of creating a Banished Immortal, it was not practical. Thus, the semi-finished product—Rogue Cultivators—was left behind.

Finally, after the Holy Xuan terminated these projects, he redistributed the talents into Tianji Hall and Huasheng Hall. The two halls were similar in a way that they both focused on inventing new items. However, the former was in charge of external items, while the latter was in charge of consumables like pills and elixirs to strengthen the body.

These two halls set up branches with business functions to solve the problem of insufficient funding from the Duzhi Hall. The various products of their research were converted into Taiping coins, and they were responsible for their own profits and losses.

In the past, some people came up with wild ideas because the funds were abundant. But they ended in failure, resulting in huge financial losses. After they were left in charge of coming up with funds for their own research, they learned to be more frugal and careful with money.

Qi Xuansu never heard of these secrets during his time in the Jade Capital. Zhang Yuelu might not even be aware of some of these secrets. But Madam Qi knew this information, indicating that she used to be a high-ranking Daoist priest and that the leader of the Qingping Society was surely a big shot in the Daoist Order.

As for how the Xuan Jade’s powers were activated, Qi Xuansu already figured that it was through divine power or incense power.

Qi Xuansu also asked some other questions, such as the origin of the Xuan Jade, its specific quantity, and why the Xuan Jade was scattered all over the world. Why hadn’t the Daoist Order found them all even after 200 years of searching? Or did the Xuan Jade only resurface recently? Why did the Taiping Sect want the Xuan Jade? Did the Daoist Order know of the Xuan Jade’s existence? If so, what is their attitude? Is the Xuan Jade somehow related to Rogue Cultivators?

However, Madam Qi did not give him a straight answer to these questions and brushed it off. Qi Xuansu was already satisfied with knowing so much. Moreover, the duration of communication through the mother-child talisman was limited, so he did not pursue it further.

From their conversation, Qi Xuansu felt the power of the Daoist Order. What he saw was only the tip of the iceberg. There was something larger hidden under the waters.

At first glance, Huasheng Hall was just a grand pharmacy, and Tianji Hall was a glorified weapons shop. Who would have thought that there were so many secrets going on behind closed doors?

As for Tiangang Hall, the Yaoguang Division that was under Zhang Yuelu had just been established a few months ago. It was the smallest division that had not yet been assigned Spirit Guards. However, the top divisions in Tiangang Hall were equipped with a large number of Spirit Guards who were currently deployed to the Western Region to aid in the war against the Shamanistic Sect.

The Holy Xuan had experienced great resistance back when he split the supernatural affairs between Tiangang Hall and Beichen Hall and the human affairs between Shibo Hall and Fengxian Hall before he finally succeeded.

Fengxian Hall was one of the Nine Halls that Qi Xuansu had never heard of. He had heard of Ciji Hall from Zhang Yuelu when she mentioned that being transferred to the Requiem Division of Ciji Hall to guard the tombs meant the end of one’s career.

In essence, Fengxian Hall was in charge of regulating and executing disciplinary actions. They would not allow unchecked desires or disorderly behavior to lead the Daoist Order into ruin.

Fengxian Hall had the power to impeach Daoist priests of all levels, absolve wrongly accused priests of their crimes, and supervise the local Daoist mansions, serving as the eyes and ears of the Grand Master. Anyone who abused power and formed factions to undermine the Daoist Order would be punished. Improper conduct was rectified.

Ziwei Hall would involve Fengxian Hall in the priest examinations to ensure the fairness of a promotion. Beichen Hall would also try serious cases with Fengxian Hall to ensure fair judgment or to approve death penalties.

The third-rank Youyi Daoist master who was demoted for abusing his servants was a typical example of misconduct caught by Fengxian Hall.

From Qi Xuansu’s understanding, if he was arrested by Beichen Hall, whether he got to live or die depended on the verdict of Fengxian Hall. Of course, if he violently resisted the arrest, Beichen Hall could execute him on the spot.

As for cult demons, they generally did not get the opportunity to be questioned by Fengxian Hall. Tiangang Hall or Beichen Hall had the right to execute cult demons without going through a trial unless the prisoner was a cult leader with great influence.

However, the final outcome of many major cases still depended on the Golden Tower Council. For example, in the major Jiangnan case, Fengxian Hall only went through the motions to convict the principal offender.