A Pawn's Passage

Qi Xuansu left Taiqing Square and walked back to Haichan Place. Just as he entered the North Alley gate, he bumped into his neighbor, a Daoist nun named Cui.

Qi Xuansu recollected his thoughts and put on a smile. “Hi, Aunt Cui.”

"Little Qi!” Nun Cui was startled to see Qi Xuansu. “Someone from the neighborhood office came looking for you. They said someone sent you something and asked you to pick it up at the office. Since you weren’t home, they asked me to pass on the message.”

Qi Xuansu was slightly surprised. “Thank you, Aunt Cui.”

"It’s no problem. We’re neighbors after all.” Nun Cui did not make much small talk with Qi Xuansu and hurried away in an ox cart.

Qi Xuansu changed his direction and headed toward the neighborhood office.

Jade Capital had a block layout. There were no curfews or restrictions on movement within the city. Moreover, the 24 neighborhoods in Jade Capital were vast, equivalent in size to 108 blocks in a typical ancient city.

The Daoist Order established a neighborhood office in each of the 24 neighborhoods, with the same function as the military offices in the Imperial Capital. They were responsible for patrolling the streets at night, maintaining the cleanliness of the streets and ditches, and enforcing fire bans.

As time went on, the authority and responsibilities of the neighborhood offices grew. They became responsible for resolving neighborhood conflicts, mediating disputes, issuing certificates, and more. Additionally, the neighborhood offices doubled as post offices. All letters and packages would be delivered to the respective neighborhood office by the Daoist Order’s messengers. Then, they would notify the recipients for collection.

The neighborhood office was a compound with two entrances. After passing through the gate, the first room was where packages were stored for collection. The outer section of the room had a table and chair. A female Daoist disciple sat behind the table, engrossed in reading a colorfully illustrated novel, completely oblivious to Qi Xuansu’s arrival.

Qi Xuansu glanced at the book. The illustration depicted a dashing young man and a demure young lady under a willow tree by the river. Judging by the cover, Qi Xuansu figured it was a tale of romance.

He waited for a while, but when he realized that the female disciple showed no signs of noticing his presence, he reached out and lightly tapped on the table.

The female disciple finally came to her senses and looked up at Qi Xuansu. She hurriedly placed a bookmark between the pages, closed the book, and asked, “Yes?”

Qi Xuansu spoke up. “I’m here to collect a package for Qi Xuansu.”

"Just a moment.” The female disciple got up and went to the inner section of the room. Before long, she returned with a package about the size of a jewelry box. It was wrapped in oiled paper and sealed with wax.

The sealing wax was made by melting a stick of lacquer on a copper rod over the fire and smearing it on the paper. The package was stamped and labeled for the recipient.

The female disciple placed the package on the table and said, “Please show your credentials to prevent wrongful collection.”

Qi Xuansu took out his credentials as requested and handed them to the female disciple. After verifying that it matched the name on the package, the female disciple returned the credentials and the package to Qi Xuansu. He thanked her and left the neighborhood office with the package.

The female disciple paid no attention to this small episode and continued to immerse herself in the novel.

Upon returning home, Qi Xuansu went straight to the study. He glanced at the name on the sealing wax and chuckled when he saw the name—Ah Qi.

Qi Xuansu had been wondering who could have sent him the package, but the name Ah Qi confirmed his speculation. Ah Qi was a youthful, feminine name in that era. Qi Xuansu sighed, thinking, Time spares no one. The once-young Ah Qi has eventually become Madam Qi.

He tore off the wrapping paper of the package, revealing a jewelry box inside with a small lock on it. This type of lock had no key. It resembled a horizontal cylinder that was divided into four parts. Each part had nine characters that could be rotated up and down. Thus, there were 36 combinations. All four characters had to be aligned correctly to open the lock. After three failed attempts, it would trigger a mechanism to destroy the contents of the box.

Qi Xuansu contemplated for a moment. Based on his understanding of Madam Qi, he sequentially rotated the lock until it spelled out the characters Tian, Xia, Tai, and Ping, which were precisely the characters engraved on the silver Taiping coin.

The pattern remained unchanged, indicating that the first attempt had failed. Qi Xuansu was slightly surprised by this. He then tried the characters Cheng, Ping, Wu, and You, which were the characters engraved on the gold Wuyou coin.

Still, no luck.

Qi Xuansu felt a bit nervous. After pondering for a while, he slowly turned the lock to align with the characters Ping, An, Ru, and Yi, which were the characters engraved on the copper Ruyi coin.

With a click, the lock opened. The lid of the box opened by itself, revealing two layers inside. The first layer contained an envelope with the words “For Tian Yuan” written on it. It was signed by Madam Qi.

Qi Xuansu picked up the envelope and noticed that it was not sealed with wax. Then he pulled out more than ten pages of paper.

The beautiful handwriting in the letter looked like it was from a doe-eyed young lady named Ah Qi, rather than the notorious Madam Qi, who killed for money.

In the letter, Madam Qi mainly discussed three things. The first was the aftermath in Fengtai County. The Qingping Society decided to promote Qi Xuansu from a peripheral member to a regular member. His alias was still Gold-Plated Knife and Wei Wugui. He had already accumulated 600 merits to this day.

The other two matters were related to Qi Xuansu’s promotion to a regular member of the Qingping Society.

Firstly, it was regarding his benefits after his promotion. The mother-child talisman would be distributed to him once a month instead of once a year. Additionally, he would receive 10 Wuyou coins, a Blood Dragon Pill, and a Purple Yang Pill every month, starting in September.

Secondly, Qi Xuansu would also be qualified to participate in the B-rank gatherings of the Qingping Society. According to Madam Qi’s explanation, the Qingping Society did not have as strict of a hierarchy as the Daoist Order, with only four ranks: A, B, C, and D.

D was for peripheral members, C for official members, B for elite members, and A for core members.

At the moment, Qi Xuansu was in the C-rank, but since he was placed under Madam Qi, who was in the B-rank, he could also participate in B-rank gatherings.

It was not until now that Qi Xuansu realized there were two types of Qingping Society members: independent members who joined voluntarily and vassal members who were forced to join for various reasons.

Independent members could only enjoy the treatment corresponding to their own level, but they had autonomy in everything. Qi Xuansu was a vassal member, subordinate to Madam Qi.

The advantage was that he could enjoy some of Madam Qi’s benefits, such as participating in B-rank gatherings. Madam Qi would also clean up his mess without charging any fees. However, the downside was losing some autonomy, such as in the selection of tasks. Instead, Madam Qi would have full authority over him.

Qi Xuansu had no objections to this. After all these years, there was nothing particularly bad about this arrangement.

As for how he would participate in the gatherings, he would need to perform a ritual spell. Madam Qi already sent him the materials required for the spell, along with detailed instructions on how to use them and an itemized bill. All expenses would be deducted from Qi Xuansu’s savings, which he had kept with Madam Qi. At the moment, he only had less than 100 Wuyou coins left.

Qi Xuansu put down the letter and opened the second layer of the box.

The second compartment was much deeper than the first. It contained two candles, a box of incense sticks, a small vermilion gourd, a stack of blank talisman papers, a box of cinnabar, a vermilion brush, and a fish talisman.

The fish talisman was Qi Xuansu’s identification token, made by the Qingping Society using special, undisclosed methods. It was unique and categorized by different colors: jade white, golden purple, silver crimson, and copper green. Qi Xuansu’s fish talisman was silver crimson and engraved with his pseudonym, Gold-Plated Knife.

In addition, the fish talisman had two other uses. It could serve as a key to enter gatherings and double as a magical receptacle.

A magical receptacle was an item capable of holding more capacity than an object of its size could. It allowed one to retrieve objects out of thin air. Depending on its quality, the size of the space within the receptacle varied.

Qi Xuansu’s silver crimson fish talisman had a very small space within, probably not much larger than the jewelry box Madam Qi sent him. It could only be used to store the materials needed for the ritual spells.

Ritual spells were needed to enter these gatherings.

Qi Xuansu patiently waited until midnight before he performed the spell following Madam Qi’s instructions.

First, he poured out a cup of Imitation Torch Dragon Blood from the vermilion gourd.

The Torch Dragon was an ancient mountain deity, representing day and night, winter and summer. Its blood had extraordinary uses. However, Torch Dragons were long gone from the mortal realm, and their blood was nowhere to be found.

Later, the Daoist Order developed the Imitation Torch Dragon Blood. Although its efficacy was only one-tenth that of the real deal, it was still extremely expensive, equivalent to gold on the black market.

Qi Xuansu used the Imitation Torch Dragon Blood to draw a yin-yang symbol on the ground, then he placed the black and white candles on the two dots of the yin-yang symbol before lighting them.

These candles were not ordinary, either. The black candle was made from the fat of a Lili, and the white candle was made from the fat of a Feifei. A Lili was a creature resembling a boar with chicken feet. It barked like a dog and was adept at burrowing and making the ground uneven. A Feifei was a creature resembling a raccoon with a mane and a white tail. People believed that raising it could alleviate one’s worries. These two creatures were rare, exotic beasts.

The incense sticks, known as the Soul Returning Incense, were also special. According to legend, there was a Soul Returning Tree in the Kunlun Immortal Realm that resembled a maple and cypress tree, with flowers and leaves that emitted a fragrance so strong that one could smell it for hundreds of miles. Its roots were boiled to extract the juice, which was then refined to make the incense. Since its fragrance could travel for hundreds of miles, it was rumored that its scent could revive a corpse. Hence the name Soul-Returning Incense.

The Soul-Returning Incense that Madam Qi sent to Qi Xuansu did not possess such miraculous effects. It could only calm the soul. However, it was still extremely expensive, sold at one Wuyou coin per stick.

These three items were extremely rare and invaluable hundreds of years ago. However, a major upheaval hundreds of years ago brought back many exotic animal materials, which were thought to have vanished along with the Ancient Immortals.

The Daoist Order was the sole producer of these strictly regulated materials. However, the Qingping Society managed to get its hands on them, suggesting that what Zhang Yuelu said about these secretive organizations having covert support from influential figures within the Daoist Order was true.

Qi Xuansu placed the fish talisman in the center of the yin-yang drawing. He dipped the vermilion brush into the cinnabar and started drawing symbols on the blank talisman paper according to the patterns provided by Madam Qi.

The vermilion brush was worth five Wuyou coins. Its handle was made from spotted bamboo, and its tip, made with the tail hair of a Siberian weasel, was bright red. It was highly effective for drawing talismans. Qi Xuansu drew two talismans in one go.

Finally, he used the incense burner to light up a stick of incense. He then burned the two drawn talisman papers on the black and white candles, respectively.

After that, Qi Xuansu closed his eyes and meditated. Before long, he felt a wave of drowsiness wash over him. The candles suddenly extinguished, and the bloodstains on the ground gradually faded away. Only the lingering smoke and the glowing ember from the incense flickering intermittently in the darkness remained.

Qi Xuansu remained seated in a cross-legged position, his face calm and his breathing steady, as he drifted into a deep sleep.