A Pawn's Passage

Chapter 180: Dark Clouds

The flying ship soon left the borders of Wuzhou and headed toward Kunlun.

Compared with traveling to Kunlun by land, the flying ship saved a lot of time and effort. After leaving Wuzhou, the flying ship went north along the border between Huzhou and Xiaozhou, where it would pass through Shuzhou and enter the vast and sparsely populated territory of Yongzhou.

Shuzhou was under the jurisdiction of the Shuzhou Daoist Mansion, and Yongzhou was under the jurisdiction of the Kunlun Daoist Mansion.

The difference between them was that the Shuzhou Daoist Mansion was a veritable Quanzhen Daoist Mansion, with Quanzhen Sect disciples accounting for the majority. The Kunlun Daoist Mansion was more neutral, with similar proportions of disciples from all three sects. When a Grand Master was in power, his confidant or direct descendant would often serve as the Kunlun Daoist Mansion Master.

Speaking of which, the Grand Master was elected by the 36 Omniscient Sages and a varying number of Great Sages. Although the Daoist Order did not advocate nepotism, no one actually followed the rule. Most Grand Masters would implement rules that favored their own inner circle.

As a result, a particular sect would usually benefit more if they had a Grand Master from their sect. With the Grand Master’s influence, the other two sects would be sidelined. That was why all three sects were determined to secure the position of Grand Master.

The Holy Xuan was well aware of the shortcomings of having three major sects. However, due to the uprising of Buddhism, the Holy Xuan had no choice but to pause his plans to integrate all three sects. That was why he later transferred some of the Grand Master’s power to the Golden Tower Council.

The Holy Xuan repeatedly promoted the Golden Tower Council so that they would be the highest power of the Daoist Order. They could elect the Grand Master and even forcibly depose the Grand Master as long as 90% of the Golden Tower Council members were in agreement.

In addition, the Holy Xuan also made a rule that the three Deputy Grand Masters were to assist the Grand Master, with four of them having joint control over the Daoist Order. If there were differences of opinion between the four people, the Grand Master would have the final deciding vote, unless all three Deputy Grand Masters unanimously objected to it.

In other words, as long as the three Deputy Grand Masters were in agreement, they could veto the Grand Master’s orders. Thus, the Grand Master still had to gain the support of at least one Deputy Grand Master to implement a policy.

However, considering that the Grand Master was almost bound to have the support of the Great Sage from his own sect, the Holy Xuan added a new rule that major policies from the Grand Master must go through the approval of the Golden Tower Council. As long as at least 24 of the 36 Omniscient Sages in the Golden Tower Council opposed it, they could veto the Grand Master’s order.

The Holy Xuan restricted some of the Grand Master’s powers to prevent a certain sect from disrupting the internal balance of the Daoist Order. Aside from the Holy Xuan’s reign, during the reign of the subsequent five generations of Grand Masters, the other two major sects would quickly form an alliance to serve as a check and balance with the Grand Master’s sect.

Of course, if their fundamental interests were not disrupted, the other two sects would not oppose decisions for the sake of opposing. They would more often choose to follow the orders of the Grand Master. That was because the interests of the other two major sects were not always aligned with each other. Most of the time, they could only agree on vetoes, but they could not propose a unified solution, hence putting them in passive positions.

Although the Grand Master could not dismiss an Omniscient Sage or Virtuous Great Sage, which would have to go through the Golden Tower Council, the Grand Master still had the power of appointing and removing personnel in the Nine Halls and the local Daoist mansions without going through the Golden Tower Council.

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If a Hall Master or Mansion Master was dismissed from office, he would still be an Omniscient Sage and was still considered a big shot in the Daoist Order. He could still influence others secretly, but he would have less power than that of other Omniscient Sages.

Take Sage Donghua as an example. At the moment, he was the Hall Master of Ziwei Hall. With this title, all disciples from all sects would have to go through him for any evaluations and promotions. However, if he was no longer the Ziwei Hall Master, he could only influence the Quanzhen Sect disciples. The disciples from the other two sects would not care about his orders because he was from the Quanzhen Sect.

There were advantages and disadvantages to this check-and-balance system. The advantage was that it would prevent the Daoist Order from collapsing due to a willful Grand Master. The disadvantage was that the future generations of Grand Masters lacked the power and authority compared to the Holy Xuan. So they could not successfully integrate the three major sects.

In fact, the Holy Xuan’s intention was obvious. He did not want a future Grand Master to destroy the two other sects using violent means and cause a civil war. He wanted the three sects to be united by eliminating contradictions and factional differences through softer and more gradual approaches.

After all, the three Daoist sects shared the same root and worshiped the same Primordial Daoist Ancestor. They were not as different and clear-cut in disputes as those between Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism. Even if force were needed, it would be best to limit it to the higher-ups of the Daoist Order and not let it affect the entire Daoist community.

To put it simply, the Holy Xuan believed that even if some drastic measures had to be used, it was better to sacrifice a small number rather than let the entire nation bleed.

However, no law could last for an eternity. Two hundred years have passed since the Holy Xuan’s era, but the situation of the Daoist Order has since changed. The rules that seemed foolproof back then actually had a lot of loopholes. That was because the Holy Xuan never expected the position of the Grand Master to be vacant after the sixth-generation Grand Master.

In a sense, the three Deputy Grand Masters restricted the Grand Master, and vice versa. Most of the Grand Masters would not blatantly favor their own sect. Instead, they would act more like a third party presiding over the situation.

After the Grand Master position was vacant, no one could control the three Deputy Grand Masters, making it seem like the Daoist Order was controlled by three separate people. The Taiping Sect even tried to complicate things by involving the Imperial Court in the affairs of the Daoist Order. Thus, a storm of civil strife was brewing over Jade Capital.

Under such circumstances, there was also a split within the Kunlun Daoist Mansion, which was usually under the Grand Master’s control. The Mansion Master, the Chief Deputy Mansion Master, and the Second Deputy Mansion Master all had different stances and backings.

The Kunlun Daoist Mansion became a backup force for Jade Capital, as they were ready to provide support to their respective backers as soon as there were any signs of rebellion. Without a Grand Master, the Kunlun Daoist Mansion would bend according to which of the three Deputy Grand Masters held the most power.

Therefore, the Kunlun Pass and the surrounding 2,500 kilometers were heavily guarded. Outside the Kunlun Pass, including Yongzhou, there were many ungoverned areas because the Kunlun Daoist Mansion lacked manpower. That was why the Lingshan Witch Cult chose Yishan City for the descent of the Ancient Immortal Wu Luo.

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The flying ship sailed through the border of Shuzhou and entered the territory of Yongzhou, which was considered the outskirts of the Kunlun Daoist Mansion’s jurisdiction.

The old Daoist priest walked out of his suite unhurriedly and broke through the formation that prohibited people from going out to the deck. He was unmoved standing in the roaring wind, but his clothes billowed.

Many people onboard were startled to see this.

The old man grabbed onto the railing with one hand while his other hand tapped on it lightly. His fingers were wrinkled, like dried branches.

He rambled on. “The winding rivers through the mountains are important for the prosperity of the Daoist Order. The Three Dragons dominate different regions: the south of the Yangtze River is called the Southern Dragon, the area between the Yellow River and the Yangtze River is the Central Dragon, and the north of the Yangtze River is the Northern Dragon. The three major rivers in the world all originate from Kunlun, which is the holy land of the Daoist Order and the ancestor of all mountains. We’re not far from Kunlun now. This place has excellent Feng Shui.”

The old man was weak, and his voice was meek, dissipating completely in the wind. Even if someone stood next to the old man, they would not be able to hear him. Perhaps the old man could not even hear himself.

Zhang Yuelu had already sensed that something was wrong. Without hesitation, she rushed out of the building that was protected by the formations and went onto the deck.

Although the wind was fierce, Zhang Yuelu had enough strength to keep her feet grounded.

The old man glanced at Zhang Yuelu and greeted her cheerfully. “Mage Zhang.”

Zhang Yuelu’s expression changed slightly. “You know me?”

The old man said leisurely, “I came here just for you. It’s certainly a high risk to claim credit using the heads of the Lingshan Witch Cult’s members.”

Zhang Yuelu did not answer. She immediately leaped forward and attacked the old man.

The old man had expected her strike and raised his hand, flashing a golden light that forced Zhang Yuelu to stop.

The golden light brushed past Zhang Yuelu, missing her by a mark and leaving a 15-centimeter-deep hole on the deck of the flying ship, which was supposed to be as tough as steel.

“The divine power of the Ancient Immortal!” Zhang Yuelu was startled, but she figured out everything in an instant. Her uneasiness did not come from her mother or the internal strife of the Daoist Order, but from the secret society’s act of terrorism.

The color of the light determined the type of divine power. For example, Wu Luo’s divine power in the Yulan Temple was blood red because it symbolized blood sacrifice. Wu Luo’s divine power did not work on dead objects. People must be killed; otherwise, the divine power would not stop wreaking havoc.

This kind of golden light was like innate qi. It was indestructible, domineering, and the most common type of divine power.

The old priest rolled up his sleeve to reveal his wrist, which was as thin as a branch. He was also wearing a string of beads.

Zhang Yuelu had seen this style of prayer beads, which were common in the Lingshan Witch Cult. There were a total of 12 beads, and each bead was engraved with a different image of Wu Luo. Some images had a human form; some had a creature form; some had three heads and six arms; some had two heads and four arms; some had open eyes; and some even had wings.

These kinds of beads were not spiritual objects, treasures, or semi-immortal objects. They were disposable items, similar to the Dragon Eye Series Bullets and the Phoenix Eye Series Bullets. After the divine power in the bead was used up, it would be deemed useless.

The divine power each bead could hold was closely related to the material of the bead. Ordinary Lingshan Witch Cult members only had wooden beads, while the higher-level leaders had bone beads. Even elites like Lin Zhenyuan only used ordinary jade.

The string of prayer beads on this old man’s wrist was made of rare yellow jade.