A Pawn's Passage

The largest inn in Longmen City was originally called Mingsheng Inn. It occupied a convenient location on the street opposite the Wanxiang Academy, which had frequent visitors. So most people waited there until they were allowed entry into the Wanxiang Academy.

However, after the Daoist Order took over the Wanxiang Academy and changed it to the Wanxiang Daoist Palace, the Mingsheng Inn was also changed to the Taiping Inn. Business was still booming.

After Qi Xuansu entered the Longmen Prefectural Capital, he went straight to the Taiping Inn. That was because, from the second floor of the inn, he could see Ziwei City’s southeast side entrance. Behind that side entrance was the Lower Palace of the Wanxiang Daoist Palace.

Usually, the children and teenagers in the Lower Palace were not allowed to leave Ziwei City. So they would always sneak out from the side entrance. Only those from the Upper Palace could enter and exit through the main entrance. There was only one road from the main entrance, which led to the Upper Palace, so it was isolated from the Lower Palace.

Qi Xuansu took his time heading to the Taiping Inn and looked around at the pedestrians coming and going around him. His childhood memories washed over him like a tide.

As a kid, he was a rule-follower. When he became a teenager, he became bolder and tried to escape from Ziwei City. He did not mean to leave the Wanxiang Daoist Palace for good; he just wanted to see what the world outside was like. Back then, his only ambition was to explore the Longmen Prefectural Capital. For orphans like him, Jade Capital, the Imperial Capital, and Jinling Prefecture were too far-reaching. Longmen Prefecture was good enough.

Although the walls of Ziwei City were very high, the boys in the Wanxiang Daoist Palace had some cultivation. The best among them almost reached the Kunlun stage of Xiantian Beings. With the help of some tools, a city wall was not enough to stop them. That was why one would often see teachers from the Wanxiang Daoist Palace coming out to catch their delinquent students in the city.

Naturally, they would be punished after being caught.

If it were the first offense, the punishment would be lighter, such as being forced to stand for hours, not being allowed to eat, or doing some chores.

If it were a repeated offense, the punishment would be heavier. Sometimes, the teachers would bring out a special whip that would not leave any scars on the body. However, this whip could inflict enough pain that seemed to be ingrained in the student’s bones. That way, the students would likely remember this lesson forever.

Some would be publicly caned, which was a bloody sight. However, they were just superficial wounds that would heal after two weeks of applying medicine. This kind of beating was used to scare off the rest of the students from repeating the same mistakes.

Even so, teenagers were inherently rebellious, especially those from the Wanxiang Daoist Palace. They were not like the fragile and pampered young masters and young ladies from prestigious families. They were tough and stubborn orphans. To them, these beatings were nothing, not enough to traumatize them. Many of them were even proud to be punished, wearing their scars like a badge of honor. After all, only those with higher levels of cultivation could manage to sneak out.

Back then, Qi Xuansu was not a popular kid in the Wanxiang Daoist Palace, but he was one of the outstanding ones. Otherwise, Yue Liuli would not have noticed him enough to resent him.

Qi Xuansu had certainly sneaked out of Ziwei City before. But he had never done it alone; it was always with a group of friends. Looking back now, Qi Xuansu had not contacted those friends for many years. He did not know where they were. Even if he saw them again, it would probably be difficult to rekindle their friendship.

After all, not everyone could afford the mother-child talisman. If the Qingping Society had not issued them to Qi Xuansu every month, he would not have had a chance to use them either.

This was the ebb and flow of life; some relationships last forever, while others drift apart. Life was not about having countless friends. Instead, it was more of a blessing to have one or two close friends.

Qi Xuansu was not optimistic about whether these old classmates would succeed.

The most outstanding among them, Yue Liuli and Wan Xiuwu, became the two leaders of the Dragon and Tiger Camps. They were both accepted as disciples by the Wuxu Palace Master. Even so, they were only in the fifth rank. Since the best among them were as such, Qi Xuansu could guess how the others fared.

Madam Qi was Qi Xuansu’s backer, and she had once explained how the Daoist promotion worked.

Climbing up the ladder in the Daoist Order required a combination of one’s capability, merit, personal connections, recommendations from higher-ups, foundation, opportunities, and hard work. Among them, personal connections played a crucial role.

There were two top families within the Daoist Order, namely the Zhang family and the Li family. The Qin family was originally part of them, but they had become the royal family of the Great Xuan Dynasty. Thus, they were excluded.

These top families had an order of succession and controlled one of the major Daoist sects. For example, the Zhang family controlled the Zhengyi Sect, and the Li family controlled the Taiping Sect. The Li family was known to have seven Sages, but that only referred to Li Daoxu’s direct descendants, which included the Holy Xuan’s and Donghuang’s descendants. If the smaller branches of the family, children-in-law, and adopted children were also included, the Li family would have far more than seven Sages.

There were 12 second-tier families in the Daoist Order, with each family producing more than three Sages. There were nearly 100 small families, which had at least one Sage.

Disciples from the Wanxiang Daoist Palace did not belong to these families because they were orphans with no background. Thus, they could only place their hope in their master. However, most masters had many disciples, so becoming the successor would also depend on one’s luck.

Madam Qi once explained that the Daoist Order’s tenure system was made to restrict the children of these prestigious families. That was because ordinary disciples would usually not be able to meet the criteria before the required tenure in a certain rank anyway.

For ordinary disciples, almost no one could get promoted within the minimum tenure because it would take them longer to accumulate enough merit to get promoted.

Madam Qi concluded that, on average, it would take an ordinary disciple—without any external help—9 years to be promoted from the ninth rank to the eighth rank, 3 years from the eighth rank to the seventh rank, 7 years from the seventh to the sixth rank, and 7 more years to become a fifth-rank Daoist priest.

An ordinary disciple who left the Wanxiang Daoist Palace at 20 years old would be a ninth-rank Daoist priest and would be promoted to the eighth rank at the age of 29, seventh rank at the age of 32, sixth rank at the age of 39, and fifth rank at the age of 46. By then, one would have lost the eligibility to become a high-ranking Daoist priest. Some lucky few would get to be fourth-rank Jijiu Daoist masters, but that was mostly where their careers would end.

At the age of 50, an ordinary disciple from the Wanxiang Daoist Palace would only be a fifth-rank Daoist priest. Meanwhile, a descendant from the prestigious Daoist families would be a second-rank Taiyi Daoist master, with some aspiring to the title of Grand Master.

This projection was considered smooth sailing, as there were more ordinary disciples who would stop at the ninth to seventh ranks.

A disciple from a poor family would likely need to endure 20 years of hard work before getting transferred from one of the Nine Halls to another. Some would even stay stuck in the same position forever. On the other hand, a descendant of a prestigious family would have already crossed the threshold of being a fourth-rank Jijiu Daoist master and entered the ranks of high-ranking Daoist priests.

In fact, each rank had a threshold, with several obstacles varying in difficulty depending on which position was being offered. Promotions were easier in some positions because there would be more opportunities to earn merit, such as being a deacon in the Yaoguang Division of the Tiangang Hall. Some positions were a dead end, like being a deacon in the Requiem Division of the Ciji Hall.

On the other hand, those from prestigious families could easily get promoted to the third rank in the least, eventually taking up high positions like the Deputy Hall Master, Deputy Palace Master, and Deputy Mansion Master.

A good example was Zhang Yuelu, who was promoted to the position of Deputy Hall Master even though she was still in the fourth rank due to the tenure system. However, this was only temporary. It was only a matter of time before Zhang Yuelu was promoted to the third rank.

At that level, one’s rivals were no longer with the masses, but with descendants of the prestigious families, as well as a few from poor families with outstanding abilities. Therefore, promotion would be slow. Many would end their careers at the third rank, and only a select few could stand out to join the ranks of second-rank Taiyi Daoist masters and truly step foot into the upper echelons of the Daoist Order.

Those hailing from prestigious families with good connections, abilities, merits, and opportunities would have a bright future, like Zhang Yuelu. After she participated in solving the major Jiangnan case, she gained the attention of the Earthly Preceptor and was quickly promoted. This brought about a series of events that made her stand out from her seniors and juniors. That was how she was named Sage Cihang’s successor and the so-called Junior Tiangang Hall Master.

Qi Xuansu initially had no hope for a bright future. His turning point was being given the opportunity to enter Tiangang Hall, thanks to Madam Qi. After that, he was promoted quickly under a good boss like Zhang Yuelu, so he was also rising to prominence.

If he had not left the Daoist Order due to the flying ship crash, he would have easily been promoted to the fourth rank in a few years and become Zhang Yuelu’s confidant. Thus, when Zhang Yuelu became an Omniscient Sage, he would probably also be able to become an ordinary Sage to serve as her chief deputy. Qi Xuansu’s future destiny was firmly bound to Zhang Yuelu. If Zhang Yuelu could become the Grand Master, then he was also expected to be an Omniscient Sage.

This was a rare opportunity, but how many people could be so lucky to meet Madam Qi and Zhang Yuelu?

Even though Qi Xuansu lost his master at a young age, he never felt that the universe had failed him. In fact, he considered himself lucky to be able to survive the ambush, thanks to Madam Qi. Since then, he became a pawn knee-deep in debt, with no choice but to push forward. Although he could not retreat, he still had room to maneuver to the side.

Therefore, Qi Xuansu figured that most of his classmates were still struggling in life. Qi Xuansu looked in the direction of the Wanxiang Daoist Palace and sighed, wondering if he would bump into some old friends from back then.