A Pawn's Passage

The member of the Goddess Society let out a cold laugh and took the chance to punch Chen Jianzi squarely in the face, sending her vision as she staggered backward.

Though Chen Jianzi’s cultivation was decent and she was decisive by nature, years of comfortable living had left her with little real combat experience. She knew only a few techniques. At this moment, she was quickly falling into a disadvantage.

In contrast, the blond-haired foreigner had risked his life countless times for the Goddess Society and had more than a few deaths on his hands. He was seasoned and ruthless. Once he gained the upper hand, he struck to kill. Even without divine techniques, he could put Chen Jianzi to death.

Chen Jianzi grew increasingly desperate. Had she known it would come to this, she would rather have fallen into Daoist hands. At the very least, she could cooperate with them and earn a lighter sentence, like exile or hard labor. Anything was better than being silenced forever.

At that moment, a childish voice suddenly rang out. “You stop that right now!”

The Goddess Society member, professional as ever, ignored the childish voice and continued his lethal assault at Chen Jianzi.

But suddenly, he felt someone grab his belt from behind. His belt snapped outright because he was lunging forward with great force at Chen Jianzi. His trousers dropped to his ankles, tripping him and exposing two hairy legs.

This infuriated the man. He was forced to use one hand to yank up his trousers while assuming a defensive stance.

He glanced backward and saw a little girl behind him, holding half of the broken belt in her hand. Clearly, she was the one who had grabbed him and caused this humiliating scene.

The Goddess Society member was neither arrogant nor foolish. He sensed danger immediately.

The little girl pointed at Chen Jianzi and declared boldly, “She’s mine. You can go now.”

The Goddess Society member frowned and remained unmoved.

The little girl before him was none other than Little Yin.

Seeing that the blond foreigner refused to leave, Little Yin shouted. “Do you not understand human speech?”

What she truly wanted to say was, “It’s one thing for Zhang Yuelu to bully me. How dare you bully me too? Do you not know that I’m the fourth strongest creature in the Ghost Kingdom?”

Instead of fearing the child, Chen Jianzi felt relief. Strange as this little girl was, she sounded like a Daoist. Chen Jianzi vaguely recalled hearing that a little girl often accompanied Sage Qi. Could this be her? Falling into Daoist hands was far better than being silenced by the Goddess Society.

The Goddess Society member’s figure shot forward, thrusting his rapier straight at Little Yin.

All his accumulated experience could not compensate for the overwhelming gap in strength. Little Yin opened her mouth, bit down on the rapier, and chewed the blade into scraps.

Seeing this, the Goddess Society member was terrified out of his wits and instinctively turned to flee.

However, Little Yin was not to be trifled with. If he had not attacked her, she would have let him go. But now that he had struck at her, he no longer had the chance to run.

From Chen Jianzi’s point of view, Little Yin’s shadow stretched taller in the dim light. Her limbs were still short, but her mouth widened into a pitch-black portal.

Little Yin opened her mouth and inhaled, generating a tremendous suction force. The Goddess Society member could not even run and was involuntarily dragged backward.

Amid the man’s miserable screams, Little Yin swallowed him whole.

Chen Jianzi turned deathly pale at the sight, unable to speak. Her legs trembled uncontrollably.

Although Chen Jianzi had lived in Lion City for many years and had seen her share of shady dealings, she had never witnessed someone being swallowed alive.

After swallowing the man, Little Yin returned to her normal size, but her brows furrowed. She dry-heaved once, then spat out a pile of corroded metal parts and some unidentified black fluid.

Little Yin spat twice in disgust and thought, Ugh, disgusting! Monsters taste so much better...

She then walked over to the collapsed Chen Jianzi, sized her up and down, and sniffed once, confirming the scent matched.

This frightened Chen Jianzi, as she was terrified this little demon might eat her next.

Without further words, Little Yin hoisted Chen Jianzi over her shoulder and went to find Zhang Yuelu to claim her reward.

Neither Qi Xuansu nor Zhang Yuelu had expected Little Yin to act so swiftly. This little imp actually located and captured Chen Jianzi in less than half a day. This made both of them view her in a new light.

Qi Xuansu praised Little Yin without reservation. “You’re far more reliable than the Spirit Guards and Daoist priests under me. If it were up to me, I’d make you a Deputy Mansion Master right away!”

Zhang Yuelu was in an excellent mood as well. Being someone who honors her word, she not only fulfilled her promise but even rewarded Little Yin with an extra 500 Taiping coins.

Times had changed. Zhang Yuelu was no longer the impoverished girl of the past. As the successor of the Zhang family, she could even afford to supply Lin Yuanmiao’s costly Soul-Returning Incense. So, a few hundred Taiping coins were nothing.

In this regard, Qi Xuansu was simply lacking.

Little Yin was delighted to get a bonus. Having 1,500 Taiping coins to spend over three days meant she could spend 500 Taiping coins a day! That was a guaranteed luxurious lifestyle. She could book out the grandest opera house and have them perform just for her.

To prevent further mishaps on Beichen Hall’s side and to maintain secrecy, Qi Xuansu decided to interrogate Chen Jianzi personally.

After nearly being silenced, Chen Jianzi had already thought things through. Before Qi Xuansu could begin to threaten or tempt her, Chen Jianzi voluntarily expressed full cooperation, so long as they spared her life.

According to Chen Jianzi, the person who acted as her liaison to the Goddess Society was a man named Lin Qingcheng, secretary to Wang Jiaoying.

A secretary’s official rank might not be high, but they often held immense power due to their proximity to their superior. Before the Deputy Mansion Master, he was merely a secretary. But in front of outsiders, he was the Deputy Mansion Master’s proxy, as good as being the Deputy Mansion Master himself. Thus, such people often wielded tremendous influence.

Chen Jianchou was another example of a powerful secretary. Though he had not passed the Daoist major examination and had no formal rank, everyone deferred to him simply because he was Qi Xuansu’s secretary. Even Xie Jiaofeng called him brother, and countless people tried to befriend him in hopes of currying favor with Sage Qi through him.

After all, not everyone could simply request an audience with Qi Xuansu, who was now the youngest Sage of the Daoist Order and a Chief Deputy Mansion Master. It was not that Qi Xuansu wanted to act lofty. There had to be a gatekeeper. Otherwise, he would spend every day doing nothing but entertaining visitors. Thus, who could see him and when they could naturally lay in the hands of his secretary.

Who below would dare not flatter him? Who would dare offend him?

Frankly speaking, many high-ranking Daoists spent more time with their secretaries than with their Daoist companions, making it easy for a secretary to influence things—subtly helping someone succeed or sabotaging them.

Wang Jiaoying was Wang Jiaohe’s brother and the Third Poluo Deputy Mansion Master, so he held great power. In the past, Great Sage Lan rarely interfered in the Poluo Daoist Mansion, making Wang Jiaohe the No. 1 figure, while Chen Shuhua was No. 2, and Wang Jiaoying was unquestionably No. 3. Thus, Wang Jiaoying’s secretary was no small character.

It made perfect sense for him to handle the liaison with Chen Jianzi.

However, making a move on this secretary would easily alert the Wang family.

Qi Xuansu discussed the matter with Zhang Yuelu and Li Zhuyu.

Li Zhuyu’s opinion was for Beichen Hall to arrest him outright.

Zhang Yuelu, however, proposed a different approach. “Strictly speaking, purging traitors is indeed Beichen Hall’s responsibility, so it’s wholly appropriate for you to handle the arrest. But doing so could easily alert the enemy. Since our capture of Chen Jianzi was conducted secretly, neither our internal traitors nor external forces are fully certain of the situation now, so they won’t react immediately. My recommendation is to let Fengxian Hall step in and arrest him under the pretext of a disciplinary investigation. That would be safer.”

Qi Xuansu pondered for a moment. “Isn’t the Nanyang United Trading Company everyone’s personal purse, and that many from the Daoist Mansion love to reimburse their expenses through it? We can start from these reimbursements, using this as a pretext to make our move. Let’s compile a long list of names and mix Lin Qingcheng’s into it, then have Fengxian Hall interview each person on the list. After that, we’ll seize him along with the others, announcing that Lin Qingcheng is under disciplinary investigation for embezzlement. With Great Sage Jiang still in Thanglong Prefecture, neither Wang Jiaoying nor Wang Jiaohe can stir up any waves.”

Li Zhuyu had no choice but to acknowledge the soundness of this plan.

Qi Xuansu said, “Oh, right. Su Yi is currently in Thanglong Prefecture. Have Lu Yuting issue the list. I’ll notify Su Yi and Second Deputy Xu. We must act immediately.”

Qi Xuansu also ordered Chen Jianzi to be secretly detained under strict guard to prevent her death or escape. After all, she would still need to testify during the final trial.

At the same time, Qi Xuansu honored his word and spared her life. Once this Nanyang affair was resolved, Chen Jianzi would be exiled to the Kunlun Daoist Mansion to build Daoist temples.

For prisoners with significant cultivation, exile to remote regions was ineffective, since there would never be enough manpower to supervise them, making escape far too easy. Exiling them to the Kunlun Daoist Mansion was a better choice, since security was impenetrable at Kunlun’s foothills. A quarter of the Daoist Order’s Spirit Guards were stationed there, and Kunlun was full of masters. No prisoner could cause trouble there.

In recent years, the Daoist Order had been continuously expanding Jade Capital. Technically, they were not expanding the capital, but developing the surrounding areas around Kunlun into new auxiliary cities. That way, they could redistribute less critical functions and ease the population and pressure on Jade Capital. As such, this involved massive construction projects and the building of new temples.

The manpower requirements were also high. Ordinary laborers were far inferior to prisoners with high cultivation. Hence, in recent years, the Daoist Order preferred exile over execution whenever possible so that they could send prisoners with cultivation to Kunlun’s temple worksites. This cost the Daoist Order nothing, so why not make use of them?

If a prisoner performed well during labor service and showed genuine repentance, their sentence could be reduced. After a few decades, freedom was possible. This gave prisoners hope and discouraged desperate resistance.

For those with excessively high cultivation or whose crimes were too grave to release but unsuitable for direct execution, there were only three places where they would be locked up—the Demon-Vanquishing Cave, the Demon Suppression Tower, and the Dragon Cave.

Yue Liuli being locked in the Demon Suppression Tower was purely for Qi Xuansu’s revenge.