A Pawn's Passage

This matter could not be allowed to escalate.

However, this was unlike the accusation before, when the Wang family attacked Qi Xuansu and the Heavenly Preceptor suppressed the matter. That was because it involved far more complicated reasons.

In the previous accusation, the Heavenly Preceptor intervened and suppressed it because the Wang family lacked the necessary strength within the Golden Tower Council. At that time, the Li family was focused on the Fenglin War and needed the Zhang family’s support, making it impossible for them to oppose the Zhang family then. The Quanzhen Sect was also trying to get rid of the Wang family, so the Heavenly Preceptor did not have any concerns.

To put it bluntly, a case was first about politics, then about impact, and only last about the facts themselves. Where the ceiling lay and where the bottom line stood allowed for considerable flexibility.

The difference this time from the last was that it was unclear who the opponent was and whether they had support from the elites of the Golden Tower Council. However, anyone daring to target Qi Xuansu at this moment was most likely part of the Golden Tower Council itself.

Internal maneuvering within the Daoist Order followed a pattern. Typically, a minor pawn would be sent out first to raise an issue—the most common being a report or accusation. Sometimes, there would be a public confrontation, lifting the lid on matters as a probe. This would then be followed by further actions to fan the flames and amplify the issue. Only after it had reached a stage of widespread discussion and public uproar would the true mastermind step forward, representing a particular faction and putting forward demands.

If this was merely a probing move, it meant there would be all kinds of follow-up measures afterward. In such a situation, suppressing the matter outright would appear as guilt and tacit acknowledgment of the accusations.

Why would one need to suppress these accusations if one were innocent? That would place one in a passive position.

To be frank, forcibly suppressing an issue was a tactic that only worked when the strong bullied the weak. It was useless against an opponent of equal standing. That was why an emperor could keep matters hidden when dealing with ministers, and superiors could do so with subordinates. But among peers, there was no such option.

Since it could not be forcibly suppressed, the impact still needed to be minimized. As such, certain methods had to be employed.

Zhang Yuelu had already come up with a solution. She would use another event to divert attention before Qi Xuansu’s case gained traction. It could be something like the Number-One Courtesan Li Qingnu getting married. Ideally, it would cause such a stir that everyone from the Imperial Capital to Jade Capital, Fenglin, and even East Shakya would hear of it. When everyone was focused on Li Qingnu’s marriage, no one would pay attention to Qi Xuansu’s situation. This would buy her time to investigate.

By the time the buzz around Li Qingnu had largely died down, Zhang Yuelu would have investigated who was behind Qi Xuansu’s accusation letter. Since these accusations were essentially slander, clarifying it would not be too difficult.

At that point, outsiders would only think that Qi Xuansu was falsely accused.

Zhang Yuelu was indeed upright in conduct, but that did not mean she was simple-minded. When necessary, she still had the means.

However, Li Qingnu getting married was only an example. Li Qingnu belonged to the Taiping Sect, while Zhang Yuelu belonged to the Zhengyi Sect, so she could not possibly order Li Qingnu around. She needed to think of another method, one with enough public appeal.

This left Zhang Yuelu somewhat troubled. After all, she was not good at fabricating sensational topics. What she excelled at was investigating cases.

But mentioning cases reminded Zhang Yuelu of something. Throughout history, all kinds of strange cases could just as easily capture people’s attention, especially those involving their own interests.

Now serving as Second Deputy in charge of law, Zhang Yuelu immediately had various case files brought in.

Only upon looking did she realize that there really was a rather special case recently.

The Lingnan Daoist Mansion was different from the Poluo Daoist Mansion. The former, being within the borders of the Great Xuan Empire, was governed jointly by the Daoist Order and the Imperial Court. This case did not fall under Daoist jurisdiction. Instead, it was a civil case handled by the local government. Thus, Zhang Yuelu had not known of it beforehand. She only found it among the government archives when she searched for strange cases.

The case itself was not complicated. A popular opera performer went to Lingnan to perform and, during that time, met and fell in love with the daughter of a wealthy merchant. Their relationship even progressed to the point of discussing marriage, and eventually, the two planned to elope. After learning of their elopement, the woman’s uncle was furious and submitted a complaint to the county magistrate, accusing the performer of abducting a respectable woman. The county magistrate immediately dispatched constables to take the couple away on their wedding night.

The case had been adjudicated, with the magistrate handing down a severe verdict. The woman was sentenced to 200 slaps to the mouth and assigned to the Charitable Hall to be remarried, while the performer was sentenced to exile. The magistrate was a member of the Confucian School, and his basis for judgment was that different social classes must not intermarry.

Since the performer was very famous, the case had already sparked some controversy.

The debate was mainly divided into two camps—those expressing sympathy and compassion for the young couple’s plight and those who agreed with harsh punishment. The former believed that the woman’s uncle and the local gentry had overstepped their bounds. The latter argued that the couple had violated ritual propriety and deserved severe punishment.

The focal point of the dispute between the two camps centered on whether the verdict itself was reasonable. After all, Daoism emphasized equality, yet the long-standing Confucian system had been deeply rooted in the people’s hearts. As a result, the two sides remained deadlocked.

Zhang Yuelu found this case rather interesting.

Her stance had always been consistent. She had long maintained a critical attitude toward Confucianism, something that was evident during the Three Religions Assembly. In her view, social compatibility was an objective reality, but it could not be equated with the prohibition of marriage between social classes. This was the difference between unwritten conventions and explicit law. Unwritten rules existed precisely because they contained both reasonable and unreasonable aspects. In Daoist doctrine, there was no precedent for convicting or expelling a Daoist simply because they married a non-Daoist.

This Confucian magistrate was clearly violating the Daoist Order’s spirit of equality. Even Daoists only dared to violate it in secret, yet the magistrate dared to do so openly.

Was this a blatant challenge to the Daoist Order?

This gave Zhang Yuelu a legitimate reason to intervene. Once matters involved morality, ideology, thought, and doctrine, the Daoist Order took precedence. Even the Imperial Court could not say much.

Zhang Yuelu felt that the case could be publicized through the Qingping Publishing House to create impact and spark a nationwide debate—whether equality should exist and what equality truly meant. She also set a guiding principle. Though everyone’s abilities might differ in degree, no one deserves to be bound to a lowly class forever.

After careful consideration, Zhang Yuelu contacted Great Sage Jiang.

Ordinarily, it was not easy to contact someone of Great Sage Jiang’s stature. However, Zhang Yuelu’s status was exceptional, being one of the candidates for the eighth-generation Grand Master.

The reason Zhang Yuelu contacted Great Sage Jiang was that the Qingping Publishing House fell under the jurisdiction of the Zixiao Palace, which he oversaw. This was not a trivial matter of assigning an author at random, as it involved ideological principles. Thus, to secure the full cooperation of Qingping Publishing House, Great Sage Jiang needed to step in personally.

Great Sage Jiang did not make things difficult for Zhang Yuelu and agreed without hesitation.

Very soon, a great debate sweeping across more than half of the Eastern world was set in motion. “What is equality? Should there be equality?”

The two camps, centering their arguments on the case of the famous performer’s elopement, used the Qingping Publishing House’s gazette as their battlefield and began a fierce war of words.

Of the two questions, the second was not truly a question at all. Whether Daoist or Confucian, no one dared deny that there should be equality.

But the first question was open to much debate. It depended on one’s perspective. Was it equality among all people, equality among all things, equality at birth, or equality in death?

All these forms of equality were not the same.

At the outset, these discussions were somewhat lukewarm, but one individual’s perspective had pushed the debate straight into a fever pitch.

That person was none other than Qin Lingge.

Qin Lingge was born into the imperial clan and held the title of Imperial Prince, though without much real authority. Since he lost his parents at a young age, the Emperor brought him into the palace and raised him like a son, allowing him to study alongside the other princes under the tutelage of the Grand Academicians. The imperial family had always revered Daoism, and successive emperors all held the title of Great Sage, standing alongside the Grand Master. Members of the imperial house worshipped the Primordial Daoist Ancestor. Although they also studied Confucian classics, Daoism took precedence, with Confucianism as a supplement.

However, Qin Lingge was deeply obsessed with Confucian learning. He refused to enter the Daoist Order and would rather relinquish his title as prince to become a disciple of a Confucian Grand Libationer. This act caused his reputation to soar, and many within the Confucian School praised him as a once-in-a-century scholarly prodigy.

After entering the Confucian school, Qin Lingge gained the recognition of a Confucian immortal artifact and became the master of a pocket realm. He had interactions with all three Confucian Grand Libationers, each of whom imparted learning to him. Today, Qin Lingge enjoyed considerable prestige within the Confucian school and had become its youngest Great Master.

In addition, Qin Lingge had been Zhang Yuelu’s opponent at the Three Religions Assembly.

The participation of such a figure instantly pushed the debate to its peak.

The crucial point was that Qin Lingge spoke with startling boldness. He did not discuss the second question but only addressed the first—whether equality should exist at all.

Qin Lingge said, “Equality? Some people need equality, while others have no need for it because what they truly need is survival. For such people, equality is a luxury. Over many years, Daoism has attempted to implant equality in various regions, yet it has not succeeded even once, because those places lack the most basic foundations necessary to support equality. Without sufficient resources, can overthrowing an old ruler and supporting a new leader truly establish a nation of equality?”

After Qin Lingge entered the fray, Zhang Yuelu suddenly felt that the situation was getting out of control. Thus, she had no choice but to personally step in to refute Qin Lingge.

This once again drove the intensity of the debate to an even higher level.

Even many Great Sages and Grand Libationers became aware of it.

At this point, no matter how those with ulterior motives continued to fan the flames, who would still pay attention to the reporting of a minor Chief Deputy Mansion Master? The topic of the month was about Confucian vs. Daoist doctrines. Compared to this, all other matters were far too small and insignificant.