A Pawn's Passage

The Morgan Brotherhood could not place agents directly at the Patriarch’s side, but hierarchies extended layer by layer downward. Those close to the Patriarch had their own subordinates and attendants, and as one followed these layers down, the Brotherhood only needed to gather intelligence from the middle and lower ranks. Combined with the fact that the Patriarch was not leaving St. York secretly nor keeping his movements hidden, Sadie could roughly infer the Patriarch’s itinerary.

This was how intelligence gathering worked. Penetrating deep into the enemy’s core to steal critical information happened only in rare cases. Most of the time, it resembled assembling a puzzle—collecting scattered fragments, piecing them together to reconstruct a rough outline, and then making inferences and guesses.

The Morgan Brotherhood excelled at this method. They did not sneak into the Patriarch’s secretary’s office to obtain his schedule. Instead, they gathered numerous seemingly irrelevant bits of information, such as the kitchen canceling a planned dinner, servants temporarily adjusting their shift rotations, or the coachman having been unusually idle lately. These pieces of intelligence were not difficult to obtain and often did not even require direct sources. For example, shift changes must be communicated to family members, so the Brotherhood might have learned of it from a child. By compiling all these fragments, they ultimately arrived at a vague but useful inference.

This was precisely why Jade Capital was a city of Daoists, Xuan City was practically a city of high-ranking Daoists, and the innermost Purple Mansion consisted of elites and was more strictly guarded. The Daoist residents of Xuan City and Purple Mansion were rotated only every few months to prevent such occurrences. Even if a leak did happen, it was easy to investigate and pinpoint the source.

The Holy Seat was much the same. It was a city of clergy. However, St. York was more like Jinling Prefecture or Lion City, lacking such conditions, so information inevitably spread everywhere.

After receiving this intelligence, Qi Xuansu immediately contacted Lu Yujue and asked him to relay the message to the fellow members of the Western Daoist Order. Since the Western Daoist Order did not possess the Beichen Hall’s special token, an intermediary was required to pass along the information.

Although Qi Xuansu did not wish to escalate the situation, the Western Daoist Order had begun to act. He could only consider matters from their perspective and could not undermine them at this point. He hoped that even if they intended to take action, they would wait until the Patriarch had left the New Continent, lest they crash headlong into him and suffer heavy casualties.

Lu Yujue acted swiftly without any delay and soon replied, “Chief Deputy, Sage Huangfu asked me to convey his thanks for the information you provided.”

Qi Xuansu responded, “We’re a family, so there’s no need for such formalities.”

......

“We are indeed one family. But we still eat from separate bowls. Since Chief Deputy Qi has shown his goodwill, I will remember this favor,” Huangfu Ji said, ending his conversation with Lu Yujue.

Thousands of kilometers away, at the Western Daoist Order’s temporary encampment, its members had already begun packing up, preparing to depart.

“Chief Deputy Qi is quite courteous. I had thought that a prodigy like him would be arrogant and condescending. Now it seems I was mistaken,” Huangfu Ji said with a faint smile. “But this is also understandable. He can still get along fairly well with Sage Qingwei, even though he’s affiliated with Sage Donghua. At the very least, they maintain appearances. It shows he is not like Zhang Yuelu.”

Liang Guangfu nodded. “I’ve heard a bit as well. Sage Qi advocates a tough stance externally, but internally, he tends to be more flexible and avoids confronting those deeply entrenched aristocratic families. After all, he lacks a solid backing and cannot fully represent the Daoist Order. There are things the Li and Zhang families can do but he cannot. If he rashly pushes for internal reforms, it would’ve been easy for others to brand him as a traitor to the Daoist Order.”

“Alright, enough of that.” Huangfu Ji waved his hand and turned to look in another direction. “Is the connection not established yet?”

After Huangfu Ji ended his conversation with Lu Yujue, the Western Daoists began dismantling the mother-child mirrors, though one voice transmission formation had not yet been taken down.

The mother-child mirrors could project a half-body image, allowing communication as if it were face-to-face, which was undoubtedly a more advanced method. However, this technique only emerged in recent years. Before that, long-distance communication mainly relied on voice transmission talismans or similar methods, where one could hear the voice but not see the person. Many traditionalists like the Imperial Preceptor still preferred the voice transmission talisman.

Going further back, there was the rapid post talisman, which allowed only text-based communication.

One of the Western Daoists responded, “Right away, Sage. It’s done. The connection is established.”

Huangfu Ji stepped before the voice transmission formation. “Secretary Duan? This is Huangfu Ji. I have a situation to report to Elder Gong. May I know if Elder Gong is available?”

After speaking, Huangfu Ji waited for Secretary Duan’s reply, but the other side of the formation remained silent, as if waiting for him to finish.

Huangfu Ji had no choice but to speak again. “Secretary Duan... Old Duan, are you there?”

“It’s me.” Someone finally responded, but it was not Secretary Duan. Instead, it was an aged voice—the second-in-command of the Western Daoist Order, Gong Fu.

Huangfu Ji was startled and instinctively straightened his posture, putting away his usual trace of nonchalance.

“Li Ming, speak.” Gong Fu’s voice came through again. Instead of addressing him by name based on seniority, he used Huangfu Ji’s courtesy name, acknowledging the young man’s exceptional status within the Western Daoist Order as the fourth-ranking figure.

“Yes, Elder Gong,” Huangfu Ji said. “Chief Deputy Qi has just sent word that the Patriarch will be leaving St. York. So my thought is—perhaps this time we can act a bit more boldly?”

This ran counter to Qi Xuansu’s hopes. Qi Xuansu knew Huangfu Ji was aggressive, but he had not expected him to be this aggressive.

Gong Fu did not answer directly, falling into a brief silence. In the pause, he let out a soft sigh.

To Huangfu Ji, it sounded like wind sweeping over the vast sea and waves crashing in succession.

When Gong Fu spoke again, his tone became more solemn. “I do not doubt Chief Deputy Qi, but what if this is a trap deliberately set by the Patriarch?”

Huangfu Ji said, “Of course, that possibility cannot be ruled out. Chief Deputy Qi also hinted at this concern. He said there is only a 50% chance. But nothing in this world is absolute. I think it’s worth a try.”

“Li Ming, you’re being a bit too aggressive,” Gong Fu said.

Although using established facts to force the Daoist Order’s hand was a consensus within the Western Daoist Order, it did not mean they were all reckless like Madam Wu. They still had to maintain a sense of proportion and minimize risk.

Huangfu Ji smiled. “Elder Gong, spare me the sarcasm. You and the Eastern Lord sent me here to be aggressive. If stability were the goal, you would have sent someone else.”

The Eastern Lord referred to Tantai Zhenxiao, the nominal leader of the Western Daoist Order.

Gong Fu did not deny this. “You’re not wrong. However, not long ago, the Eastern Lord had spoken with Sage Qingwei, who was adamant that we do not escalate the situation. Even the most aggressive Li family holds this view, let alone the two other families.

Huangfu Ji curled his lip. “When Sage Qingwei led troops into Fenglin, did he ever think about not escalating the situation? But when it comes to us, suddenly we’re told to play it safe? Why can he go to war but we can’t?”

Gong Fu’s tone remained calm. “Mind your words. You can’t generalize both situations.”

Huangfu Ji said, “What I don’t understand is—if this stance is to be conveyed, why not by the Imperial Preceptor? Sage Qingwei’s view may not be the Imperial Preceptor’s. They might not be on the same side. Besides, you and the Eastern Lord are Immortals, yet Jade Capital sends just a Pseudo-Immortal to deal with you? Even if that Pseudo-Immortal is a future candidate for Grand Master, he hasn’t been chosen yet. Sage Donghua still stands a chance.”

He spoke these words in a single breath. Gong Fu did not interrupt. He listened quietly until Huangfu Ji fell silent. Then, he asked, “Finished?”

“Yes,” Huangfu Ji replied, with a hint of irritation.

Gong Fu spoke slowly, “You are not wrong—the Imperial Preceptor holds a higher position. But have you considered how many years he has left? In the coming decades, will the Western Daoist sect be dealing with the Imperial Preceptor, or with Sage Qingwei? Even if the Imperial Preceptor and Sage Qingwei disagree, so what? Could the Imperial Preceptor depose Sage Qingwei and find another successor? Leaving aside whether he even could, even if he succeeded, given the time he has left, he would not have the capacity to nurture another candidate. Removing Sage Qingwei would mean the Taiping Sect withdraws entirely from the competition for Grand Preceptor—would the other two Daoist branches then align with the Imperial Preceptor?

“At this point, the Imperial Preceptor has no choice but to respect Sage Qingwei’s opinion and make concessions. Youth itself is a kind of strength, which I’m sure you can relate to. If war were to break out, it could last for decades. So who would ultimately lead the war—the seventh-generation disciples or the sixth-generation disciples? Though the sixth-generation disciples still hold the highest authority in the Daoist Order for now, time will not allow it to remain so. If the seventh-generation is to take the lead, then it becomes obvious whose opinion is more valuable. In the end, the world belongs to young people like you.

“Also, who told you that Sage Qingwei is still a Pseudo-Immortal? The elders are on the verge of ascension, so Sage Qingwei, Sage Donghua, and Sage Cihang have already achieved immortality. In the coming years, several more will likely follow. In these final years of transition between the old and the new, it will be the time when the Daoist Order has the greatest number of Immortals.”

Huangfu Ji fell into silence.

Gong Fu finally said, “Li Ming, you are not yet 50. You’re still young, and your path ahead is long. Don’t act impulsively. Follow the original plan and withdraw after one strike. In addition, based on the intelligence provided by Chief Deputy Qi, act only after the Patriarch has left. I believe this was also Chief Deputy Qi’s intention in providing us with this information.”

“I will obey your orders, Elder Gong.” Huangfu Ji’s expression remained calm and his tone steady, but his fists were clenched tightly.