Pawn Crossing the River

There was no wind or rain along the way, and the "Sun Boat" arrived at Danxiu Mountain safely.

Xidaomen sent relevant personnel to greet them, and Tantai Ying was among them.

Although Tantai Ying is Tantai Zhenxiao's eldest granddaughter, Tantai Ying is not a little girl. She is at least thirty years old, much older than Qi Xuansu.

In any case, the Tantai family is considered a new family, because they are not the real descendants of Tantai Yun, and they are not related to the Confucian Tantai family. The real history is only more than a hundred years, and their seniority and age can still be the same. By comparison, there will be no juniors in their seventies and seniors who are babbling.

Under Huangfuji's introduction, the two got to know each other.

In terms of appearance, Tantai Ying is not very stunning, but she has a unique charm, mainly in terms of temperament. The arrogance of the aristocratic family is mixed with a bit of tenderness unique to women, and her temper is quite straightforward and full of personality.

Judging from her speech and behavior, she is the kind of person who doesn't care what others think of her. She is also a very self-centered person. She will dislike this and dislike that, and she does not hide her opinions. What's the matter? You have to speak straightforwardly without leaving any emotion behind. It has to be said that it is also a kind of arrogance. You can tell from her complaints and sarcasm about Huangfu Ji between the lines.

This is different from Zhang Yuelu, who also doesn't care about other people's opinions. Zhang Yuelu is actually not arrogant, especially when getting along with ordinary people. Zhang Yuelu does not feel superior to others, which can be seen from her attitude towards Taoist people. If she was an arrogant person, she would not readily accept the invitation from passers-by to attend the wedding banquet, let alone get to know Qi Xuansu.

This is determined by their backgrounds. Although both of them are granddaughters of important people, Tantai Ying has been recognized since childhood, while Zhang Yuelu has to be self-reliant for a long time, which gives Zhang Yuelu the opportunity to contact the lower class. opportunity, so Zhang Yuelu can better understand the hardships and helplessness of some middle and lower classes, instead of standing on the high clouds and whitewashing the peace. This also led to a change in Zhang Yuelu's ideological concepts.

As for why Qi Xuansu didn't change his mind, one reason was Qiniang's teaching, and the other reason was that there was no contrast. People who are used to seeing light and beauty suddenly see darkness and ugliness, which will create a huge gap and contrast, tear their cognition, and even shake their beliefs, so they will make some changes.

Qi Xuansu has been flopping in the quagmire, and all he sees is the bottom. He is accustomed to it, and is a little too low. He lives like a dog, and human life is as cheap as grass. He doesn't know what the beauty that is whitewashed should be. Naturally, there is no momentary gap between him and Contrast.

Zhang Yuelu may have self-doubt after seeing the inside story of the first major Jiangnan case. Is this the Taoism I know? how could this be? How could this be? No, I must

The path needs to be changed.

It was Qi Xuansu who discovered the inside story of the first Jiangnan case. He probably thought, what should I do? It turns out that you are like this too. It turns out that the crows in the world are just as black. It is just a change of skin. There is no difference in essence. Then I also I can be a high-quality Taoist priest, and I can also love Taoism. At least I am not greedy.

Back to Tantai Ying, such a woman is obviously difficult to deal with. If you have a right temper with her, then of course anything will be fine. If you don't have a good temper with her, she can make you lose face at any time, regardless of the occasion.

Huangfuji has a very good sense of proportion. I can tolerate you in personal matters. I won't care about you no matter how angry you are with me. For example, when the two of them were drinking in private, Huangfuji advised Tantaiying to find someone to marry as soon as possible. Tantaiying couldn't listen to such words, so he got up and left, leaving Huangfuji where he was. Huangfuji didn't care. This is like a pressure relief valve, venting Tantai Ying's dissatisfaction early.

Now that I have taken the initiative to take a step back on personal matters, then on official matters, you must put away your eldest lady temper and do things according to my requirements. If I say put it on hold, I will put it on hold. There is no room for bargaining and obey orders. . For a while, the two of them got along quite harmoniously. Tantai Ying could only complain about this boss verbally, but would not take any real action.

After a brief exchange of polite greetings, Huangfu Ji made a host and invited the two of them to have dinner at Danxiu Palace.

The banquet was relatively simple, and there were only three of them participating.

At the banquet, when they were half drunk and talking about the "Shadow Case", Qi Xuansu suddenly asked a relatively sensitive question: "Is there some kind of high-level clique in Tawanting?"

Tantai Ying was startled, "What does Chief Qi mean by this?"

Qi Xuansu said, "Since you are a high-level person, you must be either rich or noble. Since you are a small circle, you must complete resource replacement and integration. They are all powerful people. According to normal channels, they basically get what they ask for, but they still have to open up a There is definitely nothing good going on in this abnormal clique.”

Tantaiying glanced at Qi Xuansu in surprise.

Qi Xuansu went on to say, "What can't be explained through normal channels? Do you have to say it in a small circle? If it can only be explained clearly in a small circle, it must be against the right path. So I want to ask, is there such a thing in Tawanting?" Plant a small circle?”

Tantai Ying understood what Qi Xuansu meant, "Chief Qi suspects that these cases involve man-made disasters within Tawanting?"

Qi Xuansu said, "Maybe I am a little too sensitive, but most of the things I have experienced are human problems. From an experience point of view, the 'Shadow Case' may involve issues intended to subvert the Tawanting system."

Huangfu said, "It's not that serious, right?"

Qi Xuansu said, "When I first arrived in Borneo, I didn't think there was a big problem. On the surface, he was nothing more than a Wang Jiaohe in the pseudo-immortal realm. With the great master Lan holding down him and the Golden Que as a support, he could lift the wheels. What kind of waves? But the deeper you dig, the more shocking it becomes. There are as many as four immortals involved, namely Wu Luo, Siming Zhenjun, Chen Shuhua, and the Buddhist Lord Buddha. In the end, the Taoist sect in order to suppress this conspiracy to subvert The rebellion under the Taoist sect indirectly dispatched three immortals, Master Lan, Master Jiang, and Patriarch Jin Gong, who used more than five immortal objects. Precisely because of Grandmaster Jin Gong’s meritorious conduct in this suppression operation, indirectly It has promoted the normalization of some secret societies. As for the number of pseudo-immortals involved, including first-level spiritual officials.”

Huangfu said with a smile, "I understand. Tianyuan's words have only one meaning, which is to ask me to pay more attention to the 'Shadow Case' and not to be careless. Then I will agree. As long as the 'Shadow Case' is involved, I will They all opened the door to convenience and allowed Chief Tantai to do things conveniently."

Tantai Ying did not give Huangfu any face, "It should have been like this a long time ago."

Qi Xuansu's thinking is still consistent. All conspiracies involve interests. Greed is endless, and gods are not exempt from vulgarity. If you follow the direction of interests, you can always find the root cause.

What's weird, what can't be looked at directly, Qi Xuansu doesn't believe it.

Tantai Ying immediately gave Qi Xuansu a clue. There really was a small circle among the top management of Tawanting that was not in a normal environment.

This small circle or group is called the Heron Society. It has the nature of a secret association and involves many high-level people in Tawanting. It is quite similar to the Qingping Society.

According to the knowledge of the Juesheng Church, some members of the Heron Society are believers of the former Sun God Itsumna. After Kukulkan replaced Itsumna, a purge of believers was indeed carried out. They were originally loyal to Yitesumna. The believers of Itesumna hid one after another, and the herons came into being. Their purpose was to wait for the return of Itesumna and prepare for it.

This is reasonable. There is no need to go into too much detail about the triple death of the gods. No matter it is the first death or the second death, it is definitely not the third death. There are so many people who remember Heron. Tessner, there is indeed a possibility of his return.

From the perspective of Xidaomen,

Whether a small group is a threat depends not on its original intention and purpose, but on its organization. If it can threaten the rule of Xidaomen, it is well-organized, no matter how good its original intention is, it is not right. As for the normalization of some of the secret societies promoted by Daomen, these secret societies on the list are part of the extension of Daomen. Those who do dirty work for Daomen all have backers within Daomen. This cannot be generalized.

Qi Xuansu asked, "Is there a connection between the black sun tattoo and the heron?"

Tantai Ying shook his head and said, "Now it seems that it doesn't matter. In order to hide their identity, it is impossible for the heron to leave such an obvious identity mark as a tattoo on their body. Their token is a heron-shaped ornament. As I wrote before As mentioned in the article, our main focus must be on the Steam Gospel, so we did not investigate the Heron Society in depth.”

Qi Xuansu asked again, "What is the meaning of the heron?"

Tantai Ying said, "The heron symbolizes Xinchi Chika, the last emperor of Paititi."

"The last emperor?" Qi Xuansu expressed doubts.

Tantai Ying said, "Now is Xinpaititi. Although the name of the country has not changed, it has indeed changed its dynasties. Just like the east-west, north-south, front and rear dynasties in the history of the Central Plains, they all experienced a period of subjugation and reconstruction. It is said that There are many royal people in the Heron Club.”

Qi Xuansu became more and more puzzled, "I remember that the Tawanting royal family claimed to be the descendants of the ancient god Pachaka, but Pachaka has fallen and can no longer protect his descendants. Xidaomen, based on the principle of uniting all available forces, combined the three With the help of Xidaomen, Emperor Tawanting married the Nahuatl princess, gained the allegiance of most of the Nahuatl army, and converted to Kukulcan, the sun god of Nohpeten. Accepting the power of the priests of Nohpeten. Why do the royal family members of the Heron Society still miss Itesumna of the Nohpeten pantheon? Shouldn’t they worship their ancestor Pachaka?”

Tantai Yingruo pointed out, "Sometimes, what some people admire may not be true admiration, but more likely opposition. But they dare not openly oppose it, so they have no choice but to express their opposition by praising the enemies of the object of their opposition." "

Qi Xuansu understood immediately.

For example, some people are dissatisfied with Taoism, but they dare not rule under Taoism.

He openly opposed Taoism, so he secretly opposed Taoism under the pretense of admiring Confucianism and Buddhism. If we really want them to join Confucianism and Buddhism, they are unwilling to do so, and they don't necessarily know how to treat Buddhism and Confucianism in their bones.

It may not be true that Heron would worship Itsumna, but it is probably true that he secretly opposes Kukulkan.