Pawn Crossing the River

This is undoubtedly an ominous sign. After the one-eyed stone man was born, the once-powerful Golden Horde Empire quickly collapsed and eventually withdrew from the Central Plains.

Is Taoism going to follow the footsteps of the Golden Horde?

Although Taoism today is stronger than the Golden Horde back then, a great empire never collapses because of external enemies, but only because of internal reasons.

Neither the Holy Court nor the Buddhist sect can really threaten the foundation of Taoism, but the dispute between the three sects does threaten Taoism.

There was a brief silence between the two.

Zhang Yuelu said: "I don't believe in destiny, I believe that everything is in the hands of man. What is 'Don't say that the stone man has only one eye, this thing will rebel once it appears', is the Buddhist sect doing such a trick, trying to curse the Taoist sect to death?"

Qi Xuansu waved his hand: "Whether it is a real omen or the Buddhist sect's wishful thinking, this matter must be taken seriously. The harm of the extraterritorial demons is absolutely incomparable to that of the ancient immortals."

Ancient immortals and extraterritorial demons have many similarities, such as they cannot descend in person, they need containers, and they are eager for divine power and souls and flesh.

But there are also great differences.

The extraterritorial demons themselves represent a kind of "heavenly will", so their interference in the human world can cause the collapse of the rules.

When facing extraterritorial demons, everything is no longer reliable, the rules are invalid, and the past experience becomes meaningless.

On the contrary, when facing immortals, the rules of heaven are still indestructible. Maybe the power of mortals cannot match that of gods, but gods will also bleed, so they can still deal with it according to known experience.

In other words, gods have physical bodies. As long as there are rules, there must be ways to deal with them. There is always an expectation.

But the outer demon is a world. How can you harm a world? Refine the earth, water, fire and wind? Ordinary people don't have such great supernatural powers.

Often only the world can fight against the world.

The Supreme Daozu can open up thirty-three heavens, and of course he can subdue the outer demon. Ordinary people obviously don't have such means.

Compared with the two, although the ancient gods are powerful, they have rules after all, and they can find ways to deal with them. The outer demon is more weird, deadly, unpredictable, and even incommunicable. Many times it will make people unable to use their strength.

Qi Xuansu was deeply touched by this. A "Cangtian" who was defeated by "Huangtian" and sealed by the ancient Taiping Dao was so tricky, far more difficult than ordinary ancient gods. Even if Qi Xuansu faces Wu Luo now, he can fight back with violence. But facing "Cang Tian" is like solving a problem. He must use some external mechanism to solve the puzzle of rules. He rarely uses force.

Qi Xuansu glanced at Jiang Biecheng again. Although he was blessed by the "Lotus Mantra", he still looked very weak.

Qi Xuansu said: "When Huasheng Hall comes out with the results, give me a copy."

Zhang Yuelu said: "Don't worry."

Qi Xuansu left. He was going to find Cihang Zhenren and ask Tiangang Hall to formally investigate Jiashen Lingguan.

Compared with the unruly Taoist priests, it is relatively easy to investigate Lingguan.

Because the realm of the Taoist priests is their own, they will really fight back if they disagree with them. Qi Xuansu once glimpsed several of his futures, one of which was that he would be counterattacked. Facing the arrest of Beichen Hall, he did not surrender, but directly killed the people of Beichen Hall and fought his way out. In the end, he would rather die in battle than be humiliated and tried.

To die in battle or be killed is to be a traitor to Taoism, and to be tried is also to be a traitor to Taoism. A man of honor will die if he is worried about slander and ridicule, and he will also die if he is vigorous. Instead of waiting to die, it is better to fight.

The cultivation of the spiritual official comes from the "Thirty-three Heavens". It only needs to be cut off from the source. Without the support of divine power, even a first-grade spiritual official is just a tree without roots and water without roots, which is not worth worrying about.

The power to control the spiritual official does not lie in the spiritual official mansion, because the spiritual official cannot be allowed to manage himself, and the Taoist must command the spiritual official, so the power lies in Tiangang Hall, which is also the fundamental reason why Tiangang Hall is one of the top three halls.

Cihang Zhenren didn't go anywhere today. He was in Tiangang Hall. Qi Xuansu came out from Zhang Yuelu and arrived at Cihang Zhenren's signing room in just a few steps.

Cihang Zhenren had guessed Qi Xuansu's intention, and without Qi Xuansu saying anything, he pushed a letter in front of Qi Xuansu.

Qi Xuansu took it and saw that it was indeed an order to formally file a case for investigation. Cihang Zhenren had signed and sealed it.

Qi Xuansu complimented: "Zhenren is very smart."

Cihang Zhenren raised his hand to Qian Wan and handed her the letter: "Since Taiwei Zhenren has no objection, let's execute it."

Qian Wan looked at Qi Xuansu and smiled: "According to convention, we must inform the local Daofu in advance. Please cooperate with the Daofu friends."

"Of course." Qi Xuansu took a blank official document from Cihang Zhenren's desk, wrote it, and then took out the "Taiwei Zhenren" seal he carried with him and stamped it.

Of course, the seal of the Western Region Daofu was left in the Snow Mountain Palace. Qi Xuansu usually did not carry it with him, but his private seal was also effective. This was determined by the special mechanism of the Dao Sect. In the current Dao Sect ecology, except for a few weak Daoist masters, most Daoist masters have almost absolute power.

Because the territory of the Dao Sect is too large, it is impossible to ask the Jinque for everything, which would be too inefficient. When the Lingnan Daofu reported the so-called "Dajin survivors" to the Jinque, it made the Great Master Tang very dissatisfied.

Therefore, it is almost inevitable for Jinque to decentralize power. The real people in charge all hold great power, and except for some issues of principle, they can basically act arbitrarily.

Anyone who can check and balance the real person in charge is not the chief and second-ranking officer, but the real person in charge above. It's Yao Shu. If there is no master of Lan Da, Qi Xuansu and Xu Jiaorong can't do anything to him.

Qi Xuansu handed this official letter to Qian Wan.

Qian Wan took the order and left.

Master Cihang said: "Since it has been decided to formally file the case for review, it is no longer a matter for the Western Region Taoist Office. The Jiashen Lingguan needs to be transferred to Yujing and the review will be conducted directly in Yujing. You don't have to run back."

Qi Xuansu said: "According to what Jiang Biecheng said, the mastermind behind the war in the Western Regions is a woman. Batu Khan is just a puppet in front of the stage. We must be careful to kill people and silence them."

Master Cihang said: "I understand that this time the Jiazi Lingguan will go there in person, and there is also the Jiayin Lingguan at the Western Region Taoist Mansion to take care of him."

Qi Xuansu has been known as the Jiazi Spiritual Officer for a long time. He is the first among the twelve first-grade spiritual officers. He is ranked first in the Spiritual Officer Palace and is known as the chief spiritual officer. This needs to be replaced by Taoist priests. The first Taoist priest is the Grand Master, and the chief counselor is Donghua Zhenren. This shows the gold content of this first spiritual official.

Master Cihang sent him to personally take action, which shows the importance he attached to it. Moreover, Jiazi Lingguan will not go alone. As a representative of Tiangang Hall and Lingguan Mansion, there will definitely be other spiritual officials accompanying him.

Qi Xuansu naturally had nothing to worry about: "Then I will just wait for the good news."

Even if Jiazi Lingguan sets out immediately, it will still take two days at the earliest, so Qi Xuansu will have to wait for two more days.

After Qi Xuansu came out from Master Cihang, he went to see Master Donghua to report his recent investigation results.

Master Donghua was also quite surprised. He originally focused all his energy on shamanism and did not pay much attention to the West Courtyard. After all, the West Courtyard was not very important. However, he did not expect that the killing moves of Buddhism were hidden here, and indirectly in the upper echelons of Taoism. A hidden secret was laid.

It has to be said that luckily it was Qi Xuansu who found out. His apprentice is in control of the specific progress of the case. Who should be involved and who should not be involved, to what extent and how to characterize it are all under Qi Xuansu's control.

If the Taiping Dao people found out this, there would be a lot of work to be done. Especially when the general election is approaching, it would be very fatal to make some claims that Donghua Zhenren's poor command has caused endless troubles.

Thinking of this, Master Donghua couldn't help but feel happy. This disciple has been accepted well. Fortunately, the master and the disciple have achieved mutual success. Of course, the master can support and protect the disciples, but the disciples cannot lie on the master and just suck blood. In the end, they have to feed the master in return.

In the first thirty years, you should respect your father and your son, and in the next thirty years, you should respect your son and your father.

A person's posthumous reputation also largely depends on his successor.

There is no need to go too far, just take a look at the Fifth Generation Grand Master and the Sixth Generation Grand Master.

The Fifth-generation Grandmaster has no heir, and now he has a mixed reputation. If it weren't for some of the outstanding achievements of the Fifth-generation Grandmaster, he might have been classified as a tyrant. This is similar to bullying a dead person who cannot speak.

If the Sixth Generation Grandmaster has an outstanding successor who can integrate the Taoist sect after the Sixth Generation Grandmaster ascends and clean up the mess for the Sixth Generation Grandmaster, then even if the Sixth Generation Grandmaster has many faults, at least he has made a contribution—— A qualified successor was selected. Then the evaluation of the Sixth Generation Master would not be so bad, and could even be described as "ruling by doing nothing".

This shows the importance of heirs.

Master Donghua's relief is understandable.

When Qi Xuansu came back to Taishangfang from Ziweitang, Zhang Yuelu had not returned yet. As a representative of hard work and diligence, Zhang Yuelu would probably have to stay up very late, maybe another all-nighter. But she enjoyed it, and it was hard for others to say anything.

Lao Zhang is not at home tonight, so Xiao Yin simply stops pretending.

She is not that good of a lady, she is just a lively and happy little Yin.

As soon as Qi Xuansu entered the door, he saw Xiao Yin waving a straight stick he found from nowhere and fighting happily with a grinning tiger. He was still shouting: "I I'll beat you with a steel whip and beat you to death, you bastard."

Qi Xuansu's blood suddenly surged and he drank to stop Xiao Yin. The tiger also felt Qi Xuansu's power and shrank to the side, trembling.

Qi Xuansu reached out to lift Xiao Yin and asked, "Where did the tiger come from?"

Xiao Yin said obediently: "You move forward, and the people from Nanyang will arrive on the back and bring this big-brained tiger. Isn't this what we agreed?"

"Nanyang." Qi Xuansu's expression was a little unclear. He put down Xiao Yin and said nothing more.

A tiger is worthless, and there are plenty of them in Nanyang. All he needs to do is be willing to catch them. If he can't escape, he can catch them himself. It's no big deal. It's just that when he is overthrown and convicted in the future, this will also be a crime.

Xiao Yin looked at Qi Xuansu's face: "Old Qi, is it inconvenient?"

Xiao Yin still knew the basics. Although he was reluctant, he still said: "If it's inconvenient, then...then give it back."

Qi Xuansu smiled and said: "It's just a tiger, why are you going back? I've been working hard for so many years, not to be a saint. I haven't been aggrieved to this point, so let's keep it for fun."