Pawn Crossing the River

There are a total of ninety-nine and eighty-one libraries in Genyuan. Every nine libraries form a circle. The nine circles are nested together, and the big circle is nested within the small circle. Therefore, the farther the library is from the outside, the smaller the number of libraries. The distance between them is also larger. Even from the front, it is impossible to see that the library is surrounded by a circle. It must be viewed from a high altitude. The closer the library is to the inside, the smaller the distance is.

The library where Qi Xuansu is located is undoubtedly the innermost one, so these nine libraries are almost right next to each other. There is only one alleyway between them, nine in total, and the distance between these buildings is The alley was sealed again with a spell visible to the naked eye, which made Qi Xuansu couldn't help but wonder, what was in the center of the nine circles? It's a pity that there is a cave inside the library, and there are no windows at all. It is impossible for Qi Xuansu to see the back from inside the library.

On this day, Qi Xuansu finished his routine sword training as usual. After walking out of the stone room, he happened to meet Sun Hewu who was also studying in the building, and the two left the library together.

"Master Sun." Qi Xuansu called the old man and pointed to the alley closest to him. At the entrance of the alley, he saw a crystal-like translucent wall that seemed to be condensed with black and white brilliance. Qi Xuansu once tried to get closer. , the Taoist mark of Yin Yang, Pisces and Bagua will appear on it. In addition, the eighty-one library itself is an array within an array, and all means of teleportation and flyby within this range are prohibited.

Qi Xuansu asked: "Why is there a formation barrier here?"

Sun Hewu then looked at it, hesitated for a moment, and asked: "You want to ask what is in the middle of Gen Garden behind the nine libraries?"

Qi Xuansu nodded.

Sun Hewu sighed: "There used to be an isolated library there, independent of the eighty-one library buildings, called the 'Tianshui Yixin Building'. It was built by Confucianism during the Wanxiang Academy, and all the books in it were There are hundreds of schools of thought that are unique and rare, and cannot be spread to the outside world. There are Taoists, military strategists, farmers, Yin-Yangists, political strategists, famous scholars, Legalists, and the Mohist theory, which is the great enemy of Confucianism. They are all regarded by the Confucian sages. They gathered them and hid them in them.”

"In the past, students in the academy were not allowed to take even one step. Even if they wanted to drink wine, they had to get permission before they could enter. The rules in the library were even stricter. Without the permission of the big wine maker, no one was allowed to bring wine. Go, no copying is allowed, even the viewing time is limited, and the collection of books has been banned by the Confucian sect, and the books cannot be taken off the shelves without permission. "

"Later, the Taoist sect renovated the Wanxiang Academy into the Wanxiang Taoist Palace, built the Upper Palace, and directly moved the library from the Lower Palace to the Gen Garden. Many improvements were made, and formations were set up in this building to connect the Yujing's Daozangsi was connected. And with this "Tianshui Yixin Tower" as the center, eighty-one library buildings were built, forming a defensive trend. "

Having said this, Sun Hewu sighed and said with regret: ""But something happened later. Not only did the Taoist Palace seal off the library, but all the roads leading to the library were also blocked. No one is allowed to enter except for the great master in charge of the palace. Due to the rush, the books in the ‘Tianshui Yixin Tower’ could not be moved out. It’s a pity, a pity. "

Qi Xuansu asked the key to the whole matter: "Why did the Taoist Palace blockade the 'Tianshui Yixin Tower'?"

"Because this is the order of Zixiao Palace, Dao Palace must also obey." Now that he had started, Sun Hewu no longer hid it.

Qi Xuansu was startled.

Because to him, Zixiao Palace was a bit strange. Since he returned to the Taoist sect, it was Jinque who gave some orders or made some decisions, so that the other core of the Taoist sect has been silent for a long time.

From the perspective of the Western Continent, the Eastern Continent has a dual system structure, which means that there are two cores of power that restrict each other, cooperate with each other, and oppose each other to a certain extent. That is, after the collapse of the Confucian Wei Dynasty, which integrated politics and religion, politics and religion were separated. In addition to the Daxuan court that believed in Taoism, the people who ruled the Eastern Continent also had Daomen, which directly represented human beliefs. There was a second emperor - Daomen. The great leader. In most of the time before the Sixth Generation of Great Masters, the Taoist Sect was even above the imperial court.

Within the Tao Sect, there is also a dual system, that is, there are two centers: Zixiao Palace and Jinque.

In name, Jinque is the highest authority of the Taoist sect. It is composed of thirty-six masters, plus three deputy masters and an indefinite number of great masters Pingzhang. However, the supreme ruler of Jinque is It's the Grand Master.

Logically speaking, Zixiao Palace is only the first of many Taoist palaces, and its status cannot be compared with Jinque. However, the special thing about Zixiao Palace is that it is personally controlled by the Grand Master. This creates an interesting situation. Zixiao Palace is personally led by the Grand Master, and Jinque is also led by the Grand Master. In a sense, the two are on the same level, just like the Grand Master's. Left and right hands.

In the earliest times, especially during the Xuansheng era, Zixiao Palace was only the residence and study room of the Grand Master and his wife, and the assistant ministers had no clear authority. However, because of Xuansheng's huge prestige, Zixiao Palace served as a close minister. , able to know Xuansheng's thoughts and intentions, so his status was extremely high during this period, even Master Shenzhi did not dare to underestimate him, and even had to treat him respectfully.

After Xuan Sheng passed away, the status of Zixiao Palace declined, and it was no different from the ordinary Taoist Palace. However, the three disputes intensified, and the power of the Grand Master was restricted by Jin Que. Many important matters needed to be discussed by Jin Que. If the opinions of the great masters conflicted with the Grand Master, the Grand Master would have to withdraw his orders. In order to centralize power at the end of the reign of the second-generation Grand Master, he began to select his close confidants to serve as assistant ministers in the Zixiao Palace. They drafted edicts and wrote edicts in accordance with the Grand Master's will, thereby weakening the power of Jinque and removing some of Jinque's powers. The functions were transferred to Zixiao Palace, which made Zixiao Palace increasingly powerful. Although it has not yet returned to its status in the Xuansheng era, it has become the de facto head of the Taoist palace.

Since then, all the great masters of the past dynasties have continuously strengthened the authority of Zixiao Palace. When the fifth dynasty chief sect came to power, the Taoist sect used troops against the Buddhist sect. The fifth dynasty chief sect believed that the procedures for the Golden Palace were too cumbersome, so he appointed a great master named Pingzhang and Ba. A real person named Shenzhi entered the Zixiao Palace and served as an assistant, and these nine people also held the position of real person in charge of Jiutang. Therefore, many decisions at that time came from the Zixiao Palace, which brought the power of the Zixiao Palace to its peak and was The status of "the most important thing in the world" was improved, and eighteen more deputy assistants were added under the assistant president.

Because the Zixiao Palace is completely under the direct control of the Grand Master, it is equivalent to the Grand Master's private secretariat. Its lofty status and huge power come from the Grand Master, and it cannot oppose the Grand Master like Jinque, so It is easy to bypass the Golden Tower, which is also the origin of the so-called Grand Master lineage.

Under normal circumstances, it would be difficult for Jinque to deny various orders from Zixiao Palace.

According to the rules set by Xuansheng, Jinque is the highest authority of the Taoist sect. It can not only elect the Grand Master, but also can even forcibly depose the Grand Master as long as more than 90% of the Jinque members agree after a major meeting.

In addition, Xuan Sheng also made a rule that the three deputy head masters, the great masters, will assist the chief master, and the four of them will jointly control the Taoist sect. If there are differences of opinion between the four people, unless the three chief masters, the great masters, all object, otherwise the big master will be dismissed. The leader is the leader. In other words, as long as the three deputy head masters agree, they can veto the order of the big head. The big head must get the support of a deputy head master to fully implement his will.

However, considering that the Grand Master is almost bound to get the support of the Deputy Chief Master of his own faction, Xuansheng added another one. Major orders from the Grand Master must go through Jinque. As long as the number of opponents of Jinque exceeds Twenty-four, then you can veto the order of the Grand Master.

Xuansheng restricted some of the powers of the Grand Master to prevent a certain faction from disrupting the internal balance of the Taoist sect because of the Grand Master. Except when Xuansheng was on the throne, after the other five generations of great sects came to power, the other two major factions would quickly form an alliance to check and balance the great sect's faction through their numbers.

Of course, if fundamental interests are not involved, the other two factions will not oppose for the sake of opposition, and more often choose to follow the orders of the Grand Master. The key is that the interests of the two major factions are not completely consistent. Most of the time they can only agree on vetoes, but cannot unify their opinions to propose their own decrees, so they are in a defensive position.

In addition, although the Grand Master cannot depose the identity of Shenzhi Zhenren and must go through the Golden Que to depose Shenzhi Zhenren or Pingzhang Daren, the power of appointing and removing personnel in Jiutang and the local Taoist government still rests with the Grand Master. in hand.

It's just that Xuansheng still underestimated the ability of future generations to take advantage of loopholes. The great masters of the past dynasties used the power of appointment and dismissal of personnel to allow the head of the Nine Halls to concurrently serve as the assistant of the Zixiao Palace, and then reported to the Zixiao Palace as the great master of the Zixiao Palace instead of as the great master. The assistants gave orders to bypass Jinque.

Unless Jinque directly deposed the Grand Master, there would be no way to restrict Zixiao Palace.

It was precisely with the support of Zixiao Palace that the Fifth-generation Grand Master had the confidence to replace the three deputy Grand Masters who did not agree with him, and truly achieve monopoly of power.

It wasn't until the Sixth Generation Grand Master ascended to the position of Grand Master, and with the push of the three deputy chief ministers, Dazhenren, to "rectify the chaos", he voluntarily abandoned the Zixiao Palace and ordered all the concurrent assistant ministers to return to their respective positions, with Jinque as the Heavy, but was ignored by the three deputy head masters Da Zhenren with the numerical advantage of Jinque, and the Zixiao Palace line fell silent.

On the other hand, the three deputy head masters, if they want to take over the power of the Taoist sect, must go through Jinque and promote various decisions of Jinque in the name of the rotating master, whether it is Dazhen Mansion, Wanshou Chongyang Palace, Zhenjing Bie The courtyard can only fulfill the role of Zixiao Palace within its own Taoist tradition. Looking at the entire Taoist palace, it cannot replace Zixiao Palace.

When the sixth-generation Grandmaster passed away, the title of Grandmaster remained vacant, and the Zixiao Palace became a piece of scattered sand, without a leader and torn apart. Its status fell to the lowest point in history. Jinque truly became the only one in the family.

Therefore, for young people like Qi Xuansu, Zixiao Palace is even a bit unfamiliar.

Qi Xuansu reacted immediately and whispered subconsciously: "Which generation of great master is he?"

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