A Pawn's Passage

As soon as Jia Shen, the leader of this group of cult demons, died, the rest of the Heavenly Court members immediately fled. Unfortunately, there was a sandstorm outside, so they had nowhere to escape. They could either choose to fight hard or wait to be killed.

The Green Phoenix Guard would not show mercy either, since some of their comrades had been killed. So they would want the cult demons to pay with their lives.

Eighth Tianyang shouted, “Kill them!”

As soon as he said that, Eighth Tianyang opened his folding fan and leaped forward. The Crescent Palm Saw flashed like the moon and illuminated the dim lobby in an instant. By the time Eighth Tianyang reappeared, two halves of a cult member's body fell to the side in front of him.

The Crescent Palm Saw was so fast and sharp that these Heavenly Court members did not feel the pain immediately. It was not until they wanted to get up from the ground that they were shocked to see their lower bodies still standing in place.

For a while, the screams of the dying cult members resonated in the inn.

The sultry woman’s eyelids twitched slightly. Sometimes, a quick death was considered a kind of mercy for these cult demons.

Eighth Tianyang had one hand behind his back while he held the folding fan in front of his chest. The fan was untainted, but there was a small pool of blood under his feet.

Qi Xuansu’s face was expressionless, unfazed by the gore.

On the first day he joined the Qingping Society, Madam Qi told him that the real world was a harsh place. He should not expect anyone to be a good person. Although he felt that this statement was debatable, he could not find a more suitable reason to refute it, so he had no choice but to accept it.

Qi Xuansu did not like killing people, but he would never hesitate to kill when necessary, especially when traveling alone. Most people were afraid of power, not morals. They also tend to hold grudges instead of remembering kindness.

Since he decided to help the Green Phoenix Guard, he would not stop them from killing these cult members. Seeing such a scene, the remaining members of the Heavenly Court knew that they had no way out, so they could only bite the bullet and charge at Eighth Tianyang.

Although Eighth Tianyang was ruthless, these people from the Heavenly Court were not novices. They were vicious, especially since they were in a fight-or-die situation. They fought with all their might, no longer holding back.

If the disparity in strength was not so great, their desperate efforts might have turned out useful. However, if there was a big gap, they would just be rushing to their deaths.

Eighth Tianyang moved effortlessly, killing them one by one with the folding fan in his hand.

The sultry woman finally could not hold it any longer. When Eighth Tianyang retracted his hand after cutting off someone else’s head, the woman suddenly jumped forward, aiming a thin thread at Eighth Tianyang’s throat.

Eighth Tianyang closed his folding fan and spun it gently, reeling in the woman’s thin thread.

The woman tried hard to tug on the thread, but to no avail.

Eighth Tianyang pointed his folding fan at the woman’s chest. Seeing this, the woman gave up on retrieving her thread and stepped back, narrowly avoiding him. But Eighth Tianyang stepped forward and struck her with his palm, which roared like thunder.

Slapped on the chest, the woman flew back more than 30 meters away. After landing, she spat out a mouthful of blood. No one knew if she was alive or dead.

At the same time, Sui Fan led the rest of the Green Phoenix Guards to kill the remaining cult demons. For a while, the inn’s lobby was littered with corpses, and the place reeked of blood.

A Green Phoenix Guard asked for instructions, “What about the innkeeper?”

Sui Fan raised his hand and said, “They are ordinary civilians. We shouldn’t hurt innocent people indiscriminately. Give them 10 Taiping coins as compensation for the broken things and reimburse them at the office.”

“Yes, sir.” The Green Phoenix Guard responded quickly.

Eighth Tianyang did not care about the aftermath. He cupped his fists and saluted Qi Xuansu. “Thank you for your help.”

Qi Xuansu nodded. “It’s our duty to kill these cult demons.”

“Are you from the Daoist Order?” Eighth Tian Yang asked.

Qi Xuansu shook his head and replied, “I used to be, but now I’m just a wanderer.”

With the development of Daoism, there were many former Daoists. Some of them joined major secret societies, becoming high-level leaders. Some chose to leave on their own accord, while others were kicked out by the Daoist Order.

As Zhang Yuelu mentioned before, it was easy to leave the Daoist Order. One just had to hand over their resignation to Ziwei Hall or the local Daoist Mansion, which would report back to Ziwei Hall. As long as they were not high-ranking Daoist priests in positions privy to the secrets of the Daoist Order, Ziwei Hall would generally approve the resignations, given legitimate reasons.

After all, the Daoist Order was not short of people. There were always people who wanted to join the Daoist Order but were not given a chance to. So if someone wanted to leave, the Daoist Order would not stop them.

The Daoist Order was also not worried that their techniques would spread to the outside world. Although the Holy Xuan had organized the cultivation path for the major lineages, there were more hidden methods in this world. The cultivation path could not be learned in a short period of time, even if someone was a genius with extraordinary talent.

Improving one’s cultivation level was a step-by-step process. With each improvement in cultivation level, one would continue to acquire new methods and techniques from the Daoist Order. Therefore, a low-ranking Daoist priest would only take what they had learned if they left the Daoist Order. That would usually spell the end of their cultivation path.

High-ranking Daoist priests were different. In most cases, high-ranking Daoist priests knew too many insider secrets and mastered too many exclusive Daoist methods. So usually, high-ranking Daoist priests were not allowed to leave the Daoist Order. Generally speaking, after becoming a high-ranking Daoist priest, one would be a Daoist for life.

That was why the Daoist Order required fifth-rank Daoist priests to study at the Wanxiang Daoist Palace before being promoted to the fourth rank. These priests would be informed of this information and given a choice to stay or leave the Daoist Order. Compared with low-ranking Daoist priests, high-ranking Daoist priests enjoyed better treatment. But high-ranking priests would also be bound to the Daoist Order for life.

If they left the Daoist Order without permission, they would be regarded as defectors, and they would be punished if caught. This was also one of the responsibilities of Beichen Hall.

The Daoist Order allowed those in the Upper Palace of the Wanxiang Daoist Palace to withdraw their title as fourth-rank Jijiu Daoist masters. This was their last chance to leave if they wished to do so. However, most people would not wait until then to leave. Most people were born in the Daoist community, so they had never thought of leaving. If they were unhappy, they would have left when they were low-ranking priests.

Of course, some high-ranking Daoist priests were exempted and allowed to leave. For example, those in old age with no hope of promotion and who did not hold critical positions were allowed to leave as long as they were willing to swear an oath of confidentiality.

This was different from retiring into the mountains. Retiring meant resigning from one’s official position while still retaining one’s rank and treatment. If one day the Daoist Order encountered a disaster and called upon all Daoist disciples to fight, these retired people would be obliged to help.

However, those who left the Daoist Order were not only relieved of their positions but also of their Daoist identity, rank, and corresponding treatment. The future of the Daoist Order no longer concerned them.

At the moment, Qi Xuansu thought that his rank and position had been withdrawn because of his “death.” What he did not know was that Zhang Yuelu had decided to report him as missing instead of presuming he was dead after the flying ship crash.

Eighth Tianyang also knew the rules of the Daoist Order, so he said, “I see. No matter what, I still want to thank you for your help. I haven’t asked you for your name yet.”

“My name is Wei Wugui.” Qi Xuansu asked, “By the way, what are these people from the Heavenly Court doing in Yongzhou? Isn’t their base camp in Lingnan?”

Eighth Tianyang did not hide anything from him and replied frankly, “I’m guessing it’s because of the Eagle and Dog Slaughtering Assembly.”