A Pawn's Passage

As the night got darker, Qi Xuansu, Sui Fan, and Eighth Tianyang stopped chatting and sat quietly beside the bonfire. They each took turns meditating while the others kept watch.

Early the next morning, the group continued on their journey to Xiping Prefecture. The journey of several days passed by in a flash. From afar, they could see the city.

Qi Xuansu did not want to enter the city with the Green Phoenix Guards, so he bid goodbye to Eighth Tianyang and Sui Fan. Since they had official duties, they did not keep Qi Xuansu either. They just thanked Qi Xuansu again for his help.

After entering the city alone, Qi Xuansu randomly found a restaurant. As soon as he walked into the lobby, he saw several pieces of paper with a list of names posted on a bulletin board.

This was the leaderboard that Eighth Tianyang mentioned before.

The Gold Leaderboard was the neatest, with only ten names on it. Thus, the lines and words were well-spaced. Each name was clearly visible at a glance. In contrast, the Bronze Leaderboard had more than 300 names on it, so it was condensed. The words were so densely packed that one would go dizzy reading them.

Furthermore, those on the Gold Leaderboard were addressed by their titles and not their real names. For example, the founder of the Heavenly Court who ranked first on the Gold Leaderboard was called the Golden Patriarch. Qi Xuansu wondered if the Qingping Society had reservations about disclosing the identities of these secret society’s figureheads or if their identities were unknown to outsiders.

It had been more than a month since this leaderboard was released, so the popularity had passed. Only a few people were reading it at the moment. But when it was first posted, it was a grand event. Many people gathered around these bulletin boards for weeks.

Qi Xuansu was at Yunjin Mountain at the time these leaderboards were first posted. No one in Yunjin Mountain talked about it because they were focused on the Laba Festival and the Quanzhen Sect’s visit to the Zhengyi Sect. This perfectly encapsulated the difference between the Daoist community and the outside world. All these major events for ordinary people were nothing to those in the Daoist community.

In other words, even if Qi Xuansu somehow ranked first on the Bronze Leaderboard, he would still be treated according to his Daoist priest rank and his position as Zhang Yuelu’s subordinate.

Qi Xuansu walked to the leaderboards and browsed them carefully. He did not recognize any of the names on the Gold Leaderboard because they did not include anyone from the Three Religions or the Imperial Court. Most of them were leaders of secret societies.

Next was the Silver Leaderboard, which also excluded people from the Three Religions and the Imperial Court. In addition to the masters of secret societies, there were also some masters from ordinary associations. The difference between secret societies and ordinary associations was that the latter were recognized by the Daoist Order and the Imperial Court, so they were deemed legal. Secret societies were illegal.

Generally speaking, ordinary people would address ordinary associations as gangs or societies, while secret societies were mostly called cults. The Qingping Society, Seven Treasure Pavilion, and The Inn were secret societies by Daoist definition, but they were considered ordinary associations in the real world.

However, everyone regarded the Ziguang Society, the Cult of Fates, and the Lingshan Witch Cult as evil and demonic sects. Ordinary people dared not provoke these three cults.

Qi Xuansu browsed the names on the Silver Leaderboard but could not recognize any of them. He then moved on to the Bronze Leaderboard. The Pseudo-Immortals on the Gold Leaderboard and the Heavenly Beings on the Silver Leaderboard were too far from reach for him, so he was not excited about it. His focus was still on the Bronze Leaderboard.

The first person on the Bronze Leaderboard, also known as the Ruyi Leaderboard, was from the Daoist Order.

1. Li Changge || Guizhen-stage Banished Immortal|| Fifth-rank Daoist Priest, no official position|| Disciple of Sage Qingwei (Taiping Sect)

Qi Xuansu was shocked by her seniority in the Li family. The Holy Xuan and the Donghuang were from the Ru generation. The current Great Sage of the Taiping Sect was in the Chang generation, which was two generations after the Holy Xuan. Li Changge was also from the Chang generation, but he was only about the same age as Zhang Yuelu. This age gap within one generation was quite rare, even in a big family.

Qi Xuansu remembered that Zhang Yuelu had talked about the seniority of the Li family before. As long-time rivals of the Li family, the Zhang family knew a lot about the Li family. According to Zhang Yuelu, although the Holy Xuan belonged to the Ru generation of the Li family, there was a huge age gap among the Li children from that generation.

The oldest person in the Ru generation was old enough to be the Holy Xuan’s grandfather, and the youngest person in the Ru generation was more than ten years younger than the Holy Xuan. Therefore, the children and grandchildren of the Ru generation would naturally have a huge age gap as well.

Qi Xuansu guessed that perhaps an elder of the Li family gave birth to Li Changge in old age.

For comparison, Li Tianzhen from the Tian generation was two generations after Li Changge, and Li Minghuang from the Ming generation was three generations after Li Changge. Sage Qingwei was one of the few ordained monks from the Taiping Sect. Although everyone still regarded him as a core member of the Li family, he was no longer part of the family tree because he had embraced monkhood and cut off all ties with the secular world.

Therefore, Sage Qingwei did not have to care about generational seniority. He only had to care about his seniority in the Daoist Order, hence the reason he could accept Li Changge as a disciple.

In terms of age alone, Li Changge was like a grandson to the Great Sage of the Taiping Sect. He was in the same age group as Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu. However, Qi Xuansu found it strange that he had never heard of this name before.

When people talked about outstanding juniors of the Li family, they would mention Li Tianzhen, not Li Changge. The latter seemed to have appeared out of thin air. Was there a reason for this?

Was Li Changge actually the true talent of the Li family, carefully cultivated to be a future leader, while Li Tianzhen was just a front to protect him? But this time, Li Changge's identity had been exposed by the Qingping Society.

Qi Xuansu did not dwell on this too much and moved on to the next person on the list. It was still someone from the Daoist Order.

2. Yao Pei|| Guizhen-stage Banished Immortal|| Fifth-rank Daoist Priest, no official position|| Disciple of Sage Donghua (Quanzhen Sect)

Qi Xuansu finally understood the situation. Yao Pei and Li Changge were from prestigious families, so they did not need to be exposed to mundane duties so soon. Instead, they focused on improving their cultivation level and strived to become Heavenly Beings as soon as possible.

That was because if they were Heavenly Beings, they could be promoted to the third rank without having to follow the tenure system. They could also easily gain some merit with their huge network of backers. By then, they would have a smooth and guaranteed promotion to the second rank in just a few years.

In comparison, Zhang Yuelu did not have such a smooth journey. It was no wonder Madam Qi mentioned before that Zhang Yuelu relied on her hard work to get to her current position. While the other Banished Immortals could stay ignorant of worldly affairs, Zhang Yuelu had performed and excelled in her duties at Beichen Hall and Tiangang Hall.

Zhang Yuelu barely made it out alive from the major Jiangnan case and made a name for herself within the Daoist community. This explained why Zhang Yuelu was more well-known but still lagged behind these two Banished Immortals on this leaderboard.

The third person on the Ruyi Leaderboard was from the royal family of the Great Xuan Dynasty, and the fourth person was from the Buddhist Sect. Qi Xuansu had never heard of them, either. This made him doubt whether he was too ignorant. The Confucian School was no longer as great as it once was, with no one in the top five of this leaderboard.

In the fight between Xie Qiuniang and Zhang Yuelu at Yulan Temple, they ended up in a deadlock because Zhang Yuelu was exhausted from having defeated two Guizhen-stage masters in a row beforehand.

The fifth person on the leaderboard was a familiar name to Qi Xuansu.

5. Zhang Yuelu|| Guizhen-stage Banished Immortal|| Fourth-rank Daoist Priest, Deputy Hall Master of Tiangang Hall|| Disciple of Sage Cihang (Zhengyi Sect)

Zhang Yuelu’s position as Deputy Hall Master was particularly eye-catching.

Not doing anything had its advantages, like being able to concentrate on improving one’s cultivation level without any distractions. However, there were also benefits to holding an official position, such as an impressive resume. As long as Zhang Yuelu did not lag too far behind in her cultivation level, she would be able to defeat the other two Banished Immortals with her work experience alone.

At that time, Zhang Yuelu could bring out her contributions in solving the major Jiangnan case and in wiping out the cult demons in the Western Regions, Yongzhou, and other places. This was Zhang Yuelu’s advantage.

Besides that, Qi Xuansu purposely looked for Yan Xiu’s name. The Buddhaputra was ranked 19th, which was not too low. There was still a big gap between Qi Xuansu and that monk, so it looked like getting vengeance was still too far ahead.

Since Xie Qiuniang was only an alias, Qi Xuansu did not find her on the list.

There were also two more names that he recognized—Wan Xiuwu and Yue Liuli. They had also made it to the Ruyi Leaderboard this time, but they were far behind Zhang Yuelu and were not in the top 100.

Finally, Qi Xuansu found his name, ranking 352nd, just shy of being in the bottom ten.