A Pawn's Passage

Zhang Chiyue had grievances he could not speak of. As someone who had climbed the ranks within the Daoist Order through steady progress, he was not of the same crowd as these scions. Now that he worked in Ziwei Hall, which was under Sage Donghua’s and the Quanzhen Sect’s influence, many of his personal connections might not be effective here.

Thus, he had arrived early to wait for Qi Xuansu, staging this coincidental encounter in hopes of building a closer relationship.

Personnel appointments at the Deputy Hall Master level lay in the hands of the Golden Tower Council. Two key components were required to be successfully promoted to Deputy Hall Master. Aside from the necessary merits or accomplishments, nomination from below and appointment from above were needed.

Unless one had the backing of the Deputy Grand Masters or there were special circumstances justifying a direct appointment, the usual path was nomination from one’s Hall, Daoist Mansion, or Palace, followed by the Golden Tower Council’s review and deliberation. If there were no nominations from below, even support from above would be useless. Likewise, without someone to back the nomination at the top, the Golden Tower Council would not approve of it, and the bottom-up nomination would also be futile. So, to get promoted to Deputy Hall Master, both ends needed to be secured.

Zhang Yuelu was exceptionally promoted by the Earthly Preceptor, who was the Great Sage Lunzhi of that term. Thus, her nomination and review were mere formalities. After all, who would dare oppose the Earthly Preceptor over a Deputy Hall Master position?

Qi Xuansu’s case was not much different. Ziwei Hall was essentially Sage Donghua’s territory, and the Quanzhen Sect held an overwhelming majority, so once the Omniscient Sage made the call, the other Deputy Hall Masters naturally would not oppose it. Any opposition would be in the minority and would not be enough to change the outcome.

Though Qi Xuansu lacked personal ties in the Golden Tower Council, Madam Qi and Zhang Yuelu had strong connections—one with the Earthly Preceptor and the other with the Heavenly Preceptor. On top of that, since the nomination came from Sage Donghua, rejecting it would mean offending him directly. So, the approval passed smoothly.

But Zhang Chiyue did not have such strong connections. He might not get nominated by Ziwei Hall because he was still inexperienced. Now that Qi Xuansu had become a Deputy Hall Master, his vote would matter in future internal nominations. Thus, Zhang Chiyue wanted to build a good relationship with Qi Xuansu.

That was why Zhang Chiyue brought up Zhang Renyue and the others, hoping to do Qi Xuansu a favor by giving him a heads-up. That way, Qi Xuansu could avoid them and stay out of trouble. But what Zhang Chiyue never expected was that Qi Xuansu would actively approach the scions, and things quickly spiraled out of control.

If these people ended up hurting Qi Xuansu, then Zhang Chiyue would have made an enemy instead of building a relationship.

For the sake of his own future, Zhang Chiyue naturally hoped Qi Xuansu would win.