Chapter 997: Chaos
It could not be denied that the Wang family had rendered great service in establishing the Poluo Daoist Mansion, but the Daoist Order was not the Imperial Court, so they could not grant the Wang family a hereditary title to rule Poluo forever. Such a practice ran contrary to the Daoist Order’s philosophy.
Of course, this was a double standard, because one could insist on bringing up the Li family’s rule in Qizhou and the Zhang family’s rule in Wuzhou. One could question why the Li and Zhang families were considered representations of the Daoist Order. But this was a taboo subject.
Both Qizhou and Wuzhou were within the Central Plains, where the Daoist Order’s power was absolute, leaving no room for secession or self-rule. In contrast, Poluo was isolated overseas, where the Daoist Order’s control was weaker. Thus, vigilance was necessary.
To put it more bluntly, the Li and Zhang families had invested heavily into the Daoist Order before it was even formed. They already possessed immense strength before the Holy Xuan rebuilt the Daoist Order. Even without the Order, they were already regional overlords. Like the imperial family of the Great Xuan Dynasty, they were original shareholders in the Daoist Order’s reconstruction. The first three Deputy Grand Masters of the Order all came from these three houses. Without their support, the Holy Xuan would have found it nearly impossible to restore order, so he had no choice but to compromise.
From this perspective, the Yao family had always been somewhat weaker, unable to dominate the Quanzhen Sect in the same way that the Zhang family controlled the Zhengyi Sect and the Li family controlled the Taiping Sect.
In the eyes of the Zhang and Li families, the Yao family had at least contributed to the Daoist Order’s revitalization back then. But the Wang family were latecomers, building their success on the Daoist Order’s existing foundation. How could they possibly be compared with the old, established houses?
Sage Cihang had already made things clear to Qi Xuansu.
If the Earthly Preceptor wanted to take action against the Wang family, he had to first be on the same page with the Heavenly Preceptor, who readily agreed. The Imperial Preceptor’s reach did not extend so far, and moreover, this concerned the internal structure of the Daoist Order, so he could not openly oppose it.
This was factionalism, a split within the Daoist Order.
Of course, there was an unspoken pact among the Zhang, Li, and Yao families to join forces when necessary to crush rising powers so that they could continue to dominate the Daoist Order.
It was like the parliament of the Lune Kingdom, where two major parties alternated in power, battling openly and covertly. However, their greatest tacit understanding was to jointly suppress the rise of any third party. The same principle applied here.
The three families did not bother to conceal their double standard, nor did they pretend to be saints. For them, absolute power that spoke for itself was the only thing that mattered.