Chapter 1014: Shores of Chralong Lake
After Qi Xuansu and his companions entered the city, they needed somewhere to settle. This was not the Central Plains, with Taiping Inns everywhere. There were plenty of Buddhist temples instead.
Qi Xuansu casually chose a local inn and rented an independent courtyard. Since this was a work trip, Ke Qingqing handled the bill and would later have Qi Xuansu sign off for reimbursement.
Zhang Quande, being a local, told Qi Xuansu about the situation in the city. Aside from the royal family, there were several great clans, each with its own private troops. However, the Poluo Daoist Mansion remained the most exalted authority.
Beyond the Daoist Order, the Buddhist Sect was not to be underestimated either. However, the latter had fallen into the same plight once suffered by the Daoists. They were fragmented and divided.
In ancient times, the Daoist order was split into five sects—Eastern, Southern, Western, Northern, and Central. Even now, they were not fully united. The Southern, Eastern, and Central Sects formed the current three major Daoist sects. The Northern Sect had become the imperial family and part of the Great Xuan Court, while the Western Sect had long left the Central Plains.
The Buddhist Sect was divided into a wider region: the Central Plains, the Western Region, Fenglin, Poluo, and Shakya. Its reach was broader, and hence, unity was much harder.
The Central Plains Buddhist Sect had effectively merged into the Daoist Order, completing the first phase of the Three Religions’ unification. Both the Fenglin and Poluo Buddhist Sects had submitted to the Daoist Order, leaving only the Western Region Buddhist Sect powerful enough to contend with the Daoists. Even so, the Western Region Buddhist Sect had been defeated time and again, forced repeatedly into submissive treaties.
Shakya was the original birthplace of Buddhism, but it had long since fallen into ruin. It was first defeated by native religions, then crushed by the Holy Court that conquered West Shakya. So the Shakya Buddhist Sect had lost all control of its ancestral land.
Among the two Buddhist branches under Daoist rule, the Fenglin Buddhist Sect shared the rebellious temperament of their homeland—obedient in appearance, defiant at heart. They constantly sought to break free of Daoist control and had even colluded with the Sonno-joi faction. By contrast, the Poluo Buddhist Sect was mild and cautious. Whatever small schemes they attempted remained hidden and inconsequential because they dared not publicly defy Daoist authority.
As Zhang Quande had said, the Daoist Order ruled the world. But it resembled the ancient imperial rule, where the emperor’s reach stopped at the county level. Outwardly, none dared to oppose Daoist rule, and all great matters were decided by the Daoist Order. In truth, Daoist control barely extended to the counties. It was far weaker than in the Central Plains. Thus, the core of the Daoist Order still lay in the Central Plains.
Wherever Daoist authority left a vacuum at the lower levels, other forces inevitably rushed in to fill it. This power gap had given rise to cults, gangs, secret societies, and underground sects across the land.
The Daoist Order was well aware of this problem and sought to correct it. To truly secure control over Poluo and East Shakya, they encouraged citizens to migrate overseas and even dispatched Great Sages to personally oversee governance. This was a form of territorial expansion. Thus, long before wanderers and displaced commoners could even think of rebelling due to unfavorable conditions in their homeland, they would find themselves ushered aboard Daoist ships bound for Nanyang.