A Pawn's Passage

Full authority meant the complete power to handle affairs. By right, everyone must cooperate with Qi Xuansu and even submit to him.

But what happened in private was another matter. Some might pay lip service, while others might deliberately set traps. That would depend on which side they were on.

After the council, Qi Xuansu essentially obtained everything he aimed for. The key being that his cause had legitimate backing.

For example, Qi Xuansu could now replace all of Chen Shuhua’s personnel stationed at the royal palace. He could also openly arrest the eunuch Sikong Guang, and so on.

Wang Jiaohe had taken a step back, but that did not mean he had lost. Qi Xuansu must press forward step by step to see who between them would ultimately prevail. Would Qi Xuansu be forced out of Poluo, leaving Wang Jiaohe to rule Nanyang unchallenged? Or would Qi Xuansu leverage this to break the old order and clip Wang Jiaohe’s wings?

In any organization, interests were entangled. From that complexity, a sort of balance emerged. This balance did not necessarily mean fairness. It often had little to do with justice. Such a balance contained many irrational and unfair elements, but it usually held strong because it accommodated the interests of the majority.

Breaking that balance could not be done alone. To win people over, one had to bind one’s own interests with others. Then, others would naturally join the fight and contribute what they can.

Interests were the crux of the duel between Qi Xuansu and Wang Jiaohe.

On the way back to the Water Palace, Ke Qingqing said, “Second Deputy, I think those people have ill intentions. This campaign may not be very effective.”

Qi Xuansu asked, “What do you consider a good outcome then?”

Ke Qingqing replied, “To wipe out every secret society, of course.”

Qi Xuansu smiled faintly. “The world is neither black nor white. There’s white within black, and vice versa. Secret societies are like weeds. Even if you burn them today, so long as the soil that nourishes them remains, they will sprout again with the next spring breeze. The key to eradicating them does not lie in destroying the cults but in removing the soil that allows them to grow. As Second Deputy Zhang often says, to truly reform the Daoist Order, one must first cleanse the soil that breeds corruption. Thus, the dragon qi leakage is not about those two Ancient Immortals but the inner decay within our own Daoist Mansion. The real measure of success is not whether we can annihilate the secret societies completely, but whether the ethos and integrity within the Daoist Mansion can be changed for the better.”