Chapter 1107: Assassination
Given the importance of Lion City, the Poluo Daoist Mansion naturally stationed one of its Deputy Mansion Masters here. The Daoist Palace in Lion City was called Tianfu Palace, which was second only to the Sheji Palace in scale. Unlike most Daoist Palaces, it did not worship the Primordial Daoist Ancestor but the Heavenly Empress.
It had been modest at first, but after the Daoist Order entered Nanyang and expanded it repeatedly, Tianfu Palace had now become a state-level palace, situated in Lion City’s central district.
The Deputy Mansion Master overseeing Tianfu Palace was Xie Jiaofeng, fourth in rank among Poluo’s Deputy Mansion Masters, below Qi Xuansu, Xu Jiaorong, and Wang Jiaoying. This was a fitting arrangement given Lion City’s immense strategic importance.
Wang Jiaoying was not the one stationed in Lion City because he served specifically as the Deputy Mansion Master of the Yu Kingdom. Although the Great Sage, Mansion Master, Chief Deputy, and Second Deputy all resided in Thanglong Prefecture of the Yu Kingdom, their responsibility was to oversee the entire Poluo Daoist Mansion. Wang Jiaoying’s position was a highly crucial role focused solely on the affairs of the Yu Kingdom, which was why he took the lead during the attempted coup when Great Sage Lan went into seclusion.
In the recent upheaval in the Yu Kingdom, Wang Jiaoying naturally bore some responsibility. However, Great Sage Lan and Mansion Master Wang, who were his superiors, absorbed the political fallout. After all, the Chief Deputy was technically Wang Jiaoying’s superior. If someone were to be blamed for Chen Shuhua’s defection, it would be the Golden Tower Council or the Poluo Daoist Mansion. A single Deputy Mansion Master could not possibly shoulder that blame.
It was like holding a general accountable for losing a city. One would not blame the junior officers beneath him for failing to supervise their own commander. The responsibility usually fell on those who promoted the general or those who should have restrained him. Since the Golden Tower Council wanted the Wang family to let down their guard, they only reprimanded Wang Jiaoying and did not remove him from office.
Xie Jiaofeng did not side with the Wang family nor with Chen Shuhua. He was a typical fence-sitter, leaning whichever way the wind blew. Before Qi Xuansu’s arrival, he naturally stood with Wang Jiaohe, but during the last Daoist Mansion Council, he sensed the shift in momentum and wisely maintained neutrality.
That said, for him to hold such a critical post meant he was no ordinary figure.
Though he did not side with any faction within the Daoist Mansion, he hailed from the Xie family of Jiangnan, a prominent Confucian family.
Ever since the Daoist Order advocated the unity of the Three Religions, it had absorbed Buddhist and Confucian families. The Zhengyi Sect’s Cihang lineage stemmed from Buddhism, and the Quanzhen Sect’s Pei family had some Confucian origin due to intermarriage with Confucian families like the Xie family. Thus, Xie Jiaofeng was effectively part of the Pei faction.
Sage Donghua had assigned Xie Jiaofeng to Poluo to balance out the complicated situation. At the time, the Golden Tower Council had not fully made up its mind or reached a unified stance on taking down the Wang family. Thus, Xie Jiaofeng only swayed with the winds and ensured that he would not be dragged into the mess of any faction.
Xie Jiaofeng was among those welcoming Qi Xuansu this time. He did not seem scholarly, nor like a flowerbed Daoist. Instead, he seemed more like a court official, which was why Qi Xuansu did not have an impression of him.