<h4>Chapter 104: Discussing Merits</h4>
As soon as the schr’s soul dispersed, the giant palm holding Qi Xuansu disintegrated. Qi Xuansu fell back to the ground and regained his freedom.
At this point, they had captured He Nian and killed the schr, Bai Yongguan, Zhu Cheng, and Xia Chang. Out of the seven cultists in Zhang Yuelu’s divination, only Lin Zhenyuan and the Shaman were missing.
Qi Xuansu searched the schr’s body and found nothing on him. He wondered if the schr had hidden his money elsewhere or if he had handed it over to the Lingshan Witch Cult. He guessed it was probably the former.
After all, the schr was a mid-level member of the Lingshan Witch Cult, so he should have amassed some private funds. However, the schr did not have a magical receptacle, so he had to hide his money somewhere. Qi Xuansu wondered who would be so lucky to have kept these cultists’ money since they were dead.
<i>ording to the rules of the Daoist Order, a heretic''s wealth was considered dirty money, so the money would have to be surrendered to the Order.</i>
<i>Spiritual objects were quitemon in the Daoistmunity, but they were not somon outside themunity. If Zhang Yuelu was not a member of the Daoist Order, even if she were a rare Banished Immortal, she would not have been able to obtain a magical receptacle with her level of cultivation.</i>
<i>However, since she was in the Daoist Order, she was given a magical receptacle and a semi-immortal object, which the top leaders of the Lingshan Witch Cult would not have. This was the benefit of the Daoist Order.</i>
<i>Therefore, it was unreasonable to judge outsiders ording to Daoist standards. Whether one could possess a spiritual object before the Heavenly-Being stage was highly dependent on one’s financial resources and luck.</i>
Not long after, Zhang Yuelu came over and saw Qi Xuansu standing in front of the schr’s body. Although she had expected Qi Xuansu to defeat the opponent, she was still in awe.
She sighed. “Tian Yuan, you always manage to surprise me. I feel ipetentpared to you. I have a higher level of cultivation, but I let several cult demons escape. On the contrary, you always defeat opponents stronger than you and even manage to kill them.”
Qi Xuansu waved his hands repeatedly and said modestly, “You fought all the tough battles. I was just picking up the ck.”
That was true. Qi Xuansu could only defeat the schr by relying on his physique and the element of surprise. However, if Qi Xuansu were to face off with Lin Zhenyuan, Zhu Cheng, and Xia Chang, he would probably lose miserably.
Thus, it was evident that Zhang Yuelu fought with skill. Moreover, she fought consecutive fierce battles, so she was at the point of exhaustion. If Zhang Yuelu was at her peak, the schr would not have withstood one blow from her.
Seeing that Zhang Yuelu wanted to deny it, Qi Xuansu interrupted her. “You and I should stop ttering each other in private. Save these praises about me for when you talk to the Hall Master.”
Zhang Yuelu smiled and said, “Alright. Let’s destroy this underground pce first, then I’ll report the situation to the Hall Master.”
While they were talking, the ck Robes and the Green Phoenix Guards defeated the other cultists. Following the death of the schr, some of the Lingshan Witch Cult believers surrendered, while others resisted and were shot to death. After all, the ck Robes and the Green Phoenix Guard had the advantage in numbers and could overwhelm a few Xiantian Beings from the Lingshan Witch Cult.
Wang Zicheng ordered the Green Phoenix Guards to cremate the heads piled in front of the six-armed Wu Luo statue. Then, he asked the ck Robes to ce explosives around the statue and escort the surrendered Lingshan Witch Cult members out of the underground pce.
The Green Phoenix Guards searched the underground pce thoroughly but could not find Lin Zhenyuan or the Shaman. They could not find anything useful either, like a list of cult members. Perhaps Lin Zhenyuan had kept it. However, cultists rarely put their names on paper, so it was difficult to uproot them.
The rest of the ck Robes and the Green Phoenix Guards transported the bodies out of the underground pce, leaving only a few personnel to assist Zhang Yuelu, Qi Xuansu, Wang Zicheng, and Company Commander Zhao.
Company Commander Zhaomanded his men to blow up the Wu Luo statue. With a loud bang, the underground pce shook. Gravel and dust flew everywhere, and the statue turned into a pile of rubble.
Then Company Commander Zhao asked his men to ce explosives at various load-bearing pirs of the underground pce, intending topletely destroy the cultists’ stronghold.
Finally, Company Commander Zhao asked Zhang Yuelu and Wang Zicheng for instructions. “Mage Zhang and Pacification Commander Wang, shall we retreat from this underground pce?”
Wang Zicheng turned to Zhang Yuelu for her opinion. After all, the Daoist Order was more proficient at dealing with matters involving the Ancient Immortals.
Zhang Yuelu scanned the area again and nodded. “There should be no problem here. Let’s retreat.”
Qi Xuansu, Zhang Yuelu, and the rest exited the underground pce, leaving only two soldiers behind toy the fuse.
After Zhang Yuelu and Qi Xuansu were above ground, they found that the entire Xia Mansion had been sealed and heavily guarded by the Green Phoenix Guard. The courtyard far away from the underground pce was filled with corpses, which were being sorted by the police officers, cadets, and coroners.
The corpses of the ck Robes and Green Phoenix Guards needed to be identified and treated with care. The government would arrange for funerals andpensation for their families. On the other hand, the corpses of the Lingshan Witch Cult members were tossed aside and piled up together, waiting to be burned in one go.
The remaining prisoners were escorted back to the local Major’s Office, where the Green Phoenix Guard would interrogate them in detail.
Wang Zicheng sent someone to notify the local Lieutenant Colonel’s Office. Although Lin Zhenyuan, the Lieutenant Colonel, was found to be a cultist, there were still two Senior Majors who could temporarily take charge of the Lieutenant Colonel’s Office. That was because the local Major’s Officecked manpower.
Zhang Yuelu found a secluded ce and used the mother-child talisman to contact the Tiangang Hall Master.
Qi Xuansu stood far away, waiting for the result.
At this moment, the two ck Robes who were responsible forying the fuse finally exited the underground pce. Everyone backed away from the area to avoid being identally injured.
The ck Robes gained approval from Company Commander Zhao before igniting the fuse and detonating the explosives in the underground pce.
Qi Xuansu only heard continuous muffled explosionsing from underground. The ground shook, so much so that several buildings and walls copsed.
This continued for a while until therge underground pce waspletely destroyed.
The county magistrate and other officials were also extremely busy. Since there were many servants in the Xia family, the dead needed burial andpensation, and the surviving ones had to be properly settled.
The Imperial Court set up a Mercy Hospital with medical officers to take in the widowed, the poor, the sick, the elderly, the weak, and the disabled. Children who had the intention of bing Daoists would be sent to the Wanxiang Daoist Pce. The local government would thenmunicate with the local Daoist Mansion after the case was settled.
Qi Xuansu had never participated in such bureaucracy, so he could only stand aside and watch. About 15 minutester, Zhang Yuelu ended the conversation with the Hall Master and came to Qi Xuansu’s side.
He asked, “If two cultists in the Yuxu stage were equal to two Huang<i> </i>merits, what merits would five cult leaders in the Guizhen stage count for?”
Zhang Yuelu did not beat around the bush. “Xuan merits, of course. The Hall Master has already decided that the Daoist Order will take credit for the five cult leaders. The rest of the credit will go to the Imperial Court. But stopping the divine descent will be counted as a joint effort between the Daoist Order and the Imperial Court.”
Qi Xuansu calcted. “Killing two Guizhen stage cult leaders will grant me two Xuan merits. Including the Xuan merit I got from killing Desmond, I have exactly three Xuan merits. If I kill a demon in the Heavenly-Being stage on my own, will it equate to an Earth merit?”
Zhang Yuelu nodded and exined, “I’m not sure about the Imperial Court’s merit system, but the Daoist Order counts stopping the Ancient Immortal’s divine descent as an Earth merit, which equates to three Xuan merits. Excluding the Imperial Court’s share, we had one Xuan merit and two Huang merits from before. Adding the five cult leaders we took down, it totaled six Xuan merits and two Huang merits.”
Qi Xuansu pondered. “Qing Xiao, you deserve the most credit for hindering the cult demons’ operation this time. I was merely tagging along. Now, I already have two Huang merits, so I’ll be happy if you can give me another Huang merit and two Xuan merits to make up three Xuan merits. You can take the remaining four Xuan merits and one Huang merit. That way, I can be promoted from a sixth-rank to a fifth-rank Daoist priest!”
Zhang Yuelu shook her head. “It’s not that simple. Although the Daoist Order values ??young people, it also has a tenure system.”
“What’s a tenure system?” Qi Xuansu couldn''t help but ask.
“To put it bluntly, the so-called tenure system is for us to gain the minimum years of experience in a certain rank.” Zhang Yuelu exined.
“The Daoist Order has two systems: one for rank and another for position. Examples of positions are deacons, superintendents, deputy hall masters, and so on. The rank system is from the ninth rank to the first rank. For example, the Deputy Grand Master is a position, but he is also a first-rank Tianzhen Daoist master.”
“At a low rank, one’s position and rank are not rted. For example, a seventh-rank Daoist priest or a fifth-rank Daoist priest can be deacons. The gap can be quite wide. But when you reach a higher rank, one’s position and rank are inseparable.
“The most obvious example is the Grand Master position. No one will ept a Grand Master of a lower rank or a higher-rank Deputy Grand Master. The Grand Master must have the highest rank within the Daoist Order. Thus, a lot of positions and ranks are tied together. That is also why the position of a Daoist priest often bes a benchmark for one’s rank. It’s actually a system consisting of nine ranks and twelve levels.
“That''s how the tenure system came into being. One’s rank promotion is strictly restricted based on the minimum required years for a Daoist priest to stay in a certain rank.
“ording to regtions, a seventh-rank Daoist priest must wait for one year to advance to the sixth rank and another year to advance to the fifth rank. From there, it takes two years to advance to the fourth rank and three years to advance to the third rank. It’ll take three more years to get promoted to the second rank.
“Based on this calction, it will take at least seven years for a seventh-rank Daoist priest to be promoted to a third-rank Daoist master, no matter how talented they are or how many merits they have umted.
“Since positions are limited, one can only be promoted if there is a vacancy. It’s hard to say how many years it will take for someone to step down from a position before another person gets promoted. If you’re lucky, this will only take a few years. But if you’re not lucky, it will take more than ten years.”
Qi Xuansu understood. “So, even if I have three Xuan merits, I won’t be promoted to the fifth rank immediately and will have to stay in the sixth rank for one year, huh? Instead of one Xuan merit and three years of assessment, I’m exempted from two years because of the two Huang merits?”
Zhang Yuelu nodded. “That’s right.”