Chapter 14 Rewards

When Qi Xuansu arrived at Huainan City, it was already the evening of the second day.

He went to the market first and got the medicine according to the prescription written by Qi Niang. The medicine shop had the business of decoction, which saved Qi Xuansu a lot of work. After drinking the medicine, Qi Xuansu wandered around the street. After a long circle in the city, he made sure that there was no tail behind him, and then turned into a deserted alley.

It was late at night, and the alley was very dark. Qi Xuansu walked quickly to a small door at the end of the alley and knocked on the door gently. He knocked three times gently at first, paused for three breaths, and then knocked four times heavily.

After a while, a voice came from the door: "People have no worries, and there is no trouble in all directions. It is a peaceful year."

Qi Xuansu whispered: "The world is settled, and the eight directions come to pay tribute every year."

As soon as the voice fell, the door opened from the inside. There was no light inside, and it was dimly illuminated by the crescent moon.

Qi Xuansu entered the door, and the doorman closed it again.

Behind the door is a big house with winding paths leading to a secluded place. It turns out that this small door is just a back door.

The power of Qingping Society is very large. Qi Xuansu has only seen the tip of the iceberg so far. It is hard to imagine what the master behind the scenes wants to do.

But Qi Xuansu doesn't care about these things. He cares more about himself. He hopes that he can leave Qingping Society safely one day, instead of becoming firewood for burning and dying silently like Zhuge Yongming.

So over the years, he has been accumulating merits. This was also the condition when he joined Qingping Society. As long as he accumulated enough merits of 9,000, he could leave Qingping Society. But how can 9,000 merits be so easy to accumulate? Qi Xuansu now only has more than 300 merits, and it is a long way to leave Qingping Society.

The owner of this house is a middle-aged man dressed as a wealthy businessman. After seeing Qi Xuansu, he did not ask him about his specific tasks, but arranged for him to stay and sent someone to help him boil water, prepare food and change clothes.

Qi Xuansu took off his muddy clothes, took a comfortable bath, and put on a new set of robes, transforming himself into a seventh-rank Taoist priest, not the "rebel party" mentioned by the Qingluan Guard.

Qi Xuansu stayed here for one night, and Qi Niang also came back at noon the next day.

The owner of the mansion prepared a separate room for the two of them, without any servants, for them to talk.

The room was designed as a study. Qi Xuansu took out the "Xuanyu" from his bag and gave it to Qi Niang. Qi Niang looked at the "Xuanyu" which looked like a knife coin and asked, "Didn't you take the opportunity to study it? So many people are fighting for this thing, which shows how precious it is."

Qi Xuansu said truthfully, "I have studied it, but I have no idea."

Qi Niang nodded, put the "Xuanyu" into her Xumi object, and then put on a businesslike expression and said, "There are a total of one fourth-grade Taoist priest, one fifth-grade Taoist priest, one sixth-grade Taoist priest, and several Qingluan Guards who participated in the scramble for the "Xuanyu". You can successfully retrieve the "Xuanyu", which is an excellent performance and you can get 300 merits."

Qi Xuansu was surprised: "There is also a fourth-grade Taoist priest involved?"

"You are lucky." Qi Niang habitually took out her long cigarette, "The Taiping Dao seems to have some scruples. The fourth-grade Taoist priest did not show up in person, but sent his subordinates under the name of Qingluan Guards. The so-called case was actually just a "cover-up". If someone investigated afterwards, it would only end with Li Sanxin, and the person behind the scenes would not be involved. This is the role of "cover-up". As a result, I don't know which link leaked the news, and attracted Taoist priests from the other two factions. Now Taiping Dao has no words to say. Not only did the carefully prepared "cover-up" have a flaw, but they haven't got the "Xuanyu". "

Qi Xuansu frowned slightly and asked, "Could it be that the Qingluan Guard leaked the news?"

"This possibility cannot be ruled out." Qi Niang pondered for a while, "Now that the two parties are fighting in the court, a major case has been launched. The calculation of Taiping Dao should be to take advantage of the current party dispute case to capture Li Hongwen, the magistrate of Fengtai County, and take the "Xuanyu" from him, and then find a reason to kill Li Hongwen to silence him. In this, Qingluan Guard is a key role, and everything cannot be bypassed by Qingluan Guard. "

Qi Xuansu immediately understood 70% in his heart.

After the Qingping Society got the news of "Xuanyu", they sent him to fight for "Xuanyu". Because he had the special compass of the Qingping Society, he could accurately locate the location of "Xuanyu", so there was no need to be mysterious or make a big scene.

At the same time, the Taiping Dao also got the news. The Taiping Dao did not have the special compass of the Qingping Society, so it could not accurately find the location of "Xuanyu", let alone steal "Xuanyu" directly, so it could only turn the Li family upside down. So the Taiping Dao staged a deceptive drama through the Qingluan Guard. It seemed to involve the party struggle in the court, but in fact it was to use this incident to confiscate Li Hongwen's house and find "Xuanyu" through the confiscation of the house.

It was precisely because the key to this matter was not the party struggle, so they did not dare to really send Li Hongwen to the imperial capital and put him in Zhaoyu, so as not to overturn the case in the future. They could only silence Li Hongwen and make him dead without evidence. As a result, Li Sanxin failed to find "Xuanyu" and was succeeded by Qi Xuansu. The news also leaked out, attracting people from other Taoist sects, and the so-called "covering" became a joke.

In summary, there is no big problem with Taipingdao's plan, but there are some problems with its execution.

Qi Xuansu asked: "Wouldn't it be enough for Li Hongwen to hand over the 'Xuanyu' directly? Why bother dragging the whole family to death?"

"It's not surprising that people die for money and birds die for food." Qiniang said slowly, "I will give you 10,000 Taiping coins now, and then a Taiping Taoist priest asks you to give him these 10,000 Taiping coins. Will you agree?" Is it true? Taiping Dao had probably come to ask for it, or even threatened it, and Li Hongwen must have refused, but Li Hongwen didn't expect that this fourth-grade wine-sacrifice Taoist priest would be so ruthless that he would come to kill him directly. If you surrender, you will die, if you don't surrender, you will die. It is better to hold on and refuse to surrender, and bet that the Qingluan Guards will not dare to kill anyone, maybe there will be a chance of improvement. "

Qi Xuan nodded understandingly.

Qiniang blew out a smoke ring and continued: "I have a hunch that this matter is probably the result of the instruction of a certain Taiping Dao master. There are nine Taiping Dao masters. No matter which master it is, its reputation cannot be tarnished. , that's why they created such an obstruction. The fourth-grade Taoist priest was just a pawn in front of them, which was regarded as the second level of obstruction. Having said that, a small pawn has such energy, if it attracts the attention of a real person. "A few lives of yours and mine are not enough to compensate."

Qi Xuansu looked solemn and nodded in agreement.

Qiniang continued: "You have exceeded your quota this time. I can give you two rewards within my authority. You can choose one of them."

Qi Xuansu was overjoyed and felt that Zhuge Yongming's punches were not in vain.

Qiniang took out a wooden box from her Sumeru treasure, placed it in front of Qi Xuansu, and said: "This is the 'Dragon Hand Gun' produced by the Shenji Camp for thirty-six years, with an ivory handle and a brass body. , decorated with the shape of a dragon head, breech-loading ammunition, using a metal fixed-loading ammunition with an integrated structure, canceling the small fusilla machine and replacing it with a firing pin structure and a rifled rifle. The effective range is one hundred steps, and it can be broken within fifteen steps. Whether the body-protecting Qi of an innate person can damage the body is another matter. It comes with twenty rounds of armor-piercing talismans with a copper shell and a fixed load. The black market price is about eight hundred Taiping coins."

Qi Xuansu opened the lid of the box and saw a gorgeous handgun lying in the velvet. It had graceful curves and exquisite decoration. It did not look like a murder weapon, but more like a fine handicraft. There were twenty pointed fixed-loading ammunition next to it. , there are many strange lines engraved on the warhead, which seem to be some kind of talismans, and are indeed different from common firearms.

Qiniang was also admiring this expensive gun, and added: "This gun is not only valuable, but also a symbol of status. Even among men in black, only guerrillas and above can wear it."

The Daxuan court was founded in the north and was based on the virtue of water. Because among the five elements, there are green wood, white gold, vermilion fire, loess, and Xuanshui. Therefore, the Daxuan court advocated black, and the clothes and armor of the soldiers were mainly black. Known as the "Man in Black" by the world. The Shenji Battalion that Qiniang mentioned earlier is a member of the imperial army. It mainly focuses on firearms. It is not only good at using firearms, but also good at developing and manufacturing firearms.

Qi Xuansu asked: "Where is the second reward?"

Qiniang said unhurriedly: "The Taoist sect has developed to this day, and its strength is the strongest in the world. For the Taoist sect, unless it is a genius with amazing talents, there is not much difference, even if it is a A Taoist sect can use its resources to build a useless person who can fly into the sky and escape from the earth. The key is how to allocate resources. Therefore, the nine-level Taoist priest system came into being, and the promotion of grades within the Taoist sect became a top priority. "

Qiniang asked: "Are you still a seventh-grade Taoist priest now?"

Qi Xuansu nodded and said: "Yes. After Master died, I was stuck on the threshold of the eighth rank. Now, I am only a seventh rank."

Qiniang said: "The seventh-grade Taoist priest is not considered low, but it depends on who you compare with. If you want to reach the position of a fourth-grade Taoist priest one day, you have to climb higher step by step. If you fail to keep up with each step, you will not be able to keep up with each step." ”

"Today's young people, after coming out of the Wanxiang Taoist Palace where the Dharma is unified, are in their prime years. When they enter the Taoist sect, their status changes from a Taoist boy to a ninth-grade Taoist priest. There will be a three-year assessment period. If you can During the assessment period, if you are favored by the fourth-grade Jiji Taoist priest and the third-grade Youyi Taoist priest, you will have a backer. If you are directly favored by the second-grade Taiyi Taoist priest, you will reach the sky in one step. Don’t be discouraged if you haven’t been chosen, there is still a chance.”

"Because the Taoist sect felt that the Confucian sect was old and indifferent at that time, it has always advocated the use of young people, so age has become the key. After the three-year assessment period, no matter what, you must become an eighth-grade Taoist priest within two years. If you pass At the age of twenty-five, he is not even an eighth-grade Taoist priest, so this is the end of his life.”

"Then you must be promoted to a seventh-grade Taoist priest within the next five years. If you are thirty years old and are not even a seventh-grade Taoist priest, you will be out of business. You will be marginalized in the annual assessment and promotion, mosquito legs. It’s none of your business.”

Qi Xuansu already somewhat understood what Qiniang was going to say.

Qiniang continued: "If you can become a sixth-level Taoist priest before the age of thirty, you will be listed by the Taoist sect as 'preparing for sacrificial wine.' If you can become a fifth-level Taoist priest before the age of thirty-five, you will be listed by the Taoist sect." As long as there is a vacancy for the fourth-grade Taoist priest, priority will be given to promoting the candidate for the ceremony. In the same way, priority will be given to promoting the candidate for the ceremony. "

"Of course, if you can become a fourth-grade Taoist priest before the age of thirty, you will have embarked on the road to success. You are truly young and promising, and your future is limitless. A second-grade Taiyi Taoist priest is also within your reach."

Qiniang looked at Qi Xuansu with a smile and asked, "Do you understand what I mean?"

Qi Xuansu sighed and said: "I understand, Qiniang wants me to go one step further. Can the Qingping Association even operate this?"

Qiniang deliberately said: "Qingping Society has great magical powers and can do anything. Even if you want to be the Grand Master, Qingping Society has a way."

Qi Xuansu just laughed it off, thinking that Qiniang was joking.

In fact, Qiniang was joking on purpose.

Who is the Grand Master? Standing at the highest point of the entire Taoist sect, also known as the Grand Master, is in a super-grade position, lives in the Kunlun ancestral court, and commands the entire Taoist sect. He is the leader of the Taoist sect and the representative of the Supreme in the world.

Want to be the Grand Master? I'm afraid it's easier to ascend to become an immortal.

After laughing, Qiniang said seriously: "With my authority, of course I can't directly promote you to a sixth-grade Taoist priest without going through Ziwei Hall, but I can give you a chance. It depends on whether you can grasp it."