Chapter 180 Dark Clouds

The flying boat quickly left Wuzhou and headed towards Kunlun.

Compared to going to Kunlun by land, the flying boat saves time and effort. After leaving Wuzhou, it goes north along the border between Huzhou and Xiaozhou, passes Shuzhou, and enters the sparsely populated Yongzhou.

According to the division of Taoism, Shuzhou belongs to Shuzhou Daofu, and Yongzhou belongs to Kunlun Daofu.

The difference between the two is that Shuzhou Daofu is a veritable Quanzhen Daofu, with the majority of Quanzhen disciples, while Kunlun Daofu is a neutral Daofu, with the proportion of disciples from the three sects being similar. If the Grand Master is in office, the Grand Master's direct confidant will serve as the Master of the Mansion.

This involves various rules of Taoism regarding the Grand Master.

The Grand Master is elected by the thirty-six Confucian Masters and a varying number of Grand Masters, usually from one of the three Daos. Although Daoism does not advocate nepotism, no one will appoint people based on personal connections. Moreover, if the Grand Master wants to implement policies, he must use his own direct lineage and confidants, which leads to the faction with a Grand Master benefiting greatly, expanding rapidly and squeezing out the other two factions. This is also one of the reasons why the three Daos are determined to obtain the position of Grand Master.

Xuan Sheng is well aware of the drawbacks, but because of the Buddhist sect, he is powerless to change it, so he stripped some of the power of the Grand Master in the later period and gave it to Jinque, repeatedly elevating Jinque, making Jinque the highest authority in Daoism. Not only can he elect the Grand Master, but after a grand meeting, as long as more than 90% of the Jinque members agree, he can even forcibly depose the Grand Master.

In addition, Xuan Sheng also set a rule that the three deputy masters and Grand Masters assist the Grand Master, and the four of them jointly manage Daoism. If there is a disagreement among the four, the Grand Master will take the lead unless all three masters and Grand Masters oppose it. In other words, as long as the three deputy masters agree, they can veto the order of the master. The master must get the support of a deputy master to thoroughly implement his will.

However, considering that the master is almost certain to get the support of the deputy master from his faction, Xuansheng added another rule after suppressing Buddhism. The major orders of the master must pass through the Golden Palace. As long as the number of opponents in the Golden Palace exceeds 24, the order of the master can be vetoed.

Xuansheng prevented a faction from breaking the internal balance of Taoism because of the master by limiting some of the power of the master. Except when Xuansheng was in power, after the other five generations of masters came to power, the other two factions would quickly form an alliance and use the number of people to check and balance the faction of the master.

Of course, if it does not involve fundamental interests, the other two factions will not oppose for the sake of opposition, and more often they will choose to obey the order of the master. The key is that the interests of the two factions are not completely consistent. Most of the time, they can only reach a consensus on veto, but cannot unify their opinions to put forward their own policies, so they are in a defensive position.

In addition, although the Grand Master cannot depose the status of the Assistant Master, and must pass the Golden Palace to depose the Assistant Master or the Grand Master, the power of personnel appointment and dismissal of the Nine Halls and local Taoist offices is still in the hands of the Grand Master, and there is no need to pass the Golden Palace. If he is dismissed by the Grand Master, even if he has the status of Assistant Master, he is still a big figure in the Taoist sect and can exert influence in secret, but the actual power in his hands is definitely less than that of other Assistant Masters.

Take Master Donghua for example. Now he is the Master of Ziwei Hall. With this status, whether it is a disciple of Zhengyi or Taiping Dao, they have to look at Master Donghua's face in the assessment and promotion, because the name is right and the words are right. But if Master Donghua loses the status of Master of Ziwei Hall, then even if he is still Assistant Master, he can only influence the disciples of Quanzhen Dao, and the disciples of the other two will not care about Master Donghua's orders, because the name is not right and the words are not right.

In summary, the relationship between the Grand Master and the Golden Palace is somewhat similar to the relationship between the Cabinet and the Imperial Household Department in the previous dynasty. The Cabinet has the power to draft and can propose various decrees, while the Imperial Household Department has the power to approve and veto. Both have only partial power granted by the emperor, and only when both sides work together can they be equivalent to complete imperial power.

This has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that it prevents the situation where the Taoist sect falls into crisis because of the Grand Master's willful behavior. The disadvantage is that it also makes the Grand Masters of later generations lack sufficient power. In addition, the prestige of the Grand Masters of later generations is not as high as that of Xuansheng, and they are simply unable to integrate the three paths.

In fact, Xuansheng's intention is also very clear. He does not want a great master in the future to use violent means to destroy the other two ways and pay the price of internal strife in the Taoist sect to integrate the three ways. That is not worth the loss. Instead, he hopes to eliminate the contradictions and factional differences among the three ways with more gentle means. After all, the three ways belong to the Taoist sect, have the same roots and origins, and jointly worship a Taoist ancestor. They are not as clear-cut as the disputes between Confucianism and Taoism or Buddhism and Taoism. Even if you really want to use force, it is best to limit it to some high-level people and not to affect the entire Taoist sect.

In short, Xuansheng believes that even if you have to use some drastic means, it is better to be a "palace coup" with a small number of people bleeding, rather than a "Jingnan Campaign" that affects the whole world and sweeps the entire Taoist sect in.

However, there is no law that will never change. Any rules and laws have a time limit. Now that two hundred years have passed since the Xuansheng era, the situation of the Taoist sect is also very different from that of the Xuansheng era. The rules that seemed foolproof back then have loopholes now.

Xuansheng never expected that the position of the Grand Master would be vacant after the Sixth Generation of Grand Masters. In a sense, the Three Dao restricted the Grand Master, and the Grand Master also restricted the Three Daos. The deputy head master, Da Zhenren, forms a balance with the chief head master. Most of the chief heads will not favor the faction they are from without any bottom line, but will be in a more detached position, balancing in the middle.

After the loss of the Grand Master, no one could control the three Deputy Masters, the Great Master, and they immediately formed a three-legged stance. And Taiping Dao even had the idea of ​​attracting the imperial court to provide aid, which made the situation in the Taoist sect extremely complicated. Clouds of civil strife had already gathered in the sky above Yuxu Peak.

Under this situation, Kunlun Dao Sect also had a split within it. The palace master, the chief deputy palace master, and the second deputy palace master were also three pillars, each with subordinates and backing. This caused the Kunlun Taoist House to repeatedly shrink to Yujing to prevent major changes in Yujing. In other words, once there were changes in Yujing, the power of the Kunlun Taoist House could enter Yujing as soon as possible. As for the Kunlun Taoist Temple without a great master, Who can use the mansion depends on the methods of the three deputy masters.

Therefore, with the Kunlun Pass as the boundary, the five thousand miles of Kunlun within the Kunlun Pass are heavily guarded. Outside the Kunlun Pass, including Yongzhou, because the Kunlun Taoist Office has deployed most of its manpower, it can no longer be said that the guards are sparse, and even some blank areas have been created. Therefore, it is not unreasonable for the Lingshan Witch Cult to choose to cast their gods in Yishan City.

The flying boat sailed through the border of Shuzhou and entered the territory of Yongzhou, which is the outskirts of Kunlun Daofu.

The old Taoist walked out of his room unhurriedly, without seeing his movements, he broke through the formation that prohibited going out, came to the deck outside, and stood in the roaring wind, his clothes rustling, but his figure was Unmoved.

Many people saw this scene and couldn't help being surprised.

The old man came to the railing. His hands were as dry as tree roots. He grabbed the railing with one hand and patted the railing with the other hand. He murmured: "Based on the trend of mountains and rivers and the hidden trend of dragon veins, the winding terrain of dragon veins can be regarded as Feng Shui veins." , from west to east, is divided into three areas, called the Three Dragons, the south of the Dajiang River is the Southern Dragon, the area between the Dajiang River and the Yangtze River is the Middle Dragon, and the north of the Yangtze River is the Northern Dragon. Therefore, the three major dragon veins in the world all originate from Kunlun. Not only is it a holy land of Taoism, but it is also the ancestor of the mountains. Now it is not far from Kunlun, and it can be said to be a geomantic treasure."

The old man was already weak and his voice was very low. When the wind blew, it completely dissipated. Even if he stood next to the old man, he could not hear clearly. It even makes people doubt whether the old man himself can understand what he is saying.

However, Zhang Yuelu had already sensed something was wrong, and without caring much, he also rushed out of the ship building protected by the formation and came to the deck outside.

Although the strong wind was fierce, Zhang Yuelu exerted enough strength that his feet seemed to have taken root on the ground without moving at all.

The old man glanced at Zhang Yuelu and said cheerfully: "Master Zhang."

Zhang Yuelu's face changed slightly: "Do you recognize me?"

The old man said leisurely: "I came here just for you. The credit for the heads of our Lingshan Witch Cult is very hot."

Zhang Yuelu didn't say anything nonsense. He swept his body and attacked the old man.

The old Taoist seemed to be on guard. He raised his hand and a golden light flashed through, forcing Zhang Yuelu to stop.

The golden light almost passed by Zhang Yuelu, leaving a mark half a foot deep on the deck of the flying boat that was comparable to King Kong.

"The power of the ancient immortal!" Zhang Yuelu was startled and figured out everything in an instant. His uneasiness did not come from his mother or the Taoist sect, but from the secret association!

The type of divine power can be judged by the color of the divine power. For example, the Wuluo divine power of the Bon Temple last time symbolizes blood sacrifice and is blood red. People must be killed by the sight of blood, otherwise they will not stop dying, but they will not harm dead objects at all. .

This kind of golden divine power is like true energy, indestructible, very domineering, and is also the most common divine power.

The old Taoist rolled up his sleeves, revealing his wrists as thin as dead wood, with a string of beads on them.

Zhang Yuelu has also seen this style of flowing beads before. It is a common style in Lingshan shamanism. There are a total of twelve flowing beads. Each flowing bead is engraved with a different image of Wu Luo, either like an ordinary person or like a dragon. Snakes may have three heads and six arms, or two heads and four arms, or their eyebrows may be open, or their ribs may have wings.

This kind of flowing beads are not spiritual objects, treasures, or semi-immortal objects, but disposable items similar to "dragon eyes" and "phoenix eyes". After the divine power in them is used up, it becomes waste.

Its power is closely related to the material. Ordinary Lingshan Witch Cult members can only use wood, the higher-level leaders can use bone, and elites such as Lin Zhenyuan can use ordinary jasper.

The string of flowing beads on the old Taoist's wrist is made of quite rare topaz.