Chapter 4: The Heron Society

The journey was smooth and peaceful, and the "Sun Boat" arrived at Tanxiu Mountain safely.

The West Dao Gate sent relevant personnel to welcome them, and Tan Taiying was among them.

Although Tan Taiying is the granddaughter of Tan Tai Zhenxiao, she is not a young girl. She is at least 30 years old, much older than Qi Xuansu.

In any case, the Tan Tai family is a new family, because they are not the real descendants of Tan Taiyun, and they have nothing to do with the Tan Tai family of the Confucian School. The real history is only more than a hundred years old, and the generations and ages can be compared one by one. There will be no young people in their seventies and eighties and old people who are just learning to speak.

With Huangfu Ji's introduction, the two got to know each other.

In terms of appearance, Tan Taiying is not stunning, but she has a unique charm, mainly in terms of temperament. The arrogance of the son of the family is accompanied by a bit of feminine tenderness, and her temper is quite straightforward and full of personality.

Judging from her words and deeds, she is the kind of person who doesn't care what others think of her. She is also a very self-centered person. She will not like this or that, and she will not hide her own views. She will say whatever she wants to say directly without leaving any mercy. It has to be said that it is also a kind of arrogance. You can see it from her complaints and sarcasm about Huangfu Ji between the lines.

This is different from Zhang Yuelu, who also doesn't care about other people's opinions. Zhang Yuelu is not arrogant, especially when getting along with ordinary people. Zhang Yuelu does not feel superior to others. It can be seen from her attitude towards Taoist people. If she is an arrogant person, she will not gladly accept the invitation of passers-by to attend the wedding banquet, let alone meet Qi Xuansu.

This is determined by the origins of the two. Although both of them are granddaughters of big figures, Tan Taiying has been recognized since childhood, and Zhang Yuelu has to be self-reliant for a long time. This gives Zhang Yuelu the opportunity to contact the lower class, so Zhang Yuelu can better understand the hardships and helplessness of some of the middle and lower classes, instead of standing on the high clouds to whitewash the peace. This also led to a change in Zhang Yuelu's thoughts and ideas.

As for why Qi Xuansu did not change his thoughts and ideas, one reason was Qi Niang's teaching, and the other was that there was no contrast. People who are used to seeing light and beauty suddenly see darkness and ugliness, which will produce a huge gap and contrast, and their cognition will be torn apart, and even their faith will be shaken, so they will make some changes.

Qi Xuansu has been struggling in the quagmire, and what he sees is the bottom, which is commonplace, and is a bit too bottom-level. He doesn't know what the whitewashed beauty should look like, so he naturally does not have a moment of gap and contrast.

Zhang Yuelu saw the inside story of the first Jiangnan case, and he might have self-doubt. Is this the Taoism I know? How could it be like this? How could it be like this? No, I must

change Taoism.

If Qi Xuansu had discovered the inside story of the first Jiangnan case, he would probably think, what am I supposed to do? So you are the same, and all crows are black, just with a different skin, and there is no difference in essence. Then I can also be a high-quality Taoist priest, and I can also love Taoism, at least I am not greedy.

Back to Tan Taiying, such a woman is obviously not easy to deal with. If you are in the right temper with her, naturally everything will be fine. If you are not in the right temper with her, she can always give you a cold shoulder, regardless of the occasion.

Huangfu Ji has a good sense of propriety. In private matters, I can tolerate you, and I will not care about you no matter how you throw a tantrum at me. For example, when the two were drinking privately, Huangfu Ji advised Tan Taiying to find someone to marry as soon as possible. Tan Taiying couldn't stand such words, so she got up and left, leaving Huangfu Ji hanging there, but Huangfu Ji didn't care. This is like a pressure relief valve, venting Tan Taiying's dissatisfaction early.

Since I have taken a step back on personal matters, you should put away your big lady temper and do things according to my requirements in official matters. If I say put it on hold, it is put on hold. There is no room for bargaining. Just obey orders. Between relaxation and relaxation, the two get along well. Tan Taiying can only complain about this boss verbally, but will not really take any substantial action.

After a brief polite greeting, Huangfu Ji hosted the two and invited them to dinner at Tanxiu Palace.

The banquet was relatively simple, and only the three of them participated.

At the banquet, when the wine was half drunk and the "Shadow Case" was being discussed, Qi Xuansu suddenly asked a sensitive question, "Does Tawanting have some kind of high-level small circle?"

Tan Taiying was startled, "What does Chief Qi mean by this?"

Qi Xuansu said, "Since they are high-level, they must be rich or noble. Since it is a small circle, they must have completed resource exchange and integration. They are all powerful and noble. According to normal channels, they basically have everything they want, but they have to open up an abnormal small circle. There must be nothing good in this."

Tan Taiying looked at Qi Xuansu in surprise.

Qi Xuansu continued, "Is there anything that cannot be explained through normal channels? Why do you have to go to a small circle to say it? If it can only be explained in a small circle, it must be against the right way. So I want to ask, does Tawanting have such a small circle?"

Tan Taiying understood what Qi Xuansu meant, "Chief Qi suspects that these cases involve human disasters within Tawanting?"

Qi Xuansu said, "Maybe I am a little too sensitive, but most of the things I have experienced are human problems. From experience, the 'Shadow Case' may involve the intention to subvert the Tawanting system."

Huangfu Ji said, "It's not that serious, right?"

Qi Xuansu said, "When I first arrived in Borneo, I didn't think there was a big problem. On the surface, he was nothing more than a Wang Jiaohe in the pseudo-immortal realm. With Master Lan pressing down on him and Golden Que as a support, he could flip What kind of waves? But the deeper you dig, the more shocking it becomes. There are as many as four immortals involved, namely Wuluo, Siming Zhenjun, Chen Shuhua, and the Buddhist Lord Buddha. In the end, the Taoist sect in order to suppress this conspiracy to subvert The rebellion under the Taoist sect indirectly dispatched three immortals, Master Lan, Master Jiang, and Patriarch Jin Gong, who used more than five immortal objects. Precisely because of Grandmaster Jin Gong’s meritorious conduct in this suppression operation, indirectly It has promoted the normalization of some secret societies. As for the number of pseudo-immortals involved, including first-level spiritual officials."

Huangfu said with a smile, "I understand. Tianyuan's words have only one meaning, which is to ask me to pay more attention to the 'Shadow Case' and not to be careless. Then I will agree. As long as the 'Shadow Case' is involved, I will They all opened the door to convenience and allowed Chief Tantai to do things conveniently."

Tantai Ying did not give Huangfu any face, "It should have been like this a long time ago."

Qi Xuansu's thinking is still consistent. All conspiracies involve interests. Greed is endless, and gods are not exempt from vulgarity. If you follow the direction of interests, you can always find the root cause.

What's weird, what can't be looked at directly, Qi Xuansu doesn't believe it.

Tantai Ying immediately gave Qi Xuansu a clue. There really was a small circle among the top management of Tawanting that was not in a normal environment.

This small circle or group is called the Heron Society. It has the nature of a secret association and involves many high-level people in Tawanting. It is quite similar to the Qingping Society.

According to the knowledge of the Juesheng Church, some members of the Heron Society are believers of the former Sun God Itsumna. After Kukulkan replaced Itsumna, a purge of believers was indeed carried out. They were originally loyal to Yitesumna. The believers of Itesumna hid one after another, and the herons came into being. Their purpose was to wait for the return of Itesumna and prepare for it.

This is reasonable. There is no need to go into too much detail about the triple death of the gods. No matter it is the first death or the second death, it is definitely not the third death. There are so many people who remember Heron. Tessner, there is indeed a possibility of his return.

From the perspective of Xidaomen,

Whether a small group is a threat depends not on its original intention and purpose, but on its organization. If it can threaten the rule of Xidaomen, it is well-organized, no matter how good its original intention is, it is not right. As for the normalization of some of the secret societies promoted by Dao Sect, these secret societies on the list are part of the extension of Dao Sect. Those who do dirty work for Dao Sect all have backers within Dao Sect. This cannot be generalized.

Qi Xuansu asked, "Is there a connection between the black sun tattoo and the heron?"

Tantai Ying shook his head and said, "Now it seems that it doesn't matter. In order to hide their identity, it is impossible for the heron to leave such an obvious identity mark as a tattoo on their body. Their token is a heron-shaped ornament. As I wrote before As mentioned in the article, our main focus must be on the Steam Gospel, so we did not investigate the Heron Society in depth.”

Qi Xuansu asked again, "What is the meaning of the heron?"

Tantai Ying said, "The heron symbolizes Xinchi Chika, the last emperor of Paititi."

"The last emperor?" Qi Xuansu expressed doubts.

Tantai Ying said, "Now is Xinpaititi. Although the name of the country has not changed, it has indeed changed its dynasties. Just like the east-west, north-south, front and rear dynasties in the history of the Central Plains, they all experienced a period of subjugation and reconstruction. It is said that There are many royal people in the Heron Club.”

Qi Xuansu became increasingly puzzled, "I remember that the Tawanting royal family claimed to be the descendants of the ancient god Pachaka, but Pachaka has fallen and can no longer protect his descendants. Xidaomen, in line with the principle of uniting all available forces, combined the three With the help of Xidaomen, Emperor Tawanting married the Nahuatl princess, gained the allegiance of most of the Nahuatl army, and converted to Kukulcan, the sun god of Nohpeten. Accepting the power of the priests of Nohpeten. Why do the royal family members of the Heron Society still miss Itesumna of the Nohpeten pantheon? Shouldn’t they worship their ancestor Pachaka?”

Tantai Yingruo pointed out, "Sometimes, what some people admire may not necessarily be true admiration, but more likely opposition. But they dare not openly oppose it, so they have no choice but to express their opposition by praising the enemies of the object of their opposition." "

Qi Xuansu understood immediately.

For example, some people are dissatisfied with Taoism, but they dare not rule under Taoism.

He openly opposed Taoism, so he secretly opposed Taoism under the pretense of admiring Confucianism and Buddhism. If we really want them to join Confucianism and Buddhism, they are unwilling to do so, and they don't necessarily know how to treat Buddhism and Confucianism in their bones.

It may not be true that Heron would worship Itsumna, but it is probably true that he secretly opposes Kukulkan.