Chapter 102: Classmates

The largest inn in Longmenfu was originally called Mingsheng Inn. It was located on the street opposite the Wanxiang Academy, with a convenient location. In a year, no one knew how many people came to the Wanxiang Academy to study or pay homage. When they were not allowed to enter or waiting, they would wait here to rest. Many people in the academy also set up wine and talk here.

However, after the Wanxiang Academy was changed to the Wanxiang Taoist Palace by the Taoist sect, Mingsheng Inn was also changed to Taiping Inn by the Taoist sect, and its business was still booming.

After Qi Xuansu entered the city, he went straight to the largest Taiping Inn, because on the second floor of the inn, he could just see the southeast side door of Ziwei City, and behind the side door was the lower palace.

Children and teenagers in the lower palace were usually not allowed to leave Ziwei City. Occasionally, they would go out through the side door. Only those quasi-fourth-grade priests could enter and exit from the main gate. There was only one road there, which led directly to the Mingtang of the upper palace, but was isolated from the lower palace.

Although he was heading straight to the Taiping Inn, Qi Xuansu was not in a hurry. Looking at the people coming and going around him, the memories of the past slowly surged into his mind like a tide.

It was okay when he was a child, just following the rules. When he was a teenager, he was bolder and began to try to escape from Ziwei City. It was not to say that he would leave Wanxiang Dao Palace and let the birds fly high in the sky and the fish jump in the sea. He just wanted to see the outside world. He was not even looking forward to the rivers and lakes, but just to see the city of Longmen Mansion. For them, Yujing, Dijing, and Jinling were too far away, and Longmen Mansion was already a world of flowers.

Although the walls of Ziwei City were very high, the teenagers of Wanxiang Dao Palace were not ordinary people. The best among them were almost touching the threshold of the innate people. With the help of some tools, a wall really couldn't stop them, so it was common to see instructors coming out to catch people in Longmen Mansion.

After being caught, they would naturally be punished, mostly corporal punishment.

If it was a first offense, it would be lighter, such as standing in the corner, not allowed to eat, working, etc.

If they refuse to change after repeated admonitions, they will be punished more severely, with a whip, and a very special whip that will not leave any obvious scars, but it will be very painful and will teach them a lesson.

There are also people who beat them with a stick, which is bloody and scary, but it does not hurt the bones and muscles. It will heal in half a month after applying medicine, and it will not leave scars. This is usually a warning to others.

But even so, the teenagers still enjoy it. They are not delicate flowers in the flower garden, nor are they pampered young men and women. They are tough and tenacious. These corporal punishments are nothing to them, and there is no psychological shadow. Many people are proud of being punished. After all, if their grades are poor, it is difficult to get out.

Qi Xuansu was not a celebrity in the Wanxiang Dao Palace, but he was outstanding. Otherwise, Yue Liuli would not have hated him. To put it bluntly, offending people also requires qualifications.

Qi Xuansu had certainly done this kind of thing, but he was always in partnership with others. Now that he thought about it, he had not contacted those friends for many years. He did not know where they were now. Even if they met again, it would be difficult to continue the friendship of the schoolmates. After all, not everyone can afford the "mother-child talisman". If the Qingping Association did not issue the "mother-child talisman" every month, Qi Xuansu could not afford it now.

This is probably the fate that brings people together and leaves them apart. In life, it is not about the number of friends, but it is a blessing to have one or two close friends.

As for how many of these old friends and old acquaintances can stand out, Qi Xuansu is not optimistic.

The most outstanding among them, Yue Liuli and Wan Xiuwu, the two leaders of the Dragon and Tiger Society, were accepted as disciples by the Master of Wuxu Palace. Now they are only fifth-grade Taoist priests, not even high-grade Taoist priests, let alone others?

As Qi Xuansu's guide, Qi Niang once told Qi Xuansu in detail about the promotion of Taoism.

What do you rely on to climb up?

It is the result of the combination of ability and merit, personal connections, upper-level recommendations, lower-level foundations, noble opportunities, and hard work and qualifications. Among them, personal connections play an important role, even a fundamental role.

There are two top families in Taoism, namely Zhang and Li. Originally, Qin was also one of them, which was a tripod, but as Qin became the royal family, it was no longer counted. The characteristics of this kind of top family are orderly inheritance, almost controlling one way, such as Zhang family controlling Zhengyi Dao, Li family controlling Taiping Dao, and there are too many real people in the family. The Li family is known as one of the seven real people. Here it only refers to the direct lineage of Xuansheng and Donghuang inherited from Li Daoxu, and the side branches, sons-in-law, and adopted sons are not counted. If counted, there are far more than seven people.

There are twelve second-class big families, and each family has more than three second-grade Taiyi Taoist priests. There are nearly one hundred small families, and there is at least one second-grade Taiyi Taoist priest in the family.

Disciples from Wanxiang Dao Palace do not belong to these families. They have no background to speak of. They can only look at the relationship between teachers and students. But there is only one master, and there are so many fellow disciples. Whether one can really inherit the master's legacy depends on luck.

Qi Niang once made a rough statistics. Although the Taoist sect has a year-end system, this system actually restricts the children of aristocratic families. For ordinary disciples, almost no one can reach the promotion standard before the year-end.

To give a simple example, Qi Xuansu encountered a year-end restriction when he was promoted from a sixth-grade Taoist priest to a fifth-grade Taoist priest. He needed a year to be promoted because he wasted too much time at the seventh-grade Taoist priest stage. When he was wandering around at the seventh-grade Taoist priest, Wan Xiuwu and Yue Liuli had already accumulated qualifications at the sixth-grade Taoist priest stage, so there was naturally no year-end restriction. Later, Qi Xuansu was promoted too quickly, almost skipping the sixth-grade Taoist priest directly, and then he encountered this bottleneck.

But the reality for others is that it only takes one year to stop practicing, but it takes more than five years to accumulate merits. For them, stopping practicing has no effect, and almost no one can complete the promotion within the time limit of stopping practicing.

Qiniang concluded that, on average, it takes nine years to go from a ninth-grade Taoist priest to an eighth-grade Taoist priest, three years to go from an eighth-grade Taoist priest to a seventh-grade Taoist priest, seven years to go from a seventh-grade Taoist priest to a sixth-grade Taoist priest, and seven years to go from a sixth-grade Taoist priest to a fifth-grade Taoist priest.

In other words, an ordinary young man who leaves the Wanxiang Taoist Palace at the age of coming of age enters the Taoist sect and becomes a ninth-grade Taoist priest, is promoted to an eighth-grade Taoist priest at the age of 29, a seventh-grade Taoist priest at the age of 31, a sixth-grade Taoist priest at the age of 38, and a fifth-grade Taoist priest at the age of 45. He has lost the possibility of becoming a high-grade Taoist priest, and his life stops here. Only a few people can become a fourth-grade priest of wine by chance, but that's it.

At the same age of fifty, the disciple from Wanxiang Taoist Palace is only a fifth-grade Taoist priest, while the disciple from aristocratic family is already a second-grade Taiyi Taoist priest, and even has the hope of becoming a great master.

But this is still a very smooth state. More people stop at the ninth-grade Taoist priest or the seventh-grade Taoist priest, and there are many people who are ninth-grade Taoist priests all their lives.

A poor child has been working hard for twenty years, maybe going from one hall to another, and has been going through many halls, but has been standing still. At the same time, the children of aristocratic families have already crossed the threshold of the fourth-grade priest and entered the ranks of high-grade Taoist priests.

In fact, each grade is a threshold, and there are several or even dozens of invisible ladders hidden in it, which vary depending on the hall, palace and position. Some halls and positions are easier to be promoted, such as the Yaoguang Division Deacon of Tiangang Hall, and some positions are difficult to be promoted, such as the Anhun Division Deacon of the Ancestral Hall.

Children of noble families with backgrounds can complete the leap in just a few years and eventually become newcomers of Taoism, and rank among the high positions of deputy hall master, deputy palace master, and assistant, at least the rank of the third-grade Youyi Taoist priest. Zhang Yuelu was assigned the position of deputy hall master with the rank of the fourth-grade Jijiu Taoist priest because of the year-off, but this is only temporary, and it is only a matter of time before Zhang Yuelu is promoted to the third-grade Jijiu Taoist priest.

At this time, their opponents are no longer ordinary children of poor families, but children of noble families with the same background, as well as some children of poor families with outstanding abilities, so most people's promotion becomes slow, and even stops here. Only a very few people can stand out and rank among the ranks of the second-grade Taiyi Taoist priests, and truly step into the upper echelons of Taoism.

However, if you have a background, ability and merit, and opportunities, then you must have a bright future. For example, Zhang Yuelu, after she participated in solving a major case in Jiangnan, caught the attention of the Earth Master and was soon promoted out of the ordinary, which brought about a series of reactions, making her stand out from a group of sisters and sisters, and was designated as the successor by the True Man Cihang, becoming the little head of the hall in the mouth of others, with a promising future.

As for Qi Xuansu, he had no hope at first. The turning point was that Qi Niang helped him enter the Tiangang Hall. It was not a joke to be in the third hall. The promotion was fast, and he met Zhang Yuelu, a good boss, so he naturally rose to prominence. If he had not left the Taoist sect because of an accident, he would have been a stable fourth-grade Taoist priest, and as Zhang Yuelu's direct descendant, after Zhang Yuelu became the True Man of Companionship, he would probably be able to rise to the top and become an ordinary True Man with a Hui Sword, serving as Zhang Yuelu's deputy. For example, when Zhang Yuelu served as the True Man of the Tiangang Hall, he served as the Chief Deputy Hall Master or the Second Deputy Hall Master.

His fate from then on was firmly tied to Zhang Yuelu. If Zhang Yuelu could become the Great Head Master, then he would also have the hope of ascending to the throne of the True Man of Companionship.

This is an opportunity, which can only be encountered by chance.

How many people can meet Qi Niang and Zhang Yuelu?

Qi Xuansu never felt that his fate was tragic or that the heaven had let him down. That was too hypocritical. In fact, he was a lucky man, or it could be said that those who survived a great disaster would have good fortune in the future. The assassin sent by Shen Yuyi failed to kill him, and he met Qi Niang, just like a pawn crossing the river. Although there was still no retreat, at least there was room for maneuvering.

So most of Qi Xuansu's classmates were still struggling, and they might not be able to make it.

Qi Xuansu looked in the direction of the Wanxiang Dao Palace, feeling emotional, wondering if he would meet his old friends.