Chapter 138: Order From Zixiao Palace
There are a total of ninety-nine and eighty-one libraries in Genyuan. Every nine libraries form a circle. The nine circles are nested together, and the big circle is nested within the small circle. Therefore, the farther the library is from the outside, the smaller the two. The distance between them is also larger. Even from the front, it is impossible to see that the library is surrounded by a circle. It must be viewed from a high altitude. The closer the library is to the inside, the smaller the distance is.
The library where Qi Xuansu is located is undoubtedly the innermost one, so these nine libraries are almost right next to each other. There is only one alleyway between them, nine in total, and the distance between these buildings is The alley was sealed again with a spell visible to the naked eye, which made Qi Xuansu couldn't help but wonder, what was in the center of the nine circles? It's a pity that there is a cave inside the library, and there are no windows at all. It is impossible for Qi Xuansu to see the back from inside the library.
On this day, Qi Xuansu finished his routine sword training as usual. After walking out of the stone room, he happened to meet Sun Hewu who was also studying in the building, and the two left the library together.
"Master Sun." Qi Xuansu called the old man and pointed to the alley closest to him. At the entrance of the alley, he saw a crystal-like translucent wall that seemed to be condensed with black and white brilliance. Qi Xuansu once tried to get closer. , the Taoist mark of Yin Yang, Pisces and Bagua will appear on it. In addition, the eighty-one library itself is an array within an array, and all means of teleportation and flyby within this range are prohibited.
Qi Xuansu asked: "Why is there a formation barrier here?"
Sun Hewu then looked at it, hesitated for a moment, and asked: "You want to ask what is in the middle of Gen Garden behind the nine libraries?"
Qi Xuansu nodded.
Sun Hewu sighed: "There used to be an isolated library there, independent of the eighty-one library buildings, called the 'Tianshui Yixin Building'. It was built by Confucianism during the Wanxiang Academy, and all the books in it were There are hundreds of schools of thought that are unique and rare, and cannot be spread to the outside world. There are Taoists, military strategists, farmers, Yin-Yangists, political strategists, famous scholars, Legalists, and the Mohist theory, which is the great enemy of Confucianism. They are all regarded by the Confucian sages. They collected it and hid it in it.”
"In the past, students in the academy were not allowed to take even one step. Even if they wanted to drink wine, they had to get permission before they could enter. The rules in the library were even stricter. Without the permission of the big wine maker, no one was allowed to bring wine. Go, no copying is allowed, even the viewing time is limited, and the collection of books has been banned by the Confucian sect, and the books cannot be taken off the shelves without permission. "
"Later, the Taoist sect renovated the Wanxiang Academy into the Wanxiang Taoist Palace, built the Upper Palace, and directly moved the library from the Lower Palace to the Gen Garden. Many improvements were made, and formations were set up in this building to connect the Yujing's Daozangsi was connected. And with this "Tianshui Yixin Tower" as the center, eighty-one library buildings were built, forming a defensive trend. "
Having said this, Sun Hewu sighed and said with regret: ""But something happened later. Not only did the Taoist Palace seal off the library, but all the roads leading to the library were also blocked. No one is allowed to enter except for the great master in charge of the palace. Due to the rush, the books in the ‘Tianshui Yixin Tower’ could not be moved out. It’s a pity, a pity. "
Qi Xuansu asked the key to the whole matter: "Why did the Taoist Palace blockade the 'Tianshui Yixin Tower'?"
"Because this is the order of Zixiao Palace, Dao Palace must also obey." Now that he had started, Sun Hewu no longer hid it.
Qi Xuansu was startled.
Because to him, Zixiao Palace was actually a bit strange. Since he returned to the Taoist sect, it was Jinque who gave some orders or made some decisions, so that the other core of the Taoist sect has been silent for a long time.
From the perspective of the Western Continent, the Eastern Continent has a dual system structure, which means that there are two cores of power that restrict each other, cooperate with each other, and oppose each other to a certain extent. That is, after the collapse of the Confucian Wei Dynasty, which integrated politics and religion, politics and religion were separated. In addition to the Daxuan court that believed in Taoism, the people who ruled the Eastern Continent also had Daomen, which directly represented human beliefs. There was a second emperor - Daomen. The great leader. In most of the time before the Sixth Generation of Great Masters, the Taoist Sect was even above the imperial court.
Within the Tao Sect, there is also a dual system, that is, there are two centers: Zixiao Palace and Jinque.
In name, Jinque is the highest authority of the Taoist sect. It is composed of thirty-six real masters, plus three deputy masters and an unknown number of great masters Pingzhang. However, the supreme ruler of Jinque is It's the Grand Master.
Logically speaking, Zixiao Palace is only the first of many Taoist palaces, and its status cannot be compared with Jinque. However, the special thing about Zixiao Palace is that it is personally controlled by the Grand Master. This creates an interesting situation. Zixiao Palace is personally led by the Grand Master, and Jinque is also led by the Grand Master. In a sense, the two are on the same level, just like the Grand Master's. Left and right hands.
In the earliest times, especially during the Xuansheng era, Zixiao Palace was only the residence and study room of the Grand Master and the Master’s wife, and the assistant ministers had no clear authority. However, because of Xuansheng’s great prestige, Zixiao Palace served as a close minister. , able to know Xuan Sheng's thoughts and intentions, so his status was extremely high during this period, even Master Shen Zhi did not dare to underestimate him, and even had to treat him respectfully.
After Xuansheng passed away, the status of Zixiao Palace declined and became no different from an ordinary Taoist palace. However, the disputes among the three paths intensified, and the power of the Grand Master was restricted by the Golden Palace. Many major events needed to be discussed in the Golden Palace. If the opinions of the Great True Masters conflicted with the Grand Master, the Grand Master had to withdraw his decision. In order to centralize power at the end of his reign, the second-generation Grand Master began to select his confidants to serve as assistants in Zixiao Palace. They drafted edicts and wrote imperial edicts in accordance with the Grand Master's intentions, thereby weakening the power of the Golden Palace. Some functions of the Golden Palace were transferred to Zixiao Palace, making Zixiao Palace increasingly powerful. Although it has not yet recovered to its status in the Xuansheng era, it has become the de facto head of the Taoist palace.
The successive great masters continued to strengthen the power of Zixiao Palace. When the fifth great master was in office, the Taoist sect used military force against the Buddhist sect. The fifth great master thought that the Jinque procedure was too complicated, so he appointed a Pingzhang Da Zhenren and eight Canzhi Zhenren to enter Zixiao Palace as assistants. These nine people also served as the positions of Jiutang Zhang Zhenren. Therefore, many decisions at that time came from Zixiao Palace, which made the power of Zixiao Palace reach its peak and was promoted to the status of "Pingzhang Tianxia's important affairs". Eighteen deputy assistants were added under the assistant.
Because Zixiao Palace was completely under the direct control of the great master, it was equivalent to the private secretariat of the great master. Its lofty status and huge power all came from the great master. It could not oppose the great master like Jinque, so it was easy to bypass Jinque. This is also the origin of the so-called great master lineage.
Under normal circumstances, it is difficult for Jinque to deny the various orders of Zixiao Palace.
According to the rules set by Xuansheng, Jinque is the highest authority of the Dao Sect. It can not only elect the Grand Master, but also forcibly depose the Grand Master as long as more than 90% of the members of Jinque agree after the grand meeting.
In addition, Xuansheng also set a rule that the three deputy masters assist the Grand Master, and the four of them jointly manage the Dao Sect. If there is a disagreement among the four, the Grand Master will take the lead unless all three masters oppose it. In other words, as long as the three deputy masters agree, they can veto the order of the Grand Master. The Grand Master must get the support of a deputy master to thoroughly implement his will.
However, considering that the Grand Master is almost certain to get the support of the deputy master of the faction he came from, Xuansheng added another rule that the Grand Master's major orders must pass through Jinque. As long as the number of opponents in Jinque exceeds 24, the order of the Grand Master can be vetoed.
Xuansheng prevents a faction from breaking the internal balance of the Dao Sect because of the Grand Master by limiting some of the power of the Grand Master. Except when Xuansheng was in power, after the other five generations of Grand Masters came to power, the other two factions would quickly form an alliance and use numbers to check and balance the Grand Master's faction.
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 orders of the Grand 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 propose 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 Great Master of Pingzhang, the power of personnel appointment and dismissal of the Nine Halls and local Daofu is still in the hands of the Grand Master.
It's just that Xuansheng still underestimated the ability of future generations to take advantage of loopholes. The Grand Masters of all generations used the Grand Master's power of personnel appointment and dismissal to let the masters of the Nine Halls concurrently serve as the assistants of the Zixiao Palace, and then gave orders to the assistants of the Zixiao Palace as the Grand Master of the Zixiao Palace instead of the Grand Master, so as to bypass the Golden Palace.
Unless Jinque directly deposed the Grand Master, it would be impossible for it to restrict Zixiao Palace.
It was with the support of Zixiao Palace that the Grand Master of the fifth generation had the confidence to replace the three Deputy Masters who were not to his liking, and truly monopolized power.
It was not until the Sixth Grand Master ascended to the position of Grand Master that he "rectified the chaos" under the promotion of the three Deputy Masters, and took the initiative to give up Zixiao Palace, so that the assistants returned to their positions and put Jinque first. However, the three Deputy Masters used the number advantage of Jinque to bypass it, and the Zixiao Palace lineage fell silent.
On the other hand, if the three Deputy Masters wanted to take charge of the power of the Taoist sect, they had to go through Jinque and promote various resolutions of Jinque in the name of the rotating Grand Master. Whether it was the Grand Master's Mansion, Wanshou Chongyang Palace, or Zhenjing Villa, they could only realize the role of Zixiao Palace within their own Taoist tradition. Looking at the entire Taoist palace, they could not replace Zixiao Palace.
When the sixth generation of the Grand Master ascended to heaven and passed away, the Grand Master position was vacant, and Zixiao Palace became a mess, leaderless, and fragmented. Its status fell to the lowest point in history, and Jinque became the only one in power.
Therefore, for young people like Qi Xuansu, Zixiao Palace was even a little unfamiliar.
Qi Xuansu immediately reacted and subconsciously whispered: "Which generation of the Grand Master is it?"
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