From Celestial Official to Great Celestial Venerable

Chapter 94 Heavenly Sect Master
Jianxiansi is a huge Taoist temple located on the southeast street of Jiuchuan County. The temple is decorated with green tiles and red pillars, and has carved beams and painted rafters. Like the county's City God Temple, it is a temple-level unit.

The Xiansi Temple complex comprises thirteen Taoist temples, including the Inspection Pavilion, the Touring Hall, the Spirit Pivot Platform, the Evidence Hall, the Investigation Gate, the Purification Hall, the File Archives, the Spirit Measurement Bureau, the Emergency Preparation Room, the Assistant Administration Office, the Medical Examination Garden, the Corruption and Punishment Platform, and the Examination and Assessment Office.

Qin Chuan, dressed in a black robe with red accents, naturally entered the area and soon found the direction of Youyi Temple using the guidebook.

As soon as he stepped into the entrance of Youyi Temple, he saw a middle-aged Taoist priest, over thirty years old, who immediately stepped forward and bowed to Qin Chuan with obsequiousness.

"Qin Lingguan, you have finally arrived to take up your post."

Qin Chuan was surprised and asked, "Who are you? I only arrived at Youyi Temple today, and you already recognize me?"

"Xiaodao Wang Mengshi is a junior member of our Youyi Temple. He is usually responsible for liaising with the Jing'an Immortal Guards."

After introducing himself, Wang Mengshi, his two thick black mustaches trembling with laughter, stepped forward and offered his compliments:

"As for how I know you, Qin Lingguan's name is now widely known not only in our Jiuchuan County, but also in blessed lands and grotto heavens. Furthermore, our temple received your document yesterday, which is here today to take up your post. It contains your image and portrait. How could I not recognize you?"

"Where is the abbot's residence inside the temple? Take me there; I need to report to him about my new post," Qin Chuan asked.

"This way, please follow me." Wang Mengshi immediately led Qin Chuan towards a government office.

In fact, he had been waiting here since early morning, just to make a good impression on the new deputy abbot. Although the deputy abbot has the word "deputy" in his name, in the Youyi Temple, there are two Youyi Spirit Officials, the head abbot and the deputy abbot. The head abbot is mostly responsible for overall coordination, while the deputy abbot is the one who actually leads the Taoists to do their jobs and solve cases. That is, the new abbot's immediate superior.

The local official is more powerful than the distant one, so naturally, it's better to cultivate a good relationship with your immediate superior to get closer to them.

After arriving.

Qin Chuan thanked the Taoist priest.

He knocked loudly on the door until a voice inside said, "Come in." After Qin Chuan went in, he finally saw Xiao Shi'an, the head of Youyi Temple, who would likely be working with him for years, even decades, to come.

He looked to be an ordinary man around forty years old, with thick, sword-like eyebrows that exuded a commanding presence. He wore a cloak draped in the clouds and wind. Upon seeing Qin Chuan enter, a hint of joy flashed in his eyes, and he immediately stood up.
"Xiao Qin, you've finally arrived."

Next, Qin Chuan and Xiao Shi'an, the two abbots and deputy abbots, chatted about the work content and direction of Youyi Temple.

"Xiao Qin, let me first introduce to you the current work of Youyi Temple. Our main responsibility is to investigate and prosecute cases, inspect whether the Taoist priests of the Heavenly Court have committed dereliction of duty or impeached those who have violated the Heavenly Laws, and conduct on-site supervision of the Jing'an Guard regarding those in the Celestial Court and the Heavenly Sect who have violated the Heavenly Laws. Currently, there are a total of eighteen registered Taoist priests and thirty-six registered fire workers in Youyi Temple, divided into four teams, each with a captain and a deputy captain."

Xiao Shi'an introduced:

"Currently, the temple is handling three major cases: the March 18th murder case, the May 16th spirit crystal explosion case, and the Wotai Village dismemberment case. These are being handled by Qi Bin of Team One, Jiang Danian of Team Two, and Wu Tong of Team Four, respectively. If you want to participate in any of these cases, just ask them to report to you. Coincidentally, we're going to have our weekly meeting about these three cases in a little while, and then you can get to know these outstanding Taoist priests from Youyi Temple."

Even in front of his superior, Qin Chuan remained humble and said, "I will follow Abbot Xiao's arrangements."

Before long, all the officially registered Taoist priests of Youyi Temple arrived at the temple's main meeting hall.

As Xiao Shi'an and Qin Chuan entered the conference hall together, taking their seats in the center and first on the left respectively, Xiao Shi'an introduced them to everyone: "Let me introduce you all. This gentleman beside me is our new Vice Abbot of Youyi Temple, Fellow Daoist Qin Chuan." "Greetings, Vice Abbot Qin," all the Daoists in the register immediately bowed.

They had long heard that a young man had come to Youyi Temple as its abbot, but when they saw that the newly arrived deputy abbot, Youyi Lingguan, was only eighteen or nineteen years old, no matter how respectful the Taoists present were on the surface, they all subconsciously looked down on him by three points.

"This is Qin Chuan from this county, who made a name for himself in the heavens. He is indeed handsome, but he used to work in agriculture. Now he has been suddenly transferred to our Jianxian Division's Youyi Temple. This is too ridiculous," Captain Qi Bin thought to himself.

The Immortal Inspection Office is not a place for quiet cultivation in the fields; it is a celestial office where one truly faces many vicious celestial criminals and lives in danger.

"Greetings, fellow Daoists. I'm new here and not very familiar with the cultivation and work within our temple. If there's anything I do wrong, please feel free to point it out to me. I'll humbly accept your opinions," Qin Chuan said, maintaining a polite demeanor.

After getting to know each other, Xiao Shi'an, the abbot and host, announced that Qi Bin, the captain of the first team, would explain the progress and reasons of the March 18 murder case to Qin Chuan.

Upon hearing this, Qi Bin, though disdainful of the newly arrived, inexperienced abbot, didn't show it on his face. He nodded, stood up, took out a jade slip, and gently touched it. Many characters and lights appeared on the jade slip, flashing one after another as he introduced it:
"The March 18th murder case was originally an ordinary murder case. The victim was a weaver from the Weaver Girl Sect in this county. She was found dead with a knife in the back mountain of the sect. At first, it did not involve any elements of a cultivator committing a crime. It was not until we found traces of spiritual energy in her body that we finally began to take this case seriously..."

After Qi Bin finished his introduction, the second and fourth captains introduced two other major cases, both of which involved cultivators and were therefore being investigated as major cases.

After listening, Qin Chuan also felt that the case clues currently held by Youyi Temple were difficult to handle. In two cases, the criminals had been caught, but the evidence was incomplete and could not meet the conditions for submission for trial. Moreover, because the criminals were determined to break through the Heart-Questioning Platform, they could not obtain any effective clues.

After the report was finished, Qi Bin looked at Qin Chuan, who seemed to be deep in thought, and deliberately asked, "Officer Qin, after listening to your report, do you have any thoughts you could share with us, so that we can have more ideas?"

Everyone could tell that Captain Qi was deliberately trying to sow discord among the new, inexperienced spirit officials. The newly arrived deputy abbot had previously worked as a farmer spirit; it would be strange if he had any ulterior motives.

They understood Captain Qi's attitude because Qi Bin was one of the most senior Immortal Inspectors in the Immortal Inspection Bureau. If Qin Chuan hadn't been brought in, the position of deputy abbot would most likely have been filled by him. Why would they approve of the new deputy abbot?
Qin Chuan also keenly noticed the captain's emotions towards him. He remained calm and said, "Captain Qi, right? As I just said, I'm new here and don't know much about things in the temple yet. It's not appropriate for me to express my thoughts now. If I say something wrong and it affects your investigation, that would be bad."

"Then we'll proceed according to my previous investigation plan," Qi Bin said calmly.

He had anticipated Qin Chuan's reaction. Whether the other party offered advice or not, he had something to say. Now that Qin Chuan said he didn't understand the work at all, if he continued to do things the way they had before, it would give others the impression that he was the actual person in charge of handling cases at Youyiguan.

Sometimes, the atmosphere in a temple can influence other people's choices, making them make choices that are beneficial to oneself; this is a kind of invisible, hidden power.

And so, Qin Chuan's first meeting after meeting with everyone came to an end.

Shortly after the meeting ended, Youyi Temple received a summons from the county's Jing'an Bureau. The summons stated that they were handling an economic crime case and had obtained substantial evidence of embezzlement and bribery by a certain sect leader in the county. They were preparing to arrest him, however, according to the Heavenly Laws, the Jianxian Division was required to be present to supervise the operation...

When the four captains saw who the Heavenly Camp Sect Master, who was about to be captured, was, their expressions all changed:
"Zhao Famo, the sect leader of the Nine Rivers Thunder Controlling Heavenly Sect..."

This is the top leader of the true Heavenly Camp of Jiuchuan, he has a talisman, and his rank is above many Heavenly Talisman Daoists, equivalent to a Taoist priest of the Temple rank.

The four team leaders, in any case, were neither qualified nor qualified enough to control this formation.

Qi Bin's eyes flickered slightly, and he suddenly said:
“Only two abbots can keep this level of sect leader in check. I think we should let our new Qin Lingguan be on the scene to ensure that the procedure is reasonable and the Heavenly Laws are fair.”

(End of this chapter)