The Temple's Tangled Web

"Twelve days..."

He walked toward the Endless White Pagoda Temple.

In his mind, Lu Feng clearly sorted through the structure of the temple's various factions, based on what he had heard and seen.

And what he needed to do next.

To him.

The temple was no pure land, either.

As a major temple within a prefecture and a medium-sized temple in the Secret Dharma Region, the Endless White Pagoda Temple was bound to have factions with roots tangled together, stacked layer upon layer.

The power structure of the Endless White Pagoda Temple was no different from that of other temples.

At its summit stood the "Abbot Venerable."

Below him, it consisted of three divisions: the "Discipline Hall dean," the "academy dean," and the "Granary Courtyard dean."

They could be described as three legs of a tripod, beneath a single man.

Of these, the "Abbot Venerable" was the true ruler of the entire temple.

He controlled its monks, Dharma lineages, lands, and property.

The Abbot Venerable of the Endless White Pagoda Temple was a "Qubilghan" capable of reincarnation. This also meant that whenever an "Abbot Venerable" passed away in seated meditation, monks from the temple would bring his reincarnation back from an estate outside, hold an enthronement ceremony, and carefully raise him.

After studying at his own temple, the "Abbot Venerable" also had to travel farther away to the greatest temple in the north, Zajuben Temple, "First in the North," to study and debate the sutras.

Only when the Abbot Venerable earned the third-rank degree of "Kalyāṇamitra" could he return, take control of his temple again, inherit its exalted position of "Qubilghan," receive the honorary title of great scholar, and sit upon his own Dharma throne as the temple's true master.

During this period, the temple's power was held on his behalf by the three dean-elders, and most upheavals in the temple occurred during this time.

After all, power was like honey: once someone tasted it, they could not bear to let it go.

Among them, the "Discipline Hall dean" commanded the Duoduo Monksoldiers and Dharma-protecting Lamas. He was responsible for the security of the entire temple as well as protecting its mandala, and represented the sum of the temple's armed strength.

The "academy dean" was usually a position held concurrently by the "Abbot Venerable," responsible for the transmission of the entire temple's Dharma lineages. In the "Abbot Venerable's" absence, his teacher filled the position, commanding both popular support and moral legitimacy-not to mention that, in the present Secret Dharma Region, knowledge itself was power.

Below the "academy dean" were the Leading Sutra Master, scripture instructors, and various Lamas, responsible for all the temple's scriptures and transmissions.

Lastly, the "Granary Courtyard dean" was the elder who oversaw all logistics.

However, unless the holder of this position was a seal-bearing Granary Elder.

All other Granary Courtyard deans were either trusted confidants of the "Abbot Venerable."

Or subjected to threats and coercion from the deans of the other two divisions.

They became someone else's dependents.

Unable to truly make decisions.

Thus, in practice, before the temple's "Abbot Venerable" fully secured his position, the entire temple was actually territory controlled by the Dzongben Nobles and Tusi nobles.

In some temples, the true controlling authority belonged to the "Council of Elders," a group composed of former discipline elders and academy deans. They represented the temple's ultimate interests and constituted a more advanced form of temple. Such temples were mostly free of the constraints of local noble powers. These temples did not become exalted because of offerings from the Tusi and Dzongben Nobles. Rather, the nobles mostly arose from the elders and Lamas within the temples: first came the temple, and only then the nobles outside it.

The temple was the source of everything.

Lu Feng had studied in the Endless White Pagoda Temple for ten years.

He knew these ins and outs like a familiar road.

He also had some understanding of the factions within his temple.

Thus, within the Endless White Pagoda Temple.

All the factions could roughly be reckoned as two intertwined powers.

The Tusi forces mostly congregated within the Discipline Hall.

The forces of the Dzongben Nobles were mostly concentrated in the academy and provisions divisions.

The current Abbot Venerable leaned even more toward the Dzongben Nobles-half the reincarnations of the Abbot Venerable were born in Tusi territory, and half in the territory of the Dzongben Nobles. This generation's Abbot Venerable had himself come from a lineage of Dzongben Nobles and belonged to their faction.

During his first few years in power, he had continually suppressed the influence of the Tusi monks, but with little effect.

Later, the temple entered a period of stability.

Open conflict between the Tusi and Dzongben Nobles did not serve his interests, so over these years, the Abbot Venerable had furled his banners and stilled his drums, no longer fighting openly and striving to maintain a superficial balance.

By now.

The wind and waves seemed calm.

But the suppression remained.

Against this broader backdrop.

Within these structures.

Lu Feng easily found the branch of the structure he wanted.

He searched from the top down.

Tracing down the "Abbot Venerable's" faction.

Very soon, Lu Feng found the person he was seeking this time.

The Sutra-preaching Monk, Master Zhiyun.

And so.

By the time he reached the Endless White Pagoda Temple.

It was nearly dark.

The temple gates were about to close.

Lu Feng hurried along, ignoring the Student Monks casting sidelong glances at him, and went straight to "Master Zhiyun" of the "academy."

The "academy" was housed in a cluster of monks' quarters with walls painted dark red.

Before the fortified tower stood a great gate that would be locked before nightfall.

Unless it was a matter of earth-shaking importance, no one could enter or leave.

Secret mantras written by a Lama covered the gate, ensuring that even if a malevolent ghost entered the temple, this place would still provide a barrier and a warning.

On both sides of the path.

There were thick, heavy prayer flags inscribed with secret mantras.

Even when the wind blew, these prayer flags would not flutter.

So, rather than calling them prayer flags.

It would be better to call them thick, heavy blankets.

Following this path, Lu Feng went to request an audience with Master Zhiyun!

Master Zhiyun, together with the temple's Venerable, had inherited the lineage of the Endless White Pagoda Temple's abbatial Dharma throne, a branch of Zajuben Temple, "First in the North." He was a trusted confidant of the Abbot Venerable, and both he and the Abbot Venerable had been born into the Lunbei Lineage, local Dzongben Nobles.

The Lunbei Lineage had long harbored ambitions of swallowing up the surrounding Tusi, but as a "local administrative institution," a dzongben stood parallel to a Tusi's official stronghold. During the years in which the "Abbot Venerable" had presided over the Endless White Pagoda Temple, the Lunbei Lineage's estates, slaves

Without a pretext, they could not annex the Tusi's property.

But things were different now. Lu Feng's arrival would give the Lunbei Lineage a pretext: the Gaqila Tusi Lineage had become "Outer Dao" and had been subdued by a great monk from below the Great Snow Mountain. Their lineage and slaves should be divided up, and their pastures and estates should be annexed.

As a major local temple, the Endless White Pagoda Temple.

Could even find a way to secure a pretext to bite another mouthful of flesh from the Tusi as a whole!

The "Abbot Venerable" could not possibly abandon such an opportunity. Even if he were willing to abandon it, the great monks under him who represented the power of the Dzongben Nobles would not agree to give it up.

Thus, this was an overt scheme that pushed the waves along with the current.

Lu Feng was all but certain of success!