There were two main reasons why Qi Xuansu did not end up like Liu Futong this time.2

One reason was that Su Yan remained neutral. She did not act rashly like Su Ran did.0

Another reason was that the people from the Lu family were not fearful of his fifth-rank Daoist priest’s identity. They were actually intimidated by the official letter from Ziwei Hall, which was personally signed by Sage Donghua. That was because fifth-rank priests were common, but it was not often that Sage Donghua personally appointed a fifth-rank priest.0

In this regard, Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu were very similar—both had higher positions compared to their ranks. Zhang Yuelu was a fourth-rank Daoist priest who was promoted to Deputy Hall Master by the Earthly Preceptor, while Qi Xuansu was a fifth-rank Daoist priest who was promoted to superintendent by Sage Donghua.1

Generally speaking, it was more common for high-ranking priests to hold lower-level positions. The positions of Deputy Hall Masters, Deputy Palace Masters, and Deputy Mansion Masters were...0