A Pawn's Passage

Qi Xuansu had a long dream.

In the dream, Qi Xuansu saw a tall and dark mountain, like that from a splashed-ink painting. He stood at the foot of the mountain, facing a rugged path. On both sides of the path were shrubs with colorful flowers, which he could not name, and trees with colorful ribbons hanging from them. It looked like a celebration was happening, yet the sky was dark and depressing.

The path wound up and disappeared into darkness, with no end in sight.

In a daze, Qi Xuansu stepped onto the path and hiked toward the peak. The whistling wind echoed in his ears, carrying a woman’s voice that was murmuring or singing softly. The ribbons on the trees swayed with the wind, resembling countless arms flailing. The path was covered with petals that emitted a strange fragrance.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, the woman’s voice in Qi Xuansu’s ears became clearer. It was a language he had never heard before—difficult to understand, ancient, and mysterious. Everything felt inexplicably strange.

Suddenly, Qi Xuansu felt fearful as he heard his master crying out to him, urging him to turn back. However, he could not turn back. His neck seemed frozen, and his body felt completely out of his control. He also heard Madam Qi’s whispers.

Qi Xuansu tried hard to listen to Madam Qi’s words but could not make out what she was saying. He did not understand what was happening.

Suddenly, he saw a woman walking toward him. Half of her face was covered by her long hair. But even with only half of her face exposed, she looked stunning.

The woman was a guide. She stood near him, beckoning for him to follow her down the path.

Qi Xuansu subconsciously followed the woman and walked along the long path toward the summit.

At the mountaintop, a big bonfire in the middle of a vast open area cast a long shadow of a tall figure standing behind it.

Qi Xuansu saw many shadows hidden behind the tall figure, murmuring and whispering in the darkness.

He widened his eyes, trying to see the face of the tall figure clearly. However, the tall figure was shrouded in an impenetrable shadow. No matter how hard Qi Xuansu tried, he could only see a blurry outline.

Qi Xuansu looked for the guide again but found that she had disappeared.

At that moment, Qi Xuansu heard a low chanting.

The fire grew brighter, making the surrounding area seem darker.

The murmurs gradually grew louder, as if crossing through the long and distant river of time and reaching the existing world.

Qi Xuansu took a few steps forward, wanting to approach the tall figure.

The eyes of the tall figure lit up with a blood-red glow.

Qi Xuansu vaguely saw that the figure had long white hair and crimson eyes, wearing a robe that seemed to be embroidered with stars like the night sky.

Just then, the previously blazing fire suddenly extinguished, enveloping everything in the darkness.

The ground under Qi Xuansu’s feet cracked to reveal a sinkhole. Qi Xuansu fell uncontrollably into a pool of blood, and all he could see was the color red.

In an instant, Qi Xuansu woke up.

This was not the first time he had had this dream, but every time it happened, he felt powerless because he could never see the face of the tall figure clearly.

At this moment, Qi Xuansu was lying in a guest room on the second floor of an inn, with Madam Qi sitting by the bed. Seeing that he was awake, she asked, “Another nightmare?”

Qi Xuansu grunted in acknowledgment, not wanting to discuss it further.

Madam Qi did not press the issue. She drew a breath from her long tobacco pipe, the smoke veiling her face.

Qi Xuansu asked, “Where is this place?”

Madam Qi replied, “Fengtai County.”

Qi Xuansu immediately understood what was happening. “You’re trying to hide in plain sight, huh?”

“More or less.” Madam Qi blew out a smoke ring. “There’s still something I need to take care of.”

Qi Xuansu asked again, “What is it?”

Madam Qi glanced at him. “You didn’t use your real name at The Inn, did you?”

Qi Xuansu hesitated for a moment. He then realized she was not referring to this inn but rather the underground one. “I did.”

Madam Qi knocked on the stummel of her tobacco pipe and said, “Then I’ll have to drop by The Inn to settle this issue so that the Green Phoenix Guard or the Tiangang Hall can’t find anything.”

Qi Xuansu did not inquire about Madam Qi’s plan for handling this issue and only thanked her. “Sorry for the trouble.”

Madam Qi tapped Qi Xuansu’s head with her pipe. “How many times have I told you not to reveal your true identity, let alone let others know you’re from the Qingping Society? Have you forgotten what you did before? Your enemies may be dead, but they still have friends, masters, and family. Do you want them to come and settle scores with you?”

Qi Xuansu lowered his head without rebuttal.

When his master was killed, Qi Xuansu avenged him, and Madam Qi handled the aftermath. Thus, he was very grateful to Madam Qi.

Madam Qi pushed her sunglasses down her nose bridge and raised her eyes to look at Qi Xuansu. “I’ve thought about it. You need an alias. In the future, use the alias Wei Wugui whenever you encounter such situations. Got it?”

Qi Xuansu nodded to acknowledge her.

Madam Qi pushed her sunglasses back up her nose bridge to cover her beautiful eyes and continued chattering, “You’re quite severely injured this time, so I’ve written a prescription for you. It’s in your bag. Remember to take your medicine on time, once a day for two weeks.

“During these two weeks, try not to get into any more fights. When you have time, heal yourself with your qi, with special attention to the Zigong, Yutang, and Zhongting acupoints. If you feel any pain during the process, don’t force it and go around it.”

Qi Xuansu found Madam Qi to be a nagging pain, but since his master’s death, he had no one else close to him. So he was unwilling to interrupt her nagging and could only nod along.

After Madam Qi finished speaking, Qi Xuansu changed the subject and asked, “Madam Qi, since you were here, why didn’t you take action yourself?”

Madam Qi said righteously, “With your logic, the masters of wealthy families can dress and eat on their own, so they shouldn’t have servants to help them. What’s the point of having servants if they can do everything independently? Why should they pay servants for doing nothing?”

Qi Xuansu chuckled helplessly.

After a pause, Madam Qi continued, “This time, the Taiping Sect, Quanzhen Sect, and Zhengyi Sect have all sent their representatives here, so I won’t be able to complete the mission alone. Take that Quanzhen disciple as an example. If you hadn’t distracted him, I wouldn’t have been able to ambush him so easily.”

Qi Xuansu had seen Madam Qi’s fighting skills before. He believed this was merely an excuse, but he did not point it out. Instead, he asked, “Where’s the Xuan Jade?”

Madam Qi said, “You can keep it for the time being and bring it to the contact point in the city. Also, I’ve covered your lodging fee, which is 50 Ruyi coins, so remember to pay me back. Don’t forget the 100 Taiping coins you owe me for saving your life. I expect not a single coin less.”

With that, Madam Qi stood up, retrieved a black cloak from her magical receptacle, draped it over herself, and left.

Qi Xuansu reached for his satchel at the head of the bed and took out the prescription Madam Qi left for him. Judging by her delicate handwriting, one would think that it belonged to a demure young lady from a noble family rather than a moneylending killer.

He put away the prescription, got up, and went to the window, pushing it open and looking out.

Finally, the sky was no longer gloomy. The rain had stopped.

Madam Qi, wearing the cloak, sat sideways on a donkey and rode out of the city.

After watching Madam Qi leave, Qi Xuansu left the inn through the back door. Although Madam Qi brought Qi Xuansu back to Fengtai County to hide in plain sight, he felt it was better to tread cautiously.

Based on the Green Phoenix Guard’s track record, they would still enforce martial law in the city because there were so many deaths, even if they believed that the so-called “rebel party” had fled. They would have enforced tighter security inside the city to prevent causing too much panic among the people and to guard against anyone trying to hide in plain sight.

Before entering the city, Qi Xuansu had specifically studied the layout of Fengtai County. Therefore, he did not go through the city gates but chose to leap over a secluded section of the city wall. After dark, he clung to the city wall like an ant, jumped over, and landed with light steps outside the city wall, taking advantage of the night to leave Fengtai County quietly.

Fengtai County belonged to Huainan Prefecture, and the city Madam Qi mentioned earlier was the capital city of Huainan Prefecture—Huainan City.

The Qingping Society had a contact point in Huainan City, where Qi Xuansu could stay for a while. At least it was safe there.

......

Zhuge Yongming’s body had disappeared from the dilapidated temple on Maoxian Mountain, presumably Madam Qi’s handiwork. She had also wiped away the traces of last night’s fight by cutting down most of the trees in the dense forest outside the temple. It was a crude but effective way to cover their tracks because it was too much of a mess for anyone to uncover any helpful clues.

This also disrupted the local geomantic energy, making it difficult for others to trace past events through geomancy.

In this respect, Madam Qi’s methods were as cunning as those of the experienced Green Phoenix Guard.

An old man holding a white paper lantern stopped outside the dilapidated temple, looking solemn.

Not far behind him, Jiang Bieyun said, “Zhuge Yongming is a descendant of Sage Shenxiao’s disciple. Although Sage Donghua and Sage Shenxiao are both from the Quanzhen Sect, they are not on the same side. Anything related to Sage Donghua is a big deal, no matter how trivial. We thought this mysterious disciple was a lone wolf, but he had helpers. The fact that Zhuge Yongming died already speaks volumes.”

The old man did not want to dwell on this matter, so he changed the topic. “Who could have done this? I doubt an insignificant lackey could kill Zhuge Yongming.”

Jiang Bieyun said coldly, “I think it must be someone at the Yuxu stage, at the very least. Perhaps even the Guizhen stage.”

The old man nodded. “Since it involves Sage Donghua, resolving this matter will be difficult.”

Jiang Bieyun remained silent.

The two were old acquaintances but were not close enough to share everything, primarily because they both served different masters. If Zhuge Yongming had not been killed, the two would not have met either.