A Pawn's Passage

Qi Xuansu came to a window and looked inside the inn. The fighting was still ongoing. The sultry woman who tested him earlier also joined in the battle. She moved with agility, as thin silk threads shot out from her cuffs and wrapped around the necks of the two Green Phoenix Guards. With a tug, two heads rolled to the ground.

On the other side, the white-haired Green Phoenix Guard major, Sui Fan, was fighting with a group of Heavenly Court members. He held a saber with one hand and made it spiral. Then his five fingers turned into claws, which pierced into the cult demon’s chest. When he retracted his hand, he gouged out the demon’s heart and crushed it into pieces.

After that, Sui Fan shook his hand. It was once again pristine, without a hint of blood. Sui Fan killed several cult demons swiftly in this manner by ripping their hearts out.

Eighth Tianyang, Jia Shen, and Ding Chou were all at the Yuxu stage of cultivation, while Sui Fan and the sultry woman were at the Kunlun stage. Back when Qi Xuansu was still at the Kunlun stage, he had a close match with Li Sanxin, who was also at the Kunlun stage. But he was almost beaten to death by Zhuge Yongming, who was at the Yuxu stage. This showed that these people were not easy opponents, so Qi Xuansu did not underestimate them.

From this point of view, the battle with the Lingshan Witch Cult in Yishan City was not considered minor. However, the Lingshan Witch Cult was just unlucky to have encountered Zhang Yuelu, a Banished Immortal. Together with Qi Xuansu and Wang Zicheng, Zhang Yuelu killed or seriously injured most of them.

Having benefited from the past six months working in the Daoist Order, Qi Xuansu had made great progress compared to when he almost got beaten to death by Zhuge Yongming. He could now easily take the life of Ding Chou. In a sense, Qi Xuansu’s involvement could influence the outcome of the current battle in the inn.

He was indifferent to the Green Phoenix Guards, which were a mix of different kinds of people. There were people like Zhao Guangji, who killed people at every turn, and Lin Zhenyuan, who was a member of the Lingshan Witch Cult. However, there were also upright people like Wang Zicheng.

Qi Xuansu would not label someone as good or bad just because they were a Green Phoenix Guard. Similarly, Qi Xuansu could not be considered bad for having killed several Green Phoenix Guards in the past. Everything was highly dependent on the situation.

Therefore, Qi Xuansu was a little hesitant to help these Green Phoenix Guards. He would have helped if he were still a deacon of Tiangang Hall since there was no conflict of interest between the Imperial Court and the Daoist Order when eradicating secret societies.

The problem was that Qi Xuansu was no longer the sixth-rank deacon of Tiangang Hall. He was now a member of the Qingping Society who went by two aliases—Wei Wugui and Gold-Plated Knife. If he rashly helped the Green Phoenix Guard, there was no guarantee that it would backfire, and he would regret it later.

After some thought, Qi Xuansu decided to help the Green Phoenix Guard. That was because he had already killed Ding Chou from the Heavenly Court. The Heavenly Court was a vengeful bunch, so it was best to eliminate them all. Also, these Green Phoenix Guards seemed reasonable enough, as they had left him alone when he first entered the inn.

On the contrary, the Heavenly Court members kept testing and threatening him. If the Green Phoenix Guards had not been at the inn and if he had been alone when encountering these cult demons, he would have been outnumbered. If that were the case, he would not be able to defeat them all and might even have to run for his life out in the sandstorm.

Thinking of this, Qi Xuansu no longer hesitated. He passed through the narrow window, which was only a little larger than a human head, and returned to the lobby of the inn. He was still pretending to be an ordinary Martial Arts Practitioner in the Yuxu stage as he attacked Jia Shen.

Panic flashed across Jia Shen’s face. He shouted, “The Daoist Dog has joined forces with the Eagle Claws!”

In any case, Jia Shen’s cultivation level, which was almost reaching the threshold of the Guizhen stage, was slightly higher than Qi Xuansu’s and Eighth Tianyang’s.

Eighth Tianyang was not mad at Qi Xuansu for interrupting. He thanked Qi Xuansu and did not step up the offensive.

Qi Xuansu spent most of his time traveling after leaving the Wanxiang Daoist Palace, so he was used to the derogatory term, “Daoist Dog.” He did not care much about Jia Shen’s verbal insults. Instead, he punched Jia Shen and looked for flaws in his opponent’s moves.

He could not use the highly recognizable short sword, Qing Yuan, but he could shoot and seriously injure Jia Shen with the Divine Dragon Pistol and ordinary armor-piercing projectiles.

After all, the Divine Dragon Pistol was produced by the Divine Armory and had been sold on the black market. Anyone with money could buy one, so others would not think it was suspicious.

Eighth Tianyang and Jia Shen rushed forward at the same time. Eighth Tianyang pointed his folding fan at Jia Shen, who also did not hold back. Jia Shen circulated his qi into his palm and used it to block Eighth Tianyang’s fan. He even allowed Eighth Tianyang to slap him in the chest so that he could strike Eighth Tianyang on the forehead.

The two of them separated upon impact. Jia Shen was still standing in the same spot, swaying slightly, but Eighth Tianyang flew back like a kite with a broken string. His back hit a support pillar of the inn, causing dust to fall from the beams in the lobby.

At this moment, Qi Xuansu stomped hard on the ground, using the force of the recoil to strike Jia Shen. When he was about three meters away from Jia Shen, he suddenly stopped charging forward. Instead, he took one step back, bending his body like a bow. He punched as hard as he could, and his fist shot forward like an arrow.

Jia Shen crossed his hands to grab Qi Xuansu’s fist and brace for the impact. However, the power of the punch still made him fall.

If Qi Xuansu’s punch landed on Sui Fan or that sultry woman, they would have been seriously injured, just like when Zhuge Yongming punched Qi Xuansu back then. However, Jia Shen stood up almost immediately after falling. His face, which was slightly pale due to the punch, rapidly returned to a normal hue after a few seconds.

That was when Qi Xuansu noticed Jia Shen brushing his sleeve. A green light shot out from his sleeve, like a small green snake attacking its prey.

Although Qi Xuansu had already noticed it and dodged in advance, the sharp green light still managed to graze past his throat. Faint traces of blood oozed out. If it were not for Qi Xuansu’s extraordinary physique, he would have been critically injured.

The green light rushed toward Qi Xuansu again. Fortunately, Qi Xuansu was on guard this time. At the critical moment, he drew his Divine Dragon Pistol and shot the green light accurately in the center, making it stop.

This green light finally revealed its true appearance. It was a Qi Refiner’s flying sword.

Qi Xuansu reached out to touch his wound and squinted at the miniature sword with a solemn expression.

Anyone who was not a Heavenly Being would have a hard time subduing a Qi Refiner’s flying sword, especially if the flying sword was of good quality.

No one could see Jia Shen’s movement, but the green sword continued to circle Qi Xuansu. It flew so fast that only a green light could be seen.

The flying sword pursued Qi Xuansu, so he dared not be careless. He reached out several times to catch the flying sword, but all his attempts failed. Instead, the flying sword inflicted several wounds on his arm.

Suddenly, Qi Xuansu leaned back. The green light flashed away, leaving a wound on his forehead and cutting off a lock of his hair.

Qi Xuansu still did not take action. He was waiting for the perfect moment. Once he could understand the sword-controlling trajectories, he would strike.

After a while, Qi Xuansu finally made a move. He allowed the flying sword to pierce through his palm so that he could force it to stop, then he pointed at the sword.

Although his finger seemed to be hovering mid-air, it created a violent sound of metal and stone colliding in front of Qi Xuansu.

The flying sword let out a shriek and flew back to Jia Shen. By the time the flying sword stopped moving, the sword qi around it dimmed significantly.

Qi Xuansu lowered his head and glanced at the hole in his palm, which was slowly healing thanks to his regenerative abilities.

Jia Shen never expected anyone to see through his Sword Controlling Technique. He was startled and sneered, “That’s a good trick! Even though you broke my flying sword, the meridians in your palms are now shattered. Let’s see how many more palms you have to lose once my flying sword recovers!”

Qi Xuansu said indifferently, “Don’t be so smug. Your flying sword won’t be able to recover for a while. Even the core disciples of the Taiping Sect may not have two flying swords. You’re lucky enough to get one, but I highly doubt that you have another one up your sleeves.”

He stopped talking and moved abruptly. He clenched his intact hand and punched Jia Shen’s forehead. The wind caused by his fist made Jia Shen’s hair flutter backward.

However, when his fist was mere centimeters from Jia Shen’s forehead, Jia Shen slid backward and barely avoided the punch.

At this moment, Eighth Tianyang appeared behind Jia Shen, opening his folding fan with edges that resembled a crescent knife.

Jia Shen, who had just stood firm, suddenly turned pale. He slowly looked down and saw a red line appearing at his waist.

Eighth Tianyang calmly took a step back.

After a while, Jia Shen’s upper body fell to the ground and struggled to crawl away. But his lower body remained standing and motionless.

His whole body was split into two by the Crescent Palm Saw.