A Pawn's Passage

Qi Xuansu jumped from a height of 30 meters and landed with a loud crash, stirring up a circle of dust that dispersed around him. Although he had slowed down his fall with his qi, he still had to release some force when landing, so the ground beneath his feet cracked.

He could clearly feel the damage done to his knees, calves, and feet. However, due to his enhanced physique and regenerative abilities, he was able to recover quickly. Thus, it did not affect his combat effectiveness.

Those living corpses could not jump down from such heights, so Qi Xuansu could finally focus on facing the strange man.

“Who are you?” Qi Xuansu asked, his voice echoing at the bottom of the huge pit.

The man did not answer and took a few steps back. Under the firelight of the alchemy furnace, his face was pale, and his empty eye sockets only had a flash of red light. He looked similar to the living corpses from before, but his expression was not dazed. It was ferocious.

He was a Diviner proficient at manipulating corpses.

Coincidentally, Qi Xuansu had the blood qi of a Martial Arts Practitioner, which was most effective in restraining Diviners.

The two made a move at the same time.

Qi Xuansu held his short sword and used the Dayan Spirit Blade Technique. His sword traveled at the speed of light. With a bright white flash, the sword’s edge had already arrived in front of the Diviner. If the Diviner had a lower cultivation level, he would have already been beheaded.

The Diviner used his fingers to draw four horizontal and four vertical lines. In an instant, a nine-square grid appeared in front of him.

Qing Yuan stopped abruptly when it was only seven centimeters away from the Diviner’s forehead.

A cage appeared out of thin air, trapping Qi Xuansu in it. Qi Xuansu’s sword also halted.

When falsehoods were portrayed as truths, the truth would seem fake. Magic was the art of illusion that existed between one’s reality and imagination. It was only effective if the target believed in it.

Magical spells could be roughly divided into three levels.

The first level was to make falsehood a reality, which was not much different from deception. It was suitable for tricking people but not killing them. It was simple to create the illusion of deities descending to earth, but this trick could not be used when fighting on the battlefield. That was because a Martial Arts Practitioner’s blood qi and the violent aura of the weapons on the battlefield were the most disruptive to spells.

When powerful ghosts harm people, they mostly create all kinds of illusions to muddle the victim’s mind, causing the victim to die of fright or take their own life.

If the ghost encountered someone with strong blood qi or an intense killing aura, the illusion would be disturbed or even broken. Most people capable of doing evil deeds were physically strong or had blood on their hands. This was the origin of the saying that even ghosts were afraid of evil people.

Spells that could truly be used on the battlefield belonged to the second level. These spells were capable of summoning wind, rain, thunder, and fire that were not completely an illusion. However, only Guizhen-stage masters could practice these spells.

The third level was having the power to alter the weather, turning a gloomy day into clear skies. In this level, illusions could turn into reality, sometimes even becoming more tangible than the real thing.

The three levels were a step-by-step progression to eventually turn falsehoods into the truth. That was how the word cultivation came about.

Spells supported the Diviner lineage. The reason Martial Arts Practitioners could overpower the Diviners in terms of combat power was because spells were restrained by blood qi, which was filled with yang energy.

However, everything was relative. Although water could overcome fire, if the fire was strong and the water was weak, the fire could also evaporate the water. The same was true between a Martial Arts Practitioner’s blood qi and a Diviner’s spell. If the spell was stronger than the blood qi, a Diviner could suppress a Martial Arts Practitioner.

At this time, the cage drawn by the Diviner was an illusion, but Qi Xuansu felt that he was trapped and could not break free from it. This was how falsehood could trump reality and why Qi Xuansu’s blood qi could not break the spell. It depended on the capabilities of both parties.

Qi Xuansu struggled to activate his blood qi and innate qi, twisting and deforming the cage that trapped him. Finally, Qing Yuan could slowly move forward.

The Diviner also did not sit idly by, awaiting death. He drew circles on his chest with both hands. Energy rippled outward in layers, resembling the ebb and flow of tides, steadily building upon one another.

Qi Xuansu and the Diviner were wearing each other out, competing to see who would lose first.

The Diviner looked calm, while beads of sweat rolled down Qi Xuansu’s face.

It was clear that Qi Xuansu was already at a disadvantage in this fight.

At this moment, Qi Xuansu gathered the qi in his Dantian, then he scowled like a Dharma Protector in a temple as he let out a thunderous roar.

The surging blood energy rushed out of Qi Xuansu’s body and turned into steam visible to the naked eye. This type of heat generated was comparable to that of a Guizhen-stage Martial Arts Practitioner.

As a result, the roar broke through the cage, shocking the Diviner. His Seer Eyes also stopped working.

Qi Xuansu’s energy quickly fell after a very short peak. Forcibly breaking the spell in this manner by sacrificing his blood qi was exhausting. However, after Qi Xuansu got out of the cage, he immediately thrust his sword.

The Diviner’s expression turned solemn. He waved his sleeves, which rustled from the movement and the sudden gust. Countless white talismans flew out, resembling hell money. For a moment, the pit was raining hell money as the white talismans turned into a formation.

Qi Xuansu stepped into the talisman formation. He moved with his sword and spun like a top, shooting out sword qi in all directions. The talisman formation stirred and shook endlessly.

The sudden burst of sword energy cut the talisman formation into pieces from the inside out.

After breaking the formation, countless broken talismans floated in the air. Qi Xuansu did not stop and kept advancing with his sword.

The Diviner held a spiritual talisman between two fingers, and with just a slight shake, the spiritual talisman turned into blue Yin Fire that enveloped his entire palm and half of his arm without damaging his skin or sleeves.

The wind howled like the hoarse cry of a dying person. Immediately after, all the floating broken talismans caught on fire with the same blue flame that felt bone-piercingly cold. The talismans connected to create a sea of ????blue fire.

Qi Xuansu knew that these blue flames were Yin Fire, so he hastily retreated, not daring to let it touch him. Seeing these blue flames approaching him, Qi Xuansu took out a Phoenix Eye Bullet and threw it out. The red flames spread rapidly. This was the regular Yang Fire from firearms, which was just as intense as the blue Yin Fire.

However, the flames of the Phoenix Eye Bullet were not designed to last. It was just a temporary measure.

Just as Qi Xuansu was at a loss for what to do, a sudden change occurred. The two opposing flames had somehow activated the huge alchemy furnace at the bottom of the pit. In an instant, the alchemy furnace generated a strong suction power, sucking in the flames.

The Diviner was stunned and horrified after the Yin Fire disappeared.

This was like a confrontation between a strong man and a scrawny boy. When both sides had guns, no one dared to act rashly because the individual’s strength was irrelevant; all that mattered was their firepower. However, if both parties were to lose their guns at the same time, whoever was physically stronger would hold the advantage.

In close combat, a Diviner could not stand a chance against a Martial Arts Practitioner. In the six major lineages, which included Rogue Cultivators, Diviners were at the bottom rung in terms of physique. In this case, there was no doubt that Qi Xuansu had the absolute advantage.

Qi Xuansu wielded Qing Yuan and charged at the Diviner, who had not felt the difference between life and death for many years.

The Diviner was flustered, as he had made the wrong move that resulted in this predicament. He never expected that he would be defeated in this manner, right next to the alchemy furnace.

Qi Xuansu swung Qing Yuan ruthlessly without flair. A head soared into the sky and rolled some distance upon landing on the ground. The red light in its eye sockets slowly dissipated.

As soon as the Diviner died, the living corpses stopped moving, like they were in hibernation.

Qi Xuansu came to the Diviner’s headless body and searched it. He did not find any magical receptacle, but he found two stacks of unused talismans in the Diviner’s sleeve pockets. They were made of white paper, but they were only of average quality. The only advantage was its large quantity, so Qi Xuansu could use them liberally.

In addition, Qi Xuansu also found a jade pendant around the Diviner’s waist that had three words embossed on it: White Jade Hall.

It was exactly the place Madam Qi wanted Qi Xuansu to look for.

Qi Xuansu immediately realized he had been mistaken all along, thinking that White Jade Hall was a place. With this jade pendant, he figured that White Jade Hall was not the name of a place but an organization, similar to the Daoist Order’s Tiangang Hall, Beichen Hall, and Huasheng Hall.

It was no wonder Madam Qi could only provide an approximate range and not an exact location. After all, people were not stationary. They could move around and would not stick to one place forever.

The Diviner he killed was a member of White Jade Hall. However, Qi Xuansu had never heard of White Jade Hall before. White Jade Hall was not among the list of secret societies targeted by the Daoist Order either. He could not help but wonder if White Jade Hall was an affiliation of some secret society. Judging from the Diviner’s method of controlling living corpses, Qi Xuansu believed that the Diviner was most likely from the Cult of Fates.

Furthermore, what role did the Mountain Ghost, who was also a member of the Qingping Society, play in White Jade Hall? Was he also a member of White Jade Hall? Or was he the leader of White Jade Hall?

Madam Qi once said that in addition to collecting debts, she had left some things behind in White Jade Hall for Qi Xuansu to take as he pleased because she would not be returning for a while. Instead of letting Mountain Ghost or anyone else take them, she would rather give them to Qi Xuansu as a deposit for running this errand.

This implied that Madam Qi also had a connection with the White Jade Hall. Was it an alliance and partnership? Or was Madam Qi one of them?