A Pawn's Passage

The eleven people they had just defeated were immediately replaced by another dozen.

This time, six people besieged Qi Xuansu while the remaining six attacked Zhang Yuelu. Their strategy was to kill Qi Xuansu first, then they could concentrate their efforts on dealing with Zhang Yuelu.

The six people who dealt with Qi Xuansu all held shields in their left hands and sabers in their right hands. They used the shield to protect their bodies while they slashed at Qi Xuansu’s lower body. That way, they could hide under the shield when Qi Xuansu retaliated. Moreover, there were barbs on the surface of the shield and blades on the edges to hurt the opponent.

However, Qi Xuansu’s ghosthead machete was not an ordinary weapon. It was only tangible to humans because they believed it was real. Facing inanimate objects, the ghosthead machete became an illusion.

These people thought they could protect themselves with the shield, but that was a mistake.

The ghosthead machete was as long as a sword. Before these people could slash at his lower body, Qi Xuansu had already struck with the machete. The ghosthead machete went through the shield and stabbed these people.

All those who were stabbed had their eyes widened with horrified expressions as they died on the spot.

On the other side, the six people who besieged Zhang Yuelu used maces and bludgeons. Some attacked from close range, while others attacked from afar, cooperating seamlessly.

The bludgeons were so powerful and heavy that Zhang Yuelu would have been restrained by their weight even if she tried to block them. After all, these people did not think they could defeat her. They only wanted to hinder her.

Zhang Yuelu simply did not let these weapons touch her. Instead, she turned her Amorphous Paper into paper lotuses to strike these weapons from a distance. These paper lotuses were extremely sharp and rotated non-stop, so they peeled off layers of the bludgeons with each touch. In the blink of an eye, the bludgeons had shrunk several times, from the size of a watermelon to that of a sweet melon.

These people wanted to give up, but Zhang Yuelu refused to let them go. She spread out the paper sword in her hand, the sword light dazzling them before taking their lives.

That was how the number of casualties exceeded 50. Even though there were still hundreds of people, they were not comparable to the well-trained and fearless Black Robes. The remaining ones were already frightened, and they only wanted to flee for their lives.

Yuan Shangdao’s face was gloomy. He saluted the people beside him and said, “I hope you all can help me take her down.”

“Sure.” The three people standing next to Yuan Shangdao did not ride horses. They were all dressed as commoners, in short robes, bamboo hats, and straw sandals. Their sleeves and trouser legs were rolled up to expose their arms and calves. However, judging from Yuan Shangdao’s attitude toward them, they were certainly not mediocre.

Moreover, Yuan Shangdao had personally experienced Zhang Yuelu’s wrath yet still had confidence in the three of them. This indicated how powerful they were.

The trio stepped forward. The leader among them—a Qi refiner—cupped his hands and greeted Zhang Yuelu. “Mage Zhang.”

Zhang Yuelu did not speak, but there was purple energy flowing in her eyes.

Qi Xuansu had a white fox face mask that hid his aura from Zhang Yuelu’s Immortal Eye of Providence. However, these three people did not have such masks, so Zhang Yuelu immediately saw through their cultivation level.

Compared with Lin Zhenyuan, the leader of the Lingshan Witch Cult in Yishan City, these three people were certainly inferior, but they had an advantage in numbers. They could also be better at combined attacks, so they should not be underestimated.

It would be even more troublesome if these three people were as cunning as Wei Wugui.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yuelu looked at the Diviner among the three and decided to strike him first. She raised her paper sword and pointed it at the Diviner. For some reason, the Diviner felt that the paper sword seemed locked onto him. No matter how he tried to dodge it, he could not avoid it. For a moment, he did not have time to think too much and could only choose to drift back.

Zhang Yuelu leaped forward with her sword. In an instant, the tip of her sword was only a few centimeters away from the Diviner’s eyebrows.

At this moment, a burst of red light surrounded Zhang Yuelu, spinning around her with an overwhelming sword qi.

Zhang Yuelu did not even look back. With a backhand, she blocked a streak of white smoke that attacked her from behind. The streak of white smoke was like a living thing, twisting a few times before revealing its true appearance. It turned out to be a white flying sword.

With her free left hand, Zhang Yuelu formed a hand sign. A faint white lotus flower could be seen all over her body, exuding qi layer by layer, like a blooming lotus flower. This qi shattered the red light tube that was intended to restrain her.

The Scribe groaned, as his cultivation was damaged. His face turned pale, and he felt a painful jab in his shoulder where a paper lotus had cut away a piece of his flesh.

Zhang Yuelu attacked the Diviner again. However, before the Diviner could see her movements clearly, Zhang Yuelu had already grabbed him. She extended her Five Elements Qi Shield to bind the Diviner’s left arm.

A stream of innate qi penetrated the Diviner’s veins and traveled up to his Dantian. His cheeks instantly turned red as if he was bleeding from the inside.

At this moment, the Qi Refiner roared like thunder. He grabbed onto the Diviner’s right arm and transferred his qi to the Diviner’s body, helping to force out the strange qi that Zhang Yuelu injected.

The two used the Diviner as a medium to compete.

In an instant, the Diviner spat out a mouthful of blood. Zhang Yuelu felt a jolt in her hand where she grabbed the Diviner and was forced to let go.

The Qi Refiner shouted, “Get into formation!”

The three people stood in a triangle formation, with the Qi Refiner in the front and the Diviner and Scribe flanking him.

The Qi Refiner was in the Divine Qi Realm of the Guizhen stage.

The Scribe was from the Confucian School, similar to the Daoist Qi Refiner because they both condensed innate qi. However, there were some obvious differences. Qi Refiners were closer to Martial Arts Practitioners in the sense they were good at close combat, while the Scribes were more like Diviners and were proficient with spells.

In this way, the three of them had strengths and weaknesses that complemented each other. Thus, their strengths combined were good enough to compete with Zhang Yuelu.

Even so, Zhang Yuelu was not afraid. The three of them had to be in formation for their strengths to complement each other. If this formation was broken, they would each have to fight on their own. Individually, they were no match for Zhang Yuelu.

Zhang Yuelu tossed up her paper sword, which multiplied and spread out in sequence behind her, like a peacock spreading its tail. Then she spun around, her whole body resembling a huge top.

Hundreds of paper swords moved in unison, shooting out countless sword qi in all directions. Each sword qi was extremely sharp and indestructible, enveloping the trio.

The dozens of people standing close to the front were obliterated by the sword qi, which was a horrific sight. The others were so frightened that they backed away and dared not get close.

However, the trio’s formation was as stable as a rock. They effortlessly blocked the sword qi without causing any damage to themselves. However, it would take a lot more effort on their part if they wanted to capture Zhang Yuelu.

Zhang Yuelu was not in a hurry. She kept unleashing more sword qi.

In her earlier fight with Wei Wugui, she was restrained in every way, so she did not get to use her abilities to the fullest. At this time, she could finally vent her frustrations against these three people.

Zhang Yuelu did not give the trio any time to breathe. She merged the hundreds of swords into a giant paper sword that had to be held with both hands. Then she slashed straight at the Qi Refiner who had the highest level of cultivation among the three.

The Qi Refiner was startled to see this. He summoned his flying sword and confronted Zhang Yuelu with the help of the other two.

Zhang Yuelu slapped his flying sword, deviating its trajectory. She then pointed her paper sword at the Diviner again, with the tip of the sword only one meter away from the man.

The Diviner crushed a talisman and turned it into three shields surrounding him.

Zhang Yuelu held her sword and struck head-on, shattering the oncoming shield into pieces and scattering them in all directions. The Diviner quickly retreated, but Zhang Yuelu stretched out her giant sword and struck once on the left and once on the right, shattering two of the Diviner’s shields.

The main reason was because the Amorphous Paper was a semi-immortal object. Otherwise, Zhang Yuelu would not have been able to break those shields even if she had a high cultivation level.

A candlestick appeared in the Scribe’s hand. When activated by his innate qi, the flame on the candlestick grew longer until it became three meters long. The fire whip coiled around Zhang Yuelu’s paper sword.

When Zhang Yuelu saw the fire whip approaching, she allowed it to coil around her white paper sword. The Scribe was surprised that he managed to get a hold of Zhang Yuelu’s weapon, so he yanked the candle with all his might.

The Scribe finally understood the power of a semi-immortal object. Even though it was a “paper” sword, the fire whip did not leave any scorch marks on the Amorphous Paper.

At this moment, the Qi Refiner summoned the flying sword again and pierced Zhang Yuelu’s chest.

Suddenly, the Scribe shouted, “Let go of the sword!”

The Scribe transferred all his energy to his right arm to pull the whip back.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Yuelu actually listened to him and let go of her sword. However, she injected more qi into her sword and slammed the hilt toward the Scribe. The oncoming force was too strong, so the Scribe dared not catch the sword. Instead, he pushed it away with both hands.

Upon impact, there was a loud explosion. He staggered five or six steps back before he could find his balance. His face was as white as a piece of paper, and he felt as if all his internal organs were turned upside down. He dared not move at all.

Zhang Yuelu dodged the flying sword and caught her paper sword. With a slight shake, the fire whip wrapped around the paper sword disintegrated and disappeared. She then swung her paper sword to deflect the flying sword.