A Pawn's Passage

For some, the Upper Palace training was merely a formality. Some would even go as far as to consider it a torment. But for Qi Xuansu, it was neither. His days in the Upper Palace were fulfilling and intensely busy, leaving him with almost no idle time.

After the minor episode with Qi Jianyuan during the Zhongyuan Festival, Qi Xuansu returned to his usual routine—improving his cultivation, honing his blade technique, and attending various courses.

Houtian Beings had two levels: Foundation stage and Baodan stage. The corresponding realms for Rogue Cultivators were the Foundation Building Realm and the Qi Refining Realm.

Xiantian Beings had three levels: Kunlun stage, Yuxu stage, and Guizhen stage. The corresponding realms for Rogue Cultivators were the Inner Dan Realm, Yuding Realm, and Holy Embryo Realm.

Heavenly Beings had three levels: Xiaoyao stage, Wuliang stage, and Zaohua stage. The corresponding realms for Rogue Cultivators were the Cicada Shedding Realm, Preserved Body Realm, and Liberation Realm.

The Cicada Shedding Realm, which was akin to a cicada shedding its skin and transforming its body. The Preserved Body Realm was when one preserved energy to stabilize the physical form. In the Liberation Realm, the Rogue Cultivator would make their final transformation into an Immortal, albeit the least powerful of all Immortals.

Qi Xuansu was currently at the Holy Embryo Realm. The only complete lineage he possessed was his original Rogue Cultivator path. His other lineages—Martial Arts Practitioner, Diviner, and Shaman—were all incomplete.

If Qi Xuansu could advance to the Cicada Shedding Realm, he would not gain the mystical abilities of Martial Arts Practitioners or Diviners. However, he would experience a complete rebirth. His body would be reforged, his hidden injuries repaired, and his very marrow cleansed. This would significantly compensate for his innate deficiencies.

In other words, this transformation was the unique trait that Rogue Cultivators gained upon becoming a Heavenly Being. With this, Rogue Cultivators might at least have the chance to catch up to Banished Immortals.

But if one did the calculations, Rogue Cultivators still got the short end of the stick. By nature, Banished Immortals had near-perfect aptitudes and no deficiencies to compensate for. Upon becoming a Heavenly Being, they would obtain the mystical ability of Five Qi Conversion, where all of their true essence would transform, simultaneously containing properties of innate qi, magical power, divine power, and blood qi combined. This was why Banished Immortals could learn any technique and use any mystical abilities effortlessly. True Essence was the very foundation of everything.

Rogue Cultivators would still only have innate qi. In essence, they could use their Heavenly Being mystical abilities just to patch their innate flaws, leaving them one trait short compared to others—they could not achieve the indestructible body of Martial Arts Practitioners, nor could they turn illusions into reality. Most importantly, they lacked the Five Qi Conversion ability. They were always a step behind, which was why they ranked last among the six major lineages.

Even so, Qi Xuansu was highly satisfied with the transformative benefits of the Cicada Shedding Realm. He had never lacked mystical abilities because he could acquire them through the Xuan Jade.

Instead, what had plagued him all along was his natural aptitude. So far, his advancement in cultivation was almost entirely reliant on the Xuan Jade, while his personal cultivation efficiency remained abysmally slow. Even when training in perfected methods, his progress was sluggish. If he could solve this issue of aptitude, he would take yet another step closer to becoming a Banished Immortal.

Due to this, Qi Xuansu felt an even greater urgency to obtain divine power.

......

The lecture topic of that day was to distinguish demons, ghosts, and monsters. The Palace Master was supposed to conduct this lesson, but since he was still in Jade Capital, this class was taught by Deputy Palace Master Ning Lingyun in his stead.

The reason such a course existed was that many Daoists lived in bustling towns and cities. Their primary duty was not dealing with cult demons from secret societies, but rather solving issues caused by various demons and other supernatural creatures. This was how the folk concepts of Daoists catching ghosts, performing exorcisms, and demon-banishing came to be. This was also tied to the Imperial Capital’s Daoist Mansion. Some whispered that certain trainees, upon completing their studies, would be transferred there to fill vacancies.

Common folk often lumped the terms together, but the Daoist Order made clear distinctions between demons, ghosts, and monsters. Regardless of past classifications, the Daoist Order had redefined them.

Demons were creatures that achieved cultivation. Lesser demons were plants that achieved cultivation. Higher demons were simply humans—or rather, humans who had been overtaken by their inner demons. They practiced forbidden arts, indulged in mindless slaughter, and disrupted order, thus earning the title of demons. Cult demons were merely heretical individuals. At most, their stance and ideology differed from the Daoist Order, but they were still capable of communication. In fact, many heretics had even surrendered and joined the Daoist Order over time.

However, higher demons were entirely different. To ordinary people, they were akin to madmen, as they were unpredictable, violent, cruel, and completely incapable of communication.

For instance, if someone practiced unorthodox perfected methods such as the Taiyin 13 Swords, the Demonic Blade, or the Taishang Emotionless Sutra but fell into madness, they would have lost control of themselves and become an entirely different person. These types of people were classified as higher demons. Such higher demons had to be eradicated or sealed away.

Next were ghosts, which the Daoist Order had long provided a detailed explanation of their formation. When a person passed, their soul returned to the heavens, their spirit returned to the earth, and their Three Corpses roamed the mortal world. These wandering Three Corpses were what people called ghosts.

Since the Three Corpses had always resided within the human body, they retained the deceased’s memories. This misled many into believing that ghosts were simply the soul and spirit of the dead, leading them to sympathize with ghosts, only to be harmed in return.

The Three Corpses each resided in the three main Dantians. The Upper Corpse in the Upper Dantian craved vanity and adornment. The Middle Corpse in the Middle Dantian craved indulgence in fine foods and flavors. The Lower Corpse in the Lower Dantian desired carnal pleasure. They were also called the Three Worms, Three Pangs, or Three Poisonous Spirits due to their influence over human desires.

Since the Three Corpses could only be freed upon a person’s death, they constantly worked to shorten the person’s lifespan and drain the person’s vitality. The higher one’s cultivation, the stronger the Three Corpses became. Even those at the level of Heavenly Beings or Pseudo-Immortals were not exempted from eventual death. However, if one successfully severed the Three Corpses, they could attain immortality.

In summary, the Three Corpses were the embodiment of human desires and cravings. Upon death, they transformed into ghosts due to lingering obsessions, retaining fragments of their former intelligence. They mistakenly believed themselves to be souls or spirits, but this was not the case. Thus, it was not taboo for the Daoist Order to control and cultivate ghosts. However, it was an atrocious act to forcibly seize the soul and spirit of a living person, preventing them from returning to heaven and earth.

For Banished Immortals, the final stage of a Heavenly Being was called the Three Corpses Severance Realm. Once severed, one would become free of desires, attain absolute serenity, and be only one step away from immortality.

Lastly were monsters, which were typically inanimate objects that developed sentience. To simplify things, anything that did not belong to the first two categories—demons and ghosts—was classified as a monster.

For instance, a mist that took form, bones that became sentient, stones that gained life, objects that transformed, and even spontaneously generated wild gods all fell under the category of monsters.

Some monsters were born from the essence of the sun and moon, while others were created by human influence.

This was because a human’s will was potent, able to be refined into divine power. Godly Immortals could use it to build divine kingdoms, and the Daoist Order used it to create many things.

Thus, some monsters were simply products of human belief, born from concentrated will.

An example of this was if a certain place had legends of a terrifying monster that never actually existed but many people firmly believed in it, then eventually, a monster might truly manifest from the collective will of the population. This was similar to the techniques used by Diviners and Shamans—it was the act of turning illusions into reality.

In the past, wandering tricksters often spread rumors and fabricated legends, deliberately creating monsters that they could later control for a profit.

Once the differences between demons, ghosts, and monsters were established, the Daoist Order also specified specific ways to handle each accordingly.

As long as demons and monsters did not actively harm humans, the Daoist Order would generally not take action against them. The existence of the Demon Suppression Tower alone was proof of their significance. To maintain stability and appease certain factions, the Daoist Order even permitted some demon clans to join them, such as the Qingqiu fox demons.

However, ghosts and higher demons were to be eliminated. Even so, there was a distinction between how the two were dealt with, similar to how secret societies were classified. Ghosts were akin to organizations like the Qingping Society and Seven Treasure Pavilion—groups that could be tolerated under specific circumstances, with their actions judged by urgency and severity.

Higher demons were like the Lingshan Witch Cult and the Cult of Fates—entities that were not allowed to exist. They had to be exterminated without hesitation, and if they could not be completely destroyed, they had to be sealed away. This was the very reason the Demon-Vanquishing Cave had been established.

Both the Demon Suppression Tower and Demon-Vanquishing Cave were originally meant to be controlled by the Daoist Order’s central authority. However, as the conflicts among the three major sects intensified and the rift between them deepened, these two holding facilities gradually became monopolized by individual factions.

Qi Xuansu listened intently, fully aware of his own situation.

Following the Imperial Court’s classification, the Daoist Order was also divided into civil and military officials. Daoist priests were civil officials, while the Spirit Guards were military officers.

Although Qi Xuansu was formally a Daoist priest, he would consider himself closer to the role of a military officer, or perhaps a civil official with command over the military.

He would most likely fail if he were expected to maneuver politics. However, his strength was handling matters that required direct combat. Thus, he would inevitably have to deal with demons, ghosts, and monsters in the future, so it was best to be prepared.

At the same time, Qi Xuansu noticed that Yao Pei was absent from the lecture. Given her family background and tutelage, she probably studied these subjects long ago and saw no point in wasting her time here. However, for the past few days, Yao Pei had been acting mysteriously, her whereabouts erratic.

Qi Xuansu also had a strong intuition that Qi Jianyuan was still within the compound of the Wanxiang Daoist Palace.

It seemed as though these two martial siblings were in search of something—or someone.