A Pawn's Passage

Izanagi’s consciousness was not whole, but that did not mean he lacked awareness. Though filled with rage and other negative emotions, he saw the situation clearly. He knew that he could not win with a direct confrontation. Even though he had an undying body, he would only end up being sealed yet again. Worse still, if things dragged on too long, he risked provoking a heavenly tribulation.

Thus, Izanagi chose first to enter his divine kingdom, both to escape his passive predicament and to avoid the danger of a tribulation.

So, he opened his divine kingdom.

Beyond the curtain lay a world of blazing flames and surging magma, thick with black smoke and the stench of sulfur. It was utterly unlike the divine kingdom that Qi Xuansu once glimpsed in Izanagi’s memory of emerald seas, vast forests, and endless cities.

However, this was only natural, as the original divine kingdom had long since shattered. The remaining half could not preserve its former form. Moreover, its inner landscape was tied to Izanagi himself. The god who stood here now was no longer the same being he once was.

Sage Qingwei also took note of the ruined appearance of Izanagi’s divine realm. It bore more than a little resemblance to what Westerners called Hell.

But Sage Qingwei had no intention of letting Izanagi retreat so easily. What he wanted was only for the god to open his divine kingdom.

At that moment, a blade appeared in Zhang Qihan’s hand—the Heavenly Demon Immortal Slaying Sword. He unleashed the full force of the Taiyin 13 Swords. Streams of sword qi, formed of yin fire, weaved through the air. These arcs of flame moved like living creatures, twisting and vanishing unpredictably, impossible to guard against. Together with Sage Qingwei, they tightened the noose around Izanagi.

The sword intention of the Taiyin 13 Swords was eerie and strange, wielding yin fire, thunder, and blood qi—an ultimate demonic sword. By contrast, Sage Qingwei’s Heavenly Heart Sword Technique was righteous and resplendent, with few variations.

Together, the two embodied the Daoist balance of yin and yang.

By reason, such sword techniques should have been almost impossible to harmonize. Yet both Zhang Qihan and Sage Qingwei were masters of the art, their comprehension at its peak; hence, they could see through all illusions. Thus, they were not bound by form but had instead fused their respective techniques into a harmony of yin and yang, faintly evolving mysteries akin to the legendary Dragon-Tiger Sword Technique.

Two of Izanagi’s fire dragons were shredded within the sword formation. As he forced open his divine kingdom, sword wounds multiplied across his body at a terrifying pace. However, they healed just as quickly, his flesh knitting back with inhuman speed. This regeneration was nearly equal to that of the Manly Immortals, who could regrow even severed heads. However, each cycle of such recovery left them weaker. The blood mist that spurted from his wounds ignited like oil, cascading down as a rain of fire upon the sea.

While Sage Qingwei and Zhang Qihan joined forces against Izanagi, Tamamo-no-Mae once again cast her spell, summoning a massive heavenly thunderbolt that crashed down upon Izanagi’s head. In the past, when the Fenglin court dispatched troops to hunt her down, she had used this very technique to slay the commanders, causing the entire army to collapse in defeat.

The Great Tengu likewise raised his war fan and gave it a mighty sweep.

At once, a colossal tornado spanning sky and sea appeared out of thin air, drawing up seawater until it transformed into a towering waterspout.

Ordinarily, many believed that the power of the wind was far less direct than that of fire, ice, or lightning. Yet among the three tribulations of Immortals, the third was the Wind Tribulation. This wind blew through the crown of one’s head, scoured the organs, passed the Dantians, tore through the meridians, and caused flesh and bone to waste away until the body dissolved. Above the Ninth Heaven, violent astral winds deterred Heavenly Beings from lingering in them for long.

When cultivated to the extreme, wind-based spells were no weaker than lightning or fire. A single gale could slip into every crevice, leaving the body outwardly intact, yet snuffing out the soul like a candle in the wind. The Great Tengu’s storm was of this caliber. Should an ordinary Heavenly Being encounter it, their flesh and organs would be torn away in an instant, leaving only a gleaming skeleton. It was more terrifying than the cruelest execution of death by a thousand cuts.

Under the combined assault of four Longevity-stage Immortals, Izanagi had almost no chance to strike back. In his prime, he alone had cowed the Three Noble Children into utter stillness. However, the current Izanagi was far removed from that state. Were it not for his immortal body, he would already have perished beneath their siege.

This was where the mystery of his undying body lay. Even after being shattered into a cloud of blood mist, Izanagi’s body could reform again. The weakness this caused was fleeting, and he could endlessly recover. If the battle dragged on, he might be the one to have the last laugh.

To truly kill him, one would have to destroy the vital cores across Fenglin bound to his existence. However, neither the Buddhists nor the Daoists were willing to do so, since both still coveted Fenglin for themselves.

At that moment, Izanagi’s divine kingdom fully opened, as though a grand curtain had been pulled aside.

The time had come.

None of the Longevity-stage Immortals spoke, but their wills aligned as one.

Sage Qingwei withdrew from the clash, leaving Tamamo-no-Mae and the Great Tengu to continue restraining Izanagi’s movements.

The Great Sage raised the Eight Scenes Lantern in his hand and unleashed the fifth mystical ability from the Earthly Preceptor.

Heaven and earth dimmed in an instant. Black chains materialized out of nothing, forged of some unknown metal and inscribed with countless talismanic runes. They coiled like black dragons, befitting Izanagi’s colossal frame.

These nine chains stretched long, their length seemingly endless. Five of the chains shackled Izanagi’s wrists, ankles, and neck; three more pierced through his brow, chest, and abdomen, corresponding to the upper, middle, and lower Dantians. The last chain sank straight into his crown.

An ethereal voice murmured, “The Yellow Springs is lawless, yet the netherworld has order. When the Nether Chains descend, no living soul escapes.”

The other ends of the nine chains vanished into the void, rooted in some unseen realm. With a great clatter, they tightened all at once, binding Izanagi so he could no longer move.

Had Qi Xuansu been present, he would have recognized this technique as the Nine Nether Chains, bestowed upon him by Master Yin. It was also wielded by Sun Hewu. However, when used by different people, its effects varied drastically, much like the Wanhua Divine Sword Palm. In the hands of ordinary folk, it was merely a middling technique, but in the hands of the Holy Xuan, it was nearly undefeatable.

With the Earthly Preceptor wielding the Nine Nether Chains, they were able to instantly subdue Izanagi.

Tamamo-no-Mae split into nine clones, each seizing one of the black chains. With their combined reinforcement, no matter how Izanagi struggled, he could not tear the bindings from the void.

Though his body was bound, Izanagi still commanded the power of flames. Black mist gushed from him, thickening until it looked like black oil. A single spark ignited it all, detonating like a bomb. At his center was a white spark that swelled into a blazing sphere that resembled the sun. However, the temperature of this massive fireball surpassed all imaginable heat. A circular void larger than the whole of Xiujing burned through the sky, and vast ripples of flame swept outward in every direction.

The next instant, a towering mushroom-shaped cloud rose into the heavens, filling the hollowed circle of sky.

In a heartbeat, the sea heaved into a monstrous tsunami more than 30 meters high.

The waters boiled furiously with massive bubbles, evaporating immeasurable amounts of seawater into hot steam.

Donghai no longer resembled a sea but a vast, scalding hot spring.

Islands caught in the fiery shockwave erupted in blazing infernos at once.

If the Donghai Fleet had not already withdrawn, the casualties would have been catastrophic. Even their ironclad warships would have melted.

Had this battle taken place on land, the fiery waves alone would have incinerated everything. Near the center, living beings would be reduced to charred silhouettes, leaving nothing behind. Within five kilometers, all skin would turn to charcoal. Surviving these flames was nearly impossible.

This was precisely why the Daoists chose Donghai as the battlefield. If Izanagi were to be revived near Mount Fuyo, the death toll would have numbered in the millions. Even Heian Capital would not have survived.

The Longevity-stage Immortals bore the brunt of the blast. However, they were not incinerated outright. The Great Tengu unfurled his massive black wings once more and folded them once more, sheltering all Immortals within their span.

Endless torrents of fire battered the steel-like feathers until they began to melt, dripping black liquid, while others burned away entirely into dark ash.

However, the Nine Nether Chains and Tamamo-no-Mae’s clones were untouched by the physical flames, as they were immaterial. So, they continued to bind Izanagi firmly.

It was not because striking at the intangible was impossible, but at equal cultivation levels, its effect was negligible. Neither Tamamo-no-Mae nor the Earthly Preceptor stood beneath the current Izanagi in cultivation.

Under the searing flames, the gateway to the divine kingdom widened ever further.

It was as though, in his fury, Izanagi had set the entire curtain ablaze, revealing the portal in its entirety.

At that moment, Princess Himiya Akiko, who had until now remained still, finally raised the Yata Mirror above her head, pouring her full might into the divine artifact.

The Yata Mirror could be used in both offense and defense, capable of wounding foes or trapping them.

A beam of light shot forth from its surface.

The radiance was neither wholly real nor illusory. It passed through the Great Tengu’s wings without harming them in the slightest.

But when it fell upon Izanagi’s form, it completed the final layer of suppression.

Though this light was weightless, the beam slowed Izanagi’s struggles. His movements dulled, and even his thoughts grew sluggish.

At last, under the combined efforts of the five Immortals, Izanagi was temporarily subdued.

Seizing the moment, Sage Qingwei transformed into a soaring rainbow and swept straight into the wide-open divine kingdom.