A Pawn's Passage

Spirit Guard Ding Chou had no intention of entering the Dragon Palace again. That was because she had already been there once and would gain nothing new this time. Moreover, someone had to remain outside to watch over Qi Xuansu’s body, making sure that no one ambushed him while he soul-traveled.

The others aboard the ship could also enter the Dragon Palace, so long as they did so through their dreams. However, whether they would truly succeed depended on their fortune, for the Dragon Palace itself would only choose those worthy enough to pass through its gates.

Great Sage Lan never cared for such trivial limits. His true challenge was finding the Dragon Palace, not the barriers within. It was like an experienced hunter with a gun. The hardest part was not the shot, but finding the prey to aim at.

Since the Dragon Palace was a divine kingdom that had lost its master. Even a Pseudo-Immortal could force their way in.

Qi Xuansu decided to try his luck. Clearly, this Dragon Palace was different from what he had imagined. He saw little need to fear because this was not a trap.

Thus, he returned to his cabin and sat in meditation to begin dream-entering.

Having experienced the Qingping Society’s dream meetings, he managed to enter the Dragon Palace effortlessly.

As Spirit Guard Ding Chou mentioned, this place was truly unlike any other.

It was not just a pocket realm but a true divine kingdom. Or rather, it was only one part of the divine kingdom, not its entirety.

Qi Xuansu had seen other divine kingdoms before, like the Three Great Kami’s, Izanagi’s, and even Yomi through the Sakka. But what astonished him now was that the divine power in this divine kingdom remained vibrant, as if it were at its peak.

It brimmed with vitality and renewal, without the slightest trace of decay, dullness, or ruin.

Though the master of this divine kingdom had long ascended, her faithful followers across Nanyang continued to offer her incense with undying devotion. This became an endless supply of incense power, which the divine kingdom automatically transformed into divine power.

It seemed the divine kingdom still functioned in part, appearing during storms to rescue the lost at sea. Thus, to mortals, the Heavenly Empress still manifested. So, their faith in her remained, and their incense offerings were unceasing. Perhaps this was why the Dragon Palace always appeared with typhoons.

No doubt, the Heavenly Empress never foresaw that by leaving her divine kingdom behind to aid those in storms, she had also created a beacon for the greedy and ambitious, who actively sought out the Dragon Palace and her legacy.

Qi Xuansu looked around and found himself standing within a grand corridor that seemed to stretch endlessly deep inside the palace. Even with his sharpened vision, he could not see the end nor the beginning. The pillars, railings, ornaments, and carvings were all identical, so monotonous and uniform that it was impossible to tell which part he was standing in.

Just as he was within the Qingping Society’s dream meeting, Qi Xuansu manifested in his full form. This made Qi Xuansu increasingly suspicious that the dream meeting was actually a divine kingdom. Moreover, the ritual to enter the dream meeting was like a worship ritual.

He began speculating whether the never-before-seen leader of the Qingping Society was actually a Godly Immortal.

There were rumors that the Golden Patriarch of the Heavenly Court had also reached immortality. Judging by that, the depth of the three Daoist sects was far beyond his expectations. It was no wonder Madam Qi only called herself the Deputy and not the Head of the Qingping Society. The difference in their cultivation was still substantial.

Still, this elusive Head of Society seemed bound by some constraint. Or perhaps, as Madam Qi once mentioned, they were in deep slumber. After all, this leader had never appeared, not even when an important member of the Privy Council was assassinated by The Inn. That inaction suggested restriction, not indifference.

Of course, these speculations rested on the premise that the Dream Meeting truly was a divine kingdom. If it were not, then all such reasoning would not amount to anything.

Qi Xuansu made a mental note to ask Madam Qi about it the next time he met her. That was because Madam Qi would never volunteer the truth if he never asked. Sometimes, she would even let him make his own wrong assumptions.

For instance, Qi Xuansu had always assumed that she was a mere B-rank member of the Qingping Society without much power because she once said she was only at the mid-level. At the time, it was indeed true because she was not yet in the Privy Council.

She also never told him about her identity as the Mogul of the Seven Treasure Pavilion, since the two secret societies never overlapped. When Qi Xuansu confronted her about it, she righteously replied, “You never asked, did you? I never lied to you.”

Qi Xuansu collected his wandering thoughts and strode forward.

Since this place so closely resembled the dream meeting, he expected to encounter other people. The dream meeting forbade fighting, since it had a master watching over it. But this divine kingdom was without a master, so Qi Xuansu stayed alert.

After walking some distance, Qi Xuansu found the corridor intersecting another, forming a cross shape. He paused briefly, then turned from the vertical passage into the horizontal one.

Soon after, he came upon his first chamber. It was a distinctly Central Plains design with bamboo furnishings. It was lush and green, exuding a cool serenity.

Ke Qingqing was in the room. She was holding a mirror that had a frame inlaid with gemstones. Its surface was shimmering like rippling water. At this moment, she turned it left and right, completely unaware of Qi Xuansu’s presence.

Just as Qi Xuansu was about to speak, Ke Qingqing and the mirror vanished.

Qi Xuansu was momentarily stunned, then realization dawned on him. Ke Qingqing had received her divine gift from the Heavenly Empress and was sent back by the divine kingdom’s own power. From what Spirit Guard Ding Chou had said earlier, each person had only one chance to accept such a blessing.

That meant he should choose carefully. But if one became too cautious, thinking that there could be a better treasure ahead, one might end up empty-handed.

Qi Xuansu shook his head, left the chamber, and continued onward.

It was easy to lose track of time in the same scenery. So Qi Xuansu drew on his Diviner’s mystical abilities and split off a Thought. He mimicked a heartbeat rhythm through one of his body spirits, letting that Thought count the beats to measure the passing of time.

He had no other choice since he no longer possessed a real heart. All he had was a heart of stone.

Over the two hours, Qi Xuansu did not see any other chambers. It seemed that treasures in this divine kingdom were not scattered freely.

By contrast, Ke Qingqing’s luck had been exceptional. She entered the Palace and found a chamber almost immediately, so she departed soon after with a gift in hand.

Qi Xuansu figured that they could not be the only ones inside this Dragon Palace. After all, a typhoon’s reach was vast. On land, it could ravage multiple states. Over the sea, its range was even broader. So others would certainly be drawn in.

Another hour passed before Qi Xuansu finally emerged from that endless corridor into a small courtyard. Four corridors met there, one from each direction. At the center was a pond that had blooming lotus flowers.

Two figures stood by the pond—Li Tianzhen and Wu Guangbi.

Just as Qi Xuansu had expected, the typhoon’s sweep was wide. So it was no surprise to see these two here.

The two turned to look at him.

This time, Li Tianzhen finally stepped out from behind Wu Guangbi’s radiance.

In appearance, Li Tianzhen was strikingly handsome, bearing a faint resemblance to the Sage Qingwei, though without that sly, fox-like smile.

By age, Li Tianzhen was older than the three Daoist prodigies. So he had risen to fame earlier. Back when most within the Daoist Order had never even heard of Li Changge, Li Tianzhen’s name already echoed throughout the Daoist community.

Of course, that reputation was not of the virtuous sort held by the three prodigies. His name was often paired with adjectives like “arrogant” and “domineering.” Some even called him the Daoist Order’s foremost young master.

However, ever since his humiliating defeat at Zhang Yuelu’s hands, Li Tianzhen had avoided Jade Capital entirely and kept a low profile.

In terms of age, Li Tianzhen was younger than Bai Yingqiong and Pei Xiaolou, roughly of the same age as Li Minghuang and Zhang Yuyue.

Setting aside seniority and speaking purely of age, their generation’s neglect by the three Deputy Grand Masters was understandable. By the time Sage Donghua, Sage Cihang, and Sage Qingwei reached the age that the three Deputy Grand Masters were now, the three Daoist prodigies would be in their prime, around 50 to 60 years old. They would be ready to inherit the mantle.

But someone of Li Tianzhen’s age would be well past sixty by then, too old to succeed in the role of being the second-in-command of the sect.

Besides, there were barely any standouts among that age group. Zhang Yuyue, Qi Jianyuan, and Li Tianzhen all fell short of the brilliance of the three Daoist prodigies.

Then again, Li Tianzhen was much older than the prodigies. Even if his talent could not rival theirs, he had so many years of cultivation ahead of them and had access to the Li family’s immense resources. Thus, it was only natural that he was a Heavenly Being.

If Pei Xiaolou and Qi Jianyuan could become Heavenly Beings, there was no reason Li Tianzhen could not do the same.

Moreover, back then, Li Tianzhen had dared to challenge Zhang Yuelu, a natural-born Banished Immortal, to a duel. That alone showed that he possessed some degree of confidence. At the very least, he had to be stronger than Pei Xiaolou or Qi Jianyuan.

Qi Xuansu guessed that Li Tianzhen’s cultivation was probably at the Xiaoyao stage.

However, without exceptional talent and lacking effort, being at the Xiaoyao stage did not mean one could go further. An example was Pei Xiaolou being one level lower than Bai Yingqiong despite being the same age as her.

That made Li Tianzhen’s purpose in coming to Nanyang perfectly clear. He had neither Qi Xuansu nor Li Changge’s Longevity Stone Heart, nor the natural aptitude of Banished Immortals like Zhang Yuelu or Yao Pei. However, unlike Zhang Yuyue, Li Tianzhen refused to live passively, so he placed all his hopes upon the legendary Heavenly Empress’s legacy, which was sought after by even a Longevity-stage Immortal like Great Sage Lan.

If Li Tianzhen could acquire that legacy, he might not rival Li Changge, but he could at least secure his standing within the Li family.

Though the Li family’s inner strife was not as blatant as the Zhang family’s, such power struggles were inevitable.