A Pawn's Passage

By now, Changning Palace had turned into a sea of fire. The Spirit Guards who arrived could only focus on extinguishing the blaze, activating protective formations to isolate the area and prevent the flames from spreading, lest the entire royal palace be reduced to ash.

Just then, Emerald Pavilion suddenly collapsed with a thunderous crash.

A monstrous being emerged from beneath the ground. It resembled a colossal sandworm.

If one had to describe it, it resembled a colossal sipuncula, also called a peanut worm. It had the form of a giant intestine, yet unlike an ordinary sipuncula’s smooth and hairless body, this creature was covered in dragon scales. It looked like a twisted, corrupted dragon without claws, a head, or horns. It was stripped of all majesty and was quite revolting.

The worm opened its maw, which contained countless concentric rings of razor-sharp teeth, densely packed and glistening. From the deepest part of that mouth, a tongue-like organ extended out, and at its tip, a humanoid figure with scales all over appeared. The figure’s chest was hollow, and its lower body had fused entirely with the worm’s gaping mouth. That figure was none other than the former Queen Dowager, Yang E.

She had now completely transformed into a monster, indistinguishable from the enormous worm.

Everyone present was struck speechless with horror. What in the world is this abomination?

But their shock was far from over.

The ground trembled again. Another giant broke through the earth. Its lower half was still buried, but its upper body emerged, bearing six arms and three heads, with phoenix-like wings spreading from its back. Its exposed flesh was covered in scales resembling armor.

The onlookers thought, Another monster?!

Soon, they realized through the monster’s garments that it was none other than Second Deputy Qi.

After all, Qi Xuansu wore the Youyi Cloud Robe, which was able to expand or shrink freely without being damaged by any change in size or form.

Being from the Daoist Order, the Spirit Guards immediately understood that the giant was the complete Manly Immortal True Form.

The Manly Immortal True Form was the Daoist term for the Great Shaman or Great Witch True Form. According to the ancient records, the legendary Great Witches were humanoid giants, but their bodies also had the features of ancient beasts.

Daoist arts had inherited many Ancient Wuist practices. The Manly Immortal lineage had inherited the physique of the Great Witches.

In the primordial age, when wild beasts populated the land, how did humankind become the ultimate victor? Primordial humans were not like the frail species of today. They were giants, with bodies as strong as the beasts themselves. Even in direct combat, humans would not fall behind the beasts of that age. These ancient humans were the Witches and the Shamans.

The Manly Immortal lineage was a return to this ancestral blood, unlocking the shackles to awaken the power buried deep within one’s lineage and restore one’s original form, or true form.

Daoism emphasized yin and yang. Thus, it did not embrace only light. It held many terrifying techniques, like the descent of inner demons, the Three Yin Beings, and the Manly Immortal True Form. None of which had the stereotypical immortal grace, but rather the aura of primal wildness.

At the Wuliang stage of the Manly Immortal lineage, one could only wield fragments of the True Form at a time—summoning phoenix wings but not the dragon tail, or manifesting three heads and six arms without scales. The complete Manly Immortal True Form fused all these elements into one, manifesting them together.

Now, in his full Manly Immortal True Form, Qi Xuansu’s six arms braced against the ground, forcing it apart as he climbed up from the massive chasm. Behind him was a dragon’s tail, and from his back, giant phoenix wings unfurled and blotted out the sky. The feathers glowed like molten steel, radiating intense heat as they fell like leaves, turning into fluttering butterflies that circled Qi Xuansu in a blazing dance.

Qi Xuansu’s face had also changed entirely. His three heads each reflected a deity—the left head was Himiko, the center was True Lord Taiyin, and the right was True Lord Ziguang. From left to right, they symbolized the sun, moon, and stars.

With his Longevity Stone Heart, he could merge his Manly Immortal True Form with the Celestial Phenomena Spiritual Body. It was a feat that defied reason, typical of a manmade Banished Immortal.

This was also why many failed to recognize Qi Xuansu at first glance.

The three heads and six eyes of Qi Xuansu locked firmly onto the colossal worm.

The worm opened its vast maw again. From within, Yang E let out a piercing cry that echoed through the entire palace.

Countless palace maids and eunuchs collapsed dead on the spot.

Even the Spirit Guards in armor could not withstand it. Many staggered and fell stiffly to the ground. Chen Jianqiu clutched her head in agony, feeling as though her skull were about to explode.

Only those at the Xiaoyao stage could resist it, and only if they kept a safe distance.

Qi Xuansu, who was temporarily at the Zaohua stage, ignored the scream entirely. His three faces bore three different expressions. Himiko seethed with rage, True Lord Ziguang was grim and brooding, and True Lord Taiyin remained cold and detached.

Each of the six arms had its own task. The uppermost pair held a treasure mirror, within which a fiery sun blazed. The middle pair grasped a great sword, forged of moonlight and yin fire, serene as a moonlit night, yet carrying a deep, mysterious aura. The lowest pair was empty-handed, but there were countless tiny starlights between the fingers, harmonizing perfectly with the moonlight sword above.

Qi Xuansu’s enormous phoenix wings beat once, propelling him upward. His body lifted from the ground and soared into the air, casting a vast shadow that blanketed half of Changning Palace. A beam of sunlight shot out from the mirror in his hands, striking the worm and freezing it in place. Then he brought down the moonlight sword and slashed at the worm’s gaping maw.

The sword of moonlight and yin fire cleaved half of the worm’s “head.” Yang E, hidden within the worm’s maw, was now exposed to the sunlight. There was not a trace of her former grace as the Queen Dowager left. Her skin was covered with warped dragon scales, and even her hair had transformed into writhing, tentacle-like strands.

Earlier, in the underground hall, Qi Xuansu had already beaten Yang E to a pulp. But at the final moment, Yang E’s “child” had been born, manifesting as this colossal worm, which swallowed her whole in a single gulp.

This so-called “divine child” had been born through the borrowed power of the Southern Dragon Qi. That was why it bore partial dragon-like traits, ultimately becoming the grotesque creature now before them.

Clearly, this had been a trap from the very beginning.

The seemingly normal Queen Dowager had long been controlled. All of this had been arranged beforehand. If Qi Xuansu had remained at the Wuliang stage, the outcome of facing Yang E alone would have been grim.

For someone unaware that Qi Xuansu was a manmade Banished Immortal, this plan would have been flawless. An androgynous vessel like Yang E, paired with a divine child, would have been a sure kill whether Qi Xuansu was a natural-born Banished Immortal or a Martial Arts Practitioner.

But what they had not expected was that Qi Xuansu was not merely a manmade Banished Immortal; he also had the Scripture of Zuriel, which could boost his cultivation temporarily. A Zaohua-stage Martial Arts Practitioner combined with a Wuliang-stage manmade Banished Immortal was beyond all reason.

Thus, the situation had deviated from the original plan from the very start. Though both were at the Zaohua stage, Yang E had no chance in close combat. Before the divine child was born, Qi Xuansu had already beaten her half to death. When the child finally emerged, it could only devour its mother to survive, instead of them fighting side by side as the mastermind had planned.

In this state, the divine child merged with the broken remains of Yang E. Though this union offered some strength, it was still limited.

After slicing away the upper half of the worm’s maw, Qi Xuansu used his remaining hands to seize Yang E’s upper body. Starlight whirled around him, his body spirits glowing as veins bulged across his arms. He used the unmatched might of a Martial Arts Practitioner, intending to tear her out by the roots.

Yang E let out an agonized, ear-splitting scream, while the enormous worm thrashed violently, its strikes shaking the earth itself. Countless spikes erupted across its surface, firing wildly in all directions, while waves upon waves of decayed dragon qi spewed from its maw.

Qi Xuansu was completely unmoved. Consumed by the madness of the Demonic Blade and his own boundless arrogance, he was no longer the same man as before, too lost in himself. He let the decayed dragon qi wash over him while he continued his frenzied effort to rip Yang E apart.

At last, Qi Xuansu used sheer brute strength to tear her away from the worm to which she had fused. Yang E let out a heart-rending scream as blood splattered across Qi Xuansu’s scale-armored body, sizzling on contact.

The worm was gravely wounded. It writhed in agony and tried to burrow into the earth to flee.

At that very moment, reinforcements from the Daoist Mansion finally arrived. The Yinglong Warship hovered above the royal palace, with Starcrusher readied. With a sudden dive, the Yinglong Warship unleashed a blast of the Grade-A Series Two Dragon Eye Bomb directly into the worm’s midsection, blowing the creature cleanly in half.

At the same time, a figure leapt down from the Yinglong Warship. It was none other than Spirit Guard Jia Yin.

As he descended, Spirit Guard Jia Yin’s armor began to transform. A dark circular disc appeared behind him, breaking apart like a puzzle into countless irregular fragments. These shards reassembled and expanded outward layer by layer until they formed the Taiji symbol of the Daoist Order.

This was the second form of a first-rank Spirit Guard. The circular disc served to connect him to the Thirty-Three Heavens of Jade Capital, channeling unlimited divine power across space, much like the descent of the Ancient Immortals.

Wielding twin blades, Spirit Guard Jia Yin landed atop the worm’s severed body and plunged both blades deep into its flesh. Due to the worm’s ring-like anatomy, Spirit Guard Jia Yin even circled his blade once around it, splitting the worm into two sections again.

Spirit Guard Jia Yin did not pause. He kept slicing again and again, as if cutting an enormous sausage. Jets of translucent fluid burst from the worm’s body, splashing over him, only to be instantly vaporized by his overwhelming divine power.

The other half of the worm’s body fell into Qi Xuansu’s grasp.

Qi Xuansu discarded the sword and mirror, unleashing six simultaneous punches. Though each strike was weaker than his earlier full-force punches, they still created shockwaves that shattered the void, undermining the foundation of the worm’s existence.

Compared with Spirit Guard Jia Yin’s bloody carnage, Qi Xuansu’s half of the worm did not bleed. Instead, it disintegrated, flaking away like pigment shaken loose from a trembling painting.

Under the relentless minor tremors that rippled through the void, distorting space, the worm’s body looked as if it had split and merged over and over.

In truth, the worm had not moved at all. It was the space around it that was shifting.

With Qi Xuansu’s and Spirit Guard Jia Yin’s combined assault, the worm had no escape. Its death was inevitable.