A Pawn's Passage

Wu Guangbi immediately realized that Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu were about to unleash their killing move.

At this moment, Madam Bai, Wu Guangbi, Qi Xuansu, and Zhang Yuelu were aligned perfectly in a straight line.

Wu Guangbi was trapped in the middle, facing Madam Bai, with his back to Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu.

Madam Bai’s attack was not the finishing blow. Besides helping Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu relieve the pressure, her main role was to restrain Wu Guangbi.

As expected, Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu finally used the strongest technique available to them at this stage—the Twin Sword Union.

Zhang Yuelu lifted Purple Afterglow, pointing it toward the heavens. A surge of purple clouds formed above, quickly dyeing the entire sky a deep violet. Visible ripples spread outward in waves, then expanded violently across the sky.

Qi Xuansu raised Green Cloud, pointing it toward the sea. The frozen surface shattered, and the sea roared in resonance, trembling violently. A surge of green qi rose from the waters, turning the entire sea beneath them a boundless green.

The purple clouds spun like a vortex, extending downward like a colossal funnel. Meanwhile, the seawater surged upward, piling skyward like a rising tower.

The two forces nearly bridged heaven and earth. Then, the twin swords shot upward, like two intertwined dragons—one purple, one green—soaring into the sky.

Heaven and earth turned crystalline clear. Endless purple and green qi poured forth, transforming into a vast surging ocean of energy.

One sword descended from the heavens, while the other rose from the sea.

When the two met, the sea and sky merged into one, forming a massive pillar of green light tinged with purple.

As the pillar materialized, all purple and green qi collapsed inward, condensing into one boundless, radiant beam that was brilliant like a rising sun.

The sword light rippled outward, spreading in all directions like water.

Compared to their previous combined strike in Fenglin, the Twin Sword Union at the Zaohua stage was far more powerful, as they could now draw out the Heavenly Preceptor’s Twin Swords’ full power.

If it were only the Twin Sword Union, even at full power, Wu Guangbi would still have confidence to defend himself. But now, he was being restrained by Madam Bai, while the Six Tribulations and the demonic fire rampaged inside his body. Besieged from outside and within, Wu Guangbi actually felt that he was closer to death than ever before.

In that instant, Wu Guangbi was on the verge of madness. Ignoring all cost, he violently suppressed the Six Tribulations and demonic fire within him, discarded his sword, spun around, and thrust both palms outward into the sky.

He no longer tried to hold back.

As Wu Guangbi struck out with both palms, the surrounding space rippled and distorted repeatedly, as though undergoing some profound transformation. His aura swelled abruptly until he seemed to become the very axis of heaven and earth.

This was the Qi Refiner’s Fusion Realm.

The body merged with heaven and earth—harnessing the forces of the cosmos,

altering the seasonal and celestial currents, and drawing on the earth qi—advancing like the unstoppable momentum of nature itself.

The only flaw was that it was not solid land. With the ocean below, Wu Guangbi could not directly command the earth’s qi.

But heaven and earth did not rely on only one source.

In an instant, the bright moon hanging high above dimmed abruptly. Normally, one would say the light from a firefly could not compete with the moon. But now, the great moon itself waned like a dying candle in the wind.

But in reality, the moon was unharmed. Its radiance was just being drawn away, absorbed into Wu Guangbi’s palms.

This was the true meaning of channeling the might of heaven and earth into one’s own power and why Qi Refiners dominated.

The Heavenly Court proclaimed to have united the Five Religions. Wu Guangbi practiced the arts of all five, but focused mainly on Daoist and Confucian techniques.

The palm technique passed down by the Golden Patriarch was also a perfected Buddhist method called the Immeasurable Buddha Palm.

According to legend, Amitabha created the Immeasurable Buddha Palm to suppress demons. When mastered, it could move mountains and overturn seas. The first ancestor who brought Buddhism into the Central Plains had brought this technique with him. The second-generation leader, who studied Confucianism and Daoism in his childhood, came to the first ancestor to seek guidance. However, the first ancestor refused to accept him as a disciple due to his complex learning background.

The second-generation leader pleaded for a long time but was continuously rejected. Thus, to show his resolve, he cut off an arm. Moved by his sincerity, the first ancestor finally accepted him and taught him the Vajra lineage.

Since the second-generation leader lost an arm and could not salute with both hands, later generations followed his example and saluted with a single hand. This was why some Buddhist disciples saluted with both palms joined, while others performed a one-handed salute.

A Buddhist Golden Body could not be shed or regenerated as a Daoist Golden Body, which was why the second-generation leader always remained one-armed. From his generation onward, the Immeasurable Buddha Palm became incomplete, transforming into the high-attainment method—the Samaya Seal. When Buddhism spread further to the Western Region, it evolved again into the Mantra Seal.

When Buddhism entered the Central Plains, it strove to take root swiftly, so it aligned itself with Confucianism and emulated Daoism. This was the beginning of the Three Religion’s unity.

For this reason, part of the Immeasurable Buddha Palm spread into the Confucian School, where it was modified to become the Five Peaks Sealing Hand once used by Sage Qingwei.

Another part spread into the Daoist Order but was renamed the Divine Palm Technique.

The Immeasurable Buddha Palm had such immense power that even the Holy Xuan had been wounded by it.

Golden Patriarch was a rare genius. He spent great effort merging the Divine Palm Technique, Five Peaks Sealing Hand, Mantra Seal, and Samaya Seal, removing the dross and preserving the essence to recreate the Immeasurable Buddha Palm. With it, he dominated Nanyang.

Since then, Golden Patriarch passed on this palm technique to his disciple, Wu Guangbi. It was considered the hidden trump card of their lineage, just like the Zhang family’s Five Thunder Celestial Heart Method and the Li family’s Taiping Qingling Sutra.

Wu Guangbi now unleashed the Immeasurable Buddha Palm with full force. Two immense Buddha palms, formed entirely from condensed moonlight, manifested out of thin air and surged forward to meet the vast green and purple sword light.

At the same time, the positions of the stars in the night sky shifted subtly, until the constellations outlined the figure of a Buddha formed entirely of starlight.

It resembled Vairocana suppressing Izanagi. Except this time, the image was that of Amitabha.

The Buddha palm and the sword light collided, both dissolving into nothingness.

By drawing on the moon’s yin energy through his Fusion Realm and by exerting the full mastery of the Immeasurable Buddha Palm, Wu Guangbi managed to block the destructive might of an immortal object. This was precisely why Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu did not use the Twin Sword Union at the start.

But Wu Guangbi was far from unharmed.

By choosing to face the twin swords, he had exposed his back to Madam Bai.

Madam Bai showed no mercy, piercing a knifehand straight into Wu Guangbi’s back, passing through his chest, and emerging from the front. Her jade-like skeletal hand was clutching a still-beating heart.

It was exactly the same method Little Yin had used to ambush Xiang Guangying.

Without hesitation, Madam Bai crushed the heart in her hand.

To a Pseudo-Immortal like Wu Guangbi, a shattered heart was not a fatal wound. He had long anticipated this, but he chose the lesser of two harms. After all, being struck by an immortal sword was far more terrifying than getting his heart crushed. His heart could repair over time, but the immortal sword could very well annihilate both his body and spirit, killing him on the spot.

Wu Guangbi drew both palms inward and pressed them together. Having absorbed too much moon-essence, his palms no longer radiated the Buddha’s light that was like the blazing sun. Instead, it was as luminous as the full moon.

With this motion, a gentle yet irresistible palm force rippled outward in all directions. Even Madam Bai was pushed far back by the wave, unable to approach him.

The next instant, that moon blossomed like a white lotus, and countless enormous Buddha palms burst outward, forming layer upon layer, like a luminous curtain.

Under the cover of those Buddha palms, Wu Guangbi shot skyward, attempting to flee.

Two Zaohua stage Heavenly Beings and their immortal sword were already enough to fight him evenly. Adding Madam Bai to the mix, Wu Guangbi knew he was absolutely no match for them. If the battle continued, it would be a matter of time before he was defeated and killed.

Wu Guangbi wished to flee, but Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu had no intention of letting him go. They unleashed the Twin Sword Union once more.

Another vast beam of sword light cleaved down from the heavens.

Every Buddha palm blocking its path shattered upon contact and was swept aside like rotten wood.

The flaw of a Qi Refiner’s Fusion Realm was that once the cultivator merged with a realm of choice, one could not leave its boundaries.

By fleeing now, Wu Guangbi stepped beyond his merged domain. Thus, he instantly lost the boundless force of the Fusion Realm and could no longer withstand that sword strike.

At the same time, Madam Bai struck again, intending to work with the sword light to keep Wu Guangbi here forever.

Wu Guangbi was nearly in despair.

At that moment, a sudden anomaly occurred. A colossal hand that resembled the Buddha’s Five Fingers materialized out of thin air. With a flick of its finger, Madam Bai was sent flying back.

Then, the five fingers spread wide to shield Wu Guangbi from above. It caught the falling sword light as though holding up a waterfall of stars, utterly unshaken.

The hand was entirely golden, and its fingers were like five towering peaks. Behind it stretched a wrist adorned with a beaded bracelet, and beyond that, a vast expanse of golden radiance spread across half the sky, casting a golden sheen over the sea below.

A resonant voice echoed through the heavens, “Young Qi, show mercy where mercy is due.”