A Pawn's Passage

The Yinglong Warship employed the Star Shift Technique to its absolute limit, without regard for energy expenditure.

It did not fly in the conventional sense. Instead, it vanished in an instant. When it reappeared, it was already suspended motionless above the vast open sea.

Great Sage Jiang appeared at the prow, standing with his hands clasped behind his back, while several Daoist priests and Spirit Guards lined up behind him in a wing formation.

“Make your preparations,” Great Sage Jiang instructed.

Everyone responded in unison, then departed from the Yinglong Warship one after another, slipping into the void and vanishing from sight.

No one doubted whether Great Sage Jiang could defeat Chen Shuhua. Chen Shuhua had only just entered the Longevity stage, whereas Great Sage Jiang had already been an Immortal for many years. He was known as the foremost Virtuous Great Sage second only to the Three Deputy Grand Masters.

Back when the Imperial Preceptor fought in the Fenglin battlefield, he swept everything before him, proving that there were differences in strength even among Immortals.

There was also a big disparity in the external aid each possessed. Chen Shuhua only had an immortal object called Heaven’s Will. Even after temporarily lending the Three Treasures Scepter to Qi Xuansu, Great Sage Jiang still had three immortal objects belonging to the Grand Master, giving him an overwhelming advantage.

Thus, Great Sage Jiang surpassed Chen Shuhua in every respect, whether in experience, cultivation, or the quantity and quality of external objects.

What Great Sage Jiang considered was not how to defeat or kill Chen Shuhua, but how to prevent her from escaping. In Great Sage Jiang’s plan, the Daoist priests and Spirit Guards were not there to jointly assault Chen Shuhua but to form a grand formation around the area to block any attempt at escape.

When Chen Shuhua attempted to flee, the formation would not seek to injure her but rather to restrain her, so long as it delayed her for a brief moment and allowed Great Sage Jiang to catch up.

Every Daoist priest and Spirit Guard served as a node of the formation, with the lowest cultivation among them still at the Zaohua stage. This just proved how high-level this formation was.

Even an Immortal would find it difficult to break through such a formation in a short span of time.

After everyone had taken their positions, mist began to surge across the surrounding sea.

At first, the mist merely spread across the sea’s surface. Then it began to rise continuously until it filled both sea and sky alike, erasing the line between them, as though the water and heavens had merged into one.

Great Sage Jiang raised his hand and swept it across the air, warping the space before him.

The scene resembled a foggy pane of glass in winter, and Great Sage Jiang was wiping away the mist from the surface.

Beyond the mist, what appeared was no longer the original sea but a majestic and awe-inspiring palace standing between heaven and earth.

Rather than a palace, it more closely resembled a small city. It was about 300 meters in height, constructed entirely of flawless white jade. Clouds surged and billowed around it, while raging seawater churned below, as though it stood upon the clouds, mimicking the celestial White Jade Capital.

This was the Tongzhen Palace, a secret pocket realm established by the Jin Dynasty’s Imperial Preceptor, Lin Lingsu, modeled after the Heavenly Empress’s Dragon Palace.

Ordinarily, those who entered Tongzhen Palace could not behold its full form, nor even know how they had entered it, much like when Qi Xuansu once entered the Dragon Palace. He fell into deep sleep and awoke to find himself already within the halls.

However, Great Sage Jiang swept away the clouds and dispersed the mist, directly revealing the full appearance of Tongzhen Palace before his eyes. This was the power of an Immortal.

After the Tongzhen Palace manifested, it began to rise slowly, like a sun hanging in the sky. More and more people were able to see this immortal palace.

Moreover, this sight had nothing to do with distance. As long as one was within the appropriate range, regardless of how far or near, the Tongzhen Palace appeared the same size, seeming both far off at the edge of the heavens but also close enough to touch, like the sun and moon.

This range encompassed more than half of Nanyang.

Upon witnessing this scene, many people’s first reaction was that a pocket realm had emerged, signifying a great opportunity. If one could enter it and seize any fortune, one could possibly ascend to the heavens in a single step.

Nanyang had never lacked figures of formidable cultivation who dared to live on the edge of a blade. Thus, quite a few people rose into the air and flew toward the heavenly palace.

At that very moment, a terrifying scene unfolded.

An enormous illusory hand appeared out of thin air, blotting out the sky. It rose from below to support the vast and magnificent immortal palace, then slowly closed its five fingers, enclosing the entire structure within its palm. The spectacle was magnificent.

This was Great Sage Jiang’s Heaven and Earth Convergence. However, at this moment, only the Earth was rising from below, lacking the descending heaven from above. Thus, it could not yet be called a true convergence.

Upon seeing this, the wandering Jianghu masters who had intended to charge in and gamble for fortune instantly turned back, retracing their steps.

Anyone could tell that an Immortal had taken action and that the palace’s abrupt appearance was precisely because an Immortal had intervened.

Great Sage Jiang’s arrival in Nanyang was no secret. Whether this Immortal was Golden Patriarch, Great Sage Jiang, or Great Sage Lan, it would be akin to snatching food from a tiger’s jaws.

Just as Great Sage Jiang’s five fingers were about to fully close, a voice rang out from within Tongzhen Palace. “I am truly overwhelmed by the honor of your gracious presence, Great Sage Jiang.”

Great Sage Jiang spoke calmly. “Chen Shuhua, you have violated the laws of the Daoist Order. By the statutes, your crime warrants execution.”

Chen Shuhua knew that she would not get any peace today. Her tone grew sharp and fierce. “Hah! Well said! Then let me witness your methods, Great Sage!”

As she finished her sentence, a flash of radiance appeared, and Chen Shuhua was already above Tongzhen Palace. She no longer wore the Daoist hechang. Instead, she had changed into white robes. At this time, she still held the unsheathed sword, Heaven’s Will, in her hand.

She was now in the final stage of her major rebirth, so her condition had improved significantly. After so many days of recuperation, she no longer appeared as wretched as she had at the beginning.

Suddenly, the clouds before Chen Shuhua surged and gathered, forming the shape of a gigantic human face. It was Great Sage Jiang, gazing down upon Chen Shuhua from up high.

When Great Sage Jiang spoke, he made no effort to restrain his voice. Thus, every word could be heard with perfect clarity within a radius of 150 kilometers.

This unmistakably conveyed one message to the masses—all irrelevant parties should stay away while the Daoist Order executed the traitor, Chen Shuhua.

In the vast Nanyang, there was barely anyone who did not recognize that name, as she used to be the Chief Deputy Mansion Master of Poluo and later turned into a traitor to the Daoist Order.

Though she was now a newly ascended Immortal, the Daoist Order would not let her go.

But Chen Shuhua was bold, clearly intent on confronting Great Sage Jiang head-on.

Anyone who could hear the exchange—whether Heavenly Beings or the various ships out at sea—began fleeing frantically in the direction opposite to the palace above.

After the brief exchange, Chen Shuhua did not even ask how Great Sage Jiang had found her. Instead, she immediately unleashed a sword strike.

In the battle at Thanglong Prefecture, Chen Shuhua had once split the entire city with a single stroke, displaying the immense might of this sword.

Clouds split and mists dispersed where the sword light passed. The boundless sea of clouds was forced apart by this single strike, as if an Immortal had cleaved the skies in two. Half of the rolling clouds retreated to the left, and the other half to the right, leaving a vacant chasm about 30 meters wide in the middle.

The visage of Great Sage Jiang that was formed from the gathered clouds was likewise split apart by the strike, revealing the Great Sage’s true appearance.

One of Great Sage Jiang’s hands sank into the void, his wide sleeve billowing as it supported Tongzhen Palace. His other hand rested behind his back, utterly still.

At the immortal realm, fusing with a realm and attaining an omniscient perspective was no difficult feat. Chen Shuhua could clearly see that Great Sage Jiang was clearly holding something behind his back, yet it was visibly empty.

Seeing this, Chen Shuhua suddenly recalled something, prompting her to exclaim, “Moral Sovereign!”

Moral Sovereign actually had three meanings. The first referred to the Confucian Sage. The second referred to the later leader of the Confucian School. The third referred to the name of an immortal object.

Moral Sovereign was a peculiar sword that was neither visible nor detectable. The Confucians say that only one of true virtue could wield it. The sword was originally enshrined in the Confucian Sage’s residence.

At the end of the Wei Dynasty, when the Confucian School and Daoist Order clashed, the Holy Xuan was unstoppable as he wielded Skycaller.

To counter him, the Confucian leader of the time borrowed Moral Sovereign from the Confucian Sage’s residence and fought the Holy Xuan in two successive battles.

In the first battle, the Confucians achieved a great victory, using Moral Sovereign to strike the Holy Xuan until the latter’s Three Corpses became unstable, and smoke gushed from his orifices. In the second battle, the Confucians suffered a crushing defeat. The Holy Xuan killed the Confucian leader, and so, Moral Sovereign fell into his hands. From then on, Moral Sovereign became an heirloom passed down through successive Grand Masters of the Daoist Order, a symbol of the unity of the Three Religions.

Now that the position of Grand Master stood vacant, Moral Sovereign was kept by the Zixiao Palace Master, Great Sage Jiang.

Great Sage Jiang had once told Qi Xuansu that all immortal objects had thresholds. Excluding the Heavenly Preceptor’s Twin Swords, which could be split into two semi-immortal objects, the Three Treasures Scepter had the lowest threshold. Correspondingly, Moral Sovereign was among the very few immortal objects with the highest threshold.

Chen Shuhua had long known of Moral Sovereign’s existence, but she never would have imagined that Great Sage Jiang could truly wield the immortal sword.

At this moment, Great Sage Jiang’s use of Moral Sovereign made his intention unmistakably clear. He intended to kill.

Great Sage Jiang spoke calmly. “The Primordial Daoist Ancestor founded the canon, and the Confucian Sage expounded the teachings, devoting himself solely to etiquette education and thereby becoming the Moral Sovereign.”

As he finished his sentence, a ripple spread outward from Great Sage Jiang. Wherever it passed, all things twisted and warped in its wake.