A Pawn's Passage

This book recorded Ancient Wuism in detail, even listing the similarities and differences between the Daoist Order and the Ancient Wuist Sect.

Although the Daoist Order and the Ancient Wuist Sect shared deep roots, there were still clear differences between the two.

Strictly speaking, the Ancient Wuist Sect’s lineage, also known as the Great Witch lineage, should be considered an independent system, not included among the Five Immortal lineages. The Daoist Godly Immortal lineage developed upon the foundation of this Great Witch lineage.

The relationship between Great Witches and Immortals was somewhat comparable to that between Heavenly Immortals and Earthly Immortals.

For this reason, Daoist records stated that the Heavenly Emperor originally followed the Godly Immortal lineage and later, with the help of the Primordial Daoist Ancestor, transformed into a Heavenly Immortal lineage.

Back when the Heavenly Emperor was a Human Sovereign, ritual sacrifices were handled by the Ancient Wuist Sect, while military affairs were personally commanded by him. At this time, the Human Sovereign practiced the Great Witch lineage. But when the Primordial Daoist Ancestor manifested as the Immortal Elder Guangcheng, the Heavenly Emperor went to him and sought the Dao. That triggered Ancient Wuism’s decline, and Daoism rose in its place.

Daoists believed that the Primordial Daoist Ancestor possessed countless incarnations. The Three Pure Ones were incarnations of the Primordial Daoist Ancestor’s Three Corpses. Beyond that, the Primordial Daoist Ancestor also severed a Heavenly Immortal incarnation to undergo tribulations in the mortal realm. Thus, different eras produced different incarnations with various forms.

For example, during the Heavenly Emperor era, he appeared as Elder Guangcheng. During the Zhou Dynasty, he appeared as Li Dan—widely known as Laozi—from whom even the Confucian Sage had sought the Dao. Later still, there were historical records of yet another incarnation who accepted the Ancestral Heavenly Preceptor as a disciple, formally establishing the concept of the Daoist Order.

The cultivation method of Heavenly Immortals was strange. Each time a Heavenly Immortal incarnation was severed and sent to the mortal realm, so long as it could ascend, the original body’s cultivation would increase greatly. By this logic, the Primordial Daoist Ancestor had achieved ascension more than once, so his cultivation level had long surpassed mortal comprehension, even exceeding Third-Tribulation Immortals.

Under the guidance of the Primordial Daoist Ancestor, the Human Sovereign abandoned the Great Witch lineage and turned to the Daoist lineage. In the end, the Human Sovereign successfully ascended and transformed into the Heavenly Emperor.

It was precisely because the Heavenly Emperor and Yinglong ascended that the Great Witches came to hold supreme power in the mortal realm, giving rise to the later internal strife within the Ancient Wuist Sect.

As subordinates of the Heavenly Emperor, the Great Witches likewise followed the Great Witch lineage, so the Great Witches’ lifespans far exceeded a century. They remained active in the mortal world for several hundred years.

However, the Great Witch lineage was not entirely identical to the Godly Immortal lineage. The greatest difference was in the absence of a divine kingdom. Most of the time, Great Witches used pocket realms in place of divine kingdoms to evade heavenly tribulations, which made them similar to Earthly Immortals.

Another similarity was that the Great Witches’ massive physical forms resembled the Manly Immortals’ True Form.

In a way, manmade Banished Immortals most closely resembled the Great Witch lineage.

The Great Witch lineage was extremely broad and inclusive, which was why the Eleven Great Witches each excelled in different areas rather than being cut from the same mold. This closely resembled the Daoist Order before the Holy Xuan standardized its lineages.

The one who truly possessed a divine kingdom was Wu Luo. As the final leader of the Ancient Wuist Sect, Wu Luo ruled during the rise of the Ancestral Heavenly Preceptor. Wu Luo was the first Great Witch to learn from Daoism. She followed the Heavenly Emperor’s example and refined herself, beginning a transition toward the Godly Immortal lineage. Thus, aside from Wu Xian and Wu Yang, Wu Luo still survived to this day.

Qi Xuansu closed the book in his hands, a sense of sudden understanding dawning upon him.

In the past, he had never quite understood why Heavenly Immortals stood above Earthly Immortals. After all, Earthly Immortals had the Five Innate Tais, while Heavenly Immortals did not. Was it merely because Heavenly Immortals could invert heaven and earth or create pocket realms? At most, that suggested different strengths. How could that alone place them decisively above Earthly Immortals?

Now, Qi Xuansu began to understand the Holy Xuan’s metaphor that Heavenly Immortals were butterflies, while Earthly Immortals were wingless insects. Though the wingless insects might be powerful and could even kill butterflies under specific conditions, they were still inferior to butterflies.

The key advantage of Heavenly Immortals lay in their ability to sever various incarnations. Beyond the Three Corpses incarnation, there were also Heavenly Immortal incarnations. Although ascension was difficult, it was still easier than enduring heavenly tribulations. Under such conditions, a second ascension was not hard to achieve, making the Heavenly Immortals’ advantage all the more apparent.

In truth, the superiority of a lineage was not measured by combat strength, but by who could go higher and come closer to the Dao.

Without a doubt, Heavenly Immortals’ capability of a second ascension made them more likely to attain the Dao more easily than Earthly Immortals, who had the Five Innate Tais. Though a butterfly was less robust than some wingless insects, it could leave the tree and explore the vast world, while those wingless insects could only sigh wistfully from the branches.

Earthly Immortals were fated to remain confined. As a result, many Earthly Immortals ultimately choose to abandon the Five Innate Tais and become Heavenly Immortals instead.

This was similar to why manmade Banished Immortals were considered inferior to natural-born Banished Immortals. Qi Xuansu was clearly more powerful than Zhang Yuelu in combat strength, but Zhang Yuelu had better prospects, with no inherent limit. Manmade Banished Immortals would halt at the level of Immortals, lacking a second ascension, so they could not advance further.

The core of manmade Banished Immortals was the Longevity Stone Heart, which originated from the Longevity Stone. It built upon the foundation of the Great Witch lineage and integrated the Daoist Five Immortal lineages.

This was why Qi Xuansu had an extremely deep connection with the Ancient Wuist Sect. Every time he advanced in cultivation, he would dream about the Lingshan Paradise and encounter the Great Witches.

The elders of the Quanzhen Sect also had deep ties with the Ancient Wuist Sect, with Shi Hengbo serving as clear proof.

Madam Qi, as the adopted daughter of the previous Earthly Preceptor and the younger sister of the current Earthly Preceptor, obtained the Longevity Stone Heart in the Lingshan Paradise and then handed it over to Qi Xuansu.

If Qi Xuansu’s rise was driven by a mastermind, then that hand must have come from the Quanzhen Sect.

Qi Xuansu’s purpose was simple. He wanted to know why he was chosen.

All gifts had their prices secretly marked.

Qi Xuansu wanted to know whether he could bear that price. If he could not, it would be better to think of countermeasures early than to be caught unprepared when the moment arrived.

He had once asked Madam Qi about this, but as expected, she did not give him a clear answer.

Qi Xuansu could only investigate on his own. The Ancient Wuist Lingshan Paradise was undoubtedly an excellent point of entry.

The Lingshan Paradise was already on the verge of collapse, as described in Daoist records and from what Qi Xuansu had seen in his dreams.

The main gateway leading to the Lingshan Paradise had already been destroyed, so he could only search for other routes.

The vast Lingshan Paradise was comparable to Kunlun Paradise, with more than one entrance and exit. However, these side gates were often kept secret. After great upheavals, some were destroyed, while others were likely moved from their original locations.

Madam Qi and the Yao family certainly knew about the gateways to the Lingshan Paradise, but they would not tell Qi Xuansu.

Thus, Qi Xuansu could only search on his own, placing his hopes that his answer lies in the Tianshui Core Tower.

This library of unique collections did not disappoint him. Some books described the Lingshan Paradise, which was the peak creation of the Ancient Wuist Sect built through the combined power of the entire sect.

The Lingshan Paradise was the pinnacle creation of the Ancient Wuist Sect. Due to the unique nature of the Great Witch lineage, Lingshan differed from Daoist pocket realms and incorporated certain characteristics of a divine kingdom.

This was also why the Lingshan Paradise had not completely shattered even though it was on the brink of collapse. It could also be reflected in Qi Xuansu’s dreams. In this regard, it bore similarities to Wu Luo’s divine kingdom. Or perhaps Wu Luo’s divine kingdom was modeled after the marvels of the Lingshan Paradise.

Though the Great Witch lineage was powerful, it had some innate deficiencies. It was ultimately a dead-end path, capable at most of reaching the realm of a First-Tribulation Immortal. Manmade Banished Immortals had inherited the characteristics of the Great Witch lineage.

This was why the Heavenly Emperor chose to seek the Dao from the Primordial Daoist Ancestor, changing his lineage to become a Heavenly Immortal. The remaining Great Witches chose two different paths.

The first path was to construct the Lingshan Paradise. Its concept resembled a heavenly kingdom on earth, creating an ideal immortal realm within the mortal world, which was equivalent to ascension. In essence, it was the embryonic form of a divine kingdom, combined with the characteristics of the pocket realms created by Heavenly Immortals, thereby avoiding heavenly tribulations.

The second path was alchemy, by using external forces and substances to compensate for innate deficiencies and break through their limitations, hence the origin of the first generation of Longevity Stones. In reality, Yayu served as the test subject for the Lingshan Great Witches’ medicines.

Many of the Ancient Wuist Sect’s concepts were extraordinarily bold, and many Daoist techniques were later developed on the former’s foundation.

According to the records, during the height of the Ancient Wuist Sect, the concept of ascension had already existed. However, unlike the Daoist ascension of later ages, this ascension was artificial. Those who devoted everything to the Ancient Wuist Sect had a chance to be chosen by the Ten Great Witches to undergo an ascension ritual and successfully ascend. They would then become towering giants like the Ten Great Witches themselves, endowed with divine power.

At that time, the Ten Great Witches of Lingshan were revered as the Ancestral Witches, while those who ascended were honored as Great Witches.

In truth, ascension within the Ancient Wuist Sect did not mean leaving the mortal realm but rather going to the Lingshan Paradise. Those who ascended were not true Immortals but more akin to Pseudo-Immortals.

In other words, as long as Qi Xuansu could find the Ancient Wuist Sect’s ascension ritual, it was possible to enter the Lingshan Paradise through this method of pseudo-ascension.