A Pawn's Passage

After entering the formation, Qi Xuansu found himself in an unfamiliar place, different from the shattered landscape of Lingshan Paradise. In the distance were snow-capped mountain ranges, while they were near a valley and riverbank.

“Huh? This isn’t the same as the last time I came. Does it change every time? Ugh...that’s troublesome.” Qi Jiaoyao grunted.

Qi Xuansu felt somewhat relieved that the two of them had been transported to the same location rather than separated. To him, this counted as good news.

He said, “Maybe I’m the variable. You entering alone and the two of us entering together might trigger different scenarios.”

Qi Jiaoyao was astonished. “Does this restriction actually have a difficulty scale, changing dynamically depending on how many people enter?! Is this a restriction or some kind of trial to determine if we’re worthy?”

Qi Xuansu replied, “That does sound like something Elder Yao would do.”

Qi Jiaoyao began carefully observing the surroundings and hesitated. “This looks somewhat familiar...I feel like I’ve seen it before.”

Prompted by her remark, Qi Xuansu also looked around and suddenly recalled. “This is the road leading to the Kunlun Mountain Pass!”

His memory of this place was so vivid because that was where his flying ship had crashed and where he used to pass through with his master whenever they traveled out of Jade Capital.

Qi Jiaoyao said, “Oh, I see...I used to travel to Jade Capital by flying ship and rarely took the land route, so I couldn’t recall.”

Qi Xuansu was hit with a trace of sadness as he thought about his master. “This is merely a restriction created by Elder Yao’s divine power and not the real Kunlun. Perhaps Kunlun itself is Lingshan.”

Qi Jiaoyao pondered briefly, nodded in agreement, and walked together with Qi Xuansu toward the Kunlun Mountain Pass.

The closer they approached the pass, the stronger the sense of familiarity became.

With Kunlun Mountain Pass as the boundary, 2,500 kilometers to the west belonged to the Kunlun Daoist Mansion, while the lands east of the pass fell under Yongzhou Daoist Mansion.

Not far from the pass lay Zhaling Lake and Eling Lake. The flying ship that Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu had once taken had crashed near the skies above these two lakes. Beyond the Kunlun Mountain Pass lay the Starry Sea, where Qi Xuansu himself had fallen.

When they were still roughly 250 kilometers from Zhaling Lake, Qi Xuansu suddenly stopped, his gaze frozen.

Qi Jiaoyao followed his line of sight, noticing a group of people tightly surrounding an older man and a younger one.

The older man was in his forties, while the other was a young adult.

Qi Jiaoyao watched with curiosity. “Who are these people?”

She asked casually, not expecting Qi Xuansu to answer at all.

But to her surprise, Qi Xuansu actually replied, his tone somewhat heavy. “These people are assassins from The Inn.”

Hearing this, Qi Jiaoyao turned toward him. “How do you know?”

“I just do,” Qi Xuansu said, still staring at the group, his voice dazed. “How could I not know?”

Qi Jiaoyao thought for a moment and began to understand. “This is your memory?”

This time, Qi Xuansu did not answer, so Qi Jiaoyao took his silence as confirmation.

The situation quickly changed. The Inn’s assassins attempted to silence the two men.

Qi Jiaoyao could not help but ask, “Should we intervene?”

Qi Xuansu’s voice sounded lost and hollow. “Would it have any meaning?”

Qi Jiaoyao, who had already been preparing to jump in, stopped.

There was indeed no meaning in doing so. After all, this was merely an illusion, or perhaps Qi Xuansu’s memory. Nothing would change.

The older Daoist suddenly grabbed the young man and hurled him out of the encirclement, shouting only one word, “Run!”

The young man fled desperately, panic-stricken.

One of the many assassins from The Inn broke away and pursued him.

Qi Jiaoyao noticed that Qi Xuansu appeared deeply immersed, unable to pull himself free.

At this moment, Qi Xuansu was indeed fully submerged in memories of the past, as if he had entered a dream.

Qi Jiaoyao was clearly standing shoulder to shoulder with Qi Xuansu, yet to him, her voice sounded distant and wavering.

“Tian Yuan, we are both within an illusion now. You’ve already been affected, so you’re in a half-dreaming, half-awake state. If you can preserve some clarity, you’ll pass through. If you can’t, you’ll become a wandering soul, neither alive nor dead, because your soul will fall into this moat and forget everything.”

Qi Jiaoyao’s voice grew softer, and Qi Xuansu felt the surroundings become ever quieter until finally all sounds vanished into complete silence.

After an unknown amount of time, a voice called out to him. “Old Qi, what are you spacing out for? Everyone’s waiting for you!”

Qi Xuansu froze for a moment, then slowly turned around.

A young girl stood behind him, wearing a red satin coat embroidered with birds and finely crafted short boots with snow-white pom-poms on their tips. Her hair was tied with a red ribbon, looking bright and festive.

Qi Xuansu parted his lips. “Little Yin?”

The little girl puffed her cheeks. “My name is Yin Wanmiao!”

Qi Xuansu stared fixedly at Little Yin. Her eyes were clear and sharply defined, without a trace of impurity. Countless sealed memories surged back, sending ripples across his heart.

Little Yin paid no attention to any of this. She grabbed Qi Xuansu’s hand and pulled him forward.

The scene resembled a young daughter pulling her father.

Little Yin led Qi Xuansu into a hall, where a family sat together.

Qi Xuansu looked around and saw his master, Qi Haoran, still dressed as a fourth-rank Jijiu Daoist, yet strangely unfamiliar to him now.

There was also a woman who appeared to be in her early thirties. Her face was round like a full moon, her skin smooth like jade. She wore a dark green dress covered by a black gauze outer robe that was embroidered with copper-coin patterns, looking quite gaudy. A pair of dark glasses rested on her nose, covering half her face. The woman was calmly smoking from a pipe, exhaling clouds of smoke. That was Madam Qi.

Of course, Zhang Yuelu was there as well. But at this moment, Zhang Yuelu was dressed as a married woman.

As soon as Little Yin entered, she released Qi Xuansu’s hand and ran toward Zhang Yuelu, who lifted her onto her lap.

Qi Xuansu felt a momentary daze.

Even knowing this was not real, a surge of emotions rushed through him.

Qi Xuansu once again looked around at the people at the table, at those familiar yet unfamiliar faces.

Was this the home he had longed for in his heart?

Meanwhile, Qi Jiaoyao noticed something. The restriction seemed to be fully targeting Qi Xuansu while completely ignoring her.

She watched helplessly as The Inn’s assassins caught up with the young man and stabbed him through the heart with a single strike. Meanwhile, Qi Xuansu, who was beside her, grew increasingly lost and confused.

Leaning close to Qi Xuansu’s ear, Qi Jiaoyao used the Great Thunder Voice Technique and spoke loudly. “A true hero must possess extraordinary resolve. When ordinary men get insulted, they draw their swords and fight. That is not true courage. The truly brave remain unshaken when sudden events arise and calm when wronged. They carry an immense burden and far-reaching ambition. Thus, those with steadfast hearts neither rejoice because of external things nor despair because of themselves. Only by holding to one’s true nature can one be freed. If you are lost to hatred, deceived by anger, bound by emotion, or overwhelmed by sorrow, you will fall into ruin and will never be able to escape. Tian Yuan, do you hear me?”

Qi Xuansu did not react at all.

Qi Jiaoyao then took out the Bone-Illuminating Mirror.

Immortal objects were extraordinary precisely because they transcended the mundane. It was not bound by time, space, yin and yang, the five elements, or even body and soul. Thus, even within an illusion, Qi Jiaoyao could still wield the immortal object without restriction.

Qi Jiaoyao directed the Bone-Illuminating Mirror toward Qi Xuansu.

Qi Xuansu instantly became almost transparent. His bones were clearly visible, and even the body spirits within his acupoints could be seen, though all of them were asleep.

At the same time, due to the mirror’s mystical power, Qi Xuansu’s cultivation rapidly weakened.

Qi Jiaoyao swung her left hand in a full arc and slapped Qi Xuansu twice across the face.

Weakened by the Bone-Illuminating Mirror and no longer protected by his indestructible body, Qi Xuansu’s face instantly swelled red.

Surprisingly, it actually worked quite well.

Qi Xuansu’s dream world began to shake violently. Everything twisted and warped, like ink blurring after a painting had been soaked in water.

After a moment, Qi Xuansu groaned and slowly regained consciousness, though he found it difficult to open his eyes.

Qi Jiaoyao snorted lightly. “Big speeches really don’t work. Sometimes, you just have to choose violence.”

Qi Xuansu subconsciously rubbed his face, feeling a burning sting. He turned and squinted his eyes, seeing that Qi Jiaoyao was still standing beside him.

He closed his eyes as his cultivation recovered, and the minor injuries quickly healed. Recalling the dream he had just experienced, he let out a long breath of turbid air. Without Qi Jiaoyao’s assistance, he would likely have been trapped within the illusion, unable to free himself.

This time, he was not the one leading. Qi Jiaoyao helped him. Though no one knew why Qi Xuansu was targeted in this illusion, he took one for the team so that Qi Jiaoyao could remain clear-headed enough to assist him. In the end, they had helped each other overcome this trial.

Qi Xuansu could not help but ask, “Daoist Qi, when you came here the first time, how did you escape the dream realm?”

Qi Jiaoyao replied casually, “When you get older and experience more things, you’ll naturally see through them more clearly.”

Qi Xuansu asked again, “After crossing the moat, how long until we reach Lingshan?”

Qi Jiaoyao pointed ahead. “We’ve already crossed the moat and arrived at the foot of Lingshan.”

Following the direction she was pointing, Qi Xuansu saw a frost-covered world, filled with hundreds of ice sculptures, still frozen in poses at the moment of death.

Qi Jiaoyao stepped forward into the frozen landscape, extending a finger to gently touch one of the frozen witches. A faint crack echoed throughout the sculpture before it crumbled into glittering dust that scattered with the wind. A wave of icy aura dispersed, making Qi Xuansu feel a subtle chill.

Qi Jiaoyao said, “This is the ice qi left behind by an Immortal.”

They did not linger and continued onward, leaving the icy realm behind. Soon, they saw countless people who existed only as spirit forms, standing expressionlessly along the path leading to the summit. Aside from their slightly translucent bodies, they were indistinguishable from living people, densely packed in the hundreds.

These were the Wuists who had lost all consciousness, like clay puppets. It seemed they had been struck by some powerful spell, and their souls were forcibly extracted while their physical bodies had turned to ash.

Qi Xuansu had seen this scene before. But back then, he had viewed it from halfway up the mountain. This time, however, he was standing within it.