A Pawn's Passage

Qi Xuansu’s corpse ignited in multicolored, glass-like flames right before Qi Jiaoyao’s eyes, and his body grew increasingly faint until it vanished completely.

Only the Longevity Stone Heart remained where it was.

Qi Jiaoyao collapsed onto the ground, silent and speechless.

......

Qi Xuansu did not know how long he had slept before finally awakening. The feeling of weakness and impending death had completely vanished, and he was once again the same Zaohua-stage Heavenly Being.

He sat up abruptly, as though jolted awake from a nightmare. Then, he looked around, realizing that he was no longer at Elder Yao’s palace, nor at the Lingshan Paradise. He was back in Tongzhen Palace.

What on earth just happened?! Qi Xuansu thought to himself.

He had died in confusion, triggered the fallback mechanism of the Guizang Lantern, and then was pulled back. Moreover, he had only understood just a fragment of the secrets behind the Longevity Stone Heart.

Qi Xuansu looked around for the Guizang Lantern, clearly remembering that he had placed it on the jade platform.

Could I have absentmindedly left it behind in Lingshan Paradise? How will I explain this to the Heavenly Preceptor?!

Qi Xuansu hurried to his feet and began searching for the lantern.

Before long, he found the Guizang Lantern lying on the ground on the other side of the jade platform, along with Little Yin, who was fast asleep hugging the lantern.

With only a brief moment of thought, Qi Xuansu understood what had happened.

This little imp must have sneaked in while I was inside the Lingshan Paradise. I ought to teach her a lesson!

Qi Xuansu grabbed Little Yin by the collar with his right hand, lifting her up while prying the Guizang Lantern from her little arms. Even so, Little Yin remained fast asleep.

Seeing that she had no reaction, Qi Xuansu showed no mercy and delivered a front and backhand slap.

Finally, Little Yin jolted awake, as if she had just woken from a nightmare. She shouted tearfully, “I won’t dare do this again! I really won’t! Old Qi! Old Zhang!”

Qi Xuansu silently watched her performance.

Still groggy, Little Yin asked, “Where am I?”

Qi Xuansu kept a stern expression and said nothing.

Little Yin finally regained full consciousness. She noticed Qi Xuansu’s expression and glanced sideways at the Guizang Lantern on the jade platform. Just then, the memories from before she fainted immediately flooded back, along with a whole lot of guilt.

Qi Xuansu finally spoke. “Didn’t I tell you to stand guard outside? How did you even get in?”

Little Yin avoided the question. “Well...I just had a nightmare. Two bad guys broke into the house. Even Grandpa and Auntie Bai couldn’t defeat them...”

Qi Xuansu interrupted, “Stop rambling. Answer the question.”

“I was just worried about you...” Little Yin lowered her head but kept sneaking glances at Qi Xuansu. “By the way, where did you go, Old Qi? Why weren’t you in the room?”

Qi Xuansu felt overwhelmed with all that happened in Lingshan Paradise and had no energy to argue with this little imp. He decided to send Little Yin to Zhang Yuelu and let her deal with the girl.

“Get out. Stay put and behave,” Qi Xuansu instructed as he set her down and waved her away.

Little Yin obediently left.

Qi Xuansu sat on the jade platform and began recalling this journey into the Lingshan Paradise.

Setting everything else aside, the biggest question was how exactly had he died?

The immediate cause of death was clearly the disappearance of the Longevity Stone Heart. That was definitely not an illusion.

But how exactly had the Longevity Stone Heart vanished?

At this thought, Qi Xuansu pressed a hand against his chest, which was no longer hollow.

His Zaohua-stage cultivation had returned, and so had the Longevity Stone Heart. What was going on?

Had the Longevity Stone Heart that Qi Jiaoyao stuffed into his chest at the last moment finally taken effect?

Still, it did not make sense.

At that moment, Qi Xuansu suddenly recalled Qi Jiaoyao’s face, which he had glimpsed in his final breath. Only her eyes were unfamiliar to him. But everything below the nose was strikingly familiar.

At the time, Qi Xuansu had been on the brink of death—weak, exhausted, and mentally disordered—so he had failed to recognize her.

Now that he had recovered and settled his thoughts, the realization came instantly.

After all, true forgetfulness was almost nonexistent for Heavenly Beings.

Qi Xuansu thought, Wasn’t that Madam Qi???

Since Madam Qi always wore large sunglasses, Qi Xuansu had not seen her eyes. But he was familiar with her other features.

Once he realized this, it felt as though a tangled knot had been undone, and many scattered pieces suddenly connected at once.

Qi Jiaoyao was Yao Qi. That was why Yao Liu had recognized her before he was silenced.

Moreover, Qi Jiaoyao’s knowledge of the Lingshan Paradise and Elder Yao’s palace far exceeded what a mere assistant from the Chongyang Palace of Immortality should possess.

Qi Xuansu also recalled a past conversation he once had with Madam Qi. She said, “Yes, I have a son. I’m not young anymore. Is it strange for me to have a son? He died. I miss him very much. My son is talented, handsome, and magnanimous—a peerless figure. Even Li Changge isn’t worthy of carrying his shoes. How could he possibly be like you? But when you were about to die, your teary-eyed expression was very much like his when he was on the brink of death.”

In Elder Yao’s palace, Qi Xuansu had made a bet with Qi Jiaoyao. He lost, so he was forced to acknowledge her as his mother. But then, he died right before her eyes.

The puzzle pieces now fit together perfectly.

She had a son who had died, and Qi Xuansu resembled that dead son because they were fundamentally the same person.

One was a younger, inexperienced Qi Xuansu, while her dead son was the 30-year-old Qi Xuansu who held a high position of authority.

Qi Jiaoyao had deceived Qi Xuansu repeatedly, yet he held no grudges. He did not even care about the ownership of an immortal object, so to her, he was magnanimous.

Of course, Qi Jiaoyao was still somewhat different from Madam Qi. After all, their ages differed. One was Yao Qi at the beginning of her journey, somewhat inexperienced. The other was Madam Qi, tempered by decades of hardship.

The crucial question was, Qi Xuansu had clearly entered the Lingshan Paradise through the pseudo-ascension method, so why had he returned to the Lingshan of decades past?

Thinking of this, Qi Xuansu turned his gaze toward the Guizang Lantern placed upon the jade platform.

This lantern could foresee the future but also trace the past.

It could be used once every sixty years, personally wielded by the Heavenly Preceptor.

The Lingshan Paradise itself was already fractured, its time and space chaotic.

The Guizang Lantern was clearly the key that had brought Qi Xuansu back into the past.

If Qi Xuansu had truly returned to the Lingshan of the past, then the disappearance of the Longevity Stone Heart could also be explained.

Immortal objects were transcendent, unconstrained by time, space, yin-yang, the five elements, soul, or body. They were singular and unchanging.

Before Qi Xuansu saw the Longevity Stone Heart within Lingshan, his own Heart had indeed existed. But the moment Qi Jiaoyao ripped the Longevity Stone Heart from Wu Gu’s chest, due to the singular nature of immortal objects, Qi Xuansu’s Longevity Stone Heart ceased to exist in this world.

Thus, Qi Xuansu had no choice but to die.

Qi Xuansu’s Longevity Stone Heart and the one within Wu Gu’s chest were actually the same.

Following this line of reasoning, Qi Jiaoyao was Yao Qi. Everything finally made sense.

In the end, it was indeed Yao Qi who took the Longevity Stone Heart from the Lingshan Paradise. Her son had died there, and she deeply missed him. Many years later, she encountered a young man who closely resembled her son.

Qi Xuansu’s dying words left an impact on Qi Jiaoyao.

Qi Jiaoyao had failed to implant the Longevity Stone Heart and could not save her son in Lingshan Paradise. But next time, Yao Qi saved the young Qi Xuansu and took him as her adopted son.

Madam Qi’s appearance near the Kunlun Mountain Pass was no coincidence. It had been deliberate.

When passing through the restrictions set by Elder Yao, Qi Jiaoyao personally witnessed the memory of that young man being hunted by The Inn’s assassin. So, she already knew what would happen.

Many of Qi Xuansu’s past doubts were resolved at this moment.

Madam Qi specifically chose him because she wanted another chance to save her son.

All gifts from fate did carry hidden price tags. But sometimes, the price had already been paid in advance, and the one who paid had forgotten.

Yet more questions followed. Qi Xuansu’s name was given to him after he graduated from the Wanxiang Daoist Palace.

In Lingshan Paradise, Qi Xuansu had told Qi Jiaoyao his name.

After leaving Lingshan Paradise, Madam Qi probably found Qi Haoran beforehand, telling him to rename his disciple “Qi Xuansu.”

This formed a time loop, with no discernible beginning.

At this moment, Qi Xuansu desperately wanted to meet Madam Qi in person and speak with her face to face.

Also, what happened to his master, Qi Haoran? Judging from Qi Jiaozheng’s expression, he clearly knew of Qi Haoran’s existence. But Qi Muyu knew nothing at all.

Why had Madam Qi not saved Qi Haoran? With her level of cultivation, and given that all of it was planned rather than coincidental, there should have been no possibility that she arrived too late. What were the hidden truths behind this?

Had the Heavenly Preceptor already known everything? Was this the truth he wanted Qi Xuansu to witness? By what method did the Heavenly Preceptor send him back to the Lingshan Paradise of decades past? It was likely far more than merely the Guizang Lantern.

If Qi Xuansu had changed something in the past—for instance, accidentally killing Qi Jiaoyao—would the present-day Madam Qi disappear?

If he had failed to help Madam Qi obtain the Longevity Stone Heart, would his current self suddenly lose the Heart?

There were so many paradoxes here that none could be fully explained.

All of this left Qi Xuansu completely lost.

Now he could only seek answers from two people—Madam Qi, who was the key figure behind everything, and the Heavenly Preceptor, who was the instigator sending him back to the past.