A Pawn's Passage

Chapter 1352: Beneath Wuxing Mountain

The spherical lightning drew ever closer.

Qi Xuansu looked up at the sky. He heard neither wind nor thunder, only the pounding of his own heart that sounded like a war drum and his blood surging like a rushing river.

In the next moment, the acupoints within his body lit up like stars, connecting into lines, then into planes, until his entire body became completely transparent.

However, unlike Qi Xuansu’s true body, the body spirits within the acupoints of this manifestation did not resemble him exactly. Their features were indistinct, sometimes appearing as Qi Xuansu, sometimes as Madam Wu.

Qi Xuansu raised his left hand once more, lifting flames to scorch the heavens.

Endless five-colored flames surged forth. Under their scorching heat, both sky and earth began to warp and distort before his eyes.

At last, the sphere of lightning descended.

There was no deafening explosion, only silence. Yet countless streams of plasma erupted, surging outward in all directions like a flood bursting through a dam.

The world was filled with blinding electric light.

When the light finally faded, Qi Xuansu reappeared. Not only was he completely unharmed, but even the steam train beneath his feet remained unaffected, continuing its rapid motion.

However, the layer of five-colored flames surrounding him had vanished. A few stray arcs of lightning still crawled across his body, which he casually tore away.

At the same time, the fiery spectacle in the sky began to dissipate, replaced by an extreme radiance that gradually filled the heavens.

The chanting of sacred hymns grew louder.

At some point, the clerics were no longer reinforcing Alex. Even Alex himself raised his hammer to his chest and began to pray devoutly.

Their prayers transformed into tangible notes, rising into the sky and gathering to form a massive vortex.

Within that massive vortex, the light grew ever more intense, as if an invisible gate were slowly opening.

Qi Xuansu clearly sensed what was happening.

There truly was an invisible gate, and it was the gateway to the divine kingdom.

A flower of light was blooming.

Auspicious clouds formed steps, and the gates of heaven were slowly opening.

A colossal head, as vast as a mountain, passed through the gates and descended into the mortal world. It had no body, but behind its head were layers of wings. Horns grew upon its crown, and it bore four faces: a lion on the left, a bull on the right, a human face in front, and an eagle at the back.

Its first words upon descending were, “Child, do not be afraid. I am a messenger of the Supreme Will.”

Common folk mistakenly believed apostles to be humanoid beings with wings, but it was not the case.

This form was crafted by the Holy Court for ease of preaching, or rather, it was the form apostles assumed when taking on human shape, much like great demons transforming into humans.

The true appearance of apostles was terrifying, beyond the comprehension of mortals. Merely seeing such a form induced overwhelming fear, and gazing longer might drive one completely insane.

Thus, within the Holy Court, there was a saying that one must not gaze directly upon the gods.

For this reason, the Scripture recorded that when apostles encountered humans, their first words were always, “Child, do not be afraid. I am a messenger of the Supreme Will.”

Qi Xuansu, of course, felt no fear nor risked madness. He immediately recognized this being as one of the Holy Court’s Three Great Apostles—Cherubim.

It also had another visage—a child’s head with wings, which was far more approachable. Yet this too was merely a disguise, not its true form.

Just as the Holy Court proclaimed that the Supreme Will loved all people, one must first define who qualified as “people.” Did the laboring slaves of the Lower District count? Did heretics count? In the eyes of the Holy Court, likely not.

Apostles were divided into three tiers: Holy, Son, and Spirit. The Three Great Apostles belonged to the Holy rank, equivalent to Immortals in the Daoist system, the strongest of them. Next was the Son rank, corresponding to Pseudo-Immortals. The lowest was the Spirit rank, equivalent to Zaohua-stage Heavenly Beings.

At this moment, Cherubim was not present in its Holy-rank true form. Its true body remained in the divine kingdom. What had descended was merely a Son-rank avatar, similar to True Lord Siming in Jinling Prefecture, True Lord Ziguang in the Wuxing Mountain, and Wu Luo in Cuowenbu.

The Evangelical Ministry was not foolish. They immediately judged that their forces were no match for Qi Xuansu. Thus, Alex openly engaged him using the divine weapon to stall for time, while the other clerics worked covertly to conduct a grand divine descent ritual.

As long as divine power was sufficient, a vessel was not strictly necessary. However, that would stop an apostle from unleashing its full strength. Even so, a Son-rank Cherubim was already no weaker than Qi Xuansu fused with Madam Wu, not to mention the numerous clerics led by Alex.

The last time Apostle Taurinus appeared, he did not descend. Instead, he had delivered the Scripture of Zuriel into Izanagi’s divine kingdom through a convergence of divine kingdoms.

Thus, this was Qi Xuansu’s first true face-to-face encounter with an apostle of the Holy Court.

In the Holy Court’s legends, it was Cherubim who drove out the progenitor of vampires under the orders of the Supreme Will. He wielded a rotating flaming sword and guarded the Tree of Life, serving as the charioteer of the Supreme Will.

Cherubim might have been a pagan deity defeated by the Supreme Will.

“Heretic!” The human face of Cherubim roared, its voice deafening. “Repent!”

Qi Xuansu’s response was to raise his left hand, fingers curling inward, his entire arm engulfed in flames—Izanagi’s Left Hand.

After all, Izanagi was a First-Tribulation Immortal. The power he possessed, in terms of rank, surpassed the vast majority of forces.

A gigantic hand composed entirely of flames, larger even than Cherubim, was poised to grasp the apostle’s four-faced head within its palm.

Qi Xuansu knew it would be difficult to stop Cherubim when he descended, so he quickly used a page from the Scripture of Zuriel.

This page did not come from the original Scripture of Zuriel, nor from the Earthly Preceptor. It came from Audrey. She had shown it to Qi Xuansu during their first meeting to prove she was not lying.

Of course, Qi Xuansu was never one to hesitate to use external aid.

This granted Qi Xuansu a Pseudo-Immortal Shaman lineage, which was the Fruition Realm.

He could once again manifest his divine domain.

In terms of cultivation, Qi Xuansu was now infinitely close to becoming an Immortal, lacking only the most crucial final step. Though he might not be able to claim victory against Chen Shuhua, his defense would be unassailable for a time. Against Cherubim’s true form, victory would be impossible, but against this Son-rank avatar, Qi Xuansu now held an absolute advantage in power.

As Qi Xuansu’s divine domain expanded, Cherubim was engulfed within it. Since Qi Xuansu held the advantage, his domain forcefully overlaid and suppressed Cherubim’s.

However, this divine domain was not the Ghost Kingdom. After all, this was not Qi Xuansu’s true body, so there were certain differences.

The steam train vanished. Endless cities, boundless seas, and vast forests appeared beneath his feet. Countless armored divine guards knelt in worship.

It became clear that this was a massive island, surrounded by rolling waves. At first glance, it bore some resemblance to Himiko’s divine kingdom.

Since the essence of a divine domain was illusion and thus inherently fragile, everything within it was exaggerated. Here, one could accomplish feats impossible in reality. For instance, in the real world, one might burn the surface of a lake, but in a divine domain, one could evaporate an entire sea. In reality, one might shatter a mountain peak, but here, one could crush an entire mountain range.

Everything within the divine domain served to display the master’s power, inspiring greater devotion from believers. There was also an effect of belief becoming reality. If one truly believed in what the domain revealed, those powers might begin to manifest as real.

Thus, when dealing with divine beings, the key lay in seeing through illusion and grasping reality.

At that moment, on the horizon where sky met sea, a crimson sun burst forth, rising steadily and illuminating heaven and earth.

With it came surging divine power.

Divine grace was like an ocean, and divine might was like a prison.

The earth trembled, the seas roared, and furious winds swept across everything.

This seemed to be Izanagi’s divine kingdom, yet it was not entirely so.

Suddenly, yin and yang reversed. The red sun remained high, yet the sky turned into night, filled with countless stars. The sun’s light was confined entirely to itself, unable to radiate outward or illuminate the world.

The positions of the stars in the night sky shifted subtly. If one were to connect the stars, one would be able to see an outline of a colossal Buddha.

It was clearly a projection of an immensely terrifying entity, using the countless stars as its medium. It had no physical form and could not be touched, yet seemed eternally present, timeless, and unchanging.

It was not Izanagi, but the Vairocana. Of course, it was not exactly Vairocana, but the Vairocana who overran Izanagi’s divine kingdom.

Qi Xuansu did not know why this transformation had occurred. He had always had little connection with Buddhism. But perhaps it was related to the sarira he carried. Or perhaps Madam Wu’s power did not align with the Ghost Kingdom and was instead more compatible with the power of a sun deity.

Within the divine domain, Qi Xuansu looked down upon Cherubim, cold and emotionless.

The sun seemed to become a halo behind his head, radiating boundless light.

The massive flaming hand finally grasped Cherubim within its palm. No matter how it struggled or flew, it could not escape the confines of that hand.

Then, Izanagi’s Left Hand transformed into a golden Buddha palm.

The Buddha palm turned and struck downward. Its five fingers became like the Wuxing Mountain, crushing down on Cherubim.

The once-arrogant divine being was now pinned beneath the Buddha’s palm.