A Pawn's Passage

Chapter 1458: The Person Within the Painting

Qi Xuansu returned to reality, yet he remained dazed in thought.

Yao Yueyan, Yao Ling, Yao Pei—the Yao family had to be ruled by women, while the men could only become subordinates and dependents.

Qi Xuansu suddenly felt that being a man in the Yao family truly held little meaning. The Zhang family and the Li family were much better. At least the men there could hold authority and make decisions. Some people had once jokingly called him “Yao Xuansu,” but now he felt the need to firmly distance himself from that notion.

However, there had been a generational break between Yao Ling and Yao Pei. The intermediate generation—like Yao Yi and Yao Shu—were all men, lacking women who possessed the Great Witch bloodline. That was why Sage Donghua had successfully risen to power. Clearly, the Yao family had not been willing, but circumstances had forced their hand. They had merely used Sage Donghua as a transitional figure.

As an outsider bearing a different last name, Sage Donghua was naturally unwilling to accept such a role forever, leading to disagreements and conflicts with the Earthly Preceptor. Everything aligned perfectly.

As for the matter of childbirth, for the Yao family, who had established the creation project, creating a human was practically effortless. Qi Xuansu would not be surprised if even men could give birth.

Qi Xuansu even suspected that the Yao family could extract bloodline power. However, this bloodline was apparently only compatible with female bodies. Males could not adapt to it nor receive it. As a result, only women could rise to power within the Yao family. It resembled the special status of the Qingqiu Mountain bloodline within the Li family.

One thing struck him as particularly strange. Yao Xianglian and Yao Yueyan, like members of the Zhang and Li families, all had three-character names. Yet for some unknown reason, later generations of the Yao family began using two-character names instead. It was unclear what the intention behind this change was.

Furthermore, the Ten Witches of Lingshan and Wu Yang were all women, indicating that the Ancient Wuist Sect had been a system where yin flourished while yang declined. Now that Qi Xuansu had the Yao family’s Longevity Stone Heart, which originated from the Ancient Wuist Sect, could there possibly be side effects?

Could it be possible that this Longevity Stone Heart had originally been intended for women like Zhou Mengyao, Madam Qi, or Yao Pei? Yet because he had accidentally intruded into the Lingshan Paradise, Madam Qi, who had the Longevity Stone Heart, changed her mind and ultimately gave it to him instead. This then triggered a whole chain of consequences.

Although the Yao family and Zhou Mengyao did not approve of Madam Qi’s decision, they had no means of changing it and could only continue down the mistaken path. At the same time, to prevent Madam Qi from leaking secrets, Zhou Mengyao personally signed a contract with her.

If this speculation were true, then even if Qi Xuansu eventually paid the price that fate had already marked for him, he would only be walking onto another terrifying path afterward. He had to find a solution.

The line of thought for solving this problem was actually not difficult. The Ten Witches of Lingshan and Wu Yang all shared a superior—the Heavenly Emperor. In countless legends, it was often the Heavenly Emperor who ordered the Ten Witches and Wu Yang to carry out various tasks that were usually centered around saving lives. This showed that within this system, it was not simply a matter of yin flourishing and yang declining. The Heavenly Emperor, famed for commanding 3,000 women, represented absolute yang and counterbalanced the yin of the Eleven Witches.

If he could find an inheritance or artifact related to the Heavenly Emperor, would it be possible to harmonize yin and yang? Perhaps it might even serve as an opportunity to break through the shackles of being a manmade Banished Immortal.

As such, the solution most likely lay within the Kunlun Paradise.

To thoroughly explore the Kunlun Paradise, one must obtain permission from the Daoist Order. In other words, one must become the Grand Master.

Once one became the Grand Master, the Zixiao Palace would become the everyday residence for the Grand Master’s entire household, and the Purple Mansion would be nothing more than a courtyard for casual strolls. The Kunlun Paradise would effectively become a personal garden.

With that, Qi Xuansu now had yet another reason why he absolutely had to compete for the position of Grand Master.

Thinking this, Qi Xuansu lowered his gaze toward the scroll in his hand.

This scroll had been condensed from divine power by True Lord Ziguang. It had accompanied him back into the real world without dissipating, immediately solidifying into a physical scroll.

The higher the level of a spell, the closer it came to reality. At True Lord Ziguang’s level, she could already create objects from the void.

The scroll was currently rolled up, with tiny points of starlight drifting around it.

It was obvious that True Lord Ziguang was deeply wary of the Earthly Preceptor lineage. Certain things were difficult for her to state openly, perhaps because merely mentioning them could alert the Earthly Preceptor or even provoke retaliation. True Lord Ziguang might not necessarily fear such consequences, but she certainly did not wish to gain a deadly enemy for no reason and risk hindering her future ascension. Thus, she ultimately chose this method to convey the truth to Qi Xuansu.

To put it bluntly, she refused to speak plainly and instead left Qi Xuansu to figure things out himself. If he managed to understand, then it would count as True Lord Ziguang successfully enlightening him. If he failed to understand, then he could blame no one but himself for lacking the ability.

Qi Xuansu stood up and unfurled the scroll.

It was a portrait viewed from behind.

Even so, Qi Xuansu recognized at a glance that this was one of the Earthly Preceptors from a previous generation because of the style of the hechang and the Fishtail Crown on her head.

The Great Sage of the Zhengyi Sect wore a Hibiscus Crown, the Great Sage of the Taiping Sect wore a Ruyi Crown, while the Great Sage of the Quanzhen Sect wore a Fishtail Crown.

Although the Earthly Preceptor in the painting faced away from Qi Xuansu, the woman had turned her head slightly backward, revealing part of a side profile.

Unfortunately, even that partial profile was covered by a bronze mask, making it impossible to see the true face beneath.

Qi Xuansu recognized this mask. It was a relic of the Ancient Wuist Sect. After the destruction of the Ancient Wuist Sect, it eventually found its way into the hands of Elder Xu. Since Qi Xuansu was an experienced player of the Holy Xuan Cards, he had seen Elder Xu depicted in various card illustrations either wearing this bronze mask or hanging it from his waist. In any case, it was deeply memorable.

He had an intuition that this was the fourth-generation Earthly Preceptor, Yao Yueyan.

Besides that, the painting contained many other details. Beneath the hechang was another layer of clothing that was black as ink, with shadows flowing across its surface. It was most likely the immortal object known as the Yin-Yang Immortal Robe, impervious to blades and spears, undamaged by fire and water, and capable of storing a universe within its sleeves. It possessed both yin and yang aspects, with each side carrying different supernatural powers.

Hanging at the Earthly Preceptor’s waist was a seal, which was likely the Yin-Yang Torch Dragon Seal.

All these details pointed clearly toward the identity of the Earthly Preceptor and helped Qi Xuansu eliminate the possibility that this was the current Earthly Preceptor, Yao Ling. That was because the Yin-Yang Torch Dragon Seal was no longer in the Earthly Preceptor’s possession but in the hands of Sage Donghua.

Looking again at the surrounding environment, it was neither Difei Mountain or Jade Capital. Instead, it resembled the Lingshan Paradise.

The dark and oppressive Lingshan Mountain, the shattered and frozen mountain body, the lightning stretching between heaven and earth, the ravine-covered land, and the apocalyptic sky all matched the Lingshan within Qi Xuansu’s memories.

It seemed that Yao Yueyan was walking toward Lingshan.

Was she heading toward Elder Yao’s palace?

Was this a fragment that True Lord Ziguang had witnessed within the river of the past?

Qi Xuansu remained silent for a long time.

Since he had already concluded that True Lord Ziguang never spoke plainly, she certainly would not allow Qi Xuansu to see the truth at a single glance.

With no other findings, Qi Xuansu was just about to roll the painting back up when a thought suddenly struck him. He attempted to channel divine power into the scroll, and unexpectedly, the painting came alive.

Within the painting, Yao Yueyan raised a hand to the bronze mask, as if she were about to remove it from her face. Yet just as her chin was revealed, the motion abruptly stopped. No matter how much divine power Qi Xuansu poured into the scroll afterward, it refused to react any further.

Qi Xuansu could not help but curse aloud. So this is how True Lord Ziguang wants to keep me in suspense?!

He had finally realized that True Lord Ziguang and the Heavenly Preceptor were indeed family. They shared exactly the same attitude. Both insisted on revealing only half the truth while concealing the other half, deliberately stringing him along. He was like a foolish donkey, staring at a carrot that was forever dangling just out of reach, forced to keep moving in the direction they desired.

Qi Xuansu closed the scroll in his hands and stopped dwelling on it further.

At the very least, some of his doubts had now been resolved. The Earthly Preceptor definitely had some grand scheme in motion, and Madam Qi had likely disrupted part of that scheme to a certain extent. Yet she herself had been powerless to resist the Earthly Preceptor and could only go along unwillingly. These days, she was probably just slacking off and drifting along without putting in much effort.

That meant the dangers Qi Xuansu faced likely came from the Earthly Preceptor and Zhou Mengyao.

This more or less matched some of Qi Xuansu’s earlier speculations.

Since Sage Donghua was at odds with the Earthly Preceptor, Qi Xuansu needed to stay close to him and rely on this great tree to shield himself from the storms brought by the Earthly Preceptor.

At the same time, Qi Xuansu also had another enemy—the Taiping Sect. This had nothing to do with conspiracies. The main issue was that Qi Xuansu had obstructed Li Changge’s path, creating a direct rivalry between them. Since it concerned the Grand Master position, it had become a life-and-death struggle with no room for compromise.

To oppose the Taiping Sect, Qi Xuansu still had to maintain good relations with the Zhengyi Sect, because in the conflict between the Zhang and Li families, the enemy of one’s enemy was a friend.

Thus, Qi Xuansu struck at the Quanzhen Sect with one hand and the Taiping Sect with the other, while leaving the Zhengyi Sect untouched.

There was another important point. True Lord Ziguang had mentioned his Daoist companion, which almost certainly referred to Zhang Yuelu. According to her, at some point in the future, Zhang Yuelu would become trapped in a massive crisis from which she could not escape. During that time, another Zhang Yuelu would appear by his side, gain his trust, and then stab him in the back.

This inevitably made Qi Xuansu think about the Earthly Preceptor’s interest in Zhang Yuelu. One must not forget that the first person to recognize Zhang Yuelu’s potential and promote her had been the Earthly Preceptor herself.

A sudden thought emerged in Qi Xuansu’s mind. If Madam Qi had not interfered, would this Longevity Stone Heart have ended up in Zhang Yuelu’s possession instead? After all, no one had ever said that a natural-born Banished Immortal could not use the Longevity Stone Heart. What if it worked? Didn’t the Holy Xuan use it as well?

Qi Xuansu respected Zhang Yuelu deeply and regarded her as an equal. He would not try to shoulder everything alone while merely wishing for Zhang Yuelu to remain carefree beneath his protection.

This was a common flaw among many men, and one they were often proud of. Yet it was also a form of contempt toward women, treating them like helpless infants incapable of acting on their own.

If Qi Xuansu truly acted that way, Zhang Yuelu would be the first person to protest. In her eyes, this matter was also her business. Why should he make decisions on her behalf? Why should he keep things from her? They were equal partners and allies who supported one another, not parasites dependent on each other. She had no need to hide behind anyone or beneath anyone’s wings. If he could do it, then so could she.

Therefore, Qi Xuansu intended to tell Zhang Yuelu everything. First, so she could help analyze the situation, and second, so she could remain vigilant and not end up being sold out while still feeling grateful to the person who betrayed her.