A Pawn's Passage

In the end, the assassin did not die beneath the executioner’s blade. It was not because he was lucky, but because Qi Xuansu had deliberately shown restraint.

To reach his current position, Qi Xuansu relied on his Martial Arts Practitioner lineage the most, followed by his Shaman lineage.

In his early years, he had used a blade, but he later seldom did so because his opponents had changed. Against Xiantian beings and ordinary Heavenly Beings, his blade techniques were still respectable. However, as his later enemies were all Zaohua-stage Heavenly Beings and Pseudo-Immortals, the blade techniques he had learned in his youth no longer amounted to much. He rarely even used Pure Bodhi, whose greatest function was to counteract the negative effects of the Scripture of Zuriel.

Thus, skills were subjective, depending entirely on whom one was being compared to.

Compared to Qi Xuansu, Zhang Yuelu was undoubtedly skilled with the sword, as she had mastered both the Cihang Sword Sequence and the Dragon Tiger Sword Technique. She could even be considered a master of swordsmanship. Yet compared to the Imperial Preceptor, Zhang Yuelu was merely a beginner who had only just entered mastery.

Qi Xuansu’s specialty was breadth rather than specialization. He had overall capability. Among people of the same realm, he was the best blade user among boxers and the best boxer among spellcasters.

Compared to others of the same realm, Qi Xuansu could be considered unskilled with the blade. After becoming a fourth-rank Jijiu Daoist, he had never specifically trained in blade techniques again, so how could he compete with those who had devoted decades to mastering that path?

Moreover, the Demonic Blade was more of a concept than a literal blade technique. It emphasized instinct and intuition. Whether one used a blade or not made little difference. The reason it was called the Demonic Blade was simply that Song Zheng had used a blade back then and incorporated blade techniques into it. If Song Zheng had used firearms instead, it would have been called the Demonic Gun. Those blade techniques were not fundamental. Its essence lay in instinct and intuition. Thus, Qi Xuansu’s Demonic Blade could just as easily support his boxing techniques. It followed the same principle as in swordsmanship, where grass, wood, bamboo, and stone could all serve as swords.

However, Qi Xuansu could genuinely claim to be skilled with his fists. After all, he had never abandoned that discipline. It remained his primary means of combat, and he had recently learned the Three Sacred Fist.

Ultimately, Qi Xuansu’s true advantage lay in his superior overall strength. The young assassin had suffered greatly because of this. Fighting a Martial Arts Practitioner required a completely different approach from fighting a Shaman. Once the opponent failed to adjust their mindset accordingly, they would inevitably fall into a passive position.

Qi Xuansu knew that assassins were often death warriors, so trying to reason with them or persuade them through logic was usually futile. It was far more effective to use extreme measures directly, such as Soul Searching. Since Qi Xuansu was also a Diviner, he could also perform Earth Qi Recall and Soul Searching. However, his Diviner lineage was not particularly advanced, so he first needed to execute the assassin twice, severely weakening his spirit and depriving him of any ability to resist before conducting the search.

Within the divine domain, Soul Searching had been given a concrete form.

In the blink of an eye, the assassin found himself in a place resembling a courtroom. A ghost constable dressed in the official robes of a previous dynasty slammed a wooden block upon the desk and shouted, “The most wicked criminals are always obstinate and unrepentant. Such a stubborn offender will never confess without severe punishment. Apply the torture!”

All manner of cruel tortures from ancient and modern times were brought forth and enacted.

Qi Xuansu merely watched coldly. He had not the slightest trace of pity or mercy for someone who had come to kill him.

Of course, this was not actual torture. It was a form of illusion, a manifestation of turning falsehood into reality. Whether it was real or not depended entirely on whether one believed it.

At this point, the young assassin had effectively been stripped of all defenses. He was dazed and muddleheaded.

As such, things progressed fairly smoothly. The young assassin’s background was successfully uncovered.

Thanks to the influence of Central Plains culture, many natives of the Southern Continent had Central Plains names. The assassin’s Central Plains name was Long Yazi. It was a peculiar name. According to legend, the dragon had nine sons, one of whom was Yazi, famed for its vengeful nature and refusal to let grievances go unavenged.

Long Yazi was the assassin who had recently been causing trouble everywhere. After assassinating several important figures, he had set his sights on Qi Xuansu.

Just as Qi Xuansu was about to discover who had sent Long Yazi to assassinate him, Long Yazi inexplicably vanished. Even his spear disappeared along with him.

Standing atop the Emperor Willow, Qi Xuansu looked around in confusion and was momentarily bewildered. “What am I doing here?”

At that moment, the Guizang Lantern, which Qi Xuansu always carried with him, suddenly radiated brilliant light, illuminating his mind.

Only then did Qi Xuansu suddenly realize that he had just experienced a small-scale temporal reversal.

To be precise, the scope of this temporal reversal was so limited that it affected only Long Yazi. It seemed that Qi Xuansu’s Soul Searching had triggered some sort of restriction. Long Yazi was sent backward through time and reset to the beginning. As such, he disappeared from Qi Xuansu’s divine domain and returned to a previously anchored point in time.

As a participant in the event, Qi Xuansu likewise lost the memories associated with that period.

This was not changing the past.

The past could not be altered. It was more akin to Qi Xuansu and Long Yazi being two leaves drifting side by side along the river of time. Then someone plucked Long Yazi’s leaf from the water and placed it back at an earlier anchored location, while Qi Xuansu’s leaf continued drifting downstream alone. From that point onward, their paths diverged.

As a result, Qi Xuansu lost part of his memory. However, the special effects of the Guizang Lantern allowed him to witness the scene once more.

Naturally, this sort of technique had significant limitations. Much like the Banished Immortals’ arts of banishment and translocation, one could only move as much weight as one’s strength allowed. The requirements for cultivation were extremely high, and the process could be interrupted or interfered with. The Great Witches had a similar ability known as the Temporal Arts, something that Qi Xuansu was still unable to touch for the time being.

However, one thing was certain. This was unquestionably done by a true Immortal. A Pseudo-Immortal would not possess such capabilities.

From this, Qi Xuansu deduced that the Juesheng Hall’s assessment had been correct. Long Yazi was a chosen servant of an ancient god, and that ancient god had used a temporal reversal spell upon him. Whenever Long Yazi encountered mortal danger, or whenever someone attempted to pry into the ancient god’s secrets, the spell would activate once certain conditions were met, reversing Long Yazi through time.

Although Long Yazi lost a segment of time, he retained the memories from that period. He could therefore review his successes and failures, identify weaknesses, and formulate a new plan. This time, his gains were considerable. Not only had he learned that Qi Xuansu possessed a stone heart that rendered him impervious to blades and spears, but he had also discovered that Qi Xuansu had the combined strength of both a Martial Arts Practitioner and a Shaman. With proper preparation next time, he would not so easily fall into a passive position.

If Qi Xuansu did not have the Guizang Lantern and had truly lost this segment of memory, then the next time he encountered Long Yazi, he would once again know nothing about him, just as he had during their first meeting. In this back-and-forth exchange, Qi Xuansu would be placed at a disadvantage.

As long as Long Yazi was willing to keep trying, there would eventually come a time when he succeeded.

Clearly, this method was exceptionally ingenious. Qi Xuansu was not the only one blessed with opportunities and fortuitous encounters. For Long Yazi, this ability to continuously reverse time was a remarkable opportunity. But no one knew what the hidden price attached to such a gift was.

However, this method came with severe limitations. First of all, it was almost useless against true Immortals. Furthermore, there were no miracles born from nothing. Every miracle required an exchange and a price. The amount of divine power consumed by such an ability was considerable.

For such a method to be employed in an assassination attempt against Qi Xuansu, the motives behind it could not possibly be simple.

Since it was an assassination attempt, there were only two possible outcomes: success or failure.

If the assassination succeeded, what consequences would follow?

The Daoist Order would undoubtedly be enraged, demanding an explanation from the Western Daoist Order, which would treat the matter with the utmost seriousness. Qi Xuansu had returned to the Southern Continent with the mission of investigating Kukulkan. If he were to die there, then Kukulkan would immediately become the primary suspect.

From this perspective, Kukulkan actually lacked the motive to carry out such an act. Was someone attempting to kill with a borrowed blade, using the Daoist Order’s blade to eliminate Kukulkan?

If the assassination failed, what consequences would follow?

Now that Long Yazi could undergo temporal reversal, it would be extremely difficult for Qi Xuansu to obtain any crucial information from him. Moreover, very few people knew that Qi Xuansu carried the Guizang Lantern, which meant that this variable would not have been factored into the calculations beforehand. From the perspective of the mastermind behind the scenes, even if the assassination failed, Qi Xuansu would lose a segment of memory and ultimately remain completely ignorant of the entire affair.

That meant there would be no cost.

Instead, they could rely on repeated attempts until the assassination eventually succeeded, and then use various means to frame Kukulkan for the crime.

The mastermind had calculated every possibility, yet had never anticipated that the Heavenly Preceptor would entrust the Guizang Lantern to Qi Xuansu. As a result, they had exposed their greatest flaw at the very outset.

That brought matters back to the original hypothesis.

Who wanted Kukulkan dead?

Qi Xuansu immediately thought of one person, or rather, one god—Ixchel.

It was Ixchel who had proactively sought out Qi Xuansu and revealed information regarding Kukulkan to him.

Ixchel hoped to use Qi Xuansu as a means of bringing the Daoist Order’s influence into the region.

Even if the Golden Tower Council had its own intelligence channels, that did not affect this line of reasoning.

Could Ixchel be the mastermind behind the scenes?

Many people always wanted to treat Qi Xuansu as a chess piece to achieve their own objectives. They consistently underestimated him, believing they could deceive him, keep him in the dark, or even manipulate him at will.

Zhou Mengyao had been like this, and Ixchel was no different.

But Qi Xuansu was not someone who could be easily fooled. His comprehension and instincts were exceptional, as he always managed to pick up on the slightest clues.

From the very beginning, Qi Xuansu had never blindly trusted Ixchel. Just because he saw a beautiful woman lamenting her hardships did not mean he would pity her and believe her unconditionally. There was no logic in that.

Thus, when Qi Xuansu first began his investigation, even when he encountered many things he could not understand, he never went to ask Ixchel. Had he done so, he might well have been misled.

As for whether it was truly Ixchel, Qi Xuansu could not make an immediate judgment. At most, he was suspicious. It was also possible that Kukulkan or someone else had anticipated this aspect of his thinking and exploited it.

In other words, Kukulkan being the prime suspect was the first layer. Qi Xuansu’s own reasoning occupied the second layer, and the mastermind operating on the third layer was also entirely possible. Therefore, he could not jump to conclusions and still needed to find sufficient concrete evidence.

This assassination attempt undoubtedly served as a warning to Qi Xuansu. The situation was even more complicated than he had imagined. Kukulkan certainly had problems, but the forces opposing Kukulkan were not necessarily innocent or harmless either.