A Pawn's Passage

Qi Xuansu quickly dismissed this speculation. Judging from the timeline, during the final years of Paititi, the Holy Court had not yet launched its large-scale invasion of the Southern Continent. That was still the period when the Goddess Society was active, serving as the Holy Court’s advance scouts under the banner of friendly exchanges. That was why Lopez, as a member of the Goddess Society, had been able to forge a deep friendship with Paititi’s last emperor.

The Western Daoist Order arrived even later. In truth, it followed in the footsteps of the Holy Court to the New Continent. It was as though the Holy Court had blazed the trail, and the Western Daoist Order simply traveled along the path that had already been opened. Even after discovering the New Continent, the Western Daoist Order did not dare make any major moves and merely lay low on the sidelines. Then, internal conflict erupted within the Holy Court over the unequal division of spoils, leading to fierce infighting, from which the Steam Evangelical Sect rose.

Seeing a rare opportunity, the Western Daoist Order preached justice and allied itself with the native forces of the New Continent, hoping to profit from the chaos. Naturally, the Holy Court would not tolerate this and moved to suppress the Western Daoist Order. Realizing it was outmatched, the Western Daoist Order hurriedly contacted its counterpart in the Eastern Continent. After all, while brothers might quarrel among themselves, they stood united against outsiders.

The Daoist Order could not allow one of their own to be bullied by outsiders, and this was an excellent opportunity to bring the Western Daoist Order back into the fold. Moreover, the Holy Court had grown far too arrogant and needed to be taken down a notch. If the Holy Court swallowed such a vast territory whole and fully consolidated it, the balance of power between the two sides would be shattered. Even if they could not stop the Holy Court from consuming the Northern Continent, they had to preserve the Southern Continent at the very least. With the support of the native forces, they possessed a legitimate cause for intervention.

The Daoist Order believed they could win, so they intervened and helped the Western Daoist Order stabilize the situation.

As a result, the Daoist Order profited enormously. It fully restored its ties with the Western Daoist Order, thereby indirectly gaining control over the Southern Continent. The Holy Court, on the other hand, suffered a heavy setback and lost the Southern Continent. Although it managed to retain the Northern Continent, the Steam Evangelical Sect became a semi-independent fiefdom.

After this exchange of victories and losses, the Holy Court was no longer so overbearing, and the border between East and West Shakya became considerably more peaceful.

Although the Daoist Order had gained the advantage, it was still a long way from defeating the Holy Court. Moreover, the Western Daoist Order had yet to return to the Daoist Order’s embrace. As such, the Daoist Order did not press its advantage. Both sides settled into maintaining the status quo, with only constant minor skirmishes. The war in the Southern Continent that had concluded not long ago was already the largest-scale confrontation between them.

The timeline simply did not match because of one crucial point of reference—the Goddess Society missionary, Andres Lopez.

Andres was a friend of Paititi’s last emperor. Only after the last emperor vanished together with Paititi, taking the legendary divine artifact with him, did he report the matter to the Holy Court. A copy of that report was also in Wang Jiaohe’s possession, and it had been written during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Wei Dynasty.

The 10th year of Emperor Shenzong’s reign essentially fell within the decade-long struggle for supremacy. At that time, the Western Daoist Order had not yet left the Central Plains and was still competing for control of the realm. With the outcome still uncertain, there was no way the Western Daoist Order would have dispatched people to the Southern Continent so early.

Qi Xuansu asked, “Could it have been the humanoid insects?”

Madam Wu replied, “The earliest humanoid insects appeared during the final years of the Jin Dynasty. Their existence was not discovered until the Daoist Order entered Nanyang. There are no records of how the humanoid insects developed during those centuries. So even if they had reached the Southern Continent long ago without our knowledge, it would still be a perfectly plausible explanation.”

Qi Xuansu nodded in agreement. “Although the humanoid insects were first discovered in Nanyang, they bear distinctly Central Plains features. They actually look less like the people of Nanyang and more like migrants from the Central Plains. The reason they were able to deceive the Daoist Order into believing they were one of its branches was not only because of their cultivation methods, but also because of their similar appearance. Looking back now, when the surviving humanoid insects fled from Nanyang to the Southern Continent, they weren’t simply running in panic without a destination. They had prepared for this all along, because there was already a branch of the humanoid insects here. They were coming to seek refuge with their own kin.”

Madam Wu added, “These humanoid insects of the Southern Continent came into contact with the ancient gods many years ago and even became their priests. I suppose that’s simply a matter of adapting to local customs. The humanoid insects of Nanyang lived near the Daoist Order, so they became more like Daoists. The humanoid insects of the Southern Continent lived near the ancient gods, so they took on the role of ritual priests. No wonder Ixchel trusted them and knew them so well. They were old acquaintances.”

Qi Xuansu said, “That also explains those human figurines. They were left behind by the ancient humanoid insects from the Paititi era.”

Madam Wu reached toward the female corpse’s chest and felt around. Her hand split open the still-unrotted flesh and reached deep inside, eventually pulling out a cocoon. However, the cocoon had already shriveled up, clearly indicating that the insect inside had died together with its host.

“The Western Daoist Order’s methods are inferior to those of the Daoist Order,” Madam Wu said. “They failed to completely eradicate the humanoid insects, leaving behind many remnants, like the Blue Cloud Sect. Judging from this altar, these humanoid insects were loyal to Itzamna. Setting aside for the moment whether they were playing both sides, let’s assume they truly were Itzamna’s followers. After Itzamna died, they chose to follow Ixchel and oppose Kukulkan. Logically speaking, that makes sense as well.”

Qi Xuansu said, “Can the humanoid insects really be said to have loyalty? I doubt it. The reason they’re hostile toward Kukulkan certainly isn’t because they’re loyal to Itzamna. There must be a deeper reason. Perhaps Ixchel promised them something, such as granting them divine power. Those human-faced fruit trees are proof enough.”

Madam Wu agreed with Qi Xuansu. “Exactly. The nature of the humanoid insects is such that they were never destined to be loyal to anyone. While Itzamna was alive, they may have feared the might of that deity and feigned loyalty. But once Itzamna died, there was no way they would continue serving him out of devotion.”

Qi Xuansu asked, “Madam Wu, how did this humanoid insect priest die?”

Madam Wu hesitated for a moment. “It doesn’t look like suicide, nor are there any obvious injuries. The body hasn’t even decomposed. Surely it couldn’t have been cultivation deviation.”

Qi Xuansu said, “We can’t rule out that possibility. The humanoid insects’ cultivation methods have always been reckless and rapid. During their so-called Core Formation stage, the slightest mistake can result in the destruction of the core and the death of the cultivator. Suffering cultivation deviation is perfectly normal for them. The Daoist Order cultivates longevity. All those divine arts and mystical powers are merely by-products of pursuing eternal life. If one fails to attain longevity, at worst, they simply reach the end of their lifespan and peacefully pass away in meditation. People always speak of how difficult the immortal path is, but the way these humanoid insects cultivate is as though they’re determined to court death.”

Madam Wu swept the temple once more with her divine sense and found nothing else. She said, “Enough about that. Let’s continue searching for Paititi.”

Qi Xuansu had no objections. The two of them left the temple and continued onward along the ancient road.

Along the way, they came across the ruins of various other structures, which were likely auxiliary buildings belonging to the temple complex, such as residences for the clergy. However, the quality of these buildings was obviously nowhere near that of the temple dedicated to serving the deity, and they had all long since collapsed.

From this, it was evident that this was likely a temple district, and Qi Xuansu and Madam Wu had already entered the city of Paititi.

After all, the city-states of the Southern Continent did not have massive city walls on the scale of those in the Central Plains, so this was only to be expected.

As Qi Xuansu and Madam Wu gradually left the temple district, the number of ruined buildings increased. In any prosperous city, land was exceedingly valuable. Only areas such as the royal palace, temples, and noble estates could afford to have spacious land. Once one reached the bustling markets and common residential districts, people would be packed shoulder to shoulder, and houses would stand wall to wall.

When Qi Xuansu lived in Haichan Place, a single alley contained several neighboring households, and each street branched into numerous alleys. After moving to Taishang Place, there were no alleys at all, only broad streets. Each street had merely two or three households, each with an enormous garden of its own.

The temple district had relatively few buildings and plenty of open ground, giving the rainforest every opportunity to spread unchecked, so only a handful of structures remained visible. But here things were different. Even the rainforest had been unable to completely swallow the dense cluster of closely packed buildings.

With the ruins of various buildings lining both sides, the road itself became much easier to discern.

There was no longer any doubt that the two of them had entered Paititi.

Although Paititi was not as magnificent as they had imagined, that was only natural. After all, it was an abandoned city consumed by the rainforest, almost completely merged with it. Had it truly been spectacular, Qi Xuansu would have spotted it immediately from above.

Qi Xuansu analyzed the situation. According to Andres’ records and various legends, Paititi’s last emperor had vanished together with the city while carrying the legendary divine artifact. This suggested that although the ancient gods of the Northern Continent had already begun infiltrating the Southern Continent by then, the royal family still ruled Paititi. Therefore, the passage leading to the Paititi pocket realm would not be located in the temple district. It was far more likely to be found in the Paititi royal palace.

He shared his deduction with Madam Wu, who agreed with his reasoning. The two then decided to head toward the palace district.

The royal palace was not difficult to locate. It was generally situated at the center of the city, a convention that held true across all ages and cultures.

However, as they traveled, the two found the place increasingly strange. It resembled an empty city. There were no signs of destruction from war, nor did they see a single living person or corpse. It did not look like the aftermath of a massacre. Rather, it seemed as though the inhabitants had evacuated on a massive scale.

Qi Xuansu asked in puzzlement, “Paititi perished, yet there are no traces of warfare. Maybe Paititi wasn’t destroyed by another city-state?”

Madam Wu, with her broader experience, replied, “That’s typical Central Plains thinking. You assume a city must have fallen to an external enemy because, for most of the time since the era of the First Emperor, the Central Plains have been ruled by a unified imperial court capable of mobilizing resources and concentrating its strength to accomplish great undertakings. Whenever disasters occurred, relief could also be dispatched promptly. But the city-states of the Southern Continent are different. The dense rainforests make travel difficult, and the environment is far harsher than that of the Central Plains. They’re extremely fragile. Once disaster strikes, like an epidemic, it can easily wipe out an entire city.”

Understanding dawned on Qi Xuansu. “No wonder later generations had no idea where Paititi was located. If Paititi had been destroyed in war, the city-state responsible would surely have left records of it. But if Paititi was wiped out by some epidemic, then it’s perfectly understandable why outsiders knew nothing about it.”

Madam Wu continued, “In the cave where we entered, aside from those who were killed in the massacre, most of the dead probably succumbed to an epidemic. During the early stages of the outbreak, when the number of deaths was still relatively small, Paititi still had the capacity to place the bodies of the deceased in the tombs beneath the temples. Later, as the plague spread and the death toll mounted, the survivors began to flee. There are probably many more corpses, like that of the priestess, still lying among the ruins of the city’s buildings.”

Qi Xuansu nodded in agreement.

Similar traditions have existed throughout history and across cultures. In the East, the deceased were often temporarily laid to rest in Daoist temples or Buddhist monasteries, while in the West, people were simply buried within churches. It seemed that Paititi’s temples were no exception.