A Pawn's Passage

The group from Tiangang Hall rested for three days in the city lord’s mansion. They had been sleeping under the stars for the past half-month, so this was considered a great comfort. After all, they had wine and meat, comfortable accommodation, warm fires, and beautiful maids there. Although no one dared to have any illicit thoughts under Zhang Yuelu’s nose, those maids were still pleasing to the eye.

During these three days, Qi Xuansu asked Shangguan Dun about the language of the Western Continent, hoping to learn some simple daily vocabulary. On the other hand, Zhang Yuelu had no intention of learning the language.

Banished Immortals who were in the Heavenly Being stage could acquire a mystical ability called the Mind Reading Technique. Before that, they had to acquire a mystical ability called the Heart’s Voice Transmission Technique, which could bypass all language barriers, allowing a Banished Immortal to communicate directly with the voice of the heart. Zhang Yuelu felt that it was more useful to hone this mystical ability instead of learning another language.

Rogue Cultivators did not have such magical abilities. They only had the Divine Calculation Technique, which was not as good as Purple Star Astrology. The basis of the Divine Calculation Technique was to predict the trend by manually calculating various variables rather than predicting the future by Heaven’s will.

Therefore, practicing Divine Calculation to a certain level could greatly increase one’s brainpower, which was reflected in one’s enhanced memory and comprehension.

There was once a Rogue Cultivator in the Heavenly Being stage who took nine days to completely learn the language of the Golden Horde. That Rogue Cultivator was proficient in 16 languages and even in ancient inscriptions and Oracle Bone Script.

As a Rogue Cultivator, Qi Xuansu was able to communicate with Arthur using simple words and gestures in three days.

Arthur understood some Mandarin, but he found it difficult to speak. He also used the wrong terms at times. Originally, he had a companion who was proficient in Mandarin, but unfortunately, his companion died along the way, so Arthur needed Ai Li to translate for him.

In his free time, Qi Xuansu also asked Zhang Yuelu about the similarities and differences between the Five Lineages of Daoism.

The most obvious difference between the lineages was in combat power. The Daoist Order had evaluated the unarmed combat power of the Five Lineages.

Qi Refiners were the most predictable. They would find it tough to defeat opponents whose realm was higher than their own, and they would often defeat opponents whose realm was lower than theirs. They were the mainstay of the Daoist Order. The scholars of the Confucian Qi School were similar to Qi Refiners.

Martial Arts Practitioners and Diviners were on opposite ends of the spectrum. Before the Heavenly Being stage, Martial Arts Practitioners had an overwhelming advantage over Diviners.

However, after the Heavenly Being stage, Diviners could compete head-on with Martial Arts Practitioners and even have a slight advantage. That was because Diviners could distance themselves by flying away from Martial Arts Practitioners, who were only good at close combat. The fight between Manly Immortals and Ghostly Immortals was full of unknown variables, so it all depended on the individual’s performance.

The Shaman lineage originated from ancient witchcraft and Ancient Immortals. It was similar to the Buddhist inheritance in the sense that it required a large amount of incense power.

Thus, relying on incense power gave varying results. With enough incense power, Shamans could compete with Banished Immortals of the same realm and even defeat the latter. Without enough incense power, they would be at the bottom of the Five Immortals, even worse than Rogue Cultivators.

As the leader of the Five Lineages, Banished Immortals—even with a small sample size—were no doubt the best in combat, crushing the other lineages. Banished Immortals would always defeat opponents who had a lower cultivation level. They also had a higher chance of defeating those who were in a higher realm than themselves compared to Qi Refiners.

Rogue Cultivators were unpredictable. They went against the norm and produced unexpected results. The key was in the number and type of mystical abilities the Rogue Cultivator practiced.

There were 36 high-attainment methods in total, and no one had ever been able to learn them all. The logic was simple: many of the mystical abilities and spells conflicted with each other. Take Martial Arts Practitioners and Diviners as an example. Martial Arts Practitioners focused on the integration of the soul and the body, while Diviners had to soul-travel.

Such techniques were contradictory. If one tried to forcefully practice both, they would likely hurt themselves first before bringing any damage to the enemy.

So far, the highest record for a Rogue Cultivator was practicing 24 high-attainment methods simultaneously, which was said to be comparable to the Banished Immortals. Unfortunately, the Rogue Cultivator did not go in-depth into those methods, so he was unable to proceed further than the Heavenly Being stage.

The rules of the Daoist Order stipulated that regardless of one’s lineage, one had to follow the fixed path of the Daoist Order to learn mystical abilities before the Heavenly Being stage. After the Heavenly Being stage, one could freely choose to practice different high-attainment methods or perfected methods according to their own preferences.

This was because the Daoist Order believed that before the Heavenly Being stage, Daoist practitioners had insufficient knowledge and concentration. They would not know the purpose of certain paths and were prone to going astray. Thus, before the Heavenly Being stage, Daoist practitioners must be strictly controlled.

After reaching the Heavenly Being stage, they could make their own judgments, so they could practice everything except a few forbidden and restricted methods. Therefore, only Heavenly Beings had control over their path.

Three days later, Ai Li’s men reported that there had been many missing person cases in Wugeshanli recently. However, the Western Region had always been a lawless land, with bandits running rampant. The people in the region constantly moved as well, so a few missing people were not considered a big deal. The city lord usually did not pay much attention to such cases.

It was not until Ai Li ordered her people to search for traces of foreigners that these missing person cases were taken seriously. Through the clues in these cases, Ai Li finally locked her sights on the Night Mountain, which was about 150 kilometers away from Wugeshanli.

Night Mountain was barren, with few inhabitants. The Western Region was vast and sparsely populated. Most areas were uninhabited, so this was not that unusual. However, hundreds of years ago, there once was a powerful wizard who lived on the Night Mountain. This wizard cursed the Wugeshanli royal family and manipulated the king to rule behind the scenes.

Later, the wizard died unexpectedly. There were rumors that the wizard died in a fight with other wizards. Wugeshanli was free again until the Ai family seized the city, as they were forced to retreat after they lost the Battle of Loulan.

To this day, the fortress where the wizard once lived remains on the Night Mountain. Fort Cimut was once a strategic fortress used to resist enemy attacks but was later destroyed during the Golden Horde’s Western Expedition.

The wizard, whose real name could not be verified, occupied this place and only repaired a part of the fortress. After his death, the previous rulers of Wugeshanli suspected that the wizard had cursed the fortress, so no one dared to approach it. Thus, the fortress remained abandoned all this time.

Under such circumstances, Fort Cimut was a ruin with complex and inaccessible terrain. It was no doubt the most suitable hiding place for wanted criminals.

After discussing this with Qi Xuansu and others, Zhang Yuelu decided to head to Night Mountain to exterminate this group of demons. After that, they could return to the Kunlun Ancestral Court and resume their lives.

Qi Xuansu and Zhou Bai were seasoned travelers, and Lingquanzi was a veteran of Tiangang Hall. They considered whether Fort Cimut was a trap set by the city lord, but after repeated discussions, they ruled out this possibility.

That was because they assumed that no one would dare provoke the formidable Daoist Order for no reason. The Buddhist Sect, Shamanistic Sect, and Ancient Immortals dared to be enemies of the Daoist Order because they each had their own interests in mind.

The Ai family had no such motive because they would be risking too much for little gain. As smart businesspeople, they would not get involved in such a loss-making deal.

Zhang Yuelu, Qi Xuansu, and the others spent a day formulating two sets of plans. They left Wugushanli the next day and headed to Fort Cimut on Night Mountain.

Ai Li originally wanted to send soldiers to assist them, but Zhang Yuelu politely declined on grounds of confidentiality. Thus, Zhang Yuelu only took 40 of her subordinates with her, as well as the chief bishop, Arthur.

Zhang Yuelu was not underestimating the enemy. She felt that 40 Daoist priests from Tiangang Hall were enough to exterminate the group of demons.

Forty Daoist priests seemed like a small number, but as Madam Qi mentioned before, everyone in Tiangang Hall had to be Xiantian Beings at the seventh rank and above. The lowest among these 40 Tiangang Hall Daoist priests was at the Kunlun stage, and the highest ones—Zhang Yuelu and Lingquanzi—were at the Guizhen stage. Even if they had to go against a Heavenly Being, they stood a chance to win.

This was the minimum requirement for the bottom rung of Tiangang Hall. Zhang Yuelu’s team was lean, like a house with only a simple frame and no roof or walls. In contrast, the other Deputy Hall Masters in Tiangang Hall had a more bloated team, like magnificent palaces.

There was another unwritten rule in Tiangang Hall that each officer was entitled to two personal assistants of the eighth rank who were not qualified to obtain an official position. Each assistant was entitled to two part-timers who were at the ninth rank. Thus, every seventh-rank office in Tiangang Hall actually consisted of seven individuals. There were also Spirit Guards who directly reported to the Deputy Hall Master.

The Chief Deputy Hall Master in Tiangang Hall had 300 full-time officers, which consisted of more than 2000 people. Including the Spirit Guards, the number of personnel could reach 4000 or 5000. This was why the Deputy Hall Masters could rush to the aid of the Western Region Daoist Mansion. Zhang Yuelu was new to Tiangang Hall and had just recruited her staff. Thus, they had not yet had time to recruit assistants, let alone part-timers.

On the way to Night Mountain, Arthur relayed some precautions with Shangguan Dun as the translator. The group should not allow themselves to be hurt by the sinners. Otherwise, they would turn into wild zombies. Moreover, these sinners were difficult to kill, as they had similar body-regenerative capabilities as Martial Arts Practitioners in the Flesh and Blood Realm. Thus, all superficial injuries would heal quickly.

Only the heart and the head were weak points for sinners. When necessary, sinners could transform into bats or a pool of blood, making them very difficult to deal with.

These sinners were completely different from the zombies that Tiangang Hall was used to. However, Zhang Yuelu was prepared. If sinners were not afraid of weapons, they would be afraid of magic. The 40 Tiangang Hall priests were mainly composed of Qi Refiners, Martial Arts Practitioners, and Diviners. With coordination, they could exert greater power than any single lineage.

After arriving at the foot of Night Mountain, Qi Xuansu discovered that it was actually just a small hill. It could not compare to Kunlun Mountain, which stretched for thousands of kilometers. It was also much smaller than Maoxian Mountain outside Fengtai County.

Zhang Yuelu observed the terrain and sent five Qi Refiners carrying telescopes and mother-child talismans to occupy higher ground. This was so they could observe the mountain’s condition.

Then, she ordered ten Diviners to build a Yin Halberd Formation at the entrance to the mountain and ten Martial Arts Practitioners to block the entrances with rocks and trees or use gunpowder and ravines to stop the circulation of the earth’s energy around the mountain. That way, the flowing energy would be trapped, like an isolated lake.

All of this was to destroy any possible formations in Fort Cimut, much like filling in the trenches and moats before attacking a fortress.