A Pawn's Passage

Qi Xuansu came out from behind the corner and stood in front of the burning ancient temple, looking at the Shaman’s departing back.

Zhang Yuelu transformed the longbow in her hand back into a sheet of paper and put it into her sleeves as she slowly walked out of the ancient temple. Behind her, several pillars were burned down by the fire. Without the support of the pillars, the beams fell to the ground, and the entire ancient temple collapsed.

“What a witch.” Qi Xuansu lamented.

Zhang Yuelu glanced at him. “What’s wrong?”

“I remember once during my master’s drunken talk, he mentioned that there were four types of women who could enchant men—heroines, fairies, witches, and she-devils.”

Zhang Yuelu’s tone suddenly became softer. “And which category do I belong to?”

Qi Xuansu said casually, “You’re nothing—”

That was when Zhang Yuelu kicked him in the crook of the leg, making him fall to one knee.

Qi Xuansu stood up as if nothing had happened, patted the dust on his knee, and coughed lightly. “You didn’t let me finish! What I mean is that you’re truly nothing like I’ve ever seen or heard of before, because you have only the strengths of those four types of women. You’re a unique entity on your own.”

“I’m so flattered by your high praise.” Zhang Yuelu snorted and rolled her eyes.

“I’m telling the truth! In fact, I’m not interested in those women. I just suddenly thought of my master’s words and felt sentimental.”

Zhang Yuelu said, “I think you need to be mentally stronger. Otherwise, how can you join me in reforming the Daoist Order in the future?”

Qi Xuansu turned around abruptly and looked at Zhang Yuelu. “Reform the Daoist Order?”

“Yes.” Zhang Yuelu nodded.

Qi Xuansu blinked. “When have I ever made this oath?”

Zhang Yuelu stared at Qi Xuansu. “Just now. Do you have any objections?”

“No...” Qi Xuansu dared not refuse under Zhang Yuelu’s sharp gaze.

Zhang Yuelu suddenly laughed. “I’m just joking. Don’t take it seriously.”

Qi Xuansu declared, “Although it’s a joke, you can use me whenever you like. There’s no need to be polite with me.”

Zhang Yuelu was startled. After a while, she slowly nodded and murmured, “Alright.”

Her expression turned solemn. “Let’s get down to business. Have you dealt with the other two?”

Qi Xuansu nodded. “Cleared.”

“Cleared” was street slang for killed. Qi Xuansu was weaker than the two other middle-aged men, but he managed to beat the odds and kill his opponents.

Zhang Yuelu could not help but size him up and praise him. “Tian Yuan, I knew you had potential. You killed two Yuxu-stage masters in a row when you’re only in theKunlun stage. That’s impressive!”

Having said this, Zhang Yuelu felt a little ashamed. “On the other hand, I was so confident, but that witch managed to escape. I’m really ashamed of myself.”

Qi Xuansu comforted her. “Victory and defeat are common in battle. Why are you not allowed to let a weaker opponent escape when I could go against the odds and defeat opponents stronger than me? Nothing is absolute. The key to winning lies in striking at the right opportunity. Fighting in the real world is very much like fighting on the battlefield. All is fair in war.”

Zhang Yuelu said thoughtfully, “You’re right. I used to rely solely on my cultivation level to win over others, so I am lacking in strategy. There is a Confucian saying that there is something to be learned from everyone. It seems that there are still more things I need to learn from you.”

“It’s about sharing experiences and resources.” Qi Xuansu was very modest. “If it weren’t for the Phoenix Eye Bullets and the Divine Dragon Pistol you gave me, I wouldn’t have been able to win so easily. If we consider external objects as part of our strength, I wasn’t inferior to those two.”

Zhang Yuelu remembered something. “By the way, since you killed two witches in the Yuxu stage, you can get two Huang merits. Three Huang merits equal one Xuan merit. One Xuan merit and three years of excellent evaluation, or three Xuan merits alone, will allow you to be promoted to the fifth rank.”

In fact, Qi Xuansu had acquired a Xuan merit by killing Desmond. It was with this Xuan merit that he was successfully promoted to a sixth-rank apprentice mage.

Qi Xuansu glanced at the burning ancient temple and then at the dense forest that had turned into a sea of flames, momentarily speechless.

Zhang Yuelu suggested, “Let’s wait by the river. When the fire dies down, we’ll go in and search for things that can prove those cultists’ identities. Then, I can ask the Hall Master for credit on your behalf when we return to Jade Capital.”

Qi Xuansu said sincerely, “I’m so lucky to have a boss like you, Qing Xiao.”

“No need to flatter me.” Zhang Yuelu rolled her eyes at him and walked toward the river first.

“But you just said earlier that you wanted to be flattered. Do you want me to flatter you or not?” Qi Xuansu followed Zhang Yuelu and chuckled.

Zhang Yuelu just pretended not to hear him.

The two came to the riverside and stood shoulder to shoulder as they watched the blazing fire engulf the sky. Fortunately, the area was mostly snow-capped mountains, so the snow prevented the fire from spreading into a monstrous inferno.

Zhang Yuelu put her hands behind her back and stared into the flames, looking deep in thought. Qi Xuansu lowered his gaze, also in a pensive mood.

They waited until dawn, when the fire gradually subsided.

Zhang Yuelu and Qi Xuansu returned to the ancient temple together. At this time, only some ruins of the ancient temple were left. Zhang Yuelu waved her sleeves and swept away the ashes with her qi, revealing the charred corpse below the rubble.

There were many corpses, but most of them belonged to the bandits. Qi Xuansu relied on his excellent memory to find the location of the Yuxu-stage man he had shot from the back. He found a string of prayer beads with the images of Wu Luo on that corpse.

Speaking of which, this man died unjustly because he was a Shaman in the Spiritual Statue Realm of the Yuxu stage. He was only one step away from being in the Golden Body Realm of the Guizhen stage. Therefore, without invoking the Spiritual Statue, his body was fragile. That was how he died from a mere gunshot.

This was a shortcoming of the Shaman lineage. Before achieving the Golden Body Realm, they could be powerful in a fight if they were prepared, but if they were ambushed, they were easy targets. This was just the opposite of Martial Arts Practitioners, who were not afraid of sneak attacks. That was because Martial Arts Practitioners had strong bodies, so it made no difference whether they were deliberately defending themselves or not.

Since the man died before he could summon the Spiritual Statue, his prayer beads, which were not damaged by the fire, still had divine power in them.

The prayer beads worn by the two women who attacked Zhang Yuelu earlier were made of wood, while the beads worn by the leaders were made of bone.

Qi Xuansu went to the charred forest. Unfortunately, Chu Liangwang had exhausted all his divine power before dying. Thus, his body and the prayer beads turned into ashes in the fire, leaving only some bone fragments.

This also meant that Qi Xuansu’s two Huang merits were reduced by one. After all, the Daoist Order required evidence when asking for merit.

It was similar to the way military merit was judged based on beheading the enemy to prove the enemy’s rank. The head of the enemy would be checked to prevent wrongful killing or substitute killing just so soldiers could claim merit. In the Daoist Order, decapitation was not required, but relevant tokens of identity were needed.

In this case, it was the prayer beads worn by the members of the Lingshan Witch Cult. These tokens also had to be of a certain grade, at least made of bone.

Since the prayer beads were destroyed, Qi Xuansu could not claim credit for that kill. Thinking of this, Qi Xuansu could not help but feel a little disappointed. He had taken a big risk and spent so much effort killing those two cult members, but it turned out to be in vain.

At this moment, Zhang Yuelu handed a string of beads to Qi Xuansu.

Startled, Qi Xuansu took the beads and asked, “Where did this come from?”

Zhang Yuelu smiled at him. “Don’t you remember Boss You? He’s also a member of the Lingshan Witch Cult. I searched his body and found these.”

Qi Xuansu shook his head and said, “But you killed him. How can I steal your credit?”

Zhang Yuelu retorted, “You killed two cult members, so how can I, as your boss, let you claim only one credit?”

Qi Xuansu wanted to speak, but Zhang Yuelu interjected. “Do you want me to ask for credit for myself? I can’t do it, so just take it for yourself. Don’t be so mawkish.”

When Qi Xuansu heard this, he stopped being pretentious and accepted this string of prayer beads. Together with the other one, he could claim two Huang merits.

Zhang Yuelu patted the ashes from her hands and said, “Although we have killed several cult members, we still don’t know what their motives were for decapitating that man. Was it for money? Revenge? Or was this person chosen as a sacrifice because he had a special destiny?”

Qi Xuansu remarked, “I wouldn’t have thought of the third possibility.”

Zhang Yuelu explained, “This is just based on my experience in the Daoist Order. Of course, it’s not just a random thought.”

Qi Xuansu pondered for a while. “In that case, do you think it’s the third possibility?”

“Absolutely.” Zhang Yuelu nodded. “As long as we can find the victim’s family and find out his birth date, we can confirm whether my guess is right or wrong.”

Qi Xuansu asked, “How do we find his family?”

Zhang Yuelu looked at the charred head of the victim and said, “I’ll use the Divine Observation Technique.”

A purple energy flashed in her eyes. She took out a piece of cloth from her magical receptacle and signaled for Qi Xuansu to wrap the head.

After Qi Xuansu put away the head, Zhang Yuelu’s eyes were filled with purple energy again. A colored stream, only visible to her, extended into the distance.

Zhang Yuelu took a step and leaped forward. Qi Xuansu took out the Jiamas, lifted the hem of his robe, tied one Jiama to each leg, and then chanted a mantra before he could keep up with Zhang Yuelu.

The two of them followed this stream for about 250 kilometers until a mountain city appeared in their sight.