A Pawn's Passage

Qi Xuansu raised his arms and exerted some force. The veins under his sleeves bulged, and his blood qi and innate qi surged as he pried the snake’s tail away from his body.

As soon as he escaped from the constraints, he whipped out the two cutlasses from his waist and immediately injected some innate qi into them. The blades were set ablaze, which was a dazzling sight in the darkness.

Having been severely injured, the snake demon no longer dared to linger around and fled immediately.

At some point, the dark clouds had covered the bright moon, blocking the moonlight. The snow was still falling continuously, coating the ground in a blanket of white.

The snake slithered away, leaving a trail in the snow.

Qi Xuansu should have let the demon flee while he found a way to escape this residence. However, Qing Yuan was still embedded in the snake demon’s body. Qing Yuan was a relic left by his master, so it was meaningful to Qi Xuansu.

As such, Qi Xuansu pursued the snake demon. The moment he left the room and ran into the snowstorm, a biting gust of yin energy struck his face, making him breathless.

However, Qi Xuansu was already on guard. He roared again, unleashing another bout of blood qi.

A Martial Arts Practitioner’s blood qi not only restrained a Diviner’s spells but could also restrain ghostly yin energy. That was because Diviners were from the Ghostly Immortal lineage, so the two yin energies were similar.

Qi Xuansu dispersed the yin energy with his roar. Not only that, the falling snow and the snow on the ground were swept away by the shockwaves, leaving a blank plot of ground in front of him.

He kept running, almost catching up to the snake demon. The moment he drew the cutlass, the screen of heavy snowfall in front of him contorted. Instead of hurting the snake with sword qi, the cutlass appeared in front of the snake demon, as if it had teleported through that distance. This impressive move was the Dayan Spirit Blade Technique that he had learned from Zhang Yuelu.

It was hard to determine the cutlass’s trajectory, so it was extremely difficult to guard against, hence often catching one’s opponents off guard.

The snake demon screamed and fell to the ground. Although it was not dead, it rolled around violently, stirring up countless snow and smoke. Wherever the snake’s tail swept, the ground cracked, and the walls collapsed.

At this moment, the vengeful ghost drifted over, bringing with it a rush of yin energy and disturbing the snow wherever it passed. It was quite a bewildering sight.

Even with his Yin-Yang Eyes, Qi Xuansu could only vaguely see a shadow charging toward him at a terrifying speed. Qi Xuansu could not match up to that speed even with the Jiamas on.

However, there was no need for Qi Xuansu to compete with this ghost in terms of speed. The vengeful ghost could fly over dozens of meters, but Qi Xuansu only had to raise his hand. From this perspective, Qi Xuansu was still faster.

Qi Xuansu flashed his two cutlasses and rushed at the vengeful ghost.

The vengeful ghost did not expect that Qi Xuansu, who seemed like a Martial Arts Practitioner, also possessed mystical abilities such as Yin-Yang Eyes. After all, Martial Arts Practitioners and magic were incompatible.

The ghost almost collided with the flames from the spiritual blades, which could also hurt ghosts. Suddenly, the ghost stopped and spun around, narrowly avoiding the cutlasses. However, Qi Xuansu attacked again.

Most ghosts only had two methods to harm people—illusions and possession. Illusions could make people hallucinate their deepest fears, hence causing a mental breakdown. On the other hand, possession would allow the ghost to seize control of the victim’s physical body.

These were methods commonly used by Diviners, which had no effect on Martial Arts Practitioners due to the spell-resistant blood qi. Moreover, before the Flesh and Blood Realm, a Martial Arts Practitioner’s body and soul would be integrated into one. Thus, a ghost could not possess a Martial Arts Practitioner’s body.

Most people’s soul and body were akin to a boatman and a boat. To possess one’s body, the ghost would drive away the boatman and take control of the boat by itself. However, a Martial Arts Practitioner could not be described as such. A Martial Arts Practitioner was more like a swimmer without a boat, so the ghost had no way of possessing them.

Qi Xuansu secretly lamented that he was not a true Martial Arts Practitioner. If only he could condense his blood qi into fist intention, the damage that he could do to ghosts would be far greater than these flames ignited using his innate qi.

At the moment, he was more than capable of defense, but he was lacking on offense. Tiangang Hall issued peach wood swords specially designed to deal with ghosts. Unfortunately, he left it at his home in Jade Capital. He wondered if Tiangang Hall had retrieved the standard issue weapons from his home since he was dead in the eyes of the Daoist Order.

Even though Qi Xuansu was lost in thought, his movements did not stop for a second. He spread out the two swords and continued slashing, the flames on the blades dancing like two fire dragons rolling in the snow. Before the snowflakes could get close, they melted from the intense heat.

Although the ghost managed to dodge Qi Xuansu’s cutlasses without getting injured, it still could not get close enough to Qi Xuansu to hurt him. The two sides fell into a stalemate.

The strange thing was that the Xiang Residence remained silent even after Qi Xuansu’s consecutive fierce fights with the snake demon and the vengeful ghost. The place was quiet and pitch black, as if everyone was oblivious to the sound of fighting.

Qi Xuansu took a deep breath. His vision was blocked by the heavy snowfall, but his Yin-Yang Eyes could clearly see the ghost’s movements.

Since the ghost was too fast, Qi Xuansu could not just turn around and run away. He had no choice but to confront it. However, Qi Xuansu felt powerless because nothing he could do could hurt the ghost.

That was why Diviners were known for being experts in dealing with ghosts. If Lingquanzi were here, he could use talismans to form a formation, constraining the ghost within a specified area. Eventually, the ghost would become a bird in a cage or a fish in a net. It could only sit and wait for death. This was the Diviner’s specialty.

By this time, the ghost also realized that this strange Martial Arts Practitioner could see it. Usually, a Martial Arts Practitioner could not see ghosts and could only rely on their senses to guess the ghost’s location. Thus, Martial Arts Practitioners were usually passively defending themselves against ghosts, far inferior to Qi Refiners, Shamans, and Rogue Cultivators.

Therefore, as long as the ghost did not get too close to the Martial Arts Practitioner, the Martial Arts Practitioner would not know where to attack with their fist intention.

The ghost did not know why this weird Martial Arts Practitioner did not use his fist intention to harm it since he could see its movements. That was why the ghost was wary, not wanting to get too close to Qi Xuansu.

In a short time, Qi Xuansu’s body was already coated in a layer of snow.

During this time, Qi Xuansu figured that the ghost had a conscience, as it did not attack him for a long time and was only studying his behavior from afar. The ghost was intelligent, unlike the usual vengeful ghosts that acted like madmen.

Qi Xuansu hesitated for a moment before asking, “Hey, you can hear me, right?”

The ghost did not respond.

Qi Xuansu continued, “I’m just a passerby. I wouldn’t have done anything to you two if you hadn’t tried to attack me first. Now that we’re in this stalemate, let’s each take a step back. I won’t kill you, so don’t harm me, alright? Just return the short sword to me and let me leave this place. Then I’ll forget this ever happened.”

The ghost still did not respond.

Qi Xuansu glanced at the quiet snake demon from the corner of his eye. His voice turned colder. “It seems like you want to silence me anyway, because I have seen through your crimes. How can you let me leave? After all, I’m part of the Black Robes, so if I report this to my superior, you all will be in trouble.”

Before he finished speaking, the vengeful ghost and snake demon rushed toward Qi Xuansu simultaneously. They were so fast that Qi Xuansu could not dodge.

A gust of wind stirred up more snow all around them.

At the critical moment, Qi Xuansu instinctively decided to deal with the snake demon first because it had a physical body. That was because his blood qi could still resist the vengeful ghost to a certain extent, so it would be best to kill the snake demon first.

Qi Xuansu raised his two cutlasses as he jumped up and slashed at the snake demon. However, doing so left his back wide open for an attack, giving the vengeful ghost the perfect opportunity to strike. The vengeful ghost charged at Qi Xuansu’s back using its full speed, condensing its yin energy in one spot so that it formed a sharp knife that was almost tangible.

Blood qi and spells were like fire and water. Water could extinguish fire, but if the fire was too strong, it could also evaporate the water.

The next second, the ghost’s sharp knife created from yin energy landed on the back of Qi Xuansu’s heart, piercing through his qi shield and overwhelming his blood qi.

At this moment, a black light flashed across Qi Xuansu’s body.

The vengeful ghost let out a surprised scream and disappeared without a trace.