A Pawn's Passage

These wooden figurines were talismans that did not have any vitals, unlike humans. So even if their torso and head were crushed, they could continue fighting as long as their magical power had not worn off. That was why these wooden figurines were hard to defeat.

It was a pity that the Diviner was not yet a Heavenly Being, and Xu Kou was a Guizhen-stage Martial Arts Practitioner whose blood qi could restrain all kinds of talismans and spells.

When Xu Kou punched and kicked the wooden figurines, his blood qi dissolved the talisman patterns on the figurines, just like ink stains gradually fading under the rain. This continued until the talisman patterns on the wooden figurines disappeared completely.

As soon as these talisman patterns disappeared, the wooden figurines could be easily broken because they had turned into ordinary puppets. Xu Kou’s fist could easily crush the figurines, cracking their outer shell while turning the insides into powder. This showed how skillful and precise Xu Kou’s punch was.

The Diviner was shocked to see this. He quickly threw out a stack of talismans like it was hell money and turned to flee.

Xu Kou laughed and chased after the Diviner. At this time, anyone who stood in his way was killed with a single punch.

On the other side, three people, including the spearman, faced Qi Xuansu.

The three of them were all Yuxu-stage Qi Refiners with no obvious weaknesses. Although they did not have flying swords, they each had their own special weapon—a spear, a halberd, and a double ax.

Qi Xuansu made the first move, stabbing the halberd with his single cutlass. The person wielding the halberd only felt a rush of heat at his hand and almost lost his grip. He was afraid that Qi Xuansu would take the opportunity to attack him, so he jumped back.

Unexpectedly, Qi Xuansu did not pursue the man with the halberd. Instead, he made a sharp turn and slashed at the man with the double ax.

The left side of the ax narrowly intercepted the blade with precision. The man roared, then struck down with the right side of the ax, causing Qi Xuansu’s cutlass to clatter to the ground. But Qi Xuansu did not retreat. He advanced and used the Dragon Fist of the Tantai Fist Intention to punch the man’s face.

The man with the double ax was knocked back. Before he could fall, he turned his body and grounded his ax, using it as a support to regain his footing. His face was blood red, and his nose had completely sunken into his skull.

Qi Xuansu kicked up his cutlass with the tip of his boot and held it in his palm again.

Qi Xuansu’s rich experience in fighting with others made him good at judging his enemy. When he saw the three of them, he could immediately tell that the person with the halberd was the weakest, while the spearman was the strongest. Therefore, he decided to attack the weakest link first and switch his target at the last minute.

The man with the double ax was quite impressive to be able to block the attack, but Qi Xuansu had already anticipated this. Therefore, as soon as the big ax fell on his cutlass, Qi Xuansu dropped it and punched him in the face.

At this moment, a big halberd slashed at his waist horizontally. Qi Xuansu raised his cutlass and tried to dodge, but he felt a gust of wind next to him as the double ax took a swipe at him.

The ax was heavy, so Qi Xuansu did not try to block it with his thin cutlass. Instead, he used the Dayan Spirit Blade Technique, creating a protective wall of wind while looking for gaps between the halberd and the double ax to attack.

The two attackers were awestruck when they saw his move. Their weapons were extremely heavy, so they were good for defense. If not for them covering for each other, they would have been dead by now.

Qi Xuansu’s cutlass was light, so he was fast and agile in his attacks. On the other hand, the heavy halberd and double ax gradually became burdens to their wielders.

Seeing his comrades in danger, the spearman only stood to the side to observe the fight, his spear still pointing toward the ground. The moment Qi Xuansu saw a gap in their defense, he thrust his cutlass and stabbed the right rib of the man with the halberd, who tried his best to dodge.

Suddenly, Qi Xuansu changed his target and left a long, bloody gash on the chest of the man with the double ax.

In the midst of the fight, the spearman, who had been watching on the side, finally stabbed Qi Xuansu in the abdomen. Seeing this, Qi Xuansu used his cutlass to stop him, but the momentum of the spear was unstoppable.

Startled, Qi Xuansu quickly turned his wrist and drew a big circle along the direction of the spear to neutralize the force.

The spearman was unyielding when he gained the upper hand. The tip of his spear was spinning like a drill, and the force it exerted flowed through the gaps in Qi Xuansu’s defenses.

At the same time, the halberd chopped down on the back of Qi Xuansu’s neck. Even before the blade could touch Qi Xuansu, he could already feel the pressure crushing his body.

Qi Xuansu roared hoarsely and forced his opponent to retreat with a backhand strike.

The spearman immediately seized the opportunity to thrust his spear straight at Qi Xuansu’s heart.

Qi Xuansu allowed the spear to stab the center of his chest. Meanwhile, he raised his hand to throw out three of the Seven Phoenix Feathers. The spearman barely managed to dodge two of them and was stabbed in the shoulder by one. In the blink of an eye, his complexion turned green from being poisoned.

Seeing this, Qi Xuansu threw out his single cutlass. The man with the double ax took a step forward and knocked away Qi Xuansu’s cutlass. Then he slashed Qi Xuansu across the face with the right side of his ax.

Qi Xuansu retaliated with a Tiger Fist. When his fist collided with the ax, the two of them shook from the impact. The man with the double ax spat out a mouthful of blood before collapsing.

It was common knowledge in the Daoist Order that three people of the same level could defeat one person who was a level above them. In other words, three Yuxu-stage Qi Refiners were by no means powerless against one Guizhen-stage practitioner. In theory, it would be a close fight. However, the outcome would depend on various factors, such as changes in circumstances and combat experience, to name a few.

Qi Xuansu looked like he won against these three people with ease, but that was due to his many years of experience. Although Qi Xuansu’s cultivation level was not high in the past, he had encountered many powerful enemies, which honed his quick decision-making skills. Thus, even though these three Qi Refiners were also experienced fighters, he could still defeat them.

At this moment, the spearman was poisoned, and the man with the double ax was injured. Only one man with the big halberd was left. That man was so frightened that he turned around and ran away, like the Diviner earlier.

Qi Xuansu refused to let him go, picking up his cutlass and chasing after that man.

The halberd-wielding Qi Refiner was wearing heavy armor and only in the Yuxu stage, so Qi Xuansu quickly caught up to him. Noticing how close Qi Xuansu was, the man abruptly turned around and swept the big halberd at him.

Instead of retreating, Qi Xuansu advanced even more and caught the halberd in its swing. Then he slashed his opponent in the face with his flaming cutlass.

The man wanted to pull his halberd back, but he found that Qi Xuansu’s fingers had grabbed onto the shaft with a vice-like grip. No matter how hard the man tried to pull back, the halberd would not budge. In a move of desperation, the man released his weapon and retreated backward.

Qi Xuansu’s Dayan Spirit Blade Technique was elusive and quick. The blade bypassed the man’s heavy armor and stabbed him in the throat.

When Qi Xuansu withdrew his cutlass, blood sprayed everywhere. The man with the halberd lost all his strength, staggered a few steps, and fell to the ground. The remaining blood on the blade turned into ashes in an instant due to the blazing flames.

Qi Xuansu turned around and saw that Liu Hu had finished the job by shooting the poisoned spearman and the seriously injured axman with the Divine Dragon Pistol.

From the beginning to the end, Liu Hu remained calm. She did not seem like a little girl, but more like a seasoned killer.

Qi Xuansu sighed at this thought. When he was at the Kunlun stage, he was indeed much better than Liu Hu, but when he was at her age, he could not hold a candle to her.

Liu Hu might not be able to climb to a high position in the Daoist Order to compete with the blessed Zhang Yuelu, but she would not be inferior to the flowerbed priests like Yue Liuli. However, that would only be true if Liu Hu could survive to adulthood.

Qi Xuansu waved his hand and summoned the three Seven Phoenix Feathers with his innate qi. He scanned the hall and saw the other attackers fleeing in all directions after seeing how the three Qi Refiners were defeated one after another.

On the other hand, Xu Kou was chasing the Diviner at top speed.

The Diviner was horrified because he would undoubtedly end up dead in close combat with a Martial Arts Practitioner. Thus, he had no choice but to throw out the valuable talisman soldiers in an attempt to slow Xu Kou down.

The talisman soldiers fell to the ground and turned into white paper warriors. Ordinary guns could not harm these talisman soldiers, but the Martial Arts Practitioner’s blood qi could destroy them. Xu Kou raised his fists, unleashing his blood qi. In the blink of an eye, he knocked back several talisman soldiers and turned them into broken pieces of paper, dissipating their magical power.

However, the Diviner also used this opportunity to prepare his own spells. He turned around and created eight duplicates of himself, all of which were transformed by his Thoughts. Each of the eight clones cast different spells with fire, wind, thunder, or ice. They also summoned ghosts and cast illusions. This was the Diviner’s mystical ability called the Eight Divinations.

Xu Kou’s response was even simpler. He just roared as loud as he could.

A surge of blood qi rushed out of Xu Kou’s mouth, turning into a white vapor like boiling steam.

All of the Diviner’s spells dissipated immediately when they touched this vapor.

Xu Kou was relentless, stepping forward and punching the Diviner in the chest.

In an instant, the Diviner split into two entities—his physical body and his illusory soul. His physical body collapsed to the ground, his chest sunken, and his eyes dull. On the other hand, his soul was illusory, flying into the air without any injuries.

The physique of a Diviner was inherently fragile, a stark contrast to a Martial Arts Practitioner’s. At this time, the Diviner’s physical body was completely dead.

Without the support of the physical body, the Diviner’s out-of-body soul was a tree without roots. The Diviner’s soul became fragile, as if it could dissipate at any time. However, the Diviner still had a glimmer of hope for survival by possessing another person or turning into a ghost. After all, these two options were better than dying in vain.

The Diviner’s out-of-body soul wanted to escape from this place, but Xu Kou did not give it a chance. Xu Kou jumped up and roared again, unleashing another bout of roiling blood qi.

Facing this ear-shattering roar at such a close distance, the Diviner’s soul, which no longer had the protection of the body, disintegrated into countless fragments, like catkins in the wind.