A Pawn's Passage

There were four levels of local Daoist institutions: county temples, prefectural temples, state palaces, and Daoist palaces.

Generally, Daoist temples were at the county level, like the Bishan Temple and Qingbai Temple that Qi Xuansu once visited. Depending on the location and importance of the Daoist temple, the abbot’s rank ranged from seventh to fourth, their level equivalent to deacons.

The Zhenwu Temple was the largest Daoist temple in Jinling Prefecture. It was considered a prefectural temple, manned by superintendents ranging from the fifth to the third rank.

The Taiping Palace of the Luzhou Daoist Mansion, the Summer Palace of the Zhongzhou Daoist Mansion, and the Daxue Mountain Palace of the Western Region Daoist Mansion were among the 20 state palaces. These state palaces were governed by Palace Masters and Deputies who were Sages.

There were only a handful of the Daoist Palaces, including the Qingling Palace and Zhenjing Courtyard of the Taiping Sect, the Dazhen Mansion and Shangqing Palace of the Zhengyi Sect, the Chongyang Palace of Immortality and Wuxu Palace of the Quanzhen Sect, as well as Zixiao Palace and Wanxiang Daoist Palace. These were led by the Grand Master, three Deputy Grand Masters, Virtuous Great Sages, and Omniscient Sages.

Similarly, the churches of the Holy Court were also divided into four levels that corresponded to the Daoist institutions, namely chapels, churches, cathedrals, and basilicas.

The church near Shangyuan Gate was called St. Mary’s Church, which was relatively low-level. However, just as a prefectural temple like Zhenwu Temple had gathered many high-ranking Daoist priests recently, St. Mary’s Church also had a cardinal deacon and two metropolitans at the moment.

The confrontation between the two sides caused a big commotion. The Jiangnan Daoist Mansion Master, who was an Omniscient Sage, came forward to meet Lei Xiaohuan in person because Lei Xiaohuan represented the Golden Tower Council and was considered an equal.

However, it was unknown what exactly was discussed between the two Sages. Judging from the follow-up, the Jiangnan Daoist Mansion clearly acquiesced in the use of martial law in the Shangyuan Gate area.

The incident in the church happened during the day, attracting the attention of both parties.

This gave Qi Xuansu the opportunity to rescue Bai Xiaojin by mistake. Qi Xuansu spent the whole day exploring the slums, so he knew nothing about the conflict at the church. He was also unaware of the Holy Court’s involvement. So naturally, he did not know that Lei Xiaohuan, Pei Xiaolou, and Zhang Yuelu were all tied up at St. Mary’s Cathedral. As such, no one had time to pay attention to him.

Qi Xuansu planned to take Bai Xiaojin to Taiping Inn and then notify Zhang Yuelu to come and pick her up. That way, Zhang Yuelu could deal with Bai Yingqiong, while he continued to investigate Ye Xiu and the Beggar Gang.

After all, judging from what happened, the Heavenly Court had kidnapped Bai Xiaojin, and Ye Xiu had some kind of trade partnership with the Heavenly Court.

What was still unclear was whether Ye Xiu knew about Bai Xiaojin’s abduction or identity.

If Ye Xiu knew of Bai Xiaojin’s identity and helped hide her, then he was an accomplice of the Heavenly Court. That way, both parties were on the same boat, and Qi Xuansu no longer needed to hold out hope of getting information from the Beggar Gang.

If Ye Xiu was unaware of Bai Xiaojin’s identity, thinking that she was an ordinary woman and inadvertently helped hide her, then he was not on the same boat as the Heavenly Court. If so, there was still some hope that he might be able to get some information from Ye Xiu.

Just as Qi Xuansu was deep in thought, he felt a sudden change and immediately halted his footsteps. He then placed his hand on the hilt of Flying Shadow.

Since Qi Xuansu stopped without warning, Bai Xiaojin, who was trailing behind Qi Xuansu, did not stop in time and bumped into Qi Xuansu’s back. She felt as if she had struck a brick wall and could not help but cover her forehead. “What the hell are you doing?! Can’t you walk properly? Why can’t you warn me when you want to stop?”

Qi Xuansu did not speak or turn around. He still had his back to Bai Xiaojin as he slowly pulled out Flying Shadow.

Bai Xiaojin was frightened, staggering back a few steps. She pleaded, “Don’t get mad! Let’s talk nicely without weapons, alright? I’m sorry for being rude—”

When Bai Xiaojin bumped into him, the man’s broad back blocked her sight. But as soon as she stepped back, her field of vision widened instantly. She immediately spotted an old man standing not far from them, dressed in green clothes, clearly not ordinary.

It was the Heavenly Court’s Feng Bo, who happened to be one of Qi Xuansu’s enemies.

As they say, enemies were bound to meet again.

Coincidentally, they were in a deserted place, with only a few empty warehouses with closed doors not far away.

Qi Xuansu took a deep breath and held his blade with both hands.

When Feng Bo chased Qi Xuansu last time, Qi Xuansu did not have a disguise. But at this moment, Qi Xuansu was wearing his white fox face mask, so Feng Bo failed to recognize who Qi Xuansu was.

Feng Bo asked, “Were you the one who killed the Ghost King? That’s some skill you have.”

Qi Xuansu remained humble. “My skill is far inferior to yours, Feng Bo.”

“You recognize me?” Feng Bo was slightly surprised. But then he realized something. “Are you Bai Yingqiong’s subordinate?”

This was the second time Qi Xuansu heard this. He was used to acting and associating himself with powerful figures, just as how he dared to use Sage Donghua’s name to scare the Green Phoenix Guard even though he had never seen the Sage before.

At this time, Qi Xuansu played along. “Sage Bai sent me here. You lot sure are brave to dare kidnap her daughter.”

Feng Bo sneered, “It looks like Bai Yingqiong just sent her people to scout around but didn’t really know where we hid her daughter. Otherwise, she would’ve come in person. Kid, I’m afraid you’re not my opponent.”

Qi Xuansu said in a deep voice, “Run.”

Bai Xiaojin was stunned for a moment. After registering what the man said, she turned around and ran away. However, after running a few steps, she stopped and turned to Qi Xuansu. “Be careful!”

After that, Bai Xiaojin disappeared into the night without looking back.

Feng Bo did not stop Bai Xiaojin from escaping, thinking that he could easily capture the little girl after dealing with this opponent.

“Young man, you’re a skilled fighter. It’s just a pity that you will die here today.” Feng Bo clicked his tongue. “Do you have any last words?”

Before he finished his sentence, Feng Bo flew over, coming to Qi Xuansu in an instant and striking down with his palm.

Qi Xuansu swung out his blade. This top-grade spiritual object managed to break through the innate qi from Feng Bo’s palm.

Feng Bo blocked Flying Shadow and grabbed the blade with five fingers.

Seeing this, Qi Xuansu simply let go of Flying Shadow and pulled out Qing Yuan from his waist, slashing it at Feng Bo’s lower abdomen.

Feng Bo threw aside Flying Shadow and blocked the short sword with his bare hands.

If Feng Bo and Qi Xuansu were to be compared to animals, Feng Bo was a tiger, while Qi Xuansu was like a goat with no power to fight back then during their first confrontation. However, Qi Xuansu was now a wild wolf. Though still no match for a tiger, he was not completely powerless to fight back. Their gap in skill was no longer worlds apart.

A thin line of red appeared on Feng Bo’s palm as Qing Yuan touched him.

However, to Feng Bo, this small injury was like an ant bite.

Qi Xuansu swept backward and threw out a Grade-A Series Nine Phoenix Eye Bomb.

Feng Bo was stunned. He pushed his palms out, condensing his qi into a wall of air that was more than 3 meters tall, 6 meters wide, and 1 meter thick to shield his body.

The Phoenix Eye Bomb exploded. The flames swept over like a rushing tide. However, upon contact with Feng Bo’s air wall, it was as if this wave of flames had struck an embankment that remained motionless, splitting the overwhelming tide into smaller waves.

Qi Xuansu used the cover of the flames to roll over, pick up Flying Shadow again, jump over the invisible wall of air, and strike at Feng Bo’s head.

Feng Bo sneered and unleashed a crescent-shaped green sword qi that was as tall as a man, which was about to split Qi Xuansu in half from the front.

That day in Xijing Prefecture, Qi Xuansu had only grazed this sword qi and paid the price of losing an arm.

As soon as the sword qi passed through, Qi Xuansu dissipated instantly, like the moon’s reflection in disturbed water.

He used the Rogue Cultivator’s Cicada Molting Technique.

Feng Bo was slightly surprised by this.

At this moment, Qi Xuansu’s real body had appeared not far away. He put away Qing Yuan, pulled out the Divine Dragon Pistol, and fired a Grade-B Series One Dragon Eye Bullet right between Feng Bo’s eyebrows.

Due to the intense force of the impact, Feng Bo’s head suddenly tilted back. A cluster of blood tainted his forehead.

However, Heavenly Beings were powerful. This Grade-B Series One Dragon Eye Bullet failed to penetrate Feng Bo’s skull, but it stained the old man’s face with blood, which looked gory.