A Pawn's Passage

Bai Xiaojin never thought that her day would turn out to have so many twists and turns.

What was supposed to be an ordinary day ended up with her abduction when she went out in the morning. She was first locked up in a cramped and stuffy place before being moved to a dungeon.

Just as she was frightened and at a loss for what to do, a man literally fell from the sky and killed countless people, but he somehow spared her and helped her escape. Bai Xiaojin thought that her nightmare was finally over, but while escaping, they met an old man in a green robe who kidnapped her that morning.

Though the mass murderer had an intense killing aura, he was no match for the old man in green. He even urged her to escape by herself.

She had no choice but to run away desperately without thinking too much, for fear of being caught by the old man again.

Unlike Qi Xuansu, who pretended to be flustered, Bai Xiaojin was truly panicking as she ran for her life.

With the darkness of the night, Bai Xiaojin found herself completely lost.

She stood at an unfamiliar intersection and looked around blankly, not knowing where to go. Where am I? What is this place? Why have I, a native of Jinling, never been here before?

For the first time, Bai Xiaojin realized how big Jinling Prefecture was. It turned out that Jinling Prefecture did not only consist of gorgeous pavilions, lavish palaces, and wide stone-paved roads with a complete network of sewers. The city also had dilapidated shacks and muddy alleys reeking of sewage.

Jinling, as seen by the upper class and by the common folk, were two completely different experiences.

Bai Xiaojin took a deep breath to calm her emotions. She stopped running and walked slowly while constantly scanning her surroundings, trying to identify a familiar road.

As long as she could determine where she was, she could keep walking in the direction of her home.

After some time, several beggars approached Bai Xiaojin. They were startled because they actually recognized her.

During the day, Bai Xiaojin was imprisoned in the shantytown, so the beggars had seen her. They also had a deep impression of her because she was dressed luxuriously.

The beggars looked at each other and followed Bai Xiaojin quietly.

As Bai Yingqiong’s daughter, Bai Xiaojin was at the Kunlun stage of cultivation.

No matter how neglectful she was in her cultivation, she had no shortage of various resources. Moreover, she had Bai Yingqiong’s personal guidance. However, even at the Kunlun stage, Bai Xiaojin had been too well protected by her mother, having never experienced any storms. So in some way, she was even worse than a flowerbed priest.

That was why Bai Xiaojin was unaware of the beggars tailing her.

The beggars did not act rashly. They simply followed Bai Xiaojin and quietly called their companions. They remembered clearly that this little girl was shackled, but ordinary women were not treated like that. Moreover, this girl managed to escape, indicating that she was powerful.

They dared not act rashly for fear that they would not be able to subdue her, so they wanted to outnumber her.

When there were more than ten beggars, they swarmed up and surrounded Bai Xiaojin.

Startled, Bai Xiaojin subconsciously protected her chest. “Who are you people? What are you trying to do?!”

The beggars had lewd expressions on their faces. One of them threatened her. “How dare you escape, little bitch? Come with us. Otherwise, don’t blame us for being rude.”

After that, the man came up to tug Bai Xiaojin’s sleeves.

Bai Xiaojin dodged him and shouted, “Do you know who my mother is?”

“Haha! Why, would you like to introduce your mother to us too?” A group of beggars laughed with lechery.

Bai Xiaojin was furious. Turning her anger into courage, she punched him in the face.

Since Bai Xiaojin thought it cumbersome to carry weapons, Bai Yingqiong specially taught her a set of boxing techniques meant for Qi Refiners, called the Hundred Flowers Embroidered Fist.

The moves were beautiful, all named after flowers. This technique was also beloved by the Holy Xuan’s wife, so Bai Xiaojin had an interest in learning this technique.

Bai Xiaojin had probably exerted 50% of her strength in this punch. These beggars were not good fighters and were much weaker than ordinary Green Phoenix Guard troopers. At most, they could only bully ordinary people.

When the beggar leading the group was punched right on the bridge of his nose, his face collapsed completely, and he died on the spot.

Bai Xiaojin finally came to her senses. Though she could not defeat the old man in green, the burly man with horns on his head, or that mass murderer with the blade, she was strong enough to beat up these beggars.

At that thought, Bai Xiaojin suddenly gained courage and declared, “My mother is the Chief Deputy Jiangnan Daoist Mansion Master and a dignified second-rank Taiyi Daoist master. How dare you capture me and speak to me rudely?!”

After that, she punched another beggar.

The beggar could not dodge and was hit in the chest. He was knocked out in an instant, seemingly dead.

This gave Bai Xiaojin another boost of confidence, so she kept attacking the rest of the beggars. “How dare you kidnap and traffic women?! I will tell my mother and make sure to have your heads chopped and hung on the city gates!”

In the blink of an eye, several beggars fell to the ground. The other beggars were frightened by this and fled in all directions.

Bai Xiaojin finally vented all the grievances she had suffered today and felt much better. She did not intend to kill them all, so she let some of them escape.

Suddenly, she remembered something and ran a few steps to kick down a beggar who was lagging behind. She stepped on his chest and asked sternly, “What is this place?”

......

There were four big shots in the Heavenly Court’s Jinling branch. Except for one person who was permanently stationed in Jinling Prefecture, the other three had only recently arrived, namely Marshal Wind, Marshal Thunder, and Feng Bo.

Among the three, Feng Bo was being punished for failing to set up new branches, so he was supposed to make up for his mistakes this time in Jinling. Marshal Wind was reckless and ignorant, so he had always only listened to his brother’s advice. Marshal Thunder was the only wise and decisive one among the three, so he was put in charge of the operations.

At this time, Marshal Thunder received one bad news after another.

Feng Bo was responsible for abducting Bai Yingqiong’s daughter, Bai Xiaojin, to coerce Bai Yingqiong. Nothing went wrong in this matter. But before Feng Bo came back, Marshal Wind made a mistake by exposing his tracks while indulging in women and wine.

Marshal Wind was discovered by Zhang Yuelu, so he fled and hid in the St. Mary’s Church. As a result, he was trapped inside the church because the Daoist Order had the place surrounded.

Worried about his brother, Marshal Thunder communicated with various parties.

The Li family came forward, promised various benefits, and invited the Jiangnan Daoist Mansion Master to put pressure on Lei Xiaohuan. But Lei Xiaohuan refused to budge.

The Jiangnan Daoist Mansion Master was from the Zhengyi Sect, so he did not want to risk his reputation or offend Lei Xiaohuan from the Quanzhen Sect just because of some outsider, so he chose to give in and let it go.

Before Marshal Wind was out of trouble, Marshal Thunder received news that the Ghost King was killed, and Bai Xiaojin was rescued.

Thus, Marshal Thunder had no choice but to ask Feng Bo to intercept the person who rescued Bai Xiaojin. But since then, there has been no news of Feng Bo.

It was not until the Patriarch asked through the mother-child talisman why Feng Bo’s life lamp at the main altar was extinguished that Marshal Thunder realized that Feng Bo was dead.

Marshal Thunder had too much on his plate—needing to rescue Marshal Wind, find Bai Xiaojin, and figure out how Feng Bo died. Thus, he was both physically and mentally exhausted.

He was vexed by his brother’s lustful behavior and resented the Ghost King and Feng Bo for their incompetence. However, he knew that it was too late to vent his anger at this time.

What was most important at the moment was to find a way to stabilize the situation so as to prevent a total collapse. He had to make a decision, especially at this critical juncture.

Marshal Thunder summoned a close subordinate and ordered, “Make the arrangements. I want to meet Sage Li.”

The subordinate obliged.

“It’s almost dawn.” Marshal Thunder stood up and continued, “While I’m out to meet Sage Li, you may consult Marshal Tianpeng for anything urgent if I am unavailable.”

Marshal Tianpeng was the last of the four big shots of the Heavenly Court’s Jinling branch. He was a drunkard, completely addicted to alcohol, especially the Daoist’s Dreaming Death. So he was not very reliable.

However, Marshal Thunder was at his wits’ end with no other options, so he had no choice but to rely on Marshal Tianpeng.

The subordinate answered, “Understood, sir.”

Marshal Thunder strode outside.