A Pawn's Passage

Direct combat was never a Diviner’s forte. In many ways, Diviners were best suited for ambushes—setting up rituals in secret, summoning lightning bolts from afar, or using one’s birth dates as a medium to curse them to death through the dreaded Nightmare Bringer Method.

There was once a Ghostly Immortal who used the Nightmare Bringer Method to take the life of an Earthly Immortal. One would have to set up an altar, make a doll out of straw, and write the enemy’s name and birth date on the body of the doll. A lamp was placed on the doll’s head and another at its feet. Steps were traced in ritual with a divination compass, curses written on talismans and burned to seal the spell. One would have to worship the altar three times a day until noon on the 21st day.

During this process, the victim of the curse had almost no ability to resist because their spirit would have been greatly damaged. The victim would not even know that they had been targeted. Twenty-one days later, the enemy’s soul and spirit would leave the body. At this time, the Diviner stabbed the doll with a magic sword, causing blood to spurt out of the doll and the enemy.

The disadvantage of this method was that it took too long. This method also required one to know the birth date and real name of their enemies. If the enemy noticed that they were cursed before the 21 days, then the Diviner would not be able to keep up the spell.

Unfortunately for the Diviner, Qi Xuansu was an orphan raised by the Wanxiang Daoist Palace. He did not even know his own birth date, so no one would either. As for people like Li Changge or Zhang Yuelu, their noble heritage made such information a closely guarded secret. Even if someone obtained it, there were powerful cultivation techniques to counter it. The physique of a Manly Immortal could also render the spell ineffective.

The other drawback was the time it took for the spell to take effect. Even if someone got a hold of Qi Xuansu’s birth date, Qi Xuansu would still have more than enough time to bring down Gao Mingyin first.

Left with no better option, the Diviner was forced to fight alongside the Martial Arts Practitioner and confront Qi Xuansu head-on.

Qi Xuansu struck once more, cleaving the Yellow Turban Warrior cleanly in two. The warrior turned into paper once more, the two symmetrical halves fluttering down.

There was now nothing standing between him and the Diviner.

This time, she raised a hand. Qi Xuansu’s expression darkened, and he instantly lunged backward.

The next instant, countless tiny red dots bloomed on Qi Xuansu’s neck and the backs of his hands, oozing pitch-black venomous blood. However, the blood quickly turned bright red again, a normal color. Had his heart not been replaced with an Embedded Longevity Stone Heart, the poison would have already reached his heart. Even if it did not kill him on the spot, it would have severely limited his strength.

This was a hidden weapon used in Jianghu, much like a throwing blade. But it was not a physical object. It was a spell that was far subtler and deadlier than ordinary projectiles.

This technique was known as Sand Shadow Casting, which was part of the Nightmare Bringer Method. Its terrifying nature lay in its formlessness. It had no substance, hence no visible trajectory. Even with the Demonic Blade’s instincts and having seen her obvious hand gesture, Qi Xuansu still failed to evade it.

In truth, it was due to Qi Xuansu’s lack of exposure. Sand Shadow Casting had two variants—one from the ancient Gezao Sect, and another from the Quanzhen Sect.

The Gezao Sect variant would transfer a victim’s life essence into an object, and by destroying the object, one could destroy the victim. The version used by this Diviner originated from the Quanzhen Sect, where wounding the victim’s shadow was akin to wounding the person. The moon hung high and bright tonight, casting a shadow of everything.

When the Diviner struck Qi Xuansu’s shadow, he was unprepared because he had never encountered such a technique before.

Just then, the Martial Arts Practitioner returned. Though Qi Xuansu had failed to avoid the Diviner’s attack, he could easily dodge a punch. From a third-party perspective, it seemed as though Qi Xuansu had eyes on the back of his head. He vanished, using the Dayan Spirit Blade technique.

The Martial Arts Practitioner had expected a guaranteed hit, so he was momentarily stunned. In that instant, Qi Xuansu appeared at his side and brought down Flying Shadow on the man’s shoulder.

The Martial Arts Practitioner roared in fury. The body spirits in his arms lit up as he blocked the blade with his bare flesh. The clash rang out like metal striking stone.

This was the inherent weakness of spiritual objects. Even if it was a top-tier one, they were of limited use against Heavenly Beings. Flying Shadow could threaten frail Diviners, but against a man whose body was indestructible, it was utterly useless.

What Qi Xuansu truly needed was the enhanced version of Flying Shadow, which was the treasure named the Flying White Shadow.

However, Qi Xuansu was not concerned. The two gunshots earlier had already injured the man. Even with regenerative abilities, those large wounds could not heal immediately.

The Martial Arts Practitioner switched from a fist to a claw, gripping the blade with five fingers. But this time, the blade qi left a thin red line across his palm, and blood began to seep through.

The Martial Arts Practitioner’s eyes flickered with faint surprise. With his other hand, he clenched his fist and struck straight for Qi Xuansu’s unguarded chest, aiming to pulp the arrogant young Mage’s ribs in one blow.

Qi Xuansu moved with the blade, yanking it free as he retreated, narrowly avoiding the punch, only to immediately lunge forward again, bringing the blade down in an overhead strike.

The Martial Arts Practitioner responded with both hands. His left palm caught the blade mid-air while his right fist flew toward Qi Xuansu’s forehead.

Though Qi Xuansu narrowly tilted his head and avoided the punch, his blade had been fully caught in the Martial Arts Practitioner’s iron grip. Unless he abandoned Flying Shadow, there was no way to escape.

Qi Xuansu did not hesitate. He released the hilt and swept his arm across. His entire arm glowed with a golden light. His skin, flesh, tendons, even bone turned translucent, each layer outlined in radiant gold. It was a partial Golden Body Transformation, compensating for his lack of body spirits.

With this single sweep, the Martial Arts Practitioner was sent flying, crashing into the city wall with a thunderous boom. Stones scattered like shrapnel, and dust exploded skyward.

As the Martial Arts Practitioner rose again, his upper garments had already burst apart, revealing a torso of rock-hard muscles. He rooted his stance in a wide squat, with both hands curled into claws. Only his index fingers remained extended, slowly pressing forward in unison. Tiny body spirits emerged from each of his acupoints, mirroring the same motion.

Qi Xuansu leaped skyward and stomped down from above like a mountain. The blow forced the Martial Arts Practitioner’s feet deep into the ground, carving out web-like fractures around him.

Using the rebound force, Qi Xuansu bounced back into the air. The Martial Arts Practitioner braced both palms against his knees, halting his retreat.

Qi Xuansu descended once more, striking with a palm straight onto the crown of the man’s head.

This time, the Martial Arts Practitioner sank another meter—his lower body was nearly swallowed by the ground.

Upon landing, Qi Xuansu showed no mercy. He used his innate qi to summon Flying Shadow back to his hand and slashed sideways, intending to chop the man’s head off.

The Martial Arts Practitioner let out a furious roar, wrenching himself free from the ground. With a sweeping motion, he barely managed to intercept the downward arc of the blade.

He crushed a pill hidden in his mouth, ready to absorb its power, only to find Qi Xuansu had already appeared right in front of him. Flying Shadow whisked past the man’s throat, carving a thin crimson line across it.

Though Flying Shadow might not be able to pierce a Heavenly-Being Martial Arts Practitioner’s body spirit, the Demonic Blade’s instincts could sense the subtle gaps between the man’s acupoints, which were his only weakness.

This was the essence of a Martial Arts Practitioner’s physique. Each acupoint had a glowing node. The more refined the network, the tighter the weave, and the fewer the vulnerabilities.

That single slash severed the link between two acupoints, weakening the body’s regenerative response, hence delaying the healing process.

With every breath, the Martial Arts Practitioner felt a burning sensation from his throat to his sternum.

As the two men clashed, the Diviner finished casting her second spell—Prison Ground Marking.

A glowing circle appeared beneath Qi Xuansu’s feet, and he immediately felt as if invisible barriers had sprung up around him. He could neither burrow into the earth nor take to the skies. All he could do was break through by force or wait for the spell to wear out.

Without hesitation, the Martial Arts Practitioner thrust a fist through the gaps in the invisible cage, aiming a brutal punch toward Qi Xuansu.

Qi Xuansu had no room to evade. He raised a single palm to intercept it. The impact sent a tremor through his frame. Without a body spirit to buffer the blow, the strike shook him to the core.

He reversed his grip, seizing the Martial Arts Practitioner’s wrist to prevent him from retreating.

Then, a Spiritual Statue of True Lord Taiyin appeared behind him. The Spiritual Statue’s hands clasped together, enveloping the Martial Arts Practitioner in a beam of moonlight that descended from the heavens.

The moonlight appeared gentle and soft, yet it cut like sharp blades. Within it, the Martial Arts Practitioner seemed to suffer an execution by a thousand cuts. His flesh peeled away layer by layer, until he was nothing but a bloodied figure.

Normally, such wounds would be nothing to a Heavenly-Being Martial Arts Practitioner. But what chilled him to the core was that none of these injuries were healing. His regenerative abilities refused to work. His flesh was not knitting itself back together.

The Taiyin 13 Swords that circulated within the Daoist Order was created by True Lord Taiyin and refined by Elder Xu. This was one of its techniques, the Blue Tide Bright Moon Technique.

Yin and yang restrained each other. Pure yang and sheer force were strongest against pure yin’s softness, yet were also most vulnerable to it. Softness overcame rigidity, and water quenched fire.

The Martial Arts Practitioner’s blood qi was pure yang, unyielding and fierce. However, exposed to this pure yin energy, the clash was like water dousing flames. There was no harmony and no compromise.

Seeing this, the Martial Arts Practitioner wanted to retreat, but Qi Xuansu’s iron grip on his wrist left no room for escape. All he could do was endure the agony of the moonlight’s baptism.

The Diviner stood frozen, trapped between aiding her comrade and fearing she would strike him by mistake.

At that moment, a pitch-black chain burst forth without warning, piercing straight through her chest. It was the Nine Nether Chains.

Out of nowhere, a translucent apparition of Qi Xuansu drifted forward, hovering in midair.

This was the Diviner’s Soul Projection.

Qi Xuansu’s illusory hand gripped the Ghosthead Machete that was shrouded in a deathly aura. He then floated toward the Diviner.