A Pawn's Passage

Dreaming Cloud was an A-rank member and one of the six members of the Privy Council. Qi Xuansu was merely a B-rank member, yet Dreaming Cloud treated him with notable courtesy.

The reason was simple. Most of the time, one’s cultivation dictated one’s status, especially in moments like life-or-death combat.

Qi Xuansu was a Xiaoyao-stage Heavenly Being, just one tier below the Wuliang stage, making him a core member in battle.

Moreover, Qi Xuansu had strong backing. If the Privy Council had internal rankings, Madam Qi would rank second at the very least, and as her trusted protégé, Qi Xuansu naturally commanded some respect.

After exchanging pleasantries, Qi Xuansu asked, “What’s our target today?”

“There’s a branch of The Inn around Heaven Bridge,” Dreaming Cloud replied. “Our mission today is to destroy it, kill all its members, and seize every ledger and roster.”

The mask on Dreaming Cloud’s face seemed to contain a voice-altering function, making his speech distorted and layered with an echo.

Qi Xuansu was unsurprised. In a sense, this task was not fundamentally different from his mission to Fengtai County. Back then, his target was the Green Phoenix Guard, and this time, it was The Inn.

Though The Inn had branches across the land, their strength varied. For instance, the branch in Cuowenbu was far stronger than the one in Fengtai County. It was based largely on regional conditions.

Since the Imperial Capital housed more Heavenly Beings than the Daoist stronghold Jade Capital, The Inn’s branch here was understandably more formidable than most. That was why they planned to leave no survivors, because taking captives of this stature was risky.

Dreaming Cloud led the way—not across the Heaven Bridge, but underneath it.

Where there was a bridge, there would be a river. This was one of the main drainage canals of the South City, sourced from the Penglai Pool and fed into the outer moat. It was called the Back River of the Altar, as it once lay behind the altar grounds beyond the city, which was now part of the urban South City.

When the Great Xuan Court built the outer cities, it overhauled the waterworks and built vast filtration systems, burying much of the river as an underground channel.

Thus, beneath Heaven Bridge now lay a dried-up riverbed that had no water, only withered grass.

Six figures had already gathered beneath the archway. Upon seeing Dreaming Cloud and Qi Xuansu approach, they turned to look.

Dreaming Cloud introduced the newbie to the group. “This is Gold-Plated Knife.”

Qi Xuansu cupped his fists in greeting.

Dreaming Cloud then introduced the others to Qi Xuansu. “Drunken Whip, Clear Moonlight, Full Moon, Moonlit Flute, Twin Swallows, and Cloud Follower.”

As each name was spoken, the corresponding person nodded in greeting toward Qi Xuansu.

Qi Xuansu had seen Drunken Whip during a previous Dream Meeting and suspected he was from the Black Robes. It seemed he was indeed the contact Madam Qi had mentioned, though due to a sudden change of plan, Drunken Whip had not gone to meet Qi Xuansu but had come straight to Heaven Bridge instead.

The other five were new faces to him.

All six wore Ancient Wuist bronze masks, each with their name engraved at the brow. Compared to Dreaming Cloud’s mask, theirs were noticeably less intricate. Dreaming Cloud even had a white-fur mane around his mask, a detail the others lacked.

This likely marked the difference between A-rank and B-rank members.

Qi Xuansu was lacking one such mask, as Madam Qi had never given him one. In a sense, he had always been a peripheral member of the Qingping Society, having never been involved in group operations. Other than Madam Qi, he had little contact with other members and was unfamiliar with the inner workings. In contrast, the others seemed well accustomed to such missions. They even had masks with a standardized design.

Seeming to read Qi Xuansu’s thoughts, Dreaming Cloud retrieved a mask from his magical receptacle with “Gold-Plated Knife” engraved on it and handed it to Qi Xuansu. “It’s just a spiritual object that’s not particularly useful. But it can resist the Bewitching Technique, Dream Entering, Qi Observation Technique, and so on. It also conceals your presence and alters your voice.”

Qi Xuansu thanked Dreaming Cloud, turned away, removed his conical bamboo hat, undid his topknot, and placed the mask over his face.

These masks worked best with one’s hair loose, as topknots might expose one’s identity. After all, Ancient Wuists wore their hair down, as topknots were not even a concept back then.

Now, with two layers of masks, Qi Xuansu’s true face was basically unrecognizable.

Dreaming Cloud announced, “Since everyone’s here, let’s begin.”

Twin Swallows—a woman—asked, “Where is The Inn’s branch?”

Dreaming Cloud replied, “Beneath our feet.”

With that, Dreaming Cloud stomped the ground hard. It collapsed with a thunderous crack, and everyone dropped down without resistance.

Beneath them was the dried-up Back River, now part of Imperial Capital’s massive network of underground canals.

They quickly landed on solid ground.

Though called an underground canal, it resembled a broad tunnel, with stone paths beside the underground river like miniature levees. It allowed the group to proceed without wading through water.

It was Qi Xuansu’s first time entering the underground canals of Imperial Capital, but he had encountered similar systems in Jinling Prefecture, so he was not particularly surprised.

Underground canals had their counterparts above ground. The upper channels carried clean water for drinking, while the lower ones handled wastewater. To prevent contamination, the two had to be strictly separated. The system also had to avoid letting sewage flow into the Penglai Pool or other natural underground rivers, which would pollute the wells.

As a result, the entire canal network had to be meticulously planned and subdivided, forming an immense, interwoven spiderweb beneath the Imperial Capital. Some even warned that such construction would disturb the city’s ley lines. But under the strong push from Emperor Gaozu and Emperor Taizong, the massive project was completed and became a long-term benefit. At the very least, it eliminated puddles of filth on the streets, which improved sanitation and reduced diseases.

This created a labyrinthine maze underground. Without a map, one could easily get lost here.

Naturally, the Imperial Court had the complete blueprint of the underground canal in the Ministry of Works. They relied on these maps to dispatch workers for the annual dredging. But ordinary people could never get their hands on the confidential map, since the water supply of millions was at stake. Even the Qingping Society had only partial, hand-copied fragments of the map. They had to first identify an approximate location from the surface and then forcibly enter the underground canals from above. After all, the burial of the Back River was not a secret. Locals knew it used to be a visible stream in the previous dynasty.

The Inn’s ties to the Imperial Court allowed it to establish a branch in such a hidden location.

Dreaming Cloud walked in front, leading the way.

Getting lost here would not be fatal because there were no hidden formations, and all they had to do was break through the ground to get back to the surface. But breaking through the ground in the Imperial Capital might accidentally land one in a government office. One might also damage the canals and cause leaks or contamination, which would earn a warrant from the Green Phoenix Guard.

After winding through passageways for half an hour, they rounded a corner and suddenly saw light up ahead.

Dreaming Cloud waved his hand, causing two visible Waiters from The Inn to collapse without a sound. Moments later, a third hidden one fell from a concealed perch above.

Clear Moonlight said, “These are The Inn’s overt and covert sentries, which means we’re close to the branch now.”

Dreaming Cloud said nothing and kept walking.

The corridor grew wider and opened into an expansive underground hall that was nearly 300 meters wide and over 30 meters tall. At its top was a hole through which moonlight beamed down onto a central pool. Six underground channels fed into it from 15 meters up along the surrounding walls, pouring out like waterfalls into the pool. The pool was further split into four streams that flowed evenly into four low-level channels.

Qi Xuansu and the others had entered through one of those channels.

Above the pool was a platform connected to the walls by wooden bridges and furnished with a counter, tables, and chairs. Behind the counter was another bridge, leading to another channel, guarded now by a sluice gate that The Inn added.

This was The Inn’s local branch in the Imperial Capital.

It was also the most unique among all the branches Qi Xuansu had seen.

Dreaming Cloud simply gestured to strike without uttering a word, and all seven of them rushed forward.

Leading the charge, Dreaming Cloud headed straight for the branch’s Innkeeper, who was behind the counter.

This branch’s Innkeeper was a Heaven-ranked Waiter of The Inn, second only to the six top-ranked executives. His cultivation was formidable. Faced with Dreaming Cloud’s aggressive charge, he remained calm. With a push, he sent the entire counter flying at Dreaming Cloud. As he flipped his hands, a massive halberd pulsing with black light appeared in his grip.

Dreaming Cloud casually slapped the counter aside, instantly reducing it to dust.

Of course, the hidden force within the counter could not touch him.

The Innkeeper swept his halberd horizontally, drawing in the six cascading waterfalls above. They twisted into six water dragons that surged toward Dreaming Cloud.

This Innkeeper was also among the top of Wuliang-stage Heavenly Beings.

Though the Wuliang-stage cultivators of this age were far weaker in power and potential than those of the Holy Xuan era, they were far more numerous.

That was thanks to the Holy Xuan’s consolidation of the lineages so that everyone now had access to cultivation techniques. The lineage system had also been broken down into specialties, allowing focused study rather than demanding everyone be a jack-of-all-trades. Additionally, the development of the creation projects had boomed, able to forge even Banished Immortals and mass produce pills to enhance one’s cultivation. All of it led to a massive surge in Heavenly Beings in this era.

It was like ginseng. In the past, all ginseng was wild. Now, it was artificially fertilized, cultivated, and mass-produced. But in terms of potency, wild ginseng grew for decades or even centuries, whereas farmed ones matured in five to six years, making the wild kind dozens of times more potent.

Someone like Qi Xuansu would have been considered average in the Holy Xuan era. But in today’s world, he was considered outstanding.

If a present-day cultivator fought one from the past on even footing, it would be a near-death struggle. But if the modern Daoists fought their predecessors as groups, they would have the edge, as their sheer numbers alone tipped the scale. They might lose one-on-one, but victory was assured three against one.