A Pawn's Passage

About an hour later, Saintly Peace and Dreaming Cloud arrived at the location, accompanied by eight B-rank members. There was no doubt that Qi Xuansu was an anomaly, always moving alone and out of sync with the group. It seemed Madam Qi had intentionally erected a thick barrier between him and the Qingping Society, leaving him nearly ignorant of the upper ranks before becoming a B-rank member.

All eight B-rank members were Heavenly Beings. That did not mean all B-rank members of the Qingping Society were of that level. Rather, those like Li Qingnu, who lacked combat ability, had no place in this operation. Only the ones who could fight had been selected.

This was the Qingping Society’s style, choosing quality over quantity. They operated with a small elite force and high mobility. In contrast, the large numbers of The Inn seemed bloated and clumsy by comparison.

The twelve operated as one. Saintly Peace, though wearing the mask of an A-rank member, exuded a noble and regal air. He gazed toward Qingyuan County from afar as he asked Ceremony Prelude, “Has The Inn’s location been confirmed?”

Ceremony Prelude nodded and pointed southeast. “There’s a City God Temple 25 kilometers from here. The Inn’s main branch in the Zhili region lies beneath it.”

Saintly Peace rose into the air first, the others following swiftly behind.

For Heavenly Beings, flying 25 kilometers took no time at all. Upon arrival, they saw the place was full of gnarled trees and scattered graves. The City God Temple was dilapidated, long repurposed as a public morgue. The whole place resembled a mass unmarked burial ground.

Ceremony Prelude said nothing. The eye slots of her mask suddenly lit up, and a talisman shaped like an eye appeared above her, projecting a beam of light.

This was the Diviner’s Seer Eye, used to dispel illusions.

The talisman slowly rotated, and the beam moved with it. Wherever it passed, the scenery distorted, like a moon reflected in rippling water. The graves and twisted trees dissolved like dream bubbles.

The City God Temple itself remained unchanged, clearly not an illusion. But all the gloomy, decaying atmosphere was swept away, revealing its true form, which was majestic and grand, on par with the Daoist temple in the city.

The Inn had clearly anticipated an attack. With such a commotion, over 100 men surged out from the temple at once, most armed with pistols, some with blades, charging all at once. The Inn’s Zhili headquarters were underground and much larger than its surface structure, which was why it could house so many people.

The eight B-rank members of Qingping Society advanced in unison, unleashing their techniques. Wind, thunder, flame, and sword qi danced before the eyes, creating a dazzling scene.

The Inn’s members charged wave after wave, only to fall like crop beneath sharp scythes, collapsing in pools of blood. The scene was brutally tragic, with corpses strewn about the area.

Among the dead were quite a few Xuan-rank members with considerable cultivation. These men would have been considered elites in Jianghu, or at least majors in the Green Phoenix Guard. But in a clash between two secret societies, death came swiftly and without ceremony.

Yet their deaths were not entirely meaningless. The eight Heavenly Beings were not at the Wuliang stage, so their innate qi or magical power was heavily depleted. After wiping out this group, they had to retreat temporarily from the battlefield.

Suddenly, several more figures emerged from the City God Temple, clad in heavy black armor. They were The Inn’s Earth-rank members. Leading them was a Heaven-rank member in scholar’s robes. His gaze swept over the four leaders of Qingping Society, and he snorted coldly, “Saintly Peace?”

Since the Qingping Society’s standard masks bore their aliases, identifying them was not difficult.

Saintly Peace replied, “You should have expected this when you killed Drenched Green Robes.”

“Of course, we expected this,” the man said coldly.

As he said this, the ground began to quake violently. Cracks spread in all directions, dust billowed into the air, and a deafening rumble erupted.

Besides Saintly Peace, everyone, including Qi Xuansu and the eight B-rank members, all turned pale and took to the sky in unison.

The ground surged like rolling waves, as if a colossal ancient beast was about to charge forth.

Saintly Peace’s expression turned extremely grim. “I didn’t expect The Innkeeper himself to appear.”

The so-called Innkeeper was the second-highest figure in The Inn, second only to the Owner.

In the next instant, five golden pillars of varying lengths erupted from the ground around where Saintly Peace had been standing. Upon closer inspection, they were not pillars at all. They were five radiant golden fingers.

A massive golden palm slowly rose from the earth, like the legendary Five-Finger Mountain of Buddha, lifting Saintly Peace into its palm.

The ground split apart, forming a massive chasm as the earth collapsed into it. Only the hand that was holding Saintly Peace remained upright, while a colossal body began to emerge from below.

It was a Golden Light Body, nearly 300 meters tall, like a towering pillar propping up the heavens. Before this giant, Saintly Peace looked no larger than an ant.

A Golden Light Body was a Shaman’s form in the Heaven-Earth Manifesting Realm. After attaining a Spiritual Body, Shamans at this stage could transform it into a form that was over 30 meters tall. The Innkeeper’s 300-meter form clearly marked him as a Zaohua-stage Shaman.

The Innkeeper’s Spiritual Statue was also extremely formidable, as it was an incomplete Heavenly Emperor Spiritual Statue, which was equivalent to a second-tier Spiritual Statue.

The Innkeeper slowly spoke, his voice thundering across 50 kilometers. “Of course, we anticipated today. That’s why we arrived early to greet our honored guests.”

Saintly Peace was not afraid. He was a Qi Refiner at the Fusion Realm, equivalent to the Zaohua stage. In terms of lineage, Qi Refiners were second only to Banished Immortals. Unless it was a full Heavenly Emperor Spiritual Statue, no Shaman could overpower a Qi Refiner.

Saintly Peace said, “The Daoist Order measures divine power in marks. A fourth-rank Shaman can exchange only 100 marks of divine power per year. A fourth-rank Spirit Guard consumes merely 30 marks. This grand display of yours must be burning through at least 300 marks. How long can you possibly sustain it?”

The Innkeeper did not respond. His five giant fingers began to close in, trying to crush Saintly Peace in his palm.

Saintly Peace merely pushed both hands apart. His protective qi shield split into yin and yang, encircling him.

From afar, it looked like The Innkeeper was holding a Daoist yin-yang symbol in his hand.

“You’d best worry about yourself.” The Innkeeper scoffed. “Qi Refiners rely on the earth’s energy. Though you may be in the Fusion Realm, this isn’t your territory. How can you compete with me?”

As he finished speaking, The Innkeeper clasped both hands together, crushing the yin-yang symbol between them. Cracks spread across the yin-yang symbol, which threatened to shatter at any moment.

This was brute strength breaking through a thousand techniques. With the Innkeeper standing at 300 meters tall, his strength was unimaginable. After a brief stalemate, the yin-yang symbol finally crumbled. In that instant, Saintly Peace shot skyward, narrowly escaping the crushing palms.

The Innkeeper laughed. “The Buddha has five fingers, like the Five Great Peaks. Even if you were the Monkey King, do you think you could leap free from my grasp?”

Meanwhile, Ceremony Prelude had engaged the Heaven-rank member. Both being Diviners, their magical duel carried a distinct style of its own.

Just before that, Ceremony Prelude whispered to Qi Xuansu, “Gold-Plated Knife, guard my physical body.”

With that, she sat down cross-legged, palms and soles facing upward, and immediately lost all vitality, as if she were dead.

In a sense, having one’s soul leave the body did make one seem ghostly. It was no wonder Diviners were part of the Ghostly Immortal lineage.

Qi Xuansu looked up beyond the golden giant and saw two enormous semi-illusory figures slowly emerging. One of them was a middle-aged man with eyes like suns and a body like a mountain. Though slightly ethereal, he was nearly as formidable as The Innkeeper’s Spiritual Statue. This was The Inn’s Heaven-rank member.

Ceremony Prelude appeared as an old woman, her face obscured and indistinct.

It was clear that neither of them had split their Thoughts. Instead, they had gathered all their Thoughts into one place, forming an immensely powerful yin spirit. It was deep in the night, with no sun in sight, which allowed them to unleash the full power of their yin spirits. Although a Thunder Realm Diviner’s yin spirit could roam in daylight without fear of sunlight, it would still be somewhat restricted despite not being severely harmed.

For Diviners, day could never compare to night.

The Inn’s Heaven-rank member drew a doorway in the air before him. As the portal opened, countless tiny paper figures leapt out. Upon touching the ground, they grew to human size, donning paper armor and wielding white paper spears. They moved with ease, forming a battle formation of the Black Robes as they charged toward Ceremony Prelude’s physical body.

This was the Diviner’s Paper Soldiers.

Before Qi Xuansu could act, Ceremony Prelude waved her hand in a circle, enclosing the paper soldiers within a 300-meter radius. The edge of the circle was like an invisible wall, trapping the paper soldiers within it. Their connection to the Heaven-rank member was also cut off, so they instantly became headless flies that wandered aimlessly.

This was the Diviner’s Prison Ground Marking.

The Heaven-rank member used his finger to draw a bold line in the air, then dotted it twice. The line instantly transformed into a 30-meter-long flood dragon. Wind and rain surged as the dragon snarled and roared.

This was the Diviner’s Dragon Painting.

Ceremony Prelude responded with a single point of her finger. The black dragon immediately turned into a golden dragon and froze in place. It then crashed to the ground, shattering into several pieces and finally dispersing into a cloud of golden sand blown away by the wind.

This was the Diviner’s Golden Touch.

Both were Diviners of the Zaohua stage, masters of illusion and deception, blurring the lines between falsehood and reality.