A Pawn's Passage

To be fair, pricing this piece of Xuan Jade at 6,000 merits was quite reasonable, since it had already been activated with divine power by the Qingping Society. Thus, it saved Qi Xuansu the effort of seeking it himself.

After parting with Madam Qi, Qi Xuansu returned to his residence at Yuhuang Palace, toying with the newly acquired Xuan Jade.

As he expected, it was indeed a Xuan Jade of Life, capable of completing his Martial Arts Practitioner lineage. However, Qi Xuansu was curious if it would merely grant him the qualification to condense a body spirit or if it would directly help him condense a body spirit without effort.

Qi Xuansu double-checked the internal and external formations of the room.

Each high-ranking Daoist’s residence within the Yuhuang Palace was equipped with dedicated formations. Though not strong enough to repel major threats, they served as alarms, triggering the arrival of Spirit Guards if breached. Moreover, these minor formations were part of the palace’s grand formation. For Qi Xuansu, this was the safest place in the Imperial Capital.

After ensuring all the formations were active, Qi Xuansu began preparations to merge with the Xuan Jade.

Having gone through this three times before, Qi Xuansu was now adept at the process.

He gripped the jade tightly, allowing it to slowly “melt” into a stream of green that flowed into his body.

Qi Xuansu calmed his thoughts and began to fully focus on fusing with the Xuan Jade.

Once again, Qi Xuansu returned to the familiar dream realm—the Lingshan Paradise.

This scene was so familiar to him that it felt like coming home. He no longer felt the fear as he had the first time he visited this place.

That towering, shadow-covered mountain was still there.

Qi Xuansu followed the rugged path up the mountain and reached the summit.

The mountaintop remained the same—an enormous open space with a big bonfire burning at the center.

Last time, there had been eight towering figures behind the fire. Now, there were nine—one more, and it was a familiar one.

These nine giant figures remained shrouded in an impenetrable shadow, their forms vague. Only their eyes glowed with two dots of blood-red light.

The first time Qi Xuansu fused with a Xuan Jade, the figures of the Great Witches had exerted immense pressure on him, some benevolent, some hostile. This time, however, he felt almost no hostility.

What followed was the same sequence as before.

The firelight grew brighter, making the surrounding darkness even deeper. Nine figures stood at the boundary between light and shadow, their forms flickering as they began to murmur softly.

After a while, the murmuring grew louder, as if traveling across an endless river of time to reach the present world.

At that moment, eight of the figures faded into the darkness, leaving only one stepping forward into the firelight.

She was a barefoot woman over 3 meters tall, clad in a coarse linen robe, with ink-black hair falling to her calves. Her skin was bright red, and her face was painted with strange pigments. Behind her hovered an eerie green totem with a bird’s body and a human face.

She was something of an old acquaintance, since Qi Xuansu had seen this very figure during his first Xuan Jade fusion at Yishan City’s Yulan Temple.

She symbolized the Xuan Jade of Life and was one of the Ten Great Witches of Lingshan, known as Wu Gu.

Suddenly, the once brilliant firelight vanished. The bonfire extinguished, and darkness swallowed the heavens and earth.

The ground beneath Qi Xuansu’s feet shattered with a boom, opening into a void. He plummeted uncontrollably, swallowed by a tide of blood. All he could see was a sea of red.

Qi Xuansu did not know how much time had passed before he slowly awakened. The dark mountain and those towering witches were gone, as was the crimson sight. Before his eyes now was a hanging lamp emitting a gentle orange glow.

He was back in his residence at the Yuhuang Palace.

Qi Xuansu began to carefully sense the new changes brought by the Xuan Jade.

His Martial Arts Practitioner lineage had severe gaps. It was missing the unity of the spirit and body in the Kunlun stage, the heavenly connection in the Guizhen stage, and the indestructible body in the Xiaoyao stage. He had only completed the Bone Strengthening Realm at the Foundation stage, the Acupoint Condensation Realm at the Baodan stage, and the Flesh and Blood Realm at the Yuxu stage.

This time, excluding the Body Spirit Unity Realm, which conflicted with the Diviner’s Divine Yin Realm, it had completed the other two realms—Heavenly Connection Realm and Divinity Realm.

The Divinity Realm sounded arcane, but it simply meant condensing one’s fist intention.

Before the Guizhen stage, Martial Arts Practitioners lacked long-range attacks and the means to strike at the intangible. The Blood Roar could intimidate demons and spirits, but its power waned with distance, making its use quite limited.

Fist intention made up for this shortcoming. Once condensed, it was somewhat like the sword qi of Qi Refiners, though it was at a shorter range. The core difference was that sword qi resembled a blade, ineffective against armor, whereas fist intention was like a blunt weapon, capable of striking through mountains.

Though Qi Xuansu had practiced the Tantai Fist Intention, he had not truly formed any fist intention. In reality, he was just hitting with his fists, using the Rogue Cultivator’s innate qi in place of genuine fist intention.

Since Tantai Yun had once practiced both the Martial Arts Practitioner and Qi Refiner lineages, her techniques had such unique effects. Lei Xiaohuan had specifically chosen the Tantai Fist Intention upon seeing that Qi Xuansu lacked any genuine fist intention.

Now that Qi Xuansu had condensed his fist intention, it would be far more effective in close combat than using innate qi. Despite the word “fist” in the term, it did not necessarily mean a punch. An elbow, knee, foot, or shoulder could all work. It was akin to how sword qi did not require a sword to be triggered—it could be done barehanded or with any blade.

Of course, for Qi Xuansu, who was already a Heavenly Being, fist intention was just a bonus, not something essential. What truly mattered was the indestructible body in the Xiaoyao stage.

For Martial Arts Practitioners, the condensation of acupoints in the Baodan stage laid the groundwork for later development. At that stage, the acupoints were opened and roughly refined. Later, body spirits were cultivated within those acupoints.

Qi Xuansu was relieved that the Xuan Jade had instantly formed 365 body spirits for him, saving him the painstaking effort of condensing them one by one in each acupoint.

Unlike the Shaman’s Golden Body, which formed only a surface, the Martial Arts Practitioner’s indestructible body was formed by the body spirit in each acupoint, which connected into threads. The more acupoints and body spirits a Martial Arts Practitioner had, the more densely those threads wove, like fabric. Eventually, it would form a new surface, becoming far superior to the Shaman’s Golden Body.

By the time one became a Manly Immortal, even if all flesh and bones had been obliterated, a humanoid silhouette formed from glowing acupoints would remain. From that silhouette, flesh could be regrown, truly reviving the dead and regenerating the body.

Of course, that required refining over 1,200 acupoints. Qi Xuansu had only completed 365 of them. Though he had not reached that miraculous level, it had already strengthened his physique immensely, like driving 365 foundation piles into the ground, utterly solidifying his base.

At this point, Qi Xuansu’s physique had nearly reached the peak of the Xiaoyao stage. Combining the Martial Arts Practitioner’s indestructible body and the Shaman’s Golden Body, his physique was more resilient than armor.

Moreover, the body spirits could be used for both offense and defense. Qi Xuansu had seen Martial Arts Practitioners punch with 365 body spirits striking in unison. It was an awe-inspiring force.

Qi Xuansu clenched his right fist. One by one, his acupoints lit up, making his flesh and skin appear translucent. Tiny figures could be vaguely seen within, each one identical to him, mirroring his clenched fist.

In the Xiaoyao stage, there were the Five Elements Origin Realm of Banished Immortals, the Returning Void Realm of Qi Refiners, the Divinity Realm of Martial Arts Practitioners, the Transformation Realm of Diviners, the Spiritual Body Realm of Shamans, and the Cicada Shedding Realm of Rogue Cultivators. Qi Xuansu had attained three of them. Though it did not quite equal three separate Xiaoyao-stage cultivators, few among his peers could rival him aside from the three Daoist prodigies.

Qi Xuansu loosened his fist and murmured, “All that’s left is a semi-immortal object.”

If he had one semi-immortal object, he would dare challenge a Wuliang-stage Heavenly Being. If he faced Gan Longchi again, he could cut off that arrogant general’s head.

A Xuan Jade of Divinity or another Xuan Jade of Death would also suffice.

According to Madam Qi, once one attained all five lineages—Earthly Immortal, Ghostly Immortal, Godly Immortal, Manly Immortal, and Corpse Liberation Immortal—that would count as the Lesser Five Qi Convergence. With the help of the Longevity Stone Heart, one could achieve the Banished Immortal’s Five Elements Origin Realm. Then Qi Xuansu could condense his innate qi into true essence, just like Zhang Yuelu.

Such was the boundless greed of the human heart.

Toiling all day just to stave off hunger, but once fed, one yearned for fine clothes. With food and clothing both secured, one desired a beautiful wife. After becoming an emperor, one sought immortality and even dreamed of ascension. If one sought satisfaction in this world, it could only be found in a fleeting dream.

If Qi Xuansu truly obtained a semi-immortal object, his next desire would naturally become an immortal object.

In this regard, the Zhang family was undoubtedly a powerhouse, possessing two heirloom immortal objects. The Holy Xuan had left behind many such treasures, but he designated them as legacy items to be passed down only through the Grand Master’s lineage. Only the Grand Master was entitled to use them. Others were public property of the Daoist Order, administered respectively by the Zixiao Palace and Golden Tower Council. Thus, they were not considered private assets of the Li family or the Taiping Sect. Due to this, the Li family actually came up short compared to the Zhang family. Many of their descendants had secretly grumbled about the Holy Xuan, wondering why he had not left anything behind for his own kin. Instead, everything had been nationalized. What kind of logic was that?

Though the Zhang family was conservative and thus far less influential than the Li family, few were willing to take the high road when no benefit was involved. The Zhang family’s approach had preserved their vast family wealth. If they ever fully backed Zhang Yuelu, or if she was indeed the favored heiress of the main branch, combined with the deep foundations of the Cihang lineage, she could have easily obtained two or three semi-immortal objects. At that point, she could certainly overpower Li Changge.

When it came to the sheer number of semi-immortal objects, the Quanzhen Sect took the top spot in the Daoist Order. However, the Quanzhen Sect was fragmented into too many sub-factions, so the semi-immortal objects were split into various families, making it hard to consolidate them into the hands of a single person.

Still, granting one semi-immortal object to Qi Xuansu was not entirely out of the question.