A Pawn's Passage

After the Grand Illusion Realm was deployed, everything looked the same from the outside. The canal was still shrouded in night mist, dotted with lantern lights, and crowded with passing boats. The shouts, curses, and cries of the boatmen rang out endlessly. There was not the slightest sign that anything was amiss.

In reality, a figure had descended from the sky, landing squarely on the bow of the Green Phoenix Guard’s massive ship. The force drove the bow deep into the water, causing the stern to lift high into the air.

Moments later, the ship regained its balance, stirring up huge waves and a misty spray.

The Green Phoenix Guard Lieutenant Colonel strode out of the cabin, his face grim.

With such force and presence, there was no doubt that the uninvited guest was a Heavenly Being.

As if that were not enough, the bronze mask on the intruder’s face made his identity unmistakable.

“Qingping Society.” The Lieutenant Colonel gritted his teeth, not even bothering to ask his purpose.

More Green Phoenix Guards poured out from the second and third floors, like soldiers facing a great enemy.

Qi Xuansu clenched his fists and assumed the opening stance of the Tantai Fist Intention. All the acupoints across his body lit up in sequence as he manifested his body spirits, which mirrored his movements. This was the indestructible body of a Martial Arts Practitioner in the Divinity Realm.

The Lieutenant Colonel took a deep breath and likewise revealed his body spirits.

Unlike the Black Robes, the Green Phoenix Guard had a lower official rank. Their highest officer was only a third-rank Commander. Therefore, a fifth-rank Lieutenant Colonel was already considered a high status within the Green Phoenix Guard.

There were 19 states in the Great Xuan Dynasty, each with a Lieutenant Colonel Office. There were another 7 Lieutenant Colonel Offices directly under the Imperial Guards, making a total of 26 Lieutenant Colonels.

Among these 26, the weakest were at the ninth level of the Guizhen stage, and the top among them were undoubtedly Heavenly Beings.

This Green Phoenix Guard Lieutenant Colonel was a Heavenly-Being Martial Arts Practitioner.

The two quickly closed the distance. Qi Xuansu swept his right arm in a punch. As the Lieutenant Colonel raised his arm to block, Qi Xuansu followed through with a downward pull to break his guard. Then, he bent his arm to deliver a sharp elbow strike to the Lieutenant Colonel’s face.

As the Lieutenant Colonel staggered back, Qi Xuansu immediately kicked him in the chest, forcing him to retreat several steps.

The Lieutenant Colonel regained his footing and launched another attack, swinging his right arm. As Qi Xuansu raised his arm to block, the Lieutenant Colonel’s left fist followed swiftly. But Qi Xuansu was prepared. He leaned back to evade the punch and kicked forward with his right leg, pushing the Lieutenant Colonel back once more.

One advantage of being a Martial Arts Practitioner was their incredibly resilient physique. Every limb was a built-in weapon. Though their moves did not look grand or flashy, each blow contained immense power that was enough to shatter mountains and split stone.

Though much of their exchange was still probing, Qi Xuansu had the upper hand.

The Lieutenant Colonel of the Green Phoenix Guard did not hesitate to call for his subordinates to attack all at once.

To escort the Taiping coins, he had mobilized nearly half the state’s elite Green Phoenix Guards. All of them were Xiantian Beings. Some were also masters in the Guizhen stage. They could stand a chance even against a Heavenly Being.

The Green Phoenix Guards leapt from the second and third floors to the deck, surrounding Qi Xuansu from all sides.

Qi Xuansu began punching the air on his own. At first, he moved so slowly he seemed like an elderly man practicing forms. His blood qi was weak, and each punch seemed lacking in real strength. Even when there were brief bursts of force, they seemed unsustainable. But then, his speed steadily increased until the punches howled through the air, leaving afterimages in their wake. The surrounding Green Phoenix Guards found themselves unable to even get close.

After throwing 36 punches, Qi Xuansu suddenly paused, then stomped down hard with his left foot. The deck underfoot showed no visible change, but the entire ship trembled violently, as if about to capsize. Many of the Xiantian Beings were momentarily stunned.

Qi Xuansu had not used even a trace of innate qi. This was just from his physical body and mastery of force. Such was the strength of a fully realized Heavenly-Being Martial Arts Practitioner.

Taking advantage of that moment of stagnation, Qi Xuansu punched again.

Now, his entire body radiated an almost tangible aura of blood qi. Each movement roared through the air. Every punch he threw was packed with complex, oscillating force. His fist intention stirred the surrounding elemental energy into swirling currents that converged into a vortex. Anyone below Qi Xuansu’s level would be pulled within one meter of him.

This was the Heavenly Connection Realm of a Martial Arts Practitioner.

Within this range, all Qi Xuansu had to do was strike. Each blow would shatter tendons and break bones, resulting in death or serious injury.

Just then, the Lieutenant Colonel, who had been hiding among the Green Phoenix Guards, suddenly launched a surprise attack. With a palm strike, the air in front of him quaked, a deafening roar burst forth, and the blow landed hard on Qi Xuansu’s back.

Qi Xuansu’s joints and bones vibrated like war drums. His spine crackled continuously, and the body spirits within his acupoints trembled violently. This was proof of the immense power behind the Lieutenant Colonel’s single palm strike.

The Lieutenant Colonel shouted, “Get into formation!”

The reason they did not get into formation earlier was that the Lieutenant Colonel had intended to ambush Qi Xuansu by deliberately hiding among his men. Now that the ambush had landed, there was no longer any need to conceal himself.

The Green Phoenix Guards swiftly surrounded the Lieutenant Colonel in a protective encirclement, a common battle formation of the Black Robes. The situation changed immediately. Qi Xuansu felt as though these Xiantian Beings had become one entity. Each move they launched carried immense force, far beyond their earlier individual attacks.

Without hesitation, Qi Xuansu unleashed his full strength. A rapid succession of explosive cracks rang out from his spine to his chest, shoulders, elbows, wrists, and fingers. He threw a punch forward, and all his body spirits struck in unison.

Several Green Phoenix Guards who failed to dodge in time were caught within the range of the strike and were instantly pulverized into a cloud of blood mist by the overwhelming fist intention.

The Lieutenant Colonel seized the opportunity and charged at Qi Xuansu with the weight of a mountain.

Qi Xuansu crossed his arms in front of him, but was still knocked back and sent sliding across the deck.

The Lieutenant Colonel followed up with both fists, with the thunderous momentum of 10,000 horses charging forward.

In the blink of an eye, Qi Xuansu was struck by more than 20 solid punches and forced to retreat repeatedly. He considered counterattacking, but the Lieutenant Colonel’s fist techniques flowed so seamlessly that he found no opening.

Qi Xuansu simply activated the Golden Body of his Shaman lineage and the Green Netherworld Armor of his Diviner lineage, shielding himself and letting the Lieutenant Colonel continue his strikes freely.

As the Lieutenant Colonel unleashed punch after punch, he continually built up power. After nearly 100 strikes, his strength reached its peak, and he unleashed a final explosive blow.

From that strike, Qi Xuansu was sent flying back uncontrollably, crashing into a nearby boat and snapping a mast in half. His Green Netherworld Armor and Golden Body reached their limits and dissipated. A clear fist mark was embedded into his chest, which was now deeply sunken. However, thanks to the armor and Golden Body reinforcements, he was otherwise unharmed.

The Lieutenant Colonel also paid a steep price for that punch. He had pushed his strength to its utmost, leaving no energy for defense. Earlier, Qi Xuansu landed dual palm strikes on the Lieutenant Colonel’s temples, causing the latter’s vision to go dark and his body to sway unsteadily like a drunken man.

In the next instant, Qi Xuansu reappeared and slammed a palm toward the Lieutenant Colonel.

The Lieutenant Colonel let Qi Xuansu’s palm land on his forehead while throwing a short but extremely powerful punch into Qi Xuansu’s abdomen.

Qi Xuansu floated back slightly.

The Lieutenant Colonel twisted his neck. His expression remained fairly calm, but the small dent on his forehead looked quite unnatural.

The Green Phoenix Guards surrounded Qi Xuansu once more. They were not seeking to wound him, but only to hold him back.

After catching his breath, the Lieutenant Colonel seized the moment to punch again. Hundreds of thunderclaps resonated from his chest, abdomen, shoulders, elbows, wrists, and fists as his punch ripped through the air like a storm.

Qi Xuansu was struck squarely between his brows, causing his head to snap backward. His body drifted back from the force.

The Lieutenant Colonel gave Qi Xuansu no chance to catch his breath, unleashing another punch accompanied by a fierce whistling wind. Though it appeared to be a straightforward strike, it held hidden intricacies. Beneath the overwhelming force lurked a subtle one that shifted unpredictably, capable of penetrating defenses to strike within.

This punch expelled all the elemental energy between them, leaving behind a void.

But Qi Xuansu, relying on the mystical instincts of the Demonic Blade, reacted in advance. In a flash, he dodged the blow, grabbed the Lieutenant Colonel’s wrist with his left hand, pulled him forward, and followed with a backhand punch from his right.

The punch resounded like a thundering war drum.

Struck in the abdomen, the Lieutenant Colonel was lifted off his feet and sent soaring into the air. Qi Xuansu was not done. He bent his knees and launched himself upward with a powerful stomp, causing the entire ship to sink dramatically.

Qi Xuansu instantly overtook the Lieutenant Colonel midair, clasped his fists together, and smashed them down onto his opponent’s back.

The Lieutenant Colonel plummeted even faster than he had risen, like a meteor falling from the sky into the canal, sending up a splash that was 10 meters high.

As Qi Xuansu descended from the sky, the drunkard on the ship’s first floor opened his eyes, which were now clear and sober. He casually grabbed a wine jar that was still half-full, wanting to step outside to take a look.

If necessary, he would join forces with the Lieutenant Colonel to kill the intruder. After all, The Inn did not approve of solo duels.

Just as he was about to act, a figure suddenly appeared in the first-floor hall, wearing a bronze mask with white fur and holding a chisel-like weapon.

The last traces of drunkenness vanished from the Heaven-rank attendant of The Inn as he immediately recognized the intruder. “Dreaming Cloud of the Qingping Society!”

Dreaming Cloud’s goal was clear. The silver was secondary. His real mission was to kill.

As long as this Heaven-rank attendant was killed, the Qingping Society would still profit, and the revenge operation would be considered a success.

The attendant’s heart gradually sank. In terms of cultivation, the two were evenly matched. Even if he could not win, he could still escape. However, Dreaming Cloud wielded a semi-immortal object, which made the attendant’s odds look grim.

At this time, Madam Qi remained high above in the heavens, her hands forming the Buddhist Samaya Seal. Behind her, a female Spiritual Statue bearing four arms took shape.