A Pawn's Passage

At that moment, the bright moon in the sky grew larger and larger, from the size of a jade saucer to the size of a cartwheel, and then from a cartwheel to the size of a canopy, until it dominated half the night sky, like a rising sun leaping over the sea’s horizon.

The heavens and earth were bathed in pale white. Wherever the moonlight shone, all fell into silence. The Black Robes and Spirit Guards stopped fighting as they gradually sank into slumber.

The previously intense gunfire and cannon blasts quickly fell silent.

If one assumed this moonlight was only meant to stop the fighting, they would be gravely mistaken. If left unchecked, the Spirit Guards and Black Robes on the battlefield would remain asleep until their very souls withered away, leaving behind only lifeless shells.

In that case, it was better to settle the battle so at least the winning side would survive.

Such overwhelming power must be, at minimum, a Zaohua-stage Heaven Being, perhaps even another Pseudo-Immortal.

Qi Xuansu, Zhang Yuelu, and Yao Pei were also affected by the moonlight.

Each of the three had their own methods to resist it. Qi Xuansu felt the Taiyin Divine Power within his body resonating with this moonlight, causing his heart to stir. He murmured, “It’s Zhang Wuhen.”

The three of them were no strangers to this name.

Yao Pei and Qi Xuansu had personally witnessed Zhang Wuhen’s escape from the Wanxiang Daoist Palace, while Zhang Yuelu was Zhang Wuhen’s grandniece.

“It’s definitely True Lord Taiyin’s lineage. She actually sided with the Imperial Court?” Zhang Yuelu frowned slightly.

Yao Pei remarked, “It’s unexpected yet reasonable. I had thought she would throw herself into the arms of the Ziguang Society.”

Qi Xuansu pointed out. “The Ziguang Society can’t afford to support two Ancient Immortals. If she’s going to seek shelter, why not choose the bigger backer?”

By now, Madam Qi had already neutralized the Owner’s strike.

The situation immediately reversed. The three Madam Qis surrounded the Owner, forming a classic battle formation. The ethereal white-robed Mogul Yao wielded the Face Wrecker, engaging the Owner head-on.

The businesswoman Madam Qi wielded a golden abacus, continuously flicking the beads. With each shift, the star chart above morphed, firing beams of starlight like comet tails that streaked toward the Owner.

Even though the Owner was only one step away from becoming a Manly Immortal, his undying, indestructible body had reached an astonishing realm. Yet each time a comet beam struck him, his acupoints quaked, and his spirit dimmed.

The method of training the acupoints as a Manly Immortal focused on first refining the body spirit, solidifying the acupoints, and achieving the state of an indestructible body. One could say it was the pinnacle of self, standing in stark contrast to the Heavenly and Earthly Immortals’ emphasis on unity with the heavens and earth.

In comparison, the Five Elements Origin Realm cultivated by the Heavenly and Earthly Immortal lineages emphasized the internal and external resonance between the five elements of heaven and earth and the practitioner’s own body, channeling elemental energy into the body to merge with their internal energies. While this was less detailed and refined than the Manly Immortal’s body spirit for every acupoint, it was grander in scope, balancing inner and outer aspects and making it easier to harmonize with the Dao. However, it inevitably valued “qi” over physical resilience. Thus, it was far less robust than the Manly Immortal’s body.

Under these circumstances, even if the Owner’s head were severed, it might not kill him. On the other hand, if Madam Qi took a single punch, she would be hurting for quite some time.

But Madam Qi had her methods. The Madam Qi in a lotus crown and hechang had a Sword of Wisdom hanging at her waist, appearing as a solemn and compassionate Quanzhen Sect priestess, completely unlike Madam Qi’s usual self. This explained why this version of Madam Qi rarely appeared. She played the support role. A plethora of talismans emerged in the air, faintly shimmering with green light. On closer look, countless green sparks danced within, like fireflies in decayed grass, brimming with the essence of life, flourishing and thriving, revealing the profound realm where all things contend in growth.

As long as one stood within the formation, the green light would pour into the body, feeling like a complete marrow cleansing and rebirth. All prior hidden injuries would be swept away, and even depleted innate qi and true essence would be fully restored.

This formation was created by Sage Changchun.

In his later years, Sage Changchun traveled to the Daxue Mountain Palace at the invitation of the Golden Horde Khan. While preaching and teaching there, he also exchanged insights with numerous shamans of the Golden Horde. Inspired by them, Sage Changchun returned to the Central Plains and created this formation, named the Changchun Restorative Formation.

This formation was not designed to harm or kill, but rather to restore innate qi and heal injuries. Even the caster benefited, with most of their exerted energy restored. Its only drawbacks were that it required a long preparation time and a high cultivation to execute, making it impractical for solo combat. Worse still, it did not distinguish between friend and foe; hence, it had limited use.

But it was perfectly suited against a Martial Arts Practitioner, as they were impervious to all magic. No matter the spell, it simply would not affect Owner, so even the non-discriminating Changchun Restorative Formation was useless on him.

Every time Mogul Yao suffered minor injuries, she needed only a touch of the green light to recover fully. It was even faster than a Martial Arts Practitioner’s regenerative flesh.

With this gradual give-and-take, Madam Qi steadily evened the playing field and even gained a slight advantage.

There was a good reason why the Heavenly Immortal lineage was hailed as the foremost among the Five Lineages. Even with some of her divine powers restricted by the Wuxing Mountain’s formation, Madam Qi could rely on sheer numbers to gradually grind down the Owner.

The wisdom of predecessors was always useful. Last time, they had banished the Owner by drawing on the Yao family ancestor’s experience battling Tantai Yun. This time, they were relying on the strategy used when the Daoist Order’s many Sages besieged Tantai Yun, pressing the advantage through sheer numbers.

Back then, the Daoist Order pulled out every trick they could think of, pooling all their strength just to deal with the Manly Immortal Tantai Yun.

These were already time-tested methods, so Madam Qi simply used them. After all, novelty did not matter as long as it was effective.

In contrast, the Owner did not have Tantai Yun’s experience to draw on, leaving him to fumble and feel his way through. He was already a step behind before the fight even truly began.

Of course, the Owner could have simply withdrawn from the fight. But he did not choose that. Instead, he quietly gathered his strength, preparing for his second void-shattering punch.

At that moment, a massive hand, entirely formed of moonlight, slowly materialized in the sky and came crashing down on Madam Qi’s position with the weight of a mountain.

Compared to this, the earlier palm strike from the Innkeeper was like the hand of a child next to an adult’s.

With two Pseudo-Immortals combining forces, Madam Qi had no chance of victory unless she was an Immortal or carried an immortal object.

But Madam Qi remained unflustered. The greatest hallmark of the Heavenly Immortal lineage was their unparalleled freedom of movement. No matter how fearsome the Earthly Immortals’ Five Innate Tais were, they would be wasted effort if they could not land a hit.

The Wuxing Mountain formation was now active, so Madam Qi could not banish the Owner again until the Spirit Guards took control over the outer formation of the mountain. But she could easily escape if she wanted to.

So Madam Qi’s strategy was simple—fight first, and if it really didn’t work out, leave. After all, they had a strong chance of winning.

Thus, Mogul Yao continued to be entangled in battle with the Owner while the businesswoman Madam Qi shifted her formation to meet the descending palm.

In doing so, the Owner was finally granted a bit of breathing room.

After all, Mogul Yao could not deal any real harm to him. The one truly injuring him was the abacus-wielding businesswoman Madam Qi. But the one he most wanted to kill was the lotus-crowned Yao Qi.

When the businesswoman Madam Qi’s formation clashed against the descending palm, countless starlight flickered, appearing and disappearing in a dance of illusion.

Yet the massive palm never fully landed. It resembled an overturned lake. Endless moonlight surged like waves above Madam Qi’s head, yet there was always a thin, level sheet between them.

For all its grandeur, this palm strike still fell short of the Martial Arts Practitioner’s void-shattering punch.

Madam Qi gave a dry chuckle. “Zhang Wuhen, is this how you greet an old friend?”

By generational ranking, Zhang Wuhen was the Heavenly Preceptor’s younger sister, and Madam Qi was the Earthly Preceptor’s younger sister. They were of the same generation and close enough in age to call each other sisters.

But the two of them were long past their youthful years, so there was no use playing those girlish “sisterly” games anymore. That would be far too fake. After all, they were both old foxes, so why pretend to be harmless little lambs? It was better to drop even the polite courtesy names and call each other straight by their given names, which was practically the same as pointing a finger at someone’s nose and cursing them out. How much more satisfying was that?

Zhang Wuhen’s voice floated out, faint and ethereal. “Yao Qi, for old times’ sake, I won’t trouble you if you turn back right now.”

Madam Qi scoffed. “Who do you think you are to tell me to leave? The Grand Master? If you could speak as the Heavenly Preceptor, maybe I’d listen. Too bad, you’re not, and you’ll never get the chance to be Heavenly Preceptor in this lifetime. Better wait until you become the second generation True Lord Taiyin before spewing such laughable words!”

“So many years have passed, and you really haven’t changed—still just as detestable.” Zhang Wuhen sneered.

Unfortunately, having been slain once by her own elder brother—Zhang Wushou—Zhang Wuhen had slumbered for many years and lost too much time. Madam Qi had caught up in terms of cultivation, leaving Zhang Wuhen without any real advantage. Only by joining forces with the Owner did they stand a chance at killing or seriously wounding Madam Qi.

With that, Zhang Wuhen’s technique shifted. The hand that had gleamed like silver moonlight suddenly turned pitch black like a lunar eclipse.

Once the massive palm turned to darkness, it began to ravenously consume all surrounding light, including Madam Qi’s starlight, which was devoured in the blink of an eye.

Just as Madam Qi was about to move her abacus beads again, a sudden sharp pain struck her from behind. She had been stabbed.

The strike came unseen, with not the slightest warning. At this critical moment when she was facing two Pseudo-Immortals alone, Madam Qi could not even avoid it.

The one who had stabbed her was none other than the top assassin of The Inn, the man who had slain Drenched Green Robes—the Cook.

Having landed his blow, the Cook dared not overreach, immediately retreating nearly 300 meters before halting, gripping a bloodstained bone knife from which droplets of crimson blood still dripped. This was the Nether Blade, coated in Imitation Shebishi Venom.

Yet there was no trace of triumph on the Cook’s face. Instead, he wore a heavy expression as he stared fixedly at the wound between Madam Qi’s shoulders.

No blood oozed from that wound, only the shimmering five-colored true essence that was nearly liquid in form. There were also no heart or vital organs within this body, only five condensed clusters of true essence, each a different hue, simulating internal organs.

This Madam Qi, who had just been conversing so casually with Zhang Wuhen, was not her true body at all.