A Pawn's Passage

The Five Elements Origin Realm of the Heavenly Immortal lineage possessed countless mysteries. It could absorb the surrounding elemental energy for one’s own use, and could even fabricate bodies from thin air. It was not inferior to the Divinity Realm of the Manly Immortal lineage and even surpassed it in some ways.

Above the Five Elements Origin Realm was the Three Flowers Gathering Realm.

The three flowers were the jade, golden, and nine-petal flowers, corresponding to one’s essence, qi, and spirit. The Earthly Immortal lineage emphasized refining essence into qi, qi into spirit, and spirit back to the void. Ultimately, all would gather at the crown, achieving invincibility. As such, this Three Flowers Gathering Realm in the Heavenly Immortal lineage corresponded to the Void Refinement Realm in the Earthly Immortal lineage.

The Heavenly and Earthly Immortal lineages were like two gourds growing from the same vine.

Though being invincible was somewhat exaggerated, the effect was nonetheless astonishing. The Imitation Shebishi Venom could not even stay on the wound, let alone infiltrate the body through the cut. It simply slid away.

Immediately after, the wound returned to its original state, even without the body-regenerative abilities of Martial Arts Practitioners. Rather, the entire recovery process was skipped. The wound had not healed—it had simply ceased to exist.

Such a sight was even more shocking than the indestructible body of a Martial Arts Practitioner. The Cook was momentarily stunned because he had never witnessed anything like this before. There was no helping it, as there were simply too few Banished Immortals in the world.

But Madam Qi was not entirely unscathed. The Three Flowers Gathering Realm allowed her to continually cycle essence, qi, and spirit into each other, creating a state of endless renewal. But once this cycle was broken by external force, she would lose a portion of her true essence. While she could continue to draw in the elemental energy around her, converting it into true essence still took time, much like how incense power had to be refined into divine power.

Under the combined pressure of two Pseudo-Immortals, Madam Qi might not have that time.

The Cook quickly snapped out of his shock, his figure flickering as he moved to join the Owner in flanking Mogul Yao, ideally to land a killing blow before the Changchun Restorative Formation could mend the damage.

But just then, the pitch-black hand that had been pressing down on Madam Qi suddenly shattered apart without warning.

The starlight swelled magnificently. The stars in the sky—not the conjured ones from Madam Qi’s star chart but the real stars whose light had been obscured by the massive moon—now began to shine through once more. They forced that enormous moon, which had taken up half the night sky, to gradually shrink back until it finally returned to its normal size, like a simple white jade plate.

The stars and the moon finally shared the same skies.

Qi Xuansu could not see the exact details of Madam Qi’s battle from where he was standing. He could not even see her or the Owner. All he could make out were interwoven flashes of moonlight and starlight, with occasional glimmers of green light. It was a back-and-forth exchange of dazzling brilliance, punctuated every now and then by a thundering tremor.

But at this moment, the celestial spectacle above was perfectly clear to see.

That moon, representing Zhang Wuhen, had actually been forced back by someone.

Qi Xuansu murmured in awe, “Another Pseudo-Immortal! That’s not even counting the one inside Wuxing Mountain suppressing the earth qi.”

Yao Pei added, “The Mother of Stars...that must mean it’s someone from the Ziguang Society.”

As she said this, she glanced at Zhang Yuelu.

Zhang Yuelu remained silent, merely reaching up to brush the fallen snow off her shoulders and head.

Once the moonlight was forced back by the stars, the slumbering Spirit Guards and Black Robes gradually awoke. After a brief moment of daze, they threw themselves back into the fray.

The Spirit Guards’ mission was to control the outer perimeter of Wuxing Mountain so that they could dismantle the key formation points and sever the earth qi. This would shake the very foundation of the entire grand formation protecting the mountain.

The Black Robes’ duty was to defend those formation points, and they had long built fortifications into the surrounding terrain for that purpose.

If the Spirit Guards succeeded in dismantling all the formation points, the inner formations of Wuxing Mountain would still hold, but the outer layer would collapse. Without that barrier, Madam Qi would once again be able to banish the Owner. This was by far the simplest solution.

Though Madam Qi could theoretically wear the Owner out over time, given his immense blood qi, it might take her more than half a month to do so. Killing a Godly Immortal was not difficult. The problem was that they had three deaths, so they were never fully dead and could be revived. On the other hand, a Manly Immortal only died once. But the issue was the toughness of their physical body, so much so that it was nearly impossible to land that one fatal blow.

Madam Qi would have to break through over a thousand fully refined acupoints, like prying out nails one by one. Thus, banishment was the more efficient option.

As for why Saintly Peace and Dreaming Cloud could teleport here while Madam Qi could not banish the Owner, the key difference was that the former were arriving voluntarily, so Madam Qi only needed to open the Yin-Yang Gate for them to step through on their own. The latter would have to be forcibly shoved through the gate. With the formation shielding the area, opening the Yin-Yang Gate took much more effort, making it nearly impossible to simultaneously push someone through.

Naturally, Madam Qi was hoping the Spirit Guards would hurry and dismantle the formation points. The moment the moonlight receded, she knew that someone from the Ziguang Society had intervened.

Zhang Wuhen was both shocked and furious. “Xuanji!”

Star Keeper Xuanji, who had once wagered with Zhang Yuelu, floated midair. “Her Ladyship delivered her divine decree to find Zhang Wuhen, offer assistance with sincerity, and forge an alliance. But you rejected our goodwill and refused to become our ally. Since we can’t be friends, we can only be enemies.”

To outsiders, Xuanji was an unfamiliar name, but to the Owner, who was a Pseudo-Immortal, it was a name he had long known.

Xuanji was the handmaiden of the True Lord Ziguang, the head of the Seven Star Keepers of the Ziguang Society, and publicly acknowledged as the second-in-command within the cult.

The three major secret societies were personally overseen by Ancient Immortals, so they were a cut above the ordinary secret societies. Thus, their second-in-command was roughly equivalent to the leaders of ordinary secret societies.

As long as the Ancient Immortals themselves did not intervene, figures like Xuanji and the Owner were among the most powerful figures in Jianghu.

With Zhang Wuhen no longer restraining her, Madam Qi immediately flicked her abacus beads, sending out two consecutive comet strikes straight toward the Cook.

The Chef narrowly dodged both comets but was still grazed. An entire patch of flesh instantly vanished as if erased, the edge of the wound perfectly smooth and mirror-like, chilling him to the bone.

After all, he was a Qi Refiner, so he did not have a Martial Arts Practitioner’s indestructible body or body-regenerative abilities. He simply could not withstand Madam Qi’s comet attacks head-on.

In truth, this technique of Madam Qi’s was not that rare. Pei Xiaolou had used it against Marshal Thunder before. But the power of the attack varied greatly by the caster’s cultivation level. Pei Xiaolou’s version had been mere shooting stars, while Madam Qi’s were massive, blazing comets. Clearly, they were worlds apart.

For a moment, it became a situation where Madam Qi was fending off both the Owner and the Cook.

At the same time, a streak of purple brilliance suddenly lit up amidst the wind and snow, dazzlingly glaring.

In the blink of an eye, all the falling snow abruptly froze in place.

A purple arc streaked in from beyond the heavens, crashing to the earth like a meteorite from the stars.

Once the purple arc struck the ground, it advanced in a straight line, sweeping up endless snow, causing a catastrophic avalanche. Along its path, numerous Black Robes were swept up and thrown into the air, dead before they even hit the ground again.

The purple arc barreled through the Black Robes defenders’ line, drawing near the mountain’s foot, then prepared to surge up the slope, seemingly intent on joining forces with Madam Qi to deliver a pincer attack against the Owner.

But just then, a vast beam of moonlight descended from the sky, slamming down and shaking the mountain’s base with a thunderous tremor.

As the moonlight dispersed, Zhang Wuhen revealed her true form, blocking the purple arc’s path.

The purple arc also came to a halt, transforming into Star Keeper Xuanji’s figure.

Only at that moment did the suspended snowfall begin to flutter and drift down once more.

The two figures faced each other from afar, locked in a silent standoff.

Zhang Wuhen said coldly, “Xuanji, you should know that a tree can’t grow beneath the shadow of a bigger tree. If I were to join the Ziguang Society, I’d at most become a Pseudo-Immortal like you. What’s the point of that? If so, I wouldn’t be able to take revenge on Zhang Wushou. At my age, I don’t have much time left anyway.”

Xuanji smiled faintly. “So you threw in your lot with the court, the only force that can oppose the Daoist Order. Or rather, only the Imperial Court and the Taiping Sect can match the strength of the Zhengyi Sect and the Quanzhen Sect, perhaps even surpassing them.”

She paused, then added, “But sadly, the Imperial Court is not part of the Daoist Order and has no right to sit at the Golden Tower Council. Now that the Quanzhen Sect and the Zhengyi Sect have joined forces, they control the Golden Tower Council with sheer numbers. The Taiping Sect can hardly oppose them, and the court alone will not succeed. You’re doomed to fail.”

Finally, Xuanji sighed softly. “No matter what, her Ladyship is your grandmother. Would you rather trust outsiders than trust your own family?”

Zhang Wuhen let out a cold laugh. “I couldn’t even trust my own twin brother. Why should I trust a grandmother I’ve never met? Let’s not talk about Daoist infighting or imperial schemes. Since you chose to stand with the Zhang family, deciding Zhang Wushou is more valuable than me, then we have nothing left to discuss.”

“So be it.” Xuanji sneered.

Zhang Wuhen surged forward, raising a thousand layers of snow behind her, as if all the world’s snowfall followed in her wake.

The swirling snow confused the eye.

Almost simultaneously, Xuanji transformed into a streaking rainbow, crashing forward to meet her, causing the earth to rumble.

Beneath their feet, the ground crumbled and collapsed under the unbearable weight, sinking deepest where they stood. The cracks radiated outward in concentric waves.

Zhang Wuhen unleashed a sliver of Taiyin sword qi, slicing straight at Xuanji’s throat.

Xuanji did not evade, allowing a deep gash to slit her throat. But in that instant, her aura surged to its peak. She gathered all her might into one fingertip and jabbed squarely at Zhang Wuhen’s forehead.

With a blinding flash, Zhang Wuhen was blasted backward in a white streak, tumbling over 300 meters through the air.

When she finally halted her retreat and raised her head, a dent had formed between her brows, and spider-web-like cracks radiated outward. However, there was not a trace of blood. Her entire face resembled a shattered porcelain mask.

Zhang Wuhen brushed a hand over her face, and in an instant, it was whole again.

Xuanji stood unmoving where she was, merely extending a finger to trace a deep groove at her own forehead. Like Zhang Wuhen, no blood flowed from the cut. Instead, radiant purple light burst forth, as if a star had been embedded there, like the third eye of some deity.

This was the Immortal Eye of Providence at the Pseudo-Immortal level.