A Pawn's Passage

Unlike the Golden Horde Martial Arts Practitioners, Central Plains Martial Arts Practitioners almost always favored the spear if they had to pick a weapon. Though a spear might not be sturdier than their fist, its length provided a real advantage, especially when facing sword wielders.

Moreover, most Martial Arts Practitioners came from military backgrounds. In battle formations, spearmen and archers were both essential types of soldiers. Many martial arts techniques actually evolved from weapon-based military combat techniques. What might look awkward, flashy, or impractical in unarmed forms became perfectly logical when imagined with the proper weapon in hand.

At this moment, the Server from the Inn drew a long spear and charged straight at Yao Pei. Intense blood qi swirled densely around him like a tangible force. Eventually, man and spear fused into a massive crimson cone, surging forward with overwhelming momentum, aiming to pierce Yao Pei’s chest.

At the same time, two elite fighters from the Heavenly Court and a Heaven-ranked attendant from The Inn moved in unison with the Server’s spear thrust, rushing to occupy Yao Pei’s escape paths, compressing her space, and forcing her into a head-on confrontation.

The Heavenly Blade was famed for foresight, so Yao Pei was not so easily cornered? She neither dodged nor avoided the attack but faced the spear head-on. All she could see was a spiral force formed by the fusion of fist intention and blood qi. It appeared flawless, but only in appearance.

At this point, Yao Pei’s eyes turned completely white, with no pupils or irises. She had activated the Taishang Emotionless Sutra and entered the Heavenly Calculation state.

The Taishang Emotionless Sutra was achieved by letting go of emotion to attain impartiality. By discarding one’s emotions, the cultivator would not be stirred by moods nor swayed by sentiment.

In ancient times, mind cultivators were supremely powerful. All beings obeyed them without speaking or moving. They were like the axis of the universe, the heart of all things, and the sovereign of the world. But once the world entered the Taiji Era, there was no longer space for such cultivators. They vanished, and the era of strength cultivation began. Modern strength cultivators mimicked them and created the Taishang Emotionless Sutra. Though it could not grant control over cosmic forces, it allowed for brief entry into the emotionless state.

Humans were governed by seven emotions. The Taishang Emotionless Sutra sought to erase them all. No matter the danger, the heart must remain unshaken and free of hesitation. Its adaptability and precision rivaled those of the Demonic Blade, and through immense computational ability, it grants foresight, revealing the opponent’s weaknesses and flaws.

At her current level, Yao Pei could at most see through the weaknesses of her Wuliang-stage opponent. This spear thrust appeared flawless, but to her, it still had a flaw. It lay at the very tip of the spear, which was the core of the spiral force.

This was both the weakest and most dangerous point. All it took was a single misstep for her entire arm to be shredded by the spiral force.

Anyone else might have hesitated. But in her emotionless state, Yao Pei felt no fear and stabbed the spear tip without the slightest hesitation.

Her move was flawless. A shrill screech rang out as a massive recoil surged into her arm, yet it remained unscathed. The spiral force was abruptly severed, and the crimson cone vanished, revealing the true form of the long spear.

The Server was stunned by this move. He immediately jolted his spear, unleashing the full force of his Hundred Beast Fist Intention. In an instant, his spear vibrated 49 times, emitting an unbroken stream of fierce power that surged toward Yao Pei.

Yao Pei likewise made her short blade vibrate 49 times in that very instant, flawlessly mimicking both the amplitude and frequency. As a result, the Server’s attack failed. It was as if Yao Pei had become part of the fist intention itself. Since the Server had not been affected by the Six Void Tribulations, it did not turn on him. So most of the force bypassed Yao Pei and spread outward, incidentally impeding his other three comrades.

Truth be told, the four attackers were only temporarily cooperating. They were neither colleagues nor friends, so coordinated formation attacks were out of the question. Even maintaining unified action was difficult. Faced with this disruption, they should have pressed in at all costs to trap Yao Pei within their encirclement. But the two Heavenly Court members hesitated, not because their cultivation was lacking, but due to doubt. Only the Heaven-ranked attendant from The Inn charged through the fist intention without reservation.

That single moment was enough for Yao Pei. She did not use it to escape the four-man encirclement, nor did she continue to fight with the Server. Instead, she slashed her dagger at the lone attendant who had broken through the fist intention.

What should have been an unavoidable, deadly confrontation was, under Yao Pei’s Heavenly Calculation, reversed into a fatal counterattack.

The defeat of the Green Phoenix Guard Martial Arts Practitioner and the Xuanhui Court eunuch at the hands of Zhang Yuelu had been expected. After all, it was a two-on-one fight, and frankly, an underestimation of a Daoist prodigy. But this group had four people against Yao Pei, who was also one of the Daoist prodigies. In just one exchange, one of them had already been severely injured.

Was this the caliber of someone chosen as the future Grand Master? How unreasonably dominant!

The Heaven-ranked attendant’s chest was cleaved open by Yao Pei’s dagger, exposing his still-beating heart. His life was hanging by a thread.

In contrast, Yao Pei had not a speck of blood on her hands, face, cuffs, or robes. Only her blade was dyed crimson.

The Server was the first to react, thrusting his spear toward Yao Pei in an attempt to rescue his ally.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye.

Yao Pei did not insist on finishing the kill. Instead, using her superior speed, she evaded the Server and dashed toward the two Heavenly Court members.

The two Heavenly Court members felt a chill down their spines and dared not act recklessly.

These Daoist prodigies had two defining traits. First, they mastered many perfected methods, making their moves endlessly unpredictable. Second, they possessed semi-immortal objects and abundant treasures that not only preserved their lives but also packed terrifying power.

The Green Phoenix Guard Martial Arts Practitioner prided himself on his robust physique. If Zhang Yuelu had to kill him barehanded, it would have taken half a day to wear him down slowly. That kind of timeframe left plenty of room for strategic responses, retreat, or counterattack. But with the aid of a semi-immortal object, a Heavenly-Being Martial Arts Practitioner was slain in an instant. After all, he was not a Pseudo-Immortal who had refined over a thousand acupoints. His heart and head were still vital weaknesses. The power of wielding a semi-immortal object differed vastly between the Guizhen stage and the Xiaoyao stage. A semi-immortal object showed its full might only in a Pseudo-Immortal’s hands, just as an immortal object revealed its true potential only when wielded by an Immortal.

In the blink of an eye, Yao Pei exchanged one move with each of the two Heavenly Court members. These two were none other than the so-called East Guardian King and West Guardian King among the Four Heavenly Kings of the Heavenly Court. Of course, like Feng Bo, these were fake titles, shamelessly borrowing the names of deities. Both were seasoned Heavenly Beings at the Xiaoyao stage, but they were extremely experienced.

But that advantage of experience was completely nullified in the face of Heavenly Calculation. It was no longer an asset. It could be counted as a liability. Their wealth of experience led them to rely on it too much, and after a brief encounter, Yao Pei could easily predict their movements with near-perfect accuracy.

As the three passed by each other, Yao Pei severed the East Guardian King’s right arm with a single slash. Corroded by the blade qi from the Heavenly Blade, East Guardian King was temporarily unable to reattach his arm.

The West Guardian King had only been stabbed once, not maimed or dismembered, so he fared somewhat better.

Yao Pei’s dagger was excessively sharp, so much so that these Heavenly Being’s physiques were no match against it. One stab left a gaping hole, while the other left a deep gash. The reason the Server had not been injured was only because he had wielded a spear, and even so, the spearhead was already badly damaged.

Was this dagger just a treasure?

But the two understood that a prolonged defense would only end in failure. The East Guardian King shouted, “Second Brother, trade wounds with her! A Banished Immortal isn’t as resilient as a Martial Arts Practitioner!”

The West Guardian King responded. Together with the East Guardian King, they unleashed their ultimate techniques. The West Guardian King, who still had both arms, used the Buddhist Mighty Demon-Subduing Fist Intention, while the one-armed East Guardian King employed the Confucian Lesser Four Seasons Sword Technique. They both struck at Yao Pei in unison.

However, each of the three Daoist prodigies had their own strengths. Zhang Yuelu’s Six Void Tribulations could dissolve anything; Li Changge’s Taiping Qingling Sutra could mimic anything; and Yao Pei’s Taishang Emotionless Sutra could calculate everything. She had already seen through the pair’s weaknesses with absolute clarity.

The moment they engaged, the two immediately felt suppressed at every turn. They could not exert their full strength and only found themselves in worsening positions. Though both were famous in Jianghu, feared and respected, they quickly became disheveled and humiliated when facing Yao Pei together.

Times had changed. The Daoist Order and Jianghu were no longer what they used to be. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say that Jianghu had once been propped up by the Daoist sects. Now that the Daoist Order had become the orthodox ruling party, Jianghu had reverted to its true nature.

There would no longer be godlike figures or hidden masters in Jianghu. Even the secret societies were all intricately linked to the Daoist Order. Today’s Jianghu was just a muddy training ground for the young. Their real prospects still lay within the Daoist Order.

At this moment, the two Heavenly Court members felt this truth more deeply than ever.

Moreover, Yao Pei was not even 30 years old. What would she be like if given another 20 years to develop? Most likely, the two Heavenly Court members would not even qualify to face her in combat.

The Server was caught in a dilemma. If he joined up with the other two, the Heaven-ranked attendant from The Inn would become meat on the chopping block. The Inn had already suffered enough losses, so they could not afford to lose another top fighter. But if he did not regroup, the gravely injured attendant would become a liability, dragging them down and allowing Yao Pei to pick them off one by one. Since the beginning, Yao Pei had only faced one or two opponents at a time and never the full team of four.

Was this also part of Yao Pei’s calculation?

In the end, the Server gritted his teeth and abandoned the attendant, joining the Heavenly Court members in battle. The three of them now attacked Yao Pei together.

Yao Pei did not rush to take the attendant’s life. She seemed surrounded by danger facing the three, but in truth, she handled it with ease by relying on Heavenly Calculation.

Suddenly, Yao Pei flicked her hand, and a cold glint flashed through the air.

It was her throwing knife, and she was never known to miss.

The West Guardian King let out a miserable cry as his right eye was pierced by the knife; the blade even stabbed through to his brain.

This was a serious injury even for a Heavenly Being.

The remaining two felt a chill run down their spines.