A Pawn's Passage

After striking the West Guardian King with a blade, Yao Pei unexpectedly turned to attack the East Guardian King.

The East Guardian King truly could not figure out Yao Pei’s intentions. A person’s thoughts were usually guided by both logic and emotion, but once emotion was discarded, normal reasoning no longer applied.

The East Guardian King could only spin around rapidly, his long sword moving in tandem with him like a dragon. Sword qi surged in all directions, forming a dense and seamless web around him that extended outward. Though the Confucian Lesser Four Seasons Sword Technique could not rival the true Four Seasons Sword Technique, it still had its merits. Against a normal opponent, not the unreasonably overpowered Daoist prodigies, even with one arm lost, he could still claim unshakable defense if not outright victory.

But with the Daoist prodigy Yao Pei as his opponent, that confidence vanished.

Indeed, what seemed like a flawless net of sword qi appeared full of holes before Yao Pei. She slipped effortlessly through the outer gaps of the web, as if walking through an unmanned domain.

Shocked, the East Guardian King pushed himself to the limit, unleashing a torrent of sword qi, capable of shredding anything in its path to bits. A typical Xiantian Being caught within this web would be instantly reduced to a mist of blood. He even sent the sword qi into the ground to prevent Yao Pei from using the Earth Escape Method.

At that moment, everything lost its color. Only stark black and white remained.

The East Guardian King suddenly froze in place. Even his thoughts came to a halt.

The surging sword qi also halted at the final instant. Once formless, the threads of energy were now visibly frozen in place.

Yao Pei was the only figure still in vivid color. She walked through the motionless waves of sword qi and came before the East Guardian King, then beheaded him with a single slash.

Due to Yao Pei’s limited cultivation, she could not unleash the Staff of Merit’s full power. Its effect only influenced a small area, so the Server and the West Guardian King remained unaffected. Upon seeing this scene, both were horrified to the core.

Even Zhang Yuelu’s Amorphous Paper was not this bizarre and domineering.

After taking the East Guardian King’s head, Yao Pei dashed forward once again to finish off the Heaven-ranked attendant.

Only the Server and the West Guardian King remained standing.

In truth, the combined strength of all four was theoretically greater than Yao Pei’s. If she had rushed in headlong and fought them directly, she would most likely have died. But instead of brute force, Yao Pei continually sought and created opportunities to take them down one by one. Whether one-on-one or two-on-one, none of the four could match her. From start to finish, she never faced all four opponents at once, and so the four inevitably slid toward defeat.

At that moment, someone sighed and ordered, “You two, stand down.”

The Server and the West Guardian King quickly withdrew to the side, as if granted amnesty.

A young man stepped into the hall from the path Yao Pei’s group had taken. It was none other than Li Changge.

He did not even bother with a disguise.

The law has no power on its own. Its strength lies in its enforcer.

According to Wei Dynasty’s laws, rebellion warranted the extermination of nine generations of a family. But the Daoist Order still rebelled. So what?

In the end, the Wei Dynasty Court lacked the power to enforce its own laws and was overthrown by the Great Xuan Dynasty with the support of the Daoists. Those legal codes were nothing more than words on paper—powerless in essence. After a few edits by the Great Xuan Dynasty, they were rebranded and became someone else’s doctrine.

They could not even uphold their own system.

Thus, throughout history, power has always trumped the law.

This was why Li Changge stood there openly and confidently, with no fake identity, no disguise, and no need to hide.

In a way, was this not an unspoken display of the overwhelming power Li Changge represented?

People from the Heavenly Court and The Inn dared to fight Yao Pei to the death, yet no one dared defy Li Changge’s orders.

This proved that such overwhelming authority had little to do with cultivation level.

The Quanzhen Sect might be larger in scale than the Taiping Sect, but the Li family’s influence undeniably surpassed the Yao family’s.

The Li family could practically be equated with the Taiping Sect, with all other families as vassals. The Yao family, however, could not claim the same for the Quanzhen Sect because there were too many other noble families and the vast number of wandering Daoists to contend with.

The white glow in Yao Pei’s eyes slowly faded as she exited her emotionless trance and regained clarity. “I thought you would remain in the shadows. I even considered you might launch a sneak attack. I just never expected you to show up so openly in front of me.”

Li Changge smiled and said, “I’m not Elder Xu, I’m no good at scheming. I was born into a house of great privilege, and ever since I was a child, people have said I carry the legacy of the Holy Xuan. I’ve heard it for nearly twenty years. As they say, repeat a lie a thousand times and it becomes the truth. Even I’ve started to believe it. The Holy Xuan always carried himself with integrity, so I honestly can’t bring myself to hide in the shadows.”

Yao Pei replied calmly, “At least you’re self-aware.”

Li Changge smiled and said, “It’s a virtue to know oneself. In the end, I’m not the Holy Xuan. I’m merely Li Changge. I owe all that I have today to my family, so naturally, I must repay that debt. I can’t seek both the shelter of my family and the so-called freedom.”

Yao Pei asked, “What are you planning to do?”

Li Changge replied with a casual tone, as if chatting with an old friend, “Su Yi, you must understand one thing. What I seek and what the Imperial Court seeks are two different matters. We do share some common interests, but we also have our differences.

“The alliance between the Taiping Sect and the Imperial Court is one of necessity. It can’t last. Even if the Taiping Sect secures the Grand Master position with imperial backing, once the precedent of non-interference between the Daoist Order and the Imperial Court is broken, that balance established by the Holy Xuan will collapse. There cannot be two suns in the sky or two rulers in a nation. Sooner or later, there will be a power struggle. Either the Grand Master crowns the emperor, or the emperor appoints the Grand Master. A court that grows too powerful is not a good thing.

“None of the three Daoist sects wants things to go that far. So, before the seventh-generation Grand Master is appointed, there’s still room for mutual compromise. For example, the Taiping Sect refrained from intervening directly after the resolution in the recent Golden Tower Council meeting.”

Yao Pei asked bluntly, “If the Taiping Sect isn’t interfering, then what does your presence here mean?”

Li Changge smiled. “That’s exactly what I’m getting at. I believe we don’t have to reach that breaking point. If the Grand Master title can be secured through proper channels, there’s no need to involve the Imperial Court at all. The seventh-generation Grand Master candidate is beyond my say, so let’s leave that aside. Let’s talk about the eighth-generation Grand Master.

“The world believes that you, me, and Qing Xiao are the most likely candidates for the eighth-generation Grand Master, and I agree. It’s not just about our age or cultivation level. It’s because our backgrounds allow us to represent the interests of the three Daoist sects. Tian Yuan’s cultivation is impressive, but can he represent the Quanzhen Sect? I doubt it. So in truth, my real rivals are you and Qing Xiao.

“But there’s still a hierarchy between the two of you. I’m not fond of bloodlines, legitimacy, nobility, or background, but I can’t deny that these things do matter. Qing Xiao may be the most naturally gifted among us, but she also has the lowest status. The main branch of the Zhang family doesn’t support her, so it’s not even a Zhang-versus-Li struggle. It’s the Cihang lineage against the Li family, so how could she win? Besides, subduing the Monkey is still a life-threatening task even with the mysterious Thumb. She might not return. But you’re my true threat.”

The Quanzhen Sect could detect the formations and layout inside the Wuxing Mountain, and the Taiping Sect could likewise gain intelligence on the Anchor the Monkey operation through secret channels. This was what it meant for everything to be intertwined.

A peculiar smile flickered across Yao Pei’s cold face. “Then I’m truly honored.”

Li Changge continued, “So I began to wonder. If you were to die here in Wuxing Mountain, wouldn’t that mean one less rival for me?”

Yao Pei was not surprised. “You plan to do it yourself.”

Li Changge replied calmly, “The Daoist law allows for duels. So why don’t we settle this once and for all? What do you say?”

As he finished his sentence, two scrolls of contracts materialized out of thin air.

Li Changge then retrieved an image recording stone and casually tossed it into the air to serve as proof for the future.

For anyone else, killing Yao Pei would be a grave crime. Only if Li Changge killed her in a private duel would it not be a crime.

A private duel between young practitioners was in line with Daoist rules. With the Taiping Sect backing Li Changge, even the Quanzhen Sect could not interfere. They could only blame Yao Pei for lacking skill.

If someone else had killed Yao Pei in a private duel, the Quanzhen Sect could have simply declared the duel invalid. So it had to be Li Changge.

Conversely, this was also a perfect opportunity for Yao Pei to eliminate a major enemy.

Yao Pei said, “Yong Yan, you’re using your weakness against my strength. Your confidence has crossed into arrogance.”

Li Changge replied in a calm tone, “Regardless, I am at least a manmade Banished Immortal. I can suppress innate Banished Immortals while we are Heavenly Beings. If I don’t act confident now, when should I?”

He joked, “I can’t possibly wait until you and Qing Xiao both attain immortality to start acting proud. That would just be inviting a beating.”

Li Changge was always courteous and never arrogant, but his pride was etched into his very bones, restrained and hidden deep. Still, he did not underestimate Yao Pei. That was why he had sent four Heavenly Beings to probe her abilities to know his opponent better.

Yao Pei cut her fingertip, drew out two drops of blood, and flicked them. One drop merged into each of the scrolls.

Li Changge did the same, flicking his own two drops of blood into the scrolls.

With that, the life-and-death pact was sealed.

Yao Pei gripped her dagger in her right hand, holding it horizontally before her, with the back of her hand facing outward.

Her eyes turned white once again. Accompanied by a faint cracking sound, a fine fracture appeared on the blade of her dagger. The fracture deepened and spread wider, branching outward.

In moments, the blade of the dagger was covered in fine, web-like cracks.

Yao Pei clenched her hand tightly.

The dagger shattered completely, and a brand-new knife appeared in Yao Pei’s hand.

Li Changge smiled and said, “Justice always wins. It’s just that no one ever believes they’re the evil one.”