A Pawn's Passage

The current social climate was strange. On one hand, it emphasized gender equality, and on the other, it imitated Western ideas like the gentlemanly etiquette of yielding to women.

So, which should people follow? Equality or inequality?

Faced with such unanswerable questions, it was best to steer clear. No contact meant no trouble.

Due to this, Qi Xuansu was somewhat hesitant to fight women. Whether he won or lost, it would look bad, sound worse, and be even harder to explain.

If he won, people would say, “What’s so great about beating a woman?”

If he lost, they would say, “You couldn’t even beat a woman?”

So, Qi Xuansu took the initiative to engage the ronin swordsman, leaving the fox-masked miko to Zhang Yuelu.

The ronin wore a sleeveless jacket with his chest exposed. A long blade hung on the left side of his waist, while a short blade hung on the right.

Qi Xuansu had heard of a Kengo school in Fenglin called Niten Ichiryu. The name, which meant Two Heavens, One School, baffled him. It sounded lofty, but it simply meant using two blades. It was also called Nitoryu for short.

Judging by his attire and stance, this man was clearly a disciple of the Nitoryu school.

The ronin let the sleeveless jacket fall from his shoulders, baring his torso, then drew both blades with crossed hands.

The long blade was called a tachi, and the short one a kodachi.

“Shinmen Konosuke from the Niten Ichiryu School. I humbly ask for your guidance.” The swordsman spoke fluent Central Plains dialect, which was not surprising. After all, the Daoist Order had indirectly ruled Fenglin for nearly a century, exerting a deep cultural influence.

Rebels were plentiful, but so were those who admired the Celestial Empire. Even before the Daoist Order became the orthodox religion, exchanges were frequent between both nations during the Qi Dynasty. Thus, Fenglin’s architecture and attire were heavily influenced by the Qi Dynasty. Their language also incorporated many characters from the Central Plains, which made learning the dialect not all that difficult.

Qi Xuansu originally did not intend to speak to these rebels, but after thinking it over, he said, “You people in Fenglin obviously use blades, yet insist on calling it swordsmanship, substituting swords with knives. I’m no swordsman, but I’ll use a sword in place of a blade today.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a beam of light flew out from Qi Xuansu’s magical receptacle, bathing both men in a bluish-green glow.

Qi Xuansu’s eyes resembled still lakes, clear yet unfathomably deep. At this moment, the lake’s surface glowed bluish-green as well, and within the waters, the faint reflection of a long sword slowly emerged.

That beam of light was a sword.

Li Tiangang also caught sight of the beam of light from the corner of his eye and seemed momentarily dazed.

That beam of light was none other than Green Cloud, one of the Heavenly Preceptor’s Twin Swords.

For Qi Xuansu to grasp Green Cloud was no small matter, because he was not of the Zhang family.

The last two non-Zhangs to be granted such an honor were the Heavenly Preceptor Yan Feiqing and the Holy Xuan himself.

Had the Heavenly Preceptor arranged this deliberately, it clearly meant he placed great value on Qi Xuansu.

If compared to the lesser of the two famous figures, it suggested the Heavenly Preceptor believed Qi Xuansu had the potential to become another Great Sage like Yan Feiqing, someone who could take charge of the Dazhen Mansion despite not bearing the Zhang name.

Otherwise, it meant the Heavenly Preceptor believed Qi Xuansu might succeed the Holy Xuan’s mantle to lead the Daoist Order as the eighth-generation Grand Master.

But the moment Qi Xuansu grasped Green Cloud, his entire body trembled violently as if struck by lightning, and the sword in his hand shuddered and cried relentlessly.

The sword was crying in protest!

In terms of quality, Green Cloud ranked higher than Zhang Yuelu’s Amorphous Paper and on par with Yao Pei’s Staff of Merit. Thus, it was not easily subdued.

Just as lords chose their subjects, so too did subjects choose their lords. Similarly, swords also chose their wielder.

Green Cloud deemed Qi Xuansu unworthy of itself. That was the source of its unrest.

If Qi Xuansu could not even hold Green Cloud steady, then he had no business dreaming of becoming the next Yan Feiqing or the Holy Xuan. It would be better for him to just become the Zhang family’s matrilocal son-in-law.

In that sense, this was a subtle test left by the Heavenly Preceptor.

The sword intention of Green Cloud embodied the accumulated insight of generations of Heavenly Preceptors from the Zhengyi Sect regarding moral principles and the cosmic order. It was not a blade solely meant for killing. One could not resist it through sheer will alone, and it was all too easy to get lost within.

The instant Qi Xuansu grasped Green Cloud, all that embedded sword intention, along with a portion of its innate sword qi, surged into his body in one overwhelming rush.

Veins bulged across the back of Qi Xuansu’s sword-wielding right hand, like snakes writhing beneath his skin, struggling to burst free.

Moments later, the back of Qi Xuansu’s hand finally burst open, and several strands of greenish lightning spiraled around him like miniature dragons. Though they did not shine brightly, they exuded the righteous and fierce aura of heavenly thunder and divine punishment.

This was the true essence of thunder techniques.

But Qi Xuansu had never studied the Five Thunder Celestial Heart Method, much less the Dragon Tiger Sword Technique.

If he attempted to wield the righteous Green Cloud with the unorthodox Demonic Blade, it would be nothing short of courting death.

By now, multiple acupoints throughout Qi Xuansu’s body had begun to show signs of chaos. If not for his advanced cultivation and his body spirits strengthening his acupoints, which had rendered them unusually resilient, some of those acupoints might have been destroyed.

Qi Xuansu had anticipated some backlash but had clearly underestimated the power of Green Cloud.

That was why semi-immortal objects and immortal objects had thresholds for use.

The Qinghuo Pearl could only be used by the fox demon clan, the Staff of Merit favored the Great Witch’s bloodline, and the Amorphous Paper only worked for Zhang Yuelu because she had trained in the Cihang Sword Sequence since childhood. After all, the Amorphous Paper was one of three semi-immortal objects custom-made for that method.

If the conditions were not met, one could only rely on sheer cultivation to force usage, but the bar for that was extremely high.

As a result, although the Daoist Order claimed these immortal objects and semi-immortal objects as public assets, in reality, most remained with their original custodians due to compatibility.

Take the Qinghuo Pearl, for instance—even if it ended up in the Zhang family’s hands, it would merely gather dust in the Xuanwu Hall.

This was also why the Heavenly Preceptor had waited until now to gift Purple Afterglow to Zhang Yuelu. She had not previously learned the Five Thunder Celestial Heart Method or the Dragon Tiger Sword Technique, so it was not suitable. Only after True Lord Ziguang bestowed upon her a fortuitous opportunity did it finally become fitting.

The Heavenly Preceptor had precisely orchestrated the tempo of Zhang Yuelu’s rise to power—when to advance and how far. Though not everything was fully under his control, he was certainly not far off.

However, Qi Xuansu was thoroughly ill-suited for this gift. He knew neither thunder techniques nor proper swordsmanship. He was incompatible with Green Cloud, and his cultivation level was inferior to Zhang Yuelu’s. He did not even bear the Zhang name.

Thus, it would be a miracle if Green Cloud accepted him.

Of course, Green Cloud did not judge its wielder based on bloodline. When the Holy Xuan first wielded it, he was merely a Xiantian Being.

Green Cloud’s tremors gradually faded, but Qi Xuansu’s gaze grew more and more dazed.

Qi Xuansu had merely wanted to try out his newly acquired semi-immortal object, only to end up ensnaring himself.

Seeing the situation unfold, Shinmen Konosuke showed no courtesy, taking the opportunity to slash directly at Qi Xuansu with a single powerful stroke.

Zhang Yuelu quickly stepped in to shield Qi Xuansu, but the miko barred her path.

The miko wore a fox mask, a white kosode top, and red hakama trousers, which resembled a skirt when she stood still. She wielded a katana, blocking Zhang Yuelu’s advance.

This blade was the famed Kiku-ichimonji Norimune, with an exceptionally long, slender, and thin edge. Near the hilt, the blade bore the imperial crest, which was a 16-petal chrysanthemum, and below it was a single horizontal line.

This was a legendary weapon. When Zhang Yuelu researched information about Fenglin, she came across records of it. It was an imperial-forged blade, forbidden to all but the royal family. Given that royal women often served as mikos, and the position of Saio could only be held by royal women, it all lined up.

This miko was, in fact, a Naishinno. In Fenglin, the regent’s sister was called a princess, but the emperor’s daughter held the title of Naishinno, which was a cultural hallmark of the region.

With a single swing of her katana, the miko executed a textbook Ichimonji Slash. Then, her blade multiplied until there were eight of them, each exuding icy killing intent and razor-sharp blade qi, slashing from all directions in a crisscrossing storm of blades.

Zhang Yuelu had no choice but to deal with the miko first. Having learned from Qi Xuansu’s earlier mishap, she refrained from using Purple Afterglow recklessly and instead transformed her trusted Amorphous Paper into a paper umbrella to protect herself. She then spun the umbrella to deflect the falling blades.

Zhang Yuelu’s maneuver was meant to avoid having all eight blades focus their force on a single spot, which might pierce through her defenses.

Meanwhile, Green Cloud moved on its own in Qi Xuansu’s hand, guiding him through the blow. The sword parried Shinmen Konosuke’s slash and even repelled him backward.

This deeply shocked Shinmen Konosuke, leaving him momentarily frozen, not daring to act recklessly.

Seeing this, Zhang Yuelu was finally reassured and focused solely on the miko before her.

At this time, Qi Xuansu had entered a strange state. The force that helped him repel Shinmen Konosuke just now was not from Green Cloud itself, but rather from a remnant consciousness within it.

Calling it a consciousness was not quite accurate. It was more like a legacy inscription left behind by a previous wielder of Green Cloud, akin to a carved tablet. It had no true thought, but due to the originator’s overwhelming cultivation, the inscription was so vivid it gave off an illusion of sentience.

Moments later, Qi Xuansu returned to his senses. Green Cloud also ceased its unrest.

Qi Xuansu murmured thoughtfully, “As the heart bears the world’s burdens, the feet tread the uneven paths of mortal life.”

He slashed with a single strike.

There was no overwhelming sword qi soaring to the skies, no dramatic manifestation of wind and clouds, no thunder crashing down from the heavens, nor mountains trembling with force.

It was simply a plain, unadorned strike.

Shinmen Konosuke was baffled, thinking, That’s it? How underwhelming...