A Pawn's Passage

After the Imperial Preceptor and the Three Great Kami entered the divine kingdom, the shoguji who had initiated the divine descent dissipated completely, leaving only the oguji to face Qi Xuansu, Zhang Yuelu, Li Changge, and Yao Pei alone.

The situation became delicate.

Setting aside the many Tenmon Sect shinkan and Daoist Spirit Guards, the oguji did not hold the advantage.

In terms of cultivation, the oguji was a Pseudo-Immortal, while the four Daoist prodigies were equivalent to four Wuliang-stage Heavenly Beings. Though Li Changge was in the Xiaoyao stage, he had the Qingqiu fox demon bloodline and the Longevity Stone Heart. Ordinary Wuliang-stage Heavenly Beings were no match for them individually. Together, they could easily slay an ordinary Zaohua-stage Heavenly Being. But it might be a stretch to defeat a Pseudo-Immortal based on cultivation alone.

If Li Changge had the Qinghuo Pearl, he alone could arm wrestle with the oguji.

Moreover, aside from the Moon Mirror, the four prodigies carried one immortal object and six semi-immortal objects. Ordinarily, even a single semi-immortal object could tip the balance in a battle, while one immortal object could reverse the outcome entirely.

With so many semi-immortal objects, a gap in cultivation could be compensated for.

Thus, the four moved in perfect sync and surrounded the oguji.

The oguji furrowed his brow slightly, not daring to underestimate them.

In a sense, these were the successors cultivated with the full effort of the Daoist Order. Even if they could not become the Grand Master, they would surely become one of the three Deputy Grand Masters.

Coincidentally, or perhaps not, there were four of them, corresponding to the four positions of ultimate power in the Daoist Order.

The scale of investment the Daoist Order had placed into these youths was evident.

It was like two armies at war. Spending more did not guarantee victory, but it certainly enhanced one’s strength.

Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu stood side by side, each holding one half of the twin swords, a faint sword aura emanating from them.

When the twin swords combined, they could slay a Zaohua-stage Heavenly Being and even wound a Pseudo-Immortal. Without question, these two would be the main offensive force.

Li Changge spread his five fingers, revealing a seed in his palm, which was Mortal Vitality’s true form. A crown of interwoven black and white dragon whiskers appeared on his head, with a small dragon pearl inlaid at the center. This was the Bright Crown.

Yao Pei slipped the Yield Sovereignty into her sleeve and held the Staff of Merit. The twin serpents carved at the staff’s head seemed alive, their cold, unblinking eyes fixed upon the oguji.

The Yata Mirror, once wielded by the oguji, was currently in Himiko-no-Mikoto’s hands, leaving him without a divine artifact. Normally, the oguji relied upon that mirror and carried no other semi-immortal objects, so he now stood barehanded.

None of them spoke. Yao Pei struck the ground first with the Staff of Merit. Black and white ripples spread outward, draining all color from the world around them.

After advancing into the Wuliang stage, Yao Pei’s Great Witch bloodline had awakened further, allowing her to wield the Staff of Merit with greater mastery. Unlike the Skycaller, whose power had no limit, the staff had a ceiling. In the past, Yao Pei’s cultivation was too low to draw out its full might. Now, she could unleash about 80% of its potential.

The Skycaller was like a cold weapon; the greater the wielder’s strength, the greater its power. On the contrary, the Staff of Merit was like a firearm; its lethality did not scale with cultivation. At full output, it could affect even an Immortal. Thus, 80% of that power could certainly affect a Pseudo-Immortal.

The oguji lost all color and froze in place. Though the pause lasted only an instant, it was enough. Protected by the Bright Crown, Li Changge was unaffected by the time freeze. He darted forward and pressed his palm against the oguji’s chest.

Within Li Changge’s palm, Mortal Vitality suddenly sprouted, growing rapidly into a wooden sword. Empowered by that force of growth, it pierced straight through the unguarded oguji’s chest.

Almost the instant his chest was pierced, the oguji managed to unfreeze himself. Without hesitation, he activated his golden body to prevent further injury. After all, without manifesting Spiritual Body or golden body, a Shaman’s physique was fragile, nearly on par with that of a Diviner.

Li Changge smiled faintly, released Mortal Vitality, and drifted backward. The sword was not forced out by the oguji’s golden body. Instead, it took root within the wound. Vines sprouted from its blade, spreading along the oguji’s meridians. The effect was immediate, hampering the flow of divine power.

Even a Pseudo-Immortal had fragile insides. For the oguji to manifest his Spiritual Body, he first had to pull Mortal Vitality out of his chest.

Li Changge’s and Yao Pei’s strikes were both distractions. The true killing move lay with Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu.

The oguji grasped the hilt of the Mortal Vitality and pulled it out slowly. Its many tendrils snapped as they tore free, but the meridians they entwined tore as well, affecting the entire body. These disrupted channels further impaired the circulation of divine power, so his speed in drawing the sword was sluggish.

At that moment, purple qi filled the skies, spiraling downward like a tornado, while green qi surged from the earth, gathering sand into towers. The two forces joined, linking heaven and earth. From above, a large beam of sword light descended.

This was the unity of the twin swords, unleashed together by Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu. The immense sword light cascaded down in an instant upon the oguji, engulfing him like a waterfall.

When the sword light finally faded, the oguji’s form reappeared. His golden body was shattered and broken, yet as a Pseudo-Immortal, he was far from dead.

Mortal Vitality had weakened and broken the oguji’s golden body from within. Its presence was like a gaping breach in the oguji’s entire line of defense. No matter how well he guarded elsewhere, that weakness was omnipresent so long as Mortal Vitality remained stuck in his body.

The oguji knew that he had to focus on pulling out Mortal Vitality from his chest, even if it meant enduring the twin swords’ strike.

Just as the oguji was about to succeed, Li Changge struck again. The Dragon Pearl on his Bright Crown flared. With Li Changge as the center, the flow of time slowed dramatically.

From Li Changge’s perspective, even a bullet shot from a rifle would crawl like a snail, nearly frozen in midair, let alone a person.

From the perspective of others, Li Changge moved at an absurd speed. Even Yao Pei, famed for her swiftness, was left far behind.

This was the divine function of the Bright Crown. Though inferior to the Staff of Merit’s complete time halt, its effect lasted far longer.

Li Changge gripped Mortal Vitality once more. Black flames burned within his eyes, leaping beyond his sockets and flickering wildly. At this moment, he had fully refined his five pieces of Xuan Jade and successfully advanced into the Wuliang stage.

For others, breaking through this realm would have been nearly impossible. But for Li Changge, it was not difficult because he had the strong support of the Li family. He had long been at the brink of breakthrough. This was merely accelerating the process.

In truth, when Li Changge learned that Zhang Yuelu, Qi Xuansu, and Yao Pei had all entered the Wuliang stage one after another, he hastened his refinement of the Xuan Jade. On their journey to Fenglin, even the Imperial Preceptor personally intervened, helping him complete the final step. But even without that help, Li Changge would have broken through that threshold within months. However, he might have missed out on war achievements at Fenglin.

At this moment, Li Changge employed the Taiping Qingling Sutra to mimic the Taiyin 13 Swords. But his version was inherited from the Holy Xuan, one without inner demons. Thus, he could not summon an inner demon or form sword formations with sword slaves. He could only wield yin fire.

Of course, this yin fire could not compare to that of a second heavenly tribulation, just as Zhang Yuelu’s summoned thunder could not be compared to the lightning of a true heavenly tribulation. But their essence was the same, and its power was still immense.

The yin fire spread onto Mortal Vitality. Since wood fed fire, the yin flames immediately intensified and raced along the sword into the oguji’s body, causing smoke to rise continuously from the oguji’s orifices.

The reason this was called a yin fire was that it could not only burn the body but also disturb the mind. The yin fire contained the Five Aggregates, making one lose their true nature. Thus, when the Five Aggregates burned, they consumed the body as fire consumed fuel, hence the name yin fire.

When the Form Aggregate burned, the Four Elements would fall out of balance, and one would suffer from illness. When the Feeling Aggregate blazed, perceptions multiplied and intensified all forms of suffering. When the Perception Aggregate burned, one would pursue desires, leading to the pain of parting from loved ones and the resentment of meeting those one hated. When the aggregate of Mental Formations blazed, one created karma and produced causes for future retribution, and the ceaseless flow of actions brought the suffering of aging and decay. When the Consciousness Aggregate burned, delusions and karma arise, perpetuating transmigration through three lifetimes, creating the suffering of birth and death.

Using the Mortal Vitality as kindling, the yin fire grew exponentially. Though Li Changge himself was only at the Wuliang stage, this was enough to affect even a Pseudo-Immortal like the oguji.

If it were only Li Changge alone, the yin fire would be nothing more than a nuisance that only costs the oguji some time to resolve. However, Li Changge was not alone, so this delay was enough to put the oguji in a precarious situation.

At almost the same time, Yao Pei’s eyes had turned completely white.

After entering the Heavenly Calculation state through the Taishang Emotionless Sutra, she now employed a new perfected method she had mastered since reaching the Wuliang stage—the Eye of Destiny.