A Pawn's Passage

A few days after Mount Fuyo erupted, Qi Xuansu had a dream.

In the past, Qi Xuansu often dreamt, but his dreams were usually connected with Lingshan or the Great Witches. This time was different. There was no looming mountain or shadowy Great Witch, but a completely different dreamscape.

The dream began gently enough, likely a case of what he thought of by day, he dreamt of by night. In it, Qi Xuansu married Zhang Yuelu, and the two even had a daughter.

But from there, the dream began to distort, taking on a sinister and eerie cast.

Their daughter looked exactly like Yin Wanmiao, as though that little imp had been reborn into their family.

Worse still, the girl seemed mentally unsound, as though her mind had been shattered or her soul sealed. She was dull and witless, neither laughing nor crying, staring at Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu with a vacant expression. She lacked all of Little Yin’s quick wit, seemingly intellectually disabled.

This Little Yin grew to eight years old in the blink of an eye, though she looked more like five or six. She was frail and looked like a child who might die young at any time. Her left arm was especially troubling. It was thin and withered compared to her right, weak, and always hanging limp by her side. Thankfully, she used her right hand for writing and eating.

She could understand speech, but only slowly. Usually, she took a long time to process. As a result, she rarely spoke, never cried or laughed, and unlike the real-life Little Yin, she never caused mischief. Each day, she sat quietly in her own world, eyes glazed, lost in a trance.

At times, she would mutter to herself in a garbled murmur that no one could understand.

In the dream, Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu lived in Taishang Place, with neighbors all around them. Little Yin would sometimes go out to play, only to be bullied by other children. She was mocked as a fool and had her things stolen. Her clothes were often muddied, and sometimes, she was even beaten. Yet she simply stood there with a blank expression, not knowing how to resist or run away.

Whenever Qi Xuansu came upon this scene, he would discipline the bullies, and at such times, Little Yin would finally have some reaction. She would burrow into his arms and weep silently, tears soaking his robe.

With his cultivation, Qi Xuansu knew well enough that he was dreaming. However, he could only accept this flawed daughter, taking her to seek doctors and speaking with her, though all to little avail.

At the dream’s end, Qi Xuansu was going about his daily duties when he suddenly received Zhang Yuelu’s call through the voice transmission talisman. In a hurried voice, she urged, “Come back quickly! The head won’t re-attach!”

Then, the message was cut off.

Hearing those inexplicable words, Qi Xuansu felt a wave of foreboding rise in his heart. He could not figure out what “head” she was talking about.

When Qi Xuansu rushed home, he saw Little Yin’s severed head flying about the room like a Flying Savage, wailing loudly. Her headless little body ran toward him, clutching him tightly as sobs echoed from within her chest cavity.

Zhang Yuelu stood there, holding the bloodstained Pure Bodhi. Her skirt was soaked with blood. Even her face was flecked with it. Her eyes glimmered with something uncanny, making her seem like a strange, chilling beauty.

It now became obvious that Zhang Yuelu had cut off her daughter’s head.

However, this dream version of Zhang Yuelu was unlike her real self. She wore an innocent expression as she calmly explained the cause and effect.

It turned out Little Yin had somehow gotten herself covered in white ash, resembling volcanic dust after an eruption, which coated her clothes and hair. Zhang Yuelu wanted to wash her, but Little Yin refused and kept struggling. To make things easier, Zhang Yuelu had simply taken Qi Xuansu’s Pure Bodhi and cut her daughter’s head off, thinking she would wash it separately and then reattach it afterward.

She had also wanted to peek inside Little Yin’s head to see if something was lodged there that made her so dull, slow, and disobedient.

But Zhang Yuelu had not expected that the head would not go back on once severed, so she had hurriedly summoned Qi Xuansu.

After hearing this, Qi Xuansu felt his vision go dark, and then he woke up.

It turned out he had dozed off, slumped in a chair.

Outside, the sky was overcast and gloomy.

He could make out Zhang Yuelu and Little Yin’s voices.

It seemed that Little Yin had caused trouble again, and someone had come to complain to Zhang Yuelu. She was scolding Little Yin, but the stubborn and defiant girl argued back.

Qi Xuansu shuddered and quickly rose to his feet, hurrying outside, as he was afraid that Zhang Yuelu might actually lose her temper and lop off Little Yin’s head with a single slash. Then Little Yin’s head would fly about and scream like a Flying Savage.

When Qi Xuansu came out, the quarrel between the two was already winding down.

The real-life Zhang Yuelu still preferred using reason rather than violence, and she managed to make Little Yin admit her mistake.

Qi Xuansu could not help but let out a chuckle. How could he take his dream seriously? Zhang Yuelu was not that kind of person.

Still, the quarrels between women were always troublesome. If he and Zhang Yuelu were to have a child, he wished it would be a boy. Otherwise, their household would be far too dominated by women.

After all, he had two mothers-in-law, Madam Qi, and Zhang Yuelu, totaling four women. On the men’s side, it was just him and his father-in-law, half the number of women. If they were to have a daughter, that would make it five women against two men. His father-in-law was useless, always hiding away, while none of the women were easy to handle. Each of them was a handful in her own right.

Thus, Qi Xuansu would be the only one to deal with all of them. If they truly had a mischievous little imp like Little Yin, she would surely clash with Zhang Yuelu and Sage Cihang, but she would likely win Madam Qi’s favor. Three generations would be split into two rival camps. It was terrifying just to imagine the strife that could erupt among them.

Thinking of this, Qi Xuansu shuddered again and suddenly felt far less eager about marriage and children.

But on second thought, if he were to have a son, the men would not be so outnumbered. More importantly, the boy could serve as his shield, letting him retreat into peaceful seclusion like his father-in-law.

Zhang Yuelu noticed Qi Xuansu standing there in a daze, his expression shifting constantly—from self-mockery, anxiety, panic, relief, joy, and even a fleeting sly grin as if some petty scheme had succeeded. She could not help but ask, “Tian Yuan, what are you thinking about?”

Qi Xuansu snapped out of it and muttered awkwardly, “Nothing much, just had a dream.”

“What dream?” Zhang Yuelu was curious. “Another one about the Great Witches and Lingshan?”

“No.” Qi Xuansu pointed at Little Yin. “I dreamed this little imp became our daughter. Then there was something wrong with her head. You wanted to see what it was, so you just chopped her head off.”

The room instantly went cold.

Zhang Yuelu stared at Qi Xuansu in silence.

Little Yin also gaped at him in disbelief. She had not expected him to dream of her dying!

Under their gaze, Qi Xuansu instantly felt guilty and embarrassed. He quickly changed his tune. “It was just a dream, nothing to take seriously...”

Zhang Yuelu did not know what to say for a while. In the end, she settled with explaining herself. “I must have scolded Little Yin too loudly and have disturbed your rest. That’s why you had such an absurd dream.”

“Not entirely...” Qi Xuansu suddenly noticed patches of white ash on the ground. “What’s this?”

Zhang Yuelu followed his gaze and answered, “Mount Fuyo erupted. Some of the ash drifted here to Xiujing. They say Heian Capital is much worse, with the whole city covered in ash. Xiujing just got a sprinkling, nothing much.”

At once, Qi Xuansu recalled that in his dream, the reason for the beheading had been Little Yin returning covered in white dust, just like this volcanic ash.

Could there be some connection between the two?

Thinking of this, Qi Xuansu carefully recalled all the oddities about Little Yin in his dream.

First, Little Yin’s mind was unsound and witless, her reactions slow. Second, her left arm was crippled, its muscles severely atrophied. Lastly, her body was frail, and her growth was stunted. Though she was eight years old, she appeared no more than five or six.

These three points seemed to carry some deeper meaning.

Clearly, the Little Yin in the dream did not represent the actual Little Yin, likewise for Zhang Yuelu. Both were representations of something else.

Instead of brooding alone, Qi Xuansu carefully recounted the dream and his interpretations to Zhang Yuelu.

After hearing him out, Zhang Yuelu also grew serious and sank into thought.

After a moment, Zhang Yuelu suddenly said, “We encountered Izanagi’s left arm that day in Ise’s Iino District.”

With Zhang Yuelu’s reminder, Qi Xuansu immediately realized something. “That left arm was weakened by the Heavenly Preceptor, matching the weakness in the dream version of Little Yin. If the dream Little Yin was Izanagi’s embodiment, then it means Izanagi’s mind is now incomplete, and his strength greatly diminished.”

Zhang Yuelu nodded in agreement. “That should be it.”

Qi Xuansu muttered, puzzled. “If Little Yin in the dream symbolizes Izanagi, then who do you symbolize?”

The couple looked at each other and said in unison, “The Daoist Order.”

Zhang Yuelu said, “The eruption of Mount Fuyo was most likely because Sage Qingwei broke the seal on Izanagi’s torso and head. But Izanagi is no longer what he once was. His mind, power, and left arm are all crippled. He’s not the Daoist Order’s match. This means they are about to make their move against him.”

Qi Xuansu glanced at his own left hand. “That must be the only explanation.”

Only Little Yin was baffled. “What do you mean, the dream Little Yin is Izanagi? Why are you two confusing me with all that mysterious talk?”