A Pawn's Passage

Aboard the flagship of the Donghai Fleet, the Chief Admiral stood upon the bridge, gazing toward Fenglin through a telescope.

Before long, several dark specks appeared within the circular lens of his scope. They grew larger and clearer with each passing moment. They were the flying ships departing from Fenglin’s Mutsu Province.

The Chief Admiral muttered, “They’re coming.”

He lowered the telescope and commanded, “Proceed according to the original plan.”

A subordinate bowed in assent and hurried off.

The Donghai Fleet began dispersing outward to avoid being caught in the coming upheaval.

For this operation, the Daoists had deliberately transferred the Killing Stone—Tamamo-no-Mae’s true body—to Mutsu Province, ensuring that she could move beyond Fenglin’s bounds and wield her full power at the Longevity stage.

In a flash, the flying ships reached the designated waters. The four Longevity-stage Immortals circled around the Yinglong Warship, each casting one of Izanagi’s limbs into the sea below.

With each limb striking the waves, a colossal pillar of fire roared skyward. When all four touched the waters, the surrounding sea for hundreds of kilometers erupted into a blazing inferno. After all, it was the unknown fire of an ancient god.

Sage Qingwei stepped onto the deck of the Yinglong Warship, gazing down at the sea of flames.

A phantom voice seemed to whisper in his ears. It was Izanagi’s yearning call for resurrection.

However, Sage Qingwei was not like the amateur Qi Xuansu. His mind was untouched, utterly unmoved.

Spirit Guard Ding Wei and Spirit Guard Jia Chen stood one pace behind Sage Qingwei, flanking him. Their faces were hidden by their visors, so they loomed like two metal door guardians.

After a moment of silence, Sage Qingwei gave his command. “Release the torso.”

A hatch opened at the belly of the Yinglong Warship. It was usually reserved for deploying Phoenix Eye Bombs, but this time, no weapon dropped, only a massive torso and head, bound in layer upon layer of seals.

As the torso and head descended, the talisman papers affixed upon them spontaneously ignited, peeling away in flames and ash, trailing a fiery streak that gradually revealed their true form.

From afar, it resembled a meteor plummeting into the sea.

The Yinglong Warship immediately pulled back, shifting position.

When the final torso and head sank into the sea, Izanagi’s remains, which had been severed and scattered about Fenglin, were at last about to reunite.

All the Shiranui flames abruptly vanished, leaving the sea momentarily calm. Soon after, countless massive bubbles surfaced, each the size of a house.

A colossal shadow rose from beneath the waves, ascending quickly, its outline sharpening with each moment.

The waters grew restless, surging like a tsunami, before twisting into a massive vortex. A towering, bare-chested giant shrouded in raging flames emerged from the boiling seawaters. He rose like the sun on the horizon, casting light upon the world, banishing darkness, bestowing warmth, and dispelling the cold. Its divine grace was as boundless as the sea.

The heavens shifted in an instant. The giant’s body emitted billowing black mist, transforming the surrounding flames into surging black fire that spread across the sea. Smoke roared skyward, as though the heavens themselves were set ablaze, blotting out all the radiance just moments before. Malevolent demonic qi raged across heaven and earth, suffocating all beneath a force that could burn the sky and boil the seas. Its divine might was as oppressive as a prison.

Suddenly, a thunderous shriek split the skies. The Yinglong unleashed its long-prepared Grade-A Series Two Dragon Eye Bomb. This strike carried the fury of wind and thunder, blasting straight at the giant.

The giant was struck squarely in the chest, his flesh torn open in a gaping wound as torrents of blood poured down like rain.

In that instant, a scarlet brilliance bloomed, staining the sky, the sea, the flying ships, and every face beneath in blood-red hues. It was a ghastly yet dazzling sight.

When the glow faded, the giant’s wound had already healed without a trace, as if it had never existed at all.

This was the undying body. Even the Vairocana had not been able to slay him outright.

The giant stretched forth his hand toward the heavens, as if wanting to drag the sun down to earth, wielding its endless solar flames to annihilate everything.

As the giant moved, the sun above grew larger, drawing nearer to earth. The temperature surged, and the air warped in the waves of heat. The radiance of the sun turned all things into a blinding white until not a single shred of shadow remained.

Of course, the sun could never truly fall upon the earth. This was a Godly Immortal’s manipulation. Their every strike carried an aura of world-shattering destruction designed to overwhelm people through sheer presence.

At that moment, the Great Tengu spread his vast wings, blotting out the sky. Its layered black feathers rolled like storm clouds, veiling the sky and dimming the blazing sun, casting a patch of cool shade onto the space beneath him.

Such was the power of a Great Yokai at the Longevity stage.

Tamamo-no-Mae raised her folding fan, concealing the lower half of her face. Nine phantom fox tails unfurled behind her, writhing like serpentine dragons.

Of course, she was not yet a true Nine-Tailed Fox. Two of those tails were mere illusions, more for display than substance.

The remaining seven tails lashed together, summoning a grand meteor shower of foxfire cascading from the heavens.

Ordinarily, as the god of flames, Izanagi and his children—Kagutsuchi and Himiko—were immune to nearly all worldly fire. Unless it came from an entity whose realm surpassed his, such as the Vairocana, any flame could not harm him.

However, the flames summoned by Tamamo-no-Mae were fox fire, the innate power of the fox demon clan.

This was the fox demon clan’s unique gift, akin to the dragons’ water-controlling powers. Since fox fire lay outside the Five Elements, even Izanagi could not resist it.

The ghostly blue fox fire struck Izanagi’s body. Though it was called fire, it was imbued with the essence of ice. The bitter cold sealed Izanagi’s flesh in a mist of frost. In this regard, even the chill of the Yuki-Onna paled in comparison.

A mortal would have been frozen into an ice statue instantly. Yet as the god of flames, Izanagi’s body burned with such heat that the frost could not solidify. It became a thin white vapor. From afar, it seemed as though a mountain of fog had risen, enshrouding Izanagi.

Though two Longevity-stage yokai had attacked in succession, they barely managed to restrain Izanagi’s overwhelming might.

Zhang Qihan stood solemnly, cradling the Eight Scenes Lantern. He had employed only four mystical abilities so far, so he had another four in reserve.

Princess Himiya Akiko also had a grave expression, holding the Yata Mirror in both hands.

With four Longevity-stage Immortals and two immortal objects, they could surely subdue Izanagi.

This was not even counting Sage Qingwei and the many other backups of the Daoist Order.

This was why so many Immortals strove for greater power. No matter how strong one might be, two fists could not prevail against multiple. A lone, wandering Immortal was nothing before the might of the Daoist Order. Even the three Ancient Immortals had been forced to band together under such pressure.

Unless one was a Second-Tribulation Immortal like the Sage of Mind, one would not be able to contend against the mighty Daoist Order. Moreover, with the end of the era approaching, such powerful beings were nowhere to be found in this world.

The age when an individual could stand above all by sheer martial prowess and claim the title of the world’s most powerful person had long since passed.

In this era, whoever became the Grand Master was considered the foremost figure in the world.

Even the sixth-generation Grand Master, often judged as weak and indecisive, could not be deposed. At most, the three Deputy Grand Masters joined forces to restrain him, rendering him a figurehead. They could never outrightly depose him because none of them could truly surpass him, especially on an individual level.

It was akin to an emperor not being restrained by a single minister but only restricted by the collective authority of the entire court.

Sage Qingwei leaped from the Yinglong Warship, his form splitting into 28 clones, each embodying a stance of the Nandou 28 Swords. Vast, majestic sword qi spread across the heavens as he alone wove a colossal Star Sword Formation to encircle Izanagi.

This formation far surpassed the one Sage Qingwei had once used to entrap Tamamo-no-Mae. Stars flowed, constellations shifted, and the 28 clones aligned at critical points to drive the formation. The boundless sword qi transformed into an illusion.

It bore resemblance to the Earthly Immortal’s Daozi Sword and to the Primal Origin Sword Qi from the Beidou 36 Swords. However, it surpassed both by a margin.

There were even faint traces of Confucian swordsmanship interwoven within Sage Qingwei’s technique.

Li Daoxu’s Beidou 36 Swords, Xu Wugui’s Taiyin 13 Swords, and the Holy Xuan’s Nandou 28 Swords focused on variation. In contrast, the Confucian School’s sword techniques pursued the opposite, with few variations, encouraging direct strokes to overwhelm the opponent.

Sage Qingwei had even blended the Confucian Heavenly Heart Sword Technique so that the formation was no longer ceaselessly shifting but seamless, flawless, and natural.

The mountain of fog dispersed, and the newly freed Izanagi was once again ensnared within Sage Qingwei’s sword formation.

Neither the Great Tengu, Tamamo-no-Mae, nor Sage Qingwei sought to annihilate Izanagi. After all, the Vairocana had failed to do so, and if they destroyed him, how could they ever open his divine kingdom?

The true key lay with Zhang Qihan and Princess Himiya Akiko.

To be precise, the key lay in the Eight Scenes Lantern and the Yata Mirror.

When wielded by Immortals, these immortal objects could unleash their full might that was enough to suppress Izanagi.

Due to the repeated assaults, Izanagi was utterly enraged. Wrath and frenzy surged within his chest as it swelled and contracted visibly. Then, he exhaled two blazing fire dragons from his nostrils, laced with streams of black yin energy.

Though Izanagi’s breath was not as terrifying as that of Luwu, it still burned like molten lava—scorching and consuming all in its path.

The two fire dragons rampaged within the sword formation. Wherever they passed, starlight wavered in chaos, and constellations dimmed.

Izanagi swept his hand backward in a grasping motion.

His right hand remained intact. Where it passed, it was as if a Manly Immortal had shattered the void, for five savage wounds were carved across the heavens.

It was also as though the void were a mere curtain, lifted at one corner to reveal another world beyond.

That was Izanagi’s divine kingdom.