A Pawn's Passage

Naturally, Qi Xuansu was astonished.

Even Sage Qingwei had been defeated, so how could Qi Xuansu possibly fight with Izanagi with his mere Wuliang-stage cultivation?

That would be nothing short of a fool’s dream.

It would be better to wait for support from the Great Tengu and Tamamo-no-Mae. Perhaps then, a glimmer of hope would appear.

Just as Qi Xuansu was thinking this, the divine kingdom’s gateway, which had been opened earlier, swiftly shut. It seemed that once Izanagi had reforged his golden body, he had regained mastery of his divine kingdom and closed its portal, barring more Longevity-stage Immortals from intruding. Yet in doing so, he had effectively abandoned his physical body outside, leaving it behind entirely.

This made Qi Xuansu all the more pessimistic.

The Heavenly Preceptor did not reply to Qi Xuansu. Instead, another voice replaced his. “I have granted you Class-B access.”

The Imperial Preceptor’s voice carried awe-inspiring majesty, instilling fear. The Heavenly Preceptor’s voice carried benevolence, inviting closeness. But this voice was ethereal, layered with echoing harmonics, mysterious beyond measure.

Qi Xuansu was no fool. At a time like this, anyone who could replace the Heavenly Preceptor in speaking to him was surely not ordinary. A sudden realization struck him, and he asked instinctively, “Are you the Earthly Preceptor?”

There was no denial. Instead, Qi Xuansu received a reply. “From now until you depart Izanagi’s divine kingdom, you may freely access the Ghost Kingdom and summon the Three Yin Beings simultaneously.”

Qi Xuansu was taken aback.

The Ghost Kingdom lay within the Quanzhen Sect’s jurisdiction, and the Three Yin Beings were all products of the creation project.

In the past, Qi Xuansu could also summon the Three Yin Beings, though he had always done so covertly, and he could never summon all three at once. Now, Qi Xuansu was granted the authority to call upon them simultaneously. Who but the Earthly Preceptor could bestow such power?

Was this the Heavenly Preceptor and the Earthly Preceptor working in tandem?

The Heavenly Preceptor forged the link, and the Earthly Preceptor granted the access.

But this was a battle of deities. Even Sage Qingwei had been defeated when wielding the Qinghuo Pearl, an immortal object. The Three Yin Beings were only Pseudo-Immortals. Together, they might be equal to Sage Qingwei or even surpass him slightly. But how could they possibly stand against Izanagi? If Sage Qingwei were still present to coordinate with them, the four of them might have stood a chance to contend with them. Yet with Sage Qingwei now missing, relying on the Three Yin Beings alone seemed woefully insufficient to turn the tide.

Still, Qi Xuansu dared not openly question the Earthly Preceptor’s decision. He could only ask feebly, “Now?”

After all, Qi Xuansu was a disciple of the Quanzhen Sect, while the Earthly Preceptor was its leader. Through Madam Qi’s connection, the Earthly Preceptor was considered his elder.

The Earthly Preceptor was not as talkative as the Heavenly Preceptor and only replied with a single word, “Wait.”

Qi Xuansu dared not act on his own, so he continued to wait.

After Sage Qingwei vanished, Izanagi began to wrestle with himself, as though locked in an endless struggle.

Whether Izanagi could truly become himself again was uncertain.

Vairocana had not only left behind the seal of the Buddha’s palm but also imprinted his svastika mark upon Izanagi’s divine kingdom. Once Izanagi broke free of the seal and sought to reforge his golden body, the svastika would activate at a critical moment, striking him when he least expected it. Taking advantage of the remolding of his golden body, the mark would merge completely into him. It was like adding impurities to molten iron during recasting. It would be otherwise impossible to do in solid form.

Thus, Izanagi could be forcibly converted into a Buddhist Dharma Protector. This was a standard method of the Buddhist Sect—transforming demons into protectors, known as Worldly Protectors. Hence, after Himiko submitted to the Buddhist Sect, she was revered as an incarnation of Vairocana. Coupled with the fusion of the Three Great Kami and Buddha, Buddhism could have reigned over Fenglin for millennia.

However, Vairocana was no longer in this world. He could never have foreseen that the Three Great Kami would leverage the Confucian School’s power to free themselves from Buddhist control, nor that the Daoist Order would rise again and seize Fenglin, much less that the Holy Court would interfere.

The Buddhist Sect was known as the Western Religion relative to the Central Plains, but the Holy Court lay even further west, so which was the true Western faith?

The Holy Court had delivered the Scripture of Zuriel, causing Izanagi to believe in a false perception of himself and swell with strength. Along with this came the magnification of his emotions, which included his hatred for Vairocana.

This had gone beyond Vairocana’s calculations. Empowered by the Scripture of Zuriel, Izanagi was not weakened and could not be forcibly converted into a Dharma Protector by Vairocana’s svastika mark.

When confronted by external threats, the forces within Izanagi could temporarily unite to repel invaders. But once the danger passed, internal strife resumed, much like the three Daoist sects. If such a conflict deepened, they might keep fighting till the death before facing an external enemy.

After defeating Sage Qingwei, the two forces within Izanagi began to clash. One was the inflated self, magnified by the Scripture of Zuriel and driven by hatred. The other was Vairocana’s svastika mark, carrying fragments of his lingering will.

It was pitiable enough that Qi Xuansu was treated as a chess piece, but it was even more pitiful to be treated as the chessboard. At this moment, Izanagi had become the board upon which all sides waged their game.

Izanagi’s body swelled, towering to the heavens before splitting into two halves. The left half of his golden body burned with black flames, his expression ferocious, like a celestial demon. The right half gleamed with radiant golden light, looking like a dignified and majestic Buddha.

This was the fine line between a Buddha and a demon.

Seeing this, Qi Xuansu more or less understood why the Earthly Preceptor had told him to wait.

Like a centipede that refuses to die, such a monstrous being could not be slain quickly by outside force. Even Vairocana had only been able to seal Izanagi. The only way to destroy him completely was if he self-destructed.

The Earthly Preceptor wanted Qi Xuansu to wait until Izanagi’s two internal forces fought to mutual ruin, and then swoop in to reap the spoils.

However, Qi Xuansu could not help but worry. What if the struggle did not end in mutual destruction, but one side triumphed? Even with diminished strength, Izanagi might not be defeated so easily.

The two forces within Izanagi battled endlessly, neither able to overcome the other. However, both did not have a source. The power from the Scripture of Zuriel was temporary, and Vairocana had left only a mark, not his true presence. Both flared like fire on oil, blazing brightly, but only able to last for a short while.

Thus, Izanagi visibly weakened before their eyes.

At that moment, the Earthly Preceptor’s voice broke Qi Xuansu’s chain of thoughts. “Now.”

Neither the Heavenly Preceptor nor the Earthly Preceptor seemed surprised by any of these turns. The former held the Guizang Lantern and was able to peer into the future, while the latter was the best in divination within the entire Daoist Order.

Qi Xuansu dared not hesitate. He quickly began to gather power and opened the portal to the Ghost Kingdom.

He had expected that opening the portal would be arduous, given that he was within Izanagi’s divine kingdom. He was even prepared for this to drain him dry. But to his surprise, opening the portal this time was easier, as if force came from both sides. While he pulled from the outside, something pushed from within, so with their efforts combined, the portal opened easily.

The portal this time was also far bigger than ever before, like a chasm from which endless yin energy poured out.

Wherever the yin energy passed, vegetation withered, the earth turned barren, the seas grew still, the stars dimmed, and even the sky took on a gloomy, sooty hue.

Within the Ghost Kingdom, there was a fissure leading straight into the netherworld. Thus, the yin energy that poured out was the purest of yin, free of the slightest yang impurity. As such, everything the yin energy touched was corroded and tainted. Soon, it spread onto Izanagi’s golden body.

His golden body was now sullied, no longer radiant and resplendent.

From the depths of the rift, three figures slowly emerged.

At that moment, Qi Xuansu felt an odd illusion as if he held a deck of the Holy Xuan Cards, and each card he played could summon the figure depicted upon it. Now it was his turn to play.

Soon, a colossal arm, formed of countless corpses, reached out from the yin-yang rift.

Then a massive body—nearly 300 meters tall—squeezed through the portal. Its form resembled that of an ordinary human, only magnified countless times, like the giant gods of ancient legend. What was more horrifying was that its skin was covered in innumerable eyes along with countless mouths. Each mouth gaped open to reveal rows of white teeth but no tongue, oozing foul, yellowish fluid. As the creature forced its way out of the rift, rotting corpses and skeletal remains dropped constantly from its body. With each movement, showers of blood rained down.

This was the Mighty Lord of Ten Thousand Corpses.

Following the Mighty Lord of Ten Thousand Corpses came a towering black shadow of a vaguely humanoid shape. Though not as large, it still loomed over 30 meters high. However, its entire body was shrouded in haze, as though the human form had been smeared on paper. Across its body, countless dense eyes opened. To meet the gaze of one of these eyes was enough to make a cultivator dizzy. Their spirit would be stolen, and they would be enslaved as puppets. Around its form swirled a black fog, condensed of yin energy and a deathly aura. Wherever it spread, all ordinary life instantly perished, their souls ripped away and turned into vengeful ghosts.

This was the Nine-Yin Lord of the Netherworld.

The final figure was the smallest, standing at 5 meters, forged from Buddhist sariras. In the West, Buddhas were about 5 meters tall and golden in hue, but this being was entirely white, like bones. Around its neck hung a string of grisly beads, formed of twelve human skulls the size of adult heads, each eye socket flickering with ghostly blue flame that sent chills into one’s soul at a glance.

This was the Mystical Lord of White Bones.

Now, the Three Yin Beings had finally revealed their true forms, which were unlike how they normally appeared.