A Pawn's Passage

The greatest difference between immortal objects and semi-immortal ones was that an immortal object could give birth to a spirit, take on human form, and choose its own master.

However, not every immortal object could take on a human form. This spiritual awareness differed from merely being a spiritual object because immortal objects could also be manifested in dream realms and retain their full power. Ordinary spiritual objects that were manifested in dream realms did not possess an essence, so they did not have any power. It was the difference between reality and illusion.

The same limitation applied to firearms. They might destroy cities, yet they could not shatter a dream realm. In this regard, the divine kingdoms and the Banished Immortal’s Joyous Cloud Shield shared a similar principle.

It was often said that Martial Arts Practitioners could defeat a Diviner until they reached the Longevity stage. However, in a dream realm, a Martial Arts Practitioner was inferior even to a Qi Refiner. They were easily defeated by Diviners.

Qi Xuansu was not just a Martial Arts Practitioner. He was a Rogue Cultivator and a manmade Banished Immortal. Thus, his being a jack of all trades became an advantage in this situation.

A semi-immortal object still had an essence, but it was just far weaker and incapable of birthing a true being.

The Pure Bodhi was a semi-immortal blade attuned to the mind. Thus, with a mere gesture, Qi Xuansu manifested it into his hand.

Wu Guangbi looked toward him with a faint smile. “Second Deputy Qi, why would you draw your blade?”

Qi Xuansu replied calmly, “Grand Leader Wu, I think you know the answer to that.”

Though Qi Xuansu was now a Daoist official, he was once a Jianghu wanderer and was all too familiar with crossing paths with an enemy.

In this realm where there were no witnesses, it was clear what would come next.

The good news was that Wu Guangbi was not a Shaman, so his power was greatly limited within a divine kingdom.

Since this was a divine kingdom without an owner, those in the Godly Immortal lineage would be able to move through it like fish in water.

As Qi Xuansu’s words faded, Wu Guangbi raised his hand and spread out his fingers. They swelled exponentially until they became as big as five jade pillars. Between them stretched a dark, oppressive void that descended like a collapsing mountain.

This was a profound technique that bore traces of the Confucian Five Peaks Sealing Hand once used by Sage Qingwei, yet also resembled the Buddhist Five Finger Mountain. Clearly, it was a fusion of both. It seemed that the Heavenly Court’s claim of uniting the Five Religions was not mere boasting.

Such techniques carried the power of sealing space. To escape them by speed alone was impossible, so Qi Xuansu chose to meet the strike head-on, lifting his own left hand to grasp in return.

A hand shrouded in eerie flames appeared out of thin air. Its skin was cracked and torn, and where the flesh was gone, molten magma flowed restlessly beneath. It was none other than Izanagi’s Left Arm.

In raw strength, Wu Guangbi clearly held the advantage. But Izanagi’s Left Arm was never meant to win by force. Its essence lay in the demonic fire it carried.

That demonic fire had once tormented the Daoist armies in the Battle of Fenglin. It was strange and unpredictable, burning one’s spirit and leaving its victims deranged and lost to madness.

The two hands met with a thunderous impact. Though Izanagi’s Left Arm could not withstand the vast gulf between their cultivation levels and began to shatter, Wu Guangbi’s face paled. The demonic fire had already burned him in that direct confrontation.

Wu Guangbi had never fought in the Fenglin Campaign. Even among those who had, few knew the truth about the demonic fire. Thus, this was his first encounter with it. He did not understand its nature, nor did he know how to dispel it.

However, as a Pseudo-Immortal, he recognized the demonic fire’s terrifying resemblance to the infamous Six Void Tribulations. He dared not delay another moment and turned his full effort inward to purge the fire from his body, momentarily disregarding Qi Xuansu.

Qi Xuansu seized the opportunity to strike at Li Tianzhen.

The folding fan in Li Tianzhen’s hand was also a semi-immortal object, similar to Tamamo-no-Mae’s fan. He flicked it open. In an instant, countless mirror images manifested. Each mirror image was identical to him, making it impossible to tell truth from illusion.

Qi Xuansu’s blade cut through image after image, each one vanishing into mist before another one surfaced again.

Knowing that Wu Guangbi would need time to rid himself of the demonic fire, Qi Xuansu unleashed his Demonic Blade while invoking the Pure Bodhi’s second divine property to keep his mind clear. Relying on pure intuition, Qi Xuansu locked onto Li Tianzhen’s true body and slashed again.

Li Tianzhen summoned his images before him as shields, which barely withstood Qi Xuansu’s blade. He then snapped his fan shut and traced a circle in the air, manifesting a portal. Li Tianzhen stepped through the portal and vanished in the blink of an eye. Thus, Qi Xuansu’s strike cut nothing but air.

Almost instantly, a second portal opened behind Wu Guangbi, where Li Tianzhen emerged unharmed.

Li Changge’s Bright Crown governed time, while Li Tianzhen’s folding fan commanded space. This was proof that the Li family’s resources ran deep, even possessing semi-immortal objects beyond the Daoist Order’s registry.

Qi Xuansu’s two strikes had been wasted. Knowing there would be no chance for a third, Qi Xuansu leaped down another corridor of the palace, disappearing into its depths.

At that moment, Wu Guangbi finally purged the demonic fire from his body. His voice echoed through the air. “Second Deputy Qi, you wield such a remarkable method. But I’m afraid it’s not of the Daoist path, is it?”

Before he finished his sentence, Wu Guangbi swung his wooden staff and struck at Qi Xuansu from a distance.

Qi Xuansu instantly sensed great danger, so he manifested his Celestial Phenomena Spiritual Statue without hesitation.

It was said that the Heavenly Court was a hodgepodge of mismatched forms. Qi Xuansu’s Spiritual Statue was no less eclectic, as it combined the Spiritual Statues of True Lord Taiyin, True Lord Ziguang, and Himiko, embodying the moon, stars, and the sun.

Like the Buddhist Three-Faced Guanyin, Qi Xuansu’s manifestation also bore three faces.

The front face was True Lord Ziguang, symbolizing the constellations. Her robes were deep as the night and shifted endlessly with the stars and nebulae constantly swirling in birth and death around her.

The left face was True Lord Taiyin with a sword in hand. She was the embodiment of the moon’s stillness. The jade towers behind her were bathed in the cold light of a full moon.

The right face was Himiko, holding a mirror of pure brilliance between both palms. Behind her head was a radiant sun, its light spilling across endless seas and floating immortal isles as the morning sun rose in glory.

The three Spiritual Statues struck in unison. The stars surged, moonlight flowed, and sunlight blazed, their forces intertwining with both yin fire and solar flames.

In that instant, Wu Guangbi’s wooden staff became a giant torch as it burst into flames.

Startled, Wu Guangbi’s movements hesitated for a heartbeat.

Since this was a divine kingdom, divine power reigned supreme, so every technique of the Godly Immortal lineage was amplified. When the faith and offerings that sustained a Godly Immortal could not be severed, the only sure way to kill a deity was through a divine war by invading their divine kingdom.

That was why, when the Daoist Order punished Wu Luo, they dispatched two first-rank Spirit Guards to aid the Great Sage. That was because Spirit Guards were heavily reliant on divine power, so they could enter a divine kingdom without being too restricted.

Now, as Qi Xuansu invoked techniques with his Shaman lineage, his divine power resonated with the divine kingdom; hence, its effects were amplified to the fullest. Meanwhile, Wu Guangbi was bound by the divine kingdom and found many of his techniques limited despite his strength. Thus, he could not subdue Qi Xuansu in a single blow even though there was a large gap between their cultivation levels.

But then again, Qi Xuansu was no stranger to grand battles. He had fought in the Battle of Wuxing Mountain, helped slay the wounded Pseudo-Immortal Katsura Yoshiyuki on the Fenglin battlefield, joined Zhang Yuelu in killing countless formidable foes, and even participated in a battle between Immortals, pitting the Three Yin Beings against Izanagi and facing Sage Qingwei with the Sakka.

Having once witnessed such battles, the mere ripples raised by a Pseudo-Immortal like Wu Guangbi could no longer stir Qi Xuansu. He remained perfectly composed this time, far calmer than when he had faced the Heavenly Court’s Feng Bo back then.

Due to this, Qi Xuansu fought Wu Guangbi head-on but also seized the chance to strike at Li Tianzhen.

Had it been any other Wuliang-stage Heavenly Being, they would have lacked Qi Xuansu’s composure and lost confidence before the fight even began. The moment they shrank back and became indecisive, their hesitation would mark their death.

That brief hesitation was all Qi Xuansu needed to flee far into the distance.

Wu Guangbi made no move to pursue Qi Xuansu, allowing his opponent to vanish as he spoke. “I see that Second Deputy Qi truly lives up to his reputation. I’ve heard he has gained the most battle merit among the eighth-generation disciples. It seems his time in the Fenglin Campaign rewarded him well. That flame just now likely came from some foreign god’s power.”

Li Tianzhen reopened his folding fan and fanned himself leisurely. “That was Izanagi’s power. My uncle’s failure in Fenglin was all because of that boy.”

Naturally, the “uncle” he spoke of was Sage Qingwei.

It was Wu Guangbi’s first time hearing this. He frowned and asked, “What power would a boy like him have to foil Sage Qingwei’s plans?”

Li Tianzhen’s lips curled into a thin smile. “What power? None of his own, for sure. He has the Heavenly Preceptor and the Earthly Preceptor backing him. He’s nothing more than a pawn they move at will.”

Wu Guangbi sighed softly. “A pawn, huh? Many would kill for the chance to be one, let alone one personally played by the Heavenly and Earthly Preceptors.”

Li Tianzhen waved the subject away. “Enough about this. Our true goal this time is to find the Heavenly Empress’s legacy. It’ll be great if we can kill Qi Xuansu along the way, but if not, it doesn’t concern us either.”

Wu Guangbi nodded slightly.

His earlier decision not to pursue Qi Xuansu had not been only because the boy fought well. It was also because he did not want to waste precious time on chasing Qi Xuansu instead of searching for the Heavenly Empress’s legacy. After all, the Dragon Palace would remain open for only a short while.