A Pawn's Passage

Suddenly, the glow of the lotus lanterns within the hall dimmed all at once.

Wu Guangbi had already appeared inside the main hall.

He looked exactly the same as before, with his Daoist robe, tall crown, shaved head, wooden staff, and holy emblem.

Wu Guangbi shouted, “Which esteemed expert hides in the shadows? Why conceal yourself like a ghost? Come out and face me!”

As his voice faded, a sudden gale rose within the hall. The water in the pools rippled, curtains snapped loudly, and the flames in the lanterns flickered erratically. The wind converged into a vague humanoid shape.

From that silhouette, countless illusory lines weaved rapidly until a sharp outline emerged. Once the outline took shape, even finer strands branched out and continued to weave, filling in the blank spaces, like a master embroiderer painting with threads, gradually rendering finer details.

Next, the translucent threads began to shift in color and material, forming clothing, accessories, flesh, and skin. In the blink of an eye, a person stood before Wu Guangbi.

Diviners excelled in turning falsehood into reality. No matter how impossible something seemed, it could still be done.

It was Qi Xuansu’s yang spirit wielding the Green Cloud.

Wu Guangbi glared at the man. “Qi Xuansu!”

Immediately after, Zhang Yuelu entered the hall as well, drawing her sword, Purple Afterglow.

Wu Guangbi’s expression darkened, and a deep crease appeared between his brows.

He clearly sensed that these two Daoist prodigies had, by unknown means, both ascended into the Zaohua stage, and that the swords in their hands were none other than the famed Heavenly Preceptor’s Twin Swords.

Back then, the Ancestral Heavenly Preceptor had wielded these very swords to slay four Great Witches.

Qi Xuansu’s accomplishment as the foremost contributor among the eighth-generation disciples during the Fenglin Campaign owed much to these swords.

Tonight, Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu had infiltrated this villa under the cover of darkness with weapons in hand. Thus, Wu Guangbi could clearly see their killing intent.

Wu Guangbi did not fear the two. Rather, their identities made him hesitate. If he truly killed Zhang Yuelu or Qi Xuansu, the consequences would be immeasurable. If Wu Guangbi were alone, he would have avoided conflict and fled. However, Li Tianzhen was here at this moment. Young Master Li was not powerful enough to escape their grasp.

Whether Li Tianzhen died here or was handed over to the Daoist authorities by Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu, Wu Guangbi would have no way of explaining himself to the Li family.

Just as Wu Guangbi hesitated, Qi Xuansu had already made his move.

A chilly white frost spread at a speed visible to the naked eye. The flowing water in the pools froze solid in an instant, and the pillars and floors were coated in thick frost. Even Wu Guangbi, who was standing at the very front, instantly froze into an ice statue.

At the same time, Wu Guangbi found himself standing amidst a boundless white snowfield. A snowy peak collapsed, and an avalanche engulfed him entirely. In the next moment, he was plunged into a frozen sea. Countless blocks of ice rose and sank all around before a massive iceberg pressed down on him, pushing him into the dark, frigid depths. Endless despair and cold engulfed him, freezing even his soul, solidifying his very thoughts.

Wu Guangbi knew this was Qi Xuansu’s spell, one that targeted the soul. Even knowing it was an illusion. It felt utterly real, indistinguishable from truth. This was indeed a superb display of turning falsehood into reality.

However, Wu Guangbi was still at the Pseudo-Immortal stage. He could use his brute power to crush this spell. In a blink of an eye, cracks split through the ice, and the frost clinging to him shed away in cascading flakes.

In that instant, Zhang Yuelu had already closed in. Lightning surged along Purple Afterglow’s blade like liquid metal. While Green Cloud excelled in sharpness, Purple Afterglow amplified spells. Since Zhang Yuelu cultivated the Five Thunder Celestial Heart Method, any thunder and lightning spells would be augmented to a formidable level.

Wu Guangbi lifted his wooden staff to block. Though he managed to stop Purple Afterglow’s blade from touching his body, the lightning crawled swiftly along the staff and spread up his arms and over his body.

A numbing shock seized him, making his movements sluggish.

Qi Xuansu raised his free hand, with his fingers slightly curled. A new illusion materialized out of thin air, enveloping Wu Guangbi once more.

In this illusion, flames roared, seas boiled, smoke drifted, and white ash fell like snow. In the distance, a volcano spewed molten lava. The scorching heat felt completely real. This was Fenglin’s Mount Fuyo.

Qi Xuansu had cleverly woven Izanami’s memories into an illusion.

The two extremes—ice and fire—overlapped.

All these spells were illusory, so they could not alter reality. However, they were devastating to the soul.

Wu Guangbi narrowed his eyes.

Though he appeared at a disadvantage, he remained fundamentally uninjured. After all, he was a Pseudo-Immortal who had once fought Madam Qi without falling behind.

“Qi Xuansu, Zhang Yuelu, do you two think you can kill me just like that?” Wu Guangbi let out a furious laugh. “Don’t you think you’re overestimating yourselves?”

He slammed the wooden staff in his hand heavily onto the ground. The tail of the staff pierced deeply into the floor, shattering the tiles. The lightning clinging to Wu Guangbi’s body, along with the illusion enveloping him, was forcibly dispersed.

Wu Guangbi was a Qi Refiner at the Pseudo-Immortal stage, a single step away from being a true Immortal.

“Ignorant fools! You clearly don’t know your own limits.” Wu Guangbi grasped the top of the staff with one hand and pulled it from the ground. “Since you’ve delivered yourselves to my door, I don’t mind teaching you a lesson on behalf of your elders.”

At the same time, Li Tianzhen, who was in the bedchamber, was alarmed. He pushed away the women draped around him and sat up. His expression was grim.

He could hear Wu Guangbi’s voice. So naturally, he also heard the two names mentioned—Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu.

Either name brought back unpleasant memories. Qi Xuansu was his love rival, and Zhang Yuelu had kicked him out of Jade Capital due to their wager. Though Li Tianzhen accepted defeat, he was not the type to cling sentimentally to someone after being humiliated.

After all, he was not some inexperienced boy. He was a proud young master of the Li family. If he wished, countless women would crawl at his feet, so he had no need to please any woman, not even Zhang Yuelu.

Zhang Yuelu was just another woman to him. After their duel, whatever existed between them was no longer affection or admiration, only enmity.

Li Tianzhen never expected these two to barge in here at this hour.

He was no fool, nor did he consider Qi Xuansu or Zhang Yuelu fools. He knew both of them were extremely cunning. Qi Xuansu knew Wu Guangbi was with him, yet the two still dared storm the place. Clearly, they were not here to die. They must have some confidence in a victory.

After all, Wu Guangbi was not invincible. Thus, it was in Li Tianzhen’s best interest to leave immediately, regardless of whether Wu Guangbi won or lost.

If Wu Guangbi won, Li Tianzhen could simply return later. Embarrassment was nothing compared to his life.

With that thought, Li Tianzhen hastily threw on his clothes, took out his folding fan, and used it as a brush to draw a circle, manifesting a portal. He ignored the women who were too stunned to react and stepped through, vanishing in an instant.

Elsewhere, Wu Guangbi held the top of the wooden staff with one hand and held it horizontally before him.

The staff’s body resembled tangled, dead vines. Its tip was like a withered hand gripping a large red crystal. Wu Guangbi clenched his palm, shattering the red crystal. The vine-like coils along the staff broke apart as well, revealing its true form—a sword.

The blade was blood-red. Upon close inspection, it was streaked with vein-like patterns. This sword was forged from blood-patterned steel, which was once a by-product of Daoist alchemical refining, akin to gunpowder. Later, a master swordsmith expanded upon the technique, sacrificing fresh human blood in the furnace, hence creating steel laced with dense bloodied veins.

For a Qi Refiner, the flow of innate qi depended on the meridians and Dantians. A weapon forged from blood-patterned steel allowed one’s innate qi to circulate through it without obstruction, making the weapon feel like an extension of one’s own body, hence responding as readily as an arm, doubling its power.

Qi Refiners were always best at using swords. Most often, staffs were merely disguises.

Wu Guangbi’s skills were primarily rooted in Daoist arts, supplemented with Confucian and Buddhist techniques, with slight dabbling in the Holy Court’s and the Shamanistic Sect’s methods.

Wu Guangbi let out a cold laugh. “Since you two use swords, I shall use one too. Let’s see what this famed Dragon Tiger Sword Technique is all about.”

Before he even finished his sentence, Wu Guangbi had already drawn his sword.

In an instant, the entire great hall transformed into a wondrous cycle of the four seasons. A fine spring rain turned into the torrential thunderstorm of summer before fading into the bleak autumn rain and chilly winds. Lastly, swirling winter snow and howling gusts engulfed the place.

This was the Confucian School’s Four Seasons Sword Technique, which resembled the Taiyin 13 Swords. However, the latter only had 13 forms, while the former had 24, corresponding to the solar terms. That was nearly twice as many and far harder to master.

Only the Sage of Mind, who was a Second-Tribulation Immortal, had ever cultivated all 24. Moved by this difficulty, he later divided the system into four sets of six, each practiced by a different person and combined into a formation, giving rise to the Four Seasons Formation.

Wu Guangbi had mastered only 12 forms—three for each season. He had yet to learn the other twelve. But even so, half the set was enough to make him nearly unmatched beneath the Immortal level. That was why he remained arrogant and unchallenged throughout Nanyang.

Twelve streams of sword qi waxed and waned like the turn of the seasons, spiraling continuously. Any Xiantian Being touched by a single strand of sword qi would be annihilated in body and spirit.

Qi Xuansu used the Tiger Sword Technique, while Zhang Yuelu employed the Dragon Sword Technique. Together, they combined to become the Dragon Tiger Sword Technique.