A Pawn's Passage

Moral Sovereign was naturally indestructible—even Immortals found it difficult to withstand. However, the consumption was immense.

Great Sage Jiang was not a true “virtuous one,” so he could not wield Moral Sovereign with complete freedom. Each use of Moral Sovereign required him to pay a certain price, which was damaging to his foundation.

This was why Great Sage Jiang hesitated. What troubled him was that, even if he were willing to pay this price, he would not be able to unleash the full might of Moral Sovereign after successive battles, making it all too easy to lose.

At that moment, the lightning and flames suddenly abated. Wu Luo finally managed to hold them at bay by relying on the immortal sword in her hand.

Wu Luo had no intention of lingering in battle. She darted to the Buddha’s fingertips, preparing to depart from this place.

However, Great Sage Jiang could not stand by and watch Chen Shuhua escape just like that. He had no choice but to act.

The Yinglong Warship descended, equipped with the Starcrusher, a one-meter-caliber cannon over 30 meters long and capable of firing the 7-tonne Grade-A Series Two Dragon Eye Bomb. It was already aimed at the Buddha’s palm.

The various supporting formations aboard the Yinglong Warship began to operate, like a vortex incessantly devouring the surrounding elemental energy and then channeling it toward the cannon.

Deep within the muzzle, a fiery-red glow brewed.

Boom!

The entire Yinglong Warship seemed to shudder as a shockwave spread outward in all directions, like a gale scattering the clouds.

An unbroken stream of fire shot forth from the barrel of the Starcrusher and streaked across the sky straight toward the Buddha’s palm, tracing a long, endless line connecting the Yinglong Warship and the palm.

This line was one meter thick, as wide as the mouth of the Starcrusher.

When this line of fire struck the Buddha’s palm, it first stirred up ripples, causing the center of the palm to cave inward continuously, eventually forming a downward-spiraling golden-red whirlpool.

After a few minutes, the continuous streak of fire from the Starcrusher’s muzzle finally came to an end. That line of fire had forcibly pierced through the entire palm, leaving a massive hole through which one could plainly see the scene behind.

Then, the Starcrusher entered a prolonged cooldown phase and could not fire again in the short term.

However, the wound on the Buddha’s palm quickly began to heal at a visible rate, clearly indicating that the damage had not struck at its core.

At that moment, a black dot no larger than a grain of rice appeared out of thin air above the wound. The dot rapidly expanded, becoming the size of a chicken’s egg in the blink of an eye. Finally, it transformed into a bottomless hole that began to devour all surrounding light.

The once radiant palm now flickered between brightness and darkness as countless rays were rapidly swallowed, revealing a void-like darkness, as though day and night had reversed.

The wound that had been pierced through not only failed to recover but was further enlarged.

This was the Taiyi Supreme Technique, indicating an Earthly Immortal had arrived.

This Immortal was none other than Lan Hexu, the Great Sage of the Poluo Daoist Mansion.

The Five Innate Tais required an interval of 49 days. The reason Great Sage Jiang had acted with such urgency was precisely that Chen Shuhua’s Taisu Mystical Arts was nearing its 49th day. If Chen Shuhua were allowed to recover the fourth stage of the art, killing her would become far more difficult. Thus, they had to take action before those 49 days elapsed.

Judging by the timing, Great Sage Lan’s use of the Taiyi Supreme Technique occurred before Chen Shuhua’s use of the Taisu Mystical Arts. Thus, his recovery naturally came earlier as well.

After enduring those 49 days, Great Sage Lan restored the Five Innate Tais and stabilized his injuries, so he was finally able to emerge from seclusion.

When it came to top-tier combat power, neither the Ancient Immortals nor the Buddhist Sect could be compared to the Daoist Order. However, the Daoist Order had far too many considerations on all fronts, spreading their forces thin with each Immortal guarding one region. This was what gave others an opportunity to attack.

Now, with two Great Sages joining forces, the situation was immediately reversed.

All the Virtuous Great Sages had worked together for many years, so there was no need for excessive pleasantries or even much communication. They simply acted in unison.

Great Sage Lan did not employ the second stage of the Taiyi Supreme Technique. Instead, he brought out another immortal object known as the Nether Passage Lantern.

It was an exceedingly dim black lantern, with a flame no larger than a bean. The flame even continued to devour the surrounding light. The closer one came to the lantern, the darker the light became.

After Great Sage Lan took out this black lantern, his face was not illuminated in the slightest. Instead, it became completely concealed within the deep shadows.

The Nether Passage Lantern could temporarily summon projections of the deceased from the netherworld, including fallen Immortals. The higher the cultivation of the wielder, the longer these projections could persist. Since it corresponded to the netherworld below the earth, the lantern was also known as the “Earth lantern.”

Great Sage Lan blew gently toward the bean-sized flame. The flame wavered like a dying candle in the wind, as if it might go out at any moment, its light growing ever dimmer.

Centered on this black lantern, a strange scene took shape. Outside, everything remained as usual, yet the illuminated area formed a set of concentric circles. The outer circle was nothing but profound darkness, while at the very center of that darkness, the tiny flame lit up an extremely small area, forming an inner circle.

At a glance, Great Sage Lan himself was already completely swallowed by the darkness, with only his hand that was holding the lantern illuminated.

The lantern’s light cast a shadow that quickly solidified, outlining a real and tangible form.

It was an elderly man, not tall in stature, leaning on a dragon-headed staff taller than himself. His eyebrows and beard were extremely long, obscuring much of his face. He wore an earthy-yellow long robe, with a stone-blue sleeveless outer coat over it. At first glance, he had neither the unrestrained air of a mountain recluse nor the resplendence of nobles. He looked more like an old rural squire who had wandered out of some impoverished village.

However, one must not judge a person by appearance. This man’s reputation carried even greater weight than Song Zheng’s. He was the final leader of the Confucian School before it lost dominance. He had secretly steered the Wei Dynasty Court together with Elder Li and Elder Xu. After Elder Xu and Elder Li passed away one after another, he became the last pillar supporting the Wei Dynasty.

He had crossed swords with the Holy Xuan twice, winning the first encounter and losing the second.

His true name was no longer known. The world knew him only by his sobriquet, Old Master Long. It was he who had beaten the Holy Xuan with Moral Sovereign, until the Holy Xuan’s Three Corpses raged and smoke gushed from his orifices.

Although this projection was certainly no match for him in life, it was still not to be underestimated.

Without the slightest hesitation, Great Sage Jiang tossed Moral Sovereign to the projection of Old Master Long, returning the immortal sword to its rightful owner.

Then, Great Sage Jiang manifested a gigantic hand to seize the wrist of the Buddha’s palm, preventing it from retreating easily.

After Old Master Long grasped Moral Sovereign, his originally short and aged body emitted a series of cracking sounds. Like withered wood meeting spring, it began to grow, and in the blink of an eye, he stood about 2 meters tall.

At the same time, Old Master Long’s white hair turned jet-black. His wrinkles vanished, and a faint radiance arose naturally from his skin, like polished jade. His appearance visibly grew younger, no longer that of an old man, but that of a man in his prime.

Old Master Long spoke the third line of Hengqu’s Four Ontological Goals in place of Great Sage Jiang. “Carry on the lost teachings of past sages.”

As the leader of the Confucian School, Old Master Long failed to usher in an age of peace or establish faith in the people. Yet he had devoted himself wholly to the Confucian School as its final gatekeeper.

From all directions, illusory and ethereal radiance streamed toward the invisible sword in Old Master Long’s hand.

An invisible colossal dragon took shape, beginning at Kunlun and entering the sea from Poluo.

The power produced by the coordination of two immortal objects was by no means a simple sum of their individual strengths.

The invisible sword fell, and Wu Luo bore the brunt of the strike.

This sword seemed to embody the surging momentum of armies and endless slaughter on the battlefield, as well as the prosperity and decline of dynasties. There was dragon qi within, yet it exuded a dim, murky gloom, as though all vitality had been drained away, leaving only despair, numbness, decay, and degeneration. Whatever grand imperial ambitions there might be, all would ultimately come to nothing.

After being enveloped by dragon qi, countless illusions appeared before Wu Luo’s eyes. She saw shattered mountains and rivers, life and death, and the common folk plunged into misery. Benighted rulers and the greedy gentry stood over starving corpses that lay scattered across the fields. Barren land stretched for thousands of kilometers. Then suddenly, there were scenes of winding paths leading to secluded realms, resplendent in gold and jade, with lighthearted songs and graceful dances, cups clinking in revelry, heedless of the mountains of bones outside.

As an Ancient Immortal, Wu Luo would never care about such things. The division or unification of the world had nothing to do with her, so she was not at all moved.

However, the decaying dragon qi suddenly changed. It no longer depicted mortal scenes. Instead, it showed the ruins of Lingshan, the fall of the Ten Great Witches, and karmic flames engulfing them all. No matter how Wu Luo might scheme and plan, it would all come to nothing in the end.

At that point, Wu Luo could no longer remain unmoved.

A layer of decaying aura immediately wrapped around Wu Luo. It was as if a coat of ash had settled upon her entire body. Her complexion dulled, no longer possessing the jade-like luster she had after her rebirth. Her movements also grew sluggish, as though she were poisoned.

The decayed dragon qi was like a poison to Immortals. Even the Six Void Tribulations and the demonic fire could not compare to how vicious and insidious this method was.

The ashen pallor on Wu Luo’s face deepened as she strained to neutralize it. However, this dragon qi was the most venomous thing in the world. Only the indestructible golden body of a First-Tribulation Immortal could barely withstand it.

Thus, Wu Luo could only suppress and alleviate it with difficulty, not dispel it completely.

Unlike the exhausted Great Sage Jiang, Great Sage Lan was presently at the height of his power. He immediately thrust a palm forward.

Wu Luo raised her hand to block, and her entire arm vanished in an instant, as if it had been wiped out of existence.

Great Sage Lan had condensed the second stage of the Taiyi Supreme Technique into a single point that was hidden within his palm. So, when Wu Luo attempted to block it, the Taiyi Supreme Technique suddenly erupted, transforming into primal chaos and erasing Wu Luo’s arm altogether.

Wu Luo was enraged, lashing out with Heaven’s Will. Her sword strikes were unceasing, ferocious, and brutal.

Old Master Long showed not the slightest fear, swinging Moral Sovereign to meet her, looking solemn and awe-inspiring.

The two held nothing back. Beneath their feet, the sea churned terrifying waves, rising into a huge tide. Seawater transformed into mist, which spread everywhere like the hazy drizzle of spring.