A Pawn's Passage

With so many Wuists and savage beasts, it was impossible that all of them had a Zaohua-stage cultivation. It seemed that at the most critical moment, Wu Luo and the high-ranking figures of the Ancient Wuist Sect had no longer cared about preserving the mystery of the ascension sanctuary but had instead opened the gates of Lingshan Paradise, allowing large numbers of Wuists who did not meet the requirements to enter in order to resist the Heavenly Sect’s invasion.

The current system of the Daoist Order originated from the Heavenly Sect. Today’s Daoist Order had nine ranks and twelve levels. Even adding the Grand Master, Virtuous Great Sage, Daoist attendants, and Daoist believers, it amounted to merely 16 levels. By contrast, the Heavenly Sect of the past was divided into as many as 36 levels, with ghost soldiers, ghost commanders, and the like. The Grand Heavenly Preceptor stood at the very top of the hierarchy. With the Heavenly Preceptor Governance, the Heavenly Sect resembled an independent nation.

After the collapse of the Heavenly Sect, the Zhengyi Sect suffered a tremendous decline, no longer possessing its former power until the Holy Xuan rebuilt the Daoist Order.

In the thousand-plus years in between, the Zhengyi Sect had recovered greatly, but its mobilization capacity or organizational rigor could not compare with its predecessor, the Heavenly Sect.

As Qi Xuansu traveled along the way, he saw mostly ordinary bones. Under the erosion of time, there was nothing extraordinary left about them. They had long since decayed and would crumble at a single touch.

At this moment, Qi Xuansu discovered the intact remains of an Ancient Witch—dead, yet still standing. This Ancient Witch was over 5 meters tall and had six arms, with bestial traits all over its body, though the battle damage was so severe that its original appearance could no longer be discerned. The Ancient Witch wore simple, archaic armor, but only a few fragments remained, barely hanging on the skeleton.

Qi Xuansu was certain that this was an Ancient Witch at the Pseudo-Immortal stage, one that had arrived at the Lingshan Paradise through a pseudo-ascension ritual of blood sacrifice. That was because blood sacrifice required large amounts of blood, which could be taken from beasts. Thus, the Ancient Witch bore some beastly characteristics.

Qi Xuansu also sensed a familiar aura from the Ancient Witch’s skeleton due to its Manly Immortal lineage.

The Manly Immortal’s True body was different from the Buddhist Golden Body. The former’s key lay in the acupoints and body spirits, which were indestructible if intact. However, if the body spirits were damaged, the Manly Immortal’s physique would no longer be indestructible. After the Manly Immortal’s death, no complete body would remain. By contrast, the Buddhist Golden Body was strong on the outside but hollow within. After death, a shell of the body could still remain, appearing outwardly intact, though it was usually empty inside.

This Ancient Witch was more inclined toward the Martial Arts Practitioner Lineage.

Naturally, Qi Xuansu intended to study it carefully. He examined the Ancient Witch’s remains in detail. After so many years, its bones were still hard, like steel. Qi Xuansu tried to pry them with his hand, but they did not budge in the slightest. Though he dared not use too much force, these remains were far stronger than the ordinary bones on the ground that would crumble at a touch.

However, there was still residual lightning on the Ancient Witch’s remains. When Qi Xuansu touched them, a cluster of sparks instantly exploded. Immediately afterward, the visions of the 36 Thunder Gods manifested at the positions of the skeleton’s acupoints.

Qi Xuansu had seen this before on Zhang Yuelu. It was a phenomenon that only appeared after cultivating the Five Thunder Celestial Heart Method to a certain level.

From this, he figured that the Ancient Witch had died by the Five Thunder Celestial Heart Method. Its body had been blasted apart by heavenly thunder, and the 36 Thunder Gods had taken advantage of the situation to replace the body spirits within its body, usurping their place and ultimately causing the Ancient Witch’s death.

However, Qi Xuansu could not tell whether this was done by the Ancestral Heavenly Preceptor or his disciples and descendants. Presumably, the killer would be enshrined within the ancestral hall of the Dazhen Mansion.

The Heavenly Sect certainly could not compare to the entire Daoist Order in terms of scale and organizational strength. However, if one only considered individual combat power, the Ancestral Heavenly Preceptor might not actually have been much inferior to any individual within the Daoist Order.

As the end of the era approached, the number of Heavenly Beings increased exponentially, but the number of Immortals did not increase by much. Most stagnated at the level of First-Tribulation Immortals. This was not only the case for the Daoist Order but also for the Holy Court, the Buddhist Sect, and the Confucian School.

It seemed as though the Immortals were abandoning the mortal world. The first to disappear was the Primordial Daoist Ancestor, followed by Third-Tribulation Immortals, then Second-Tribulation Immortals, First-Tribulation Immortals, and finally ordinary Immortals. After the last Immortal left the mortal realm, there were no Immortals left in the world.

Next would be the Heavenly Beings. One day, there would no longer be anyone in the world capable of flying through the skies or burrowing through the earth. Among the remaining people, Qi Refiners and Martial Arts Practitioners would be lumped together, knowing a bit of qi and martial techniques. Becoming a Xiantian Being would already make one an expert, yet even they would fear firearms.

It would also be hard to distinguish between Diviners and Shamans, who were most likely labeled as fraudsters and spellcasters. Rather than true spells, they would mostly rely on illusions. If people believed in them, they would seem effective. But once exposed, they would have to move elsewhere and start over again.

Perhaps one day, these Martial Arts Practitioners and Diviners would also vanish entirely, and later generations would regard Immortals as nothing more than myths and legends, even believing that martial arts and magic were simply tricks.

The Daoist Order and the Great Xuan Dynasty might even become lost civilizations.

Just as Qi Xuansu’s thoughts drifted far away, a point of red light lit up in the Ancient Witch’s eye sockets. The skeleton, which had been in slumber for over a thousand years, seemed to have been awakened by Qi Xuansu. It slowly raised its weapon and brought it down fiercely on Qi Xuansu.

Since the Ancient Witch’s remains stood over 5 meters tall, Qi Xuansu could not possibly keep looking up at its head the whole time, so he failed to notice that the skeleton had come back to life. That was why he was struck solid by the axe.

Thankfully, Qi Xuansu was at the Zaohua stage, so this axe did not harm him. Instead, the axe shattered from the impact with Qi Xuansu’s body.

Qi Xuansu immediately drew Green Cloud and slashed the Ancient Witch’s remains, cleaving it in half at the waist with a single sword strike.

He used Green Cloud rather than Pure Bodhi because Green Cloud had once been here before and had displayed its might in this place. It had slain many Ancient Witches prior to this.

Sure enough, Green Cloud immediately let out a clear chime, as if resonating with some lingering presence in this place.

After this Ancient Witch was cut in half, it immediately fell still, as if its earlier return from the dead had merely been a momentary flash of life, nothing more than a final breath.

Even so, this made Qi Xuansu more cautious.

This Lingshan Paradise was indeed strange. It was not necessarily a land of complete death, but still possessed a sliver of vitality.

After all, Wu Luo had already been resurrected and was now stirring up trouble in the outside world. Wu Xian, who had been killed by her sisters, had also returned from the dead many years later and reappeared in the mortal realm.

Moreover, Ancient Witches excelled at resurrection. They just could not achieve a perfect revival.

Qi Xuansu did not care whether the resurrection was perfect because it made no difference to him. Either way, this was an enormous risk.

It was no wonder the Yao family treated this place as their personal warehouse. Aside from the fact that the entrances and exits of the Lingshan Paradise had already been destroyed, these dead Ancient Witches also served as natural guardians.

Qi Xuansu glanced again at the remains of this Ancient Witch. Just moments ago, it had been as hard as metal, yet now, it had completely turned to dust.

For a moment, Qi Xuansu could not tell whether this was a characteristic of the Ancient Witch’s remains or Green Cloud’s special effects.

Since Qi Xuansu was not here to conduct archaeological research, he did not dwell on it for long and continued onward.

As he continued forward, Qi Xuansu noticed that there were more buildings. It seemed he had entered some kind of village or town. However, most of the buildings here were in ruins.

Qi Xuansu looked around and found that the lower halves of many buildings had already sunk into the ground, leaving the structures leaning crookedly. It seemed that this town had not just gone through a fierce battle but also a massive earthquake.

From the moment Qi Xuansu awoke in the Lingshan Paradise to the time he reached this ruined town on foot, roughly a day had passed.

During the daytime in Lingshan Paradise, there was no sun, yet there was daylight, like an overcast day, where one could only see heavy, leaden clouds filling the sky. Once night fell, the clouds and mist would dissipate, and a blood-red moon would appear, bathing the entire Lingshan Paradise in crimson light, as if it were doused in blood.

Qi Xuansu had an intuition that the nights in the Lingshan Paradise would be far more dangerous than the days. Perhaps many Ancient Witches would revive at night and then fall back into slumber during the day. After all, the blood-red moonlight that filled every corner of this realm looked eerie. Who knew what might happen after being exposed to that crimson moonlight for too long?

Thus, Qi Xuansu dared not take the risk and decided to find shelter and wait for dawn.

The most prominent building in this town was an ancient temple, completely different from the later Daoist temples. It was filled with a primitive aura—unrefined, unpolished, yet possessing a rugged beauty, as if it had been carved and chiseled directly from a single massive rock rather than built from bricks and stones.

The temple was also the only building that remained relatively intact, without having sunk halfway into the ground. However, the area around it was where the fighting had been the fiercest. The remains of Ancient Witches here far outnumbered those elsewhere. Presumably, the Ancient Witches had fought while retreating, eventually falling back to the vicinity of the temple, making a last desperate stand here before being annihilated by the Daoists of the Heavenly Sect.

This made Qi Xuansu hesitate whether he should enter the temple or not.

The temple could block the moonlight, but if the large number of corpses around it were revived and surrounded him, Qi Xuansu would have no choice but to fight them all to get out. This would defeat the purpose of hiding.

He had already ventured alone deep into enemy territory, with no supplies or support. If he retreated, he would not be able to return. Under such circumstances, he had to plan every move carefully to avoid injuries whenever possible and conserve his strength, making it best to steer clear of unnecessary fights.

With this in mind, Qi Xuansu activated his Celestial Phenomena Spiritual Statue and sought guidance from True Lord Ziguang. It was a very simple divination of fortune and misfortune, requiring only a small expenditure of divine power.

Soon, True Lord Ziguang responded—neutral.

Generally, divination results were categorized into six types: great fortune, superior fortune, moderate fortune, neutral, misfortune, and great misfortune.

Neutral meant that there was a high probability that nothing significant would happen.

Only then did Qi Xuansu walk into the temple.