A Pawn's Passage

Although Qi Xuansu’s punch caused the surrounding space to become unstable, its results were quite impressive. It had stopped Wu Zhen from maintaining a humanoid form and caused her to collapse back into a mass of shadows.

If Qi Xuansu could have followed immediately with a second void-shaking punch, he would certainly have caused Wu Zhen’s form to collapse completely. However, the current situation no longer allowed him to throw another punch like that. Thus, he had no choice but to switch to an ordinary strike.

Even so, his fist intention was still formidable. blasting a fist-sized hole straight through Wu Zhen’s chest.

At this moment, Qi Jiaoyao finally made her move. Rather than relying on her own powers, she used an external object. With a sweeping slash of her sword, she left a wound on Wu Zhen’s shadowy body. At the wound, a shadow-like substance clung and writhed as if alive.

Qi Xuansu had seen such methods before. This was the world’s most notorious poison, the Shebishi Venom. The downfall of the Six Enlightened Witches had been closely tied to this toxin. Using it against Wu Zhen was indeed an appropriate countermeasure.

The poison was undeniably powerful; its only drawback was its extreme cost and the fact that it was strictly controlled by the Daoist Order, making it difficult to obtain. However, considering that Qi Jiaoyao had managed to steal numerous secrets from the Lingshan Paradise, acquiring some Shebishi Venom was hardly a major challenge for her.

With both the demonic fire and the Shebishi Venom working together, Wu Zhen’s collapse accelerated. Shadows continuously escaped from her body and returned to the Shadow Realm.

But as Wu Zhen collapsed, the temple itself seemed unable to bear the strain. Its radiance faded, and it began to show signs of structural failure, trembling violently.

Qi Xuansu’s earlier void-shaking punch might have accidentally damaged the temple’s foundation. The temple could also possibly be intrinsically linked to Wu Zhen’s remains.

In any case, the temple was about to collapse.

Qi Jiaoyao was the first to run down the mountain. “Now that we’ve dealt with Wu Zhen’s remains. Let’s retreat now! Hurry!”

When she began her sentence, she was still within Qi Xuansu’s line of sight. But by the time she finished, only her voice remained. Her figure had already vanished.

Qi Xuansu cursed under his breath and followed her, running down the mountain.

The reason the two Heavenly Beings resorted to running was that there were too many spatial fissures in the area, making flight too risky. Even with their cultivation restored, using their legs was the safer option.

Qi Xuansu quickly realized that it was not only the temple above that could no longer bear the strain.The entire mountain had begun to collapse.

Suddenly, it felt as though heaven and earth themselves had shaken, startling Qi Xuansu. This was not an illusion. The entire mountain was trembling. Though he could claw his way out little by little even if he were buried beneath a mountain, this place was far too unusual, riddled with spatial fissures everywhere. If he were to fall into one, survival would be nearly impossible.

Boom!

Before his eyes, a palace halfway up the mountain collapsed and was reduced to rubble in an instant. After its fall, the remaining structures could not escape the same fate and collapsed one after another, dust and smoke rising everywhere.

The shaking of heaven and earth grew increasingly violent. The paving stones on the ground began to bounce, buildings swayed from side to side, and a continuous roaring rumble surged from beneath the earth, rolling closer like a tidal wave.

Qi Xuansu’s expression changed slightly. “Earthquake!”

The entire mountain and the underground city shook violently. In some places, the ground split open, and the spatial fissures widened like gaping mouths ready to devour them. City walls, palaces, houses, and streets all collapsed into ruins amid the trembling. Even the empty husks were not spared, falling into the chasms and vanishing without a trace.

No one had expected that after Wu Zhen’s remains were destroyed, an earthquake would occur. A tremendous force erupted from beneath the earth, intent on completely annihilating the underground city.

Under the violent shaking, boulders collapsed continuously, while torrents of mud and stone surged downward like an avalanche, burying everything in their path. The artificial starry sky shattered completely. Since this place was underground, the ceiling also fell from above with crushing force, enough to turn anyone below the Heavenly Being level into pulp.

Qi Xuansu had no choice but to draw his sword as he moved, swinging arcs of sword light. Any falling boulder that touched his blade instantly disintegrated into dust, leaving not a trace.

Soon, Qi Xuansu caught up to Qi Jiaoyao.

The two returned to the altar where they had first arrived, only to find that the circular platform used for ascent and descent had been damaged and lay completely motionless.

Qi Jiaoyao took out a compass. Just then, a massive yin-yang symbol appeared beneath their feet and supported the two of them. With a sweep of her sleeve, the formation replaced the platform and carried them upward.

They gradually rose higher. But midway through the ascent, the passage itself began to collapse. The stones fell like rain. Qi Xuansu continuously swung his sword, forcibly carving out a path forward, while Qi Jiaoyao pushed the compass to its limit, accelerating the formation diagram. At last, just before the underground city fully collapsed, they escaped into the open sky of Lingshan Paradise.

The two dared not linger and retraced their path back to the stockade. The criminals there had not yet revived, so Qi Xuansu and Qi Jiaoyao left the village and continued until they reached the stone monument erected by the Heavenly Sect, where they finally stopped.

Having escaped danger, it was now time to divide the spoils.

The Bone-Illuminating Mirror was in Qi Xuansu’s hands. Even if he refused to hand it over, Qi Jiaoyao could do little about it. After all, Qi Xuansu was a manmade Banished Immortal, so he was no easy opponent. Moreover, he had two semi-immortal objects, so if they truly went all out in a fight, he would still hold the upper hand even without the Scripture of Zuriel.

However, Qi Xuansu had no intention of keeping the Bone-Illuminating Mirror. First, its function was rather mediocre and of little use to him. Now that he held a high position with many subordinates, he had no need to fight alone against many. Second, the mirror essentially belonged to the Earthly Preceptor. Wanting to uncover the truth behind the Longevity Stone Heart did not mean he intended to openly antagonize the Earthly Preceptor, at least not yet. He had no desire to invite trouble.

But Qi Xuansu would not just hand over the Bone-Illuminating Mirror outright. Qi Jiaoyao would need to show sufficient sincerity.

Qi Jiaoyao was an experienced haggler and understood this immediately. She took out a piece of Xuan Jade and an amber-colored bead that was shimmering with golden light. It was the sarira, which was a treasure.

Dissatisfied, Qi Xuansu shook his head. “Not enough.”

Qi Jiaoyao protested. “But this is what we agreed on beforehand!”

Qi Xuansu replied, “You didn’t reveal the full truth earlier. The Bone-Illuminating Mirror is clearly a suppressive artifact of the Heavenly Sect. Due to this, we ended up with Wu Zhen’s remains reviving and the underground city collapsing. Our previous agreement no longer counts.”

Qi Jiaoyao snorted. “What do you mean by that?”

Qi Xuansu raised his voice slightly. “I put in a lot of effort and took on great risks...”

He paused briefly. “But that’s not the main point.”

“The key is this.” Qi Xuansu tapped his chest. “You didn’t tell the truth. You betrayed me and hurt my feelings. I treated you as a partner, and you stabbed me right in the heart. So...you need to compensate me.”

Qi Jiaoyao huffed in anger. “You’re extorting me!”

Qi Xuansu shrugged. “The question is, do you want this immortal object or not?”

Qi Jiaoyao gritted her teeth. “Yes, of course I want it! Fine...I’ll add another portion of Shebishi Venom. That should be enough, right?”

Qi Xuansu considered for a moment, then nodded. “Alright. Let’s do the exchange at the same time.”

Although Qi Jiaoyao wore a mask, Qi Xuansu could easily imagine the sour expression beneath it. She took out another jade bottle from her magical receptacle with faint shadows coiled within. This was the Shebishi Venom.

Qi Xuansu also took out the Bone-Illuminating Mirror and tossed it to Qi Jiaoyao. In that brief instant, he felt his cultivation nearly drop back to the Wuliang stage once again. Fortunately, Qi Jiaoyao quickly stored the mirror inside a special magical receptacle.

With the transaction complete, Qi Jiaoyao muttered under her breath, “You’d better hope I never get the chance. Otherwise, I’ll make sure you end up coinless!”