A Pawn's Passage

No matter what, Kukulkan was now the leader of the ancient gods and had gained recognition from both the Western Daoist Order and Chak Chel. Even Ixchel could not openly oppose him. Therefore, the Heron Society was even less capable of publicly confronting Kukulkan, even if royal family members and other nobles were among its ranks.

Yet the Heron Society still needed to express its intentions and aspirations to some extent, so they began worshipping Itzamna.

Judging from Ixchel’s attitude, divisions still existed among the ancient gods. Broadly speaking, they could be divided into the Itzamna faction led by Ixchel and the dominant Kukulkan faction.

The conflicts among the ancient gods also spread into the mortal world, and rumors gradually emerged claiming that Kukulkan had usurped Itzamna’s position as Sun God. However, these were only rumors. Itzamna remained a Sun God officially recognized by the Western Daoist Order, much like a deceased emperor already enshrined in the imperial ancestral temple. There was nothing wrong with worshipping Itzamna.

Thus, the Heron Society used the worship of Itzamna as a way to express opposition to Kukulkan without attracting investigation from the Western Daoist Order. Simply put, they opposed Kukulkan, not the Western Daoist Order itself.

This also explained why the Heron Society did not worship the ancient god Pachacamac. Pachacamac had no connection to Kukulkan, and worshipping Pachacamac would not effectively convey the Heron Society’s hidden opposition to Kukulkan.

The history of the past always served the politics of the present.

This was why it was not necessarily genuine worship. It could also be another form of opposition.

Now Qi Xuansu has gained another clue. However, he did not intend to investigate the Heron Society just yet. As an outsider, it would be difficult for him to insert himself into the Heron Society within a short period of time. It would be better to let the Juesheng Hall pursue that lead while he focused first on the more obvious matter of the shadows.

Qi Xuansu asked again, “Chief Deputy Tantai, in your letter, you mentioned that all these cases occurred after Kukulkan completely replaced Itzamna. You specifically emphasized the word ‘completely.’ I would like to know what exactly defines this ‘completeness?’ What is the standard or boundary?”

Tantai Ying explained, “In the past, although Itzamna had already fallen, when the Tawantin believers prayed to the Sun God without specifically naming which one, part of the incense power would still flow toward Itzamna, contributing to his eventual resurrection. One had to explicitly recite ‘Sun God Kukulkan’ in order to direct the prayer accurately toward Kukulkan. This meant that Kukulkan had not yet truly replaced Itzamna’s status as Sun God. He was still considered a usurper or pretender.

“Naturally, Kukulkan was dissatisfied with this, so he accelerated his efforts to erode Itzamna’s divine authority. This process had two parts. One part was Kukulkan swallowing Itzamna’s divine kingdom, much like how he seized the authority of the Misir Sun God. The other part involved changes carried out by his followers in the mortal world, including but not limited to destroying statues, murals, legends, written records, and everything related to Itzamna. Whatever could not be destroyed was altered and rewritten instead, with the ultimate goal of reshaping the collective memory and consensus of the people. Kukulkan’s temples privately referred to this campaign as the ‘Chronicle of the Ages’ operation. Even though Itzamna’s followers resisted these efforts, Kukulkan ultimately succeeded through his overwhelming power.

“In the end, when believers prayed to the Sun God without specifically naming which Sun God they meant, and all incense power began flowing entirely toward Kukulkan, that signified that Kukulkan had completely replaced Itzamna and become the sole Sun God across the New Continent. That’s the standard we use to divide the timeline.”

Tantai Ying gave a very detailed explanation.

At the same time, this also explained why the Juesheng Hall treated the Shadow Cases as the primary focus when he requested them to compile intelligence concerning Kukulkan.

Whether it was the murder of the Sun Temple priests, the New Xijing Sun Temple engulfed by shadows, the black sun tattoos, the timing of the incidents, or even the Heron Society uncovered through Qi Xuansu’s questioning, all of them had some connection to Kukulkan.

This raised a question. Were the Shadow Cases orchestrated by Kukulkan himself for some hidden purpose, or did others plot against Kukulkan with the intention of overthrowing him?

In other words, was Kukulkan the perpetrator or the victim?

This question was not easy to answer. They would have to understand the motives to reach the final conclusion.

Although Qi Xuansu now seemed to possess many clues, they were all fragmented and incomplete, still far from enough for him to see the whole picture. Thus, he could only make a bold hypothesis and verify it cautiously.

At present, Qi Xuansu assumed that this was a series of conspiracies directed against Kukulkan. If so, then Ixchel was undoubtedly the greatest suspect. There was even the possibility that she was the mastermind behind the Heron Society. One should not underestimate Ixchel. If she had not split into two separate beings, then after Itzamna’s fall, she should have become the chief of the gods.

Following this hypothesis, he continued reasoning further.

If Ixchel truly was the mastermind behind these incidents, then what was her objective?

At present, it seemed her goal was to overthrow Kukulkan. Even exposing Kukulkan to the Daoist Order would serve that objective.

Then thinking one step further, what would happen after Kukulkan was overthrown? Was it merely revenge? Or was the goal to resurrect Itzamna? Or perhaps for Ixchel herself to ascend to power?

From this aspect, Ixchel did seem to have plausible motives.

However, Qi Xuansu also had an inexplicable intuition that things were probably not this simple.

After the banquet ended, Huangfu Ji took his leave. He had never cared much for matters involving ghosts and gods. The only things that interested him were affairs of the mortal world, such as constructing the new port and the new Daoist Palace.

This might simply be a common trait among Martial Arts Practitioners. By nature, Martial Arts Practitioners were fundamentally incompatible with Ghostly Immortals and Godly Immortals. Later on, once Martial Arts Practitioners comprehended the method of shattering the void, then all things in existence truly became nothing more than something to smash with a single punch. As such, Martial Arts Practitioners tend to lean entirely toward materialism, where matter trumps spirit.

By contrast, Diviners and Shamans were idealists. As for Banished Immortals and Qi Refiners, they wanted everything and always emphasized balance.

Qi Xuansu leaned more toward materialism as well, though not as absolutely as true Martial Arts Practitioners did.

This explained Huangfu Ji’s behavior. Developing the new port and establishing the new Daoist Palace were top priorities, as was resisting the Steam Evangelical Sect. These were all tangible, visible matters of substance.

But fear and mystery were unimportant before they were truly proven. Unless Tantai Ying could produce concrete evidence for Huangfu Ji, he would never personally involve himself in these affairs. At most, he would merely provide full convenience and support.

Thinking this, Qi Xuansu requested to examine the corpses of the victims.

Tantai Ying did not refuse. The headquarters of Juesheng Hall was also located on Danxiu Mountain, only a short distance from where the three had dined, so they headed to Juesheng Hall’s headquarters. Although security along the way was extremely tight, with Chief Deputy Hall Master Tantai Ying leading the way, they passed without obstruction.

At last, Qi Xuansu saw the corpses within the underground cold vault of the Juesheng Hall, where special evidence and bodies were stored.

Qi Xuansu first examined the black sun tattoos and discovered that they were highly unusual. Ordinary tattoos were etched onto the skin’s surface and could be removed by certain methods. But these black sun tattoos lay beneath the skin, like veins or blood vessels, faintly visible yet impossible to physically touch.

This was clearly no ordinary method.

That was why Tantai Ying referred to them as marks.

Some of these marks existed before the victims died, while others only appeared after the victims were consumed by the shadows. But they did not know how to distinguish the two.

Qi Xuansu continued examining the corpses.

Their internal organs had already vanished, and all flesh and blood had completely withered away, leaving only skin stretched over bone. Judging from the temperature of the cold vault, these corpses had clearly not decayed naturally. Instead, they had become like this after being eroded by the shadows.

This bore great resemblance to the methods of blood sacrifice. Back in Jinling Prefecture, the victims harmed by the True Lord Siming had displayed similar characteristics. From this, it appeared that these shadows did have some connection to the ancient gods, perhaps even constituting a form of blood sacrifice ritual.

Since blood sacrifice was involved, Kukulkan’s motive for orchestrating all of this became apparent. After all, the endless karmic flames filling Kukulkan’s divine kingdom were undeniable evidence.

Yet this also conflicted somewhat with Qi Xuansu’s earlier hypothesis that Ixchel was the true mastermind behind everything.

A thought suddenly emerged in Qi Xuansu’s mind. Perhaps this entire series of Shadow Cases was not the scheme of a single faction but the aftermath left behind after multiple hidden powers clashed in secret?

Qi Xuansu did not ask Ixchel directly because he still could not truly trust her, nor did he wish to alert the enemy prematurely.

Besides the corpses, the Juesheng Hall had also captured a shadow servant.

Qi Xuansu did not know what methods the Juesheng Hall had employed, but the shadow servant had already fallen into a deep slumber. Nevertheless, to prevent any accidents, Juesheng Hall had restrained it using special instruments designed specifically for imprisoning Heavenly Beings.

He walked over to the shadow servant and examined it carefully.

Although it roughly retained a humanoid shape, many beast-like traits had appeared across its body. It resembled something half-human and half-demon. This reminded Qi Xuansu of those in Fenglin who had been corrupted by demonic fire and transformed into demons.

This was the advantage of extensive experience. Having seen and heard much, whenever he encountered something strange, he could always find a rough point of reference, using previously solved mysteries to compare against unsolved ones.

Did the shadows possess some kind of similarity to the demonic fire?

Tantai Ying stood beside Qi Xuansu and gave a detailed explanation. “We call them shadow servants. But according to the Tawantin priests, these creatures should actually be called Yaxir. They are supposedly messengers and guardians from heaven.”

Qi Xuansu asked, “Heaven? Whose heaven are we talking about? Itzamna’s? Ixchel’s? Or Kukulkan’s?”