A Pawn's Passage

The lake reflected the image of the setting sun, just like the moon reflected upon the water. This was the gateway into the pocket realm.

As the sun set in the west, its reflection naturally did not appear at the center of the lake.

Under normal reasoning, most people would assume that the entrance lay at the center of the lake. Even without knowing how to unlock it, they would naturally focus their efforts there.

Although Qi Xuansu lacked the ability to force his way through, the same could not necessarily be said of beings at the immortal level. If they correctly identified the location of the gateway and attacked with their full strength, they might very well have smashed their way inside.

The ancient gods had therefore employed reverse thinking, deliberately placing the gateway away from the center of the lake. Even so, they failed to deceive Madam Wu.

Qi Xuansu gave Madam Wu a thumbs-up. “Experience truly is the best teacher.”

Madam Wu smiled faintly. “When you’ve lived for so long without making any progress in cultivation, you have to improve in other ways. Based on my experience, this lake itself serves as the gateway to the pocket realm. The Emperor of Paititi originally opened it using the divine artifact, while the solar restriction was added later by Itzamna and the other ancient gods. That’s the distinction between the master lock and the smaller locks.”

Qi Xuansu nodded. “Let’s enter the pocket realm first.”

The two leapt toward the reflection of the setting sun and instantly disappeared into it.

On the other side of the lake, there was yet another lake.

Qi Xuansu and Madam Wu did not sink beneath the water. Instead, they passed downward through the surface of the underground lake, crossed through space itself, and emerged upward through the surface of another lake.

The two lakes were connected through folded space.

Qi Xuansu and Madam Wu now stood upon the surface of the lake. Their surroundings resembled a vast garden filled with exotic flowers and rare plants, all bearing obvious signs of deliberate cultivation, pruning, and careful arrangement.

Could this be another palace?

“Did the people of Paititi build another city and palace here? Or is this the other half of Paititi itself?” Qi Xuansu muttered to himself.

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple.” Madam Wu pointed into the distance. “Look.”

Qi Xuansu looked in the direction Madam Wu indicated and saw a magnificent palace on the distant horizon. It was incomparably resplendent, radiating boundless golden light, as though it had been built in the heavens and stood upon the clouds. Yet above the palace, layers of fiery clouds had gathered, casting a blood-red hue over both the palace and its golden radiance.

“It’s karmic fire,” Qi Xuansu said.

This was also one of the very few types of flame that Madam Wu could not wield.

Madam Wu nodded slightly. “The karmic fire born from blood sacrifice has transformed into these fiery clouds, powerful enough to consume a divine kingdom. Once a divine kingdom is lost, a god immediately enters the second death. At that point, only a single step remains before true death.”

Qi Xuansu studied the palace for a while longer. It looked strangely familiar. Then he remembered that it was Kukulkan’s palace. Ixchel had once invited him to her divine kingdom to observe Kukulkan’s palace from within. The only difference was that he was now viewing it from another angle.

“This is Kukulkan’s palace. Could it be that Kukulkan connected his own divine kingdom to the pocket realm?” Qi Xuansu asked.

Madam Wu said, “Let’s get closer and have a better look.”

Qi Xuansu had no objections and headed toward Kukulkan’s palace together with Madam Wu.

As they drew nearer, more details gradually came into view.

Although Kukulkan’s palace still radiated dazzling golden light, varying degrees of decay had already appeared around it. It was like looking at a person from afar that might seem perfectly normal, but upon closer inspection, wrinkles, blemishes, and imperfections became visible.

Ordinarily, aside from the various gods of death, who preferred to style themselves as sovereigns of the underworld and shape their divine kingdoms into realms resembling the land of the dead, other divine kingdoms always presented their most beautiful aspects in order to attract worshippers. Even Wu Luo manifested Lingshan in its age of prosperity.

Kukulkan had inherited the divine authority of the sun, so his divine kingdom naturally followed the same principle. Everything was meant to shine with glorious golden splendor. Yet now it resembled torn gold-leaf wallpaper that could no longer conceal the crumbling wall beneath. Even under the illumination of golden sunlight, the land surrounding the palace had begun to wither. It had become barren and gloomy. Vegetation had withered, springs had turned foul and stagnant, and even birds and beasts were mutating, their bodies covered in festering sores that oozed pus.

Madam Wu said, “The Buddhists speak of the Five Signs of Decline, which are divided into the lesser and the greater forms. The Minor Five Signs are the body’s radiance suddenly fading, celestial music no longer arising, bathwater clinging to the body, frequent blinking of the eyes, and an inability to detach oneself from worldly surroundings. The Major Five Signs are garments becoming soiled, the flowers adorning one’s head withering, sweat appearing beneath the armpits, the body emitting a foul odor, and no longer taking joy in one’s heavenly seat. In your opinion, which stage has Kukulkan reached?”

The Five Signs of Decline are the various omens that appeared before a deity’s fall. One could also regard them as the symptoms of a terminal illness.

Qi Xuansu said, “Although we haven’t seen Kukulkan himself, the surrounding environment already tells us enough. At the very least, the Minor Five Signs of Decline have already manifested.”

Madam Wu said, “Blood sacrifice may be effective, but one should not overindulge. At its core, blood sacrifice is like drinking poison to quench one’s thirst. Even if Kukulkan is naturally more resistant to the corruption of karmic fire, there will inevitably come a day when he can no longer endure it. From the looks of things, so long as the blood sacrifices continue, the fall of this Sun God is merely a matter of time. It might take 100 years, or perhaps 200. Still, Kukulkan is quite cunning. He actually connected his own divine kingdom to the Paititi pocket realm, intending to use the pocket realm to share part of the burden.”

Qi Xuansu asked, “If this continues unchecked, what will this place eventually become?”

Madam Wu replied with a question of her own. “A dark crimson sky, as though engulfed in flames, and a land laid completely barren. Doesn’t that description sound familiar?”

Qi Xuansu thought about it carefully. “The Hell described in the Holy Scripture?”

Madam Wu had spent plenty of time in the West and seemed to know everything. “Hell is a fallen pocket realm, like rotten fruit. Somehow, the Holy Court found a way to separate these rotten fruits from the great tree of the mortal world, causing them to fall into the netherworld, where they became linked together, naturally forming a vast prison. They called it Hell and exiled the condemned Fallen Apostles there.”

Qi Xuansu looked around. “Fortunately, things haven’t reached that point yet.”

Madam Wu said, “Not long after the ancient gods seized the pocket realm, the Holy Court launched its invasion of the New Continent. The ancient gods had to wage war, and after their defeat, they had to negotiate with the Western Daoist Order before relocating to the Southern Continent. All of that took a considerable amount of time. In between, there were also internal struggles and power seizures among the ancient gods themselves. On top of that, Kukulkan’s attempt to connect his divine kingdom to the pocket realm was a massive undertaking that consumed no small amount of time. Taking everything together, Kukulkan hasn’t actually been using the pocket realm to share the burden of karmic fire for very long, so its influence on the pocket realm remains relatively weak.”

Qi Xuansu said, “The illness is still only in the skin and flesh. It can still be cured.”

Madam Wu frowned slightly. “There’s one thing I still don’t understand. It’s said that within the Paititi pocket realm, there is a pyramid capable of enabling one to overcome the heavenly tribulation and ascend to immortality. Why hasn’t Kukulkan made use of it? Did he fail to find it, or is the legend merely a rumor?”

Qi Xuansu said, “Perhaps he doesn’t have the key. If the divine artifact possessed by the Emperor of Paititi truly functions like the Three Treasures Scepter, then it is not only the key to opening the pocket realm but also the key to activating the pyramid.”

Madam Wu murmured, “If the divine artifact isn’t in Kukulkan’s possession, then whose hands is it in? Ixchel’s? If she had the key, she most likely wouldn’t have involved the Daoist Order. Once the Daoist Order learned of the pyramid’s existence, it would inevitably seek the divine artifact, which would pose a tremendous risk to her. If it’s not with Ixchel, could it still be in the hands of Paititi’s royal family? That seems unlikely as well. The royal family could never have stood against the ancient gods. A 3-year-old child can’t protect the gold in his hands when surrounded by a gang of grown men.”

Qi Xuansu said, “Perhaps Itzamna hid it away, and Kukulkan has never managed to find it. After all, it concerns the key to a god’s transcendence. It would make sense if only Itzamna himself knew where he had hidden the divine artifact. Perhaps even Ixchel is unaware of its location.”

Madam Wu nodded slightly. “That’s certainly possible. Judging from the timeline, not long after Itzamna obtained the divine artifact, the Holy Court began its invasion. He had to lead the gods in resisting the Holy Court’s Apostles, leaving him no time to make use of it. It’s also said that he died in battle, leaving him with no opportunity to arrange his affairs before his death. That all fits.”

Qi Xuansu had once thought Madam Wu was simply hot-headed, but he now realized that beneath her bold and impulsive behavior lay remarkable insight. Her fiery temperament was genuine, but so too was her wealth of experience.

He asked for her opinion. “Madam Wu, what should we do now? Continue exploring Kukulkan’s palace, or search for the pyramid?”

Madam Wu pondered for a moment before saying, “The pyramid is almost certainly unusable. If it could still be used, it would never have remained untouched until today, let alone fallen into our hands. As for Kukulkan, his condition is highly unusual. So many things have happened outside, yet he hasn’t reacted in the slightest. Even after you thoroughly purged the royal family that supported him, he merely sent down a symbolic avatar that possessed no intelligence whatsoever. So I believe something has happened to Kukulkan himself. At the moment, he’s probably too occupied with his own predicament to concern himself with anything else.”

Qi Xuansu nodded in agreement. “That’s my conclusion as well. Originally, I had no idea how we could enter Kukulkan’s divine kingdom. I never expected him to build us a bridge himself by connecting it to the pocket realm. We can use the pocket realm to enter his divine kingdom and uncover the truth behind many of these mysteries. After that, I’ll report everything to the Daoist Order and let the Golden Tower Council decide how to handle the aftermath.”

Having reached an agreement, the two wasted no time and immediately set out toward Kukulkan’s palace.

The palace, which seemed to float among the heavens, appeared deceptively close, but in reality, it remained far away. It reminded Qi Xuansu of the journey he and Madam Qi had made to Lingshan.

From a great distance, they had been able to see the dark mountain and the floating fragments of mountains surrounding it, yet actually reaching the foot of the mountain had required overcoming countless hardships and dangers. Hopefully, this journey would not present any more obstacles.

Come to think of it, on both of Qi Xuansu’s journeys into a pocket realm, he had been accompanied by an experienced middle-aged lady. The last time, it was Madam Qi. This time, it was Madam Wu. If there were a next time, who would it be?