A Pawn's Passage

In the end, Madam Wu decided to take the gamble with Qi Xuansu.

The two made their way up the staircase. At the end stood arched gateways that were recessed layer upon layer. Every arch was supported by columns at its base. The front and rear columns stood tightly against one another without the slightest gap between them. As a result, the palace entrance formed the shape of a horizontal funnel.

The outer entrance of the gateway was the widest and most spacious. The farther they proceeded inside, the narrower the gateway became. The innermost section turned into a straight passage resembling the stem of a funnel.

It was indeed a serpent’s passage.

Above the archway was a massive stone relief depicting a great tree, around which coiled an enormous serpent with a pair of wings upon its back.

Without question, the giant serpent was the Feathered Serpent God, Kukulkan. The tree was most likely a symbol of the World Tree.

The two entered the serpent’s passage. There was no golden gate at its end, only a thin veil of mist.

Having already made up their minds, Qi Xuansu and Madam Wu no longer hesitated in the slightest and stepped through the mist, coming to yet another entrance hall.

This entrance hall was extraordinarily spacious. It seemed more like an open plaza with no dome, allowing the clear blue sky and the blazing sun high above to shine down, illuminating everything in vivid detail.

At the center of the plaza were seats arranged in a perfect semicircle around a sun emblem. It appeared that this plaza also served as a reception hall.

At the far end of the plaza, opposite the arched entrance, a staircase ascended upward, bathed in golden radiance. They presumed that Kukulkan’s bedchamber was at the very top.

The moment Qi Xuansu and Madam Wu set foot in the plaza, the entire area trembled violently.

Within the golden light emanating from the direction of the bedchamber, a pair of crimson vertical pupils lit up, each as tall as a person.

A thunderous voice resounded, “Uninvited guests from the East, you have rashly trespassed into my palace and come before my bedchamber. What business do you have here?”

There was no doubt that those crimson vertical pupils were the eyes of a serpent.

The owner of that voice was none other than the present Sun God and the former Feathered Serpent God, Kukulkan.

Qi Xuansu and Madam Wu had directly awakened the slumbering deity.

As he spoke, an enormous serpent’s head slowly emerged from the golden radiance surrounding the ascending staircase.

The serpent’s head was immense, every detail plainly visible. Its scales were as smooth as mirrors, capable of reflecting the figures before it. Most striking of all were the pair of serpent eyes that were crimson, like the setting sun.

As the serpent’s head appeared, various figures also materialized upon the seats.

There was an indescribably beautiful moon maiden, a hideous old crone with tiger claws, a decaying figure bearing the head of an owl, a middle-aged man clad in armor and crowned with a feathered headdress, a beautiful woman wearing a pearl dress and a royal crown, and a man with four faces.

Among these gods, Qi Xuansu only recognized a few, while others were unfamiliar to him.

The moon maiden and the tiger-clawed old crone were none other than Ixchel and Chak Chel, respectively. The decaying figure with the owl’s head was the Death God Ah.

Kukulkan’s voice continued, “Ixchel—Goddess of the Full Moon, Childbirth, and Weaving; Chak Chel—Goddess of the Stars, Moon, and Floods; Ah Puch—Death God of the North; Uracan—God of War; Hinokila—Goddess of the South; and Chaac—God of Rain. You all are a pack of rebellious traitors who know nothing of obedience. Every one of you is cut from the same cloth.

“What about you, uninvited guests of the East? Have you also been driven here by ambition and come to seize my crown?”

Kukulkan had just answered several of Qi Xuansu’s doubts.

It turned out that Death God Ah’s full name was Ah Puch, whose formal title was Death God of the North. His counterpart was Hinokila, the Goddess of the South, who was the beautiful woman wearing a royal crown and a pearl gown. She had a deep connection with Nojpeten, the empire that was once ruled by the ancient gods. Most likely, the royal family of Nojpeten was her descendants, and the crown she wore seemed to confirm as much.

Uracan, the God of War, was a rather unique deity. If Ah Puch, Death God of the North, represented an evil god, and Hinokila, Goddess of the South, represented a benevolent one, then Uracan stood as a neutral deity. He symbolized war and was closely connected with mortal empires, serving as the patron deity of warriors and armies. Since war inevitably brought slaughter and death, he was also considered a friend of the Death God.

At the same time, he also presided over hunting, making him the God of the Hunt.

Since Qi Xuansu intended to resolve the issue of the ancient gods, he had naturally studied them to some extent. He had long known of the existence of the Death God, though he had never learned the god’s name. He had even assumed that the Western Daoist Order’s archives were incomplete.

Qi Xuansu knew the names of these gods but had never been able to match them to their appearances. Only after Kukulkan called each of them by name did he finally connect each name to the corresponding figure.

The one who surprised Qi Xuansu the most was the Rain God.

According to what he knew, this pantheon originally had a Creator God, the founder of the god lineage, equivalent to an ancestor in a clan-based system. His name was Hunab Ku, and he held the highest status of all, though he had long since departed from this world.

The second was Itzamna, chief of the gods. Revered as the Sky God, he was the lord of heaven, the ruler of both day and night, the Sun God, and Ixchel’s husband.

The third was Chaac, the Rain God. It was said that Chaac was a composite deity. Qi Xuansu had never quite understood what that meant before, but now he did. Chaac had four faces and could manifest as four different gods, representing the four cardinal directions. The eastern aspect had a red face and was called Chac; the western aspect had a black face and was called Ek; the southern aspect had a yellow face and was called Kan; and the northern aspect had a white face and was called Sac.

The fourth was Yum, the God of Maize. Since maize was the principal staple crop of the New Continent, the Maize God’s status was correspondingly high, as it represented a crop vital to a nation’s survival.

The Rain God was similar. His exalted status did not stem from rain itself, but from his symbolism of the four directions. He represented the realm, the empire, and the nation itself.

Leaving aside Hunab Ku, the Creator God who had already departed from the mortal world, the three highest-ranking deities of the entire pantheon were Itzamna, the Sky God; Chaac, the Rain God; and Yum, the Maize God. Even if Itzamna had fallen in battle, succession should logically have passed first to Chaac, then to Yum. Alternatively, the fourth-ranked Ixchel might have assumed temporary authority by virtue of being Itzamna’s widow. Under no circumstances should Kukulkan have become the chief god.

Although Kukulkan’s rise to power had been aided by Chak Chel’s support, it now appeared that Yum, the Maize God, was absent from the assembled seats. This suggested that he had most likely perished.

The Rain God, who was once the second most powerful figure in the pantheon, now occupied the lowest position. Having had his authority usurped by Kukulkan, he had likely suffered grievous injuries and no longer possessed the strength to contend with the Feathered Serpent.

From this, it could be inferred that after the Holy Court launched the divine war, the three highest-ranking deities became its primary targets. During the Apostles’ surprise assault, Itzamna and Yum were slain. Although the Rain God survived by sheer luck, he suffered devastating injuries, leaving his divine power greatly diminished. Kukulkan then seized the opportunity to usurp the position of chief god, becoming their leader.

In many mythologies, serpents were believed to possess an insatiable power to devour everything. In the New Continent, a serpent swallowing the sun symbolized the phenomenon of a solar eclipse. Kukulkan’s seizure of the position of Sun God undoubtedly confirmed this legend.

However, this was no auspicious omen. Rather, it was an ill omen, signifying that yin and yang had been overturned and that chaos was imminent.

Kukulkan’s actions were certain to provoke opposition and resentment. Ixchel and Chaac were most likely members of that opposing faction.

Yet, judging from Kukulkan’s words, he regarded all of the ancient gods as traitors. Coupled with his current circumstances, it suggested that Kukulkan had become a ruler with no followers.

Neither Qi Xuansu nor Madam Wu spoke.

Kukulkan seemed completely immersed in his own world, paying no attention to the reactions of the two intruders. After denouncing the gods, he turned his gaze toward the blazing sun above the plaza. “O Sun, your power is beyond question. You can elevate me to a higher realm and grant me the strength to annihilate those rebellious traitors.”

Only then did Kukulkan shift his attention back to Qi Xuansu and Madam Wu. His enormous serpentine body continued to emerge from the golden radiance, flowing into the plaza as though it had no end. “How dare mere mortals like you dare challenge my authority?”

When the Feathered Serpent God’s folded wings finally emerged from the staircase shrouded in golden light and spread open across the plaza, an overwhelming divine aura swept over the entire square.

Kukulkan proclaimed in a booming voice, “I am the Sky God, the Sun God, the King of the Gods!”

Under the impact of his divine might, the seats and the figures seated upon them became blurred and distorted, as though they might vanish at any moment.

Qi Xuansu and Madam Wu were like ordinary people caught in a sandstorm. They had no choice but to shield their faces with their arms as they were forced to retreat.

Kukulkan raised his serpent head high. With his jaws spread open, the blazing sun appeared to rest within his mouth. Behind him, his feathered wings unfurled completely, blotting out the sky.

He looked down upon Qi Xuansu and Madam Wu from above. His vertical serpent pupils radiated a cold and dangerous light. “Kneel and repent, mortals! Atone for your sins!”

As he spoke, the sun suspended above the plaza became incomparably radiant. Golden rays poured down, and with it extreme light and heat.

The boundless divine might surged forth without restraint, like an endless tide of raging waves threatening to crush everything beneath it.

Qi Xuansu immediately realized that Kukulkan was indeed far beyond an ordinary deity. He had already come infinitely close to the power of a First-Tribulation Immortal, what the Daoist Order classified as a Quasi-First-Tribulation Immortal.

Had any one of the Three Deputy Grand Masters been present, or Great Sage Jiang wielding his four immortal objects, they would not have feared Kukulkan.

Unfortunately, Qi Xuansu stood alone with Madam Wu.

Perhaps many years from now, Qi Xuansu too would no longer fear Kukulkan, but that time was certainly not now.

Confronted with such a scene, Qi Xuansu could not help but waver. Was his deduction wrong?