A Pawn's Passage

Qi Xuansu and Tantai Ying arrived above the Dragon Palace. By now, the surrounding waters were filled with vessels of all sizes. These were the Western Tiangang Hall fleet that Tantai Ying had brought earlier.

As long as they remained grounded rather than taking to the skies, they looked no different from ordinary ships.

Tantai Ying raised a hand and gave an order. “Deploy the beacon tower.”

A circular temporary portal opened beneath the Horned Dragon flying ship. A pagoda-like structure dropped from it, striking the surface of the sea and continuing to sink until it reached the seabed, where it anchored itself firmly in place.

A pillar of light then shot from the top of the tower, piercing through the surface of the sea and extending high into the sky. Even from a great distance, it remained clearly visible.

Although the seawater might cause the apparent position of the light pillar to shift slightly, all they needed was an approximate location.

“Prepare the Swords of the Western Daoist Order,” Tantai Ying ordered again.

Two Purple Flood Dragon flying ships slowly rose into the air, one on the left and the other on the right. A narrow opening appeared along the corresponding broadside of each vessel, revealing an extremely unusual cannon. Instead of a circular muzzle, each cannon was broad and flat, nearly as wide as the entire side of the ship yet only about 30 centimeters high.

Two curtains of light shot from the cannons like razor-thin blades. Guided by the position marked by the beacon, they sliced directly downward.

This was a weapon specifically designed to break formations. Though it was easier to blast the formation apart with the Starcrusher, doing so risked damaging the Dragon Palace within, which would defeat the entire purpose.

Soon, a permanent breach had been cut through the Dragon Palace’s formation. Completely dismantling the entire formation would still take considerable time, but this narrow opening was already large enough for people to enter.

Hun Ahau asked, “How are your injuries, Sage Qi? If you’re feeling any discomfort, I can go down in your place.”

Qi Xuansu waved his hand. “I’m fine.”

Zhou Mengyao had certainly beaten Qi Xuansu badly, but the surface injuries were hardly worth mentioning. The most troublesome problem was the Xiaoyao Six Void Tribulations.

Once the Six Void Tribulations entered the body, it clung to its victim like a malignant affliction embedded in the bones and could not be easily removed. Even if the victim was fortunate enough to survive, the threat would remain with them constantly.

Normally, the Six Void Tribulations would conceal itself within Qi Xuansu’s body, lying dormant without showing any signs of activity. But with the slightest activation from Zhou Mengyao, it could erupt without warning, leaving Qi Xuansu unable to gather his strength, putting him in an extremely dangerous situation.

So how could Qi Xuansu be certain that this hidden threat had truly been removed rather than merely retreating into dormancy once again?

Judging purely by the disparity in their cultivation, there was absolutely no possibility of Qi Xuansu removing the Six Void Tribulations left behind by Zhou Mengyao. But Qi Xuansu possessed the Longevity Stone Heart.

Daoist cultivation emphasized circulating qi through a complete cycle. Whether it was innate qi, true essence, or even blood qi, all of it had to circulate through every corner of the body before completing a full cycle. In doing so, it inevitably passed through the Longevity Stone Heart. As such, the Longevity Stone Heart functioned almost like a filter, removing impurities from whatever passed through it.

Qi Xuansu could clearly sense that the dormant Six Void Tribulations had been intercepted by the Longevity Stone Heart.

If Zhou Mengyao was still actively circulating the Six Void Tribulations, then the Longevity Stone Heart would have been unable to do much against it. But Zhou Mengyao could barely protect herself at the moment. Who knew where she had fled while carrying her own severed head? Her first priority was obviously to reattach her head. As such, she had no attention to spare for these remnants of the Six Void Tribulations that had already left her body.

Without Zhou Mengyao sustaining them, the Six Void Tribulations became like a tree without roots or water without a source, allowing the Longevity Stone Heart to dissolve it with ease.

After all, even at the height of the creation project, only three Longevity Stone Hearts had ever been produced. Its prototype, the Longevity Stone, could even help Immortals survive their heavenly tribulations. Compared with a heavenly tribulation, the Xiaoyao Six Void Tribulations were hardly worth mentioning.

Thus, Qi Xuansu was quite certain that there was nothing seriously wrong with him.

Since that was the case, Hun Ahau did not try to persuade him any further.

There was an art to advising one’s superior and showing concern for them. The key was to express one’s concern clearly enough for the superior to understand the sentiment behind it, not to actually interfere with the superior’s decisions. Too much could be just as bad as too little. If one’s concern became so excessive that it annoyed one’s superior, that would defeat the purpose entirely.

Tantai Ying, Qi Xuansu, and Utu leaped down toward the Dragon Palace, while Hun Ahau remained aboard the flying ship as a precaution against any unexpected developments.

The sea was not particularly deep here. They had not descended very far when the Dragon Palace already came into view, so the water pressure had yet to become significant.

Only after drawing closer did Qi Xuansu realize that the Dragon Palace had actually been cobbled together from numerous sunken ships.

Many of the so-called pavilions and towers were simply shipboard structures that had been moved here, then decorated with coral and various luminous ornaments. The entire palace was built upon the wreck of a half-destroyed Nautilus Vessel. No one knew how the Steam Evangelical Sect’s vessel had sunk in these waters, but the old flood dragon had somehow dragged it here and turned it into the foundation of his Dragon Palace.

Qi Xuansu and the others entered the Dragon Palace through the enormous passageway used by the old flood dragon’s true body.

The palace’s internal structure was actually quite simple. Immediately beyond the entrance lay the chamber where the old flood dragon had slept. The pavilions and towers outside were mostly decorative. Given the enormous size of the old flood dragon’s true body, there was no possibility of him entering those buildings anyway.

They were rather like the tiny pavilions people constructed atop ornamental rockeries, nothing more than embellishments.

Beyond that was the old flood dragon’s treasury. That was the important part.

Of course, no one expected to find any immortal objects here. There simply were not that many immortal objects in the world.

Most of the treasure consisted of gold and silver salvaged from sunken ships.

Utu had already cast a divine water-repelling spell on Qi Xuansu and Tantai Ying, allowing them to move through the water without hindrance.

The three of them then inspected the treasures one item at a time.

Qi Xuansu had little interest in the gold and silver. On a personal level, money no longer meant very much to him. From the perspective of the Daoist Order, this amount of wealth was hardly significant enough to merit attention.

However, Qi Xuansu really did discover something valuable. It was an elixir about the size of a longan fruit, stored inside a translucent jade box. Its appearance alone suggested that it was no ordinary item.

“Is it a Spirit Pill?” Tantai Ying asked.

Qi Xuansu replied, “It looks more like a Longevity Elixir.”

The Longevity Elixir was refined by the Longevous.

Since ancient times, there had been legends of alchemists sailing across the seas in search of the Elixir of Immortality. The alchemist who had sought such a medicine for the First Emperor was none other than the progenitor of the Longevous.

Strictly speaking, their repeated voyages were not made in search of a ready-made Elixir of Immortality. They were searching for the materials required to refine the Longevity Elixir that could only be found in the depths of the ocean.

Sun Lingxiu and the others were descendants of the Longevous. They had left the mainland and ventured deep into the ocean, presumably because they had finally discovered the crucial materials and succeeded in refining the legendary Longevity Elixir.

Yet they never had the opportunity to use it. Instead, it eventually fell into the hands of the old flood dragon and became part of his collection. Now, the Western Daoist Order had reaped the benefit.

Qi Xuansu was rather curious about one thing. As an Immortal who ruled an enormous empire and possessed four immortal objects, what had the First Emperor needed the Longevity Elixir for? There had to be something unusual about it.

After all, the Spirit Pill and Great Medicine did far more than merely increase one’s cultivation. The Spirit Pill could significantly improve a person’s innate aptitude, making it invaluable for transforming a useless person into someone with genuine potential. The Great Medicine could preserve one’s youth and even restore an aged body to its youthful state.

Before Qi Xuansu even needed to say anything, Tantai Ying understood what he had in mind and spoke first. “Although I have never met Sage Zhang personally, I have long heard of her great reputation and admired her from afar. With your wedding to Sage Zhang approaching, let this Longevity Elixir serve as my wedding gift. Please deliver it to her on my behalf.”

Qi Xuansu did not decline. “Then allow me to thank you on Sage Zhang’s behalf, Sage Tantai.”

With that, Qi Xuansu took the jade box containing the Longevity Elixir and examined it carefully.

He discovered that several lines of writing had been inscribed on the underside of the jade box, and they had actually been left by Sun Lingxiu. In other words, this Longevity Elixir had been personally refined by Sun Lingxiu.

It was no wonder the Longevous had never consumed it and had instead chosen to preserve it. Clearly, the elixir carried tremendous symbolic significance.

The inscription roughly stated that Sun Lingxiu had followed the clues left behind by their progenitor and journeyed toward the moon. At last, within the Eye of the Sea, he found the legendary Daogui. He then stole a meter of spirit talisman from the Toad Palace. With both the talisman and the golden catalyst finally assembled, he used the vast ocean as the alchemical furnace and yin fire as the alchemical flame. At long last, he succeeded in refining the Longevity Elixir.

Two extremely important pieces of information were mentioned here. The first concerned the Eye of the Sea on the seabed.

The term “Daogui” had originally referred to a measurement device used for measuring medicinal ingredients. Its shape resembled ancient knife money. Early Daoists of the outer elixir faction used the Daogui to measure ingredients for elixirs, and the term gradually became part of Daoist terminology. As a result, its meaning expanded over time. Later, Daogui came to refer either to the ingredients used by the outer elixir faction in refining elixirs, or to the elixirs themselves. At present, Daogui had evolved further into a term used by the inner elixir faction, who used it as a term referring to the Golden Elixir Path.

Sun Lingxiu had lived during the era when the outer elixir faction was still dominant, so the Daogui mentioned in the inscription undoubtedly referred to an ingredient used to refine the Longevity Elixir. This extraordinarily unusual alchemical ingredient had been discovered within the Eye of the Sea.

Old Pang had once mentioned a legend that somewhere within these waters lay the Eye of the Sea that led directly into the Netherworld, from which yin energy continuously leaked out.

The second piece of information concerned the Toad Palace, which was another name for the moon. Yet this was not referring to True Lord Taiyin or Ixchel. Instead, there was a Yin Moon.

Old Pang had also mentioned that, according to legend, the Yin Moon had been formed from the yin energy pouring out of the Eye of the Sea. This immediately connected it to the first clue.

The inscription mentioned that Sun Lingxiu had stolen a meter of spirit talisman from the Toad Palace. Did this mean that Sun Lingxiu had actually entered the Yin Moon, obtained a spirit talisman there, and then escaped? If that were true, then the Yin Moon seemed more like some kind of pocket realm than an actual celestial body.

Could there be some deeper mystery hidden behind all of this?

At this thought, Qi Xuansu lost all interest in continuing to inspect the treasury and decided to leave the Dragon Palace.