A Pawn's Passage

Qi Xuansu took out the Guizang Lantern and found nothing unusual about it, so he put it away and flew toward the peak of the mist mountain, with Long Xiaobai following closely behind.

The moment he plunged headlong into the sea of mist, he could no longer distinguish east from west, north from south, up from down, or left from right. He had no idea where he was and could only continue forward by sheer momentum.

A moment later, the clouds parted and the mist dispersed.

When Qi Xuansu looked again, the Yunmeng Marsh was nowhere to be seen. Before him stretched an open plain beneath a deep blue sky, covered in verdant grassland. It was an entirely different world.

There was no one else here. Zhou Mengyao, Su Yuanzai, the Innkeeper, and the others had apparently been transported elsewhere.

Qi Xuansu fell silent for a moment before saying, “Xiaobai, this is the cave dwelling you were talking about? Where is that alchemy furnace you mentioned? What about this place made you think it was a cave dwelling?”

This was a pocket realm!

However, he received no response.

Although Long Xiaobai had been following closely behind Qi Xuansu, she had become separated from him. Likewise, there was no telling where she had been transported.

Qi Xuansu could not help but sigh. He did not expect to be caught off guard the moment he entered.

No wonder both Zhou Mengyao and Su Yuanzai had spoken of each going their own way and relying on their own abilities. In a place like this, one truly could rely only on oneself.

It now made sense why Su Yuanzai had clearly been here before yet still failed to achieve his goal. If everyone was randomly transported each time they entered, only to be sent back out once the time limit was reached, then all their previous progress would come to nothing, and they would have to start all over again the next time they entered.

Qi Xuansu surveyed his surroundings. Even with his Manly Immortal True Eyes, he still could not see the end of this place. It seemed that the space here had been infinitely expanded.

The last time Long Xiaobai entered, she had probably been transported directly to the core region where the Immortal’s mortal shell was located. That core region was hidden somewhere within this vast pocket realm. Others had to search for it bit by bit after entering, while Long Xiaobai had reached it in a single step.

This showed just how lucky Long Xiaobai was. That silly dragon even cluelessly swallowed the elixir and then was transported straight out again. This level of efficiency surpassed even that of an Immortal, as if she were the owner of this pocket realm.

Qi Xuansu could not help but wonder whether Long Xiaobai had once again been transported directly to the core region. But there was little point in dwelling on such thoughts. He could only begin to explore this vast space.

Compared with the mortal world, a pocket realm had one advantage. It was not as rigid and unyielding as the real world in the Taiji Era, so it did not have nearly as many constraints. Moving through the Taiji Era was akin to pushing a boat across dry land, whereas moving through the Taisu Era was like sailing a boat on water. At most, one merely had to sail against the current.

Qi Xuansu first took out the compass Madam Qi had given him. Back then, he had used it to search for Xuan Jades. Though Qi Xuansu had not gone hunting for Xuan Jades in a while, he had never thrown it away. He had kept it and used it as an ordinary compass.

The compass needle spun wildly, which indicated that there was likely something reversing yin and yang, so ordinary methods certainly would not work.

Qi Xuansu decided to land on solid ground. He then bent down and placed both hands on the earth, using his newly gained ability from Wu Peng.

Wu Peng was the Great Witch of Earth and was most adept at manipulating earth qi. Although Qi Xuansu was not yet capable of creating a formation by himself, determining the direction in which the earth qi flowed was not difficult. After all, even a pocket realm had to abide by certain fundamental rules, and earth qi was something it could not do without.

Such methods were the Earthly Preceptor’s specialty. After all, the title “Earthly Preceptor” essentially meant a master of earth qi. Even if Qi Xuansu did not possess the makings of a Grand Master, at the very least, he certainly had the makings of an Earthly Preceptor.

Madam Qi could then proudly proclaim, “My son Tian Yuan has the makings of an Earthly Preceptor!”

Qi Xuansu quickly grasped the direction in which the earth qi flowed. The Central Plains’ earth qi originated from Kunlun and divided into the Southern Dragon, Central Dragon, and Northern Dragon before flowing into the sea, with the Northern Dragon further splitting into two branches.

Regardless of the route, the earth qi flowed from west to east. By following its flow, one would inevitably reach the sea. The only difference was where one would encounter it—Nanyang, Jiangnan, Zhili, or even Silla.

Conversely, if one wished to reach Kunlun, one simply had to travel against the flow of the earth qi, tracing it upstream.

The core of this pocket realm was surely equivalent to Kunlun in the mortal world. If Qi Xuansu wanted to find this place’s core, then he would have to travel toward the source of its earth qi.

After determining the direction of the earth qi’s flow, Qi Xuansu immediately set off.

He was not particularly worried about Su Yuanzai or the Innkeeper. What worried him was Zhou Mengyao reaching the core region of the pocket realm first. If she happened to encounter Long Xiaobai there, there was no telling what might happen.

However, Qi Xuansu had been flying for only about an hour when a beastly roar interrupted his journey.

A rhinoceros the size of a small mountain was roaming across the plains. Upon spotting Qi Xuansu passing overhead, it let out an angry roar, displaying unmistakable hostility toward him.

Qi Xuansu stopped in midair, somewhat surprised.

In ancient times, rhinoceroses did exist in the Central Plains, and they lived in the Yunmeng Marsh. That was why the Yunmeng Marsh had been the King of Chu’s hunting grounds.

The fact that the King of Chu could have his soul summoned by Wu Yang showed that he was no ordinary mortal. After all, that was still an age when humans and gods lived together. Naturally, creatures worthy of being hunted by the King of Chu were not to be underestimated either.

Seeing Qi Xuansu stop, the rhinoceros showed no courtesy whatsoever. A vicious gleam flashed through its eyes as it opened its mouth and spat out a spherical pearl resembling an inner core, which shot straight toward Qi Xuansu.

Using his finger as a brush, Qi Xuansu casually drew a flood dragon. This was the Dragon Painting Technique from the Taiping Essential Arts.

The painted flood dragon instantly came to life. Though it could not compare with Long Xiaobai, it still possessed the strength of an ordinary Heavenly Being. The painted dragon tossed its head and swished its tail as it charged toward the pearl.

However, upon contact, the painted dragon was effortlessly smashed apart by the pearl.

Astonished, Qi Xuansu had no choice but to raise his hand to block the pearl.

The painted dragon had already blocked the pearl once. Though it failed, it still managed to reduce some of the force. Even so, Qi Xuansu still felt his palm tremble slightly upon impact, while his blood qi momentarily became sluggish.

There was more to this creature than met the eye.

The unknown rhinoceros opened its mouth and inhaled, drawing the pearl back inside. After gathering its strength for a moment, it spat the pearl out again, which streaked forward like a meteor, hurtling straight toward Qi Xuansu’s face.

“Wretched beast!” Qi Xuansu shouted, imitating the Immortals from popular tales.

Without wasting another word, he took out his new treasure, the Taiji Eight Trigrams Mirror.

The pearl plunged straight into the Taiji Eight Trigrams Mirror and vanished, trapped within the mirror world.

The rhinoceros reacted in a very human way. It first froze in surprise, then a look of fear flashed in its eyes.

Qi Xuansu activated the Taiji Eight Trigrams Mirror once more and shone it on the rhinoceros.

There was no telling how long this pocket realm had existed, nor how long the rhinoceros had lived. However, based on records, its existence could be traced back to at least as far as the Golden Horde period, which was several centuries ago. As such, this rhinoceros undoubtedly qualified as one of the ancient beings, the sort of being most restrained by the Taiji Eight Trigrams Mirror.

It had to be said that every art had its own specialty.

The rhinoceros that had been so imposing just moments ago immediately became motionless, like a lamb awaiting slaughter.

Qi Xuansu thought for a moment. Just now, this rhinoceros had shown a vicious gleam in its eyes and attacked without distinguishing right from wrong. It was clearly no benevolent creature, so there was no need to spare its life. It would serve perfectly well for testing the mirror.

With this thought, Qi Xuansu activated the Taiji Eight Trigrams Mirror once more, and the mirror light instantly transformed into sword light. It first pinned down the rhinoceros’s head, knocking it unconscious and making it lose all awareness of its surroundings. Then the sword light circled around its neck, and the enormous head fell, its soul returning to heaven and its spirit returning to earth.

Seeing this, Qi Xuansu clicked his tongue in amazement. What a formidable sword light! It was astonishingly sharp and fierce.

Once the rhinoceros died, the pearl Qi Xuansu had confined within the mirror world no longer resisted and became still. It merely flickered with light, displaying considerable spirituality. It was probably something similar to an inner core and should prove quite useful. In the past, Qi Xuansu would certainly have sold it to the Huasheng Hall for some coins. But things were different now. Qi Xuansu had no need to make money this way anymore, so he might as well keep it as an exotic gift for someone.

Qi Xuansu did not forget the carcass either. He first cut off the rhinoceros horn, which could be ground into powder, then kept some of the rhinoceros meat as a treat for Little Yin. That little imp was still growing and loved to eat, though he did not know exactly when she would finally finish growing.

After processing the rhinoceros, Qi Xuansu continued on his way. After flying about 100 kilometers, he spotted a village, and there seemed to be people living there.

He was shocked to find people as well on this boundless plain. Could they be descendants of the Ancient Wuist Great Witches?

After giving it some thought, Qi Xuansu concealed himself and quietly approached the settlement to investigate. What he saw surprised him more.

Judging by their clothing, these people were definitely not descendants of ancient times. Instead, their attire bore a strong resemblance to the styles of the early Wei Dynasty. This inevitably reminded Qi Xuansu of the White Lotus Sect followers who had mysteriously disappeared. Surely, it could not be such a coincidence, right?

In the outside world, the White Lotus Sect had long since been destroyed, having met its end at the hands of Elder Xu.

Back then, Elder Xu had set his sights on conquering the realm. He controlled the Ancient Gezao Sect and held the Earthly Preceptor’s lineage in his grasp. At the same time, he secretly supported Song Zheng and Tantai Yun in establishing the Western Daoist Order to contend for supremacy over the realm.

Based on the popular tales, Elder Xu alone accounted for half of the unorthodox paths back then. Had Elder Xu not been forced to ascend, there would have been no telling who would ultimately have emerged victorious.

In his spare time, Elder Xu had even reorganized the White Lotus Sect into the Qingyang Sect, further dividing it into the Qingyang, Hongyang, and Baiyang lineages. Unfortunately for them, they encountered the Holy Xuan. Not a single member of the three lineages escaped, and all of them became stepping stones for the Holy Xuan as he rebuilt the Daoist Order and pacified the realm.

Qi Xuansu’s Dayan Spirit Blade had been the signature technique of one of their leaders.

Come to think of it, the last leader of the Qingyang Sect had met an even more miserable fate than Wu Yang. In the end, Elder Xu refined him into the Sakka, which became the crowning achievement of the creation project. It later fell into the hands of the Daoist Order and underwent repeated improvements, eventually becoming what it was today.

If it came down to naming a successor of the White Lotus Sect, it would be the Heavenly Court. The White Lotus Sect itself had been a mash-up of the Three Religions, with Buddhism at its core. Meanwhile, the Heavenly Court had surpassed its predecessor entirely, going so far as to merge five religions into one.

But with the changing times, the Heavenly Court had also begun transforming itself. It downplayed its nature as a religious secret society and had even gone so far as to establish a company.

Genuine, old-fashioned White Lotus Sect followers were truly a rare sight these days.

These White Lotus Sect followers were kneeling in worship and prayer, their droning chants filling the air.

Qi Xuansu listened carefully, only to discover that they were not reciting the verses of the Heavenly Mater, whom they worshipped, but an authentic verse from the Songs of Chu.

The spirit coils and lingers, radiant and brilliant without end. May he peacefully dwell within the Palace of Longevity, his light shining together with the sun and the moon. With dragon carriages and imperial robes, he soars and wanders through the world. The spirit shines brightly as it descends, then swiftly rises far into the clouds.

After listening, Qi Xuansu realized something was off about it.