A Pawn's Passage

Secret societies dared to do everything. Back then, several Ancient Immortals took advantage of the Holy Xuan’s absence to sneak into Jade Capital and start a fierce battle with two Deputy Grand Masters. They later retreated with the help of the Lord Buddha. This battle became the catalyst for the war between Buddhism and Daoism.

With this precedent, the Lingshan Witch Cult’s revenge was not surprising because these Ancient Immortals, who had fought with the Daoist Order for hundreds of years, were fearless, and so were their followers.

The old fourth-rank Jijiu Daoist master stretched out his hand toward Zhang Yuelu with his fingers spread wide. The yellow jade prayer beads on his wrist lit up one after another.

Zhang Yuelu did not stand still and wait for death to befall her. She turned the Amorphous Paper into countless paper lotuses and tossed them at the old man. These paper lotuses were tough enough to destroy metal and break stone, so they did not get blown away by the strong wind. Instead, they cut through the wind and accurately circled the old priest, creating a white expanse as far as the eye could see.

The old man’s palm was shrouded in a rich golden aura before he shot out a stream of golden light, dispersing the paper lotuses. Although the paper lotuses were not damaged, they deviated from their original trajectory. The old man continued to aim the golden beam at Zhang Yuelu’s face.

Zhang Yuelu had no choice but to dodge sideways. The golden beam struck the ship behind her, busting a big hole in the building and allowing the turbulent wind to pour inside.

The old priest chuckled. “Thanks to the Quanzhen Sect’s visit to the Zhengyi Sect, all the high-ranking priests who wanted to leave Yunjin Mountain in the past two months have already left with the Quanzhen Sect’s flying ship two days ago. The only highest-ranking priests on the ship are of the fourth rank, and you’re the best among them. In other words, no one can stop me, not even you, Mage Zhang. Look, some people don’t even dare to leave the ship’s building!”

With a wave of her hand, the countless paper lotuses fluttered toward Zhang Yuelu like butterflies and turned into a long paper sword. At a critical moment, Zhang Yuelu was still most confident with a long sword.

“I recall that the Cihang Sword Sequence has a technique that summons a Spiritual Statue. But I wonder if that’s stronger than a Shaman’s Spiritual Statue.” The old priest laughed as he condensed the golden divine power in his palm again.

Qi Xuansu could see Zhang Yuelu and the old man on the deck, but he could not break through the formation to leave the ship’s building. The formation on the flying ship was like a water curtain. The old priest and Zhang Yuelu temporarily created a small gap in the formation so that they could pass through it quickly before the curtain automatically closed.

He only took the opportunity to leave the ship’s building after the old priest’s golden beam blew a hole in the ship’s building, which left a big gap in the formation that could not be restored immediately.

However, Qi Xuansu understood that he could not confront the old priest head-on. Even Zhang Yuelu did not dare to go against that golden beam. Thus, ambushing the old man would give them the best chance of winning.

At this moment, several more fourth-rank priests left the ship’s building and came onto the deck. Together with Zhang Yuelu, they surrounded the old priest.

Even when surrounded, the old man was not afraid at all. He merely laughed and taunted them. “Come at me! I didn’t expect that I’d have a chance to let loose and go wild after spending most of my life as a coward. I can finally vent the pent-up resentment on you people!”

Upon hearing these words, the fourth-rank priests turned solemn. The old man in front of them had a death wish, so he would likely drag a few of them to hell before dying.

However, they could not retreat after coming out onto the deck because they could be held accountable for abandoning a fight against evil. Not to mention, it would be humiliating if word got out. Thus, they had no choice but to stay and fight.

Zhang Yuelu took a step forward and leaped in front of the old priest. The old man waved his hand, striking her with the golden light that he had condensed for a while.

This time, Zhang Yuelu was on guard. She dove down and slid forward, bypassing the golden light and approaching the old priest. Then she pierced the old man’s heart with the paper sword. Even so, the old man’s expression remained unchanged. What was even stranger was that no blood was seeping out of his wound.

The old priest laughed wildly. Suddenly, black smoke drifted out of his orifices. At this time, his body had undergone great changes. His vitality waned, while his deathly aura grew, but his cultivation level seemed to be improving rapidly.

Startled, several fourth-rank priests exclaimed, “That’s the divine power of the True Lord Siming!”

No one would have thought that this old priest would possess the divine power of not one but two Ancient Immortals.

Although the old priest’s cultivation level had improved significantly, he was still not yet a Heavenly Being. He paid a huge price for this power, shortening his lifespan greatly. This showed how reckless and determined he was to win.

The old priest exhaled black smoke that reeked of a rotten corpse. “Mage Zhang, it doesn’t matter if I die here since I’m at the end of my life anyway. But it’ll be a pity if you die here in your prime, especially with such a bright future!”

Zhang Yuelu hurriedly put away her sword and retreated.

The old man moved his body and said, “With the divine power of the True Lord Siming, my life and death are no longer up to me. I wonder who among you will grant me a quick death.”

Several fourth-rank priests stood still on the deck against the fierce wind. Although they were all in the Guizhen stage, they were intimidated by the old priest’s divine power. Thus, no one dared to make a move. No matter what, the old man would die soon, so it was not worth it to risk their lives fighting him. At this point, self-preservation was their priority.

The old priest was not in a hurry to make a move. Instead, he lamented. “Back when I first entered the Daoist Order, I was ambitious and wanted to do a good job. But the fifth-generation Grand Master had a bad temper and couldn’t tolerate any opposition, so he demoted my master to the Requiem Division just because my master said something wrong once.

“When I was in my prime, the sixth-generation Grand Master took over, but he was weak and could not control the three Deputy Grand Masters. My master wanted to get transferred out of the Requiem Division, but he failed to do so and died of depression.

“To this day, the position of Grand Master is vacant. The three Deputy Grand Masters hold the power and refuse to give in to each other. How interesting is it that the Daoist Order has reached its peak and is starting to decline? It’s a pity that I’m too old to witness the collapse of the Daoist Order.”

After his monologue, the old priest shook his Daoist robe. His hazy eyes were stern and as still as stagnant water.

Zhang Yuelu did not dare underestimate this old man. She responded by slashing at him horizontally.

The next moment, a long ivory sword appeared in the old man’s hand, filled with dark divine power. He leaped toward Zhang Yuelu, who kept her ground and blocked his attack with her sword. Layers of lotus-like qi rippled at her feet.

As they closed their distance, their swords collided with a loud, metallic clang, and they drifted away immediately due to the impact. The old man waved his bone sword, summoning dark clouds. The wind was howling, and a black qi poured down on his head, like torrential rain.

The sword qi surged from the paper sword in Zhang Yuelu’s hand, separating the black clouds and mist wherever it passed.

The dusty Daoist robe on the old man’s body billowed because of his dark qi and Zhang Yuelu’s sword qi.

As they fought, the old priest’s bone sword collided with Zhang Yuelu’s paper sword no less than a hundred times. Although the bone sword was extremely powerful, it could not harm Zhang Yuelu.

The old man did not use his golden divine power. The black smoke just rushed out from the bone sword, like the rapids during the flood season.

For a moment, everything in front of Zhang Yuelu disappeared, covered by the dark clouds and black fog. An unimaginable chill hidden in the old man’s sword surged toward Zhang Yuelu.

Zhang Yuelu threw out her paper sword, which multiplied rapidly behind her like a peacock spreading its tail. When she spun around, the hundreds of swords moved in unison, shooting out sword qi in all directions. The sword qi was extremely sharp and indestructible, scattering the dark clouds and black fog and attacking the old priest.

In the blink of an eye, the old priest had three more sword wounds on his body, all of them hitting his vitals. Blood as black as ink overflowed from the wounds, but the old man did not die, since he was blessed by the divine power of the True Lord Siming.

This was an expected result. It was also why Ancient Immortal believers were so difficult to deal with. They usually had high cultivation levels, but they also had the divine power of the Ancient Immortals through external objects. It was akin to a Daoist priest and a Spirit Guard merging into one, making a difficult opponent.

The Daoist Order did not do this because they had limited divine power. Their territory was large, and they lacked manpower. High-ranking Daoist priests were unwilling to do mundane chores, such as guarding, escorting, patrolling, and so on. Thus, the Daoist Order had to lower its standards and have more Spirit Guards to fill these vacancies.

As such, the divine power to create the Spirit Guards’ armors was limited, so the Daoist Order would not allocate divine power to Daoist priests.

Zhang Yuelu did not intend to kill the old man with the paper sword. She just wanted to restrain him so that she could approach him. Thus, she grabbed his wrist and used the Six Void Tribulations Technique on him.

The old man’s divine power could not withstand the Six Void Tribulations, but he was not afraid. He looked past Zhang Yuelu at the few motionless fourth-rank priests behind her and scoffed.

“How ridiculous! You all are just watching from the sidelines while this little girl fights me. The Daoist Order is truly hopeless!”

Soon after, the old priest aimed the golden beam toward the several fourth-rank priests.

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