A Pawn's Passage

Qi Xuansu took out Madam Qi’s second-hand pocket watch and stared at the hands on the dial, feeling as if minutes were passing by like years.

After the alchemy furnace absorbed the Diviner’s Yin Fire and the Phoenix Eye Bullet’s Yang Fire, it accelerated the processing speed of the Blood Pill. About two hours later, the heat that surrounded the alchemy furnace began to converge inward, and then the elixir was released. The furnace began to cool down.

Qi Xuansu put away his pocket watch and came to the alchemy furnace, which had three layers. The smaller upper layer was the alchemy chamber, used for refining pills and elixirs. The slightly larger middle layer was the furnace used to control the temperature. The largest lower level was the fire chamber, used for starting fires and adding firewood.

Suddenly, the door of the alchemy chamber popped open, spewing out a surge of air that spread in all directions. The strong gust of hot air would have burned an ordinary person. Even Qi Xuansu had to step back to avoid the heat.

When the hot air dissipated, there was still some smoke lingering in the alchemy chamber, making it difficult to see what was going on inside. However, Qi Xuansu could smell a strong fragrance that was difficult to describe. It smelled like grass and wood, but it also had a faint, sweet scent of blood. It was not pungent. Instead, it made him feel relaxed and refreshed.

Qi Xuansu could not help but inhale deeply to take in more of this fragrance.

This was strange because usually, the smell of blood was quite nauseating. This oddly sweet scent of blood was rare. No wonder it was called a Blood Pill.

At the same time, Qi Xuansu was also sure that he should not miss out on this high-grade pill.

This was a pleasant surprise for him because he only came here as part of The Inn’s weeding operation and did not expect such a harvest. He also finally understood why the Diviner was so aggressive and murderous toward him. The Diviner must have thought that Qi Xuansu was there to snatch the Blood Pill from him. In the end, the Blood Pill still fell into Qi Xuansu’s hands.

After a while, the smoke in the alchemy chamber completely dissipated. Qi Xuansu focused his gaze until he saw a blood-red pill about the size of a cherry in the alchemy chamber. What was even more surprising was that this pill was moving slightly, like a miniature pumping heart.

Qi Xuansu hesitated for a long time before he leaped over and stretched out his hand to take out the Blood Pill from the chamber. He felt a warm sensation as well as a pulse coming from the pill.

He murmured to himself, “Is this pill alive?”

If this pill was a living thing, it would be more similar to plants, as it had no intelligence. But even so, it made him wonder about the extent of the Daoist Order’s innovation projects.

Qi Xuansu also figured that he should not consume this pill hastily. Otherwise, the medicinal power would likely surge in his body and backfire on him. The medicinal power could be so strong as to block his meridians or directly burst his Dantians. This pill had to be taken with caution and refined slowly.

Thinking that the people from White Jade Hall might return at any moment, Qi Xuansu did not want to stay for long. Since he could not swallow this pill rashly, he found a jade box originally used to hold Red Fruits from the medicine cabinet and placed the Blood Pill inside. Then he sealed the jade box to stop the pill’s fragrance from overflowing.

He glanced at the Diviner’s corpse and thought of an idea.

First, he closed the door of the alchemy chamber, then opened the door of the fire chamber. There was still some dark fire inside, so Qi Xuansu moved the Diviner’s body and decapitated head into it. When the dark fire touched the corpse, it instantly turned into an open flame. In the blink of an eye, the corpse turned into wisps of green smoke, leaving no trace.

Qi Xuansu then closed the door of the fire chamber, climbed out of the pit, and left the place.

That way, even if the people from White Jade Hall found that the Diviner was missing, it would be difficult for them to investigate whether the Diviner had stolen the Blood Pill or whether he had been killed. The immobilized living corpses could be interpreted as evidence that the Diviner was killed or a ploy for the Diviner to escape.

After all, Qi Xuansu was taught by Madam Qi. He reverted to his old habits as soon as he left Tiangang Hall. In the real world, right or wrong did not matter. Survival was most important. Like the food chain, no one would pity the goat for being eaten by a tiger. Instead, people would only marvel at how ferocious the tiger was.

This was the harsh reality of the real world that flowerbed priests in the comfortable greenhouse of the Daoist Order would never experience.

Qi Xuansu went back along the original path he had taken and hesitated for a moment when he came to the fork in the road that he had marked. Instead of exploring the other fork in the road, he decided to leave this underground labyrinth.

When Qi Xuansu was above ground again, he noticed that the heavy rain had stopped, but the rain clouds were still obvious.

At this moment, a loud rumbling came from the center of the reclaimed land, and a cloud of black smoke shot up into the sky.

Qi Xuansu walked out of the dilapidated pavilion, looked in the direction of the rising black smoke, and murmured, “What on earth is going on? Did The Inn get into trouble with the White Jade Hall?”

As soon as he finished speaking, another stream of black smoke swirled up, resembling a dragon. However, countless pale, ghostly figures floated in this black stream, constantly howling and roaring.

This reclaimed land was once destroyed by the Daoist Order with the Phoenix Eye Bomb. But after years of recovery, some tenacious vegetation managed to survive. At this moment, all vegetation withered instantly wherever the black stream passed. The green faded and was replaced by a yellowish-brown, wilted mess.

Even the already barren ground seemed to be sucked dry of all moisture, with cracked surfaces consistent with a drought. There were records in Daoist scriptures that thousands of kilometers of land would be scorched when the drought demon came to the world.

When Qi Xuansu saw this, he took out the Jiamas and tied them to his legs without hesitation. Then he ran with all his might, not daring to look back.

This scene was as horrifying as the day when Wu Luo’s projection snapped the flying ship in half. Although Qi Xuansu had an Auxiliary Heart, he dared not rely on it too much.

He looked back for a split second and saw the other recruits from The Inn running for their lives, like him. However, one after another, they were trapped by the black stream of yin energy. Those with weaker cultivation quickly aged. Their skin shriveled up, their flesh melted, and they turned into dried corpses in an instant.

These dried corpses maintained their original appearance, but when the wind blew, they turned into powder and scattered with the wind. At the same time, their souls escaped from their bodies and were caught in the dark stream, all of them floating toward the center of the reclaimed land.

Those Martial Arts Practitioners with a slightly higher level of cultivation could barely withstand this yin energy. They forcibly bound their blood qi and soul together to avoid their soul getting absorbed by the black stream.

However, the black stream was endless, like the sea during a storm. When there were rough waves, the best course of action was to drift with the tide. Otherwise, one would drown from exhaustion.

The black stream continued to bombard them until it eventually swallowed these people.

After Qi Xuansu escaped from the reclaimed land, he stood on a high slope and looked back. A huge black vortex had appeared at some point, covering the sky and the sun.

Huge cracks and gaps appeared on the ground that extended in all directions. All the structures in the area collapsed, causing smoke and dust to spread everywhere.

Suddenly, a thunderous roar erupted from the ground. It was as if a ferocious ancient beast was about to tear open the earth and crawl out to the surface.

Qi Xuansu spotted someone leaping high and staying in the air for a short time. It was the leading old man from The Inn’s headquarters who was almost a Heavenly Being.

The next moment, five tall pillars of varying heights rose slowly from the ground where the old man leaped from. Upon closer look, Qi Xuansu noticed that they were not pillars, but fingers.

The gargantuan hand rose from the ground and reached upward, finally grabbing the old man from The Inn.

The earth shook violently. The ground within a 300-meter radius of that hand completely cracked, and all the rubble sank into the gap. Only the hand that had grabbed the old man was still standing tall.

Soon after, another massive hand shot up and flattened its palm on the ground, propping up a monstrous body from the pit.

It was a giant demon with dark skin and exposed veins all over its body that resembled the roots of an old tree. These root-like veins were as thick as an adult man’s arm. The demon had a ferocious green face and large fangs, with an exaggeratedly bloody mouth that could swallow a person whole without any effort.

Someone else was standing on the shoulders of this giant demon at this time. That man was smiling and standing with his hands behind his back. The moment this demon appeared, it sucked in countless yin energy and dead souls.

The demon crushed The Inn’s old man in its palm, then tossed him into its mouth and chewed on him. Blood splattered everywhere.

Qi Xuansu was petrified. What the hell is this?!

When he recalled that this reclaimed land was where the first Earthly Preceptor cultivated corpses, Qi Xuansu had a bold guess.

Could this demon be the legendary Great Asura, whose power was comparable to Heavenly Beings?

……

At The Inn in the West Gobi, the Innkeeper stood behind the counter as usual, spinning a Taiping coin.

Business was slow that day, so not many people were in the lobby. As the Innkeeper mentioned to Qi Xuansu, people were not their main enemy in the desert; the weather was.

At this moment, a waiter rushed in.

The Innkeeper’s eyelids twitched. He slapped the spinning Taiping coin and slowly removed his palm, revealing the words “peace to the world” engraved on the coin.

“What’s the matter?” The Innkeeper asked indifferently.

The waiter took a breath and said with a solemn expression, “Sir, a large cavalry is coming toward us.”

The Innkeeper’s expression changed. “A large cavalry? Where did they come from?”

The waiter answered, “They are the Black Robes' Cavalry! They seem to have been mobilized from the Xizhou Protectorate. As you know, the Xizhou Protectorate is under the control of the Xiliang Governor in name only. It actually follows the direct orders of the Imperial Cabinet. That’s why they have always been unreasonable and domineering.”

“Mobilizing troops across states? This is usually done when going against a local mogul, for fear that the local Black Robes have been bribed. Is the Imperial Court planning something in Yongzhou?” The Innkeeper was in disbelief. “Why is there no news from Green Phoenix Guard?”

The waiter shook his head. “It seems that they have bypassed the Green Phoenix Guard. Moreover, three Lieutenant Colonels of the Green Phoenix Guard have been busy arresting those Heavenly Court zealots.”

Outside the city, the ground trembled as the cavalry approached The Inn like a black tide.

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