A Pawn's Passage

Qi Xuansu finally arrived at the gate of Qingbai Temple along the mountain road. He looked around the large Daoist temple and found it quite impressive. However, the place was deserted.

The door of the Daoist temple was shut, so Qi Xuansu had no choice but to go up and knock on it.

After a long time, the door slowly opened from the inside, revealing a human face.

This person was not a Daoist priest but an ordinary Daoist believer.

Since no one had offered incense at the Qingbai Temple for a long time, the Daoist believer asked, “Who are you looking for?”

Qi Xuansu took out his insignia and introduced himself. “I am Qi Xuansu, a seventh-rank Daoist priest of Tiangang Hall. I would like to meet the abbot.”

The Daoist believer was stunned. After a while, he came to his senses and quickly opened the door of the Daoist temple to invite Qi Xuansu in. Then, he asked Qi Xuansu to wait at the gatehouse while he looked for the abbot.

The Daoist temple occupied a large area. The back half of the temple was mostly uninhabited and had been abandoned for a long time. There was a pen of pigs raised there.

Bai Yongguan stood outside the pig pen, staring at the large white pigs snatching for food with a creepy smile on his face.

His wife, Li Zhen’er, stood beside Bai Yongguan. Her face was pale, and her whole body was trembling.

After a while, a butcher wearing a dirty apron came over, holding a gleaming butcher knife in his hand.

The butcher asked, “Abbot Bai, do you want to butcher a pig?”

"Yes.” Bai Yongguan nodded slightly.

The butcher looked at the pigs in the pen and asked, “Which one would you like?”

Bai Yongguan pointed to the whitest and cleanest pig among them and said, “This one looks good.”

Li Zhen’er shrieked and almost fainted.

However, Bai Yongguan remained indifferent.

When the butcher saw this, he secretly wondered. Did the abbot’s wife raise this pig? Is that why she’s so attached to it? It’s common for women to raise cats, dogs, birds, and rabbits, but I’ve never heard of women raising pigs. It’s indeed a strange hobby. Perhaps the abbot doesn’t like that his wife has such a hobby and decides to kill the pig.

The butcher stopped his thought process and walked toward the pig with his knife. The pig looked fearful and shrank back with a very human-like reaction.

At this moment, someone knocked on the closed door of the backyard.

"Who is it?” Bai Yongguan asked, looking irritated at being interrupted.

The butcher also stopped what he was doing.

A reply came from outside the door. “Abbot Bai, there is a seventh-rank Daoist priest from Tiangang Hall who wants to meet you. He’s waiting at the gatehouse.”

Bai Yongguan was slightly startled. “A Daoist priest from Tiangang Hall?”

He was silent for a while before he ordered, “Invite him to the main hall. I will be there shortly.”

The Daoist believer outside the door responded and left.

Bai Yongguan, his face grim, stared at the pig in the pen. After a long time, he snorted coldly. “Forget it. I’ll spare your life for now.”

The butcher turned to look at Bai Yongguan. “Abbot, should I kill this pig?”

"Not yet.” Bai Yongguan turned around and walked out of the backyard.

Li Zhen’er breathed a long sigh of relief and gently covered her chest. The large white pig that was almost slaughtered suddenly collapsed to the ground in relief.

Only the butcher was confused by what was happening.

Bai Yongguan entered the main hall with a smile. “Brother Qi, good to see you. I’m Bai Yongguan.”

Qi Xuansu was surprised to see Bai Yongguan dressed in formal fourth-rank Jijiu Daoist master attire. He hurriedly returned the courtesy and greeted, “Mage Bai, good to see you.”

"Mage? I’m merely an idler living in the mountains.” Bai Yongguan waved his hand. “Brother Qi, what position do you hold in Tiangang Hall?”

"I am a deacon,” Qi Xuansu replied.

Bai Yongguan nodded. “Well, Deacon Qi, please sit down and talk.”

The abbot sat down first.

There was an unwritten rule in the Daoist Order. If someone had a high rank and a low position, they should be addressed by their rank. Therefore, Qi Xuansu addressed Bai Yongguan as Mage.

If someone had a low rank and a high position, then they would be addressed based on their position. That was why Bai Yongguan called him Deacon Qi.

Qi Xuansu also sat down and went straight to the point. “To be honest with you, I came here to ask for help.”

"What’s the matter?” Bai Yongguan looked surprised. “I’ll be frank with you. I like to travel around the mountains, and I rarely stay here. I just returned to Qingbai Temple today, so I’m not very familiar with the recent situation.”

Qi Xuansu did not mention that Zhang Yuelu had performed divination using the Purple Star Astrology. Instead, he briefly talked about the decapitated human head and what happened at the ancient temple.

"How could such a thing happen?” After hearing this, Bai Yongguan looked indignant at first. Then he kept silent.

After a moment, Bai Yongguan finally spoke again. “Since I am also a part of the Daoist Order, I should help out, but capturing cult demons isn’t a part of my responsibilities...”

Qi Xuansu knew that Bai Yongguan was only saying this because he was a lowly seventh-rank priest without power. Thus, he took out Zhang Yuelu’s badge and said, “Mage Bai, I am just acting under the orders of the Deputy Tiangang Hall Master. I hope that you can make an exception for us.”

Bai Yongguan looked at the badge in Qi Xuansu’s hand, his eyes flickering slightly.

......

The water in the Tongtian River gradually calmed down. There were still many broken sheets of ice on the surface.

Suddenly, a hand broke through the calm surface, splashing water everywhere.

Then the hand grabbed onto the edge of a huge ice floe, which was used as a support for the man to jump out of the river.

The man, completely drenched, had disheveled hair. He was the high-ranking official of the Green Phoenix Guard, whose boat had capsized on the Tongtian River earlier.

In the Green Phoenix Guard hierarchy, there was one Lord Commander of the upper-third rank, who held the most power; two Deputy Commanders of the lower-third rank, who were in charge of the Northern and Southern Military Commissions, respectively; two Commander Adjutants of the upper-fourth rank, who served as assistants to the Lord Commander; and a few Pacification Commanders of the lower-fourth rank, who served as assistants to the Deputy Commanders.

Although the Pacification Commander was of the lower-fourth rank and the Lieutenant Colonel was of the upper-fifth rank, their status within the Green Phoenix Guard was about the same.

In fact, if the Lord Commander of the Green Phoenix Guard was valued by the emperor and held enough power, then their upper-fourth-rank Commander Adjutants would have the same power as the lower-third-rank Deputy Commanders in charge of the Northern and Southern Military Commissions. As such, the Pacification Commander would then be on equal footing with the Lieutenant Colonel.

If the Lord Commander of the Green Phoenix Guard was not as powerful, then the two Deputy Commanders would have equal power as the Lord Commander. Thus, elevating the status of the Northern and Southern Military Commissions.

Since the Lord Commander of the Green Phoenix Guard was highly trusted by the incumbent emperor, he held absolute power, and the two Deputy Commanders dared not disobey him. As such, the status of the Pacification Commander was naturally lower. However, being an envoy of the emperor was a different story altogether.

The drenched man was a Pacification Commander of the Southern Military Commission. His name was Wang Zicheng. He was under the orders of the Deputy Commander to survey the Green Phoenix Guards all over the continent, but he did not expect to be ambushed here.

There were ripples on the river as Wang Zicheng swam and jumped to the shore.

At this moment, many figures appeared on the shore. Some people had already set up a formation to summon the spiritual statue. Although those who were not yet in the Spiritual Statue Realm could not summon a spiritual statue, they still had enough divine power surging around them.

Wang Zicheng looked around and murmured. “Three Yuxu-stage Shamans in the Spiritual Statue Realm. You all truly overestimate me.”

By solely comparing one's cultivation level and disregarding factors such as tact, timing, location, and external objects, the general rule was that three people in the Yuxu stage could compete with one person in the Guizhen stage. Thus, four people in the Yuxu stage could most likely defeat one person in the Guizhen stage, and five people in the Yuxu stage could most certainly kill one person in the Guizhen stage.

At this time, in addition to the three Yuxu-stage Shamans, there were also six Kunlun-stage Shamans in the Summoning Divinity Realm.

The Summoning Divinity Realm was when a Shaman’s body became resilient to attacks. Although they could not summon a spiritual statue, they had divine power entering their body for a limited time. During this short time, their bodies were strong and invulnerable, better than those of Martial Arts Practitioners of the same level.

However, just like the Spiritual Statue Realm, it was difficult to maintain this divine power and make it last. Thus, without divine power, their bodies were fragile and impossible to compare with those of Martial Arts Practitioners.

These Kunlun-stage Shamans had already summoned the divine power and divided into several groups, with the few Shamans in the Spiritual Statue Realm at the center of the formation.

Wang Zicheng was in a dangerous situation.

The Green Phoenix Guard was not like other official positions. Their positions were closely tied to their cultivation level. All members of the Green Phoenix Guard, regardless of their official position, had to have a certain level of cultivation. The higher their cultivation level, the higher their official position. Even if one was not good at managing subordinates or was not competent enough to hold a high position, one would still be given a false title. This was the rule set by Emperor Taizong back then.

In addition, Green Phoenix Guards were trained to be ruthless and proficient in arm-to-arm combat and using firearms and other weapons. If a Green Phoenix Guard and his opponent had the same cultivation level and were strangling each other to death, the Green Phoenix Guard would not give up until their opponents died.

Although Wang Zicheng was not promoted based on his cultivation level and was better at leading a team, he was still a good fighter. He was a Guizhen-stage Qi Refiner in the Divine Qi Realm.

"Kill him!” The leading Shaman ordered.

Although Wang Zicheng was surprised, he did not panic. He struck a Shaman in the Summoning Divinity Realm in the chest, leaving a black palm print that was clearly visible.

This was the Green Phoenix Guard’s Black Devil Palm, which was highly poisonous. It could kill the opponent on the spot or cause poisoning in the heart.

This Shaman staggered back, his face pale. The other two Yuxu-stage Shamans took the opportunity to attack Wang Zicheng with their spiritual statues.

Wang Zicheng did not dodge and withstood the combined attacks of the two Shamans. Even so, he was unharmed.

Upon closer look, Wang Zicheng was actually wearing paper armor under his clothes. It was not the one that ordinary soldiers used. It was an origami armor made of talisman paper. When stuck to the body, it would turn it into a full-sized armor. This paper armor was also known as the Magic Talisman Armor.

The Magic Talisman Armor was not only harder than most metal armor, but it could also withstand qi. As long as the talisman paper did not break, the person wearing the paper armor would not get injured. It was considered a high-grade spiritual object.

Wang Zicheng pushed with both palms, knocking the two Shamans away.

At the same time, four Kunlun-stage Shamans muttered some mantra, looking like fierce warriors who were not afraid of death as they continued to surround Wang Zicheng.

Wang Zicheng took a step forward, clenched his fist, and punched a Shaman in the heart. Aside from the sound of bones breaking, a fist-like bulge suddenly appeared on the Shaman’s back.

Wang Zicheng flung away the corpse that was stuck to his fist, turned around, and elbowed the chin of another Shaman who was trying to sneak up behind him. The Shaman's jaw snapped shut from the elbow strike, causing him to bite off his own tongue and die with a mouth full of blood.

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