A Pawn's Passage

Zhang Yuelu originally thought that Qi Xuansu would be embarrassed the next day, but he seemed normal on New Year’s Day. She thought that perhaps he was too drunk to remember what he said last night. It made sense because Qi Xuansu would not have been so bold to declare that he wanted to marry her in a grand ceremony at Dazhen Mansion unless he was drunk to that extent.

In fact, Qi Xuansu remembered what he had said to her. But he knew that it would be embarrassing if he acted awkward, so he feigned ignorance.

According to customs, the first day of the New Year was a day to visit relatives and friends. However, Zhang Yuelu had already decided to leave Yunjin Mountain and return to Jade Capital.

Since Yan Mingchen had already left, Tantai Qiong failed in her matchmaking plans, so she did not insist on keeping her daughter for a longer stay.

Zhang Juqi wanted to keep his daughter for a few more days, but he also noticed how cold the mother-daughter pair was toward each other. So he gave up on that thought.

That morning, Zhang Yuelu and Qi Xuansu left home early and walked the mountain path to the port at Shangqing Palace, named Shangqing Lake. No one knew if Zhengyi Sect was just being consistent with their naming or just downright lazy, because all they did was append “Shangqing” to all the locations, such as Shangqing Prefecture, Shangqing County, Shangqing Town, Shangqing Palace, and Shangqing Lake, to name a few.

Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu went to Shangqing Palace to buy tickets for the flying ship, which were 100 Taiping coins each. They received a jade token in exchange. Qi Xuansu’s token was number 48, not because there were so many passengers before him, but because the first 30 numbers were for the suite rooms located on the second floor.

The third floor of the flying ship was the control room, and the deck below was where the formations were located, so unauthorized personnel were not allowed to enter.

The passengers were only allowed on the first and second floors. The first floor had ordinary single bedrooms for low-ranking priests. The second-floor suites had a bedroom and a small study, catered for high-ranking priests of the fourth rank and above.

The three-story building had an internal staircase for connectivity between the floors. But after the flying ship took off, all the doors and windows in the three-story building would stay shut, preventing people from entering or exiting. The flying ship would also activate the formations that could withstand the strong gusts of wind at those heights.

Zhang Yuelu was a fourth-rank priest, so she could go to the second floor. However, she did not choose a suite room. Instead, she chose the room next to Qi Xuansu’s on the first floor.

She originally planned to buy both their tickets, but Qi Xuansu refused. He insisted on buying his own ticket because he did not want others to look down on him for depending on Zhang Yuelu for everything. So she did not insist on buying.

In the end, Qi Xuansu paid for his ticket and only had 300 Taiping coins left, not counting some loose change and the 500 Taiping coins that Zhao Fu’an gave him. Qi Xuansu did not intend to touch the 500 Taiping coins unless necessary because he wanted to keep them as a reminder of his suffering.

Before boarding the ship, Qi Xuansu double-checked his belongings. He had his short sword Qing Yuan, the Divine Dragon Pistol, 9 rounds of Grade-B Series Two Dragon Eye Bullets, 20 rounds of Grade-B Series Three Dragon Eye Bullets, 5 rounds of Grade-B Series Three Phoenix Eye Bullets, and 30 rounds of ordinary armor-breaking projectiles.

He kept his silver fish talisman and other materials needed to enter the Qingping Society’s dream meetings in his chest pockets.

In his satchel were the special compass that Madam Qi gave him, 8 of the throwing knives that Zhang Yuelu gave him, a pair of Jiama talismans for traveling, some marching pills, his credentials, insignia, ordinary talismans, mother-child talismans, medicines, and other miscellaneous items.

He had not had time to receive the pills and elixir that were distributed monthly by the Qingping Society. After he became an official member of the Qingping Society, he was entitled to receive one pair of mother-child talismans, 10 Wuyou coins, a Blood Dragon Pill, and a Purple Pill every month, starting last September.

Four months passed since then, which meant that he would have 40 Wuyou coins, equivalent to 400 Taiping coins, four Blood Dragon Pills, and four Purple Pills. The Blood Dragon Pill was useful for strengthening blood qi, while the Purple Pill was beneficial for qi training. Both of which were suitable for Qi Xuansu.

Madam Qi had collected these items on his behalf. Qi Xuansu was not in a hurry to use the money, so he did not mind letting Madam Qi hold onto them. What he wanted was to get the pills as soon as possible so that he could reach the Guizhen stage sooner.

Ever since he drank the medicinal wine from Daoist Ji, he realized the benefits of consuming elixirs. One elixir was equivalent to a month’s worth of hard work. Some elixirs or pills were worth more than half a year’s work.

His clothes and other luggage were still with Zhang Yuelu in her magical receptacle.

Qi Xuansu, as a Rogue Cultivator in the Yuding Realm, was proficient in using the qi shield, the Sword Controlling Technique, and the Cicada Molting Technique. Ever since his transformation by the Xuan Jade, he also had some properties of a Martial Arts Practitioner in the Flesh and Blood Realm. He had a strong physique and could mobilize the blood qi in his body, so he was more resistant to a Diviner’s spells.

He also had particularly effective regenerative abilities, like a Martial Arts Practitioner in the Flesh and Blood Realm. Thus, he could heal external wounds faster. Since he shared the properties of a Martial Arts Practitioner, he did not practice the Fasting Technique.

In addition, Qi Xuansu also learned a high-attainment method, the Dayan Spirit Blade Technique, from Zhang Yuelu. It could not compare to other high-attainment methods like the Cihang Sword Sequence, but it improved Qi Xuansu’s swordsmanship significantly.

The reason Zhang Yuelu chose to teach Qi Xuansu the Dayan Spirit Blade Technique was because he liked to use knives. There were also no restrictions on this technique, so everyone could practice it. However, most people only learned this as a Heavenly Being. Zhang Yuelu just taught it to Qi Xuansu ahead of time.

The Five Thunder Celestial Heart Method and the Cihang Sword Sequence were powerful, but one must be given permission to practice or teach these methods. Violators would be severely punished and could be deprived of their cultivation. This was something that the Holy Xuan tried to change back then to create more fairness in the Daoist community. But he failed to, so Zhang Yuelu did not dare to cross the line.

A huge flying ship brought in a flurry of snow as it broke through the sea of ​​clouds and landed on Shangqing Lake. Some water vapors shrouded the view of the ship when it landed.

A ramp was lowered, and the people on board disembarked one after another. However, there were only a few people since it was the first day of the New Year. There were also not many people boarding the ship.

After Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu boarded the ship, they were about to look for their assigned rooms on the first floor when a superintendent of the flying ship recognized Zhang Yuelu and came over to greet them. Since there were empty rooms on the second floor and no third-rank Youyi Daoist masters were on board, the superintendent decided to do them a favor and upgrade them to the suite rooms on the second floor.

Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu had no reason to refuse such a good offer, so they went up to the second floor of the flying ship.

There were only a few passengers, so the flying ship did not dock for long. After replenishing some Xuanhuang, a crucial substance for the flying ship, the ship took off into the sky and headed for the Jade Capital.

During the journey, Qi Xuansu noticed that the flying ship mimicked a real dragon. It had the magical power to move clouds and create rain. In some places where there was strong humidity and rain clouds, the flying ship’s Xuanhuang would react with the rain clouds and create snowflakes. It was the same as when a dragon crossed a river, creating rain within a 15-kilometer radius.

The flying ship used a Dragon Pearl as its core, so it also had some of a dragon’s supernatural abilities.

From the outside of the flying ship, one would be able to see a trail of falling snow. However, snowfall would only happen if there were rain clouds. In places with no natural cloud formation, there would be no snowfall.

On the other side, Zhang Yuelu's premonition intensified ever since the flying ship took off. Since the ship had already taken off, it could not land anytime soon. Thus, she had no choice but to stay on guard.

On the second floor, an old fourth-rank Jijiu Daoist master was slowly flipping through a book, oblivious to the strong wind and snow outside the window.

This old priest was the polar opposite of Zhang Yuelu, even though they were both of the same rank. In terms of age, this old man was old enough to be her grandfather. In terms of position, Zhang Yuelu was a Deputy Hall Master in the Three Great Halls with a bright future, while this old priest was only a superintendent in the Lower Three Halls.

After some time, the old man looked up from the book, squinted his cloudy eyes, and looked out the window. Half of his face was bathing in the sunlight, while the other half was hidden in the shadows.