A Pawn's Passage

Amid the raging fire, parts of the buildings in Zhenwu Temple began to collapse.

The Diviners from the Jiangnan Daoist Mansion arrived as well, preparing spells and talismans, which proved far more efficient than water carts for fighting this inferno.

Additionally, Daoist priests from Huasheng Hall took charge of transferring the severely injured to the local branch for treatment.

With Bai Yingqiong present to oversee and command the situation, the site remained relatively orderly.

Zhang Yuelu gazed at the sea of flames, her mood heavy. She sighed. “So much evidence has now been reduced to ashes. Ye Xiu is dead too. All our efforts have been destroyed, just like Zhenwu Temple.”

Qi Xuansu stood beside Zhang Yuelu and comforted her. “At least we made them leave behind the head of a Heavenly Being in exchange for all this.”

Zhang Yuelu turned her head to peer into the distance.

A cylindrical glass jar, about as wide as a bucket, was filled with an unknown liquid they had just obtained from the Huasheng Hall for preserving corpses and specimens.

Inside the jar was a severed head, its white hair disheveled, and its eyes wide open, still reflecting the terror in its final moments.

It was hard to say who met a more miserable end—Marshal Thunder, who was decapitated, or Marshal Tianpeng, whose remains were entirely pulverized.

Zhang Yuelu did not have a peculiar habit of treating an enemy’s head as a trophy. She had no choice but to do this as a form of evidence, so as to prevent others from twisting the narrative later and pinning blame on her.

Those who planned the attack would ultimately accuse Zhang Yuelu of dereliction of duty.

With this head in her possession, Zhang Yuelu would be in a stronger position to defend herself. After all, being able to kill a Heavenly Being was already the limit of a Guizhen-stage Banished Immortal. Thus, it was not justifiable to hold her accountable for not protecting the entire Zhenwu Temple.

It would be like giving a commander 10,000 troops to defend a city against a force of 100,000. But in the end, the 10,000 troops were sent out to engage in an open battle with this vastly superior enemy and expected to achieve victory or face punishment. No one would stand for such an unjust accusation.

The most likely scenario, however, was to blame this incident on Lei Xiaohuan, as she was in charge of the investigation team.

Zhang Yuelu withdrew her gaze and looked at the Azure Thunderbolt in her hand. This was Marshal Thunder’s relic, an extraordinary treasure and a great asset for a Heavenly Being.

“Tian Yuan, I’ve been thinking...how could Marshal Tianpeng disappear without a trace? Deserting one’s post is a serious taboo, whether in the Daoist Order or in secret societies,” Zhang Yuelu mused. “I have a feeling that something unusual is going on. Could a third party have interfered in this?”

Qi Xuansu was already accustomed to Zhang Yuelu’s keen insights, so he remained calm as he replied, “That’s certainly possible. Maybe someone lured Marshal Tianpeng away, or perhaps even killed him outright.”

Zhang Yuelu lightly rested her hand on her forehead. “If a third party exists, could there also be a fourth? I’m genuinely afraid that someone might exploit this chaos and stir up more trouble while the Daoist sects are embroiled in internal conflict.”

Qi Xuansu remained silent, deep in thought.

Madam Qi had mentioned that she was meeting an old friend, which could simply mean she was not ready to face Zhang Yuelu yet. But given Madam Qi’s character, she would simply leave without needing an excuse if she did not want to meet Zhang Yuelu. So, who was this old friend? Was it someone like Lei Xiaohuan or Pei Xiaolou? Or was it an adversary? After all, it was common in Jianghu to refer to long-time rivals or enemies as “old friends.”

If Madam Qi was considered a third party, could her so-called old friend be the fourth party?

Jinling Prefecture was far too vulnerable right now.

For those harboring ill intentions, this was a golden opportunity.

……

Lei Xiaohuan had never been so furious, yet she was utterly helpless.

She knew that Cardinal Deacon Shi Luosi had ill intentions in hosting this banquet, possibly even planning an ambush. However, confident that the Holy Court would not act too recklessly on Daoist territory, she brought her people and attended the banquet fearlessly.

However, she had not expected Shi Luosi to trap her in this place.

Lei Xiaohuan now found herself in a Small Thousand World, a term originating from the Buddhist’s Great Thousand World to describe a microcosm. The Daoist Order later adopted this term, shortening it to Small World.

In the words of Western sorcerers, it was a subspace constructed upon the real world, yet relatively independent of it.

The ground beneath Lei Xiaohuan’s feet was divided into a grid resembling a chessboard. It was not the 19 horizontal and 19 vertical lines of Go, nor the Chu River and Han Border of Chinese chess. Instead, there were 64 black-and-white squares, made of eight rows and eight columns.

There were 32 chess pieces—16 black and 16 white, each color held by the two opposing players. The pieces included a king, a queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns—similar to the chariot, elephant, horse, and soldier in Chinese chess.

The well-traveled and knowledgeable Lei Xiaohuan recognized this as Western Chess. She recalled an Elder Wei from the Quanzhen Sect who owned a similar treasure that could forcibly create a Small World to trap people inside. Unless the Small World was forcibly broken or the treasure’s spiritual energy ran out, the only way to escape was to play a game and win.

This Go treasure was created by Earthly Preceptor Xu Wugui. While it might be considered child’s play for Immortals, it was effective on ordinary people, even Heavenly Beings, provided one had absolute confidence in their Go skills.

Elder Wei from the Quanzhen Sect was a traveling Go master. He roamed the land, making friends through Go and gambling on matches. By the age of 20, he had few rivals. He then journeyed to the Imperial Capital to challenge a national Go champion and won all three matches, gaining widespread fame.

However, as Elder Wei left the capital, the well-connected champion bribed a group of bandits, who nearly killed him in a forest outside the city. Fortunately, the Earthly Preceptor Xu Wugui happened to pass by and rescued Elder Wei, leading him to join the Daoist Order.

Lei Xiaohuan knew this story and understood the mechanics of the Small World, feeling a sense of irony. It seemed that throughout history and across cultures, disguising treasures as chessboards was an easy way to fool people.

She was tricked by it herself.

The only difference was that one was Go, and the other was Western Chess.

Lei Xiaohuan tried to break the Small World but quickly realized she could not. After all, she was in the Ever-Changing Realm of Martial Arts Practitioners, far from the Shattered Void Realm. A Diviner of equivalent level, specializing in such techniques, might have had a chance to break this Small World.

The reason Lei Xiaohuan felt despair was because she had only heard about Western Chess but did not know how to play it. Hence, hoping to win was nothing more than a fool’s dream.

Her only option was to wait until the Small World naturally collapsed over time, allowing her to escape.

However, she also understood one thing. Though her life was not in immediate danger, her confinement gave ample time for other events to unfold outside.

Shi Luosi would not take such a significant risk just because he wanted to chat with her. She was well aware that Shi Luosi was not interested in her. Even if Shi Luosi had actually lost his mind being infatuated with her, others with ill intentions would not pass up such a golden opportunity and would surely exploit the Daoist Order's vulnerability at this moment.

Lei Xiaohuan knew her husband well. Based on her experience, Pei Xiaolou was not reliable by any measure. Otherwise, Pei Xuanzhi would not have relegated his brother to a mere Deputy Palace Master nor kept him from leading the investigation team.

Zhang Yuelu, on the other hand, was reliable but too young. She lacked sufficient experience, credentials, and cultivation. Things might have been different if Zhang Yuelu were a Heavenly Being in the Wuliang stage.

Qi Xuansu had a promising future. He shared Zhang Yuelu’s shortcomings but also had deficiencies that she did not. For example, he held a lower position, lacked family backing, had insufficient prestige, and lacked experience in overall coordination.

At this moment, Lei Xiaohuan could only hope that Madam Qi would arrive in time to salvage the situation.

However, Madam Qi was an unpredictable variable. Though she was fully capable of handling matters and putting everyone at ease, she was just as likely to sit idly by and watch as the chaos unfolded. It all depended on whether she was sufficiently compensated.

If the matter was already a foregone conclusion, venting her anger on Shi Luosi afterward would be pointless. After all, Shi Luosi was a member of the Holy Court, and Lei Xiaohuan could not actually kill him.

She could only blame herself for being too careless.

Dressed in a white robe, Shi Luosi sat in a high-backed chair made of gold and encrusted with jewels. He rested his elbow on the armrest, propping up his chin as he silently observed Lei Xiaohuan.

In contrast to Lei Xiaohuan’s fury, the Cardinal Deacon was extremely calm, his blue eyes as still as a serene lake.

He was fully aware of the consequences of his actions, yet he proceeded anyway. The reason was simple. He had also been dragged into this quagmire. Thus, to protect himself, he had no choice but to choose the lesser of two evils.