A Pawn’s Passage

After bidding farewell to Li Zhuyu, Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu set off for Hisai Castle.

Neither of them wore the Daoist hechang. Instead, Zhang Yuelu was dressed in the Taiyi Cloud Robe, while Qi Xuansu wore the Youyi Cloud Robe, forming a perfect contrast of white and black.

It would be far too conspicuous for them to descend directly into Hisai Castle from the air. Therefore, after some discussion, Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu decided to infiltrate the city using the Five Elements Escape Method.

Generally speaking, a battlefield teeming with vigorous blood qi would be a forbidden zone for the Five Elements Escape Method. However, Hisai Castle had already been bombarded repeatedly by Spirit Guard Jia Shen's heavy artillery, leaving more dead than living. Thus, the blood qi on the battlefield had dissipated and could no longer block these techniques.

In principle, the Five Elements Escape Method was a Diviner's technique, requiring magical power to activate. However, the true essence of a Banished Immortal had no fixed form and could transform into anything. This was considered one of the divine abilities that came with reaching the Five Elements Origin Realm.

The two of them tunneled into Hisai Castle using the Earth Escape Method. To their surprise, they emerged inside an underground city.

This was far beyond their expectations. They had never imagined a hidden world beneath Hisai Castle. If they had entered from above, it would have been almost impossible to find the entrance amidst the ruins.

The underground city was not large—certainly not enough to house over forty thousand men—so only a small number of Sonno-joi ronin were hiding here, along with the Shinkan-dan that Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu were seeking.

It turned out the Shinkan-dan had been hiding underground.

Their sudden appearance alarmed the ronin and shinkan present.

One shinkan shouted something in the Wa language and formed a seal with both hands. A bright flame gushed forth, condensing into a massive fireball of vivid yellow and deep red.

Qi Xuansu struck out with a single punch, his fist intention surging like turbulent currents and dousing the illusory fireball.

But immediately afterward, the other shinkan reacted in turn, unleashing similar massive fireballs.

Of the Three Great Kami, Himiko-no-Mikoto represented the sun. Hence, these shinkan's methods of attack were also fire-based.

In an instant, countless massive fireballs lit the once-dim underground city, making it seem as bright as day.

Qi Xuansu's punches did not cease, but the fireballs were simply too numerous. Some still slipped through the net.

At this moment, Zhang Yuelu unfurled her Joyous Cloud Shield. Purple, misty clouds enveloped the two of them, radiant as the sun, moon, and stars, with countless auspicious visions arising.

The blazing flames fell upon the Joyous Cloud Shield without causing the slightest harm. Instead, the flames formed a massive ring of fire over 30 meters in diameter.

Billowing smoke obscured the shinkan's vision, preventing them from seeing what was happening.

Just then, a faint silhouette emerged from deep within the smoke, growing larger and more defined until it completely broke through and appeared before the gathered shinkan.

It was Qi Xuansu, unscathed, with an overwhelming surge of blood qi radiating from him. His body spirits were faintly visible, and his brilliance restrained.

The shinkan hastily cast spells, setting up barrier after barrier in an attempt to block Qi Xuansu's advance.

Yet these barriers were like spiderwebs before Qi Xuansu, shattering with a single touch, leaving only a few wisps of "threads" clinging to him. They were utterly incapable of halting his steps.

This was not merely the suppression of a Wuliang-stage Heavenly Being, but also the "spell-breaking" effect of a Martial Arts Practitioner in the Everchanging Realm.

When it came to close combat, the shinkan were no match for such a Martial Arts Practitioner. Thus, the ronin quickly gathered, led by another Heavenly Being. The ronin leader figured that even if he could not defeat this Martial Arts Practitioner alone, with the aid of his companions, he could at least hold him off for a while.

Qi Xuansu had no need for weapons. With a series of sharp cracking sounds, bony spikes over 30 centimeters in length sprouted from his shoulders, elbows, fists, and knees, resembling spear tips.

This was the divine ability of a Martial Arts Practitioner at the Everchanging Realm, the Manly Immortal's horns, which were far sharper than ordinary weapons.

An ordinary robe would be riddled with holes under such circumstances, but the Youyi Cloud Robe, a treasure in its own right, morphed along with Qi Xuansu's transformation. No matter how many bony spikes pierced through the robe's fluid form, once the spikes withdrew, it would instantly heal to perfection, like a blade cutting through water.

Zhang Yuelu's Taiyi Cloud Robe had a similar marvel. Though it did not flow like water, it shifted like clouds, gathering and dispersing unpredictably. Both robes were top-grade treasures, and while their defensive properties were secondary, their convenience was undeniable.

At the same time, green scales appeared on Qi Xuansu's exposed skin. This was the Manly Immortal's Scaled Armor.

Though it was not the complete Manly Immortal True Form, it bore a resemblance to Qi Xuansu's partial Golden Body transformation.

Alone, Qi Xuansu charged into the crowd like a tiger into a flock of sheep.

The most striking transformation of the Everchanging Realm was that the human body could perform all manner of seemingly impossible movements. For instance, where an ordinary person's elbow could only bend inward, at this stage, it could bend backward just as easily. As such, a Martial Arts Practitioner's principles of attack tend to differ greatly from before, becoming utterly unpredictable.

Coupled with Qi Xuansu's Demonic Blade Technique, which abandoned conscious thought and reaction in favor of pure instinct, he no longer needed to follow established fist intentions. His moves were unrestrained—each one lethal without the slightest flourish. His attacks were so strange and unpredictable that even Qi Xuansu himself often did not foresee them until after they happened, let alone his opponents.

If Zhang Yuelu was surrounded by a vast ring of fire into which no flame could enter, then Qi Xuansu was surrounded by a huge hollow circle devoid of any living person.

These samurai were among the elite of the Sonno-joi ronin, most of them trained by renowned masters and skilled in swordsmanship. By Daoist standards, they were at least at the Guizhen stage. They were fearless in battle, yet they still met their doom against Qi Xuansu, who was now at the Wuliang stage. There was no way they could survive one punch from him.

What changed in the Everchanging Realm was not just the body, but also the fist intention behind each strike. Qi Xuansu's fist intention traveled from the outside in, leaving the opponent's skin unmarked and their bones and flesh intact, yet shattering the opponent's heart into powder.

Around Qi Xuansu, more than a dozen ronin already lay dead, their bodies completely intact without a drop of blood visible.

At that moment, Qi Xuansu ignored the spear of one samurai thrusting toward his back. Instead, he seized another man by the crown of his head and pressed down lightly, forcing the man's skull straight into his chest cavity.

The spear pierced through Qi Xuansu's protective qi shield, its tip pressing against his back. The surface of the Youyi Cloud Robe rippled like water struck by a stone. A thin slit emerged, revealing what lay beneath.

In that instant, the ronin gripping the spear with both hands was in despair because all he saw were tightly knit scales—one of the Hundred True Forms of Manly Immortals.

Beneath the scales flowed golden divine power.

Even supposing all these defenses were absent and the spear somehow managed to wound him, that did not matter to a Martial Arts Practitioner who has regenerative abilities.

How could one not despair at that? Yet the samurai did not retreat. With a roar, he put all his strength into driving his spear forward.

The shaft bent under the strain, but the spear tip did not advance even the slightest.

Qi Xuansu merely turned his body slightly, and the spear bent and snapped apart. The warrior was struck by the violent backlash, his arms breaking completely as he staggered backward.

Qi Xuansu then exhaled a spiral burst of qi, faster than a flying arrow, striking the samurai square in the chest. His chest shattered, his limbs twisted, and he died instantly on the spot.

At that moment, the Heavenly-Being ronin sensed the perfect opening. His figure flashed forward, both hands gripping his tachi as he slashed fiercely at Qi Xuansu's neck.

Qi Xuansu's Demonic Blade instinct did not even attempt to evade since the threat was too low.

After the strike pierced through Qi Xuansu's Youyi Cloud Robe, protective qi shield, Golden Body, and Manly Immortal's Scaled Armor, its power was spent. Thus, it only left a faint mark on Qi Xuansu's neck.

Qi Xuansu seized the moment and punched the man squarely in the chest, the force penetrating deep within.

But the Heavenly Being did not die immediately. His face paled. He wielded his blade with both hands and danced around Qi Xuansu like a fluttering butterfly, slashing incessantly. The flashing arcs of the blade were as quick as lightning, crisscrossing in a dazzling display. In just an instant, nearly a hundred strikes landed on Qi Xuansu's vital points, producing a fierce series of metallic clashes.

Qi Xuansu ignored the flurry of attacks entirely. With a forward slam, a bony spike sprouted from his shoulder, piercing straight into the Heavenly-Being ronin's chest. He then swung his arm in a sweeping arc, the bone blade extending along his forearm from the elbow.

The ronin was struck with terror. He barely managed to raise his blade to block the horns when a searing pain stabbed through his hand. His blade flew from his grasp, and Qi Xuansu seized him by the chest.

Qi Xuansu's five fingers now transformed into the Manly Immortal's Dragon Claws, which were as sharp as swords, driving deep into the ronin's chest. The ronin then felt himself lifted high into the air, as if soaring among the clouds.

Qi Xuansu's arms flexed with power, tearing the ronin in half.

Even so, a Heavenly Being was unbelievably resilient. The ronin's upper body, which landed on the ground, was still alive, crawling swiftly like a spider in an attempt to escape. But Qi Xuansu caught up with him and crushed his skull with one stomp, silencing him forever.

In that brief span of time, more than 40 ronin had already fallen to Qi Xuansu, including one Heavenly Being.

At that moment, a black-robed monk appeared before Qi Xuansu, chanting a Buddhist invocation as he brought a massive palm strike down toward Qi Xuansu's head.

Qi Xuansu simply threw a punch along with his 365 body spirits, meeting the strike head-on.

When his fist met the Buddhist's palm, a massive, visible wave of qi blasted outward in all directions.

Both men were forced back, sliding more than 30 meters before coming to a halt.

The Buddhist turned out to be a Bhikkhu at the Wuliang stage.