A Pawn’s Passage

Most of the time, Qi Xuansu was a lone wolf. If there was anyone he shared the best tacit understanding with, it was undoubtedly Zhang Yuelu, not Madam Qi. That was because Madam Qi's cultivation surpassed his by too much, leaving little room for any true cooperation between them.

Without any communication, Qi Xuansu took the initiative to clear the path ahead, relying on his Wuliang-stage Martial Arts Practitioner physique. Meanwhile, Zhang Yuelu followed behind, summoning lightning to strike down the shinkan blocking their way, calling them out one by one.

With each thunderbolt that struck, a shinkan would collapse to the ground, completely charred like a lump of coal.

The shrine's interior was far larger than it appeared from the outside. But even so, with hundreds of shinkan packed inside, it was anything but spacious. In such confined quarters, joint spellcasting was impractical. Even if attempted, it would likely harm their own comrades rather than their targets—Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu.

Faced with this situation, the shinkan could only block them one after another in a piecemeal fashion, but with little effect. The two did not waste time entangling themselves in battle. Instead, they were like heavy cavalry charging into the frontline infantry.

Soon, the two arrived before a massive stone door with the sun relief, leaving the shinkan trailing behind them.

There were also shinkan guarding the stone door, but in the blink of an eye, they were slain by Qi Xuansu's dragon claws and Zhang Yuelu's lightning.

Passing through the door, the two immediately saw a jokai-rank shinkan standing high above on the altar.

However, between the stone door and the altar stood two meikai-rank shinkan along with numerous samurai that worked for the Jingu.

These samurai were unlike the Sonno-joi ronin. They were chosen as infants of exceptional aptitude and bone structure, raised from childhood on secret elixirs, and bathed in medicinal brews to enhance their growth until they possessed physiques comparable to Guizhen-stage Martial Arts Practitioners. Since they were groomed from infancy and brainwashed repeatedly, they were utterly loyal to the Jingu and fearless in the face of death.

However, raising these samurai was no easy feat. Under normal circumstances, the Jingu would not send them out to die needlessly. Yet in this moment, it was unmistakably the time for the samurai to lay down their lives for the shrine.

Twelve samurai leapt into the air at once, launching themselves at Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu.

They did not wield the usual katana, but steel claws bound to their wrists that were dark purple in hue, clearly laced with poison. Clad in heavy armor and coupled with their resilient physiques, they were impervious to ordinary blades and bullets. In Jianghu, such figures would undoubtedly be feared.

But this was no Jianghu. It was a battlefield, where the scale was entirely different. In Jianghu, a Pseudo-Immortal was an untouchable, towering giant, but on the battlefield, even a Pseudo-Immortal could fall.

Thus, these samurai were of little consequence.

Qi Xuansu's physique underwent a subtle transformation, shifting in countless ways. Earlier, it was through this transformation that he was able to break free from the black-robed monk's restraints.

This was one of the Hundred Forms of the Manly Immortal's True Body—the Serpent Metamorphosis.

Serpent Metamorphosis was a transformation that mimicked the mythical beast, Soaring Serpent. The essence of this transformation lay in making the body supple like that of a serpent, able to extend and contract, twist and coil, and even strangle opponents like a snake.

Qi Xuansu swept his arm sideways, his limb stretching over 30 meters long and wrapping around five samurai. With a sudden contraction, he crushed them tightly. Though these samurai possessed the physique of Guizhen-stage Martial Arts Practitioners, they could not compare to a Wuliang-stage Martial Arts Practitioner. The sound of bones shattering rang out continuously, and soon, the five samurai fell silent.

The remaining seven samurai showed no fear. Instead of retreating, they pressed forward, attempting to bypass Qi Xuansu and attack Zhang Yuelu.

They had probably realized that harming a Martial Arts Practitioner in the Everchanging Realm was nothing but a fool's dream. Even if a Martial Arts Practitioner stood still, it was nearly impossible to wound them at a vital point.

Unfortunately for them, Zhang Yuelu was no helpless maiden needing Qi Xuansu's protection, but a comrade who stood alongside him in mutual support. If they could do nothing against Qi Xuansu, how could they possibly defeat Zhang Yuelu?

Qi Xuansu did not spare them even a glance and darted straight toward the two meikai-rank shinkan.

Zhang Yuelu calmly pushed out with her left palm, sending forth a vortex the width of a well, composed entirely of countless strands of purple lightning.

This was the advanced form of Thunder Palm, called Little Thunder Pool. Once released, it generated a tremendous suction force.

The seven samurai were drawn into it helplessly, and in an instant, they were reduced to charcoal-like husks. Their so-called heavy armor was completely ineffective against lightning.

Twelve samurai, who would have been considered tyrannical overlords in Jianghu, were annihilated in an instant before Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu.

By now, the two meikai-rank shinkan had already engaged Qi Xuansu. They felt an overwhelming surge of scorching energy rushing toward them, as if a volcano were erupting right in their faces.

This was the effect of a Martial Arts Practitioner's blood qi. The shinkan, most similar to Shamans in essence, could also turn illusion into reality. Though they were not as severely countered by Martial Arts Practitioners as Diviners were, they were still affected to a certain degree.

While the twelve samurai were being sacrificed, the two meikai-rank shinkan had already seized the chance to prepare their spells. A surge of blue light suddenly erupted, forming into layers of overlapping ice barriers. It was as if a towering iceberg had risen to block the space between them and Qi Xuansu. This iceberg continued to expand, layer upon layer, pressing ceaselessly toward him.

This was not the divine power of Himiko-no-Mikoto, but rather that of Susanoo-no-Mikoto. Himiko-no-Mikoto, as the foremost of the Three Great Kami, symbolized the sun; hence, her divine powers were fire and light. Meanwhile, her two brothers symbolized the moon and the sea.

Susanoo-no-Mikoto, being the god of the sea, wielded the power of ice.

Qi Xuansu could no longer see the figures of the two shinkan, yet he did not stop. He hurled himself forward, shattering more than a dozen layers of ice barriers with a single collision. But the barriers seemed endless. New ones constantly formed to fill the gaps, forcing him backward instead. Even when he invoked the Manly Immortal's Elephant Form, he could only halt his retreat and could not advance further.

After all, by Daoist standards, both meikai-rank shinkan were at the Wuliang stage. With two against one and their spells prepared in advance, they had an advantage against Qi Xuansu alone.

However, Qi Xuansu was not fighting alone. At that moment, an icy-blue current surged across the ground through some unknown medium, slashing past the iceberg and racing straight toward the two meikai-rank shinkan. Wherever it passed, both the iceberg and the very space around it warped slightly, as though torn apart by the current.

This was Zhang Yuelu's Five Thunder Celestial Heart Method.

After the Holy Xuan unified the Daoist Order, he compiled their most secret arts into manuals. In theory, anyone could learn the Five Thunder Celestial Heart Method. Yet whenever the technique was mentioned, the Zhang family was always the first that came to mind. This was because the Zhangs had delved into this art for over a thousand years, passing down their insights through generations. That was where the true essence lay. With the same technique, members of the Zhang family could unleash not merely its full power, but even exceed it, something no self-taught practitioner could hope to match.

A certain Zhang ancestor once discovered that lightning encountered resistance as it traveled. This resistance continually diminished the lightning's force until it dissipated entirely. If that resistance could be reduced, the lightning's power could be greatly magnified.

Through repeated experiments, he found that in extremely frigid environments, certain substances offered no resistance to lightning, allowing its power to increase dramatically.

Thus, that elder combined the ice qi from the Mysterious Maiden lineage's Dark Yin Sutra and built it upon the Five Thunder Celestial Heart Method to create a technique called Dark Yin Ice Thunder. Strictly speaking, it did not belong to the Five Thunder Celestial Heart Method, yet it was deeply intertwined with it.

At this moment, the two meikai-rank shinkans had blocked the path with their iceberg, indirectly creating such an extreme cold environment. Zhang Yuelu immediately unleashed Dark Yin Ice Thunder, further intensifying the chill and reducing the ground's resistance. This allowed the lightning to surge nearly unhindered through the ground, past the iceberg, and arrive before the two shinkan.

At the same time, the ice lightning continuously drained the surrounding air, compressing it into a conductive medium with metallic properties under high pressure.

Thus, the ice lightning displayed a strange spectacle, one that closely resembled a Martial Arts Practitioner's fist technique that shattered the void in a straight line. But the two were only outwardly similar.

Such things could never be learned through mere self-study, much less comprehended by chance. Zhang Yuelu herself only received direct instruction in this method after being designated as the next successor of the Zhang family, personally taught by the Heavenly Preceptor.

Empowered by both the extreme chill and metallic hydrogen, the might of this ice lightning faintly touched upon the threshold of the Zaohua stage. This did not mean Zhang Yuelu had entered the Zaohua stage. This was a case of heavenly timing because metallic hydrogen was nearly 200 times as powerful as black gunpowder.

The ice lightning erupted with a deafening blast. One of the meikai-rank shinkan was caught off guard and was grievously wounded. Though he was not killed outright, he was instantly paralyzed.

The other meikai-rank shinkan was also injured from being struck by the edge of the blast, so he too could no longer sustain the iceberg.

At that moment, Qi Xuansu fully unleashed the Demonic Blade, losing his sanity for a brief span as he plunged into a state of utter frenzy. Guided purely by instinct, he shattered the now-powerless iceberg before him with his bare hands, tearing the massive structure into countless fragments until it crumbled in total ruin.

Then Qi Xuansu's figure flickered forward, appearing before the gravely wounded shinkan. His hand transformed into a dragon claw before plunging into the man's chest and tearing out a blood-soaked heart.