A Pawn’s Passage

Qi Xuansu stayed in Yoshida Castle for a few days, mainly to heal his hand and study the sun disc.

Previously, when he clashed fists with the jokai-rank shinkan's Spiritual Statue, his entire hand was shattered. Although his body's regenerative abilities had repaired his flesh and bone, damage to his acupoints was far harder to mend.

Over these few days, Qi Xuansu roughly discerned the function of the sun disc. According to the inscriptions on it, it was called the Solar Heaven. By Daoist standards, it indeed counted as a semi-immortal object, though with heavy limitations.

This was not difficult to understand. The Daoist Order possessed a true immortal object called the Three Treasures Scepter, which only the Grand Master could wield, serving as his symbol of authority. Its main purpose was to open the many restrictions of the Kunlun Paradise, functioning like a key. In actual combat, however, it was far inferior to immortal weapons such as the Heavenly Preceptor's Twin Swords. Another example was the Qinghuo Pearl, which allowed a Pseudo-Immortal to display the might of an Immortal. It was suitable for battle, but only those of the Qingqiu lineage could control it.

Both the Three Treasures Scepter and the Qinghuo Pearl were immortal objects with great restrictions.

Some semi-immortal objects, such as the Haotian Mirror and Moon Mirror, had wondrous functions like projection, imaging, or teleportation across vast distances, yet were wholly unsuited for direct combat.

The Solar Heaven was like the Three Treasures Scepter, as it mainly served as a key to command that divine shrine. It was also exceptionally durable and capable of manifesting a blazing sun. Yet the shrine itself was gravely damaged, as it was bombed by the Yinglong Warship and plummeted from the skies into the earth below. It was unlikely to be of further use.

There was, however, good news. The sun disc contained a vast reserve of divine power, no less than 3,000 marks.

Before coming to Fenglin, Qi Xuansu had received 800 marks of divine power from the Daoist Order, raising his total to about 3,000 marks. After several great battles, he still had 2,500 marks remaining. If he absorbed the sun disc's reserves, he would have no shortage of power for at least half a year.

That was why Qi Xuansu accepted and absorbed this divine power without the slightest hesitation.

As a result, his Spiritual Statue underwent yet another transformation.

At first, when he drew upon the divine power of True Lord Taiyin, his Spiritual Statue manifested as a bright full moon. Later, due to the divine descent, he obtained the divine power of True Lord Ziguang, transforming his Spiritual Statue into the Star-Moon Spiritual Statue. Now, by absorbing Himiko's divine power, he had gathered the sun, moon, and stars.

Qi Xuansu no longer knew what to call his Spiritual Statue. The Sun-Moon-Star Spiritual Statue seemed a bit long, so he settled for the Celestial Phenomena Spiritual Statue.

These three celestial phenomena corresponded to different divine abilities—the Taiyin 13 Swords from True Lord Taiyin and the Purple Star Astrology from True Lord Ziguang.

Zhang Yuelu also practiced Purple Star Astrology. Back in Yishan City, she had once used it for divination, though her method was not entirely the same as Qi Xuansu's.

As early as the Qi Dynasty, many Daoist scriptures had detailed records on the arrangement of the Life Ruler Star and the Body Ruler Star in Purple Star Astrology. These two stars were crucial in determining one's fate and misfortunes.

Later, as the teachings spread, it gradually split into the Southern and Northern Schools. The Southern School's three-volume Purple Star Astrology was compiled by the Great Heavenly Preceptor of the Zhengyi Sect. The Northern School's four-volume Purple Star Astrology was compiled much later by the then Earthly Preceptor during the reign of Emperor Shizong of the Wei Dynasty.

After the Daoist sects were unified, both the Southern and Northern Schools' teachings were consolidated. The current form of Purple Star Astrology was an improved system based on the seven compiled volumes.

The version Zhang Yuelu studied was precisely this one. In short, it was rooted in the Life Palace of a person's chart and involved elements like one's date of birth and the Four Pillars of Destiny.

In contrast, Qi Xuansu's Purple Star Astrology was the more ancient form, grounded in direct observation of the stars. One could either read the heavens personally or receive revelations from True Lord Ziguang, who ruled the stars and could observe the constellations on his behalf and reveal the results.

Yet each revelation required the expenditure of divine power. It could be understood as the cost of insight or as a sacrificial offering to the deity.

Since Qi Xuansu was often short of divine power, he had never made use of this ability.

Qi Xuansu did not know how to properly describe the divine abilities of Himiko. After all, she was a foreign deity and did not belong to the Daoist system. Thus, there was no corresponding term.

The Central Plains historical records of the Wa People noted that Himiko was a queen who wielded mystical arts capable of commanding others. She had no husband, while her younger brother, Susanoo, governed in her stead. Since becoming queen, Himiko was seldom seen by others. Her daily life was attended by a thousand maidservants, and her residence was strictly guarded by many soldiers.

At that time, Fenglin practiced a dual rulership similar to the Daoist Order and the Imperial Court. The queen was the "Child of Heaven" and held spiritual authority, while her brother wielded political power.

According to historical records, although Himiko symbolized the sun and excelled at commanding fire and light, she was also highly skilled in esoteric arts. The divine power she wielded manifested as a fire-controlling Daoist technique, remarkably similar to True Samadhi Fire.

It was often said that water restrained fire, yet once one mastered True Samadhi Fire, it could no longer be subdued by water. Attempting to extinguish it with water would be like adding fuel to the flames because this fire had already transcended ordinary flames. This Samadhi Fire stood on the same tier as the Zhang family's Five Thunder Celestial Heart Method, though thunder was considered the foremost of all methods, granting it a slight edge.

For Qi Xuansu, this was an unexpected boon, though its drawback was that it consumed divine power and thus could not be used recklessly.

Qi Xuansu suspected that his Longevity Stone Heart allowed him to continuously draw upon different divine powers to gain new abilities. Li Changge, by contrast, represented the opposite extreme, as he cultivated solely with the purest Daoist divine power, thus manifesting the Heavenly Emperor Spiritual Statue.

Though Qi Xuansu had also absorbed a portion of pure Daoist divine power, he did not cultivate the Heavenly Emperor Spiritual Statue because it seemed that the Daoist divine power demanded purity. Once mingled with other divine powers, one could not attain the Heavenly Emperor Spiritual Statue. Conversely, if one had successfully cultivated the Heavenly Emperor Spiritual Statue, one could no longer cultivate other Spiritual Statues. This was precisely why Li Changge only possessed one Spiritual Statue, unlike Qi Xuansu.

Li Changge embodied "purity," while Qi Xuansu embodied "breadth." Their differences stemmed from their respective backgrounds. As to which was superior, it was difficult to say.

The Star-Moon Spiritual Statue was certainly inferior to the Heavenly Emperor Spiritual Statue. Even the Celestial Phenomena Spiritual Statue might not surpass it.

Perhaps one day, should Qi Xuansu absorb several more types of divine powers, his Celestial Phenomena Spiritual Statue might evolve into something greater, capable of standing on equal ground with or even surpassing the Heavenly Emperor Spiritual Statue.

But Qi Xuansu was already quite content with what he had now.

Besides the Demonic Blade and the Dragon-Tiger Sword Technique, he also knew the Tantai Fist Intention. His Diviner lineage allowed him to communicate with the Ghost Kingdom, while his Rogue Cultivator lineage offered abilities like Cicada Molting. However, upon reaching the Heavenly-Being level, these became of little use. For instance, Cicada Molting was replaced by the Tribulation Substitute, and the Five Elements Qi Shield would inevitably give way to the Joyous Cloud Shield.

His Shaman lineage allowed him to manifest the Celestial Phenomena Spiritual Statue, along with the Taiyin 13 Swords, Purple Star Astrology, and True Samadhi Fire. These were among the finest of all his lineages. Aside from the Banished Immortal lineage, what Qi Xuansu most desired was to raise this Shaman lineage to the Wuliang stage.

The potential of Shamans varied immensely. If the Spiritual Statue was of high grade and with sufficient divine power, a Shaman could even contend with a Banished Immortal. But if the Spiritual Statue was low grade with a lack of divine power, Shamans would not even compare to Rogue Cultivators.

Once he was fully healed, Qi Xuansu planned to return to the battlefield.

This time, Zhang Yuelu would not accompany him. Within the Ise region, the battlefield had split into three fronts, each under a first-rank Spirit Guard. Zhang Yuelu was headed to the Spirit Guard Ding Wei, while Qi Xuansu would march toward Spirit Guard Jia Chen.

The two Spirit Guards were both old acquaintances, especially Spirit Guard Jia Chen, with whom Qi Xuansu had fought alongside during the Wuxing Mountain battle.

Originally, according to Sage Qingwei's arrangement, each of the three Spirit Guards was to be paired with a Deputy Hall Master—Spirit Guard Ding Wei with Zhang Yuelu, Spirit Guard Jia Chen with Qi Xuansu, and Spirit Guard Jia Shen with Li Changge. But an accident disrupted this plan, forcing Li Zhuyu to fill in temporarily. Yet Li Zhuyu was ultimately not Li Changge. So in the end, Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu had to step in and salvage the situation, becoming the peak combatants on the field and the ones capable of turning the tide of battle.