A Pawn’s Passage

When Qi Xuansu left the Tianji Hall branch, he could not shake the feeling that something was missing.

At first, he did not pay much attention and went straight back to his quarters. Not long after, Mu Jin, having heard that Qi Xuansu had returned to camp, came looking for him.

Normally, if Zhang Yuelu was not around, Mu Jin would look for Qi Xuansu to take charge. After all, Zhang Yuelu and Qi Xuansu were practically one and the same. Qi Xuansu did not object. Upon asking the reason, he soon understood what had happened.

In Mu Jin's words, the eccentric Elder Lin, whom Deputy Hall Master Zhang had brought along, had disappeared.

That eccentric Elder Lin—Lin Yuanmiao.

They say one thing led to another. Suddenly, Qi Xuansu realized what else was missing—Little Yin, Yin Wanmiao. That mischievous little ghost was also gone!

Sure enough, according to Mu Jin's recollection, in the past few days, a little girl had often come to play with Lin Yuanmiao. The child carried the insignia of a fourth-rank Jijiu Daoist master, so Mu Jin assumed she was the granddaughter of some important figure and did not think much of it. But this morning, both had vanished.

Qi Xuansu immediately felt a headache coming on. In the blink of an eye, those two troublemakers had ended up together.

Lin Yuanmiao was not Lin Lingsu, the Jin Dynasty's Imperial Preceptor, and was only a Three Corpse incarnation of the latter, so his mind always seemed a little unstable. It was not all that surprising for him to be tricked by Little Yin.

Qi Xuansu had no idea where they might have gone.

Meanwhile, the missing pair had already crossed into Ise Province.

The mismatched pair was not exactly normal, but they each still had a Heavenly-Being level of cultivation. Lin Yunmiao was at the Wuliang stage, while Little Yin was at the Xiaoyao stage. Even without a flying ship, reaching Ise Province was no trouble for them.

Though the Daoist forces had already defeated the main Sonno-joi army, the yin energy lingering over Ise Province had not dissipated. In fact, with more deaths, it had grown heavier. When the army marched through, their surging blood qi forced the yin energy back, but once the troops moved on, the yin energy quickly returned in force.

For Little Yin, arriving here was like a fish returning to water.

Lin Yuanmiao, too, found a measure of peace.

He required Soul-Returning Incense to repossess his body. Before fully merging with this mortal shell, he suffered constant tearing between his soul and body. The yin energy here happened to soothe that agony. In the living world, there were few places where such vast yin energy could gather.

If not for this, Lin Yuanmiao would not be running around with Little Yin. After all, he was still capable of negotiating with Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu, so his mind was no different from an adult's. It was only the missing fragments of memory that made him seem mentally unstable.

But this yin energy could only grant Lin Yuanmiao fleeting peace. The moment he left this place, he would once again suffer the torment of his soul and body being unable to fully merge.

As for why the two had come to Ise Province, it certainly was not for the yin energy. If that were all she wanted, Little Yin could have just returned to the Ghost Kingdom. She was here to hunt for treasure.

When she had first followed Qi Xuansu into Ise Province, she had already sensed the head of Shuten-Doji through the thick yin energy. But she found Qi Xuansu far too meddlesome, always interfering and restricting her, so she had long wanted to shake him off and explore on her own. Moreover, Qi Xuansu had little spare time and could not accompany her. Yet, she lacked the confidence to go by herself. So, she set her sights on Lin Yuanmiao instead.

Lin Yuanmiao, meanwhile, was eager to restore his strength. Apart from Soul-Returning Incense, things like living souls, flesh, and divine power could also serve the same purpose. But using souls and flesh was taboo, strictly forbidden by Daoist law, while divine power was far too precious. Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu themselves hardly had enough, so how could they spare any for him? That was why he had no choice but to settle for Soul-Returning Incense to recover his strength.

If he could find enough divine power, it would greatly accelerate his recovery. The saying that divine power was almost omnipotent was no exaggeration. With it, Immortals could forge indestructible golden bodies and even return from death, let alone enable a soul to reinhabit a body.

Since Ise Province was the ancestral seat of the Tenmon Sect, it would not lack divine power. Especially after the Daoist army had swept through the area, countless shrines were now in ruins. The Daoist army was preparing an assault on Kobe and Mie District, so they had no time to concern themselves with these remnants, leaving plenty of opportunities for scavenging.

Thus, the two oddities struck a deal and came to Ise Province to pick up the spoils.

Little Yin sought to find a sealed great demon or spirit and devour it. Lin Yuanmiao sought to obtain divine power, hastening the fusion of his soul and body.

They had set out at midnight, and Qi Xuansu only learned of their disappearance the following afternoon, by which time the two had already reached Ise Province's Iino District.

This place had not suffered large-scale battles and was not as devastated as Ichishi District, yet the yin energy here was still thick. All living humans were forced to gather in settlements, using the blood qi of human presence to resist it. Anyone alone would soon be transformed into a monster by the omnipresent yin energy.

Little Yin walked in front, her nose twitching like a puppy's, as if she could sniff out things invisible to others. Meanwhile, Lin Yuanmiao followed silently behind her.

The two walked a long way down a narrow path without seeing a trace of human life. At last, an abandoned Tenshukaku[1] appeared before their eyes.

This Tenshukaku had not been abandoned recently due to war. It had been in this state for at least a century, with weeds growing rampant and cobwebs stretching between its beams and pillars.

Little Yin stopped in her tracks and said, "It's here!"

Lin Yuanmiao was silent for a moment before muttering, "This place is ominous."

Little Yin showed no fear at all. "How can you catch a tiger cub without entering the tiger's den? The bold feast, and the timid starve. The daring slay dragons and subdue tigers, while the timid feed cats and raise rabbits."

Indeed, she had nothing to fear. After all, she could always be resurrected through the Emperor Willow. But she would not tell Lin Yuanmiao that, lest it crush his morale.

Sure enough, Lin Yuanmiao raised no objections. He simply waved his hand and opened a path forward.

Of course, there had once been a path here, but ever since the Tenshukaku was abandoned, the passage of time had buried all traces of it.

Lin Yuanmiao asked, "Why was this place abandoned?"

"How would I know? I'm not a local." Little Yin replied with perfect confidence. "But I'd guess it was haunted."

Lin Yuanmiao's mouth twitched, but he said nothing.

After all, could a daimyo who built such a magnificent Tenshukaku really be unable to summon a few Onmyoji to cleanse the area? Especially here in Ise Province, where enlisting the shinkan of the Ise-jingu should have been no difficulty at all.

Unless, of course, there was some troublesome problem here that could not be easily solved.

For example, Little Yin herself was such a problem. She was impossible to kill and capable of summoning ancient ghosts as backup. That was why this little troublemaker was such a headache. The best solution was to seal such troublesome spirits on the spot.

Following this logic, the reason for abandoning this Tenshukaku seemed obvious now.

The pair came to the entrance of the Tenshukaku and found it blocked by scattered stones.

Lin Yuanmiao stretched out his hand and pressed it against the stones, turning them to mud.

Then, they stepped into the Tenshukaku. All around them were dust-covered floors, rotted beams, collapsed stairways, countless scorch marks, and yin energy even thicker than outside. A draft blew through, carrying a bone-piercing chill.

Fortunately, neither of the two was human, and they rather enjoyed such an environment.

Guided by some instinctive sense, Little Yin wandered through halls and corridors until she reached an extremely secluded corner. She stomped her foot, finding that the floorboards were hollow.

With a flick of his finger, Lin Yuanmiao lifted the floorboards, revealing a flight of well-preserved stone steps beneath, leading downward into the unknown.

Little Yin wasted no words and stepped in first. Lin Yuanmiao followed behind her.

On either side of the stairway were small shrines, though no gods were enshrined within. As Little Yin advanced, ghostly blue flames flickered to life inside them one after another.

An ordinary person would likely be terrified by such a scene. But usually, ghosts frightened humans and not their own kind. Little Yin, being a ghost herself, naturally felt no fear. Nor did Lin Yuanmiao, half-dead as he was, feel the slightest fear.

At the end of the staircase lay what resembled an underground prison, its walls covered in scorch marks. The atmosphere was thick with yin energy. Some rotting iron bars blocked the way, but Lin Yuanmiao casually brushed them aside.

At the very depths of this dungeon lay a pair of pitch-black doors.

But the doors did not stand upright against a wall. They lay flat on the ground, as if opening into a portal below.

Around the doors stretched countless red cords, from which talismans scrawled in blood hung densely all around.

The floor was also covered with similar markings, likely meant to serve as sealing wards.

Little Yin fixed her gaze on the door. "What we're looking for lies beneath this door."

Lin Yuanmiao glanced around the area and remarked, "Something's here."

As soon as he finished his sentence, a massive shadow rushed along the wall toward the two of them.

In such a place, it was certainly a monster.

Soon, Little Yin and Lin Yuanmiao saw the shadow's true form—a gigantic spider. Its bristling, barbed legs were as thick as a grown man's arm, and its swollen abdomen was covered in strange patterns resembling countless eyes. Just gazing at them was dizzying, allowing one to be immersed in it. Its upper body, however, was that of a naked woman with disheveled hair, her face full of seductive charm that could lure men.

Lin Yuanmiao said, "Jorogumo."

Little Yin curled her lips in disdain. "A snake demon is called Kiyohime, and a spider demon is called Jorogumo. Do they think that having a name makes people respect them more?"

The Jorogumo had noticed the two of them.

Jorogumo literally meant "woman-spider." According to legend, the first of her kind was once a beautiful woman married to a local lord. When the lord caught her in an affair with another man, he threw her into a chest filled with venomous spiders, letting them consume her body. After death, her vengeful spirit fused with the spiders, becoming a merciless spider demon who haunted forests, luring young men to their deaths.

As monsters that hunt men, they were exceedingly seductive, ensnaring men in their charms. On the third night after the seduction, they would take the man's head and devour him.

Since the Jorogumo favored men, she naturally felt a visceral dislike for another female like Little Yin. The spider demon opened her mouth and spat out a strand of silk, shooting it toward Little Yin.

Little Yin let out a shriek and darted behind Lin Yuanmiao.

Being one of the Three Corpses left behind by Lin Lingsu, the Imperial Preceptor of the Jin Dynasty, Lin Yuanmiao was quite powerful. With a flick of his finger, he conjured the True Samadhi Fire, which ran along the silk toward the Jorogumo, burning its way forward.

1. Castle tower. ☜