A Pawn's Passage

Madam Qi held Little Yin in her arms and pointed at the image from the license. She remained off-screen, heard but not seen.

The moment Qi Xuansu saw Little Yin, his smile became softer. Not a trace of his usual fierceness remained as he asked, “Little Yin, did you miss me?”

Little Yin’s eyes darted about for a moment before she answered cheerfully, “I did!”

Qi Xuansu asked again, “Oh really?”

The little rascal knew exactly how to make people happy. “I think about you every night before I go to sleep.”

Qi Xuansu knew perfectly well she was making it up, yet he was delighted all the same. “Good, good, good.”

Little Yin immediately seized the opportunity. “Do I get New Year’s money?”

Qi Xuansu looked troubled. Although he wielded immense influence wherever he went, he truly did not have much money on hand. Given his status, the Daoist Order provided for virtually everything he needed, leaving him with few occasions to spend money and even less reason to keep cash notes on him.

Little Yin pouted. “If there’s no New Year’s money, then I won’t miss you anymore.”

“Of course you’ll get New Year’s money,” Qi Xuansu replied. “Why don’t you ask Madam Qi to give it to you?”

Madam Qi, still off-screen, immediately interrupted him. “Why should I? If I give her New Year’s money, that’s my money, not yours. Use your own money if you’re sincere. You’re a grown man now. Are you seriously going to spend your mother’s money?”

Little Yin chimed in at once, “Exactly!”

Madam Qi rubbed Little Yin’s head affectionately. “Good girl. I’ll wrap you an even bigger red packet later.”

Little Yin wrapped her arms around Madam Qi’s neck and giggled happily.

Qi Xuansu sighed helplessly. “Then I’ll write you an IOU.”

Little Yin thought it over for a moment before nodding. “Deal!”

Qi Xuansu teased her, “If I give you New Year’s money, how are you going to thank me?”

Little Yin asked, “How do you want me to thank you?”

Qi Xuansu grinned. “Call me ‘Dad.’”

Little Yin neither refused nor agreed outright. Instead, she held up one finger. “I charge 100 Taiping coins each time I call you ‘Dad.’”

Objectively speaking, that price was quite reasonable. After all, Little Yin was a Wuliang-stage expert and a third-rank Youyi Daoist. Under normal circumstances, expecting a High Mage to call someone “Dad” for a mere 100 Taiping Coins would have been utterly unrealistic.

The problem was that Qi Xuansu could not even come up with 100 Taiping coins. Although he had the authority to mobilize millions of Taiping coins, when it came to his personal finances, he was effectively living off his old mother and relying on his wife to support him.

Still, Qi Xuansu negotiated. “How about this? I’ll owe you the money for now. Why don’t you call me ‘Dad’ first?”

Little Yin refused to be fooled. “Nope. No credit.”

Qi Xuansu patted himself down, took out the Guizang Lantern, and said, “How about I use this as collateral? Haven’t you always wanted it?”

Little Yin examined it carefully and immediately remembered. The last time she had tried to steal that stupid lantern, she had nearly gotten herself killed. It first became hotter and hotter, then stuck firmly to her hand, refusing to come off no matter how hard she tried. Worse still, an unknown force had continuously poured into her body, nearly causing her to explode from the overload.

That old lantern definitely was not anything good.

To top it all off, Qi Xuansu had given her a thorough scolding afterward.

Little Yin pouted. “I don’t want it.”

At that very moment, however, the Guizang Lantern unexpectedly reacted to Little Yin. Ordinarily, it remained in an extinguished state, but now its flame suddenly lit up.

In an instant, Qi Xuansu’s senses became linked with the Guizang Lantern. Little Yin and Madam Qi disappeared. Everything around him vanished.

Within Qi Xuansu’s vision—or rather, within his perception—a huge black shadow appeared.

It was not the familiar Lingshan Mountain that Qi Xuansu knew. It resembled a land tornado, yet at the same time, it looked like an inverted black mountain.

The moment the black shadow appeared, everything else twisted and distorted into a gigantic vortex, spiraling into the shadow. Yet the shadow itself remained utterly unaffected, standing immovable, almost as though it were suppressing the vortex rather than being consumed by it.

Qi Xuansu only glanced at it once, and he felt the black shadow seize his gaze, making it impossible to look away. At the same time, it seemed to clutch tightly at his soul, leaving him unable to break free.

Qi Xuansu even had the eerie sensation that while he was looking at the black shadow, the black shadow was also looking back at him.

A few moments later, the black shadow grew clearer and clearer, until Qi Xuansu finally made out its true form.

Qi Xuansu had thought the shadow was a tornado, or perhaps an upside-down mountain. It was neither.

It was a towering, pitch-black tree.

Qi Xuansu recognized the black tree at a single glance.

He had once seen this black tree in its seedling form within the Lingshan Paradise, and later witnessed its fully grown form within the Ghost Kingdom.

It was the Emperor Willow.

The abyss that resembled a gigantic whirlpool was the Netherworld itself, and the Emperor Willow stood suppressing the rift leading into it.

Qi Xuansu continued to draw closer to the Emperor Willow, allowing more and more details to come into view.

The Emperor Willow resembled a colossal pillar supporting the heavens. Its immense canopy blotted out the sky, while each of the drooping willow branches was as thick as an adult man’s waist.

From a great distance, Qi Xuansu had barely been able to take in its entire form. But as he approached, its sheer size made that impossible.

When Qi Xuansu arrived at the foot of the Emperor Willow and looked upward, the exposed roots alone were higher than him. The upper half of the tree was almost completely swallowed by pale gray mist.

Qi Xuansu’s body began to rise, ascending along the trunk of the Emperor Willow.

This was not the Ghost Kingdom, nor was it the true Emperor Willow.

Yet Qi Xuansu found it difficult to explain what was happening. After all, the Guizang Lantern had once sent him back to Lingshan Paradise of the past, allowing him to personally trigger the fateful opportunity that had originally belonged to him. There was no telling what new anomaly it might produce this time.

Before long, Qi Xuansu once again arrived at the very top of the Emperor Willow’s canopy.

The last time he had come here, he had taken a Pingtian Crown from this very place, forging an inseparable connection with the Ghost Kingdom. Since then, he had gained the ability to summon the Three Yin Beings and had even recreated a miniature Ghost Kingdom within his own divine domain, complete with its own Emperor Willow.

This time, however, there was no Pingtian Crown atop the Emperor Willow’s canopy. There was only a single lantern. It was none other than the Guizang Lantern, capable of connecting the past and the future.

The Guizang Lantern had materialized into physical form.

Its flame had already been lit, and within its radiance, countless scenes unfolded.

The sky was pitch-black. Within the area illuminated by the lantern, countless threads could be seen, each woven from fragments of different scenes. Every single thread contained both Qi Xuansu and Little Yin. Some threads ended abruptly, while others curved back upon themselves to form complete loops.

Qi Xuansu observed the threads carefully for a while and discovered that each one was a projection of a possible future.

In one thread, Qi Xuansu became embroiled in the Daoist Order’s struggle among its highest ranks, but he lost. With Sage Donghua’s downfall, Qi Xuansu was transformed overnight from an Omniscient Sage of the Daoist Order into an enemy of the Order itself. Beichen Hall dispatched officers to arrest him and put him on trial. However, Qi Xuansu refused both the trial and surrender. When the Beichen Hall Daoists came to seize him, he killed the arresting officers on the spot, carved a bloody path through everyone who stood in his way, and fled overseas.

Such a Qi Xuansu was destined for a grim end. The Daoist Order dispatched Immortals and immortal objects, eventually intercepting him in Nanyang. There, they successfully killed the traitorous Qi Xuansu. The Golden Tower Council ordered his head severed and displayed throughout every Daoist Mansion as a warning. His Longevity Stone Heart was dug out and placed on display in the Golden Tower Council’s collection hall to serve as a cautionary relic for future generations.

Qi Xuansu’s name became synonymous with treason, joining Chen Shuhua as another infamous rebel of the Daoist Order. Years earlier, Qi Xuansu himself had helped execute Chen Shuhua. Now they had met the exact same fate, which was deeply ironic.

As Qi Xuansu’s Daoist companion, Zhang Yuelu was arrested during a council meeting and placed under the strictest supervision. After the trial, she was convicted of betraying the Daoist Order, divulging state secrets, dereliction of duty, and gross negligence. She was sentenced to 135 years of imprisonment within the Dragon Cave. Refusing to admit guilt to the very end, Zhang Yuelu ultimately chose to take her own life.

In this thread, Little Yin, as Qi Xuansu’s adopted daughter, naturally shared his downfall. She was captured and tortured before being imprisoned within the Ghost Kingdom. The Daoist Order pierced her body with nine special chains, binding her so completely that she could not leave the Ghost Kingdom by even a single step.

Under such horrific circumstances, Little Yin finally matured, changing from a little girl with short arms and legs into a graceful young maiden and eventually into a young woman. She ultimately broke free of her restraints and escaped the Ghost Kingdom. After years of careful planning, she infiltrated Jade Capital, stole Qi Xuansu’s Longevity Stone Heart and his severed head, and secretly buried them beside Xingye Lake. To avoid discovery, she left no gravestone.

In another thread, Qi Xuansu likewise took part in the factional struggle of the Daoist Order, but this time, he emerged victorious. Sage Donghua became the Grand Master, while Qi Xuansu served as the Junior Grand Master. After Sage Donghua ascended, Qi Xuansu successfully inherited the position of Grand Master. This master-and-disciple pair succeeding one another as Grand Masters became one of the Daoist Order’s most celebrated stories.

After assuming power, Qi Xuansu’s first act was to appoint Zhang Yuelu as the Grand Master Consort and Great Sage of the Zhengyi Sect, entrusting her with immense authority. To stabilize the political situation, he also approved Li Changge’s appointment as Great Sage of the Taiping Sect. Yet after firmly securing his own position, Qi Xuansu gradually weakened Li Changge under various pretexts. Eventually, using Li Tianzhen’s many illegal activities as the catalyst, he launched a sweeping political purge that implicated Li Changge as well, sending both Li Tianzhen and Li Changge to prison.

Following the trial, Li Tianzhen was convicted on multiple counts and sentenced to death, meeting his end upon the Demon-Vanquishing Platform. Li Changge was stripped of his office as Deputy Grand Master and sentenced to life imprisonment, being sealed away within the Demon-Vanquishing Cave. Their positions were subsequently filled by Li Zhuyu and Li Qingnu.

Qi Xuansu then purged a large number of his political opponents, including members of both the Zhang and Yao families, completely consolidating his rule. With internal opposition crushed, he launched wars abroad, defeating the remaining Buddhist forces before ordering the Southern Continent to launch a campaign against the Steam Evangelical Sect on the Northern Continent. Riding the prestige of these military victories, he finally initiated sweeping internal reforms, with Zhang Yuelu leading the efforts while Qi Xuansu ensured her reforms proceeded unimpeded.

In this thread, Little Yin rose alongside Qi Xuansu as his adopted daughter. She was renamed Qi Xiaoyin and acknowledged as the only daughter of Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu. She enjoyed unparalleled affection. Regardless of rank or status, everyone in the Daoist Order sought to curry favor with the little princess. Little Yin truly realized her lifelong dream of being able to do as she wished throughout the Daoist Order.

In this future, Little Yin never returned to the Ghost Kingdom. She remained in Jade Capital for the rest of her life and never physically matured. Even when Qi Xuansu eventually ascended, Little Yin still retained the appearance of a little child with short arms and legs, along with the innocent mind of a child.

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