A Pawn's Passage

Zhou Mengyao remained silent.

At first glance, these memories seemed completely at odds with her usual way of doing things, yet they were all real.

Of course, not everything had been an act. Pretending for a short while was easy, but maintaining the performance indefinitely was not, nor did Zhou Mengyao have that kind of patience.

When interacting with Qi Xuansu, Zhou Mengyao had never used her true body. Her real body was not suited to enter Jade Capital, which was a place teeming with Immortals. In the beginning, she had acted through Qi Haoran’s body. Later, she switched to a Corpse Liberation Incarnation.

The essence of the Demon Embryo Planting lay in fusion rather than possession. Qi Haoran’s body genuinely influenced her. Many times, she herself could no longer distinguish how she truly regarded Qi Xuansu. The part of her that belonged to Zhou Mengyao remained absolutely rational, while the part inherited from Qi Haoran was plagued by hesitation.

That was why Zhou Mengyao avoided using this Demon Embryo Planting Technique unless absolutely necessary. If merely assimilating Qi Haoran had affected her this much, it was impossible to predict what would happen if she were to also absorb Qi Xuansu. To avoid suffering any backlash on her true body, she might even have to sever the connection entirely to protect herself.

Thus, to steel her resolve, Zhou Mengyao abandoned Qi Haoran’s body altogether, completely cutting off its influence before carrying out the remainder of her plans through her Corpse Liberation Incarnation.

But by this point, she had reached a dead end, because Qi Xuansu had uncovered the truth.

Had he never discovered it, perhaps they could have continued coexisting in another form. She would have remained the approachable Senior Zhou, quietly sheltering him from life’s storms.

Unfortunately, there was no longer any meaning in dwelling on such possibilities.

Qi Xuansu was not interrogating Zhou Mengyao, nor was he demanding an explanation from her. He would not weep and complain like an abandoned child, as such childish behavior was beneath someone who aspired to become the Grand Master of the Daoist Order.

On the surface, he was venting his emotions. In truth, he was quietly stalling for time.

From beginning to end, he had handled every problem Zhou Mengyao created with remarkable composure. He was no longer the young man he once had been. He was now a seasoned leader within the Daoist Order.

No wonder they were master and disciple. Qi Xuansu did not deny that his emotions were complicated. His nostalgia for the past was genuine, as was his anger at having been deceived. But those feelings were not so overwhelming that they could dictate his decisions. After all, he was still alive. As the saying went, nothing outweighed death itself. He had already vented most of his resentment back at the Requiem Division. Even Zhang Yuelu had gone against her own nature to comfort and accommodate him. What more could he possibly ask for?

Originally, Qi Xuansu had even devised a dramatic scene for this encounter. He would burst into laughter until tears streamed down his face or perhaps even throw in a few extra touches like twisting his face in anguish, veins bulging across his forehead, and so on.

How deeply moving and heartfelt would that have been? It would have rivaled the scene when Zhou Mengyao threw Qi Xuansu to safety while shouting for him to run. A compassionate master and a devoted disciple—they were the perfect picture of filial loyalty between teacher and student.

In the end, Qi Xuansu realized the performance would be far too difficult to pull off. Zhou Mengyao had never passed on her peerless acting skills to him, and forcing himself to attempt it would only make a fool of himself. So he reluctantly abandoned the idea.

In truth, Zhou Mengyao knew perfectly well that Qi Xuansu was stalling for time. She simply did not believe he had any chance of turning the situation around, so she indulged him. That had always been her flaw—an unshakable confidence in herself. Even after Madam Qi had taught her a painful lesson once before, she still could not rid herself of that arrogance.

Besides, the effect of the Scripture of Zuriel was only temporary. Zhou Mengyao had no objection to waiting until its power expired. Once Qi Xuansu fell from the Pseudo-Immortal stage, it would be all the more impossible for him to escape her grasp.

Qi Xuansu continued, “I’ll keep calling you master for now. I doubt my other master, Sage Donghua, would object. Did you bring me here today to reclaim something you’ve lost? Or to prove something? Surely, you didn’t come all this way just to listen to me reminisce about the past. What’s gone is gone. There’s little point dwelling on it now. Why don’t we look toward the future instead?”

Zhou Mengyao replied, “Clever boy. There is indeed something I intend to take back.”

Qi Xuansu smiled. “Don’t tell me it’s the Longevity Stone Heart. Setting aside the fact that removing it would probably kill me, it doesn’t belong to you in the first place. It belongs to Madam Qi.”

Zhou Mengyao said, “Yao Qi stole it from Elder Yao’s palace to begin with. If the Earthly Preceptor were to give it to me, then it would become mine.”

Qi Xuansu replied, “Strictly speaking, its owner is Elder Yao. How do you know we didn’t have her permission?”

“‘We?’” Zhou Mengyao frowned.

“Yes,” Qi Xuansu answered. “‘We.’”

Zhou Mengyao fell silent for a moment before saying, “Perhaps I should ask Yao Liu. He did mention once that Yao Qi had an accomplice back then. I never discovered who that accomplice was, and despite investigating afterward, I found nothing. It was as if the person had vanished into thin air.”

Qi Xuansu replied with a provocative smile, “Don’t tell me you’re suggesting it was me.”

Zhou Mengyao gave Qi Xuansu a long, searching look. “None of that matters anymore. What I intend to take is not the Longevity Stone Heart. Time no longer permits us to cultivate a second Qi Xuansu. If Li Changge becomes the Grand Master, then the Longevity Stone Heart will be meaningless anyway. Everything will be lost. So the thing I intend to take is your fate.”

Qi Xuansu was not surprised by this, because he had once put himself in Zhou Mengyao’s position and asked what he would do. The obvious answer was to seize control of Qi Xuansu once again. But what did surprise him was that Zhou Mengyao actually possessed a method to accomplish such a thing.

He asked, “I’m curious. How exactly do you intend to take away my fate? By possessing my body?”

Zhou Mengyao shook her head. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

A short dagger appeared in her hand, bearing a striking resemblance to the ceremonial dagger Yao Pei had.

Qi Xuansu, still in his theatrical mood, sighed dramatically, “If you’d given me another ten years, you wouldn’t have been the one coming to find me. I’d have been the one seeking you out.”

Zhou Mengyao let out a scornful laugh. “Why stop there? Why not wait until you’ve become Grand Master? A single decree from the Grand Master would be enough to get me arrested and dragged before you. Wouldn’t that be even easier?”

Qi Xuansu replied, “It certainly would be easier. Unfortunately, it would also take far too long.”

Zhou Mengyao sneered. “I’ve already given you plenty of time. Have you stalled long enough? Have you managed to contact your reinforcements? Or perhaps you’ve invited Jiang Hedao to descend?”

Qi Xuansu glanced around at his surroundings. “You’ve tampered with this area somehow. Even a pocket realm can’t completely isolate an immortal object, yet this place somehow can.”

Speaking in the patient tone of a master instructing her disciple, Zhou Mengyao explained, “A pocket realm could achieve the same effect. The problem is simply one of scale. Imagine stationing a hundred guards along a 5-kilometer-long city wall. There would inevitably be gaps in their vigilance. But if ten guards were assigned to defend a wall only 10 meters long, there wouldn’t have been the slightest opening.”

Qi Xuansu asked, “What I’m truly curious about is this. How did you know Moon Mirror was in my possession?”

Zhou Mengyao answered without hesitation, “Part of me exists within you, and part of you exists within me.”

“I understand now.” Qi Xuansu nodded. “This is exactly how these things go wrong. There are no real secrets in Jade Capital. Great Sage Jiang’s use of the Moon Mirror to descend somewhere would never escape the notice of anyone paying close attention. Combine that with the recent events in the Southern Continent, like Queen Ixchel ascending to power, and it becomes easy to deduce where Great Sage Jiang went. Since I happened to be in the Southern Continent as well, you concluded that Moon Mirror must be in my possession. That’s why you dragged me here. It wasn’t merely to separate me from Utu and Hun Ahau, but also to prevent me from summoning Great Sage Jiang.”

Zhou Mengyao said nothing, tacitly acknowledging his deduction.

Qi Xuansu continued, “Your reasoning was flawed, but your conclusion happened to be correct. The Moon Mirror really is in my possession.”

“We’ve wasted enough words.” Zhou Mengyao’s patience had finally run out. She prepared to strike.

Qi Xuansu drew Pure Bodhi, making it abundantly clear that he had no intention of waiting passively for death.

A disdainful smile spread across Zhou Mengyao’s face. She did not believe Qi Xuansu was capable of standing against her. Without Jiang Hedao as his ultimate trump card, what could Qi Xuansu possibly use to challenge her? Most likely, all his elaborate schemes and clever calculations would only end with him destroying himself.

“Then let me use the Heavenly Blade to test your Demonic Blade,” Zhou Mengyao said.

Qi Xuansu replied, “I shall ask for your guidance, Master.”

Before they finished speaking, the two were already locked in combat. After only a single exchange, Qi Xuansu had fallen completely onto the defensive.

This was reasonable because even in the temporary Pseudo-Immortal stage, Qi Xuansu possessed just enough strength to defend himself, but only barely.

Earlier, Zhou Mengyao’s flying dagger had left no obvious wound on Qi Xuansu’s body. That dagger had been intended primarily to draw him over rather than inflict serious injury. Combined with Qi Xuansu’s Martial Arts Practitioner physique, it was only natural for any wound to heal rapidly.

This direct confrontation was an entirely different matter.

Zhou Mengyao raised the short dagger in her hand and slashed straight down toward Qi Xuansu’s head.

Qi Xuansu showed no fear. He held Pure Bodhi horizontally before him, intercepting Zhou Mengyao’s strike.

When the dagger collided with Pure Bodhi, Qi Xuansu was momentarily taken aback because the force behind the blade was surprisingly weak, even weaker than an ordinary strike from a Pseudo-Immortal.

In the very next instant, two palms seemed to materialize out of thin air and slammed heavily into the center of Qi Xuansu’s back. The strike nearly shattered his heart meridians, and it carried six strange currents of qi that rippled violently through his entire body.

At the same time, the Zhou Mengyao standing before him with the dagger slowly faded away.

Just as Qi Xuansu gathered his breath to turn and make a desperate last stand, he suddenly discovered that the innate qi within his body was rapidly dispersing. This was the Xiaoyao Six Void Tribulations.

All Qi Xuansu could do was drive his elbow backward in retaliation. But Zhou Mengyao simply extended her left hand and effortlessly caught his elbow in her palm. Then, with a gentle push, she sent Qi Xuansu drifting helplessly forward. Zhou Mengyao pursued him like a shadow and casually struck out with another palm.

Qi Xuansu spun around and met Zhou Mengyao’s palm with one of his own.

As their palms collided, Zhou Mengyao’s strike once again felt deceptively soft and powerless, allowing Qi Xuansu to gain the upper hand at first. But just as he prepared to press his advantage, another strange current of qi surged from Zhou Mengyao’s palm. It resonated with the power of the Six Void Tribulations already planted within Qi Xuansu’s body, causing the force of his palm strike to dissipate in an instant.

Qi Xuansu let out a muffled groan as he staggered backward. For the first time, genuine shock and alarm appeared on his face.

Zhou Mengyao closed the distance. By now, Qi Xuansu was already struggling to keep up with her relentless assault. A single moment of carelessness was enough for Zhou Mengyao to knock Pure Bodhi from his grasp, leaving him with no choice but to fight bare-handed.

After exchanging more than a dozen moves, Qi Xuansu was covered in wounds. He turned in an attempt to retreat, but Zhou Mengyao seized the opportunity. She reignited the power of the Six Void Tribulations hidden within Qi Xuansu’s body. Yin and yang reversed, light and darkness exchanged places, water and fire erupted simultaneously, and all six tribulations descended at once. Yin fire, black ice, heavenly wind and thunder, the Netherworld, and red earth all manifested in Qi Xuansu’s body, leaving him completely immobilized.

Zhou Mengyao was the sort who either refrained from striking altogether or showed no mercy once she did. With a single cold, merciless slash, she cut open Qi Xuansu’s chest.

Then, Zhou Mengyao’s expression froze abruptly.

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