A Pawn's Passage

The Starry Sea, adjacent to Zhaling Lake in the east, had a narrow and elongated form. When the Yangtze River’s waters reached this point, the river flow slowed and the surface widened due to the flat terrain. As such, water flowed in all directions, forming large swamps and numerous lakes in this area.

Hundreds of lakes of different shapes and sizes occupied this area. If one looked at the terrain from above, these lakes sparkled under the sunlight, just like the twinkling stars in the night sky. That was probably why this area was named the Starry Sea.

The Spirit Guards of Tiangang Hall were still searching the areas near Zhaling Lake and Eling Lake, neglecting the Starry Sea further away from their search vicinity.

Among this lake cluster, the largest lake was about 666 meters square. Suddenly, a body slowly floated to the surface, drifting with the current.

After a while, the body opened its eyes, stunned by its surroundings. This “body” was Qi Xuansu.

Qi Xuansu remembered falling and grabbing onto a piece of the flying ship’s wreckage. Then he crashed while holding onto the wreckage. He thought, Didn’t I die?

Only a Heavenly Being would have a chance of surviving a fall from such heights, but a Xiantian Being would surely die. Even his strengthened body, which was transformed by the Xuan Jade, would not be able to survive such a fall.

Qi Xuansu slowly swam to the shore, where he carefully checked his whole body for injuries. He was not completely unscathed, but he was not severely injured, which was truly miraculous.

He did not understand what was going on. If he had regenerative abilities so powerful that he could be undying, then why did these self-healing characteristics not kick in when Zhao Fu’an broke his arm in Baidi City?

But if it were not his regenerative abilities, what could it be? Was it because of this lake water? Perhaps this lake was similar to the Spring of Immortality in novels like The Female Sword Immortal written by the Holy Xuan’s wife. She had once served as a Virtuous Great Sage and a Deputy Grand Master. With her extensive knowledge, such a miraculous body of water might truly exist.

On second thought, that did not make sense. Qi Xuansu was certain that he was still within the Kunlun Region, which was not far from the Ancestral Court. If there was a body of water that had such miraculous properties, the Daoist Order would have long discovered it and protected it with various formations or mechanisms. But Qi Xuansu did not sense anything of that sort here.

At this moment, a gust of cold wind made the drenched Qi Xuansu shiver. He came back to his senses and dried himself with his innate qi and blood qi.

His thoughts wandered. If he had fallen onto the ground instead of the water, he would have become a pile of mush. If so, would he still be able to heal with this supernatural regenerative ability? Would he return to his original form or be stuck as a deformed mass of meat and bones?

After about fifteen minutes of letting his mind run wild, Qi Xuansu began to check his personal belongings.

Qing Yuan and the Divine Dragon Pistol were still strapped to his waist. Although the pistol was waterlogged, it was still functional. That was because the Divine Armory had designed the Divine Dragon Pistol to be waterproof. The leather bag containing the projectiles was still secure, as was his satchel and everything inside it.

He then felt for his inner pockets at his chest. When his palm touched his chest, his whole body suddenly froze. He could not feel or hear his heartbeat. It was dead silent inside.

Panicked, his thoughts ran wild again. What is happening?! Did I turn into a zombie? But that's too soon! It took the Daoist Order several years to cultivate zombies. Under natural circumstances, it'll take hundreds of years for a zombie to awaken. Did this mean that hundreds of years have already passed? Are Zhang Yuelu and the others dead?!

However, Qi Xuansu quickly quashed this idea. If hundreds of years had passed, then his clothes and the things in his bag would have degraded. But none of these items changed in appearance, so he was sure that it was still the 42nd year of the Jiushi Era.

Qi Xuansu pressed his hand to his heart and fell into deep thought. After a long time, Qi Xuansu finally felt a slight vibration in his chest. This heartbeat was very faint at first, but it gradually became stronger and clearer until it was back to normal.

While Qi Xuansu breathed a sigh of relief, he finally remembered something. He was once stabbed through the heart by an assassin from The Inn. Back then, Madam Qi saved him and brought him back to the Qingping Society, where they made some modifications to his body. This transformation saved his life and made him stronger than before.

It seemed that the body transformation done by the Qingping Society was not so simple after all. Qi Xuansu had a bold guess that this transformation not only gave him a stronger physique but also had the magical ability to resurrect him from the dead.

This magical ability could not be triggered normally, which would explain why he did not feel any miraculous self-healing abilities after his arm was broken by Zhao Fu’an in Baidi City. However, if he suffered a fatal injury, this magical resurrection ability would be triggered, bringing him back to life.

This would explain why he did not fall to his death. Perhaps his heart, which had stopped beating just now, was just one of the miraculous external manifestations.

Qi Xuansu thought that it was the most reasonable explanation, so he wanted to ask Madam Qi what was happening. Perhaps she would be able to give him a clear explanation. After all, Madam Qi was involved in his body transformation in the beginning, so she probably knew the inside story.

However, before contacting Madam Qi, Qi Xuansu first had to find a safe place to stay.

Qi Xuansu gathered his thoughts, stood up, looked around, and decided to leave this place first.

Although Qi Xuansu had just regained consciousness not long ago, he knew that he would not be able to return to the Daoist community for the time being. Thus, he could not be discovered by the people of the Daoist Order.

That was because he would not be able to explain how he survived the fall. If he returned to Jade Capital immediately, Beichen Hall would certainly pay close attention to him. Then they would find out about his fake resume, his body transformation from the Qingping Society and the Xuan Jade, and his fish talisman from the Qingping Society. Once his identity was exposed, he would be executed.

How would Zhang Yuelu view him then? Would she feel deceived, like everything that happened between them was just an act?

It would be better if he disappeared now. That way, he would be one of the many victims, and he would still be the Qi Xuansu that Zhang Yuelu remembered. Their beautiful memories would remain untainted.

Of course, he would still find a way to return to the Daoist community one day, but only after this matter had completely blown over. He would look for a suitable opportunity. That way, he could escape from Beichen Hall’s interrogation. After all, fate could work wonders at times. Although his chances of surviving the fall were slim, he could brush it off by saying that he got lucky.

Thus, Qi Xuansu carefully erased his traces by the lake and found high ground to overlook the surrounding terrain to determine his location.

He quickly recognized this place as the Starry Sea, which was between the Kunlun Pass and Zhaling Lake. Although it was called a sea, it was actually a basin with lake clusters and rivers. The scenery was incredible.

The beauty and characteristics of the Starry Sea made it extremely easy to identify. Back then, when Qi Xuansu was returning to the Jade Capital with his master, they passed by this place, which left a deep impression on him.

Qi Xuansu knew that the Starry Sea was located upstream of Zhaling Lake. The flying ship had crashed above Zhaling Lake and Eling Lake, so he figured that the Daoist Order would conduct a search for the wreckage around these two lakes.

The Daoist Order would surely want to retrieve the flying ship’s Dragon Pearl. So, he only needed to travel upstream along the river to bypass the search area and avoid ​​​​the Daoist Order.

Thinking of this, Qi Xuansu no longer hesitated and immediately left the Starry Sea. The Starry Sea was a beautiful place, but it was still quite far away from the Jade Capital, so not many would travel from the Jade Capital just to enjoy the scenery there. In the past, some Spirit Guards from Kunlun Daoist Mansion would occasionally patrol and pass by the area. They would even rest here for a while.

However, with the increasingly tense situation within the Daoist Order, the Kunlun Daoist Mansion had focused most of its manpower closer to the Jade Capital, so no Spirit Guards would patrol or pass by the area anymore. Therefore, the vast Starry Sea was empty, without a single person in sight. It was deserted and peaceful.

After leaving the Starry Sea, Qi Xuansu looked around and saw the boundless Kunlun Western Region. He roughly identified his location. To the east was Zhaling Lake; to the west was the Kunlun Pass; to the south over the mountains was the Tongtian River and Yishan City; and to the north was the vast Gobi Desert, also known as Salt Lake.

At first glance, it was undoubtedly better to go south. Firstly, he was familiar with that path, and secondly, it was densely populated. However, Qi Xuansu had another worry. The two times he encountered members of the Lingshan Witch Cult was in that region.

The Tongtian River was only about 500 kilometers away from Zhaling Lake. The distance from Kunlun Pass to the Tongtian River was even shorter than that from Kunlun Pass to Zhaling Lake. If he encountered the Lingshan Witch Cult again, he would be in more trouble, especially since he had also killed their members before. Zhang Yuelu was more famous, so the Lingshan Witch Cult wanted to target her first. But that did not mean that the Lingshan Witch Cult would forget about his involvement in their members' deaths.

After some thought, he decided to go north to the vast Salt Lake. Then he would head east along the Salt Lake to Xiping Prefecture, the capital of Yongzhou. From there, he could plan his next steps.

Qi Xuansu could proceed to Tianshui Prefecture, the capital of Liangzhou, or he could go eastward along the official road to Xijing Prefecture, the capital of Qinzhou. There would be contact points for the Qingping Society in these big cities.

He was a pragmatic person. Although he wanted to leave the Qingping Society, he did not mind taking advantage of the various conveniences the Qingping Society provided, especially in a time of need.

However, this would be an extremely long journey, ranging from several months to half a year at most. After all, he could not take a flying ship and could only travel on foot. Fortunately, Qi Xuansu was accustomed to traveling on foot through his many years of experience as a traveler. Coupled with his current Yuxu stage of cultivation and physique of a Martial Arts Practitioner, traveling this stretch of land was not a difficult task.

Thinking of this, Qi Xuansu headed north. At the same time, he was also careful to hide his whereabouts, choosing small roads so as to avoid encountering people from the Daoist Order.