A Pawn's Passage

“Have you read the preface?” Lei Xiaohuan drummed her fingers on the table. “How do you feel?”

Qi Xuansu replied, “Like I’m up looking up at the high mountains that seem unreachable.”

Lei Xiaohuan sighed. “It’s true that the mountains are high. That’s why I’m so fascinated by that era, which had so many legendary figures. The Daoist Order at that time might have been a grassroots team and far inferior to the current behemoth today, but I think that the Holy Xuan’s Era had some of the most powerful and influential figures we have seen to date.”

Pei Xiaolou added, “I think that’s why the Holy Xuan invented the Holy Xuan Cards to reminisce about those times.”

“Well, now I’m a little curious about this card game. Teach me how to play it!” Lei Xiaohuan said excitedly.

Pei Xiaolou nodded without hesitation.

Qi Xuansu stifled a laugh, thinking that Pei Xiaolou did not look like the kind of man who would indulge women. He figured that Pei Xiaolou was only so agreeable with his wife because he could not beat her in a fight.

Thinking of this, Qi Xuansu was reminded of himself. Pei Xiaolou could not beat Lei Xiaohuan in a fight; neither could Qi Xuansu defeat Zhang Yuelu. He still had a long way to go to catch up with Zhang Yuelu.

Qi Xuansu thought of this not because he wanted to attack Zhang Yuelu. It was more so a need to protect himself.

In the Daoist community, it was quite common for Daoist companions to duel each other if they could not resolve conflicts. Since both partners had cultivation, a man’s innate strength over women was not important. Many times, the Daoist men could not win their wives in a fight.

For some reason, the Daoist Order’s Grand Masters did not forbid fighting between companions but only requested that no one be killed.

Due to this kind of competitiveness in cultivation, there were a number of power couples who turned into enemies.

An example would be the love story between a special woman and Elder Chongyang, who was one of the five founders of the Quanzhen Sect. Both of them were geniuses, considered by most to be a match made in heaven.

Back then, Elder Chongyang was focused on the war with the Golden Horde, so he had no time for personal affairs. After defeating the Golden Horde, he went into seclusion to meditate, but a woman provided him comfort. Ultimately, her tenderness and righteousness moved him.

At that time, there was no reason for Elder Chongyang and the woman to part ways since there was no third party involved in their relationship, nor was there any enmity between their families and friends. However, they somehow ended up hating each other forever. One of them became an ordained monk, while the other disappeared.

No one knew the reason for their breakup. Even the couple themselves could not explain what went wrong between them and merely attributed their split to having no fate to be together. This “lack of fate” was not the cause but the result of their breakup.

The couple, who had high levels of cultivation, were prideful. Whenever their love blossomed, discussion of philosophy would become a competition of skills, hence the unending rivalry between them. They remained stubbornly unyielding, so fights were quite common.

It was common for couples in the Daoist community to fight whenever conflicts or disputes arose because they were not dependent on each other. However, if Zhang Yuelu proposed a duel over a dispute, should Qi Xuansu agree to it? If they dueled, he could not defeat her. If they did not duel, he could only obey her.

Qi Xuansu comforted himself that, fortunately, Zhang Yuelu was a reasonable person, so he probably would not have this dilemma.

Having said that, Qi Xuansu thought that Pei Xiaolou was a pot calling the kettle black. But if Pei Xiaolou knew what Qi Xuansu was thinking at this time, he would also laugh at this boy for thinking about his imaginary marriage with Zhang Yuelu when there was nothing between them. Qi Xuansu was like a lovesick young man who had already thought about the names of their future children as soon as he met the girl of his dreams.

Lei Xiaohuan explained, “Now that you have read the preface, you should know that Elder Tantai is actually the leader of two major lineages. The reason I’m giving you this boxing manual is because I think her fist intention will be suitable for an impure Martial Arts Practitioner like you, since Elder Tantai changed lineages multiple times.”

Qi Xuansu finally understood Lei Xiaohuan’s intentions. He turned over the title page and started reading the boxing manual.

This boxing manual was very concise. It was an enjoyable read for those with a solid foundation, as the threshold was rather high. Those with no basic knowledge would find it difficult. One would first need to know how to read ancient script and understand certain cultivation-specific vocabulary and postures.

This was the reason why the Wanxiang Daoist Palace offered courses in ancient scripture. Many ancient classics were recorded in ancient script. For example, the classics of Ancient Wuism were mainly written in oracle bones. The scripts used in Ancient Daoist documents were also different from the scripts commonly used in the existing society. After all, reading a translated version was always different from reading the original text.

The same principle applied to this boxing manual. Tantai Yun did not make up comprehensive teaching materials like the Holy Xuan did to create a cultivation system for everyone to follow. She was merely summarizing her own insights, like taking personal notes. Thus, she did not put much thought into it, nor did she consider if others could understand her writing.

However, there were a lot of annotations in the blank space next to the original text of the boxing manual, which was probably written by Lei Xiaohuan. Some of the ink looked old, but some were new. There were also various dots and circles on the pages. Lei Xiaohuan had also added her own insights when she was learning boxing.

With these annotations, Qi Xuansu could read the text better and understand most of it. Even if there was something he did not understand, he could always ask Lei Xiaohuan, who was right in front of him.

This was how Qi Xuansu finally gained a clear understanding of the Martial Arts Practitioner’s fist intention.

The Martial Arts Practitioner’s spirit and body were one, as if they had no soul. The flow of blood qi in their body produced a strong and imposing aura akin to the towering mountains. It felt different from a Qi Refiner’s aura, which was to unite heaven and man.

Therefore, the fist intention was most commonly described as a strong and impenetrable mountain. It was not as sharp as the sword intention, but it was resilient to attacks.

During the Xiantian Being stage, Martial Arts Practitioners fought against Diviners by mainly relying on their blood qi to restrain the illusions of spells. After the Heavenly Being stage, the Diviner’s spells became less illusory and more palpable, getting closer to reality. Thus, the Martial Arts Practitioner’s blood qi alone could no longer restrain them. Martial Arts Practitioners would have to resist using their fist intention.

How one would condense fist intention lay in the Heavenly Connection Realm of the Guizhen-stage Martial Arts Practitioner.

A Guizhen-stage Qi Refiner refined essence and transformed innate qi in the Divine Qi Realm. A Guizhen-stage Martial Arts Practitioner condensed the essence and blood qi but did not turn it into innate qi. Instead, this essence and blood qi were used to strengthen their body. Their spirit and soul would become integrated with their body. Unless a Martial Arts Practitioner transitioned to the Earthly Immortal path or the Godly Immortal path, the soul and the body could no longer be separated.

In this case, the Martial Arts Practitioner’s body was equivalent to the soul, and vice versa. Thus, to strengthen the body was to strengthen the soul. The Martial Arts Practitioner would have skipped the process of transforming and refining qi, going directly from refining essence to transforming spirit.

By using their own will to perceive the stars, they achieved unity with the heavens, hence the Heavenly Connection Realm. By condensing the body and spirit with their blood qi and by concentrating the essence of the stars within their spirit, they achieved an indestructible spirit, hence the Divinity Realm. In this process, the fist intention would come naturally.

The fist intention came from blood qi, but it was not so simple as blood qi. Blood qi was the raw material to create fist intention, akin to a powerful elixir. However, there were many variables that would affect the refining of blood qi into fist intention.

According to the Tantai Fist Intention, the key was to imitate the power of the mountains, rivers, seas, and stars. However, beginners should start by mimicking monkeys, insects, tigers, and dragons. Only advanced practitioners could manifest the power of nature.

As Tantai Yun mentioned in the preface, one would need to understand oneself and the world before achieving immortality.

When Qi Xuansu saw this, he suddenly thought of Wu Luo's projection on the day of the flying ship crash.

The clouds, mountain peaks, lakes, rivers, and the ground formed an outline of a female figure in the sky, which exuded an aura of untamed wildness.

This outline would not be visible from another angle. There was also no substance to it and nothing to grasp, much like a mirage.

Wu Luo used the power of heaven and earth to achieve her own power, while Martial Arts Practitioners learned from the forces of nature to cultivate their own strength. Qi Xuansu noticed that Wu Luo’s methods were surprisingly similar to the Martial Arts Practitioner’s fist intention.