A Pawn’s Passage

Just as Qi Xuansu had said, if they were anywhere else, he would not be able to summon any of the Three Yin Beings. But this place was uniquely favorable.

In the mortal realm, the ratio of yang to yin energy was roughly nine to one.

Even just 20% of yin energy would make a living person very uncomfortable. At best, they would fall gravely ill. At worst, they would lose their life. With 30% yin energy, zombies and ghosts would begin to manifest. Places with 40% yin energy were overrun by spirits, much like the outskirts of the Ghost Kingdom.

In the yin-yang seam, yin and yang energy were split evenly, which was roughly the same percentage as the core areas of the Ghost Kingdom. But since everyone fighting within this rift was a Heavenly Being, the effects were not very pronounced.

Furthermore, the descent of one of the Three Yin Beings essentially involved opening a Yin-Yang Gate, creating a portal that linked directly to the Ghost Kingdom. Now that he was already in such a rift, linking it further would be much easier.

If Qi Xuansu's mastery of Diviner's spells were high enough, he could even open a new path from here, transporting the trapped Yinglong Warship directly into the Ghost Kingdom.

Unfortunately, Qi Xuansu's Diviner lineage was still too weak to open a Yin-Yang Gate large enough for the Yinglong Warship. The current rift they were in had only been barely formed with the combined efforts of the Shinkan-dan from Asahi-jingu and the aid of the Yasakani Magatama.

The black mist coiling around Qi Xuansu's arm thickened, and as he thrust his hand forward, a surge of yin energy billowed out like a sea of clouds or rising tides.

Just then, Himiko, who had kept her eyes closed until now, finally opened them.

Her eyes were so bright that no one could look at them directly. In that instant, the red sun behind her grew even more dazzling, and its light flooded the divine kingdom until everything in sight became a sea of blinding white.

Himiko had awakened from her slumber.

True solar fire had indeed been born, and it was spreading without the need for any medium or fuel.

In that moment, the Yinglong Warship sailed with the ocean below, the fire above, and the deep void all around.

With a wave of Himiko's hand, a tide of flames surged toward Qi Xuansu.

Li Tiangang reached into the void and pulled forth a formless, shapeless sword, gripping it with five fingers. It was none other than the Daozi Sword.

With a single slash of his sword, Li Tiangang caused a distortion in the divine kingdom, ripping open a fissure that revealed the void beyond it.

All the flames near the fissure were devoured instantly, vanishing without a trace. However, the gap showed no signs of expanding. Under Himiko's divine power, it even began to rapidly heal, shrinking smaller and smaller until it returned to its original, seamless state.

The divine power then turned on Li Tiangang, distorting the space around him into an unstable mess. Within it, he was torn, compressed, and crushed. His body became battered and twisted, his limbs visibly deformed, and his chest horrifyingly caved in. If not for the fact that the physique of a Qi Refiner ranked just below that of a Martial Arts Practitioner and that he was a Heavenly Being, which should not be judged by mortal standards, he would have perished on the spot.

Ignoring his wounds entirely, Li Tiangang continued to suppress the surrounding space and slashed once more, ripping open another rift to continue devouring the flames.

After two such slashes, little remained of the fire tide. Li Changge then split his Mortal Vitality into 16 clones, forming a tightly sealed wall of swords to block the remaining flames.

However, the wall formed by Mortal Vitality instantly turned into a wall of fire, burning fiercely.

This sword was not made of metal but carved from a nameless piece of withered wood from the Kunlun Paradise. It was first shaped by Kunlun's blade-like gales, then nourished by the ten-thousand-year-old water essence at Liaodong's Heavenly Lake, and finally tempered in true volcanic fire on an overseas Immortal island.

As such, Mortal Vitality was not inherently afraid of fire, even though it was a wooden sword. Yet even so, it was no match for these divine flames and did not remain unscathed.

Li Changge furrowed his brows slightly. His features blurred as he manifested the Heavenly Emperor Spiritual Body. With enough divine power to support it, the Spiritual Body's might was pushed to its limit as he forcibly neutralized the solar flames.

The flames on Mortal Vitality gradually diminished, but they ignited the wielder in return. The Heavenly Emperor Spiritual Body caught fire, and under the scorching blaze, even this form began to show signs of melting.

Just a single attack had already left Li Tiangang and Li Changge stretched to their limits, barely holding on.

Then again, this was Li Changge, a manmade Banished Immortal almost at the Wuliang stage and equipped with two semi-immortal objects. That was why he was able to preserve himself, unlike Feng Bo back then, who had exploded in a single punch by Master Wan.

At that very moment, Qi Xuansu's Yin-Yang Gate finally took form.

Countless black mists swirled together like a vortex, forming a portal.

Even within Himiko's divine kingdom, layers of shadow emerged. An independent space seemed to be carved out from within. Everything grew blurred, as though shrouded in deathly qi, thick and viscous, like wading through a swamp, dragging heavily with every step.

Black mist surged within the gate, as though it led to the innermost depths of hell.

Previously, Master Wan and Master Yin had already made their appearances. Only Madam Bai had yet to reveal herself. If Qi Xuansu guessed correctly, it would be her turn this time.

Sure enough, a white skeletal hand gripped the frame of the portal. It had no skin or flesh, only bone that shimmered with a luster like translucent fine jade.

Around the skeleton's wrist hung a strand of flowing beads, strung together from 12 fingertip-sized skulls. A faint, eerie blue flame danced in the eye sockets of each skull, sending chills down the spines of all who saw it.

Then, a woman stepped out from the Yin-Yang Gate, holding the frame of the portal for support and appearing within Himiko's divine kingdom.

She had a slender, graceful figure and was dressed in pure white robes. The left half of her face was deathly pale, almost translucent, with no hint of blood, yet strikingly beautiful. The right half, however, was stripped of all flesh, revealing glistening white bone and bared teeth, from which wisps of eerie black mist constantly escaped.

It was none other than Madam Bai.

Madam Bai, with a half-human, half-skeleton appearance, carried a cold, majestic air, like a sovereign of the underworld, making her too fearsome to look upon directly.

As she emerged, surging deathly energy swept outward, steadily eroding Himiko's divine kingdom and assuming a stance of equal opposition against it.

With such an overwhelming presence, no one doubted that Madam Bai was a Pseudo-Immortal.

Li Tiangang swiftly retreated to Li Changge's side and asked in a low voice, "That's one of the Three Yin Beings from the Ghost Kingdom. Is this another handiwork of the Quanzhen Sect?"

Li Changge looked toward Madam Bai and replied, "It doesn't matter. The Ghost Kingdom lies within the Quanzhen Sect's territory anyway, so this is reasonable. I've long heard of the Three Yin Beings, said to be second only to the Sakka and the Monkey. Seeing her today confirms it. This must be the Mystical Lord of White Bones."

Naturally, Madam Bai heard Li Changge's words. When her gaze settled on Mortal Vitality in his hand, she sighed. "A descendant of the Li family."

Li Changge bowed respectfully as a junior.

In terms of seniority alone, the Three Yin Beings were older than even the original disciples who unified the Daoist sects. Compared to the Li family, they would be akin to their ancestors from theDao-generation.

Madam Bai said no more, turning at last to face Himiko.

"A foreign Immortal?" Madam Bai asked softly.

Qi Xuansu replied, "This is the human incarnation of one of Fenglin's Three Great Kami."

Madam Bai sighed with emotion. "We truly didn't misplace our trust in you."

As Qi Xuansu's opponents grew stronger, it meant his own status was rising. Thus, for the Three Yin Beings who had wagered on him, this was a good thing. The day they could no longer aid him would be the day he stood atop the world, ready to repay their favor.

Himiko, too, was scrutinizing Madam Bai, the strange existence that defied the laws of heaven, created entirely through human hands. Hence, the Three Yin Beings were called creations, and they were the very pinnacle of the Daoist Order's engineering of life.

To a god of Fenglin who had slumbered for centuries, this was wholly unfamiliar.

Moments later, Himiko once again swept her wide sleeves, and countless crimson solar flames surged forth.

In response, Madam Bai shook the beaded bracelet on her wrist, and within the thick deathly qi, countless ghostly blue flames arose. Compared to the scorching intensity of the true solar fire, this ghostly fire bore no warmth at all, only a bone-chilling cold. As they collided, the two forces counteracted each other like fire and water, ultimately vanishing into nothingness.

Red and blue interwove, and innumerable brilliant embers exploded outward like a grand display of fireworks.

Seizing this opportunity, Madam Bai dashed through the clash of flames and arrived before Himiko, moving with a speed rivaling that of Princess Tamako's Flying Swallow Technique.

Faced with Madam Bai's close-range assault, the sun halo behind Himiko's head rapidly expanded, as if the great sun itself had descended. Within 100 meters around her, there was only blinding radiance. No shadow could exist, and everywhere became a pure land of the divine kingdom. Those bathed in this light found their movements slowed and stiffened.

At the same time, Madam Bai slashed down with one claw. Cracking booms like thunder rang out from each of her joints—fingers, wrist, elbow, and shoulder. Her jade-like finger bones trembled at high frequency in minute motions, leaving afterimages that layered upon one another before suddenly converging. Wherever her claw passed, the surrounding radiance distorted and shattered, and even space itself showed hairline fractures.

The next instant, Madam Bai's skeletal claw struck Himiko's body. Her entire skeletal hand ignited with blazing fire and showed signs of melting. Under the searing solar flames, the once jade-like bones turned a glowing red, nearly transparent, which was proof of the solar flame's terrifying heat and devastating power.