A Pawn's Passage

Chapter 117: Five Heads

The Qi Refiner and the Rogue Cultivator worked together to attack Zhang Yuelu. They thought they could kill Zhang Yuelu, but they never knew how much power and energy a Banished Immortal had. After a long and fierce battle, Zhang Yuelu still showed no signs of fatigue.

The Qi Refiner could not help but say, “Mage Zhang, you truly are powerful. There were five of us fighting against you, but you injured three of us. Even my old buddy here lost five fingers from dueling with you and still couldn’t defeat you.

“Heh! I really admire how tenacious you are. If I were to fight you alone, I wouldn’t be able to defeat you and would probably even die at your hands. What a pity—”

Before he finished speaking, the Qi Refiner hurriedly activated the two flying swords, which accelerated at top speed and attacked Zhang Yuelu from the left and right.

Zhang Yuelu did not speak. She concentrated on controlling her Spiritual Statue and used various sword techniques to block the flying swords. At the same time, she turned the Amorphous Paper into paper lotus flowers that acted as spinning blades.

She kept trying to injure the Qi Refiner, but the protective shield around him blocked all attacks. The Rogue Cultivator dared not let his guard down and concentrated on holding up the shield.

Qi Xuansu came out of the ruined temple and looked at the fight from a distance. He could clearly see the mysterious light that appeared as soon as Zhang Yuelu’s paper lotus hit the shield and disappeared soon after. This indicated that his Divine Dragon Pistol would not be effective either, even with the Dragon Eye Bullet.

In that case, it was unrealistic to think that they could break through this shield by force. The only way to do so was by outsmarting the opponent.

At that thought, Qi Xuansu went back into the temple and decapitated all five corpses. He held them together by the hair and left the ancient temple once again.

Qi Xuansu approached the scene of the battle and shouted, “You two! Whose business did you accept? Is it The Inn?”

The two opponents were startled to hear Qi Xuansu’s voice. The Qi Refiner had to concentrate on attacking Zhang Yuelu, so he could not afford to be distracted. However, the Rogue Cultivator turned to look at Qi Xuansu.

Qi Xuansu threw a decapitated head at them. “Here’s a little gift for you. I hope you’ll like it!”

The Rogue Cultivator caught the head and was stunned for a moment. “Seventh Brother?!”

He turned to the Qi Refiner beside him, his eyes red. “Big Brother, Seventh Brother is dead!”

The Qi Refiner did not speak and concentrated on steering the flying swords.

Qi Xuansu hurled another decapitated head and taunted. “Well, this one had a fitting death.”

The Rogue Cultivator caught the head again and screamed, “Fifth Brother!”

Although the Rogue Cultivator was wearing a mask that concealed his expression, Qi Xuansu could tell from his voice that the Rogue Cultivator was affected by his brothers’ deaths.

Qi Xuansu decided to add fuel to the fire and tossed the third head over. “In such risky business, it’s only reasonable for him to die on the field.”

“Sixth Brother!” The Rogue Cultivator caught the head again. His voice was hoarse, full of grief and indignation.

Qi Xuansu continued fanning the flames. “I wonder what you two think of these three heads as a greeting gift. You know, I did this in consideration for you two. With them gone, you’ll now get a bigger cut for this job because you won’t have to split the commission so many ways. I understand that you guys can’t openly kill your comrades, so I did it for you. Shouldn’t you thank me for this service?”

“You bastard! I’ll kill you!” The Rogue Cultivator finally could not hold himself back any longer. He roared and rushed toward Qi Xuansu.

The Qi Refiner yelled, “Second Brother, don't be impulsive! Let’s deal with Zhang Yuelu first. This kid is nothing in comparison. We’ll have many ways to kill him later.”

The Rogue Cultivator stopped abruptly, his chest heaving as he panted heavily.

Qi Xuansu mocked. “There’s no such thing as comradery in the real world. Everything boils down to profit. I bet this guy with the flying swords wants me to kill the others. Imagine how much profit you’ll make without sharing it with five other people.”

“Nonsense!” The Qi Refiner was infuriated. “Second Brother, don’t fall for his tricks. This guy wants to separate us so he can defeat us!”

The Rogue Cultivator dropped the head he was holding. His eyes turned red, and he gritted his teeth.

As a result, the Qi Refiner slowed in his offense, which gave Zhang Yuelu some breathing space.

Qi Xuansu lamented. “This one was very loyal to the two of you. I broke his ribs, but he hugged my legs and wanted to drag me down with him. I had no choice but to stab him in the heart. Do you think he had a worthy death? Is he your third or fourth brother?”

After that, Qi Xuansu chucked the fourth head at the Qi Refiner.

The Qi Refiner did not try to catch the head and let it fall at his feet. He had a gloomy and terrifying expression on his face.

The Rogue Cultivator’s eyes were red, and his voice was hoarse. “Big Brother, it’s Fourth Brother...”

Just as the Qi Refiner was about to speak, Qi Xuansu had already thrown out the last head. “This is the last one. He died with his eyes open because he wanted the two of you to avenge him.”

This time, Qi Xuansu used all of his strength to toss the head up high so that it would not land on the ground.

“Third Brother!" Rogue Cultivator shouted, reaching out to catch the last head.

At this moment, everyone heard a gunshot before the head exploded mid-air.

Brain matter fell from the sky, splattering all over the Rogue Cultivator.

The Rogue Cultivator was stunned as he stared at Qi Xuansu, who was holding the Divine Dragon Pistol with smoke still lingering around the muzzle.

Of course, ordinary projectiles would not have such an explosive effect. Qi Xuansu had placed a Phoenix Eye Bullet in the deceased’s mouth beforehand, so when he shot the head, it detonated the Phoenix Eye Bullet and created the explosion.

The Rogue Cultivator wiped his face with his fingerless hand and charged at Qi Xuansu without another word.

Qi Xuansu did all of that just to provoke the Rogue Cultivator and use himself as bait to lure the opponent away, hence relieving the pressure on Zhang Yuelu. He had expected the Rogue Cultivator’s reaction and stepped back without hesitation.

The two of them entered the ancient temple one after another. Qi Xuansu retreated slowly. The Rogue Cultivator was at the Guizhen stage, so he caught up to Qi Xuansu in the blink of an eye.

The Rogue Cultivator slapped Qi Xuansu with his palm. Qi Xuansu’s qi shield only lasted for a moment before it dissipated.

At this time, the Rogue Cultivator still had some sense to know that the Qi Refiner alone could not defeat Zhang Yuelu. Thus, he wanted to get rid of this pretty boy as soon as possible so he could return to help the Qi Refiner. Regardless of the loss, the Rogue Cultivator gathered all of his qi into his palms and shoved Qi Xuansu’s chest, wanting to kill his opponent on the spot.

However, to the Rogue Cultivator’s surprise, Qi Xuansu’s physique was comparable to that of a Martial Arts Practitioner in the Guizhen stage. This palm strike injured Qi Xuansu, but it was far from fatal.

Qi Xuansu took this opportunity to step back. While distancing himself from his opponent, Qi Xuansu slipped out a Phoenix Eye Bullet from his sleeve and threw it at the Rogue Cultivator.

The Phoenix Eye Bullet had little effect on a Xiantian Being in the Guizhen stage and only served as a means of containment.

As expected, the Rogue Cultivator was on guard and avoided the explosion. The shockwaves were also blocked by his qi shield.

Qi Xuansu took the opportunity to attack. It was a pity that he only had a strong physique but did not have the cultivation level of a Guizhen-stage Martial Arts Practitioner. Thus, he could not condense his body and spirit and had no advantage against a Guizhen-stage Rogue Cultivator.

Since he was not proficient in using his bare hands in combat, Qi Xuansu pulled out his short sword, Qing Yuan, to fight with the Rogue Cultivator.

The two exchanged more than ten moves. Qi Xuansu and the Rogue Cultivator were evenly matched because the Rogue Cultivator had a fingerless hand and no weapon.

The Rogue Cultivator grew more anxious as he fought. Since he was in the Holy Embryo Realm of the Guizhen stage, which corresponded to the Nascent Soul Realm of the Banished Immortals and the Divine Qi Realm of the Qi Refiners, he had a mystical ability called the Divine Calculation Technique.

Different from the Purple Astrology used by Banished Immortals, the Divine Calculation Technique could be applied in combat. The Rogue Cultivator grew five bone spurs where he had lost his fingers, each around 33 centimeters long. They were shining and metallic, resembling daggers.

The Rogue Cultivator repeatedly made a counting gesture with his five fingers on his intact hand, extending and curling his fingers one by one.

Qi Xuansu was amazed by this because he had once heard his master talk about the gist of the Divine Calculation Technique. This mystical ability was the most difficult to learn before the Heavenly-Being stage.

The key word was “calculation.” The Rogue Cultivator calculated the opponent’s position, cultivation level, body movement, changes in weaponry, and even the intensity of light, terrain, altitude, air flow changes, and so on. All these variables were extremely complicated to calculate, but if done correctly, one’s attack would be successful.

At its highest potential, one could even predict the enemy's opportunities and prepare to strike. It would look like an opponent walking over to take a beating. If one could practice the royal family’s Taishang Emotionless Sutra and abandon their emotions and desires, then one could turn the Divine Calculation Technique into the Heavenly Calculation Technique. If so, one could take advantage of all opportunities when attacking, and there would be no flaws.

However, the disadvantage of the Divine Calculation Technique was that it consumed a lot of mental energy, so it could not be practiced until the Guizhen stage.

Back then, Qi Xuansu was far from the Guizhen stage, so he did not pay much attention to it. At this time, Qi Xuansu could not calculate all these variables since he had never studied them in depth. Thus, he was flustered when encountering an opponent using this mystical ability.

Qi Xuansu thrust his sword, but the Rogue Cultivator dodged his attack every time and even stabbed Qi Xuansu with his bone spurs.

Qi Xuansu quickly raised his sword again to fight, but the Rogue Cultivator seemed to have anticipated this and counterattacked. If Qi Xuansu had not dodged in time, his chest would have been pierced through by the bone spurs. He could not help but break into a cold sweat.