A Pawn's Passage-Chapter 1249: The Underground City

Qi Jiaoyao called out to Qi Xuansu, “Quick, find the entrance. By this time tomorrow, these criminals will revive, and I’m out of ammunition.”

Qi Xuansu had no choice but to split up with Qi Jiaoyao and search the stockade for an entrance.

The stockade was extremely crude, with nothing particularly special about it. There were no formations or mechanisms, just an ordinary village layout meant for habitation. According to Qi Jiaoyao, these criminals did not need to eat, drink, sleep, or rest. It sounded convenient at first glance, but on closer thought, it was chilling, clearly a form of torture.

Eventually, the two found a dried-up well. This was the entrance.

The mouth of the well was narrow, allowing only one person through at a time. Confident in the protection of the Guizang Lantern, Qi Xuansu entered first, bracing himself against the walls of the well with both hands and feet as he slowly descended.

Soon, Qi Xuansu discovered that the deeper he went, the wider the space became. His arms could no longer reach both sides of the well, forcing him into free fall. The drop of more than 30 meters hit him hard, especially with only Kunlun-stage cultivation remaining.

However, Qi Xuansu had once leapt from a flying ship before, so 30 meters was child’s play to him and certainly not enough to kill him.

Looking up again, he could only see a tiny dot of light, which was the well’s opening.

With Qi Xuansu having scouted the way, Qi Jiaoyao descended using a rope she had prepared in advance.

Below the dried well lay a vast underground cavern, clearly bearing traces of artificial excavation, though it was unclear where it led.

Qi Xuansu asked, “With our cultivation suppressed to that of Xiantian Beings, even if we find the immortal object, how are we supposed to claim it?”

Qi Jiaoyao avoided giving a direct answer. “It’s still too early to say what the exact situation is. We’ve come this far, so we can’t turn back now. Let’s find the artifact first.”

Qi Xuansu then continued forward along the man-made excavation traces within the cavern.

The cavern’s depth was unknown, and it continued sloping downward. After walking for nearly an hour, a temple appeared.

This underground temple blended seamlessly with its surroundings, yet it was clearly not a relic of the Ancient Wuist Sect. Instead, it bore elements of the Daoist architectural style.

Qi Xuansu guessed that it might have been constructed by Elder Yao, who was both a member of the Wuist Sect and of the Daoist Order, a perfect fusion of the two.

The temple was not large, carved directly into the rock wall and connected to the cavern by a long staircase. Its doors were open, allowing direct entry. Inside, the floor formed a concentric circular structure. Qi Jiaoyao stepped onto a raised small circle, causing the talismanic patterns etched into the ground to light up one after another, forming a massive disc. Then, together with the disc beneath their feet, Qi Xuansu and Qi Jiaoyao suddenly descended downward. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Looking around, the surroundings resembled the walls of a well. On both sides were two illusory ropes formed entirely from talismans, guiding the disc that carried the two of them and controlling its descent speed.

Soon, even the well-like walls disappeared, leaving only the two talismanic ropes pulling the disc downward.

Looking outward, they could vaguely see a vast underground city standing among deep abyssal fissures that had already begun collapsing. Above was a fabricated starry sky, densely packed with false stars, providing faint illumination so that the place was not plunged into total darkness. It felt less like being underground and more like standing beneath a boundless cosmic sky.

After a few minutes, the disc landed. Below was something like an altar, perfectly fitted to receive the descending platform.

Qi Xuansu and Qi Jiaoyao stepped down from the altar. This was a high vantage point overlooking the underground city beneath the artificial starry sky, leaving them in complete awe of this magnificent structure.

Aside from numerous layered temples, there were enormous statues nearly 300 meters tall, all looking like Wu Zhen. It seemed this underground city was Wu Zhen’s personal territory, unrelated to the other Ancestral Witches.

It was difficult to imagine how much manpower and resources had been required to construct such a subterranean city.

Due to the many spatial fissures, large portions of the underground city were no longer accessible. There could have originally been other routes leading here, but after the collapse of the Lingshan Paradise, those paths had been severed, forcing Elder Yao to create this alternative passage.

At the center of the underground city was a mountain, with many structures built along its slopes. At its highest point was a brilliantly illuminated palace closest to the starry sky, appearing from afar like a heavenly palace.

Qi Jiaoyao pointed toward the palace. “The immortal object and Wu Zhen’s remains are there.”

Qi Xuansu frowned. “We’d have to cross half the city. With our current suppressed cultivation, that won’t be easy.”

Qi Jiaoyao said, “Relax. This is an empty city. Wu Zhen had drained all the witches here, which actually makes things easier for us.”

With that, the two followed the road below the altar toward the underground city. Just as Qi Jiaoyao had said, it was deserted, with no guards or criminals.

Along the way, they saw many hollow shells that retained their living forms but were completely empty inside, like the husks left behind after a cicada molted.

As the mountain at the center of the underground city drew closer, Qi Jiaoyao grew excited. “An immortal object!”

Qi Xuansu rained on her parade. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. The last person who privately kept an immortal object was Chen Shuhua, an Immortal. I’ve already told you how that ended for her. I don’t care how you use the immortal object. All I want is the Xuan Jade and the sarira.”

Qi Jiaoyao remained brimming with confidence. “Relax. I’ve got my own clever plan.”

Qi Xuansu probed again. “Daoist Qi, are you sure you’re not from the Yao family?”

Qi Jiaoyao chuckled. “Don’t you have connections with the Yao family? Wouldn’t you know if I were one of them? Besides, aren’t you good at guessing? Go ahead and guess.”

Qi Xuansu said, “My guess is that you are from the Yao family. No matter how vigilant one is in guarding against outsiders, it’s always the hardest to guard against an insider.”

Qi Jiaoyao glanced at him. “Kid, being overly suspicious isn’t a good thing. Where’s the trust?”

Qi Xuansu could only choose to believe her.

Soon, the two arrived at the foot of the mountain.

Here, Qi Xuansu felt his cultivation suppressed even further, nearly reduced to that of a Houtian Being. He could barely even hold the Dragon Painting Pistol.

Qi Xuansu had no choice but to store the gun back into his magical receptacle and take out Qingyuan, which he had not used for many years.

This was one of Qi Xuansu’s treasured possessions—a relic left by his master and a token of affection between him and Zhang Yuelu, since Zhang Yuelu had named it by combining their courtesy names, Qing Xiao and Tian Yuan.

Qi Xuansu had originally intended to keep it only as a sentimental keepsake, never imagining he would one day draw it again as a weapon.

By now, Qi Xuansu could roughly infer the immortal object’s divine abilities. It seemed to weaken cultivation levels indiscriminately. However, he did not believe it could truly suppress an Immortal’s cultivation. At most, it might exert some influence. Just as enhancement-type artifacts like the Heavenly Preceptor’s Seal or the Imperial Succession Seal could greatly boost an immortal’s power but not raise them to a higher realm, this immortal object would likely be rather useless in battles between Immortals.

An immortal facing opponents below their level could crush them without needing such an artifact. Against someone of the same realm, as long as neither fell in cultivation, it probably would not determine victory. If it weakened both sides indiscriminately, then it would be even more pointless.

Its only real use might be when facing many enemies alone, such as an immortal besieged by numerous Heavenly Beings, like Chen Shuhua’s situation. But such scenarios were rare. Even in a siege, there would almost certainly be another Immortal present.

With his cultivation suppressed to this extent, Qi Xuansu had no idea how they could even take the immortal object. It was no wonder the Earthly Preceptor had not bothered to station guards here. If an Immortal truly infiltrated this place, unless the Earthly Preceptor stationed Sakka here, any guards would be useless.

Yet judging from Qi Jiaoyao’s confident demeanor, she might have stolen some treasure from the Earthly Preceptor or possessed some other hidden method to retrieve the immortal object.