Chapter 102: A Brutal Group Assault
Xiao Nanfeng was deep in contemplation when he noticed a group of cultivators blocking his way—red- and blue-armored cultivators, neither of which he had had pleasant experiences with. His mood quickly fell.
"Friend, I'm the crown prince of Qi, and he's the crown prince of Yan. We've noticed your skill with these plazas and would like to befriend you. You could be an honored guest of both our kingdoms, sharing glory with me and mine. Would you join us?" Crown Prince Qi offered, a winning smile plastered on his face.
The two crown princes were certainly willing to be courteous and polite if it could get them what they wanted.
"I won't," Xiao Nanfeng replied bluntly.
Crown Prince Qi's smile froze stiffly on his face. He hadn't expected such abrupt refusal!
"If there's nothing else, get out of my way," Xiao Nanfeng continued.
Crown Prince Qi's face turned cold.
"Lad, you really are insolent, aren't you? The honored envoy's looking everywhere for you—and to think that you're in here trying to climb the Plaza Stairway! What do you imagine will happen if we tell the envoy that you're here?" Crown Prince Yan smiled thinly. If Xiao Nanfeng didn't want to cooperate, well, they had no choice but to threaten him.
"Scram!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted. He still had almost a hundred plazas to get through—he didn't have time for this nonsense!
Crown Prince Yan narrowed his eyes. If Xiao Nanfeng were to remain so recalcitrant... He shot a glance at a subordinate.
"Haven't you heard the crown princes? Lad, do you really want us to make your life difficult?" the subordinate shouted, blocking Xiao Nanfeng's path.
The two crown princes looked toward Xiao Nanfeng as their subordinates surrounded him. Without teaching him a lesson, it seemed as though he wouldn't be properly obedient.
Xiao Nanfeng shook his head at this farce. "I didn't want to waste any time on you, but it seems like I have no choice but to do so."
The two crown princes were stunned. That was their line!
"Lad, are you crazy? Everyone's spiritual power is identical here in this realm. There are a group of us, and only one of you. Don't think we won't beat you to a pulp!" one cultivator shouted, telegraphing a slap toward Xiao Nanfeng's face.
Xiao Nanfeng caught his palm by the thumb and twisted it with an audible snap. The cultivator shrieked in pain and curled up into a ball, which Xiao Nanfeng then kicked off the plaza. He fell far below in a plume of dust.
"What can you do?" Xiao Nanfeng sniffed at the cultivators disdainfully, prompting their disbelieving anger. They thought that Xiao Nanfeng had only won so readily because of his sneak attack, but was so big-headed that he believed he could sweep through all of them.
"Charge at him together!" the two crown princes commanded. They needed to teach Xiao Nanfeng a lesson. With everyone's strength set to the same baseline, numbers meant everything.
The red- and blue-armored cultivators pounced toward Xiao Nanfeng, whose eyes turned cold. To him, this entire group of cultivators was full of weaknesses. So what if they had the numerical advantage? It would be trivial for him to take them all down.
With an elbow, he sent one person flying away. Two hands tangled in two cultivators' hair, then smashed their heads together. A flurry of fists shot out toward Xiao Nanfeng, which he deftly avoided with a slide. He smashed a fist into a cultivator's lower jaw, then kicked another one flying.
These cultivators all had access to the same level of strength as did Xiao Nanfeng, but their technique was far worse. Xiao Nanfeng had mastered twenty-four distinct fist techniques on his way up, and his understanding now rivaled that of a grandmaster's. How could he lose to such a ragtag group?
He sent cultivators flying left and right with a flurry of punches and kicks, breaking their bones and knocking them down onto plazas by the base of the mountain.
Like an apex predator, Xiao Nanfeng swept through the gathered cultivators, knocking them all down.
The two crown princes widened their eyes in shock. Within moments, they were the only two left on the plaza.
"Shouldn't we have been the ones beating him up? Why does it feel like he's the one beating us up instead?" Crown Prince Yan cried out.
The two crown princes attempted to escape, but Xiao Nanfeng didn't give them the chance to do so. He stepped forward and kicked the two crown princes down toward the plazas below. They gasped in pain.
"You're dead meat, brat!" Crown Prince Yan howled.
"Let's go!" Humiliated, Crown Prince Qi turned to leave.
The group of cultivators vanished in a cloud of smoke as they left the illusory realm.
Xiao Nanfeng ignored them and turned to the plaza's champion, a monk with a tall and broad stature, shining with golden light, like an arhat filled with divine might.
The monk bowed.
Two hours later, with a great thud, Xiao Nanfeng smashed the arhat into the ground. He had lost.
The monk bowed once more. "Amitabha!"
The stairs to the next plaza appeared before him. Xiao Nanfeng was just about to ascend when a voice called out from behind, "He's right there! We were preparing to take him down for you, honored envoy, but we were no match for him! Envoy, he's far too insolent!" Crown Prince Yan pointed at Xiao Nanfeng.
The group of cultivators from before had returned, accompanied by a giant serpent.
"Lad, you still dare enter this illusory realm?" the serpent cried out.
The group of cultivators all laughed at Xiao Nanfeng, certain that he would beg for mercy. After all, he had barely won against the serpent before. With their assistance, the serpent would easily win against Xiao Nanfeng.
"You again? Didn't I scare you off before? What are you doing here—do you want to be beaten up again?" Xiao Nanfeng was visibly impatient.
The cultivators gaped at Xiao Nanfeng, who was even more arrogant than they had assumed.
"Scared off? Says who? You're the one hiding in reality, not daring to face me there!" the serpent retorted.
"You lost to me. Why should I show myself to you?" Xiao Nanfeng sneered.
The serpent seemed outraged. "I lost because I was careless and didn't have time to use my dragon's aura! I won't let you go this time around—watch as I crush your spiritual avatar!"
A frightening wave of energy emanated from the serpent's body, causing everyone around him to feel a sense of abject fear.
"Dragon's aura?" Everyone took a few steps back.
The serpent roared in outrage as it swooped down on Xiao Nanfeng.
Xiao Nanfeng's eyes turned cold. He stomped on the ground, boosting himself into the air and smashing into the serpent's sharp claws. The forceful attack sapped away the serpent's aura as its claws suddenly cracked. The serpent screamed in pain.
It sent its tail whipping at Xiao Nanfeng, who easily dodged the attack. He grabbed the tail and began to whirl it about, as though he were the handle of the whip, and the serpent's body the whip itself. He smashed the serpent into the ground, creating a huge crater. The serpent stumbled, dazed and shocked.
It had fought with Xiao Nanfeng on equal footing just a day ago, so how had the difference between them grown so massive? Xiao Nanfeng had completely wrecked him!
Xiao Nanfeng kicked the serpent's lower back, sending it flying past the railing and down onto a plaza far below, just as he had done to the two crown princes. A plume of dust formed. The serpent had been soundly defeated.
The cultivators who had been so arrogant just moments ago all looked at Xiao Nanfeng with flabbergasted astonishment.
"Does anyone else want to try me?" Xiao Nanfeng glanced at all of them coldly.
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