Chapter 104: The Cursed Effigy's Strength
"Is this a skeleton? A ghost?" Crown Prince Yan asked the serpent in shock.
The serpent stared at Madam Rouge in shock. "A cursed effigy? The cursed effigies aren't allowed out of the divine domain. How could this one have escaped?"
"Honored envoy, is this not a ghost? Do you know what it is?" Crown Prince Yan pressed.
"Of course I do! I've never challenged them before, but I've seen my fair share of such skeletal cursed effigies in the divine domain. They always attempt to escape, only to be caught by Elder Blue Lantern and given a scolding," the serpent replied disdainfully.
"A cursed lifeform from the divine domain?" Crown Prince Yan gasped.
"How did this effigy make it up here? Did anyone notice?" the serpent asked.
Everyone shook their heads. All of them had been paying attention to the champions they were facing; they didn't have the time to look elsewhere. Furthermore, Madam Rouge's progress had been deathly silent, and there had been nothing to attract their attention. No one knew how she had ascended.
"What happened to all the champions below?" Crown Prince peered down beneath him.
The cultivators suddenly felt a sense of discomfort.
"Honored envoy, something seems to be wrong with this cursed effigy. It seems to be counting how many of us there are—is it dangerous?" Crown Prince Qi asked.
"Dangerous? Everyone's spiritual power is identical here. The amount of spiritual power it can command is just like yours. What's more, these cursed effigies have rather stiff bodies and can only move awkwardly. The fact that it's managed to make it this far must mean that something's wrong with the Plaza Stairway. What's there to fear?" the serpent replied disdainfully. "Elder Blue Lantern has always forbidden me from interacting with cursed effigies in the divine domain, so now's my chance. Go challenge it!"
The cultivators relaxed. They surrounded the cursed effigy curiously.
"Let me see just what this skeleton can do, then!" A hulking man slapped at Madam Rouge with a palm.
Madam Rouge pierced his head with her claw in a spray of blood, causing him to die on the spot. The cultivators that were eagerly awaiting their turn suddenly stepped back in fear.
Then, Madam Rouge opened her jaws wide and sucked up the dead man's spiritual avatar in a cloud of dark smoke.
"Honored envoy, what's going on? Didn't you claim it had limited mobility?!" one cultivator shrieked.
"That man must have been careless," the serpent replied coldly.
Suddenly, Madam Rouge left afterimages behind as she flashed back and forth and all around. She suddenly stopped moving and appeared not far away.
"What happened to everyone? Why aren't they moving?" Crown Prince Yan gaped at the still cultivators around him. After a long moment, all their skulls slid off their bodies. They had all been beheaded by Madam Rouge in the blink of an eye.
As Madam Rouge sucked in a deep breath, the cultivators all turned into dark clouds of mist that she swallowed.
Only the two crown princes remained. They watched on with shock and fear, then began to retreat faster and faster.
"Honored envoy, you—stiff and awkward movement, you say?!" Crown Prince Yan yelled out.
This skeleton was even more frightening than Xiao Nanfeng had been!
The serpent was itself stunned. "This can't be. The cursed effigies I've seen are far less strong!"
When Madam Rouge finished absorbing all the mist, she turned to the serpent and the two crown princes.
"It's coming over! Envoy, we have to run!" Crown Prince Yan shrieked.
Unfortunately for them, Madam Rouge didn't give them any time to react. She flashed over to the serpent's front.
"You're targeting me? Die!" the serpent howled.
The serpent reacted quickly, sending its tail whipping toward Madam Rouge. It was confident that it would be able to take her down—but instead, Madam Rouge's claws pierced through its tail, then grabbed it near its wound and began to tear the tail in half.
The serpent's tail forked and began to split all the way up its body. The serpent's eyes widened. It shrieked. It felt as though it could see its doom, that it would die after being split asunder.
"No! Elder Blue Lantern, save me!" the serpent shrieked.
Suddenly, the serpent woke up in reality, its head beading with sweat, its heart thumping madly. It shook and trembled. It found itself within a valley, surrounded and guarded by blue-armored cultivators.
The serpent had been grievously injured in terms of spiritual power, and it was exceptionally weak.
Beside him, Crown Prince Yan immediately apologized. "Honored envoy, I am deeply sorry. I was so scared that I immediately left the illusory realm with my seal. You entered with me, so you were brought out as well."
Crown Prince Yan had been so focused on running away that he had no idea what trauma the serpent had suffered. As Crown Prince Yan continued to beg its forgiveness, the serpent slowly came to.
"I'm out? I'm alive, I'm alive!" the serpent shouted joyously.
"Honored envoy? You don't blame me?"
The serpent glanced at Crown Prince Yan. He might not have been aware of the cursed effigy's true strength, but the serpent had experienced how dangerous it was itself. That said, it naturally didn't want Crown Prince Yan to sense its weakness.
"I could have dealt with the cursed effigy, but you allowed it to run! Why shouldn't I blame you?" the serpent replied sullenly.
"Honored envoy, your divine might overwhelms us all. I apologize for the inconvenience. Shall I send you back to the realm? I imagine it hasn't gone far," Crown Prince Yan replied immediately.
The serpent's face turned stiff. Return to the illusory realm? What a joke!
"Forget it. I won't go back in. If you want to, do it yourself!" the serpent replied, then soared into the air. It was worried that Crown Prince Yan would send them both into the illusory realm again—and this time, it might not be able to run.
"Honored envoy, weren't you going to find the black-armored cultivators and enter the illusory realm through them? They're over there—you're flying in the wrong direction!" Crown Prince Yan shouted.
The serpent turned to glance at Crown Prince Yan. Before the appearance of the cursed effigy, it would surely have done so, but after realizing just how dangerous the cursed effigy was, how could it attempt to brave the illusory realm again?
"Scram! If you speak any more nonsense, I'll kill you!" the serpent threatened malevolently.
Crown Prince Yan's face stiffened. It was trying to provide directions to the serpent—had he made a mistake? He watched the serpent leave with a baffled look on his face.
"Your Highness, might I ask—everyone is dead!" one blue-armored cultivator cried out.
"What?" Crown Prince Yan was perplexed.
"Look!" the blue-armored cultivator pointed at the corpses arrayed all around them.
Crown Prince Yan stepped forward. Indeed, all fifty of his subordinates had died.
"Within an illusory array, even if your spiritual avatar is destroyed, the worst that can happen should be mental and spiritual depletion. How could they have died?!" the crown prince cried out.
"Your Highness, might I ask what you encountered within the realm? I felt as though even the honored envoy was nervous and startled," his subordinate continued.
What had they encountered?
Crown Prince Yan immediately thought of the skeleton as his body shook. He understood what had happened, now. It wasn't that the envoy didn't want to go in—he didn't dare to! Only then did the crown prince realize why the envoy had been acting so strangely. Was the skeleton that frightening?
"Your Highness, what happened within the illusory realm? How could it have affected reality?" his subordinate pressed.
Crown Prince Yan's face grew alarmed. He was very worried that the skeleton would make its way into reality.
"Come on, we have to leave immediately. We can't stay here any longer!" Crown Prince Yan cried out.
In another valley, Crown Prince Qi had also discovered that the subordinates he had brought into the illusory realm had all perished. He was shocked and belatedly realized what had happened.
"The envoy misled us, claiming that the skeleton was slow and awkward! It killed all my men—damn it!" Crown Prince Qi shouted.
"What should we do, Your Highness?"
"Leave. We have to leave this place immediately," Crown Prince Qi replied.
Back in the illusory realm, right before Madam Rouge was about to tear the serpent apart, it escaped. Gusts of black air drifted up around her, a sure sign of her displeasure. She raised her head and looked up at the plazas above.
Just then, Xiao Nanfeng had just defeated another champion and was standing by the edge of the plaza. Wondering where the serpent was, it glanced down, only to find himself staring right at Madam Rouge.
"Madam Rouge? Do you think you can take me down just because my spiritual power's suppressed here? Come on, then. I'll be waiting for you at the top!" Xiao Nanfeng called out.
He then turned around and ignored Madam Rouge as he headed toward the next plaza.
When Madam Rouge saw Xiao Nanfeng's disdainful glance, she was so upset that black smoke poured out of her skull. She continued marching forward through plaza after plaza as she chased Xiao Nanfeng.
Man and skeleton resumed their climb once more, neither noticing a group of people on plazas even higher above them.
Xiang Kun, the crow king, and a few black-armored cultivators were glancing at the scene below from the edge of a plaza higher above.
"Young Master, he killed the young miss and didn't die even after that humongous explosion that day! Not only that, he's climbing the plazas rapidly." The crow king's eyes were filled with anger and indignity.
Xiang Kun snapped back, "If we can't find where his physical body is, we'll destroy his spiritual avatar right here and now. For killing my sister, I'll make him suffer a fate worse than death!"
"But his spiritual avatar won't be easy to handle. Even the serpent was no match for him. Can we deal with him?" the crow king asked.
In reality, it would surely be able to take down Xiao Nanfeng with its Spiritsong-realm cultivation, but Xiao Nanfeng was far stronger in technique than it was. It might be no match for him in this trial space.
"Don't we have You Jiu? You Jiu, how confident are you in destroying his spiritual avatar?" Xiang Kun glanced at the middle-aged man beside him.
You Jiu looked coldly back at Xiang Kun. Hatred glimmered in his eyes, but he didn't say a word.
"You Jiu, I recommend that you obey me. Your earlier resistance caused the crow king to expose himself and the serpent to catch him. I was forced to give up a treasure in compensation. If you attempt to resist again, I'll cut off one of your lover's arms. Try me if you dare," Xiang Kun threatened.
You Jiu took a deep breath, then gazed at Xiao Nanfeng once again. "I have no confidence in doing so."
"No confidence? You're the one who's been guiding us up this mountain, challenging the champion after discovering the champion's weakness as we fight against him. You boast immense talent for fighting—and you claim to have no confidence against that brat?"
"I see no flaw in his techniques. He's learning the fist techniques of every single champion along the way, and his talent is monstrous. He's far more skilled than any of them, and he displays none of the eidola-specific weaknesses that the champions possess. I naturally have no confidence against him," You Jiu replied.
"Don't you dare lie to me!" Xiang Kun shouted.
You Jiu shot Xiang Kun a cool glance. "I have no need to lie to you. I have seen no cultivator with a stronger talent for battle. I expect a 10% chance of victory against him, maybe less."
"Only 10%?" Xiang Kun gaped.
"Unless I reach the peak and receive the true inheritance of Emperor Wei, I foresee no better outcome," You Jiu replied in exasperation.
Xiang Kun smirked. The true inheritance of Emperor Wei? Don't you think I'd leave it for myself? You'll get nothing.
"And that cursed effigy? Right, you people of this world aren't aware of such things, are you? I mean that skeleton. How confident are you that you'll be able to deal with it?" Xiang Kun asked again.
"I don't know. It doesn't seem to have any techniques to its name. Its one advantage is speed. Without facing it myself, it's hard to say just how I'll fare—but if I receive Emperor Wei's true inheritance, I'll likely be able to deal with it." You Jiu shook his head.
Xiang Kun glanced coldly at You Jiu. Emperor Wei's true inheritance was his, and it was laughable that You Jiu would try to contest it.
"In that case, keep challenging the champions. We'll aim to receive the inheritance before that bastard makes his way up," Xiang Kun replied.
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