Chapter 111: When It Rains, It Pours
Xiang Kun, whom You Shi had possessed, was only an Ascension-realm cultivator. Without any subordinates around and with both his legs broken, he could hardly avoid blows from Xiao Nanfeng's Immortal Cicada.
The Immortal Cicada slashed precisely at You Shi's head. Part of the energy was absorbed by his qi barrier, but the remainder created a deep wound in his head that spurted out blood.
However, You Shi somehow managed to trap the Immortal Cicada in place in Xiang Kun's body
"He's still alive. Let me have a go at him!" Yu'er drew her sword and made to rush over.
Xiao Nanfeng held her back. "Don't. It's dangerous!"
You Shi suddenly self-destructed. A wave of energy surged toward everyone. Xiao Nanfeng's Immortal Cicada, caught in the epicenter, shattered.
"Is he crazy?!" All the cultivators were sent flying by the explosion.
"Is he committing suicide?!" Yu'er cried out.
"He's not dead. He's simply forfeiting Xiang Kun's physical body, and ruining my Immortal Cicada along with it," Xiao Nanfeng replied, frowning.
Black wind swirled within the cave. The blood mist into which You Shi had exploded reformed as a bloody outline of a person, almost like a sinister avatar.
"Nanfeng, just how many of my plans have you ruined in such a short period of time? Even the formation that I laid out here won't have much of an effect because I've lost my physical body. You really are my nemesis, aren't you?" You Shi's voice was wrathful.
Xiao Nanfeng looked toward the five black-armored cultivators. "Did you see that? He killed your young master. He's the enemy here—yours and mine alike. We might have a grudge against each other, but we can table that for later. What we need to do now is live on by working together to defeat him. Otherwise, we're all dead!"
The five black-armored cultivators frowned, but they eventually all nodded, understanding the severity of the situation. They drew their blades and pointed them toward You Shi.
The five cultivators all rushed toward You Shi simultaneously.
"You five fools—I left you all alive so you could help cover up my identity, but I don't need you anymore. I set up my formation around you, so your bodies are now under my control. Do you still think you can go against me? Die!" You Shi shouted.
The five black-armored cultivators instantly exploded and formed five clouds of bloody mist that surrounded You Shi.
"Is this the power of formations? To have killed five Ascension-realm cultivators instantly..." Yu'er cried out.
"Well? Nanfeng, what other tactics do you plan to use against me?" You Shi laughed coldly.
"Were you deliberately waiting here for me? You knew I was going to come?" Xiao Nanfeng called back.
"The Red Emperor herself was assisting you, so I'm sure you would have been able to gain his approval. Emperor Wei must have given you the key to his inheritance."
"You knew?"
"I was the architect of these tombs. Wouldn't I know what they contain? The Seal of Great Wei within this cave can't be retrieved without the approval of Emperor Wei. Well? Take out the proof of approval, or I'll have to wrest it from you," You Shi threatened.
With a wave of You Shi's hand, the mist of blood shot toward Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er.
Yu'er struck with her sword, but her technique passed straight through the mist without being able to interact with it.
"These five clouds of mist—they're ethereal?!" Yu'er cried out.
"Superior yin frost!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted.
A large quantity of superior yin frost surged out from his mindscape, forming a wall of ice that blocked the blood mist's advance and freezing them solid.
"There really is something wrong about you. I was right to be this cautious."
You Shi waved an arm, activating the formation. Black wind gusted out from all around them, heading straight for the five clouds of blood mist. The mist radiated red light as though it had suddenly grown far stronger. It melted the superior yin frost and continued heading straight for Xiao Nanfeng.
Yu'er retrieved her Godbane Flute and began to play. Five blue phoenixes composed of spiritual power shot out from her mindscape and toward the five clouds of mist, scattering them.
"Is this blood mist a form of spiritual avatar?" Xiao Nanfeng wondered.
"The flute is a relic, but she's too weak to take advantage of its true strength. These phoenixes are going to collapse at any moment. My formation provides me with an inexhaustible supply of spiritual power, and I'll have limitless strength. No one will be able to rescue you now, haha!"
Just then, Xiao Nanfeng stepped toward the five clouds of blood mist.
"Nanfeng, it's dangerous. Don't go!" Yu'er fretted.
With her attention diverted, however, the phoenixes began to fuzz away. She hurriedly continued playing the flute.
"I'd like to try it. These clouds of blood mist might be easier to get rid of than you'd think," Xiao Nanfeng replied, smiling.
He extended his left palm at a cloud of blood mist.
"My blood soldiers have even trapped and killed Immortals in the past! What could you do against them?" You Shi sneered disdainfully.
"Store!" Xiao Nanfeng activated his storage ring, which began to glow with umbral light.
"Ha, haha! Nanfeng, are you crazy? Don't you know that storage treasures only store non-living objects? No spiritual avatar could ever be kept in one. Did you really think such a foolish idea would work?" You Shi roared in laughter.
Just then, however, a bestial roar came from Xiao Nanfeng's storage ring.
The roar was a spiritual attack that struck the soul. Yu'er's spiritual phoenixes dissipated under its might, whereas the clouds of blood mist that the phoenixes had been holding back were sucked toward the ring.
"What? I can't control that blood soldier anymore. What do you have in your storage ring?!" You Shi cried out.
He hurriedly activated the formation he had been working on to infuse tremendous strength into his blood soldiers. They grew larger and larger, but remained unable to free themselves from Xiao Nanfeng's storage ring. The beast within tore at the blood soldiers ravenously, and it succeeded in dragging them in bit by bit.
Another bestial roar came from the ring. You Shi thought he could see a bloodthirsty maw swallow up his blood soldier. Not only that, after the beast ate the particularly nourishing spiritual meal, it began to suck at its surroundings with even greater force.
The other four clouds of blood mist, which had been fighting against Yu'er's spiritual phoenixes, were all dragged toward the ring. They tried to escape, but to no avail. The beast's bloodthirsty maw swallowed them all.
"No, no! How could this be?!" You Shi cried out.
Xiao Nanfeng then pointed the ring straight toward You Shi. The beast within, discovering yet another prey, let out an excited howl. The howl shook the entire cavern as frightening suction latched onto You Shi.
"No, no! This is impossible!" You Shi howled in panic.
The suction dragged him ever closer to the ring as the beast within exerted incredible force.
"No! My formation, to me! Transfer all the energy back!" You Shi commanded.
From every corner of the cavern came a torrent of black energy straight toward You Shi's blood-mist body. You Shi grew to a hundred times his original size, with commensurate strength besides. He became a blood giant that pressed against the boundaries of the cavern—but even so, he was unable to escape from the beast. Slowly but surely, he was being sucked inward.
"No! How could this be? This can't be happening!" You Shi cried out.
One of his feet had already been sucked inside. He scrabbled for purchase with dear life, but nothing was effective. Despair wracked his soul.
"A cursed effigy? That beast's a cursed effigy, and not the skeleton from before, either. Only a peak existence could exert such power. Nanfeng, just who are you? How could you be in command of so many cursed effigies?!" You Shi howled.
With a boom, You Shi was completely sucked into the ring and devoured by the beast within.
The beast looked at the outer world through the ring, its eyes like two huge red lanterns, as though trying to identify its next prey. When it stared at Xiao Nanfeng, its horrifying bestial aura drenched his back in sweat.
Xiao Nanfeng shut off his connection to the ring, closing it up and isolating the beast once again.
Xiao Nanfeng panted for breath. He had the feeling that the beast within the ring very much wanted to devour him. He had used the ring in hopes that the beast within might be able to help him out, not expecting that it would go so far as to consume the five clouds of blood mist, along with You Shi himself.
"Nanfeng, how could there be a beast in your storage ring?" Yu'er asked cautiously.
Xiao Nanfeng made a face at her. "I don't know, either. It's been in there all this time."
"You Shi said that the beast was a cursed effigy?" Yu'er frowned.
"A cursed effigy?" Xiao Nanfeng frowned.
He hadn't even dealt with Madam Rouge yet. Why had another cursed effigy appeared? What's more, this one had a particularly frightening ability. Would it be safe for him to continue using this storage ring? What if the beast were to run out one day and swallow him up?
"Where's your storage ring?" Yu'er suddenly asked.
"Isn't it—" Xiao Nanfeng suddenly stopped short.
His storage ring had vanished and transformed into a tattoo around Xiao Nanfeng's middle finger on his left hand instead. At this point, he wouldn't be able to remove the ring even if he wanted to—but its storage functionality was still active.
"Could the cursed effigy in your ring have done this? Is it deliberately preventing you from removing the ring because it's unwilling to leave you?" Yu'er asked in worry.
Xiao Nanfeng: ...
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