Chapter 113: Shameless!
Draconic aether gushed into Xiao Nanfeng's dantian, but his lack of an advanced cultivation prevented him from being able to seal and store it all. He could only distill and convert part of it into pure yang qi, which he directed to unclog his ninth divine conduit.
A gust of energy erupted from Xiao Nanfeng's body as he unclogged it, followed swiftly by the nine divine capillaries connected to it. As his aura grew stronger, his ability to store draconic aether increased—but this wasn't enough yet. He continued distilling draconic aether and sending the resulting pure yang qi toward his tenth divine conduit.
Just then, a large serpent's head appeared by the entrance to the cave.
The serpent, having wound its way through the interconnected tunnels, had finally arrived at the emperor's tomb. Because it had been trapped by You Shi's formation earlier, however, it was behaving particularly carefully, only barely poking its head out to inspect its surroundings. After waiting for some time and confirming that only Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er were present, it quickly regained its confidence.
"You brat, isn't that the Seal of Great Wei in your hands? That's not something you deserve to have. It belongs to me, to me! Hand it over!" The serpent was so excited that its body was vibrating.
It sprayed its frost breath through the copper doors, still acting far more cautiously than usual, just in case there were traps lying in wait for it. It intended to freeze the two cultivators first.
"Wake up, Nanfeng!" Yu'er cried out, shielding Nanfeng protectively. She cut at the frost with her blade.
Huge quantities of frost surged into the cave. Yu'er deflected a small fraction, but only enough to protect her and Nanfeng. The rest of the cave began to freeze.
From Yu'er's hasty defense, the serpent quickly discovered that she was only an Ascension-realm cultivator and relaxed.
"Haha! One of you is at Ascension, and the other at Immanence! And you dared to insult and humiliate me? I'm going to eat you both!" the serpent howled. Its aura magnified. Yu'er steeled herself against the frightening wave of dragon's might and the resulting pressure that entailed.
Just then, a beam of golden light flew out from behind her and struck the serpent on the head. It was sent flying with a bleeding wound on its head.
"You!" the serpent cried out. It fell to the ground after striking the wall of the cave with such force that everything seemed to shake.
The Seal of Great Wei floated in the air, giving off radiant golden light and mounting pressure.
"Nanfeng? Was that you?" Yu'er cried out.
By then, Xiao Nanfeng had opened his eyes. With a finger, he motioned for the Seal of Great Wei to strike the dragon once more.
"You were acknowledged by Emperor Wei and became his successor? He even allowed you to attune to the Seal of Great Wei? Impossible. You're only an Immanence-realm cultivator, while I'm at Spiritsong! I'm far more powerful and mighty—that seal should be mine!" the serpent howled.
It tried to flee, but the Seal of Great Wei was faster. The seal hurtled toward its head once again.
The serpent was slammed into the ground, its scales breaking off as the wound on its head grew larger. Blood splattered on the ground.
The seal radiated with pressure, crushing the serpent's head. It felt as heavy as a mountain; the serpent was unable to move its head at all. Its tail swished madly, but it couldn't free itself. It felt as though its head was about to explode.
As its skull cracked, blood sprayed out of its mouth.
"Kill it, Nanfeng! Let's have some serpent meat!" Yu'er cried out.
The serpent's face fell. These two cultivators were even worse than You Shi!
"No, spare me, please! I just came to see what the commotion was. I respect both of you; this doesn't have anything to do with me! Don't eat me. My meat would be stringy and sour. Please, let me go—I'll do anything you want! I have all manner of treasures that I can offer to you. Just spare my life!" the serpent shouted, its earlier arrogance completely having vanished.
The seal steadily rose into the air and floated toward Xiao Nanfeng.
"Nanfeng, are you going to let it go? Why not just smash it dead?" Yu'er cried out.
Xiao Nanfeng stored the seal once more. The Seal of Great Wei's strength lay in consuming the fortune that was within it. The seal, which he could lift with just one hand, had grown countless times heavier with the power of fortune, allowing him to deeply wound the serpent.
The consumption of fortune was a relatively minor affair, but stored within the seal was part of Emperor Wei's inheritance, which he had not yet committed to memory. After smashing the serpent's head with the seal twice, he could sense a nascent instability in the inheritance within the seal. If he were to continue suppressing the serpent, he might very well cause that inheritance to dissolve into nothing.
To kill the serpent at the cost of Emperor Wei's inheritance was far from worthwhile.
The serpent fled for its life, quickly darting back through the tunnels. "You brat! Don't think I'll forgive you just because you've let me go. Just you wait. Once I recover, I'll come settle my score with you again!"
"See? You can't sympathize with this serpent—it's shameless!" Yu'er cried out angrily.
Just then, a huge thud came from the tunnels.
The serpent was knocked back with overwhelming force. It slammed against a cave wall.
"What?" Yu'er cried out.
"Who just launched a sneak attack on me?" the serpent cried out, vomiting out even more blood.
Three figures emerged from the tunnel: Croak, Warble, and the Lady Arclight.
"Two toad spirits? You dare?!" the serpent cried out in outrage.
The Lady Arclight saw Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er instantly. Her eyes brightened.
"Nanfeng? Yu'er? Are you both alright?"
"Elder? What are you doing here? Yes, we're alright. Nanfeng has received Emperor Wei's inheritance and was in secluded cultivation when this serpent suddenly barged into the cave, trying to steal Nanfeng's spoils! Nanfeng grievously wounded it with the Seal of Great Wei," Yu'er quickly reported.
"Hmm?" The Lady Arclight looked toward the serpent with frost in her gaze.
The serpent blanched. "You're together?"
The Lady Arclight didn't respond. She unsheathed her sword and struck at the serpent.
As sword slashes bombarded the interior of the cave, a huge number of the serpent's scales were crushed and scattered. In rage, the serpent shot straight toward the Lady Arclight.
"Croak, Warble, help the elder!" Xiao Nanfeng cried out.
"Got it." Warble leapt over.
"Nanfeng, serpent meat tastes good, doesn't it? If we take it down, you'll make some roast serpent meat for us, won't you?" Croak croaked excitedly.
The two toad spirits rushed toward the serpent together.
The cave rumbled as the combatants smashed into it with such force that everything quaked. However, the remnants of You Shi's formation preserved its integrity, and it showed no signs of collapsing.
"Why are you biting me, you damn toads? I'm too disgusted at the prospect of even eating you, but you dare bite me?!" the serpent howled.
"I want roast serpent meat, teppanyaki serpent meat, stewed serpent meat, steamed serpent meat!" Croak croaked, saliva leaking out of its mouth as it slammed into the serpent.
Croak had never had a chance to try meat prepared with these techniques, but it still remembered vividly the dishes that Xiao Nanfeng had made for the Lady Arclight before his departure. It had drooled so much that its mouth had almost gone dry, and it had been dreaming of those delicacies ever since. That was why it was desperately slamming the serpent against the wall, exacerbating its injuries as it vomited out more blood.
"Damn it! If not for the Seal of Great Wei, none of the three of you would be able to hurt me—no, what's this sword you have? Why is it so strong? How could it have hurt me? Argh!" the serpent screamed.
Yu'er stood in front of Xiao Nanfeng, still guarding him. As she watched the serpent's downfall, she pumped her fists up in excitement, wishing that she too could participate.
Xiao Nanfeng clutched the Seal of Great Wei in his hands and returned to his meditation.
Within moments, the tenth divine conduit had been unclogged, and pure yang qi surged toward his nine final divine capillaries. Xiao Nanfeng's body began to rumble.
The first... the third... the seventh... the ninth.
As the final capillary was unblocked, Xiao Nanfeng's surroundings shone with scintillating golden light. With all ninety divine capillaries cleared, a strong and overwhelming loop of genetic energy surged around him. The qi grew multiple times over, and it felt as though he could even make the transition to Ascension at the moment.
However, Xiao Nanfeng instead chose to temporarily suppress his cultivation instead. He hadn't yet chosen an Ascension-realm technique to study, and was in no rush to break through. His current cultivation sufficed to store all the draconic aether in his body, which he did using Emperor Wei's secret technique. This draconic aether would be core to his further cultivation,
Xiao Nanfeng inspected the contents of the Seal of Great Wei again, confirming that nothing was damaged, before he steadily opened his eyes again.
By now, after suffering from the combined assault of the two toads and one cultivator, many of its scales had been torn from its body. It was impaled by a sword through the middle of its body and pinned against the ground, with one toad spirit crushing it on either side. It was a sorry sight to behold.
"Please! I've committed a terrible mistake. Please let me go. If you keep jumping up and down on me, I really will die. Spare my life, please!" the serpent begged.
"It's not dead yet. Keep going!" Croak commanded.
"Do you think I won't be able to kill you without my sword?" The Lady Arclight's eyes flashed with frost.
She drew yet another sword, which glowed with blinding white light, as though its strength were being magnified multiple times over.
"No! Master Blue Lantern, save me!" the serpent cried out instinctively, feeling the pall of death overwhelm it.
Just then, a cloud of black fog appeared, along with a figure in a black robe. Blue energy sealed the Lady Arclight's blade.
"Have mercy, young woman," the black-robed figure said.
"Elder Blue Lantern?" The Lady Arclight hesitated, then stopped what she was doing.
"Elder!" Croak and Warble immediately behaved themselves.
The serpent, as though finally having found its savior, cried out with snot and tears, "Master Blue Lantern, they've robbed Emperor Wei's tomb! I advised them not to with the best of intentions, but they turned on me and began to beat me up! I had them head to the divine domain, but they refused to go, and were even trying to kill me! I'm an envoy that you yourself dispatched to this territory. What they did to me reflects badly on you, too! Please, administer justice on my behalf!"
Upon hearing the serpent's shameless lies, everyone frowned and glared at it. It truly would do anything for its life!
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