Chapter 136: The Man of Copper
Blue light emerged all across the altar as the cursed king began to pick out his slaves in formalized ritual. The lid of its coffin opened slowly. Blue smoke rose up from within as everyone felt a sense of fear overwhelm them.
An arm extended out from within the coffin, gripping its edge. It was tinged with the luster of copper, and a grinding sound could be heard as its muscles bunched up.
"Is the cursed king going to show himself?" Xiao Nanfeng watched on intently as the cursed king sat upright from its coffin, then stood up.
A hulking man appeared, long hair scattered over his shoulders, with an imposing aura around him. The man had copper skin, as though he were formed entirely out of copper. He floated into the air, then landed on the altar. His gaze swept over the gathered crowd, considering the humans and spirits who might be suited to become his cursed slaves.
"Master, we've temporarily rendered the cultivators and spirits who resisted most severely unconscious. They're all eminently qualified," Blue Lantern explained, bowing once more.
The man of copper nodded in satisfaction. "Well done. I'll test them for myself."
"Yes, Master!" Blue Lantern bowed respectfully.
The skeletons took a half-step back, allowing the cursed king a full view of the cultivators and spirits present.
"I don't want to become a cursed slave, Sir! Won't you let me go?" the serpent cried out anxiously.
"Silence," Blue Lantern hissed.
This time, the serpent didn't do as Blue Lantern commanded. It continued to beg, "Sir, I'm innocent! I'm an envoy of the divine domain, and I deserve preferential treatment!"
"A hundred years ago, I picked you out because you have the bloodline of an ancestral dragon. I held high expectations for you," the copper man said calmly.
"The bloodline of an ancestral dragon? What's that? Do I have a notable background, then?" the serpent cried out.
"A notable background? Not quite. The ancestral dragons have long since vanished from the realm. You're one of its descendants many generations down the line, its bloodline diluted over and over again, nothing more than a mongrel," the copper man continued.
The serpent's face was stiff. "Are you praising or criticizing me? I can't tell!"
The copper man ignored it; rather, he shook.
Countless avatars appeared from behind the copper man, each a copper man himself. It was as though the cursed king had just summoned twenty clones.
"What sort of technique is this?!" the serpent cried out.
The next moment, a copper avatar shot toward the serpent.
"No! Don't come over!" the serpent cried out.
The copper avatar shot into its mindscape and vanished from sight. All around the serpent, the same thing was happening to the remaining avatars.
Xiao Nanfeng wasn't an exception. One copper avatar morphed into a beam of light that shot into his mindscape.
Xiao Nanfeng and the serpent stood motionless, as though having transformed into statues. In the end, only the original copper man remained, surveying his surroundings.
Suddenly, the cursed king looked toward Emperor Wei. "Oh? It looks as though three pieces of trash have somehow managed to hoodwink my subordinates."
"What?" Blue Lantern stepped forward, seemingly confused.
Just then, Emperor Wei struck. He smashed a fist into Blue Lantern's head, sending him flying to the ground, unconscious.
"Insolence!" the gathered skeletons thundered.
"Charge!" Emperor Wei cried out.
"Kill him!"
The skeletons that the Red Emperor and Bai Ruoyi had become instantly shot toward the cursed king, smashing their fists into its body. However, the cursed king didn't move at all. He glanced at them, his eyes cold. With a shake of his body, he sent the two skeletons flying.
"Are the three of you trying to foment a rebellion?!" The other skeletons leapt toward Emperor Wei's trio.
Emperor Wei, the Red Emperor, and Bai Ruoyi's cursed slaves howled, then struck at the cursed effigies.
"Fools! Cursed slaves, attack together!" the remaining cursed effigies commanded.
The cursed slaves of Emperor Wei and company began to give off a tremendous aura as they sent the other cursed effigies and other cursed slaves flying out of the valley. Simultaneously, they charged forward and kept them outside, preventing them from disturbing the fight within.
Just then, Emperor Wei waved an arm, gesturing at the unconscious Marquis Wu. A ball of golden fluid flew out of his body, transforming into twenty golden talismans marked with the character '卍', blocking the connection between their physical body and mindscape.
This was a special treasure that You Shi had left for Marquis Wu, which Emperor Wei had manipulated without You Shi's knowledge.
"A Buddhist seal? It looks like you came prepared. But do you think you'll be able to seal my cursed spiritual avatars just with these?" the cursed king shouted.
"Not for long, but all I need is a little time," Emperor Wei replied.
"Are you Emperor Wei? You've grafted your truesoul to a cursed effigy, then suppressed its original truesoul? Foolish. This is an ersatz technique, one that won't be able to make you true cursed effigies," the cursed king critiqued.
"As long as we continue to suppress their truesouls, their bodies will be ours to command. We'd be no different from cursed effigies, then!" Emperor Wei retorted, leaping and striking at the cursed king.
"Cursed effigies can revive after death, but not the likes of you. Now, die!" The cursed king punched at Emperor Wei.
Emperor Wei's eyes flashed blue, and his skeletal fist took on the color of copper. It met the cursed king's fist in an explosion of energy that produced a howling storm.
"Your fist is bolstered by my cursed spiritual power—you've distilled my dragon-quelling spike?!" The cursed king shot forward and launched a flurry of attacks at Emperor Wei, whose body rapidly turned to copper. After transforming into a copper skeleton, he began to fight the cursed king in earnest.
"Hong'er, Bai'er, seal the coffin!" Emperor Wei instructed.
"Got it!" The two skeletons began to replace the coffin's lid.
The coffin rumbled, as though a fierce beast were attempting to make its way out from within. When the two skeletons saw that they too were about to be overwhelmed, they also transformed into copper skeletons and continued holding down the lid.
"Let's see how strong an emperor of the divine can be, then," the cursed king thundered.
The fight between him and Emperor Wei grew more and more intense. They soared into the air; at the same time, the Seal of Great Wei fell from overhead in a devastating explosion that unleashed a howling storm. The two supreme cultivators dealt each other astonishing blows.
Xiao Nanfeng was waiting patiently, his mindscape sealed by the Buddhist seal.
Emperor Wei had told him of the dangers he might face, and he had been prepared. A copper avatar had flown into his mindscape and raised his head to see a bright silver moon hanging over a starlit lake. It was calm and idyllic.
"Such a bright moon—this must be an artifact of some incredible spiritual technique! Very good, very good! This shall be my new cursed slave!" the copper avatar cackled.
It flew up toward the glowing moon at a rapid clip. Just as it was about to hit the moon, a black lotus appeared from behind. It smashed into the copper avatar, causing it to stop short. A large quantity of black light surrounded the avatar.
"An ambush? Ridiculous. A lad at Lunar Deluge has no chance of overcoming me," the copper avatar remarked disdainfully.
It punched forward, blocking the black lotus' light. Its punch was filled with such strength that it seemed as though it were about to shatter the lotus whole.
Suddenly, with a hum, silver light from the moon poured into the black lotus, causing it to double in size. Even more black energy surged out from it and struck the copper avatar's fist, leaving it leaden and unable to move.
"Impossible. How can this black lotus block my cursed spiritual power? There has to be something wrong with it!"
The copper avatar drew on more of its reserves. Even as Xiao Nanfeng desperately infused the black lotus with spiritual energy, it seemed unable to hold out any longer. The black lotus' energy thinned, as though the copper avatar's fist were about to break through.
"What incredible strength..." Xiao Nanfeng murmured, starting to worry for the first time.
Suddenly, he noticed something amiss. As he shifted his perspective, a strange sight was revealed: the superior yin pearl, which had bolstered his mind, had undergone a transformation.
He had never been able to induce the superior yin pearl to do anything beyond adding and removing superior yin frost from it, but now, a crack had appeared in the snowy-white pearl's surface. The crack was curved, almost as though it were grinning.
The revealed 'mouth' was growing larger and larger, exposing white sawtooth-like fangs.
Xiao Nanfeng was extremely shocked. The superior yin pearl suddenly flashed over to the black lotus' side, sending it flying before biting down on the copper avatar.
"What? Argh!" The copper avatar screamed in pain.
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