Chapter 139: An Accursed Equilibrium
Emperor Wei's cursed slave subordinates were all incredibly strong, and they were able to chase the other cursed effigies and slaves out of the valley.
"Impossible! How could these slaves be so strong?"
"Damn it, scram!"
The battlefield outside the valley was a mess as the two sides fought for domination.
Madam Rouge silently appeared by a tree near the outskirts of the battlefield. It watched the fighting occur quietly, then raised its head to look at Emperor Wei and the cursed king fighting in the air. Ghostly red light flashed across her eye sockets as she pounced toward a skeleton that had been suppressed.
"What?!" the skeleton cried out.
With an audible crack, the cursed effigy's head was broken off its neck and swallowed down Madam Rouge's throat. By the time its cursed slaves looked over, Madam Rouge had vanished with the rest of its body in tow.
A strange scavenger had made an appearance on the battlefield. Not too long after, she had stolen all their bodies away.
After consuming them all, their cursed slaves turned immobile. You Shi and the other slaves tore them to pieces.
They then tried to give chase after Madam Rouge, but she was so fast that they couldn't catch up to her. All they could do was report back to the valley.
On the altar within the valley, the skeletons that the Red Emperor and Bai Ruoyi had transformed into were still holding down the copper coffin. Whatever lay within was shrieking and attempting to batter the lid down. The two women looked up at the sky, worried about Emperor Wei. Only when the cursed slaves flocked over did they turn to command them.
"Hold down this coffin," the Red Emperor commanded.
The slaves immediately leapt toward the copper coffin, holding it down tightly and freeing the two women, who immediately flew up into the air as they joined in the aerial combat.
Xiao Nanfeng was conflicted; his mindscape was now a battlefield from which he couldn't extract himself. He was unable to participate as the cursed effigies slaughtered the copper avatars.
The black lotus had grown significantly stronger after devouring all of Emperor Wei's golden talismans, and it was more than adept at strategy and tactics. The superior yin pearl grew tired as it defended against the copper avatars, while the black lotus launched sneak attacks one after another.
Not too long later, only two of the ten copper avatars remained.The final two, scared, hurriedly attempted to escape out of Xiao Nanfeng's mindscape, but the superior yin pearl and black lotus quickly blocked their path. The superior yin pearl revealed sawtooth-like canines, biting down on one avatar and swallowing half its body. The base of the black lotus also formed a mouth, one which swallowed up the final avatar.
A burst of white fog appeared around the superior yin pearl, and a burst of black fog from the black lotus. The two cursed effigies stood off against one another, their fog sizzling as it came into contact with its contrasting counterpart. The two effigies seemed to be sizing each other up.
"The superior yin pearl has swallowed ten copper avatars, while the black lotus swallowed up five copper avatars and twenty golden talismans. Who's stronger? Fight and see—it'll be best if you both destroy each other, too," Xiao Nanfeng murmured.
However, to his disappointment, the two cursed effigies didn't attack each other. As though forming a pact, each flew off.
The superior yin pearl flew into the air and orbited the silver moon like a satellite, as though claiming the moon above for itself.
Meanwhile, the black lotus headed into the stellar lake. As it floated in its very center, the reflection of a dozen black lotuses filled the lake. It was claiming the lake for itself.
Xiao Nanfeng frowned. "They're forming a truce? And... dividing me up?"
Xiao Nanfeng's mindscape had quieted down, but a battle continued to rage on in his ring. The five copper avatars attempted to ward off the beast within, but it took quite a while before the ring settled. The beast had devoured all five avatars and lengths of red rope. It shone with black light.
Xiao Nanfeng hurriedly shut the opening to the ring, but it was useless. The beast within seemed to have grown strong enough to be able to tear its way outside.
It howled, one claw peeking out and swiping at the ground before Xiao Nanfeng, forming a crater in the ground. The resulting gale winds scoured Xiao Nanfeng's face.
The claw seemed to belong to a feline, but it was composed not of flesh but rather of a shadowy substance. It was particularly sinister.
The beast appeared to be unable to free itself entirely from the ring; it could only extend one shadowy claw outward. The claw continued to swipe at nothing, as though attempting to seize Xiao Nanfeng—but the latter was prepared, and had stretched his arm forward so that the beast was unable to turn around and target him.
The beast within the ring roared and howled loudly before the shadowy claw turned into a pitch-black human arm.
"This beast can transform?" Xiao Nanfeng gasped.
A human arm would be far more flexible than a beast's claw. The arm attempted to flex around in order to grab Xiao Nanfeng, a shocking sight to behold. It suddenly grabbed onto Xiao Nanfeng's wrist, whereupon its fingers turned sharp and stabbed into his flesh.
"Spiritual power, activate!"
A flash of silvery-blue spiritual power formed a barrier against the black fingers, but Xiao Nanfeng could still sense intense pain coming from his arm. Just as the fingers were about to penetrate his qi barrier, a gust of yin frost suddenly appeared, forming a mouth with sawtooth-like teeth and biting down on the black hand.
The beast within the ring roared, then quickly retracted its arm.
The teeth followed the black arm into the ring. After a while, when the beast had finished destroying the teeth, it extended a black arm out again. This time around, a gust of superior yin frost immediately appeared from Xiao Nanfeng's mindscape, forming a mouth that encircled the ring in clear warning.
The two cursed effigies held each other in abeyance. The beast seemed outraged, but in the end, it retracted its arm.
Everything returned to normal, but Xiao Nanfeng understood that it was all only a facade. None of the three cursed effigies would go down lightly; they were clearly intending to manipulate him in some form. However, none of them were able to overwhelm the other two; they were forced into a temporary equilibrium.
"Don't the three of you want to keep fighting and see who's superior?" Xiao Nanfeng tested the waters.
None of the three effigies responded to him, causing him to sigh.
At this point, Xiao Nanfeng couldn't help but think about how much cuter Madam Rouge seemed. At the least, she was willing to communicate with him, and her enmity and grudges were clearly delineated. On the other hand, these three cursed effigies were unwilling to give him any information, as though they were all old hands at this.
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