Chapter 141: The Divine Undying Blade
The blue fog in the air reformed into a copper man.
"What? It had to have self-destructed, or Emperor Wei wouldn't have perished! How could it have revived so quickly? Something must be wrong," the wizened Blue Lantern gasped. He looked up at the copper man in the air in disbelief.
"Why, I have you to thank for that, Blue Lantern. The cursed spiritual avatar with which I possessed you was just dispelled by Emperor Wei as he stole my power. This cursed spiritual avatar congealed the spiritual power I dispersed upon self-destructing, reforging my body anew and skipping over ten thousand years of slumber," the cursed king explained coolly.
"What?!" Blue Lantern cried out in despair.
"As for you, Blue Lantern, for betraying me and working together with Emperor Wei, death is the least you deserve." It slapped downward with an open palm, manifesting a huge palm of force that fell from the sky and struck Blue Lantern.
With a boom, Blue Lantern was knocked flat onto the ground, his black robes torn to pieces, blood blooming all around him. He had lost all his combat strength and had become incredibly weak.
The cursed king then turned to Xiao Nanfeng.
"All who catch the attention of a cursed effigy are doomed to die. You, on the other hand—you have the attention of three cursed effigies, all of whom appear to be cursed kings! How are you still alive? Do you harbor some great secret?" The cursed king glared at Xiao Nanfeng.
"What, do you want a piece of me too? Try it and see what happens!" Xiao Nanfeng called out coldly.
"You're trying to lure me over so your cursed kings can do battle with me, aren't you? Do you think that they can handle me? Their cursed spiritual power has all dissipated, leaving just a relic form behind—and they've only just revived. They can't stray too far from your body, and I can kill you without having to get close up!"
Just then, a figure appeared behind the cursed king. Madam Rouge raked the cursed king's back with her sharp claws, which pierced through his body.
"What?!" The cursed king grabbed at the skeletal claws that protruded from his chest.
Xiao Nanfeng was shocked. He didn't expect that Madam Rouge would appear all of a sudden, and he quickly ran toward the cursed king without any hesitation. He didn't believe his words at all. He had easily destroyed the twenty copper avatars; the main body could hardly be much worse.
A large quantity of black fog sprayed out of Madam Rouge's body, forming a series of words.
"Don't come over. Although the cursed king has revived, it's still in an extremely weak state. It's trying to bluff you. Don't let the cursed effigies in your body snatch my prey. He's mine!"
Xiao Nanfeng hesitated, then stopped short. Was Madam Rouge going to join the fight for food now too...?
"Another cursed effigy—and another cursed king? How are you still alive?!" the copper man thundered.
Xiao Nanfeng: ...
The copper man slapped at the skeletal claws protruding from his chest, sending them away from his body.
Madam Rouge pushed the attack, grievously wounding the copper man.
"If I weren't so weak at the moment, you'd never be able to push me back like this!" the copper man shouted, then struck at Madam Rouge.
The two cursed effigies' attacks clashed, releasing tremendous explosions of energy. They flew higher into the air, and the shockwaves from their attacks destroyed many a mountain range.
"You have my cursed spiritual power, too? You've eaten my dragon-quelling spikes? Damn it! No!"
A huge crash came from afar. The copper man dragged itself out of a pile of ruins, but his right arm had already been torn off. Madam Rouge, chasing after it from behind, swallowed the copper arm in her hands.
The fight had clearly tipped in Madam Rouge's favor. She grew faster and more agile, appearing right by the copper man's side as she cut another piece of his body off.
"Hold it! I'm the divine undying king, ruler of this hidden realm! You have no right to insult me like this!" the copper man howled.
Madam Rouge flashed behind it, raking at its neck and beheading it.
"Argh!" The copper head attempted to flee as Madam Rouge devoured the rest of his body. In a flash of light, she caught up to the disembodied head.
"Lad, you'll surely die to these cursed effigies! I curse you to suffer an ignoble death!" the copper man screamed.
As Madam Rouge opened her mouth wide, she swallowed the copper man's head. Roiling black smoke manifested around Madam Rouge, who seemed to have grown far stronger. She luxuriated in her newfound strength.
Xiao Nanfeng rushed up to her. "Madam Rouge, the three cursed effigies in my body seemed poised to strike, but I suppressed them so they wouldn't be able to snatch your prey from you! I'm on your side!"
Madam Rouge, surrounded by black smoke, grew enraged upon hearing Xiao Nanfeng's words. She formed characters in the air with the smoke that hung around her.
"They're in the midst of digesting a significant portion of cursed spiritual power—how could they be poised to strike? They wouldn't have emerged as long as you remained far from that copper man. Do you think I'm that easy to trick? Just you wait—I'll deal with you sooner or later!"
Then, Madam Rouge flashed away and vanished from sight.
Xiao Nanfeng: ...
It seemed as though it would be rather difficult for him to get close to Madam Rouge...
Just then, the entire divine domain shook. A few mountain peaks collapsed in a landslide, and the sky tore apart. It looked as though the entire domain were crumbling down.
Xiao Nanfeng blanched as he flew back to the mountain valley from before.
"Elder Blue Lantern, are you still alive?" Xiao Nanfeng asked urgently.
He had no idea where the exit to the divine domain was; his one hope was that Blue Lantern would be able to point him in the right direction.
Blue Lantern coughed, weak to the extreme. Even so, he was still alive for the moment. His hat had fallen to the side, revealing a weathered, bleeding face.
"You're still alive? Thank goodness! Elder, how do we leave the divine domain? It's about to collapse!" Xiao Nanfeng asked in worry.
"Wait patiently. We'll be able to leave soon," Blue Lantern wheezed.
"If we keep waiting, the divine domain will collapse!" Xiao Nanfeng cried out.
"That's exactly what we're waiting for," Blue Lantern explained.
"What?"
"The divine domain is an illusory realm that the cursed king set up. It's perfectly normal for such a realm to collapse after his death."
"This is an illusory realm? How could our physical bodies have made it in, then?" Xiao Nanfeng seemed perplexed.
"Who told you that physical bodies can't enter illusory realms?" Blue Lantern retorted.
Xiao Nanfeng: ...
"The only illusory realms you've encountered before this one must have been too weak to support physical bodies. The most advanced realms of this sort can merge seamlessly with the physical world."
Xiao Nanfeng was silent for a moment before he nodded.
Suddenly, he noticed the copper coffin by the altar. He asked Blue Lantern, "Is the copper man's cursed spiritual avatar inside this coffin?"
"That's right. With the cursed king's spiritual power entirely consumed, his cursed spiritual avatar has become a cursed effigy. Even though it's not moving any longer, you'd best not touch it. It could revive at any moment," Blue Lantern advised.
Xiao Nanfeng ignored Blue Lantern and walked up to the copper coffin, moving the lid aside to reveal a long copper blade within. The design of the blade was simple and unadorned. It gave off sinister blue mist.
Xiao Nanfeng reached out for it.
"Don't touch it! It's a cursed spiritual avatar, and a cursed king's avatar, at that! If you touch it, once it revives, you won't be able to free yourself from it," Blue Lantern advised again.
Xiao Nanfeng shook his head. "I think I'm beyond that point by now..."
Blue Lantern froze stiff. Indeed, he didn't know how to advise Xiao Nanfeng any longer. An ordinary person tangled up with a cursed effigy would surely suffer a fate worse than death, including him. The cursed king had turned him into a cursed slave, forcing him to guard the hidden realm for eons. On the other hand, Xiao Nanfeng was already under the influence of multiple cursed effigies; would another one make such a big difference?
"Elder, if you don't want this blade, I'll happily take it for myself." Xiao Nanfeng reached into the coffin.
Blue Lantern was silent. Even if the alternative was being beaten to death, he would never touch the blade.
Xiao Nanfeng retrieved the blade and began to swing it around experimentally. The ground before him furrowed.
"An excellent blade!" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes lit up.
Blue Lantern gaped at Xiao Nanfeng. He only knew of cursed effigies toying with people; this was the first time he had seen a person toying with cursed effigies. At this rate, Xiao Nanfeng would surely die.
Xiao Nanfeng ignored Blue Lantern's shock. Indeed, he was worried about all the cursed effigies that had gathered around them, but he didn't have the strength to deal with them at the moment. What he could do now was to introduce new enemies to them, forcing them to guard against each other and giving him time to grow.
The copper blade's cursed spiritual power had been consumed by the four cursed effigies that hung around Xiao Nanfeng, and it would naturally seek revenge against them. Having the copper blade around him gave Xiao Nanfeng an unexpected sense of security instead.
"This cursed king was known as the divine undying king, and you need to be prepared for its revival at any moment," Blue Lantern advised again.
"In that case, I'll call this blade the Divine Undying Blade!" Xiao Nanfeng happily swung the blade around.
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