Chapter 167: The Red Fog Formation
The ancient turtle's description evoked pity in the crowd. Xiao Nanfeng prudently asked, "You told You Jiu that you would hand us a transformative opportunity as long as he brought you away from the Isle of Nalan?"
"I had been exaggerating, of course, out of desire to flee the Isle of Nalan. As is, I am bereft of all but a few ordinary spiritbeast cultivation techniques. I wouldn't have been able to live up to my word—if not for the fact that you possess the Immortal's Destruction of the divine empire of Great Wei. I can provide you with critical information about its usage, which none but I am aware of. Emperor Wei couldn't have known about it that year he borrowed it, either."
"Oh?" Xiao Nanfeng replied curiously.
"The Immortal's Destruction can absorb the energy of the earth. If used correctly, it can extract a draconic vein fully as well," the ancient turtle began.
"You mean that the Immortal's Destruction can absorb draconic aether?"
The ancient turtle shook its head. "It can strip all the energy in a draconic vein and manifest it fully."
"Oh?" Xiao Nanfeng gasped.
"I can sense a minor draconic vein underneath this Isle of Xiao, and one underneath the Isle of Nalan as well. If you're interested, I can teach you how to use the Immortal's Destruction in this manner."
"What are the consequences?" Xiao Nanfeng frowned.
"The consequences? You can either absorb all the draconic aether for yourself, or transform all of that aether into a massively supercharged attack. Guess how strong it'll be." The ancient turtle smiled.
Xiao Nanfeng was stunned. The cost was considerable, but the benefit equally extreme.
"Please enlighten me," Xiao Nanfeng asked, his eyes brightening.
The ancient turtle smiled. "I can't do anything while suppressed by this golden fist."
Xiao Nanfeng understood that this was a negotiation of terms.
"Of course. Please allow me to free you, elder," Xiao Nanfeng replied smoothly.
The ancient turtle nodded.
"Sir Xiao, this golden fist bears extreme heat. It's a particularly unusual seal. Warble and I have tried to dispel it, but we weren't even able to touch it," You Jiu informed him.
"Once you try to attack the fist, it'll start burning up like mad! It burned my hands," Warble immediately added.
"This ardent seal was applied by Emperor Tianshu himself, and breaking it is no easy feat," the turtle concluded.
Xiao Nanfeng prodded the golden fist gingerly with a finger. Indeed, the moment he touched it, a tremendous wave of fire shot into his body, intending to burn him to a crisp.
You Jiu and Warble might not have been able to withstand the flames, but Xiao Nanfeng was different. The moment the flame shot into his body, the three suns in his dantian glowed with resplendent light, then began to absorb the flames and transform them into pure yang qi.
"Ah? You're fine? Do you cultivate pure yang qi?" the turtle remarked in surprise.
"Is pure yang qi necessary to unseal you?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.
The turtle gave him a complicated look. "This 'ardent seal' was formed out of pure yang qi by Emperor Tianshu. As an Ascension-realm cultivator, you wouldn't be able to bear the flames unless you possessed pure yang qi of your own.
"Oh?" Xiao Nanfeng seemed surprised.
"This ardent seal boasts so much pure yang qi that it might take you more than a month to unseal me completely, but the fact that it's possible at all is enough." The ancient turtle appeared to be tremendously excited about the possibility of freedom.
"It might not take that long," Xiao Nanfeng replied, concentrating.
He spurred forth the three suns within his body at full strength, causing tremendous suction to envelop the golden fist. Blazing flames shot out of the fist and were sucked into Xiao Nanfeng's body.
A tremendous eruption rocked the valley, which was ablaze with flame. The golden fist released such overwhelming fire that You Jiu, Zheng Qian, and the others were all forced back.
"How could this be?! You're only at Ascension. How can you withstand such tremendous quantities of pure yang qi?!"
"Rise!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted.
With a huge boom, the golden fist rose up from the ancient turtle's back and floated into the sky. It transformed into a large fireball that encapsulated Xiao Nanfeng, burning everything around him. If not for Croak and Warble suppressing the fire, it could very well have burned the entire valley.
Everyone was shocked.
The ancient turtle grew serious. "Could he be cultivating some solar technique? It has to be something of that nature. How bold—doesn't he know that he could very well burn himself to death with the slightest incaution? Emperor Tianshu was a madman, and he is too!"
After two whole hours, Xiao Nanfeng finished absorbing the seemingly endless flames given off by the golden fist. A wave of energy emanated from Xiao Nanfeng's body, flattening the grass and shrubs around them.
"Have you broken through, Xiao Nanfeng?" Croak asked.
Xiao Nanfeng nodded with a contemplative frown. He was now in the fourth stage of Ascension, with a fourth sun in his dantian. Simultaneously, he had gleaned just how frightening Emperor Tianshu was.
"Elder, do you feel more comfortable now?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.
"Thank you, lad," the ancient turtle replied with satisfaction.
It slowly stretched as white fog emerged from its body, cracking open the chains that fettered it.
Xiao Nanfeng tensed slightly, but his smile remained plastered on his face.
"Elder, these five copper spikes were responsible for manifesting a protective formation around the entirety of the Isle of Xiao. Can they still be used in this manner?"
"These five copper spikes are known as the dragon-inducing pillars, and are a notable treasure in their own right. They can extract draconic aether from the ground to form a protective ward, but require sources of special attributes whose form the ward will take on," the ancient turtle explained.
"What counts as such a source?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.
"What did you think of the protective formation you attacked on the Isle of Nalan?"
"That formation could manifest fists to block the attacks from the Immortal's Destruction and form a sturdy layer of defense, almost like..." Xiao Nanfeng trailed off.
"Like a turtle's shell?" the ancient turtle asked jokingly.
Xiao Nanfeng nodded.
"I was the source, the battery, for the previous formation on the Isle of Nalan. The dragon-inducing pillars that sent draconic aether through me caused it to take on the protective nature of turtleshell, as well as the destructive power of the golden fist. These are examples of the special attributes you seek."
"In that case, without you and the golden fist from before, elder, can these pillars not display the same strength they had before?" Xiao Nanfeng frowned.
"If you have treasures with special attributes, you could incorporate them to form a new defensive formation."
"Other treasures?" Xiao Nanfeng murmured thoughtfully.
There were a few small relics within Marquis Wu's storage treasure, but none of them had interested Xiao Nanfeng. How could they provide any special attributes?
Suddenly, Xiao Nanfeng retrieved a length of red rope. "Elder, does this count?"
The ancient turtle glanced at the rope with surprise. "This... is the avatar of a cursed effigy?"
"That's right. This red rope has to boast some special attributes, doesn't it?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.
The turtle frowned. "It would work, but the moment the cursed effigy's spiritual avatar were to return, it would control the entire formation."
"That's not a problem. We'll use it," Xiao Nanfeng replied immediately.
Madam Rouge had consumed the red rope's cursed spiritual avatar, and it would take an incredible amount of time for a new spiritual avatar to condense.
The turtle appeared to have some reservations, but it still nodded. "We can try it."
Following the turtle's instructions, Xiao Nanfeng placed all five pillars within a mountain cave, then broke a hole through the ceiling to form a skylight of sorts. He placed the red rope there in the very middle, chained it, and furiously began to activate the copper pillars.
The copper pillars absorbed a significant portion of energy from the draconic veins underground. All that energy shot toward the red rope, taking on its properties, before being re-absorbed by the copper pillars. Red light shot into the air and manifested in the form of a hemispherical dome of red fog.
Xiao Nanfeng modulated the radius of the hemisphere via the copper pillars. The domain of red fog expanded until it encompassed the whole of the Isle of Xiao. From afar, that thin layer of red fog looked particularly bright and beautiful.
"Is this it?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.
"That's it. You can test its effects, if you'd like. There are five entryways for this formation, which are the only way in." The ancient turtle smiled as it pointed out where the entryways were located.
"Let me have a try!" Croak volunteered.
It flew out of the island, passing through the red fog and into the sea. The formation didn't stop it from leaving. When Croak then turned around and began heading back inland, however, the moment it passed through the red fog, it felt as though its neck had caught on something.
A length of red rope had appeared out of nowhere and hung Croak in the air. Croak didn't resist; it allowed the rope to lift it up, as though it were committing suicide.
"Something's wrong. Croak isn't moving. Break the array, quick!"Warble shouted.
A cloud of red fog had appeared by the five copper pillars. Following the ancient turtle's instruction, Xiao Nanfeng de-activated the formation. The red fog dispersed, along with the length of red rope around Croak's neck. It fell from the sky and awakened in shock.
"Scary!" Croak croaked.
It rushed through an open entryway of the formation and back toward where the cultivators had gathered.
"What was going on? Why didn't you resist?" Warble asked.
"I fell into an illusion. A length of red rope choked me. I couldn't break free!" Croak shuddered.
Xiao Nanfeng and the others glanced at the red fog surrounding them. Even Croak, a Spiritsong-realm cultivator, had been defenseless against the attack. Wasn't the formation far stronger than it had been in the Isle of Nalan?
"The draconic vein on this island is too small to be able to provide much support to the formation, and it can only block Spiritsong-realm cultivators at most. You'll still need to be careful," the turtle said.
"That's more than enough, elder. Thank you for your guidance." Xiao Nanfeng was very satisfied.
With this formation of red fog, the Isle of Xiao would be far safer than it had been before.
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