Chapter 233: Suppressing the Cursed King
When a mirror shattered, its fragments would transform into ever more mirrors. The red rope cursed king and his subordinates were shocked by the sight unfolding before them.
The red rope cursed king's face turned dark. "If not for the fact that my cursed spiritual avatar is being suppressed by the dragon king's grudges, you would never be able to withstand my full might!"
"The key is that your cursed spiritual avatar isn't here. What you're saying is pointless," Madam Rouge replied.
The next moment, countless mirrors appeared behind the cursed king's subordinates, dragging them inside.
"Save us, King!" the red ropes shouted in fear.
The red rope cursed king narrowed his eyes. With a wave of his hand, the remaining lengths of red rope vanished from sight, clearly having been sent away. As for those that Madam Rouge had seized—those were doomed.
"Do you really think I won't be able to take you down just because I don't have any red rope cursed spiritual avatars with me? I control seventeen layers of this mirror world, and I can command far more of the mirror's strength than you can. Mirror, I summon you!" the red rope cursed king called out.
A mirror suddenly appeared around the red rope cursed king, as though he too had become a man in a mirror.
Madam Rouge swallowed the cursed spiritual avatars of the red rope subordinates she had seized, then looked toward the red rope cursed king seriously.
"You control only the strength of one layer of the mirror world. How could you hope to be my opponent? Mirror, shatter!" the red rope cursed king commanded.
The mirror in which the red rope cursed king was located exploded into a glittering sea of fragments. Each shard transformed into a mirror in its own right. Emulating Madam Rouge, the red rope cursed king appeared in every mirror.
In barely any time at all, the sky all around was filled with mirrors. Madam Rouge and the red rope cursed king appeared within each one, manipulating their mirrors to attack their opponents'.
Mirrors exploded all across the sky. As their mirrors exploded and regenerated, they would become just a little smaller. More and more mirrors appeared, growing smaller and smaller. From afar, it looked like there were fragments glowing in red and pink trying to wrest control of the sky from each other, like two rivers clashing.
A tempest formed as they struck each other.
From the river of red shards came the red rope cursed king's devious laughter. "As expected of the mirrormaster, you're able to defend against eight layers' worth of energy with just the one that you possess. Unfortunately for you, however, I can control seventeen layers' worth of energy. You're done for. I'll suppress you from now on!"
The storm of red fragments doubled in size. It struck and surrounded the pink fragments, as though preparing to absorb them all.
Just then, the pink fragments exploded into ever smaller fragments, breaking out of the enclosure and forming a larger one around the red fragments instead.
'It's useless. The more you destroy these mirror fragments, the smaller they'll become. You'll only get a temporary burst of strength for doing so, then grow weaker once it dissipates. Madam Rouge, you've lost. Haha!" The red rope cursed king's laughter spread through the air.
"Hurry, Xiao Nanfeng!" Madam Rouge cried out from within the pink shards.
"What?" The red rope cursed king suddenly sensed something amiss.
Just then, the divine purple rock fell from the air, suppressing the shards in the region. It gave off a huge wave of violet light, suppressing all the fragments and causing them to fall still.
"Lad, you really can control the divine purple rock? How can this be?!" the red rope cursed king cried out. It seemed to be in a particularly wretched state.
"Well done! He's been suppressed now," Madam Rouge shouted in excitement.
From above the divine purple rock, Xiao Nanfeng asked, "And what about you, Madam Rouge?"
"She's been suppressed too. Lad, free us both!" the red rope cursed king thundered.
Xiao Nanfeng ignored the red rope cursed king as he waited for Madam Rouge's response.
"I'm fine. Suppression is bearable. I can't move, but neither can he," Madam Rouge replied.
"How will we deal with him, then?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.
"You can't. Don't move the divine purple rock, or he'll be able to escape," Madam Rouge warned.
"Oh?" Xiao Nanfeng's face fell.
"There's only one method now. I need to become stronger, to surpass him in strength, in order to take him down and reclaim control over this mirror world.
"How can I make you stronger?"
"By allowing me to devour souls. Help me find and catch the red rope scattered all over the mirror world. I've sensed the signatures of three thousand of them. If you can take them down and bring them all to me, I'll be able to suppress the red rope cursed king," Madam Rouge stated.
"My subordinates are all at late-stage Lunar Deluge, while he's only at mid-stage Lunar Deluge! It'd be lucky if he didn't get himself killed," the red rope cursed king muttered disdainfully.
"Got it," Xiao Nanfeng replied firmly.
The red rope cursed king frowned. "Lad, do you have some other treasure?"
Xiao Nanfeng ignored him. He asked, "I don't know where the three thousand lengths of red rope are. How can I find them?"
"Don't you have a Mirror of Truth?" Madam Rouge asked.
"This?" Xiao Nanfeng pulled out the mirror he had obtained from Nalan Feng's corpse.
"That's right. I don't know who forged that Mirror of Truth, but it was surely done within this mirror world. It's able to penetrate the fog because it's been infused with my cursed spiritual power. You'll be able to use this mirror to pass through the eighteen layers of the mirror world and find the lengths of red rope. I'll show you how."
"Very well!" Xiao Nanfeng nodded immediately.
Following Madam Rouge's instructions, he activated the Mirror of Truth, which shone with a pink glow. The mirror showed scenes from all eighteen layers of the world and highlighted the locations of all the cursed effigies within.
The next moment, with a hum, he vanished on the spot. He arrived at the seventeenth layer of space, where an isolated length of red rope was located.
When Xiao Nanfeng appeared, the red rope looked up and discovered him. It transformed into a red-robed man who began to laugh upon seeing him.
"Haha, you brat! No wonder I wasn't able to find you. So you've already made it to this layer of the mirror world! I made the right decision in coming here. If I can escort you to the king, I'll have established great merit!" The red-robed man shot forward.
Their fists met, and Xiao Nanfeng was sent flying. However, the red-robed man stumbled back as well. Xiao Nanfeng had made use of Hegemon's Fist to throw a hundred punches at the red rope. His opponent had blocked one, but the remaining ninety-nine had landed.
He was inferior to the red-robed man in strength, but his comprehension of Hegemon's Fist and resulting understanding of fist techniques as a whole went far beyond the man's.
The cultivator and cursed effigy charged at each other again, wounding each other with a tremendous bang.
"Your fist technique might be strong, but a thousand punches from you would hurt less than one from me. You're done for!" the red-robed man crowed confidently.
Before long, however, the red-robed man grew alarmed. "What's all this red light? Where have you gone? Get back here!"
Xiao Nanfeng stood to the side. "You're the one who's done for. You've been struck by the hypnosis of my red moon."
As the red-robed man attacked his surroundings haphazardly, Xiao Nanfeng took the opportunity to strike at his weak spots. Try as he might, his opponent couldn't touch him at all.
Two hours later, the red-robed man finally collapsed, grievously injured. He was no longer able to fight.
Xiao Nanfeng was just about to bring the man to Madam Rouge when he noticed a few spiritbeast techniques carved on a stone wall nearby.
He found that there were a few spiritbeast carcasses in the area. Clearly, the spiritbeasts that had been trapped here had left their techniques behind before they died. Those spirits that were trapped in this seventeenth layer of the mirror world had to be at the peak of strength; they had only fallen because their foes were cursed effigies. There were quite a few techniques; among them, The Divine Golden Toad had the most text.
"The Divine Golden Toad? This would be perfect for Croak and Warble." Xiao Nanfeng's eyes lit up.
He had the ability to memorize all that he saw at a glance, and quickly took down the whole technique. The others were relatively ordinary; he didn't care for them. He activated the cursed spiritual power in the Mirror of Truth and returned to the divine purple rock.
"Madam Rouge, I've dealt one length of red rope. How might I pass it to you?"
"Place it on a pink mirror shard."
Xiao Nanfeng deposited the red-robed man on a shard of pink mirror. The man transformed into fragments of red rope and was absorbed by Madam Rouge. Xiao Nanfeng looked into the mirror shards and could vaguely see Madam Rouge squeezing the rope until it burst apart into a cloud of mist, which she absorbed.
"Well done. Continue taking on his subordinates!" Madam Rouge commanded, very pleased.
"You dare, you brat!" the red rope cursed king roared.
Xiao Nanfeng ignored him and teleported away with the Mirror of Truth. He had to continue hunting down more lengths of red rope; he didn't have time to exchange barbs with the cursed king.
At the same time, in the undying realm, Xiao Nanfeng's main body summoned Croak and Warble, then imparted The Divine Golden Toad to them.
"Xiao Nanfeng, where did you find this technique? It's very strong. Almost like it was made just for me!" Croak exclaimed.
"We were both cultivating by instinct. This technique could help us reach Wingform at any moment," Warble added, with growing excitement.
"With this technique to guide you, if I were to excavate another draconic vein, could you break through to Wingform?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.
The two toad spirits' eyes lit up. Croak nodded. "I can, but we absorbed a vein not too long ago. Didn't you want to wait?"
"The danger's over. It's time to keep going. We'll be heading toward another spiritbeast lair immediately," Xiao Nanfeng replied.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m