Chapter 36: Thoroughly Entangled
The skeleton continued teleporting about even after Ma Shan's death. In the blink of an eye, two more disciples perished.
"Junior Brother Nanfeng, we were wrong! Please save us!" Five wounded disciples rushed toward Xiao Nanfeng in fear.
Xiao Nanfeng was just about to defend them when the skeleton blinked before him and swiped at his palms. Even with all his spiritual power, he was still forced back three steps before regaining his footing.
"It's growing this quickly?!" They had been fighting on equal footing just moments ago, but now it had already surpassed him in strength!
The skeleton flashed behind Xiao Nanfeng as alarm bells rang in his head. He swung with the back of his elbows, but the skeleton moved so quickly that it caught his elbows with one claw and slammed its claw into his lower back with the other. With a dull smack, he was sent flying.
Xiao Nanfeng grew very worried. If this were to continue, all his spiritual power would be used up.
The skeleton, however, had different plans. It immediately tossed Xiao Nanfeng aside and flashed to the side of the other incapacitated disciples. Two more were pierced through the chest.
"Argh! Save me!" They fell amidst pools of blood.
The skeleton sucked up the smoke that represented their souls and grew even stronger.
"Help!" The remaining three disciples were so scared that their mental states were nearing collapse. They fled in three different directions, giving the skeleton ample opportunity to take them down one by one. It flashed to one enemy disciple's side.
Xiao Nanfeng was sweating heavily. He had been trapped within an illusion and wasn't able to contact anyone on the outside. If the skeleton were able to kill everyone, he would be dead too.
The skeleton killed one more disciple, leaving just one still fleeing.
"It's grown even stronger. I don't have enough spiritual power to counteract it. What other forces might I call on? Would the superior yin pearl do anything here?"
Xiao Nanfeng had no idea what else he could do. He knew that objects in reality wouldn't manifest in illusory realms, but he still attempted to draw on the power of his only treasure.
Within his physical body's forehead, the superior yin pearl, suddenly sensing the flow of spiritual power, trembled almost imperceptibly. It didn't pass into the illusory realm, but did give off a gust of cold air.
The chilly air entered the illusory realm, along with a burst of spiritual power.
Within the realm, an aura of frost suddenly formed around Xiao Nanfeng, which swiftly transformed into a howling blizzard.
"It's so cold!" Xiao Nanfeng shivered.
The blizzard froze everything in sight. The frozen void then shattered, revealing a glowing opening.
Without any hesitation, Xiao Nanfeng escaped through that opening.
Subsequently, he felt a mental jolt, and his eyes suddenly opened. He awoke.
A layer of frost had formed over his physical body, making him shudder in the cold, but Xiao Nanfeng was exhilarated. He had escaped from the illusory realm!
"The superior yin pearl can help me escape from illusions? I can finally evade Madam Rouge, now?!" Xiao Nanfeng whispered to himself, his teeth chattering.
Within the illusion, the skeleton killed the final survivor, then looked toward the opening of the illusion from which Xiao Nanfeng had escaped.
As it sucked up the last unfortunate disciple's soul, it flashed to the opening, black smoke wafted up from its forehead. Its jaws clacked in anger.
Back in reality, Xiao Nanfeng circulated qi throughout his body, warming himself up, before checking his surroundings.
The corpses of Ma Shan and the others lay all around him, and there was ash on the ground in the shape of a talisman.
Xiao Nanfeng glanced around him, as though having deduced something, before his face turned dark. His eyes flashed with anger.
"Zhao Yuanjiao, I know you're here!"
His surroundings were silent.
"Zhao Yuanjiao, I know all this happened because of you! You're surely around here somewhere—or do you not dare own up to your actions?!"
After a long silence, three figures finally walked out of the fog. Leading the trio was none other than Zhao Yuanjiao.
Zhao Yuanjiao seemed perplexed. "How did you know?"
"If I weren't worried about disturbing Master, how would I have been tricked and lured out here by Chen Ran using your jade token? How dare you take advantage of Master in this fashion?! You're really out of line!" Xiao Nanfeng chastised.
"My jade token was stolen," Zhao Yuanjiao explained, frowning.
"Stolen? More like you deliberately allowed it to be stolen! Do you know just what happened in that illusion? Are you aware of the consequences?!" Xiao Nanfeng continued, his rage unabating.
"The Talisman of Phantasmagoria would only have trapped you for a moment. Within the illusion, they wouldn't have been able to kill you, only to weaken and injure your soul. At the worst, you would be unconscious for a few days. You would hardly have died," Zhao Yuanjiao replied, unruffled.
His two juniors went to examine the ten corpses before they suddenly recoiled.
"Senior Brother, they've all died!" one junior disciple reported.
"What? They've died?" Zhao Yuanjiao gaped in consternation. Only then did he discover that something was badly wrong.
"Don't be too confident in yourself. Don't think that you have everything under control—or if something goes truly wrong, you won't be able to clear your name even in death," Xiao Nanfeng spat out coldly.
"What happened within the illusion?!" Zhao Yuanjiao asked.
"Think about how to explain this to Master instead!" Instead of giving Zhao Yuanjiao an explanation, he turned and stomped off, wading through the fog.
Zhao Yuanjiao watched Xiao Nanfeng leave with a disturbed expression on his face. The fact that ten corpses had appeared when there should have been none—something was badly wrong.
"This plan was perfect. Even Ma Shan and Chen Ran were caught unawares. You tricked them all, Senior Brother—so how did Junior Brother Nanfeng discover the truth?" one junior disciple asked.
"I have to admit that Nanfeng has an eye for details, to be able to uncover the truth from the tiniest clues," Zhao Yuanjiao replied.
"Not only that, his combat prowess is truly shocking! A disciple at the eighth stage of Acquisition completely overwhelming one at the peak, the tenth stage—I wouldn't have believed it without seeing it for myself," the disciple continued.
"Senior Brother, can we be confident that Nanfeng isn't a demonic spy, now?" the other junior disciple asked.
Zhao Yuanjiao pursed his lips. Over the course of the last few months, he had deliberately provoked Ma Shan and the others, stoking their anger with Nanfeng and waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. He had pretended to leave the island so as to manipulate Chen Ran into rescuing the imprisoned disciples, hoping to get a sense of their attitude toward Nanfeng and hence to determine if Nanfeng really were a spy. Unfortunately...
"We can't be confident," Zhao Yuanjiao pronounced.
"Senior Brother, aren't you being a little harsh on Junior Brother Nanfeng? Even Elder Ku is vouching for his innocence..."
"Nanfeng's background is riddled with holes. There has to be something wrong with him, and I don't plan on leaving any suspicions unturned," Zhao Yuanjiao replied stubbornly.
"Very well, but what do we do about these ten dead corpses?" the junior disciple asked.
"They don't have any interrogation value any longer, so their deaths mean little. Perhaps Nanfeng killed them all to prevent them from saying anything," Zhao Yuanjiao suggested.
The two junior disciples gave Zhao Yuanjiao a funny look. You really think poorly of Nanfeng, don't you?
"Senior Brother, shall we leave the scene? The Arclight Villa is right by where we are, and I'm a little worried," a junior disciple suggested, glancing nervously at the villa.
"Right, the desolate music here always gets on my nerves. Can we leave, Senior Brother? If the Lady Arclight herself shows up, we'll be in trouble," the other junior disciple added.
Zhao Yuanjiao glanced at the Arclight Villa with a measure of indignation. "The Lady Arclight? As if I would be afraid of her."
Just then, the music coming from the Arclight Villa halted. All was silent until an overwhelming aura of killing intent surged forth from within the villa, causing the fog all around the villa to grow turbulent.
"What frightening killing intent! Is the Lady Arclight planning on going on a killing spree?!" One junior disciple sucked in his breath.
"Senior Brother, I've never, ever encountered such murderous killing intent from the Arclight Villa! I'm getting goosebumps all over!" The other junior disciple's face was turning pale.
Zhao Yuanjiao's face likewise paled in alarm. He hurriedly picked up four of the corpses. "What are you two waiting for? Let's go!"
"Yes, Senior Brother!" Flustered, the two junior disciples picked up the remaining six corpses as the three of them fled from the Arclight Villa.
Four hours later, as Xiao Nanfeng returned to his lodgings, he had a hot bath, changed his clothes, and then requested another audience with Elder Ku.
Within Elder Ku's hall, Xiao Nanfeng recounted what he had just experienced.
"What do you intend to do about the fact that Yuanjiao set you up?" Elder Ku was frowning.
"Senior Brother was only doing so in an attempt to root out any demonic spies that had infiltrated the sect. I don't mind—let's drop the matter," Xiao Nanfeng replied, sighing and shaking his head.
Did he really not mind? Of course he did! However, Zhao Yuanjiao was the most senior of Elder Ku's disciples, and it would be improper to force his master into a quandary. I'll take revenge on my own—there'll be an opportunity sooner or later.
Elder Ku patted Xiao Nanfeng's shoulder. "You're a good child, but Yuanjiao has gone too far this time around. I'll punish him severely."
"Yes, Master!" Xiao Nanfeng replied.
Haha! Master's angry now, Zhao Yuanjiao—you're going to suffer the way you deserve to!
"When you fought together against Madam Rouge, Ma Shan used some treasure to break out of the illusion, forming a portal? You took the opportunity to escape as Madam Rouge killed the last of them?" Elder Ku asked for clarification.
"Yes, Master!" Although Xiao Nanfeng respected his master, the superior yin pearl was too large a treasure, and concerned too many secrets, for Xiao Nanfeng to be willing to reveal it just yet.
Elder Ku gave him a complicated look. "You were the only living being in the illusion before you escaped, so that illusory realm belonged solely to you. It looks as though... Madam Rouge has entered your mindscape for good."
Xiao Nanfeng: ...
"However, you were lucky to have been able to escape. Perhaps this will be a blessing in disguise," Elder Ku consoled him.
"What should I do now, Master?" Xiao Nanfeng asked in worry.
"What if you leave Taiqing Island for the time being and return to the mortal world at large? Perhaps Madam Rouge will lose interest in you," Elder Ku proposed.
Xiao Nanfeng: ...It spent a few months stalking me in an attempt to get into my mindscape. Would it really lose interest in me that quickly?!
"Don't scare yourself too much. Things might improve for the better—go out and have a walk, eat your fill, drink your fill, and you might be better before you know it," Elder Ku advised.
Xiao Nanfeng looked toward Elder Ku in silence. Why do I feel like you've given up all hope on me, Master?
"During this excursion, I have only one request to make of you," Elder Ku suddenly informed him severely.
"Yes, Master!"
"Keep the laws of the Taiqing sect in mind at all times. Many disciples have already forgotten them, but I hope that you will follow the Taiqing teachings strictly and seriously," Elder Ku intoned.
"The foundation of the Taiqing sect? The sect motto?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.
"Be not party to evil; strive instead to be as a dragon!" Elder Ku proclaimed.
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