Chapter 51: Swords and Demons
In the evening of the second day, a group of Taiqing disciples were rushing forward along a mountainous path with their swords unsheathed.
"Nanfeng, why did you borrow my Immortal Cicada this morning? You acted so mysteriously and refused to tell me anything even when I asked!" Yu'er nudged Xiao Nanfeng curiously.
"Marquis Wu mentioned that our swords had to be wielded by a couple in order to display the greatest possible effects. I was analyzing your Immortal Cicada to see just how our swords meshed together and what it would take to be considered a couple," Xiao Nanfeng replied, making up nonsense.
He was worried that something was wrong with Yu'er's Immortal Cicada, as had been the case with his own. Indeed, just like his Immortal Cicada, Marquis Wu had implanted a soul into it. Fortunately, he had discovered it in time.
Worried that Yu'er would be concerned about the implanted souls, as well as the beast within his storage ring, Xiao Nanfeng refused to divulge any details to her.
"You really are bored, aren't you?" Yu'er's face was faintly red. She changed the topic. "Right, you've been acting weird these past few days too. Why do you keep hiding from the elder? Have you offended her before?"
"How could that be? I don't know her at all."
Xiao Nanfeng stared at Yu'er with shock. Did women all have such strong intuition?
"Really? Could I be mistaken?" Yu'er glanced at Xiao Nanfeng questioningly.
"Let's go! The elder's over there, waiting for us!" Xiao Nanfeng changed the topic before Yu'er could say anything more.
Only then did Yu'er nod as she looked toward the peak of a mountain in the distance.
Atop the mountain, the Lady Arclight, dressed in her usual blue, stood with her sword in hand. From that vantage point, she looked down at Mt. Crow. The region boasted quite a number of other mountains, whose tips poked above the cloud cover. There were all manner of spirits on each mountain, predominantly crows. Flocks of crows darted through the clouds.
She surveyed Mt. Crow, then turned to look at the Taiqing disciples making their way over. Her gaze fixated on Xiao Nanfeng.
"Pretending to have caught a cold and turning his voice hoarse in an attempt to evade my detection? All who talk badly of me shall suffer. You said that my beast-luring melody sounded atrocious, didn't you? Well, let's see how you feel when you experience its effects, then."
The Lady Arclight's fingers reached toward the void. A few strings formed of spiritual aether suddenly appeared before her. As she plucked them with her fingers, the strings began to resonate in a mysterious melody, the notes of which she sent toward a flock of crow spirits in the distance.
The crow spirits were just about to hunt for food when a sudden burst of music struck them. They were hypnotized by the music, causing them to sense countless voices cursing and raging at them, taunting and mocking. They immediately looked around in anger as they tried to identify the source of the voices.
The music came from the Lady Arclight, but as a result of her spiritual hypnosis, the crow spirits targeted the Taiqing disciples instead, prioritizing Xiao Nanfeng specifically.
They roared in outrage as they surged toward the Taiqing disciples.
From afar, the Taiqing disciples saw a black mass heading their way—a flock of black crows.
"Crow spirits! Get ready for a fight!" Ye Sanshui shouted. He had been the first to discover the crow spirits.
"Two golden crows and three thousand ordinary ones? This won't be an easy battle!" one disciple called out.
"I'll handle one golden crow spirit. Yu'er, Nanfeng, you each have an Immortal Cicada in your possession, so you'll take on the other! Everyone else, deal with the ordinary crow spirits!" Ye Sanshui commanded.
"Understood!" everyone replied.
Some disciples looked at the Lady Arclight in the distance, but they knew that she was only there to serve as guardian and protector. Unless the disciples were about to die, she wouldn't step in to interfere with their training.
One golden crow led the flock. It spat out a large fireball.
"Flying sword!" Ye Sanshui cried out.
In the blink of an eye, Ye Sanshui's flying sword had shot forward. Its chilly aura counteracted the fireball. Then, it returned to Ye Sanshui's hand. He struck at the golden crow with his sword, initiating the first in a series of fights.
The second golden crow spirit flew toward the Taiqing disciples. Yu'er and Nanfeng immediately activated their Immortal Cicadas and rushed forward.
The Immortal Cicadas were far superior to Ye Sanshui's flying sword. A ray of golden light shot out as they flashed toward the golden crow spirit in an instant.
The golden crow spirit spat out a fireball that instantly engulfed Yu'er's flying sword. Xiao Nanfeng dodged the fireball by steering his flying sword with spiritual power, piercing straight through the golden crow spirit's chest.
The golden crow spirit instantly glowed with golden light, shielding its body with spiritual power as it blocked Xiao Nanfeng's sword, but the strength of the attack was such that the golden crow spirit was also knocked back. As expected, the attack was effective.
The golden crow spirit howled in anger before pouncing toward the two cultivators once more. Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er hurriedly defended themselves with their swords, though they were momentarily in a dire state.
Xiao Nanfeng could actually have put more strength into his attack. As Marquis Wu had mentioned yesterday, the stronger one's spiritual power, the stronger the flying sword they controlled.
Just then, however, Xiao Nanfeng caught a snatch of music, which he vividly remembered. Wasn't it the tune that the Lady Arclight had been playing on the erhu? He had called the music atrocious...
Could these crows have been lured over by the Lady Arclight herself?
Xiao Nanfeng couldn't help but turn to the Lady Arclight in the distance. She was calmly standing at the peak of the mountain, seemingly looking at him with interest.
Xiao Nanfeng's heart thumped. Could she have recognized me? Is she trying to seek revenge? I just said the truth—why is she so petty? Well, I can't appear to be too strong, or she might make it worse.
Xiao Nanfeng began to suppress his spiritual energy, using about as much as Yu'er. Although they seemed to be in precarious straits, neither could the golden crow spirit do anything to them.
Xiao Nanfeng acted surprisingly realistically, pretending that he was giving it his all even as he watched out for Yu'er's safety.
"Be careful, Nanfeng!" At the same time, Yu'er was paying attention to him as well.
Xiao Nanfeng narrowly avoided a large fireball by the skin of his teeth.
"I'm alright, Senior Sister! I'll attract its attention while you find a way to deal with it!" Xiao Nanfeng called out as he dodged.
Xiao Nanfeng attracted the golden crow spirit's attention, manipulating his flying sword and causing it to jump back and forth. He looked to be in a sorry state, but his sacrifice allowed Yu'er to be much safer as a result.
Not far away, the hundred Immanence-realm disciples who were hard at work fighting ordinary crow spirits glanced over at Xiao Nanfeng and watched him flee and scamper. Suddenly, they felt far better about themselves. They had been rather envious of the flying sword that Xiao Nanfeng had obtained for free, but it wasn't all good, either. With greater power came greater responsibility, after all.
From the mountain peak in the distance, the Lady Arclight watched on as Xiao Nanfeng fought. Upon seeing Xiao Nanfeng's battered and exhausted appearance, her lips curled up in a smile. She was very pleased.
Two hours later, the fighting from afar came to an end. The crow spirits had been slaughtered wholesale, but the Taiqing disciples were also starting to run dry in terms of stamina. There wasn't a significant disparity in strength between the disciples and the crow spirits; they were all nearing their limits.
Yu'er's flying sword grew weaker and weaker, and the golden crow spirit no longer spat out any fireballs. Even so, they were still fighting each other ferociously. Xiao Nanfeng was covered in dirt and dust, and he looked as though he would collapse at any moment.
From afar, the Lady Arclight saw that her goal had been accomplished. If this fight were to drag out any longer, someone might really die. She began to fly toward the disciples, prepared to rescue them.
Just then, the nearly exhausted golden crow spirit launched a final counterattack at Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er.
"Nanfeng, I can't keep going. I'm almost drained of spiritual power—I can't spur my flying sword forward any longer! Run!" Yu'er held up her blade and prepared to defend against the golden crow spirit's final onslaught, securing him the time he needed to escape, when Xiao Nanfeng's eyes focused and he placed a palm on Yu'er's back.
A surge of spiritual energy poured into Yu'er's body, causing the parched heavenly spring in her mindscape to be filled in an instant.
Yu'er: ???
She thought that she and Nanfeng had both run out of spiritual power, but now...
"What are you waiting for? Make a move!" Xiao Nanfeng urged.
Yu'er stopped hesitating. She sent a torrential amount of spiritual power into her flying sword, which exploded in golden light and shot toward the golden crow spirit.
The golden crow spirit seemed taken aback. Hasn't everyone expended their power? How did you manage to launch such an attack?!
The sword moved so rapidly that it was at the golden crow's head within moments. The crow was so weak that it could no longer spit out fireballs; all it could do was muster a small shield of spiritual power around its head—but it could hardly withstand Yu'er's flying sword at full power.
With a clean snick, the sword broke through the barrier of spiritual energy and pierced straight through the golden crow spirit's head.
The golden crow spirit couldn't believe that it had died in such an ignoble manner.
"It's dead! One of the golden crow spirits has died!"
The remaining Taiqing disciples, spurred by the success, immediately began fighting with renewed vigor. Meanwhile, the crow spirits, seeing one of their leaders killed, had their morale drained. They began to panic and were quickly defeated by the disciples.
The other golden crow spirit, seeing that its comrade had perished, made a series of blunders. Ye Sanshui found an opportunity to get past its guard and thrust his sword through its chest.
"Haha, take that!" Ye Sanshui grinned; he had won!
The Lady Arclight, still flying over, suddenly stopped. She glanced at the battlefield in the distance in shock. Had the tides turned before she could do anything?
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