Chapter 62: The Golden Lotus
Had Lord Wei just been eaten? The dozen cultivators wielding spiritbane crossbows gaped. They too wanted to turn and run, but the toad spirit had been freed and was in outrage.
The two Ascension-realm cultivators had been swallowed by the toad spirit one after the other, and the remaining cultivators weren't able to work together. Xiao Nanfeng had killed a group, and another group was mired in the forest. The dozen or so remaining cultivators by the lotus pond were no match for the toad spirit and Xiao Nanfeng, who took them down within moments.
Just then, the twelve cultivators who had been chasing Xiao Nanfeng through the forest rushed back to see a pile of corpses. They attempted to run, but the toad spirit and Xiao Nanfeng caught them all.
With a series of cries, the twelve cultivators turned into corpses, killed to the last.
There were still quite a number of arrows stuck into the toad spirit's body, and Xiao Nanfeng's own body was full of blood. The man and spirit had been bathed in carnage—but with their individual revenge taken, they slowly began to relax.
They glanced at each other, and the atmosphere suddenly turned tense. Xiao Nanfeng didn't know if the toad spirit would turn on him, and he prepared to retreat into the forest warily.
The toad spirit, meanwhile, was staring at Xiao Nanfeng, thinking about how he should treat the man before him. After all, it was a man who had broken his family apart. Even though the man had saved it, it was still a human...
"That toad spirit looks as though it might be dead, but I think there's still some remnant vitality." Xiao Nanfeng pointed at the female toad spirit in the distance.
The male toad, seemingly understanding Xiao Nanfeng's words, leapt toward his companion.
It nudged the female toad with its head, but it remained immobile. Fretful, the toad spirit stared at Xiao Nanfeng with eyes like copper cymbals.
Xiao Nanfeng slowly walked up to the female toad spirit's huge body and caresssed its head. He used his spiritual power to examine its body, finding that, although it still had some residual warmth, it had lost all vitality.
Xiao Nanfeng sighed. "It looks like it's too late. If we had dealt with the cultivators earlier, perhaps it might have survived..."
The toad spirit's eyes lost their glimmer. As it stared silently at its companion's body, it suddenly blinked, hopped into the pond, and drew the rainbow lotus over, along with its roots and a pile of pond mud. It stuffed the lotus into the female toad's mouth, then slowly began pulling out the arrows from its back, one by one.
The female toad swallowed the rainbow lotus involuntarily. Subsequently, its body began to glow in rainbow light.
Moments later, the female toad slowly opened its eyes, though it remained frightfully weak.
Xiao Nanfeng was gobsmacked. This rainbow lotus was far more mystical than he had realized—it could revive even the dead!
The two toads croaked at each other.
As Xiao Nanfeng was about to depart, the male toad spirit leapt up and jumped right up to Xiao Nanfeng.
Xiao Nanfeng stepped back, guarding himself with his Immortal Cicada, as he prepared to flee into the forest.
The male toad suddenly croaked, but no one could make out what it was trying to say.
Subsequently, the toad pushed a pile of mud toward Xiao Nanfeng, which contained a golden lotus root. Although it was buried in pond mud, which tended toward the yin, the lotus root possessed tremendous yang energy.
Xiao Nanfeng was quite surprised.
"This is for me?" he confirmed.
The male toad nodded, croaking again.
"Thank you. I'll accept with gratitude." Xiao Nanfeng picked up the golden lotus root.
The male toad leapt back toward its companion's side, protecting the female toad.
Xiao Nanfeng kept the golden root in his storage ring, then looked at the paired toads. "Hey, I'm going to be leaving now! These fellows aren't cultivators to be trifled with. They've sent for stronger reinforcements, who will definitely come check up on what has happened. The two of you should leave immediately after recuperating!"
The male and female toads looked toward Xiao Nanfeng, croaking at him in response to his warning.
Only then did Xiao Nanfeng step back into the forest. He quickly arrived by a freshly made mound.
"Senior Brother, I've avenged you now. All those cultivators will accompany you in death, and you can rest in peace!"
Xiao Nanfeng paid his respects to his senior brother, then darted through the forest and back into the lair of the boar spirit. It was turning dark, and many nocturnal spirits were about to start hunting for food.
Finally, right before sunset, Xiao Nanfeng made it back to the boar spirit's lair. He used the water from the stream right outside the lair to clean the golden lotus root.
Within the lair, the Lady Arclight remained unconscious. After ten days of Xiao Nanfeng's caretaking, however, her face had recovered from its unusual pallor, and she looked far better than before.
Xiao Nanfeng glanced expectantly at the golden lotus root.
"If, at the first stage of Immanence, I'm already on par with those at the fifth stage, what would happen if I kept breaking through?" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes lit up.
He bit down on the golden lotus root, causing a gust of yang energy to spread throughout his body all the way toward his extremities. His pores glimmered with faint golden light. A faint corona surrounded him.
He quickly converted all that energy into yang qi, which he used to unclog his second divine conduit.
A golden thread seemed to be circulating around his body, giving him a glimmer of divinity.
After two hours, a burst of energy emanated from his body.
"That's the second divine conduit. I'm in the second stage of Immanence!" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes were shining.
He took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and made use of the remaining yang qi to unblock his divine capillaries as well.
When Xiao Nanfeng felt as though he was running out of yang qi, he would take another bite of the lotus root and continue cultivating. One, two, three capillaries...
As Xiao Nanfeng consumed more and more of the lotus root, the energy in his body swelled as he unblocked one divine capillary after another.
As dawn broke, another wave of energy swelled from his body.
"All nine divine capillaries were unblocked!" Xiao Nanfeng opened his eyes, which shone with beams of golden light.
Xiao Nanfeng felt revitalized and full of energy, as though his strength had increased considerably.
Large quantities of black impurities had been exuded from his pores, and Xiao Nanfeng hurriedly cleaned himself up in the stream outside.
There was only a tenth of the golden lotus root remaining. Xiao Nanfeng brought it toward the Lady Arclight.
"It's already been ten days. How long will it be before you wake up?" Xiao Nanfeng sighed.
He crushed the lotus root and gently placed it in the Lady Arclight's mouth. She began to eat subconsciously. The lotus root was sweet and fragrant, and she consumed it all quickly. After she was done, she even licked her lips with her tongue, as if she wanted more.
"You're a glutton, aren't you? Even though you're unconscious, you're basically about to drool after eating some food!" Xiao Nanfeng laughed, wiping at the Lady Arclight's mouth with a handkerchief.
However, Xiao Nanfeng's smile suddenly froze. The Lady Arclight had opened her eyes and was giving him a death stare.
Xiao Nanfeng: ...
He had just been wiping her lips; had he suddenly wiped her eyes open, too?
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