Chapter 69: The Toad Spirit Again
Young Master Wei called out for his subordinates to stop the two cultivators as he ran for his life.
"Be careful, Young Master!" one armored cultivator called out.
The Immortal Cicada was rapidly approaching Young Master Wei's head. He was sent flying by a tremendous force, but a red barrier that suddenly materialized over his body protected him.
"That jade pendant by his waist is a defensive treasure whose defense the Immortal Cicada can't penetrate. Don't worry—just hold him back. Once we deal with everyone else here, we can handle him slowly," the Lady Arclight called out.
She embarked on a killing spree once more.
She looked like a martial god descending from the heavens, and her aura was so frightening that the armored cultivators fled and scattered wherever she went.
"Don't worry. He won't be able to escape!" Xiao Nanfeng cried out.
The Immortal Cicada resonated, knocking the fleeing Young Master Wei back. Young Master Wei had discovered that, with the flying sword around, he was completely unable to escape, not even with his treasured jade pendant.
"Don't you dare run, any of you! If you do, the Wei clan will slaughter your entire house! Everyone, kill that man, do it now!" Young Master Wei howled.
The cultivators who were fleeing blanched, knowing that Young Master Wei was a man of his word. They had no choice but to quash their fear and turn toward Xiao Nanfeng.
Xiao Nanfeng and the Lady Arclight struck at the cultivators coming their way. The Lady Arclight took down every opponent with a single blow; while Xiao Nanfeng could hardly be as efficient, he too was undefeated in conjunction with his Immortal Cicada.
Within moments, dozens of corpses were scattered by the two cultivators' sides.
The remaining ten cultivators, regardless of how Young Master Wei threatened them, refused to approach Xiao Nanfeng and the Lady Arclight. They discarded the blades and bows in their hands as they ran for their lives.
Xiao Nanfeng snorted.
The Immortal Cicada gave chase, killing a few cultivators from the back, leaving just a lucky few stragglers who managed to make it into the forest cover.
Xiao Nanfeng and the Lady Arclight waded over a pile of corpses as they walked up to Young Master Wei, who trembled in fear. "Don't kill me! I'll hand you anything!"
"Take off your pendant," Xiao Nanfeng commanded coldly.
Young Master Wei blanched. The pendant was his only defensive artifact! He gritted his teeth, eyes flashing, as he unsheathed his blade and struck at Xiao Nanfeng.
The Immortal Cicada smashed Young Master Wei back onto the ground.
"That was meant to be a chance for you to surrender, but you refused it instead? Do you really think we can't do anything against your pendant?" The Lady Arclight scoffed disdainfully.
She stepped forward and launched a flurry of blows at Young Master Wei, ten in all. With a huge explosion, the jade pendant burst apart in a flash of red. The Lady Arclight's final blow sliced Young Master Wei's right arm off.
"Argh!" Young Master Wei howled, clutching his stump of an arm. "What do you want? I'll give you anything! Don't kill me!"
"Why don't you have any Ascension-realm cultivators with you?" Xiao Nanfeng interrogated coldly.
"I—" Young Master Wei held his tongue.
"If you don't tell me, I'll cut off your other arm," the Lady Arclight threatened.
"I'll talk! My father and the others are in the swamp in the southern valley dealing with the two toad spirits. All the Ascension-realm cultivators are there!" Young Master Wei replied in panic.
"Then what are you doing here?" Xiao Nanfeng asked coldly.
"My men saw you using your flying sword yesterday, and we guessed that you had to be Nanfeng or Yu'er. Allegedly, neither of them has a particularly advanced cultivation, and my scouts found that that cave showed signs of being inhabited when exploring this territory. That's why I showed up with some of my men. If there were an Ascension-realm cultivator with you, we would have run immediately—but if you were at Immanence, we would strike." Young Master Wei revealed everything in an instant.
"So you were hiding this expedition from your Ascension-realm elders, hoping to claim all the profit for yourself?" Xiao Nanfeng asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Yes. If I had waited for my father and the other senior cultivators to make a move, the flying sword surely would end up being passed to someone else, so..."
Young Master Wei had been planning to take on this challenge for himself, only to belatedly realize that he had bitten off more than he could chew.
"Why have you come here?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.
"Allegedly, there's a tremendous treasure in the area that was being zealously guarded by a frog spirit. The frog spirit has now gone to the divine domain, and His Highness mobilized various lords to discover where the treasure is located. However, they encountered two toad spirits, who killed my second uncle. This was a slight on my father, who mobilized to take revenge immediately with the other lords."
"Where are they now?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.
"In the swamp valley over there. I'll lead you all over." Young Master Wei's eyes flashed with relief. Once my father's within sight, none of you will be able to escape!
"That won't be necessary," Xiao Nanfeng replied. With a snick, he killed Young Master Wei in one blow.
"These cultivators are all responsible for the torture of the Taiqing sect's disciples. Those cultivators that ran off—we'll have to stop them," the Lady Arclight warned.
"They're sure to be heading toward the swamp valley to report what happened. Shall we block them off there?"
"Let's go!"
The two Taiqing cultivators rushed into the forest in the direction that Young Master Wei had pointed them in. They quickly caught up to two armored cultivators fleeing for their lives, who scattered upon realizing whom they had come across.
Xiao Nanfeng and the Lady Arclight killed them on the spot, showing them no mercy.
Finally, at sunset, the two cultivators killed the last of the enemies who had escaped. They sighed in relief, then glanced at each other in the moonlight. This was sufficient revenge for those Taiqing disciples that had been tortured to death, wasn't it?
Just then, the deep rumble of beasts could be heard from a distance. The two cultivators quickly headed toward the scene to investigate. As they climbed up onto a hillock, they were able to see what was going on by moonlight.
They were adjacent to a large valley, the center of which was filled with clear water about half a human's height deep—a huge swamp, lush with weeds and aquatic grasses.
Dozens of armored cultivators' bodies could be seen in the swamp. Two hundred more cultivators were dragging dozens of large chains that bound two huge toad spirits.
The two spirits bellowed in outrage, but they were entirely unable to free themselves. Except for the chains holding them down, there were three men each standing over their heads.
The six men burned with blue flame. The longswords in their hands had been thrust into the toad spirits' heads, causing them to bellow in agony.
"Bastards, let's see how much longer you can hold out!" one man roared in laughter.
"Clan Head Wei, we've suffered tremendous losses trying to help you deal with these two bastards!" one of the other men called out.
"Don't worry. The Wei clan won't forget what you've done to help me avenge my second brother. My men have already begun investigating the matter of the flying swords. We will cede whatever claim we have to them."
"That's not enough. The swords belong to a group of foreigners, and we want to enslave them as well!"
"Very well."
On the hillock, Xiao Nanfeng and the Lady Arclight shared a glance.
"These cultivators aren't giving up on us, are they?" Xiao Nanfeng murmured darkly.
The Lady Arclight also bit her lip, clearly frustrated by this turn of events. With these cultivators watching out for them, they would be unable to continue fishing for draconic aether.
"Are these the two toad spirits you worked with last time?" she asked Xiao Nanfeng.
"That's right. The situation back then was rather unique—but this time, with six Ascension-realm enemy cultivators, if we strike, we may not be able to leave safely," Xiao Nanfeng replied, frowning.
The Lady Arclight's eyes flashed with frost, then she turned toward Xiao Nanfeng expectantly. "Just how much spiritual power do you have?"
"Why?"
"I have a method to deal with the enemy cultivators, but it needs a tremendous quantity of spiritual power. Perhaps if your spiritual cultivation were at Stellar Lake..." the Lady Arclight trailed off, confidence flashing through her eyes.
"You want to lure the spirits over?" Xiao Nanfeng guessed her plan quickly.
"That's right. Do you have enough spiritual power to support me?" the Lady Arclight asked expectantly.
"I think I do. Let's do it." Xiao Nanfeng nodded intently.
"Really?!" The Lady Arclight's eyes lit up.
Xiao Nanfeng retrieved the erhu he had made for the Lady Arclight, which she took immediately. She got into position and prepared to play. "Infuse spiritual power into my body and allow me to manipulate it. The moment you start to run dry, let me know and I'll stop."
"Got it!" Xiao Nanfeng nodded.
He placed his hand on the Lady Arclight's shoulder, sending spiritual power into her body like a raging river.
The spiritual power was so immense that the Lady Arclight was caught unawares, causing a bout of spiritual power to seep out of her body, transforming into a gust of wind that blew through her hair in a sight of picturesque beauty.
"How could your spiritual power be..." The Lady Arclight looked toward Xiao Nanfeng in shock.
She had guessed that it would be impressive, but not to such an extent! His burgeoning spiritual power might very well be comparable to what she had access to at her prime. How could this be?
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