Chapter 81: Croak and Warble
Blue Lantern vanished in a puff of smoke, causing the two cultivators to gasp. So this was the might of an immortal! The next moment, they found their attention drawn to the four shining golden balls.
"Toad spirits, this is a gift from the elder. Enjoy it!" Xiao Nanfeng called out, offering them two of the balls.
The two toad spirits understood Xiao Nanfeng's words and could sense the tremendous energy within the small golden balls. They swallowed them immediately. With a hum, resplendent golden light began to shine from the two toad spirits. Their expressions were ones of indescribable pleasure.
Xiao Nanfeng and the Lady Arclight swallowed their own small golden balls, too.
Instantly, Xiao Nanfeng felt draconic aether surge throughout his body. He immediately sat cross-legged and began to meditate, distilling the essence within his body
and transmuting the draconic aether into yang qi. All that energy rushed into Xiao Nanfeng's fifth divine conduit, clearing out the blockage within. Radiant light glowed from his skin, which began to turn golden.
After an hour, a gust of energy seeped out of his body.
"The fifth stage of Immanence? And nine more capillaries to be unblocked!" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes lit up with anticipation.
After another hour, a dull thump came from within his body.
"That's the first capillary down. Let's continue..." Xiao Nanfeng wanted to push himself to his limits from the very beginning.
The second capillary... the fourth... the eighth... the ninth. After Xiao Nanfeng cleared out all his clogged capillaries, he slowly opened his eyes.
He had fully absorbed all the energy from the small golden ball, and he felt as though he were full of strength. More importantly, his skin had turned golden, as though he had been cast from gold.
Upon glancing at his golden skin, Xiao Nanfeng's eyes lit up. "A qi barrier? Allegedly, at and beyond the fifth stage of Immanence, you can line your entire body with qi to serve as a layer of defense. Is this how it's done?"
Xiao Nanfeng attempted to cut his arm with a blade. The blade touched his arm with a clink, like the sound of metal against rock. Xiao Nanfeng began striking himself harder and harder, but it took a surprisingly long time before he began to feel pain.
"Yang qi is truly amazing. Ordinary qi barriers would only be able to block the blades of Acquisition-realm cultivators at this stage, but a yang qi barrier can block even that of an early-stage Immanence-realm cultivator!" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes lit up.
As Xiao Nanfeng reined in his qi, his golden skin returned to its original color.
With satisfaction, Xiao Nanfeng looked around himself. The two toad spirits were still glowing with golden light, as though their bodies contained immense, boundless power. The Lady Arclight was much the same way. The golden light around her had swelled and formed golden flame over the surface of her body.
Xiao Nanfeng wondered, "Had Blue Lantern split the draconic aether up disproportionately? Did I gain the least draconic aether?"
Xiao Nanfeng waited for another two hours before the male toad spirit's body swelled and emitted a tremendous wave of energy, one that caused Xiao Nanfeng's eardrums to hurt as it erupted.
The golden light slowly retreated from the male toad spirit's body as it opened its eyes. Its body had grown bulkier all around, and it seemed to be primed for explosive bursts of strength.
"Croak, croak! Haha!" the male toad spirit laughed in excitement.
"Toad spirit? Was that... human laughter?" Xiao Nanfeng asked uncertainly.
The male toad spirit quieted down and turned to Xiao Nanfeng. Its mood was ebullient.
"Nanfeng, croak!" The male toad spirit waved its forelegs, as though it were trying to express something.
"You just said my name! Have you already reached Spiritsong?" Xiao Nanfeng seemed flabbergasted.
The male toad spirit nodded fervently. "Croak, that's right!"
It now had the faculty for human speech, though it was yet unused to its newfound ability, and its speech still integrated elements of its toad nature.
"Calm down for a moment and take your time. Try to communicate with me using human language," Xiao Nanfeng suggested.
The male toad quashed his excitement and made a few abortive attempts before speaking again.
"I, I think I can do it! My vocal cords have developed to a significant extent, and I can speak human speech now!" the male toad spirit croaked happily.
"Have you really ascended to Spiritsong? Your golden ball had more draconic aether than mine did, didn't it?" Xiao Nanfeng asked, frowning.
"Yes, I was only a step away from this new realm. That amount of draconic aether was just enough for my ascension. Of the four balls, yours had the least energy, and mine the second least. My wife, Warble, got more energy than the two of us combined, and it should have been enough to bring her to Spiritsong as well. Your wife had the most draconic aether," the male toad spirit stated.
"My wife? Don't talk nonsense—if she overhears you, you're done for! She's the Lady Arclight," Xiao Nanfeng explained.
Xiao Nanfeng understood what Blue Lantern had done now. He was amazingly strong, and had been able to see at a glance how much everyone needed in order to reach the next stage of their cultivation. That was why he had divided the aether into fourths, allowing both toads to ascend to Spiritsong and the Lady Arclight to reach her peak once again and surpass it. He only needed the three Spiritsong spirits and cultivator to head into the divine domain, while Xiao Nanfeng was just a bonus.
Although Xiao Nanfeng felt a pang of regret, he refused to be upset. Any draconic aether was more than he had expected to gain.
"I heard you address your wife as Warble?" Xiao Nanfeng asked the male toad spirit.
"Right, my name is Croak, and my wife's name is Warble!" the male toad spirit introduced.
Xiao Nanfeng gave the toad spirit a strange look. What curious names...
"Warble's cultivation is significantly weaker than mine, and she needs to spend quite a bit more time to distill the draconic aether she received..." Croak glanced at its partner with fond exasperation.
"The Lady Arclight will likely take some time as well." Xiao Nanfeng nodded, then looked toward the copper door. "Shall we clean the place a little? I wouldn't want those corpses to start rotting."
Croak nodded, then hopped out of the copper doors. Black aura emerged from its mouth, as it quickly gathered all the corpses together. It had no interest in the corpses any longer, not even to consume them.
"Let's bury them outside," Xiao Nanfeng suggested.
Croak nodded and followed Xiao Nanfeng out the tunnel, swimming past the barrier and up above it.
The moment they emerged from the surface of the pond, they heard a great boom. A bolt of lightning struck a large group of crow spirits.
The dozens of spiritbeasts that had gathered around the great lake were hunting a group of crow spirits. The spiritbeasts had discovered that the crow spirits were ignoring their warning to stay out of their territory. They had gathered atop this valley en masse over the last two days, causing the spiritbeasts to notice that something was amiss, and they were here to capture a few crow spirits to interrogate.
The crow spirits tried to run, but the gathered spiritbeasts wouldn't allow them to do so. They all fell to the ground, the majority dying instantly, and a rare few severely injured, clinging stubbornly to life as they awaited the spiritbeasts' interrogation.
Xiao Nanfeng was surprised to see this scene as he emerged from the pond. They had all been taken down before he could exact his revenge!
Xiao Nanfeng felt for the location of the Immortal Cicada with his spiritual senses, then summoned it. A golden beam of light shone from deep within the swamp mud, then flew over to Xiao Nanfeng's hand.
That action quickly attracted the attention of the gathered spirits, who recognized the Immortal Cicada instantly. Was this the true master of that blade? The spiritbeasts howled in outrage as they struck at Xiao Nanfeng, intent on tearing him apart.
"Do you think I'm still the same cultivator I used to be a few days ago? You're all overestimating your own abilities!" Xiao Nanfeng cried out.
Behind him, Croak slowly floated to the surface with the cultivators' corpses. It swam up to Xiao Nanfeng, protecting him with its bulk, as it glared fiercely at the gathered spiritbeasts.
"Croak, these spiritbeasts are trying to cause trouble. Kill the ones you can—the elder wants to have a sumptuous feast. If you can take them down cleanly, I'll be able to make dishes out of them easily."
Croak naturally didn't mind. Having just ascended to Spiritsong, it was still in a state of exuberance and confidence. If these spiritbeasts were to discover the cavern entrance within, they might very well disturb Warble's ascension. Wasn't it appropriate to get rid of them all?
Croak leapt forward, emitting a fearsome Spiritsong-realm aura that caused the other spiritbeasts to rear back. They felt helpless—this toad was a Spiritsong-realm beast? How were they supposed to fight it?
Croak's huge body slammed into the spiritbeasts in the lead, causing their bones to crack as they were smashed into the foot of the mountain nearby. The ground rumbled.
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