Chapter 82: Croak's Grill
Xiao Nanfeng hadn't needed to do anything; Croak was taking care of all the spiritbeasts on its own. Even the giant purple bird's lightning attack felt like little more than scratching an itch for Croak. Croak raised its head, its gigantic tongue snapping through the air and dragging it down to the ground. The giant purple bird screeched in fear as its spiritual qi was suppressed and its body restrained.
"Croak, don't swallow it! The elder wants to have some roast bird!" Xiao Nanfeng cried out.
Croak obediently smashed the giant purple bird against the face of the mountain. Its head cracked, and it died on the spot.
In fright, the remaining spiritbeasts each shot out their own attacks at Croak, peppering it with flame and ice, wind and storm. Mud sprayed out from around its body, covering everything in sight, but these attacks weren't able to get through its defenses. All they achieved was to annoy Croak with pinpricks of pain.
Croak struck before all the mud had even settled, moving so quickly that the spiritbeasts could barely keep track of it. The wolf and bear spirits were sent flying. They struck the face of the mountain, shattering their skulls, and died on the spot.
Croak caught another two spirits by their heads, then clapped them together, causing them to slump to the ground. It leapt into the midst of the spirits, who scattered in fear. Croak suddenly croaked loudly, a wide-range spiritual attack.
The spiritual power dazed some of the weaker lifeforms. Croak leapt toward each one and clapped them to death, killing a large swathe of the spirits within moments.
The remaining spirits fled into the forest, but Croak was too fast for them. A huge crack came from the distance as trees were sent flying into the air. Subsequently, the carcasses were tossed toward the swamp from afar, splashing muddy water everywhere.
Xiao Nanfeng immediately retrieved the inner cores from each carcass.
By the time Croak leapt back, Xiao Nanfeng had already acquired dozens of these cores, which glowed with resplendent light.
"Croak, you're really amazing!" Xiao Nanfeng praised.
"If not for the fact that you wanted to make a meal out of all these lifeforms, I would have poisoned them to death with a single breath attack. It wouldn't have been so troublesome then!" Croak replied proudly.
"These inner cores are going to dissipate quickly, so I'm going to swallow them all now. You're not interested in them, are you? I'll make a feast for everyone to thank you," Xiao Nanfeng replied.
Croak didn't object. It was a Spiritsong-realm spirit now, and it cared little for some inner cores of Ascension-realm spirits.
The inner cores were steadily losing energy while they were exposed to the environment. Although some weren't pure yang, they still boasted particularly concentrated spiritual power. By swallowing them, Xiao Nanfeng would be able to distill their essence, making up for quality in quantity.
Xiao Nanfeng sat cross-legged on a large rock. Glimmers of golden light emerged from his body as tremendous energy filled his body.
Two hours later, a gust of energy was expelled from Xiao Nanfeng's body.
"The sixth stage of Immanence—and more capillaries!" Xiao Nanfeng continued resolutely.
His body turned golden as he unblocked his divine capillaries and his cultivation rose. The first... the fifth... the ninth!
A loud bang could be heard as Xiao Nanfeng cleared out all his clogged capillaries. He then slowly opened his eyes, feeling as though he was supercharged with strength.
The golden glow over his body hadn't dissipated. With his qi barrier active, Xiao Nanfeng tested the defense of his physical body and found that he was now able to block attacks from mid-stage Immanence-realm cultivators. His eyes flashed with delight.
"Have you finished?" Croak had been standing guard by his side all this time.
"I'm all done. Let me handle the rest," Xiao Nanfeng replied.
He began inspecting the spiritbeast carcasses, only to suddenly discover that a few Immanence-realm crow spirits hadn't yet died. They had been knocked unconscious by Croak's spiritual attack, and were now waking up. They flapped their wings in fear as they tried to run.
"Trying to run? Ha!" Xiao Nanfeng sent his Immortal Cicada whizzing toward the crow spirits,
who fled in fright as they continued flapping their wings in panic. Unfortunately, they were no match for the Immortal Cicada, which struck them down in a flash. One crow spirit remained, desperately gesturing without attempting to flee, pointing at the Immortal Cicada.
The Immortal Cicada hovered before the crow spirit. It quailed in fright, but continued gesturing desperately.
"It seems to be saying that it knows where a similar flying sword is located?" Croak guessed at the crow spirit's meaning.
Xiao Nanfeng had come to the same conclusion, which was why he hadn't yet killed it.
"You've seen the other Immortal Cicada? You know where Yu'er is?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.
The crow spirit bobbed its head up and down in fear, trying to avoid being killed by Xiao Nanfeng.
Xiao Nanfeng nodded. "Very well. I won't kill you. Heal up quickly, then guide the way. If I find Yu'er, I'll spare your life."
The crow spirit nodded desperately. It was only at Immanence, and couldn't hope to resist.
Xiao Nanfeng continued preparing the spiritbeast meat. He had promised to whip something up for Croak. He spent significant effort roasting a wolf spirit, then beckoned a confused Croak over.
"Don't swallow it whole! Tear chunks off bit by bit," Xiao Nanfeng told Croak.
Croak cocked its head. It had always swallowed food down in one gulp. What was the point of tearing chunks off? Wasn't that wasted effort?
Because it trusted Xiao Nanfeng, however, it tore off a chunk of meat and did as he said. Suddenly, Croak fell still. Its eyes widened. This was the first time it had tasted its food, truly tasted it—and this time, its food wasn't something raw and bloody, but rather carefully roasted and seasoned by Xiao Nanfeng!
"What's this? Why does it taste so good?!" Croak croaked. It devoured the huge wolf spirit within moments, bones and all.
"Is there more? I'd like to keep eating!" Croak begged Xiao Nanfeng.
Xiao Nanfeng sighed. Was Croak another glutton like the Lady Arclight?
In the end, Xiao Nanfeng roasted Croak an elephant spirit. The elephant was particularly large, and would provide sufficient meat to fill Croak's belly. Xiao Nanfeng kept its ivory horns for itself.
Croak leapt up and down and all around, the pleasant smell of roast meat hanging in the air. It had realized the pleasure of eating for the first time.
Roasting the elephant was hard work. Just as Xiao Nanfeng finished, Croak leapt toward it and began stuffing his mouth.
"Remember, don't eat it all at once! Go slowly!" Xiao Nanfeng was shocked by Croak's sudden antics. If it were to swallow the whole elephant in one gulp, he would have wasted his time!
Croak reacted quickly. He was used to swallowing his food whole out of habit, and had almost done so again instinctively. It quickly began tearing at the roast meat, chewing and savoring it.
It drooled as it did so, feeling as though it had never enjoyed food in this fashion ever before. This was delicious!
Croak finished the food quickly, then continued staring at Xiao Nanfeng, hoping that he would prepare more roast meat.
Xiao Nanfeng hesitated. Again? "Alright, I think that's enough. You should be full after consuming two spirits, and I've shown you how to roast your own food. When you find a spirit, you can roast it yourself—just make a spit and roast the meat over an open flame. That's it!" Xiao Nanfeng told Croak, not wanting to roast any more meat at the moment.
Croak grumbled, "I might be full, but I can still keep eating!"
"Maybe next time," Xiao Nanfeng replied, patting Croak. He cleaned up the vicinity, then brought the quaking crow spirit back to the underground cavern.
The Lady Arclight and Warble were still deep in meditation, golden light glowing around them. As Xiao Nanfeng returned, the Lady Arclight opened her eyes.
"Where have you been? Why were the two of you gone for so long?" the Lady Arclight asked.
"You've woken up, Elder? Has your cultivation been restored?" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes lit up.
"I'm not like this fellow," the Lady Arclight began, indicating Warble. "It's trying to make a major breakthrough in its cultivation, and can't be disturbed at this critical moment. On the other hand, I'm simply attempting to recuperate, and I don't need to be in deep meditation. However, the empress left me a hefty amount of information, and I'm having a hard time processing it all. It might take me a whole month to do so, and I can't do much of anything at the moment."
"A whole month?" Xiao Nanfeng frowned.
"Has something happened?"
"I just caught a crow spirit that seems to know where the senior disciples are located. I'm worried that a month will be too long a wait, and I'd like to help them out as quickly as I can," Xiao Nanfeng replied.
"So there's information about Yu'er, then?" The Lady Arclight peered at Xiao Nanfeng.
Xiao Nanfeng stiffened. First Yu'er, and then the Lady Arclight? How did female cultivators have such amazing intuition?
"Including Yu'er," Xiao Nanfeng reported.
The Lady Arclight glanced at Xiao Nanfeng with a complicated expression on her face. "The two of you should go. We'll be fine here."
"That won't do! You're trying to recuperate, Elder, and you can't be disturbed. What if a spirit barges in? I can't let anything happen to you. I'll leave both toad spirits here to guard you while I search for the senior disciples myself. I have the two dragon-quelling spikes with me, so I'll be able to protect myself," Xiao Nanfeng replied resolutely.
The Lady Arclight gave Xiao Nanfeng a gentle smile. "There's no need. I can take care of myself."
"I'll only feel secure if I leave both toad spirits with you. Let's leave it at that."
The Lady Arclight was silent for a moment, then nodded.
"Right, I forgot to tell you! These two toad spirits are called Croak and Warble." Xiao Nanfeng pointed at each spirit as he introduced them.
"I'm Croak, Lady Arclight!" Croak introduced himself.
"Croak, I'll be leaving for the moment. Please help me guard the elder while she recuperates. I'll cook you a feast when I return," Xiao Nanfeng promised.
"Leave it to me!"
"Elder, please resume meditating. I'll make you a sumptuous banquet too!" Xiao Nanfeng continued.
The Lady Arclight nodded, then closed her eyes.
As Xiao Nanfeng stepped outside the copper doors, he began cooking again with the best-quality ingredients he had selected. Croak watched on with growing anticipation, its eyes wide, drool leaking from its mouth.
"All this is for the elder," Xiao Nanfeng told Croak. "Don't get your hopes up. Come, I'll teach you how to roast meat so you can do it for yourself!"
Croak was somewhat unwilling to learn, but it still did so obediently.
The crow spirit hiding by a corner of the chamber was trembling. It saw a huge toad spirit emulating a human. It had erected a simple spit and was roasting a giant bear over roaring flames, a particularly strange and horrifying sight.
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