Chapter 89: Talisman of Arcane Yin
That evening, Jiugong found Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er in a valley.
Xiao Nanfeng had remained hidden all this time while Yu'er lured away Xiang Zhirou and the others. Because neither of them had fought their opponents head-on, they were perfectly uninjured. Jiugong, on the other hand, had suffered greatly. Half its scythe-like legs had been chopped off, and much of its armored carapace had been cracked. Countless weaker centipede spirits were holding it up as it stared at the two cultivators balefully.
"Jiugong, they were far too sly for the likes of us, to have set up an ambush for us alongside the cultivators of Great Qi! I can't take this lying down!" Xiao Nanfeng thundered.
Jiugong, hearing Xiao Nanfeng's defiant words, wanted to vomit blood. He had been hiding throughout the fight and was completely uninjured—"take this lying down"? What damage had he even taken?!
"They laid an ambush for you, but you made me the scapegoat instead. How do you intend to compensate me for this?" Jiugong glared at Xiao Nanfeng.
"Jiugong, I'm afraid you're mistaken. This was a cooperative venture, and we delineated our tasks and responsibilities beforehand. How could you blame me just because something has gone wrong? You should be blaming the black-armored warriors and the cultivators of Great Qi instead!" Xiao Nanfeng retorted.
Jiugong stared balefully at Xiao Nanfeng. It felt that Xiao Nanfeng had to have guessed that there would be an ambush, and had deliberately allowed it to test the waters. If it hadn't fled so quickly, it might very well have died on the spot. It hated those cultivators that had caused it to suffer to such an extent, as well as the man standing before him: Xiao Nanfeng.
"Jiugong, I know that you suffered unduly today, but this isn't my fault. The black-armored warriors and cultivators of Great Qi are to blame. How about this? I guarantee that I'll still deliver the spiritbeast carcasses I promised in Lord Wei's name, but we do have to figure out how to seize those foreigners."
"You intend to have me fight them on your behalf?!" Jiugong refused to fall for Xiao Nanfeng's antics.
"Do you intend to let them off after harming you to this extent? I know I can't! I'm cooperating with you. We're allies, aren't we?" Xiao Nanfeng urged.
Jiugong continued staring at Xiao Nanfeng. It was very petty, and had no intention of forgiving those cultivators—but neither would it forgive Xiao Nanfeng for making it his scapegoat!
"I want ten Ascension-realm spiritbeast carcasses!" Jiugong stated boldly.
"I'll definitely bring it up with Lord Wei, but how many he ultimately provides will be up to discussion between you and Lord Wei when he arrives. Will that do?" Xiao Nanfeng replied.
Jiugong: ...
Xiao Nanfeng's words promised nothing in effect, but Jiugong did feel a bit better after Xiao Nanfeng's 'concession'.
"Jiugong, I think we need to come up with a plan against these malicious cultivators so we can get back at them!" Xiao Nanfeng urged.
Jiugong stared at Xiao Nanfeng, unable to shake the feeling that he was trying to take advantage of it. If they were to continue this discussion, he might even convince it to do something wholly unfavorable to itself. If their negotiations broke down and they began a fight, it would be no match for the two of them in its current state, either. No, it had to heal its injuries beofre negotiating further.
In a bout of vexation, Jiugong commanded his subordinates, "Hmph! Take me away!"
"Jiugong, hold it! Won't you let us discuss our battle plan?" Xiao Nanfeng called out.
Jiugong left without turning back, bringing the remaining centipedes along with it.
Once all the centipede spirits had left, Yu'er sighed. "Nanfeng, thank goodness you were so careful, or we might have all fallen into Xiang Zhirou's trap."
"Xiang Zhirou's in cahoots with the red-armored cultivators. Saving our seniors is going to be more complicated than I had hoped," Xiao Nanfeng told her seriously.
"Do you have a plan?" Yu'er was equally uncertain as to what to do.
"Let's sneak over and see if there are any holes in their defenses," Xiao Nanfeng suggested.
"Very well!" Yu'er nodded.
At night, the two cultivators snuck toward the outskirts of the centipedes' lair, stopping quite some distance away.
"There's heavy guard everywhere, and crow scouts in the air to serve as a patrol. We can't get close," Yu'er murmured, frowning.
"Do you hear that guqin?" Xiao Nanfeng suddenly asked.
Yu'er immediately quieted down. Indeed, from far away, by the side of the abyssal chasm, she could hear a few notes of a guqin.
"It's the tune Xiang Zhirou played in the marquis' manor. Could she be the musician?" Yu'er suggested.
Just then, outside the red-armored cultivators' camp, a group of red-armored cultivators were holding a reception for Xiang Zhirou.
"Lord Luo, I must thank you for your help. You saved my subordinates from certain harm. Please, allow me to toast you," Xiang Zhirou said.
Lord Luo was a middle-aged man with a rather handsome appearance. Although he was smiling, his eyes were shaded in a fashion that made it apparent he was no stranger to sordid acts.
"For you to have delivered these Taiqing disciples to me has saved me a great deal of work. Allow me to toast you as well," Lord Luo replied with a smile.
The two clinked their cups. Xiang Zhirou asked curiously, "Lord Luo, do you have an urgent need for cultivation techniques?"
She was aware that the red-armored cultivators were interrogating the Taiqing disciples for their cultivation techniques.
Lord Luo sucked in a deep breath. His face sunken, he began, "I won't hide it from you. A millennium ago, a large number of our ancestors were Immortals, with a complete series of cultivation techniques to their name. However, this world's divine domain, overbearing and tyrannical, sends an envoy over every hundred years, forcing all Spiritsong- and higher-realm cultivators to the divine domain to strive for some sort of opportunity. Few manage to survive, and the Immortals have perished over the course of generations. The cultivation techniques we inherited are no longer complete; and, perhaps because of plans laid by the divine domain, the cultivation manuals passed down within each household from generation to generation have gone missing out of nowhere. Our favored heirs and scions, with the most complete inheritances we can muster, have been repeatedly hardmed, injured, and crippled, leaving us with only half-baked cultivation techniques. Damn the divine domain!"
"Oh?" Xiang Zhirou seemed very interested.
"Your world must be rather exciting, mustn't it?" Lord Luo stared at Xiang Zhirou.
"My father has the ability to open portals back to my reality. If you are interested, Lord Luo, you may accompany us out when my father arrives." Xiang Zhirou offered Lord Luo an invitation, but was simultaneously warding off Lord Luo with a mention of her father.
Lord Luo hesitated, immediately suppressing his thoughts against Xiang Zhirou for the moment.
"You sent word saying that you're able to help us deal with the centipede spirits around here. They're hidden deep underground. How do you plan on dealing with them? I heard that you suffered great losses when invading their lair before!" Lord Luo seemed somewhat distrustful and wary of Xiang Zhirou.
"It looks like your inheritance must be terribly incomplete if you're even having trouble with a group of spiritbeasts. Our earlier failure was out of carelessness; with your men around, it won't be difficult to deal with the centipedes at all," Xiang Zhirou replied with a smile.
"Is that so?" Lord Luo asked curiously.
"If your men are ready, I can lure them out at once," Xiang Zhirou offered proudly.
"Right now?" Lord Luo was clearly doubtful.
"Bring me my guqin!" Xiang Zhirou commanded.
A black-armored warrior immediately brought a red guqin over, which he placed on the table before Xiang Zhirou.
"This is a relic passed down my household, and this is the first time I've used it in front of an outsider," Xiang Zhirou informed Lord Luo primly. Subsequently, she began to play.
A melodious tune rang out. The guqin, ancient and mysterious, began to glow with a soft red light. The sound of the guqin flowed into everyone's ears. In a flash, everyone fell prey to the music. Their eyes grew wild as they panted and smiled lecherously, shrugging off their armor.
Lord Luo broke free almost instantly, but his mind and body still bore lingering traces of the effect. He felt hot and bothered all over. He glanced at Xiang Zhirou in shock. "Your cultivation is musical in origin?"
"That's right. You must have strong willpower to have been the first to regain your mental faculties, Lord Luo. Have your subordinates plug their ears. I'll do my best to divert the music from them, but if they find themselves getting affected, have them bite their tongues to regain control over their bodies."
Lord Luo's eyes flashed. His men's cultivation techniques were all incomplete, and faculty over music was far beyond them. He didn't dare underestimate Xiang Zhirou and sent commands to his troops immediately.
As the red-armored cultivators awoke from their temporary stupor, they glanced at each other in amazement, then quickly plugged their ears. However, they were still able to hear some of the music. They glanced at each other in nervousness and shock.
Xiang Zhirou played on and on. The music flowed in a long stream all the way down to the centipedes' lair, like translucent red snakes burrowing into the ears of the centipede spirits.
The Taiqing disciples had been unable to resist the music, let alone these centipede spirits. They emerged from the lairs deep below, in greater and greater quantities, in such numbers that the red-armored cultivators were shuddering, shaken.
"My music can stimulate the centipedes' sexual impulses. Right now, they're feeling very bothered and very groggy. Immanence-realm centipede spirits have essentially no spiritual power or resistance against this sort of effects, and they can be killed at will," Xiang Zhirou continued.
Indeed, countless centipede spirits were slithering toward the red-armored cultivators, but they were doing so mindlessly and without any cohesion.
"Kill!" a group of red-armored warriors shouted.
They easily cut down wide swathes of centipede spirits, all but helpless against the music. This was the first time that the red-armored cultivators had had such unmitigated success against the centipedes.
"Very good!" Lord Luo nodded approvingly. This was a one-sided slaughter! Xiang Zhirou's assistance was indeed invaluable.
Just then, a stentorian roar could be heard from below.
A golden centipede spirit was crawling malevolently out of its lair. As it saw its subordinates being slaughtered by the hundreds, it shot forward in anger.
"A golden centipede spirit, at Ascension-realm, has manifested some spiritual power and can remain somewhat clear-headed against my music, but its reserves are far more limited than the likes of you, Lord Luo. Though it might retain control over their bodies, it will still remain hot and bothered, and difficult to calm down. It'll be rash and reckless—I trust you can handle it?" Xiang Zhirou asked.
The golden centipede spirit scuttled forward, but it was met with four huge slashes of sword energy. Heavily wounded, the centipede spirit cried out in pain as it fell.
However, it wasn't dead. It let out another ear-splitting bellow as it charged forward once more.
Simultaneously, more golden centipede spirits emerged.
"Another one? Two... five... eight of them?!"
"How lucky we were! If not for the guqin luring them all out, we'd have perished if we had charged into their lair without any preparation!" The red-armored warriors sucked in a deep breath.
The eight golden centipede spirits howled in outrage as they scuttled toward the top of the cliff, intending to tear apart the men before them.
There were too many centipede spirits to deal with, even in their altered state of mind. The red-armored warriors weren't enough; the black-armored ones had to step in to weather the assault.
"Lord Luo, there were far more centipede spirits than you had imagined, weren't there? If not for my assistance, your men might all have died. I expect you'll give me proper thanks?" Xiang Zhirou smiled.
Lord Luo's eyes flashed. "Perhaps not," he equivocated. "We nobles of Great Qi, though fallen from power, still retain the treasures handed down by generations of ancestors."
"Oh?" Xiang Zhirou leaned in with interest.
Lord Luo slowly pulled out a golden talisman, imprinted with complex, arcane patterns of surprising intricacy.
With some reluctance, Lord Luo caressed the talisman before gritting his teeth and infusing it with qi. Frost bubbled forth from the talisman, which Lord Luo dispersed with a wave of his hand. The talisman floated into mid-air. Frosty mist gushed out.
"Talisman of Arcane Yin, I compel you: release!" Lord Luo shouted.
Great clouds of frost, like a lake upturned, filled the air and surged toward the centipedes' lair.
Those centipedes covered by the frost froze immediately. The eight golden centipedes were struck head-on and were frozen stiff. They tried to move, but the frost grew stronger and stronger around them. They had barely let out shrill screams before even their heads were frozen solid. The centipedes' lair down in the chasm had suddenly become a frozen cavern, causing all the cultivators above to look down in shock.
Xiang Zhirou gaped. "You have talismans of such power?"
Lord Luo smiled with pride. Their cultivation techniques might be incomplete, but they had access to rare treasures of a bygone age.
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