Chapter 90: A Night of Frost and Fight
Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er, lurking far away in the periphery of the centipedes' lair, listened to Xiang Zhirou's music with concern.
"A cloud of frost... are they fighting against the centipede spirits now? Can we take advantage of the commotion to rescue our juniors?" Yu'er's eyes lit up.
"That'll be difficult. They're being very cautious and organized about this. The crow spirits are in the trees overhead, so if we get close, we'll surely be discovered," Xiao Nanfeng whispered back.
Yu'er frowned. "They're not even focusing fully on the centipede spirits? To be able to have so many crow spirits on guard all around—could the centipede spirits be that easy to deal with?"
Just then, a rock was upturned not far away from them. A huge hole appeared, causing both of them to suddenly tense up. A stiff lump of ice crawled out from the hole.
"Jiugong?" Xiao Nanfeng asked in shock.
It was, in fact, the heavily wounded Jiugong. Not only had it incurred significant injuries during the day, it had even been covered in frost at night. It was moving stiffly and greatly weakened.
"My subordinates' information was accurate. You really are nearby—good! Quick, go attack the cultivator playing the guqin, as well as that talisman of arcane yin, quickly!" Jiugong urged.
"What happened, Jiugong? What's the situation like in the centipedes' lair?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.
Jiugong recounted everything, causing Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er's faces to fall.
"In other words, Xiang Zhirou's guqin and a single talisman of arcane yin alone might take down all you centipedes, without the help of any of the Ascension-realm cultivators in their camp? Don't you think we'd die if we tried to force our way over now?"Xiao Nanfeng challenged.
"If you stop the music and destroy that talisman, we can surely recover! Those centipede spirits have been frozen stiff, but they're not dead. Don't you have flying swords? Use them!" Jiugong urged.
"Why is it that you were unaffected by the music?" Xiao Nanfeng frowned at Jiugong.
Jiugong visibly hesitated, but had no choice but to reveal its secrets. "Before the king departed, it handed me a storage treasure with the additional effect of allowing me to remain calm at all times. I was immune to the effects of the music and hadn't rushed out of the lair. I urged the other golden centipedes to surround the camp from the exterior, rather than attempt to break through the cultivators' defenses, but they refused to listen. Hotheaded, they rushed straight out of the lair. I remained where I was, but was still frozen stiff by the frost."
"Jiugong, let me have a look at this frost first." Xiao Nanfeng retrieved his black orb.
The black orb had been specifically crafted by You Shi to absorb frost.
"What's there to see? This is arcane yin frost, which clings onto anything it touches. Without several days of intense effort, you won't be able to remove it from your body. Will you help or not?!" Jiugong cried out.
Just then, it found that the frost encasing its body was rapidly vanishing—no, not vanishing, but being absorbed into the small black orb in Xiao Nanfeng's hand.
"This is..." Jiugong stared at Xiao Nanfeng in astonishment.
"As expected, it's effective!" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes lit up.
Within a short period of time, all the frost had been absorbed from Jiugong's body.
"What sort of treasure is this?" Jiugong gasped.
"A treasure bequeathed by Emperor Yan, of course. Don't ask for more details. We will help," Xiao Nanfeng replied.
"Really?" Jiugong exclaimed.
"Yu'er and I will deal with the frost and music, restoring all the centipedes to their prime. However, I have a condition. You'll have to hand us all those foreigners, and they must be alive," Xiao Nanfeng stressed.
"Don't worry. If you help us out, I'll guarantee their survival," Jiugong replied hopefully.
"Bring us to the centipedes' lair. It'll be easiest to start draining the frost from there," Xiao Nanfeng urged.
"Let's go, then!" Jiugong dug a tunnel back down to the centipedes' lair, one large enough for Nanfeng and Yu'er both. The frost quickly assailed them, but Xiao Nanfeng's orb was able to absorb it on the fly.
As they pushed on against the blizzard-like frost, the two cultivators and the centipede spirit finally arrived at the bottom of the centipedes' lair.
By then, the talisman of arcane yin had frozen the bottom of the lair solid. A mountain of centipede spirits had frozen over in a mountain. Even more frost was gushing down from above, poised to freeze all the centipedes around in one fell swoop.
"Absorb!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted, holding the black orb out and infusing it with spiritual power.
As the orb activated, it began sucking up all the frost aura in the vicinity. The arcane yin frost seemed to be weaker than the superior yin frost from before. Even after the orb absorbed all the frost at the bottom of the centipedes' lair, no layer of frost formed over it.
Several of the centipede spirits began waking up, but they were still in a daze because of Xiang Zhirou's music. Only one golden centipede was barely able to remain lucid.
"You're awake, Qigong?" Jiugong looked at the other golden centipede in relief.
That centipede glanced at Jiugong, then at the two humans.
"Who are they?" Qigong asked coldly.
Jiugong replied in the centipedes' tongue, as though afraid that Xiao Nanfeng would overhear them. Qigong finally nodded, turning away from them and shooting an evil look at what lay above.
As Xiao Nanfeng's black orb took effect, more and more of the centipede spirits were freed, but they remained in a daze owing to the effect of the music.
"Didn't you say you were going to deal with the guqin player? Use your flying swords, quickly!" Jiugong urged.
"There's no need," Yu'er replied. She had retrieved her Godbane Flute at some point. She put it to her lips and delicately began to blow.
A haunting melody filled the centipedes' lair. The centipedes, who were in a daze just moments ago, shook their bodies as they came to their senses. They howled at the air in rage.
"Good, good! It's time for our revenge. We'll surround them from the outside and kill them to the last!" Jiugong cried out.
The centipedes all around howled in response.
"Jiugong, don't forget what you promised me," Xiao Nanfeng warned.
"Listen up—you're only to attack the red- and black-armored fighters! There are a few foreign prisoners that you're not allowed to touch!" Jiugong immediately added.
The centipede spirits all nodded, then swarmed up out of the chasm and toward the cultivators above them.
Up in the sky, Lord Luo continued generating frost with his talisman of arcane yin, freezing the chasm below. Billowing mist crept out of the chasm as countless centipedes were frozen.
"Lord Luo, this is an amazing treasure!" Xiang Zhirou commented in shock.
"I'll freeze them for a while longer before storing this talisman again. By then, the centipede spirits below will be frozen so stiffly that a few rocks would shatter them all," Lord Luo replied, smiling.
"With this favor done, Lord Luo, I hope you'll help me with what you've promised as well." Xiang Zhirou looked toward the male cultivator.
"You mean, searching for Nanfeng and Yu'er? Worry not. Once I reclaim our chests, we'll devote ourselves to helping you search for these two cultivators. We'll surely present you with their heads," Lord Luo promised.
"Very good, milord," Xiang Zhirou replied with a smile.
Just then, the two cultivators caught wind of a flute's haunting melody. The music seemed like a bucket of cold water that quashed everyone's flustered mood, freeing them from the influence of Xiang Zhirou's music.
"This flute—" Lord Luo's face contorted in a frown.
"It's Yu'er! She's dispelling the effect of my guqin! Quick, you have to find her!" Xiang Zhirou cried out.
"The flute seems to be coming from the bottom of the centipedes' lair," Lord Luo added, pointing downwards.
"What?" Xiang Zhirou blanched.
"No, how could that be? The lair should be frozen solid by now! How could she be there?!" Lord Luo cried out.
Just then, the frozen mists dissipated, revealing the state of the lair. All that frost was surging toward a little orb—no, the orb was sucking it all in, restoring the centipedes' freedom.
"Who's that dispelling my frost yin?!" Lord Luo cried out.
"Loose your arrows. Loose your arrows!" Xiang Zhirou screamed. A volley of arrows shot down toward the chasm. A few centipedes in the lead were pierced through, but the majority deftly avoided the arrows and shot forward in the blink of an eye.
"Smash them with rocks, quickly!" Lord Luo cried out.
The cultivators pushed rocks down the cliff, smashing the centipedes who were caught unawares.
Just then, loud cries came from behind the cultivators.
"Lord Luo, the centipede spirits have burrowed up behind us! We've been surrounded!"
"So many centipede spirits... Save us, Lord Luo!"
The cultivators were quickly surrounded by countless centipedes. They began to yell and scream as a battle took place in earnest.
The crow spirits joined in the fight, but there were so many centipede spirits in the vicinity that more just came crawling out whenever any were killed. Countless screams rang out.
Xiang Zhirou was about to stop playing when a giant blue phoenix appeared and swooped down straight toward her, as though intending to rush into her body and tear apart her soul.
"Damn Yu'er! I should have killed her from the beginning!" Xiang Zhirou thundered.
She didn't dare hesitate. She began plucking on the guqin more and more quickly, causing a huge serpent to emerge and rush toward the phoenix. With a burst of sound, the serpent and phoenix began to fight.
"I'll kill you all! Talisman of arcane yin, descend!" Lord Luo was likewise outraged at how the situation had devolved.
The talisman suddenly grew ten times its original size as it shot down toward the chasm.
Frost flared from the talisman like a blizzard, so rapidly and strongly that even the orb couldn't absorb it all.
"Go!" Xiao Nanfeng waved a hand, his eyes glinting with cold.
He manipulated the orb with spiritual power, sending it rising into the air, straight at the talisman of arcane yin. The talisman cracked as the orb struck it and sent it whooshing upwards. The frost beneath vanished, freeing all the centipede spirits.
However, Xiao Nanfeng's eyes widened in alarm. As he infused his spiritual power into the orb, he suddenly lost control of it.
"Something's wrong with the orb!"
The orb quickly expanded in size, then exploded in a huge bang in conjunction with the talisman of arcane yin. The huge explosion caused a backlash in Xiao Nanfeng's spiritual power, momentarily dizzying him.
"You've destroyed my talisman of arcane yin?!" Lord Luo roared in outrage.
Xiao Nanfeng quashed the disturbance to his spiritual power as his eyelids twitched. "This orb could self-destruct...? I was lucky it didn't injure me more. This must be a trap that You Shi left behind so that others wouldn't be able to steal his treasures. How malicious..."
The orb had exploded along with the talisman of arcane yin. An aura of frost formed in the sky, congealing into snowflakes that drifted down.
The centipedes were now completely free to move. Enraged at the fact that they had almost frozen to their deaths, they struck at the gathered cultivators with the intention of taking them all down.
The icy night was filled with the screams and yells of cultivators and spirits alike.
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