Chapter 91: Spiritslaughter
High above the centipedes' lair, a great blizzard blew. The sounds of killing and death echoed down.
"Let's go!" Xiao Nanfeng, ignoring Yu'er and Xiang Zhirou's musical duel, grabbed her and darted into the tunnel, fleeing from the scene.
Just then, an enraged howl came from above. An Ascension-realm cultivator had rushed into the depths of the centipedes' lair. "For destroying my talisman of arcane yin, you thieves, prepare to die!" Lord Luo himself had come thundering down in rage.
However, Xiao Nanfeng had been too alert. He had escaped into the network of tunnels with Yu'er, vanishing from sight and preventing Lord Luo from being able to vent his anger. Simultaneously, countless centipedes surged toward Lord Luo. An incredible battle was underway at the bottom of the centipedes' lair.
Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er didn't participate. Rather, they quickly backtracked, emerging in the forest and watching from afar.
The battle raged on until the wee hours of dawn. Both sides suffered considerable losses. Some of the black- and red-armored cultivators tried to escape, but all those that Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er caught side of, they stopped in place.
"Running, are you? It's too late to run after killing the disciples of the Taiqing sect!" Yu'er cried out balefully.
The two Immortal Cicadas struck a fleeing Ascension-realm cultivator, sending him flying back into the midst of the centipedes.
"It's those two damn brats! Crow generals, find them quickly!" someone shouted.
However, neither Xiao Nanfeng nor Yu'er showed themselves. They repeatedly used their Immortal Cicadas to prevent the cultivators from fleeing, and simultaneously launched an assault against the crow spirits in the air, resulting in massive casualties.
Finally, at daybreak, the battle ended. Only a lone few cultivators and crow spirits had managed to get away; the centipede spirits had won a Pyrrhic victory.
Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er were surrounded by three golden centipede spirits, Jiugong among them.
"Jiugong, why are you surrounding us like this? We saved you," Xiao Nanfeng warned.
"You could have provided us more assistance, especially her. She's an Ascension-realm cultivator, and if she had been in the midst of the melee, Sangong and Sigong wouldn't have suffered such a terrible death!" Jiugong cried out.
The majority of the nine golden centipede spirits had perished, let alone the ordinary centipede spirits. Although the centipedes had ultimately won, their victory was not without sacrifice.
Xiao Nanfeng glared at them. These centipede spirits were ingrates! If not for his and Yu'er's assistance, they would all have perished to the last—and now they were complaining that he and Yu'er hadn't provided enough help?
"We've stopped your enemies from getting away with our flying swords. It took Yu'er a great deal of spiritual power to awaken all of you, and she was unable to fight at full strength. We did our best," Xiao Nanfeng explained.
Xiao Nanfeng didn't fear these centipede spirits, but it wasn't yet time to peel off his facade of politeness.
Jiugong glared at the two cultivators, its eyes dark.
"How about the foreigners? Have you rescued them?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.
"No!" Jiugong replied.
"No? You haven't killed them, have you?" Xiao Nanfeng glared at the centipedes.
"There were no foreigners in the camp at all. There's a wounded red-armored cultivator over there, whom we haven't killed just yet. If you don't believe us, hear it straight from him," Jiugong continued.
Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er immediately rushed over. Indeed, a group of centipede spirits were keeping guard on a heavily wounded red-armored cultivator, one that the centipedes had been interrogating.
"Don't kill me! I'll tell you everything!" the red-armored cultivator called out in fright.
"What happened to the foreigners?" Yu'er asked.
"The ones that we brought back yesterday, as well as the ones we caught ourselves, were all sent away," the red-armored cultivator quickly replied, not daring to lie.
"You shipped them off the same day you got them? How? Who supervised this? Are you trying to lie to me?!" Yu'er shouted.
"It's true! One of the lords themselves oversaw the entire process. Xiang Zhirou's crow spirits sent them flying away," the red-armored cultivator replied.
"Where?" Yu'er's voice was vibrating with rage.
"I don't know," the red-armored cultivator replied.
"Damn it!" Yu'er couldn't help but be frustrated. She hadn't expected that the red-armored cultivators would have shipped off the Taiqing disciples so quickly.
"Don't be so upset. At the very least, we know they're still alive. We'll catch and interrogate a crow spirit and figure out where they are now," Xiao Nanfeng consoled her.
Yu'er nodded in exasperation.
"I didn't lie to you, did I?" Jiugong smirked.
"In that case, let's leave it at that. We should be leaving now, too," Xiao Nanfeng replied, inhaling deeply. He had no intention of brokering any more deals with these centipede spirits.
"Leave? I should think not. There's still a show waiting for you," Jiugong continued, its voice cold.
"A show?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.
Just then, a group of centipede spirits surrounded Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er, then killed the red-armored cultivator.
Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er glanced at their surroundings, feeling as though something was amiss. Jiugong's attitude was highly problematic.
"Jiugong, aren't you aware of who I am? Do you intend on making an enemy of the Empire of Great Yan?" Xiao Nanfeng called out stridently.
"An envoy of Great Yan? Ha! There's a woman down there who claims that you're all foreigners yourselves. I'm going to escort both of you down there to ascertain which of you is lying. She's the woman who was playing the guqin back then. Don't you want to talk with her?" Jiugong smiled with its teeth.
"Xiang Zhirou's still alive?" Yu'er cried out.
"Now, please follow me!" Jiugong commanded.
Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er glanced at each other, intimately aware of Jiugong's suspicions. The fact that Jiugong hadn't attacked them yet meant that it couldn't confirm the veracity of Xiang Zhirou's claims, but neither did it trust them.
However, Xiao Nanfeng didn't fear the centipede spirits at this moment. After all, he still had two dragon-quelling spikes infused with power, and he was certain he could break his way out by force if necessary. Furthermore, the fact that Xiang Zhirou was still alive could well come back to bite him in the future.
"You would believe a foreigner? Allow me to allay your suspicions, then!" Xiao Nanfeng replied imperiously.
Jiugong and the other two golden centipede spirits traded glances, still unsure of whom to believe. Nevertheless, they brought the two cultivators to the bottom of the centipedes' lair, where Xiang Zhirou was nowhere to be found.
"Where's Qigong and that woman?" Jiugong questioned the centipede spirits gathered there.
One Immanence-realm centipede immediately responded in the centipedes' language.
"What? That woman tricked Qigong into believing that she could break that formation?" another golden centipede cried out.
"I knew there was something fishy about the sudden invasion of the black-armored cultivators. Leaving that woman alive and interrogating her was clearly the right choice. Is the aware of the secret of this lair?" Jiugong's eyes flashed.
Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er traded glances again. They instantly guessed that Xiang Zhirou, just like Xiang Wei, possessed one of the special artifacts left by You Shi. In exchange for her life, she had revealed that secret to the centipede spirits.
"Let's go, then! Even our king was unable to break this formation, and I don't believe that that woman can do it. We'll witness it for ourselves," Jiugong exhorted the two cultivators.
They followed a group of centipede spirits into a cave at the bottom of the chasm, circling downwards, deeper and deeper, until they finally arrived at the mouth to yet another cave.
Unlike the frozen cavern, this cave seemed to be the entrance to an active volcano, one inlaid with a huge pool of lava. The bright-red lava flared brightly. Fire in the shape of dragons looped around the lava, preventing anyone from entering.
Within the lava, draconic aether occasionally seeped out. Jiugong sucked it into its mouth.
"There's a formation embedded in this lava pool?" Yu'er seemed very surprised.
"You two bastards, look what you've done to me!" Xiang Zhirou screamed upon seeing the two cultivators. She was bloody all over, and her hair was in grave disarray. She was cursing at the two cultivators like a ghoul. She looked to be so heavily wounded that it was difficult for her to even move.
Behind her was a similarly wounded golden centipede spirit. It cried out, "Quickly! If you dare lie to me, I'll toss you into this lava."
"I'll break the formation immediately," Xiang Zhirou replied, quieting down from abject fear.
She took out a white orb from her bosom and infused a small quantity of spiritual power into it. It instantly glowed with golden light as she tossed it into the pool of lava.
The white orb began absorbing all the draconic flame around it, along with the boiling lava.
As all the lava was sucked into the orb, the top half of a set of copper doors slowly came into view.
"What in the world is that orb? How can it absorb all that lava?"
"Could she really have broken the formation?"
"A set of copper doors? Does it lead to treasure? What lies within?"
All the remaining golden centipede spirits were murmuring in anticipation, as though sensing a huge opportunity awaiting them. They glanced at Xiang Zhirou with ardent eyes.
"How did you come to know that there was a formation here, and why do you possess something that can break it? Tell us immediately!" the golden centipede spirit cried out.
Xiang Zhirou glanced malevolently at Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er. "Kill them both and I'll tell you everything. There are countless divine treasures behind these doors. I can claim them for you, too."
"Hmm?" The golden centipede spirits turned to Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er, clearly tempted—not by Xiang Zhirou's offer, but rather to keep the information that treasure had been found in their lair secret, even to their allies in Great Wei.
"You're asking to die!" Yu'er's eyes flashed with frost as she spurred her Immortal Cicada toward Xiang Zhirou.
"Save me!" Xiang Zhirou cried out.
"Hold it!" the golden centipede beside her thundered. It still wanted to extract Xiang Zhirou's secrets from her. How could it let her die so easily? It shielded Xiang Zhirou from Yu'er Immortal Cicada.
Just then, another flash of golden light whizzed by its face—Xiao Nanfeng's Immortal Cicada.
"Insolence!" the golden centipede cried out. It was forced to retreat from Xiao Nanfeng's Immortal Cicada, allowing Yu'er's Immortal Cicada to pierce through Xiang Zhirou's body and kill her instantly.
"You!" To her dying breath, Xiang Zhirou never once imagined that the two cultivators would be willing to go against the golden centipede spirits and kill her outright.
"Do all of you want to die?!" Jiugong pounced toward Xiao Nanfeng.
"I should be the one asking that," Xiao Nanfeng replied, his eyes cold.
The three golden centipede spirits were standing almost in a straight line. Xiao Nanfeng pointed a dragon-quelling spike straight at Jiugong. The frightening energy stored within transformed into a golden ray of light that shot toward its chest.
"What?" Jiugong panicked, attempting and failing to dodge the light as it shot straight through its chest. Not only that, it penetrated the second and even the third centipede spirit, killing all three before they could react.
Even then, the beam of light still possessed incredible energy. It drilled a hole into the wall of the cave with such force that a mess of loose rubble tumbled down from the top of the cavern.
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