Chapter 94: A Tracking Rune
Xiao Nanfeng stood amidst a pile of ruins as he looked coldly at his surroundings. The officials blanched and turned away, fleeing from his sight.
Xiao Nanfeng didn't make a big fuss. He found a secluded pagoda overlooking the city and hid at its top as he waited for Madam Rouge to show herself.
Simultaneously, he wondered about the Red Emperor's plan to kill all the officials by Madam Rouge's hand. He certainly couldn't countermand her decision, but Madam Rouge would grow far stronger after absorbing all these spirits. Would the black lotus still be able to seal her then?
Xiao Nanfeng infused spiritual power into his arm, summoning the black lotus on his palm. Just then, he raised an eyebrow. "Hmm?"
At the center of the lotus was a ball of blue energy, roiling like smoke.
"Spiritual power? But from where?" Xiao Nanfeng gasped.
He drew out a thread of spiritual power and inspected it. There were two types, one of which was identical to the spiritual power from the mountain of ice in his mindscape, and the other of which belonged to You Shi.
"The black lotus can passively absorb spiritual power from its surroundings?" Xiao Nanfeng was shaken. He considered the ball of spiritual power. Only a third of what he had spent had been recollected; the remaining two-thirds had been consumed to create a massive explosion.
"During his fight against the Lady Arclight, You Shi had used a secret technique to collect the spiritual power that the Lady Arclight emitted during their fight. The black lotus has this effect too—and it's stronger than You Shi's, or it wouldn't have absorbed his spiritual power too!" Xiao Nanfeng gasped.
He understood the true value of this black lotus now, and was growing more and more grateful to the Red Emperor for granting him such a boon.
He unspooled a strand of You Shi's spiritual power to inspect it. It suddenly trembled and shot into the back side of his right palm, where a mysterious golden rune suddenly flashed into existence.
"What's this?" Xiao Nanfeng cried out.
When he passed over the area with his own spiritual power, he couldn't even see the rune, but You Shi's spiritual power activated it instantly. "Is this a tracking rune? You Shi must have left this mark when he launched a sneak attack on me!"
He had read countless Taoist scriptures, and could easily guess the effect of this rune. It was far too well hidden, remaining inert unless You Shi's spiritual power was used.
Xiao Nanfeng's heart thudded. As he continued to activate the rune with You Shi's spiritual power, he found a black thread connected to the rune, fading in and out of existence, as though tethered to some faraway location.
"You Shi really does have a whole assortment of sinister secret techniques, doesn't he..." Xiao Nanfeng murmured.
He dematerialized the black lotus and continued activating the tracking rune with You Shi's spiritual power. He followed the thread out of the pagoda and toward its other end,
being exceedingly careful to avoid any detection. He quickly arrived at the entrance to a temple, one that seemed to be deserted. Even when Xiao Nanfeng spread out his spiritual power, he couldn't discover anything amiss. However, by the back of the temple, there was some mist that blocked his sight.
"The tracking rune is leading me here. Could this mist be a formation to block usual methods of detection...?" Xiao Nanfeng frowned.
Just then, an official of Great Wei snuck into the mist and vanished from sight.
Xiao Nanfeng took a deep breath, condensing a black robe around himself out of spiritual power and covering himself tightly. At the same time, he sealed the tracking rune on the back of his palm with his own spiritual power. Then, he followed the official into the heart of the temple.
The moment he entered, he heard a hubbub of conversation. Evidently, the mist was even able to block sound. A large number of traitorous officials were gathered in the temple wearing all manner of clothing, some likewise garbed in a black robe. Xiao Nanfeng stood at the back of his pack, not standing out.
He glanced around himself. A thousand spirits had gathered here, all of whom were focusing on the black-robed man at the center.
"You Shi?" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes widened. Hadn't he defeated You Shi? Who was this, then?
Before You Shi was a stone platform brimming with black aura. Countless runes flashed and emerged from its midst.
"Is everyone here?" You Shi asked.
"Everyone who wants to be here is here. You Shi, start talking. Don't waste time."
"Right, weren't you defeated by Nanfeng? How have you regenerated?"
"Why did you suddenly contact us and tell us to gather here?"
The officials made quite a fuss before finally quieting down.
Only then did You Shi begin. "In Empress Bai's illusory realm, I grew overly confident, consolidating all the spiritual power in the realm before being crushed by Nanfeng. I was unable to revive then, but this time, having learned my lesson, I tore my spiritual body in half at the cost of half my spiritual power, paying a hefty price indeed."
"You formation-based cultivators really have all number of secret techniques..." one official murmured.
"I did all this for you!" You Shi cried out.
"Ha, for us? You mean, for yourself!" the official called back.
"Don't all of you want to get out? Don't you want your freedom?" You Shi replied.
The officials' faces darkened.
"All of you know how domineering the Red Emperor is. Do you really think she'd let you go this easily? She has to have a plan in mind. Why else would she allow you to leave but seal off the capital?" You Shi argued.
"What are you trying to say?" an official asked.
You Shi clearly wasn't the only one who had thought of this point; everyone else had, too.
"There are two possible choices ahead of you. The first is to hope that the Red Emperor was either being foolish or merciful, and will actually spare all of you. However, you revealed killing intent in front of Her Majesty. I can't imagine she would let you go easily—could you?" You Shi smiled coldly.
"What's the second choice?" someone called out.
Clearly, the officials were aware of the Red Emperor's personality, too.
"The second choice is to follow me out," You Shi replied.
"With the copper doors open, even if the Red Emperor's control over the illusory realm has weakened, our combined efforts would only result in heavy wounds for us and for the Red Emperor. We're hardly guaranteed to win," one official replied.
"No, that's wrong. You Shi's talking about Nanfeng and Yu'er," the official beside him interrupted.
"Hmm?" Everyone turned to him.
"That's right. This illusory realm was created by Emperor Wei with a dragon-quelling spike, which suppresses us all. If we want to resist the dragon-quelling spike's influence, we'll have to get one of our own. Nanfeng and Yu'er each possess a dragon-quelling spike, so as long as we can take down one of the two of them, I can take over their bodies with a secret technique, then bring all of you out with me," You Shi explained.
"Oh?" Everyone looked at You Shi, knowing that he wasn't finished.
"Yu'er's by the Red Emperor's side, and it'll be difficult to deal with her, but Nanfeng's down here with us. We can easily defeat him!" You Shi cried out.
"Nanfeng's spiritual power is at Lunar Deluge, at the very least. All of us have been suppressed to Stellar Lake. How would we take him down?" one official questioned.
"Do you think I sacrificed one of my two spiritual bodies because I was so desperate to catch Nanfeng? No, I did it so that I could test the limits of his spiritual power! His spiritual cultivation is at mid-stage Lunar Deluge. Strong though he might be, as long as I set up a formation in advance and borrow spiritual power from all of you, I'll have a good chance of capturing him. Wouldn't you agree?" You Shi glanced at the crowd.
The officials were momentarily silent. They knew that You Shi was capable of doing this. Their eyes lit up.
One official, however, frowned. "Isn't he supposed to be a very sly character? He's already gone into hiding. How will we find him?"
"That's why it was worthwhile for me to have sacrificed one of my spiritual bodies," You Shi replied. "Not only did I get a sense of his strength, I also left a tracking mark on his body. You know my tricks—few can detect such a mark."
"Oh? You can pinpoint Nanfeng's location?" The officials' eyes brightened.
"That's right. Do you see this runic platform before me? Using it, I'll be able to lock in on Xiao Nanfeng's location without a problem." You Shi pointed at the platform before him.
"You really are devious, You Shi!" someone called out from the back.
"I summoned all of you to ask if you're willing to cooperate with me on this array to trap Nanfeng, take him over, and escape from this illusory realm," You Shi called out.
You Shi understood their desperation very well. They had almost been so desperate as to take up arms against the Red Emperor; they wouldn't care about Xiao Nanfeng's life.
"We'll do it!"
"Count me in. Kill Nanfeng and take over his body!"
"Only with Nanfeng dead can we live. Let's kill him!"
The officials were all in agreement.
Xiao Nanfeng, standing at the back of the crowd, glanced at the spirits with growing anger. He hadn't been planning on taking on the spirits, but they were conspiring to take him down! Well, turnabout was fair play.
"Very good. Let me see where Nanfeng is hiding, then." You Shi smiled, satisfied.
Everyone glanced at the stone platform to see the runes floating amidst the black aura revolve and rotate. One of them, which matched the one on Xiao Nanfeng's palm, glowed with golden light. It swiveled on the platform, then landed right on the center of the platform. You Shi frowned, thinking he had made a mistake, before he suddenly realized what it meant. He looked all around himself in shock.
"You Shi, where's Nanfeng?" one official asked impatiently.
"I'm right here," a cold voice came from the gathered officials' back.
"What?!" the officials cried out, whirling around.
"No!" You Shi shouted in abject fear. He had never expected that Xiao Nanfeng would be in attendance!
Killing intent surged around Xiao Nanfeng. These spirits wanted to kill him—but he'd take them down first!
Xiao Nanfeng's fist headed straight toward a large group of traitorous officials. The massive impact obliterated the temple. The shockwave that rippled outward crushed the nearby buildings as screams filled the air.
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