Chapter 97: Escape Unharmed
"A Spiritsong-realm crow spirit? A crow king? What is it doing here?!" Yu'er cried out.
"The crow spirits who fled a few days ago must have reported to it. This matter concerns Xiang Zhirou's life, so the crow king has to have rushed over without any hesitation," Xiao Nanfeng analyzed.
"What do we do now, then?" Yu'er fretted.
Xiao Nanfeng retrieved the other dragon-quelling spike, which Blue Lantern had infused with Emperor Wei's strength.
"Nanfeng, the crow king is interrogating the centipede spirits now. It must be aware that you've used a dragon-quelling spike to kill three of the golden centipede spirits, and it'll surely be wary," Yu'er murmured, glancing at the spike.
"We may still have a chance to take it down." Xiao Nanfeng shook his head.
The Red Emperor eyed Xiao Nanfeng. "Your spike doesn't have enough power to do so."
Xiao Nanfeng waited for the Red Emperor to continue.
"Only if I simultaneously use the power in my dragon-quelling spike as you use yours can we kill the crow king, but in that case, I wouldn't be able to last until my consort's grave." The Red Emperor frowned.
"Your Majesty, I don't mean to use the dragon-quelling spike against the crow king," Xiao Nanfeng explained, shaking his head.
"Is that not so?" The Red Emperor seemed perplexed.
"All the treasures, weapons, and even people have decayed away from the dragon-quelling spikes, leaving only your coffin untouched, Your Majesty. It must be an exceptional artifact," Xiao Nanfeng prompted.
"This is a coffin my consort himself created, and the immutable copper from which it was forged came from a hidden realm in the divine domain. It resists decay, but because it served little purpose other than to store my corpse, it was never made into a treasure. Even so, it can likely withstand a blow from an Immortal. Do you intend to hide in my coffin? It's useless. The coffin is not sealed, and the crow king can easily force us out." The Red Emperor shook her head.
"No, Your Majesty. I possess an artifact that I might be able to cause to explode and deal the crow king a critical injury," Xiao Nanfeng continued.
"Oh?"
"Your Majesty, you have far more experience than I do, and your perception is unparalleled. Would you help me confirm if this array-breaking orb will explode when subject to a surplus of spiritual power?" Xiao Nanfeng pulled out a small white orb, which Xiang Zhirou had left behind.
His black orb had exploded in such fashion; wouldn't the white orb do the same? To be certain, he asked the Red Emperor to identify it.
"Something You Shi forged?" The Red Emperor narrowed her eyes and inspected the orb carefully.
"You Shi has set up a formation in miniature sealing away a spark of tombguard inferno. Infusing your spiritual power into the formation can indeed trigger an explosion to severely wound the crow king. Do you intend to withstand the blow from within my coffin?" The Red Emperor looked toward Xiao Nanfeng.
"This is the only strategy I can think of, Your Majesty. Would you permit this intrusion?" Xiao Nanfeng pleaded.
"My corpse will be buried with my consort, and I have no need for this coffin. You may have it," the Red Emperor replied, nodding with a brief sigh.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
"What's more, this set of copper doors is made of the same material, the divine domain's immutable copper. Take it if you wish," the Red Emperor continued.
Xiao Nanfeng's eyes brightened. He had almost missed the set of doors!
"Senior Sister, will you preserve Her Majesty's body?" Xiao Nanfeng looked toward Yu'er.
Yu'er nodded, pushing open the coffin. The Red Emperor's corpse was garbed in a luxurious red robe, her face flushed, as though she had merely been in deep sleep. When Yu'er lifted her corpse up carefully, however, she discovered that it was very light, as though all the bones in her body had broken. She gingerly stored the corpse in her storage pendant.
"Your Majesty, please seal your spiritual power now. We'll request your guidance when we make it out," Xiao Nanfeng advised.
The Red Emperor nodded, infusing her spirit into the dragon-quelling spike as she vanished. The spike floated to Yu'er's hands. She carefully kept it.
Xiao Nanfeng immediately took down and stored the copper doors, then returned to the coffin and buried the orb in the ground.
"Senior Sister, let's step inside," Xiao Nanfeng said.
Yu'er nodded, blushing slightly. The coffin would be a tight squeeze for the two cultivators. Xiao Nanfeng paid little mind to it, focused as he was on the crow king's imminent revival. He placed the lid carefully on top of the coffin, leaving a little slit for him to look out of. He tethered his spiritual power to the orb, wielding the dragon-quelling spike as he prepared for the upcoming danger.
Not long afterwards, a huge crash came from the tunnel. A group of centipede spirits cleared away the collapsed part of the tunnel as the crow king and a golden crow general crawled in.
"A bunch of useless idiots—all of you, and you still couldn't protect the young miss? She was killed by those two brats! How am I going to explain this to the marquis? If you can't find those two brats, don't expect to get out of this alive!" the crow king threatened.
The crow king's dominating aura caused the golden crow to quail in fear. The centipedes were also trembling. They quickly arrived at the underground tunnel, where they immediately saw signs of the earlier battle, as well as Xiang Zhirou's corpse.
"Clean up the young miss's remains!" the crow king commanded.
The golden crow spirit immediately flew over, carefully piecing together the remains of Xiang Zhirou's body.
Just then, the centipede spirits pointed at the huge crater where the pool of lava had been, along with the newly revealed passageway within. They guessed that Nanfeng and Yu'er had entered the passageway, but they were so fearful that they didn't dare step down there themselves. They all turned to the crow king.
"A bunch of useless idiots!" The crow king denigrated the other spirits again. It leapt into the huge pit, where it sensed everything within—along with the two cultivators hidden within the copper coffin.
"You brats, do you think I can't sense you in there? Do you need me to escort you out?" the crow king called out.
It didn't rush into the chamber within, knowing that Xiao Nanfeng had a treasure that could instantly kill an Ascension-realm spirit. It carefully stood by the outside of the chamber, carefully inspecting everything within for hidden danger.
Just then, Xiao Nanfeng infused a torrent of spiritual energy into the orb.
The orb trembled. The earth around it began to shake as the crow king grew alert.
"Is there a trap?" The crow king carefully dug at the earth, revealing the orb.
"This is..." Suddenly, it sensed a huge premonition of danger. Its face blanched.
"Something's wrong!" It attempted to flee, but the orb exploded before it could. The fiery lava within the orb was something even the Spiritsong-realm centipede king couldn't withstand. After being compressed once and again, the resulting explosion was frightening in scope and scale.
The centipedes' lair exploded, not just the underground tunnel, but the entire chasm. Fire roared and blazed, lighting up the night sky.
Countless spirits hunting in the night suddenly found that it had turned bright. They raised their heads toward the source of the disturbance, only to see a huge mushroom cloud by the centipedes' lair. A wave of superheated air expanded outward from the centipedes' lair, causing all the trees in the vicinity to topple over. A gigantic earthquake caused the spirits to fall to the ground in sudden shock and fear.
The centipede spirits at the epicenter of the explosion were all disintegrated, along with the golden crow spirit.
"No!" the crow king screamed. Its protective barrier of spirit qi was obliterated by the explosion. All its feathers burned to a crisp as it guarded its body and curled into a small ball. Fire and smoke drowned it as the mountain exploded. The copper coffin was sent flying. Despite its protection, the vibrations that passed through the coffin alone were sufficient to cause both cultivators to spit out blood.
Xiao Nanfeng shielded Yu'er with his body, blocking the force of the explosion near the coffin top with his back. Fortunately, the coffin top didn't get blown away. The two cultivators were sent into the air before they crashed back down far into the distance.
The force of the resulting crash finally displaced the coffin top as the two cultivators were flung out of the coffin and struck the ground at great force. Xiao Nanfeng hugged Yu'er tightly, coughing up blood as his back bore the impact. He was disoriented by the forces that flung his body around, and his ears were buzzing.
Yu'er, protected by Xiao Nanfeng's embrace, was largely uninjured. She had been fearing the massive impact, but Xiao Nanfeng's protection had been a source of surprising relief.
When everything had quieted down, Yu'er looked around, only to find the groggy and semiconscious Xiao Nanfeng on the ground. "Nanfeng, how are you?!"
Xiao Nanfeng, his head buzzing, didn't respond to Yu'er.
Yu'er quickly began to treat Xiao Nanfeng's wounds with as much qi as she could infuse into his body. It took quite a while before he finally came to.
"Are you alright, Senior Sister?" Xiao Nanfeng immediately asked.
Yu'er was simultaneously touched and enraged. "You're far more hurt than I am! Don't move. Let me treat you!"
"I'm alright. I just need to take some time to rest. Fortunately, I just had a breakthrough in my cultivation, or I wouldn't have been able to block such a blow," Xiao Nanfeng replied, smiling as he consoled Yu'er.
"Next time, don't just shield me. Worry about yourself, too—look how injured you are!" Yu'er grumbled.
"As long as you're alright." Xiao Nanfeng smiled at her.
Yu'er's heart thumped. She fell silent as she handled his injuries. By then, they were far away from the source of the explosion, but they could still see the blaze of fire extending beyond the forest cover.
"I wonder if that crow king perished...?" Xiao Nanfeng frowned.
By the source of the explosion, within a huge firepit, the crow king arduously got to its feet. It hadn't yet died, but all its feathers were gone, and it was charred black all over. It bled from all its orifices, so heavily wounded that anyone would wince upon seeing it.
"These two brats, daring to lay an ambush for me...!" It coughed. "Were they able to withstand an explosion of this magnitude? Or could they have been intending to die with me? These crazed brats!" the crow king cursed weakly.
It was far too weak in its present condition, and was worried that it would be hunted down by nearby spiritbeasts rushing here to see if there was anything of value. It didn't dare remain. Arduously, it flapped its wings and fled from the chasm.
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