Wayfarer

Outside Yongding, a large number of crow and crane spirits gathered under cloud cover. Killing intent flared.

The crow and crane kings glanced respectfully at a woman into whom the paper figure Yanluo Lord had transformed.

"All of you saw the fight between His Majesty and Xiao Nanfeng outside the city of Luoxing. His Majesty is an Earth Immortal, and Xiao Nanfeng has reached late-stage Yin Body. For the moment, neither of them will be able to seize a decisive victory, but His Majesty has a trump card that has yet to be revealed. He's sure to be the final victor. As for us, we'll need to uproot the few hidden threats that remain," the paper figure said.

"What's our goal?" the crane king asked.

"To destroy the draconic veins lying under Yongding and cause the sea of fortune over it to dissipate."

"The draconic vein is deep underground, and we won't be able to damage it in the short term. It won't be that easy to disperse, either," the crow king pointed out in worry.

"Don't worry. With me around, this won't be troublesome," the paper figure replied.

With a wave of its hand, a burst of fog appeared in its palm. A papier-mache hall could barely be seen within the fog, giving off gusts of demonic aura. The two spirit kings shivered as their feathers stood on end.

"What's that?" the crane king asked warily.

"This is the Yanluo Court. It can absorb the souls of the recently deceased and generate an aura of death. The more dead, the more massive the aura. Once it reaches a certain critical threshold, it'll be able to simultaneously destroy the draconic veins underground and disperse the sea of fortune aboveground. The entire domain shall transform into a hellscape."

"You want us to slaughter the entire city and use the souls of the people of Yongding to strengthen the aura of the Yanluo Court?" the crow king asked.

"That's right. His Majesty bears one of the Spirit Emperor's peerless treasures and is undefeatable. Only the might of Dazheng's fortune might be able to defend against His Majesty's incursion. By destroying Xiao Nanfeng's seat of power at Yuanding, Xiao Nanfeng will be unable to command Dazheng's authority. Even if the Taiqing Immortal Sect's Heaven- and Earth-division cultivators strike at His Majesty together, they'll be no match for him," the paper figure stated coldly.

"I see. What're we waiting for, then?"

The two spirit kings' eyes filled with bloodlust. They cared little for mortals, or indeed human cultivators.

"Unleash carnage across the land. Kill every last soul in Yongding!" the paper figure shouted.

"Kill!" the two spirits shouted simultaneously.

Countless crow and crane spirits shrieked as they swooped down toward Yongding. Killing intent billowed toward the city in a gale.

"Enemy assault! Activate the defensive formation!" the Yongding guards shouted.

Outside the Xuanhuang Hall in the Dazheng Palace of Yongding, Xiao Nanfeng's avatar appeared. He looked up at the sky and smiled coldly. "Nalan Qiankun's avatar didn't make an appearance. It's only the avians?"

A red moon appeared behind his head, and a white cloud in the sky turned red at a rapid rate.

Countless lengths of red rope were flung down from the cloud and toward the thousands of spiritbeasts that were attacking the city. The spirits found themselves hanging in the air by their necks.

"Red rope? Xiao Nanfeng's still in Yongding!"

"Help! I can't free myself!"

The spirits cried out in fear. The crane and crow kings had suffered the worst of the assault. Each of them was tied up by several lengths of red rope and rendered completely immobile. Thousands of avian spirits were hanging by their necks, as if they were staging a mass suicide.

"Your Majesty is invincible!" Countless guards and common people cheered.

There were plenty of cultivators from various Immortal sects in Yongding as well. They raised their heads and gaped at what they saw.

"Eight of these Immortals are radiating with rainbow light—they're spirit Immortals! But Xiao Nanfeng managed to take them all down in a single attack..."

"Xiao Nanfeng's growing more and more powerful."

"Who would be a match for Xiao Nanfeng the way he is now?"

Many cultivators were astounded.

Many officials, Blue Lantern, and Ao Zhou gathered by the plaza outside Xuanhuang Hall.

"Blue Lantern, focus on handling the formations around the entire city and protect the people to the best of your ability," Xiao Nanfeng commanded.

"Understood!" Blue Lantern nodded, a complicated expression on his face.

He could see that Xiao Nanfeng had reached late-stage Yin Body, and he was shocked by the revelation. How was he cultivating so quickly? It was incredible!

Beside him, ao Zhou said, "Xiao Nanfeng, you assigned the crow and crane spirits to us dragons as special dispensation, but they haven't dared to show themselves recently. That was why we couldn't deal with them. You said that they were our responsibility now, so the merit for dealing with them should go to us dragons!"

Xiao Nanfeng glared at Ao Zhou. "You really are shameless, aren't you?"

"I was going to make a move the moment the crow and crane spirits appeared, and I don't need the help of your red rope. You were the one who volunteered to help; it's none of my business. As an emperor of humanity, you wouldn't deign to steal my credit, would you? If you don't like this arrangement, then free the spirits and let me at them," Ao Zhou replied cockily.

He was certain that Xiao Nanfeng wouldn't release the avians and chance hurting the people. He grinned and shamelessly accepted the merit for himself.

Just then, a gust of black smoke struck the red cloud. It quivered, and the lengths of red rope suddenly retracted and loosened. The avians were freed.

"What? You really freed them?" Ao Zhou goggled.

"Very well. I won't steal your merit. You can handle these avians on your own. I'll consider what you said as a military order: if you let the avians harm the common people, I'll cripple you dragons," Xiao Nanfeng said.

"What? How could you do this? How could you free them?!" It was Ao Zhou's turn to be gobsmacked.

Xiao Nanfeng ignored him. His body flickered and vanished.

The avian spirits shivered in fear, feeling at the rope marks around their necks. They had almost choked to death!

"Keep attacking Yongding. I'll deal with Xiao Nanfeng," the paper figure commanded from within the red rope.

"Understood!" the spirits replied.

"Kill!" the two avian kings shouted.

"Kill!" All the avians shot down toward Yongding.

Ao Zhou shot the avian spirits a hateful look. Xiao Nanfeng was getting stronger and stronger; he had even designated what Ao Zhou had promised as a military order. If he couldn't deal with all these avians, he was the one who would suffer.

"You damn spirits, can't you come in batches? So many of you all at once is going to be a nightmare!" Ao Zhou howled in anger. Then, he transformed back into a black dragon and shot into the air. "All dragons, charge!"

Dragons howled as they launched themselves into the air above Yongding, straight toward the avian flocks. There were relatively few dragons in all, but they each possessed a tremendous aura. Their combined howls formed a powerful sonic attack that struck the gathered avians, disorienting them and causing some amount of injury. Then, the aerial battle began in earnest.

The guards in the city shot out arrows in waves, assisting the dragons' assault.

As for Xiao Nanfeng, he shot into the air because he could sense a tremendous evil within the red cloud. He immediately motioned for countless lengths of red rope to strike at it.

A howling storm was unleashed in the air, expelling red clouds and black smoke to reveal a papier-mache Yanluo Court.

The woman into whom the paper figure had transformed blocked the blow before it could reach the building. She was astonished. "All my efforts were only able to advance my cultivation by a small margin. How did you break through to my level all by yourself?"

"It's none of your business. Now that you've shown yourself, you might as well stay," Xiao Nanfeng said coolly.

The red moon to the back of his head gave off blinding red light, causing the paper figure's eyes to narrow. Simultaneously, Xiao Nanfeng struck it with his palm. As the two figures fought, another windstorm was unleashed.

The two figures began to fight more and more rapidly. The paper figure's martial techniques were particularly strong, and it was able to defend against Xiao Nanfeng's attacks at least in the short term.

However, Xiao Nanfeng's fist technique was ultimately more dominant. As time progressed, Xiao Nanfeng slowly gained the upper hand and began sending the paper figure flying with his blows.

Just then, the paper figure gritted its teeth and allowed a blow in exchange for hugging his arm tightly and shouting, "Yanluo Court, hold us!"

The Yanluo Court flew over, its gates wide open, as it absorbed the two tangled-up figures within it.

The gates slammed closed. The interior of the hall was pitch-black, and the paper figure spat out a mouthful of blood after being struck by his heavy blow. It was sent flying.

Black fog filled their surroundings. Ghostly green light in the air made everything look sinister. Xiao Nanfeng flew back to where the gates had been, only to find that they had vanished along with the windows and even the walls of the hall.

"Since you've entered, you won't be able to escape. This Yanluo Court is designed to be particularly weak from the outside in, but particularly strong from the inside out. Even if you were to reach True Yin, you wouldn't be able to escape," the paper figure said gleefully, wiping at the blood by its lips.

"Break!" Xiao Nanfeng pounded at the floor with a fist.

The space rippled with force, but showed no sign of breaking apart.

"Your struggles are futile," the paper figure continued.

From within the darkness appeared a large number of paper snakes, their eyes flecked with green light, vicious expressions on their faces.

"The Yanluo Court? There were a group of shadows trapped within. Did you transform them all into paper snakes?" Xiao Nanfeng demanded, looking at his surroundings.

"Don't worry. It'll be your turn next. You must have some incredible secret to be able to reach late-stage Yin Body in such a short period of time. The Yanluo Court possesses all forms of torture practiced in the eighteen layers of hell. Why don't you try them all? The moment you reveal your secret, I'll give you a painless death. Haha, shall we start with the hill of blades, or perhaps the pan of boiling oil?" the paper figure asked.

Just then, it suddenly discovered that the red moon to the back of Xiao Nanfeng's head seemed to be glowing intensely. Its surroundings were dyed red as well.

"This isn't the interior of my Yanluo Court. Where are we?" the paper figure exclaimed.

"The red moon illusory realm. You invited me into the Yanluo Court, so I'll invite you here as well. Why don't we get along? As for your torture, I have no interest in trying any of them. I think I'd rather start with killing you!" Xiao Nanfeng shot forward.

He punched the paper figure right in the face.

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