Wayfarer

Chapter 128: The Sinister Red Rope

There had to be some deeper meaning behind the old eunuch's actions, but Xiao Nanfeng was unable to guess it. He tried to examine the rope with qi and spiritual power, but it seemed like an ordinary rope to both those senses.

"We await your command, Master!" The crowd bowed toward Xiao Nanfeng once again.

Thoughtfully, Xiao Nanfeng placed the red rope on the ground. The crowd no longer stared at Xiao Nanfeng, but instead the red rope. It was clear that the 'master' they were referring to was none other than the rope itself.

"What a sinister relic..." Xiao Nanfeng's blood chilled.

Suddenly, having an idea, he pointed the mouth of his storage ring straight at the red rope.

A bestial roar emanated from within the ring as the beast made its presence known. It seemed to be widening its bloodthirsty maw. A suction came from the ring, attempting to forcibly drag the red rope into it.

Xiao Nanfeng immediately shut the mouth of the ring.

"So you do have a soul, after all! Can you communicate? If you don't speak, I'll put you inside my ring," Xiao Nanfeng threatened.

The red rope was immobile, in every aspect a regular rope except in color.

Xiao Nanfeng tried to cause the rope to react in a variety of ways, but none of them were successful. Xiao Nanfeng couldn't help but doubt himself. Had he been mistaken?

"Your Highness, is everything alright?" Soldiers called out from beyond the mist, worried by the silence.

The clan heads and Crown Prince Yan all looked toward Xiao Nanfeng.

Xiao Nanfeng frowned. He hadn't developed an understanding of the principles by which the red rope controlled them all, and he didn't dare use the rope too much. He had an uneasy premonition.

"Don't reveal anything that has just happened. Calm your subordinates down and tell them that that old eunuch was trying to kill everyone. I saved all of you; out of gratitude, you no longer hold a grudge against me. Crown Prince Qi has perished. There are still cultivators from the royal family of Qi here, aren't there? Deal with the matter yourself," Xiao Nanfeng commanded tentatively.

"Understood!" the cultivators replied.

With the old eunuch's death, the mist all around them began to dissipate, revealing the countless soldiers standing on guard outside. They were pointing their spiritbane crossbows straight into the mist warily.

"Your Highness! Crown Prince!"

"Clan Head!"

"Third Prince!"

The soldiers relaxed as they saw their masters safe and sound.

"I owe you my life, Sir. Please, forgive my offenses today." Crown Prince Yan was the first to speak up.

"I owe you my life, Sir. Please, forgive my offenses today." The clan heads all echoed the statement, bowing sincerely to Xiao Nanfeng.

The clan heads' attitude caused their soldiers to gape, none of them having expected such an outcome.

"Let's end the conference now, then. We've finished dealing with the issue of merit. If there's anything else, I'll contact all of you once more," Xiao Nanfeng stated.

He was internally shocked. Had the red rope actually managed to take over everyone? This was sinister, far too sinister!

"Understood!" everyone replied.

They looked toward their own subordinates. "We leave now!"

"Ah? Y-yessir!" The soldiers were still confused, but they could hardly disobey a direct order.

Xiao Nanfeng's eyelids twitched. Were these clan heads really listening to him?

Despite the death of Crown Prince Qi, the third prince of Qi left with his and his brother's retinues. Only the subordinates of the clan heads that Xiao Nanfeng had killed seemed ill at ease, glaring resentfully at Xiao Nanfeng. In Crown Prince Yan, Third Prince Qi, and the other clan heads' presence, however, they hardly dared make a fuss. In the end, they left with the crowd, leaving just Xiao Nanfeng and a few unconscious spectral guards behind by the foot of Mt. Liangjie.

Xiao Nanfeng held the red rope in his hand, fearful of what it portended. Couldn't Marquis Wu have controlled them all from the very beginning, when they entered his manor?

"No, there has to be some critical weakness to this red rope's possession that I'm not aware of," Xiao Nanfeng surmised.

Xiao Nanfeng felt that the red rope was incredibly dangerous, but he couldn't bear to just discard it, either. He decided to leave it by his side. The red rope seemed to possess a soul, and he was unable to leave it in his storage ring for fear that the beast would consume it. Even so, he could hardly carry it out in the open.

He retrieved a chest of Great Wei, one of the ones he had obtained in barter with the centipede spirits. Even an Ascension-realm cultivator would be unable to open it. He placed it inside and activated its seal, then finally relaxed.

Xiao Nanfeng checked the old eunuch's body once again. Except for a red longsword, there were no other treasures to be found.

By then, all the clan heads had left with their soldiers in tow. You Jiu rushed to the foot of the mountain with a group of his subordinates.

"Sir Xiao, I was guarding the Immortal's Destruction when I received word that the fight was over. What's going on?" You Jiu asked.

"Everything's been resolved at the moment. Keep a careful eye over the clan heads of the humans' domain."

"Yessir!" Xiao Nanfeng hadn't answered his questions, but You Jiu would carry out his orders despite his confusion.

"Where's the Immortal's Destruction?"

"Right here!" You Jiu activated his storage treasure, summoning a huge black altar out of nowhere. It flashed with runic script and glittered with golden light.

"The Immortal's Destruction needs to be situated on a plot of land. It can draw energy from the ground, manifesting divine blades that can even kill Immortals, hence its name. After you invoked its power several times, Sir Xiao, the life in that valley has been decimated. The plants and trees have wilted, and even boulders and rocks have turned to powder," You Jiu reported.

"Is that so?" Xiao Nanfeng pondered the information carefully.

"The Hall of Specters' records state that the Immortal's Destruction can launch attacks strong enough to kill Immortals if placed over draconic aether veins. Sir Xiao, please be careful with the relic," You Jiu warned.

Xiao Nanfeng nodded firmly.

"Sir Xiao, we've rescued all living Taiqing disciples. Would you like to take a look at them?" You Jiu asked.

Xiao Nanfeng shook his head. "I've tasked Senior Brother Ye with looking after them all. I still have business to take care of, so I won't be returning for the short term."

"Yessir!"

After leaving Mt. Liangjie, Xiao Nanfeng returned to his cottage and began studying the Taoist scriptures he had access to. He had reached a critical threshold in his spiritual cultivation; if not for the fact that he had to rescue the senior disciples of the Taiqing sect, he would have secluded himself.

Starlight illuminated his stellar lake, which had grown vast over the course of the last two months. Xiao Nanfeng had reached the peak of Stellar Lake—or rather, he had hit that threshold two months prior. Despite his best efforts and studies, however, all he managed to do was to make his stellar lake larger. He was unable to make the transition into Lunar Deluge.

"A karmic consequence, perhaps...?" Xiao Nanfeng furrowed his brows slightly.

He retrieved the Seal of Great Wei. Unless it were necessary, he didn't want to make use of the remaining fortune he had access to, but he also needed to advance past this threshold.

Xiao Nanfeng sat cross-legged in meditation as he circulated a small wisp of fortune throughout his body, maintaining his hold on it as he attempted to bypass karmic consequence.

Although Xiao Nanfeng comprehended all the Taoist scriptures he had read, that comprehension came at multiple levels, superficial and otherwise, just like when he first began learning Hegemon's Fist. Each layer of comprehension built on the others, and the wisp of fortune he held gave rise to new and critical insights.

His stellar lake surged. This time, instead of growing larger, the stars within the lake grew more numerous.

Xiao Nanfeng's eyes widened. He knew that he had made the right move.

Just then, by a corner of Xiao Nanfeng's cottage, the chest in which he had kept the red rope emitted a burst of red light. The seals on the chest were completely eliminated as the chest opened a crack. A length of rope, red as blood, sent one end peeking out before slithering out whole.

The red rope had been so sly as to ignore Xiao Nanfeng, even against the threat of the ferocious beast within Xiao Nanfeng's storage ring. Although Xiao Nanfeng was on guard against the relic, even he had underestimated its strength. This chest wasn't able to contain the red rope at all.

The red rope's senses were surprisingly strong. It noticed that Xiao Nanfeng was at a critical period in his cultivation, and took advantage of the opportunity to strike.

It floated to Xiao Nanfeng's side silently, snaked up its body so lightly that his clothes didn't even flutter, and encircled Xiao Nanfeng's neck.

The red rope tightened—then squeezed. It grew taut, one end hanging on the beams in the ceiling, and the other looped around Xiao Nanfeng's neck. Xiao Nanfeng was pulled up into the air, as though hanging himself. Even so, he didn't wake up. He allowed the red rope to form a noose around his neck and swing him in the air.