Wayfarer

Chapter 427: Adding Fuel to Fire

Despite the overwhelming odds against him, Xiao Nanfeng didn't despair. He could yet turn things around.

The reason he had summoned the Ox and Monkey Yanluos was for this very moment.

Fighting against a single Yanluo Lord would be the most dangerous outcome, but three against one meant he had a chance. He could try to turn the Yanluo Lords against each other. After all, they too were rivals—and had remained so for a hundred thousand years.

Clutching his chest in pain, he shouted, "Dragon Yanluo, if you don't help me out now, I'm going to be beaten to death. Save me!"

"Hm?" The three Yanluo Lords frowned warily at the Dragon Yanluo's cursed spiritual avatar, but it lay completely unmoving.

"Lad, are you still trying to trick us? Do you intend to sow conflict among us so that you might have a chance to run?" the Horse Yanluo demanded.

Beside him, the Ox and Monkey Yanluos stared coldly at Xiao Nanfeng. They were well aware of what sort of trick he was trying to pull; they had plenty of experience from eras of ruling.

However, Xiao Nanfeng had no choice but to continue his act. This was his only hope at survival.

"Dragon Yanluo, I entered the Netherworld Palace on your orders! Now that I'm in the three Yanluo Lords' hands, you have to help!" Xiao Nanfeng howled.

The three Yanluo Lords tittered, none of them believing Xiao Nanfeng's words.

"Lad, if the Dragon Yanluo's cursed spiritual avatar were present, why would it allow you to possess his body? Don't you think we're familiar with such schemes? Summon him out if you can!" the Horse Yanluo joked.

"It's true! The Dragon Yanluo has transformed into a peach tree and has been badgering me since. I don't know why he refuses to show himself now," Xiao Nanfeng fumed.

Just then, a horse-headed humanoid stepped forward and whispered, "King, outside the sea of karmic flame, there really was a peach tree cursed effigy devouring fragments of our brethren's bodies—their cursed souls and spiritual avatars alike. That peach tree absorbed everything that this lad killed."

Just then, an ox-headed humanoid appeared and reported the same thing to the Ox Yanluo. "King, he's right."

"A peach tree cursed effigy?" The three Yanluo Lords frowned.

Different cursed effigies could absorb each other's cursed souls, but very few could digest their cursed spiritual avatars as well. The fact that the cursed effigies could differ wildly meant that it was difficult to digest cursed spiritual avatars in general.

That implied that the peach tree had to be a peach tree only superficially, as a disguise—otherwise, it could never absorb the cursed spiritual avatars of the cursed effigies from the Netherworld Palace.

"Lad, you claim that that peach tree is the Dragon Yanluo? What proof do you have?" the Horse Yanluo demanded.

It didn't believe Xiao Nanfeng's claims, but it was interested in the blood peach tree.

"I don't have any evidence. He claimed to be the Dragon Yanluo and wanted me to help reclaim his cursed spiritual avatar. He's the one who helped save my woman," Xiao Nanfeng replied.

"Oh? Your woman?" The Horse Yanluo chuckled.

"Yaoguang, whom you captured! Where did you keep her? Why couldn't I find her within your Yanluo Court?" Xiao Nanfeng thundered.

"Horse Yanluo, this looks like a mess you created," the Ox Yanluo commented idly, smirking.

The Horse Yanluo ignored the Ox Yanluo's snide comments and continued, "Lad, are you deliberately trying to change the topic? What's your name?"

"I haven't changed the topic, and I'm not hiding anything. My name is Xiao Nanfeng, and the Dragon Yanluo had me enter the Netherworld Palace. He told me that the cursed effigies in the palace are all pieces of trash that'd be easy to deal with. That's why I tested it out at the mouth of the abyss—and I found that he was right. That gave me the confidence to head deeper into the Netherworld Palace."

"You dare call all of us trash?!"

"I wasn't the one who said it. It was the Dragon Yanluo! He tricked me into believing that it was true. Then, I headed to the sea of karmic flame and used the treasure he handed me to absorb all the karmic flames within. There, I found his cursed spiritual avatar. I did all this on his orders!" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

The three Yanluo Lords narrowed their eyes, seeming to believe Xiao Nanfeng to some extent. After all, the Dragon Yanluo did control the sea of karmic flame, and only he could easily retrieve everything within it. The lad before them didn't seem as though he would be able to do so with his own strength.

"You're lying," the Horse Yanluo accused. "If he's found his cursed spiritual avatar, why hasn't his cursed soul returned to it? Why would he allow you to possess it?"

"How should I know?"

He knew that, the more he said, the more he could get wrong. It would be better to feign ignorance and allow the three Yanluo Lords to come to their own conclusions.

The three Yanluo Lords narrowed their eyes at him, as though trying to determine whether he were telling the truth.

"How did you manage to bypass the doors to my Yanluo Court?" the Horse Yanluo demanded.

"With the Dragon Yanluo's help, of course. He's a Yanluo Lord himself. Would it be difficult for him to make his way inside a Yanluo Court?" Xiao Nanfeng replied breezily.

This was precisely the attitude that he needed to have—casual ignorance of what was possible and what was not.

At that moment, the three Yanluo Lords started to be convinced of Xiao Nanfeng's claim. They believed that Xiao Nanfeng was just the Dragon Yanluo's pawn, who knew little of the Dragon Yanluo's actual plans.

"Dragon Yanluo, you said you'd protect me and get me out of here. Come help me!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted at the Dragon Yanluo's cursed spiritual avatar.

The three Yanluo Lords narrowed their eyes, plans brewing in their head. The atmosphere suddenly turned tense.

Suddenly, the Horse Yanluo made his move. He turned to the Dragon Yanluo's cursed spiritual avatar and began to suck.

"Horse Yanluo, how dare you!" the Ox Yanluo roared.

"Hold it!" the Monkey Yanluo screeched.

The horse-headed humanoids all around worked in tandem to guard the Horse Yanluo as they blocked the attacks from the other two Yanluo Lords.

Xiao Nanfeng's eyes lit up. He knew that his strategy had worked—adding fuel to the fire, deepening the schism that already existed among the three Yanluo Lords.

The three Yanluo Lords had all been peering at the Dragon Yanluo's cursed spiritual avatar over the course of the conversation, each keeping their desire in check—and what desire was this? It was clear from how Yin had swallowed up the Goat Yanluo, and how the blood peach tree rushed to consume the cursed effigies that Xiao Nanfeng killed. They surely wanted to enjoy the Dragon Yanluo's cursed spiritual avatar for themselves, but hadn't had the chance to strike just yet.

He deliberately chose to make the Dragon Yanluo seem weak. If the Yanluo Lords didn't go for the Dragon Yanluo now, he might very well escape.

The Horse Yanluo was the closest, and managed to swallow the Dragon Yanluo's cursed spiritual avatar whole. The Ox and Monkey Yanluos struck immediately.

The horse-headed humanoids that were at the vanguard were sent flying by the two other Yanluo Lords in a huge wave of energy. Xiao Nanfeng attempted to escape, but a Heaven Immortal horse-headed humanoid kept careful guard over him.

The two Yanluo Lords continued undeterred, landing heavy blows on the Horse Yanluo's body and sending him flying. The three Yanluo Lords ended up in a fierce melee.

"Ox Yanluo, Monkey Yanluo, how dare you!" the Horse Yanluo roared.

"You won't be able to claim the Dragon Yanluo's cursed spiritual avatar for yourself. Dream on!" the Ox Yanluo roared back.

"Spit out the Dragon Yanluo's cursed spiritual avatar, now!" the Monkey Yanluo demanded.

The two Yanluo Lords attacked the Horse Yanluo simultaneously, causing a tempest to form all around the capital of Wu.

"This is my capital, and I was the one who obtained the Dragon Yanluo's cursed spiritual avatar. It belongs to me. What right do the two of you have to it?" the Horse Yanluo demanded.

"You don't deserve it all to yourself. We're all roughly equals in strength. If you manage to get another body, the equilibrium in the Netherworld Palace would tilt in your favor, and you'd swallow the rest of us up one by one. Now, spit out the Dragon Yanluo, or we'll kill you!" the Monkey Yanluo screeched.

"Don't waste your breath. It'd never spit it out. If you don't want to die, we'll have to strike together and tear the Horse Yanluo apart. We'll split the Horse and Dragon Yanluo's avatars and maintain our equilibrium," the Ox Yanluo roared.

"Got it!" The Monkey Yanluo's eyes shone with a chill.

"You dare?!" the Horse Yanluo shouted.

The three Yanluo Lords began to fight more and more fiercely. A firestorm formed in the air, causing countless structures in the capital of Wu to collapse.

Several Heaven Immortal horse-headed humanoids shot into the air to assist their lord, but the other two Yanluo Lords were too strong. Even the Heaven Immortals were no match for them, and were instantly torn apart. If not for the Horse Yanluo defending them, they would all have been eaten.

A Heaven Immortal horse-headed humanoid continued to detain Xiao Nanfeng. Just then, a figure shot toward the humanoid and sent him reeling. Even so, he continued to stand guard.

A group of horse-headed humanoids rushed over and stood guard protectively.

"King, a Heaven Immortal ox-headed humanoid snuck into the city and launched a sneak attack at me. He was trying to seize this lad!" the Heaven Immortal horse-headed humanoid shouted.

The next moment, he was attacked by yet another cursed effigy.

"King, there are even more cursed effigies lying in wait. They all want this lad!"

In the air, the Horse Yanluo frowned upon hearing his subordinate's words. He knew that Xiao Nanfeng might not have been telling the complete truth; he might still be hiding some crucial information. Xiao Nanfeng would be a very valuable prize.

"Seal him within the Yanluo Court, now!" the Horse Yanluo demanded.

He waved his hand, causing the doors to the Yanluo Court in the distance to creak open.

"Understood!" the horse-headed humanoid shouted.

A group of horse-headed humanoids guarded him as they rushed into the Yanluo Court. Within the storm, some ox- and monkey-headed humanoids seemed to try to rush into the Yanluo Court to seize possession of him as well.

"I've already sealed this lad's cultivation. Watch over him while I handle the other cursed effigies," the Heaven Immortal horse-headed humanoid said.

"Understood!" the other cursed effigies replied.

The Heaven Immortal shot out of the Yanluo Court, sending the cursed effigies milling about the doors flying. A huge battle ensued.

"King, that lad's inside the Yanluo Court now. Seal the doors!" the Heaven Immortal horse-headed humanoid called out.

"Done!" the Horse Yanluo replied.

He waved a hand. The doors to the Yanluo Court below creaked shut.