Wayfarer

Chapter 430: The Horse Yanluo's Disaster

Without the Yanluo Court's suppression, the cloud of annihilation began to unleash its might. This time, Heaven's Hand shot down toward the gathered cursed effigies straight away, smashing them flat with its palm. The ground quaked; the cursed effigies who had barely evaded the attack scrambled to run.

Xiao Nanfeng and Lady Yaoguang, who weren't cursed effigies, hadn't been targeted by Heaven's Hand. They barely avoided the blow unscathed.

"Follow me, Yaoguang!" Xiao Nanfeng called out.

Xiao Nanfeng rushed toward Lady Yaoguang, who dispelled the blue moon barrier and allowed him to carry her up onto the arm of Heaven's Hand.

"What are you doing?!" she cried out, embarrassed.

"Heaven's Hand's first blow struck this area because it was where the Yanluo Court was located. We don't know where its next blow will be, and there are still far too many cursed effigies in the vicinity. If Heaven's Hand were to leave, we might not be able to get away. We have to follow it closely if we want to seize the opportunity to escape."

"I'm talking about your hand. Aren't you going to remove it?!" Lady Yaoguang's face was entirely red.

Xiao Nanfeng blinked. Only then did he realize that he had mispositioned his hand on account of the rush. He too flushed red and released Lady Yaoguang. "I apologize. I was in a hurry and wasn't paying attention. I'll be more careful next time."

"Next time?!"

Just then, Heaven's Hand rose back up into the air and headed toward the next battlefield. Xiao Nanfeng and Lady Yaoguang, standing atop its arm, were brought up into the clouds with it.

The sudden acceleration caused them to stumble, and Lady Yaoguang almost fell from the arm. Xiao Nanfeng reacted rapidly and caught her once more—but somehow, his grip ended up where it had been before.

"Ah!" Lady Yaoguang flushed once again.

Xiao Nanfeng hastily let go. He held carefully onto her waist to stabilize her, preventing her from falling once again.

"We've escaped from the midst of the cursed effigies, and Heaven's Hand has ascended toward the sky. This is our chance," Xiao Nanfeng said, changing the topic out of embarrassment.

Only then did Lady Yaoguang calm down and focus on what lay before them.

This time, Heaven's Hand was headed toward the four Yanluo Lords.

The Yanluo Lords were fighting among each other, the Horse Yanluo attempting and failing to fend off the other three.

"Who stole my Yanluo Court?!" the Horse Yanluo demanded.

Heaven's Hand shot toward them.

"Force the Horse Yanluo to one side. The three of us will be on the opposite side!" the Ox Yanluo called out.

"Got it!" the other two Yanluo Lords replied.

They instantly forced the Horse Yanluo aside as the three Yanluo Lords cooperated to save themselves.

All four Yanluo Lords were gripped by Heaven's Hand.

Just then, Xiao Nanfeng and Lady Yaoguang hopped out from Heaven's Hand and fled. The four Yanluo Lords saw them leave.

"That lad? Isn't his name Xiao Nanfeng?" the Monkey Yanluo exclaimed.

"He can escape from the Yanluo Court himself? Has he been tricking us all along?" the Ox Yanluo shouted.

"Could he have been the one who took the Yanluo Court, too? How could that be?!" The Dog Yanluo reeled in shock.

By then, the Horse Yanluo had come to the realization that it had been tricked by Xiao Nanfeng. The cost of the deception wasn't something that he could bear. His Yanluo Court was gone, and he could very well be annihilated within the next few moments.

"Xiao Nanfeng, I'll kill you. I'll kill you!" the Horse Yanluo shouted hoarsely.

The four Yanluo Lords, caught in the palm of Heaven's Hand, were blocked from sight. Heaven's Hand squeezed forcefully, and bolts of lightning filled its palm.

The four Yanluo Lords had been fighting high in the air. There were originally some Heaven Immortal horse-headed humanoids present to assist, but over the past four hours, as more and more cursed effigies arrived, they were forced to deal with those new foes. As a result, all four Yanluo Lords were far from their subordinates.

This gave Xiao Nanfeng and Lady Yaoguang an excellent opportunity to hide.

They shrouded their bodies with fog and flew off, an explosion to their backs. Along the way, they didn't come across a single cursed effigy and were able to fly unhindered toward the outskirts of Wu.

The two cultivators continued onward carefully. After leaving Wu, they descended to ground level and hid within a forest in the distance.

"We finally made it out!" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

"Nanfeng, did you touch me intentionally?" Lady Yaoguang fumed. Her face was still flushed, but she didn't seem particularly critical of him."

Xiao Nanfeng scratched his head. "I really didn't mean to do so intentionally, but if it bothers you, why not..."

"Why not what?"

"Why don't we become a couple?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.

Lady Yaoguang's heart thrummed. Her face was a mask of panic. She pretended to be angry. "Dream on!"

Just then, an explosion rang out in the air. A storm of energy formed around Heaven's Hand.

"Will Heaven's Hand be able to take on the four Yanluo Lords?" Xiao Nanfeng wondered, expression serious.

Lady Yaoguang likewise looked toward the sky, but her eyes flicked to Xiao Nanfeng every now and then. She lifted her chin up high. A flush crept down her snowy-white neck as her heart thudded.

"King! Be careful!" Countless cursed effigies surrounded Heaven's Hand, watching in worry.

All the cursed effigies knew that Heaven's Hand had caught the four Yanluo Lords and was trying to kill them all.

Suddenly, however, Heaven's Hand burst apart.

"What? The four Yanluo Lords managed to escape Heaven's Hand?" Xiao Nanfeng was taken aback.

Lady Yaoguang shivered. "The four Yanluo Lords truly have frightening strength."

With a bang, Heaven's Hand shuddered and exploded in a wave of flaming energy. The explosion was so immense that, where it passed by, it looked like a calamity had struck.

The flames swept past countless cursed effigies, all of whom screamed and were burned to ash.

The large capital of Wu was razed to the ground in a flash. The flames caused mountains and streams to collapse.

Despite the fact that the flames diminished in size as the wave of energy traveled further and further, they still possessed enough might to destroy heaven and earth. They reached Xiao Nanfeng within moments.

Xiao Nanfeng blanched and immediately grabbed Lady Yaoguang in an embrace.

"I have my blue moon barrier. Let me block the flames!" Lady Yaoguang exclaimed.

Xiao Nanfeng brought both of them into the Divine Seal of Dazheng.

"It's safer here," he told her.

Then, as Xiao Nanfeng let go of Lady Yaoguang, she flushed red and gave Xiao Nanfeng a frown. "Don't lift me up next time. That's disrespectful!"

"I promise I'll be more careful next time," Xiao Nanfeng replied.

Xiao Nanfeng had said that repeatedly, but he didn't seem to keep his word. She rolled her eyes at him, still fuming.

"It looks like we're safe now. Let's go out and see what happened." Xiao Nanfeng tugged on Lady Yaoguang's hand as they stepped out of the Divine Seal of Dazheng.

They emerged to see their surroundings a mess. Large swathes of cursed effigies had been killed, and the remainder were seriously injured.

Heaven's Hand had exploded, but the bloody cloud of annihilation in the air hadn't vanished. Rather, it seemed to be growing even redder, as though a new Heaven's Hand was about to spawn into existence.

At the source of the explosion, a group of Yanluo Lords appeared.

The Monkey, Dog, and Ox Yanluos were heavily injured and spitting out fresh blood. The Horse Yanluo had suffered even more grievous injuries. He was bloody all over, his body contorted in pain, hurt more severely than ever before.

Heaven's Hand had struck them all, but the Horse Yanluo had shouldered half the attack on his own, whereas the other three Yanluo Lords had shouldered the other half. The difference in their injuries was palpable.

Realizing how terrible the situation was for him, the Horse Yanluo turned to run, but it was too late. The Ox Yanluo rushed forward and began to inhale everything before him in.

"No!" the Horse Yanluo cried out.

He was far too weak to resist. The Ox Yanluo sucked him into his mouth.

"Ox Yanluo, hold it!" the Monkey Yanluo screeched.

"Ox Yanluo, how dare you!" the Dog Yanluo howled.

The two Yanluo Lords began to attack the Ox Yanluo, but he allowed their punches to land as he swallowed the Horse Yanluo whole.

"No!" the Monkey Yanluo roared.

"Spit it out. Spit it out now!" the Dog Yanluo demanded.

"Until next time, fellows!" The Ox Yanluo took a deep breath and flew off as he bore with his wounds.

"Hold it right there!" The Monkey and Dog Yanluos chased after him.

The three Yanluo Lords vanished in three beams of light.

The remaining cursed effigies panicked.

"The Ox Yanluo swallowed our king? This can't be!" the horse-headed humanoids cried out.

"The Ox Yanluo ate the Horse Yanluo? He managed to obtain another Yanluo Lord's strength?"

"No, that's not all. The Dragon Yanluo's cursed spiritual avatar lies in the Horse Yanluo's body. The Ox Yanluo gained two Yanluo Lords' strength!"

"If the Ox Yanluo can escape, he's going to dominate the Netherworld Palace..."

The cursed effigies shouted at each other in panic.

None of them could have expected that the Ox Yanluo would end up the greatest winner of this entire fiasco.

"Right, what about that lad from just now? He stole the Yanluo Court. We have to find him!" a cursed effigy exclaimed.

Only then did the majority of the cursed effigies get reminded of Xiao Nanfeng. They prepared to search their surroundings.

Just then, a huge boom rang out in the air. Another Heaven's Hand had emerged from the bloody cloud and was heading straight for the nearest cursed effigies.

"No!" the cursed effigies shouted in panic.

It caught a group of cursed effigies and squeezed them until they exploded.

Heaven's Hand once again began to unleash indiscriminate slaughter. Countless cursed effigies fled in fear—none bothered to search for Xiao Nanfeng any longer with their lives in abject danger.

"It's too dangerous here," Lady Yaoguang surmised. "We should leave first."

"Got it!" Xiao Nanfeng replied.

The two cultivators fled through the underbrush of the forest.