Wayfarer

Chapter 432: Who's Hunting Whom

The white-robed Heaven Immortal's fearless gaze caused the two cultivators to be exceptionally on guard. The Heaven Immortal's aura pressured them both.

"Nanfeng, you head out first. I'll hold him back," Lady Yaoguang said immediately.

Xiao Nanfeng shook his head. He walked up to Lady Yaoguang and looked coldly at the white-robed Heaven Immortal, pretending to be calm. "You dare strike alone? Haven't you forgotten how I slew Yin?"

The white-robed Heaven Immortal smirked. "Haven't I just tested your strength? You were barely able to take a blow from me. You're an Earth Immortal, aren't you? You're far weaker than I am, and it looks as though that copper blade can only activate its true strength under special circumstances. Otherwise, you would have used it in the capital of Wu."

"You knew about what happened in the capital of Wu?" Xiao Nanfeng frowned.

"I forgot to tell you. When the commotion occurred by the sea of karmic flame, we all headed over. I returned to the capital of Wu following behind the Horse Yanluo, and I clearly saw your shameful display of strength against the Horse Yanluo. You, a lowly Earth Immortal, dare to stand up against us? You really don't know what's good for you, do you?"

Although he sounded relaxed, he didn't drop his guard at all. He was deliberately trying to intimidate Xiao Nanfeng; he had no idea how Xiao Nanfeng had managed what he did with the Yanluo Court.

"You're trying to launch a sneak attack on me, but you haven't yet contacted the crown prince of Dayin. You must have some ulterior motive in mind," Xiao Nanfeng said.

"What do you think?" The white-robed Heaven Immortal smirked.

"The fact that you're not continuing to attack us means that we can negotiate. Go on. What will it take for you to let us go?"

The white-robed Heaven Immortal stared at Xiao Nanfeng. "You have two great treasures: a copper blade, and an imperial seal that has claimed two Yanluo Courts. Hand them both to me and I'll let you go. How's that?"

"Nanfeng, you can't listen to him! He's deliberately trying to trick you. Once you hand your possessions over, he can change his mind at any time. He's not interested in negotiating—he's just worried about how strong your treasures might be. He'll surely strike once he tricks them away from you," Lady Yaoguang warned.

Not far away, the Heaven Immortal frowned. With his inner thoughts exposed, he couldn't help but feel a sense of indignance overcome him.

"He's a Heaven Immortal," Xiao Nanfeng replied, shaking his head. "He'll keep his word."

The Heaven Immortal stilled, his indignance replaced with surprise and wariness. What was this lad thinking?

"How can you believe him?" Lady Yaoguang fumed.

"We don't have any other option. As long as we can leave safely, I don't mind leaving these two treasures behind."

"But..."

She wanted to berate him for being a fool when she suddenly realized that this was completely unlike how Xiao Nanfeng usually acted. Could he be deliberately trying to set something up?

Unable to get a sense for what Xiao Nanfeng was planning, she could only fall silent.

Xiao Nanfeng retrieved the divine undying blade and the Divine Seal of Dazheng. "Are you a man of your word, sir?"

The white-robed Heaven Immortal fell silent. He was surprised and cautious about how smoothly everything was going. Was this a scheme of some sort?

However, he simply couldn't tell what the problem was. Why not claim the treasures first? He just needed to be more careful than usual.

"I am a man of my word," the Heaven Immortal promised.

"Then I'll come over bearing these two treasures," Xiao Nanfeng said, taking a step forward.

"Hold it!" the Heaven Immortal shouted.

"What's the matter?"

The Heaven Immortal smirked. He understood what Xiao Nanfeng was trying to do now. He was pretending to accede to lower his guard. Xiao Nanfeng surely intended to launch a sneak attack on him while handing over the treasure!

"Toss the treasures over. Don't come over yourself," the Heaven Immortal said coolly.

Lady Yaoguang fretted, thinking that Xiao Nanfeng's plot had been foiled, but Xiao Nanfeng really did toss the treasures over as indicated.

"What? You're really giving those treasures up?" Lady Yaoguang exclaimed.

The Heaven Immortal was shocked by Xiao Nanfeng's behavior. What was going on? That said, he naturally didn't intend on giving up any opportunity to weaken his opponent. He reached out to catch them.

The Divine Seal of Dazheng and the divine undying blade approached at different angles. The divine undying blade flew faster and headed straight toward the Heaven Immortal in a line, while the Divine Seal of Dazheng was tossed in a parabolic arc and fell toward the Heaven Immortal from above.

The Heaven Immortal caught the divine undying blade,

with no ill effect whatsoever. The Heaven Immortal was just about to laugh at Xiao Nanfeng for being a fool when the Divine Seal of Dazheng overhead released overwhelming golden light. A frightening aura descended from the heavens.

"Something's wrong!" the Heaven Immortal cried out.

The Divine Seal of Dazheng suddenly sped up until it was right over his head. He had no time to dodge. With a bang, he was trapped beneath the divine seal.

"Fortune of Dazheng, seal!" Xiao Nanfeng commanded.

The sealing power of the Divine Seal of Dazheng grew tremendously. The Heaven Immortal was completely encased in golden light. He stomped on the ground, releasing the aura of a Heaven Immortal to defend himself, but failed to overwhelm the Divine Seal of Dazheng altogether.

"Impossible! How can there be so much fortune in this imperial seal for you to command? Just who are you?!" the Heaven Immortal demanded.

The Heaven Immortals had had no time to check on Xiao Nanfeng's background.

Although the empire of Dazheng had only been founded for a short period of time, the popularity of Xiao Nanfeng's rule meant that there was an incredible amount of fortune gathered within his imperial seal.

Furthermore, the divine purple rock that had formed the basis of the seal itself possessed tremendous sealing ability. The reinforced seal cracked the Immortal qi barrier protecting the Heaven Immortal.

"I'm a Heaven Immortal! How could you be able to seal me? Break!" the Heaven Immortal demanded.

He struggled, putting his full strength to bear, but remained completely suppressed.

Xiao Nanfeng let out a breath. "I was worried I wouldn't be able to hit you, but you cooperated very well by stepping forward."

The Heaven Immortal was so furious he could spit out blood. As a Heaven Immortal, he certainly had the speed to avoid the seal when it was tossed, but regret was useless to him now.

"Yaoguang, this is particularly draining on my reserves of fortune. Quick, kill him with your cursebane sword!" Xiao Nanfeng urged.

"Very well!" Lady Yaoguang thrust her sword at the Heaven Immortal.

"Damn it! Heavenly barrier!" the Heaven Immortal roared in panic.

Though rendered immobile by the seal, unable to even retrieve a treasure, he could still manipulate his heavenly qi and protect himself with it.

Unfortunately for him, the cursebane sword was a peerless treasure of the Shangqing holy land, and it was far too easy for it to kill a Heaven Immortal. The cursebane sword speared through his head, killing his physical and yin bodies simultaneously.

With a hum, the Divine Seal of Dazheng flew back into Xiao Nanfeng's hand. Lady Yaoguang cut the Heaven Immortal's body once again to confirm that he was dead before she sheathed her blade again.

"What a pitiful death," Lady Yaoguang murmured, smiling.

"He died because of his greed and arrogance. He tried to claim all my treasures alone—if he had summoned his peers, we would have been no match for him."

"Oh?"

"He likely has an important artifact known as arhat armor. It's particularly potent, but he didn't have a chance to use it. Let me see..." Xiao Nanfeng headed forward expectantly.

Very quickly, he dug out a storage bangle from the Heaven Immortal's corpse, where he retrieved a thirty-meter tall golden statue of an arhat.

"This is your so-called arhat armor?" Lady Yaoguang exclaimed in surprise.

The two cultivators poked around the artifact for a while, breaking the seals that were on it. Xiao Nanfeng quickly identified the crux to activating the armor. With a hum, his body merged together with it.

Xiao Nanfeng experimentally punched forth with Hegemon's Fist, then darted out of its interior.

"How is it?" Lady Yaoguang asked.

"It's incredible. When I merged together with it, I felt as though I was possessing the Dragon Yanluo's cursed spiritual avatar. I was able to manipulate it with ease."

"Oh?"

"You try, too!" Xiao Nanfeng said.

Lady Yaoguang accepted gladly. She tested out the potency of the arhat armor. When she re-emerged, her eyes were gleaming. "It's a great treasure. You'd be as strong as a peak Heaven Immortal with it on."

"There are plenty of Heaven Immortals searching for us, and they likely all possess arhat armor. Let's try to claim it all," Xiao Nanfeng suggested, smiling.

"You intend to counterattack the crown prince of Dayin and his subordinates?" Lady Yaoguang asked seriously.

"I do. They've been hounding me and don't look like they'll give up. They're surely planning on attacking me. Rather than wait passively, why not take advantage of their greed to kill them? What's more, we need to search for your parents. With our strength, we won't be able to deal with even ordinary Heaven Immortal cursed effigies. The arhat armor will help us take on a more active role," Xiao Nanfeng said.

"As you will." Lady Yaoguang nodded firmly.

"Let's keep doing what we did before—find a place, then sit and wait." Xiao Nanfeng smiled.

"Very well!" Lady Yaoguang nodded.

The two cultivators packed up and found a small stream by which they could pretend to be cooking.

A steady stream of smoke rose into the sky, a clear sign of liveliness against a sunset backdrop.

Quickly, another white-robed Heaven Immortal flew by across the horizon, as though in search of something. Suddenly, he noticed the smoke coming from afar.

He reined in his aura and hid within a forest by the side of a mountain, observing the couple fooling about by the stream.

"His Highness is only interested in the copper blade, the imperial seal, and the Yanluo Courts. This lad has a tremendous number of secrets up his sleeve. Could I be able to gain the rest of them myself?" The Heaven Immortal's eyes lit up like a hunter's.

He inspected his surroundings to confirm that there was no ambush lying in wait before he skulked over.