Wayfarer

Chapter 441: The Rabbit Yanluo's Boldness

Lady Yaoguang likewise possessed arhat armor, which she hadn't had an opportunity to use in the past. Now that the Rabbit Yanluo and one her avatars had shot into the air in pursuit of the two Yanluo Courts, she immediately melded with her suit of armor.

The rabbit-headed humanoids around her shot toward her, but were unable to stop her. Furthermore, Xiao Nanfeng was also closing in on her. When he passed by, Hegemon's Fist took down all the cursed effigies in his way.

"We have to run!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted, tugging on Lady Yaoguang's hand.

"No, you won't! Seal!" a voice shouted.

A copper pillar appeared out of nowhere, wreathed in flame. It fell through the air and suppressed both cultivators, preventing them from moving.

"What's this?" Xiao Nanfeng cried out.

Just then, the Rabbit Yanluo's avatar that had possessed Lan Jiguang walked out of a group of rabbit-headed humanoids. She smirked. "This is a relic forged of fragments from the hell of copper pillars, one of the eighteen hells of the underworld. It contains toxic flame that's particularly suited to sealing souls."

"The hell of copper pillars?" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

"Burn aflame!" the Rabbit Yanluo's avatar commanded.

Out of the copper pillar surged countless flames. The two cultivators were surrounded. Their arhat armor blazed bright red.

"I know that you were able to absorb the flames from the fragments of the hell of boiling oil and the volcanic hell, and these flames surely won't be able to harm you. As for your woman, she's protected by her cursebane sword. I don't need to harm you, however—just seal you here and prevent you from escaping. Just you wait. Once I finish matters up there, I'll head down here and deal with you." The Rabbit Yanluo's avatar laughed.

"Rabbit Yanluo, you lied to us! You're breaking the terms of our arrangement!" Xiao Nanfeng roared.

"And so what? What can you do to me?" the Rabbit Yanluo's avatar replied, smiling.

"You'll die a terrible death," Xiao Nanfeng cursed.

"You had better worry about yourself, haha!" The Rabbit Yanluo sneered disdainfully at Xiao Nanfeng.

Xiao Nanfeng turned. "Yaoguang, how are you?"

"I'm alright, but I've been rendered immobile."

"Bear with it for a moment. Let me absorb these flames. The Rabbit Yanluo will surely be pursued by the other Yanluo Lords, and we'll be able to get free once she dies. Hold on."

"Got it!" Lady Yaoguang gritted her teeth.

"You're waiting for me to die? Keep waiting, then!" The Rabbit Yanluo snorted,

motioning for some of her subordinates to guard the two cultivators alongside her, before she tilted her head upward to watch the skies.

The Rabbit Yanluo's main body was closest to the Yanluo Courts that Xiao Nanfeng had tossed out, and she reacted instantly. With a wave of her sleeves, she caught both Yanluo Courts within her robes.

Just then, the Rooster and Monkey Yanluos roared as they approached. They struck as one, forcing the Rabbit Yanluo back.

"Rabbit Yanluo, you warned us not to let Xiao Nanfeng lead us by the nose. Were you deliberately trying to scheme against us? How malicious you are—the Yanluo Courts that should have belonged to us are now yours!" the Monkey Yanluo roared.

"This is too much, Rabbit Yanluo!" the Rooster Yanluo added.

"Xiao Nanfeng wanted us to scheme against and take down each other so he can run. Can't you tell?" the Rabbit Yanluo replied.

"Better than being tricked by you!" the Monkey Yanluo shouted.

"Rabbit Yanluo, hand over your Yanluo Courts," the Rooster Yanluo demanded.

The Monkey Yanluo gave him a chilly look. "Don't waste time talking to her. She might have seized the upper hand for now, but that's alright. If we kill her, we can distribute the loot according to our plan."

"Very well!"

"Can't we form an alliance with each other?" the Rabbit Yanluo asked.

"You've seized everything Xiao Nanfeng had to provide. Neither of us received anything, so why should we ally with you peacefully? Do you think us fools? You have to die today!" the Monkey Yanluo exclaimed.

The Rabbit Yanluo glared at him. "In that case, don't blame me for being heartless. Rooster Yanluo, I'll pass you one Yanluo Court. Here!"

"Beware of a sneak attack!" the Monkey Yanluo shouted.

A black object whizzed by, which the Rooster Yanluo caught with his sleeve.

"This is... a Yanluo Court?" the Rooster Yanluo exclaimed.

He couldn't believe that the Rabbit Yanluo would simply give him one.

"What? Why would you hand over one of the Yanluo Courts you just obtained?" the Monkey Yanluo exclaimed.

"Haven't you figured out Xiao Nanfeng's plan? He's trying to get rid of the three of us with his two Yanluo Courts. It's a quandary without a perfect solution. There's no way for the three of us to split the two Yanluo Courts evenly. If I claim two for myself, the two of you will gang up against me. If I give up both, I won't be satisfied. I have no choice but to choose one of you to work with, the Rooster Yanluo. You're the only one who doesn't have anything now." The Rabbit Yanluo narrowed her eyes.

"What are you trying to do?" the Monkey Yanluo asked, with a warning tone.

"If we can't distribute the spoils evenly, there'll surely be cracks in our alliance that will only propagate and grow with time. If one of us defects from the alliance, the other two will be dead. The Tiger and Ox Yanluos are in secluded cultivation, and we might as well take advantage of the opportunity to deal with all other threats right now." The Rabbit Yanluo smiled.

The Monkey Yanluo frowned. He had an uneasy premonition.

"My cursed spiritual avatar and the two Yanluo Courts I possess represent three indivisible pages of the Records of Life and Death. If you kill me, how do you intend to split up these three pages?" the Rabbit Yanluo asked.

The two Yanluo Lords frowned. They had chosen to ally with each other on the premise that they would each gain an equal share of the spoils. Otherwise, the unfair distribution of spoils would easily shatter the alliance and cause each of them to want to devour the other.

"Rooster Yanluo, rather than ally with the Monkey Yanluo, why not work with me? We can kill him together. I'll claim his cursed spiritual avatar, and you his Yanluo Court. We'll be able to split the spoils evenly, and I just gave you a Yanluo Court. Surely you can tell who the better partner would be?"

The Monkey Yanluo's eyes opened wide. "Rabbit Yanluo, how dare you attempt to foil our alliance! Die!"

Suddenly, he stumbled. The Rooster Yanluo had slammed a palm toward his back.

"Attack!" the Rabbit Yanluo shouted, making her move at once.

The two Yanluo Lords began to attack the Monkey Yanluo simultaneously, initiating the melee among the three Yanluo Lords.

"Rooster Yanluo, how dare you betray me! Have you forgotten about our alliance?!" the Monkey Yanluo roared.

"Our alliance? You were the one who insisted on breaking the alliance between us and Xiao Nanfeng. It's been ineffective since then. You insisted on scheming against him, resulting in the current state of affairs. If there's anyone to blame, it's you!" the Rooster Yanluo replied.

"You bastard!"

"What's more, this is the Rabbit Yanluo's domain, the capital of Mao. She has her Yanluo Court present to back her up. It would be difficult for the two of us to take her down, but far easier for me to team up with her against you."

"If I die, the Rabbit Yanluo will turn on you!" the Monkey Yanluo shouted.

"You have a worse personality. I trust you less than her."

"No, you can't!"

The three Yanluo Lords began fighting intensely.

The subordinates that the two Yanluo Lords brought with them were stupefied. The sudden shift in the Rooster Yanluo's allegiance meant that his subordinates had no choice but to follow suit.

The rooster-headed humanoids began to attack the monkey-headed humanoids with the help of the rabbit-headed ones. For a moment, everything in the capital of Mao was nothing but chaos.

Not far away, as Xiao Nanfeng focused on absorbing the Rabbit Yanluo's toxic flame, he sighed. "Rabbit Yanluo, I have to admit you're a worthwhile foe. You gave away your Yanluo Court just like that..."

The Rabbit Yanluo's avatar smirked. "It's all thanks to you."

"Why didn't you just free Yaoguang and me to begin with?"

The Rabbit Yanluo's avatar narrowed her eyes at Xiao Nanfeng. "You're too dangerous."

"Dangerous? How?"

"I caused you to lose two Yanluo Courts. Would you be willing to give them up so easily? I possessed your woman's parents. Would she be willing to give up on revenge? Rather than wait for you to cause me trouble, why not deal with you once and for all?" The Rabbit Yanluo smirked.

"Once and for all? Let's see who deals with whom," Xiao Nanfeng retorted coldly.

He still had other plans up his sleeve. Rather than waste time with the Rabbit Yanluo, he chose to focus on absorbing the toxic flame and raising his cultivation.

"You're cultivating? This is—the Imposing Avatar of Rulai! It's the same technique that damn monk was cultivating!" The Rabbit Yanluo's avatar narrowed her eyes.

"What monk?" Xiao Nanfeng asked curiously.

"It's that blood peach tree, isn't it? You tricked the other Yanluo Lords by claiming that it was the Dragon Yanluo's cursed spiritual avatar, but that didn't exist at all. The fact that it can devour the cursed effigies of our ten domains without being one of the ten Yanluo Lords means that it has to be that damn monk. It hid behind us and incited us to go to war. Each of the ten Yanluo Lords obtained one page of the twelve Earthly Branches. The final two pages went missing—it must have stolen them. Tell me where that peach tree is!" the Rabbit Yanluo cried out in agitation.

"The blood peach tree's a monk? Are you certain?" Xiao Nanfeng was taken aback.

"Isn't the Imposing Avatar of Rulai a Buddhist technique? It wanted to transcend its mortal self and become a Rulai of its generation, but the world was then under the control of the ten Yanluo Lords, and the mortal world was a patchwork of the hells of the underworld. If he were to ascend then, he would instantly become the nemesis of the world. While the underworld remains, it can't ascend. Has it managed to regenerate as well? It must be attempting to seize the ten Courts' powers for itself. Where is it? Tell me now!" the Rabbit Yanluo's avatar demanded impatiently.

"I don't know." Xiao Nanfeng refused to say.

"You don't? Very well. Once I finish dealing with affairs here, we'll have a nice, long chat. Ha!" The Rabbit Yanluo's avatar seemed particularly excited.

Xiao Nanfeng stopped communicating with her as he focused on absorbing the toxic flame.

The fight dragged out for over two hours. The flames that extended from the copper pillar and suppressed Xiao Nanfeng and Lady Yaoguang had vanished entirely. The pillar was starting to crack, as though it might burst open at any moment.

Suddenly, Xiao Nanfeng's body boomed as a gust of flaming energy was expelled from it.

"The third stage of an Earth Immortal!" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes lit up.

"You absorbed all the toxic flame? As expected of the Imposing Avatar of Rulai." The Rabbit Yanluo's avatar turned to her subordinates. "Take them on together. Suppress them!"

"Understood!"

The rabbit-headed humanoids headed to the top of the copper pillar and struck at full strength, forcing the pillar down and rendering Xiao Nanfeng and Lady Yaoguang still immobile.

"We'll be done in no time. The Monkey Yanluo is badly wounded, and will be defeated shortly. Xiao Nanfeng, I'll get everything out of you one way or another, haha!" The Rabbit Yanluo's avatar laughed in glee.

"Nanfeng, let's implode our arhat armor and flee," Lady Yaoguang said, fretting.

"Don't worry. I still have a plan. The Rabbit Yanluo hasn't won yet. Let's not give up so quickly," Xiao Nanfeng whispered back.

"What could you do now? Any resistance on your part is futile." The Rabbit Yanluo laughed again, but cut herself off halfway as she considered another possibility. Her head jerked up. "Hold it."