Wayfarer

Chapter 516: The Heavenly Emperor, Yu Fuli

In a hall on Thousand-Spirit Island, Yin Tianci, Tang, and Mo Lengxuan seemed to be deep in discussion.

Yin Tianci looked toward Mo Lengxuan. His features were contorted in unease. "Are you certain? How could Xiao Nanfeng possess dozens of suits of arhat armor?"

"His Majesty's information has been confirmed. Xiao Nanfeng entered a Martial Aspects' hunting ground and does possess dozens of suits of arhat armor. In addition, he can restore them easily." Mo Lengxuan frowned.

"Damn it! I should have destroyed my storage bangle from the beginning. How could Xiao Nanfeng have managed to forge arhat armor? That's impossible! There are stringent requirements—how did he do it?!" Yin Tianci cursed.

Tang immediately said, "Your Highness, you shouldn't blame yourself right now. What's done is done. We need to deal with the problem as quickly as possible. The divine armaments of Dayin can't be allowed to become Xiao Nanfeng's tools."

"I'm not entirely to blame, of course, but how will I rectify the situation?" Yin Tianci sighed, entirely thick-skinned.

"We have to finish off Xiao Nanfeng, of course."

Beside him, Mo Lengxuan scoffed. "Finish off Xiao Nanfeng? One of his bodies is in the Imperial Court. Do you intend to assassinate him there?"

"Perhaps you wouldn't dare, but I would. As long as His Highness provides me with sufficient manpower, I would be more than happy to assassinate Xiao Nanfeng in the Imperial Court. I'm willing to risk life and limb for His Highness, whereas you don't seem to be of much help at all. At the very least, please don't hold us back," Tang said.

"You're the one holding us back! That's the Imperial Court, the Imperial Court! An assassination attempt there would be a farce!" Mo Lengxuan fumed.

"Sir Mo, what you lack in ability, you ought to make up in courage—but it seems you fail to do even that. I'm ashamed to be working with you," Tang said.

Mo Lengxuan stiffened. He gritted out, "Is sowing discord all you can do?"

Tang turned to Yin Tianci. "Your Highness, His Majesty will surely blame you for losing the recipe for forging arhat armor. I, your loyal servant, am willing to take the risk to assassinate Xiao Nanfeng in the Imperial Court to repay you for your investment in me—and to seek revenge for myself. I simply ask that you provide me some True Immortals as well. I will risk everything."

Mo Lengxuan scoffed, thinking that Tang was simply trying to sound pleasing to Yin Tianci.

Yin Tianci seemed perplexed as well. "You must be aware that trying to assassinate a Martial Aspect in the Sieve of Heaven itself will greatly anger the Imperial Court. Cultivators of absolute strength will chase after you. Your life hangs in the balance."

"Even so, Your Highness, I am willing to take this risk," Tang replied.

Mo Lengxuan stilled. He gaped at Tang. Was he serious?

"If I issue this order and you refuse it, you'll be punished with death," Yin Tianci warned.

"I am a man of my word, Your Highness," Tang said. He turned toward Mo Lengxuan. "Sir Mo, will you accompany me in service to His Highness?"

Mo Lengxuan stiffened. He didn't know what to say. Was he supposed to go and die with Tang? Was Tang a psycho?

Yin Tianci watched on, infuriated. Why had he trusted and recommended Mo Lengxuan so much in the past? Not only was he useless, he was even a coward! All he could do was bully Tang.

Just then, a man walked into the hall. The moment he did so, he bowed. "Your Highness, we have just received word from the Sieve of Heaven. Xiao Nanfeng has traded the recipe for arhat armor to the various Martial Aspects for a class of purple-furred monsters. He has all but distributed the recipe publicly."

"What? Damn it—Xiao Nanfeng dared to publicize how to make our national treasure?!" Yin Tianci cursed.

Tang sighed in regret. "I was intending to help Your Highness assassinate Xiao Nanfeng and reclaim Dayin's recipe, but it looks like there's no need for that any longer. Your Highness, it doesn't make sense for me to lead an assassination attempt on Xiao Nanfeng now. Better for me to remain useful elsewhere."

Mo Lengxuan suddenly jumped in. "Tang, were you acting just now? What a phony you are! I seriously suspect that you're in cahoots with Xiao Nanfeng. You must be able to know what Xiao Nanfeng's planning to do at all times. Xiao Nanfeng deliberately publicized the recipe for arhat armor in collaboration with you so that you could gain His Highness' trust!"

Tang blanched. Inwardly, he muttered to himself, "I must have gone overboard acting. Did Mo Lengxuan figure out what's going on? What do I do now?"

"Silence, Mo Lengxuan!" Yin Tianci thundered.

Mo Lengxuan: ...

"Have you no contrition for your part in the loss of Dayin's divine armaments? You're trying to accuse Tang and shift blame to him instead! What else can you do but malign those loyal to me?!"

Mo Lengxuan: ...

"If not for Father insisting that you be my advisor, I would long since have sent you away. Your failures number far more than your successes!"

Mo Lengxuan: ...

"If we trace everything back, if not for the three-headed serpent king you recommended, the recipe for arhat armor would never have been lost! It's all your fault," Yin Tianci accused.

Mo Lengxuan: ...

His eyes widened; his vision turned dark. How could the loss of the recipe for arhat armor be attributed to him?

Tang relaxed imperceptibly. He really was lucky—nothing came out of Mo Lengxuan's startlingly accurate claim, and Mo Lengxuan himself became the scapegoat!

Within the Sieve of Heaven, one of the Heavenly Emperor's attendants escorted him to Mt. Kunlun.

The Imperial Court's palace lay at the peak of Mt. Kunlun. There were countless guards and maidens hurrying through its interior, which was surrounded by thick fog to obscure what lay within.

With the Heavenly Emperor's attendant leading Xiao Nanfeng forward, they encountered no obstacles along the way. They headed deep into the Imperial Court and stopped short outside a formation surrounded by fog. The attendant bowed. "Martial Aspect Xiao, the Heavenly Emperor lies within. Please step inside."

Xiao Nanfeng nodded. "My thanks."

The attendant retreated to one side.

Xiao Nanfeng headed into the formation layered with thick fog. Within, he found himself in a rather small garden.

The pavilion within the garden was an unadorned structure. There was a small pond not too far away, only about thirty meters wide and rather ordinary-looking. By the side of the pond sat a genteel, middle-aged man.

The man was garbed in robes with a cloud motif. His hair was rolled up in a topknot, and he had a fishing rod in his hand. He sat fishing by the side of the pond, looking particularly relaxed and at ease. There was little in the way of authority or formality, only elegance and calmness.

Several attendants stood close by, their heads bowed, waiting on the man. It wasn't difficult for Xiao Nanfeng to guess that the man was none other than the Heavenly Emperor of the Imperial Court, the foremost cultivator of the realm, Yu Fuli.

Xiao Nanfeng took a deep breath, walked forward, and bowed. "Xiao Nanfeng greets the Heavenly Emperor."

Yu Fuli didn't respond. He stared intensely at the fish hook, as though he had reached a crucial point in his fishing.

Xiao Nanfeng silently glanced at the small pond. Only then did he discover that something was unusual—it was no ordinary pond at all. It seemed to be a portal into another world, a raging ocean in which fierce beasts roared. A giant dragon was thrashing.

Countless fierce spirits were duking it out in the ocean, fighting over Yu Fuli's fish hook. Huge waves filled the air as the giant dragon was torn apart and the fierce spirits were devoured. The fighting continued intensely until a huge black fish swam over, releasing a devastating aura that caused the other spirits to shrink back in fear.

The giant fish swam forward like a monarch, terrorizing the other spirits before biting down on the fish hook.

"I've finally done it." Yu Fuli smiled as he drew the fishing rod back, pulling the giant black fish out of the surface of the pond in a huge splash.

"Congratulations on obtaining a giant nethernorth strider, Your Majesty," one attendant said, stepping forward.

He retrieved a cauldron and pointed it at the giant fish, who was sucked into the cauldron the moment the hook was pulled out of its mouth.

The servant immediately sealed the cauldron. The giant fish thrashed and struggled futilely.

It took merely a glance for Xiao Nanfeng to notice that the cauldron was an exceptional treasure, perhaps one no inferior to his Yin-Yang Cauldron.

"Prepare it," Yu Fuli said calmly.

"Understood!" The servant bowed and retreated with the cauldron in tow.

Another servant stepped forward and retrieved the fishing rod from Yu Fuli's hand. Xiao Nanfeng's pupils contracted—that fish hook was somehow familiar.

Wasn't that the fish hook cursed effigy that had appeared in the Palace of the Moon that day? It looked precisely the same, and it had caught a True Immortal shark spirit the moment it appeared.

Xiao Nanfeng realized what was going on immediately. That was no cursed effigy—the Heavenly Emperor had been fishing!

He then looked at the small pond nearby to find that the ocean had vanished, replaced with thick fog. Mountains and streams could be seen in the distance.

He frowned thoughtfully, murmuring to himself, "This pond looks unexceptional, but isn't it an incredible treasure? Could it allow the Heavenly Emperor to fish anywhere in the world?"

"Are you the Xiao Nanfeng who has been protecting Lingjun all this time within the Palace of the Moon?" Yu Fuli asked, sizing up Xiao Nanfeng.

Xiao Nanfeng nodded with a wry smile. "My actions must have seemed rather a joke in your eyes, Your Majesty. I didn't realize you were able to see everything that occurred within the Palace of the Moon. Protecting Princess Lingjun was unnecessary on my part."

"It was no joke. You did well enough—considering your cultivation, scant few could have done better than you did except for those ancient cultivators starting anew."

He stood up and accepted a towel from another servant to wipe his hands, then strode toward the nearby pavilion.

He sat down and relaxed just like an ordinary man, though the aura of nobility that exuded from him could hardly be hidden. His cultivation seemed to render him one with the world in truth.

Yu Fuli considered Xiao Nanfeng again. He suddenly smiled. "What a complex mix of cursed spiritual power surrounds you—and a concentrated one at that. You've encountered a fair few cursed effigies despite your young age."