Wayfarer

Chapter 727: Meeting Emperor Feng Again

The Divine Emperor summoned a few of her subordinates to stand guard, and Xiao Nanfeng asked the same of his golden cultivators.

"Everything's settled. Let's head in," Xiao Nanfeng said.

"Very well!" The Divine Emperor nodded.

The black coffin lay flat on the ground. With a wave of her hand, the coffin lid slid open as a bout of suction attempted to suck them in. The Divine Emperor struck the body of the coffin with a palm, causing the suction to wink out. Then, she jumped into the black coffin while holding onto Xiao Nanfeng's hand.

The two of them entered a passageway.

"You said that Emperor Feng once forged this black coffin into his physical body?" the Divine Emperor asked.

"Right. Senior Brother and I rescued Emperor Feng's soul together. If he had helped us take down Yin Shenhua, I would have been happy to cooperate with him, but he sought to kill the two of us instead. I had no choice but to let him perish alongside Yin Shenhua. It's a pity that he wasn't able to take Yin Shenhua down in the end," Xiao Nanfeng said, sighing.

"Better that such cultivators die. Have a look. Is this hidden realm identical to that in the other black coffin?" the Divine Emperor asked.

The two cultivators didn't fly into its depths just yet. They watched as gusts of black wind billowed around them.

"I can't be certain, but it feels much the same at the moment."

"There's a vortex of black wind over there that's trying to suck us in," the Divine Emperor said, pointing at a certain location nearby.

"Let's mark this area first so we can return to it."

"I've already done so. I'm confident we'll be able to make it back."

"Shall we get going, then?"

The two cultivators jumped into the vortex. The Divine Emperor led them onward through the wind and into the huge, mysterious world down below.

The two cultivators landed on the peak of a mountain.

"Everything here reminds me of the other black coffin hidden realm so far," Xiao Nanfeng said.

"Let's keep going."

Xiao Nanfeng nodded.

The two cultivators began their hunt through the hidden realm. Before long, they found their first zombie cave.

Their eyes lit up as they flew over, only to find the zombies at the cave roaring and charging at them.

"There are fewer zombies here, and they seem to be weaker, too..." Xiao Nanfeng murmured.

He punched at about a dozen of them that had charged over, all of which exploded into black smoke. Then, the smoke flew into a nearby zombie cave.

The zombies within roared as they flew out. Their leader absorbed all that black smoke into its body.

"These zombies are far too weak," Xiao Nanfeng murmured.

"Xiao Nanfeng? It's you!" the zombie in the lead exclaimed.

Xiao Nanfeng was taken by surprise. After all, in the other black coffin, even the zombie kings' intelligence was limited. Only the golden-crowned zombie king had been able to converse at a reasonable level. How could this ordinary-looking zombie do so—and how did it recognize Xiao Nanfeng? Something was clearly off.

"Who are you? How do you know who I am?" Xiao Nanfeng demanded.

"Ha! I didn't even have to go search for you. Xiao Nanfeng, don't you recognize me? You ruined all my plans," the zombie sneered.

Xiao Nanfeng was taken aback. Suddenly, he narrowed his eyes. "You're Emperor Feng, aren't you? You haven't died?"

"Of course not. But you lost me my physical body. I could have beaten Yin Shenhua if I had had it, but Yin Shenhua was able to wound me instead. Now that you've shown up, you might as well not leave!"

"Have you possessed this zombie?" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

"If you hadn't hurt me, I wouldn't have had to give up on symbiosis with the black coffin—I wouldn't have had to find an inferior substitute. Where's that black lotus? Let it show itself!"

His understanding of Xiao Nanfeng hadn't changed since his last showdown with him. He naturally wasn't aware of how much stronger Xiao Nanfeng had grown since then.

"Emperor Feng, I'll give you a chance. Tell me what's going on within this hidden realm, and I'll spare your life."

The zombie didn't charge forward recklessly. It narrowed its eyes at Xiao Nanfeng, then smirked. "The black lotus shouldn't fear me. If it hasn't shown itself, does that mean that it's dead?"

Xiao Nanfeng's gaze frosted over. "Did you hear me?"

The zombie laughed. "It looks like it really is dead, then! But even if it weren't, I'd have finished it off."

"Are you stalling?" Xiao Nanfeng shot over.

"Take him down!" the zombie commanded.

Its subordinates shot toward Xiao Nanfeng.

"You really are overconfident."

Countless fists manifested around Xiao Nanfeng, each one pummeling a zombie and causing it to explode.

"You're a True Immortal now?" Emperor Feng exclaimed.

It sucked in a deep breath, absorbing all the black smoke from the fallen zombies.

"Shall I test out the strength of your new body?" Xiao Nanfeng shot toward Emperor Feng.

"Die!" Emperor Feng cursed.

The man and zombie exchanged blows in mid-air, a tempest roaring around them. Emperor Feng was sent flying.

"Impossible. How could you be so strong? How could you have reached the peak of the True Immortal realm so quickly?!"

Xiao Nanfeng closed in on Emperor Feng. "I gave you a chance, but you refused it. Very well, then. I'll investigate myself. Die! Hegemon's Fist!"

"You bastard!" Emperor Feng yelled out.

Xiao Nanfeng struck Emperor Feng's body with a flurry of punches, causing it to explode into a cloud of black smoke, which was sucked away into the distance.

"Is this zombie cave protected only by True Immortal zombies? There doesn't seem to be any relics within, either," Xiao Nanfeng murmured.

"Some strong cursed effigies are drawing near," the Divine Emperor said.

Xiao Nanfeng raised his head. Countless zombies were flying over from three different directions, all brimming with killing intent. The black smoke that had once been Emperor Feng's body flew toward one of those directions before being absorbed by one of the zombies in the lead, a zombie king wearing a crown on its head and boasting an impressive aura.

"Three zombie kings?" Xiao Nanfeng frowned.

"Xiao Nanfeng, to think you've grown so strong," one zombie king murmured.

Xiao Nanfeng gave the three zombie kings an odd look. "Just how many avatars did you make?"

The three zombie kings' expressions were near-identical. Could they all be Emperor Feng's avatars?

"How many do you think?" one zombie king retorted, sneering.

"Forward! Take him down," another zombie king commanded.

Countless zombies shot toward Xiao Nanfeng.

"Something's strange about their aura. Don't make a move. Let me test their strength first," Xiao Nanfeng told the Divine Emperor.

"Very well!" The Divine Emperor nodded.

Xiao Nanfeng shot forward to meet the zombies in the lead.

"Hegemon's Fist!"

A flurry of punches took down the majority of the horde of zombies. Some exploded on the spot into clouds of black smoke.

"Hegemon's Fist!"

Even more zombies were sent flying; the clouds of black smoke in the air grew thicker and thicker. The three zombie kings absorbed them all.

"Let me see just how strong you've grown!" A zombie king shot toward Xiao Nanfeng and punched forward.

Two fists met in a howling tempest that sent Xiao Nanfeng flying, though he was otherwise unharmed.

"What? How could you be alright?" the three zombie kings exclaimed in unison.

"A Golden Immortal's strength—and just an early-stage one, at that. When did the zombie kings grow so weak?" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

In the other black coffin hidden realm, all the zombie kings were Boundless Immortals. Were the ones here just inferior substitutes?

"So what if we're Golden Immortals? It's more than enough to take you down!" the three zombie kings roared, charging at Xiao Nanfeng simultaneously.

The Divine Emperor flashed toward Xiao Nanfeng and prepared to make a move herself.

Xiao Nanfeng held the Divine Emperor back. "You're only a Golden Immortal, too. You'll only be able to hold them back at best. Be careful!"

The Divine Emperor nodded, understanding what Xiao Nanfeng was trying to do. He wanted her to serve as bait by presenting herself as merely a Golden Immortal.

"Understood!" the Divine Emperor replied.

"Die!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted.

"Die!" the three zombie kings echoed.

An intense fight broke out in the air.

The Divine Emperor used just enough strength to hold back the three zombie kings while Xiao Nanfeng beat up the ordinary zombies.

The zombies exploded one after another, forming clouds of black smoke that surged toward the three zombie kings.

"Damn you, Xiao Nanfeng! Where did you find a mid-stage Golden Immortal wench? Die!" the zombie kings roared.

The Divine Emperor's eyes grew cold. "I won't brook your disrespect."

She slapped the three zombie kings on the cheek.

"All zombies, kill them!" the three zombie kings commanded.

More and more zombies flooded toward the two cultivators from all over the hidden realm. Unfortunately, Xiao Nanfeng and the Divine Emperor had the decisive advantage.

Just the shockwaves from the Divine Emperor's fight against the three zombie kings were enough to prevent ordinary zombies from drawing near.

Meanwhile, Xiao Nanfeng was surrounded by a flurry of fists that would cause any zombie around him to explode into clouds of black smoke that surged into the zombie kings' mouths.

Though the zombie kings were at a disadvantage, they weren't in a rush. As they continued to absorb the black smoke, they grew stronger.

After a day, as Xiao Nanfeng took down all the reinforcements that the zombie kings had summoned, they advanced to late-stage Golden Immortals.

Even so, however, they were unable to take down the Divine Emperor.

"What? Something's wrong. You've been hiding your strength, haven't you? You're actually a peak Golden Immortal!" the three zombie kings exclaimed.

The Divine Emperor didn't deign to respond. Xiao Nanfeng taunted them, "Emperor Feng, is this all you've got?"