Wayfarer

Chapter 73: Xiang Wei Breaks Through

Within the frost sphere, Xiao Nanfeng and the Lady Arclight shared a glance. They began to inhale the draconic aether all around them immediately.

As draconic aether entered his body, Xiao Nanfeng's skin radiated multicolored light. Not long after, a burst of energy seeped out from him.

"The first capillary of the third divine conduit unclogged! Let me continue!"

"The second... the fifth... the ninth!"

The moment he unclogged all his capillaries, a burst of energy emanated from the Lady Arclight's body, causing him to open his eyes.

"Has she recovered to Ascension-realm already?" Xiao Nanfeng wondered to himself.

Xiao Nanfeng didn't pay the Lady Arclight any further mind. He continued absorbing the draconic aether as his cultivation inched forward. After another two hours, another swell of energy emanated from his body.

"The fourth stage of Immanence! I'll keep going. There are nine more capillaries to be unblocked!" Xiao Nanfeng continued absorbing draconic aether.

In the other frost sphere, the two toad spirits began to devour the draconic aether at an increasing rate. With their bodies and biology, they were able to consume essentially the entire sphere's worth of draconic aether all at once.

The two cultivators and spirits digested the impressive meal of aether as time passed all around them. It was already morning the next day.

Outside the swamp valley, the spiritbeasts that had rampaged and taken down the armored cultivators had all vanished. In their place were countless crow spirits.

Xiang Wei stood high up in the mountains, wielding the longsword he had taken from the Lady Arclight. He looked coldly toward the valley below, where a large number of black-armored cultivators were wading through the swamp, as if searching for something.

"Second Young Master, the crow spirits report that a group of spirits cooperated to take down a large number of blue-armored cultivators last night in this valley," one black-armored warrior beside him reported.

"Right here, in this valley? I hope they haven't discovered what I'm searching for." Xiang Wei frowned.

"Second Young Master, are you sure that this is the place?" the black-armored warrior asked.

Xiang Wei looked toward the lake in the distance, then at the swamp below. "I'm certain. This is the location marked in the records. It has to be underwater in this swamp!"

Just then, one black-armored warrior wading through the swamp called out, "Second Young Master, we've found it!"

"What's the situation?" Xiang Wei's eyes brightened as he confirmed the details.

"There's a pond here that's exceptionally deep, so deep you can't see its bottom!" the warrior replied.

"Very good! You shall be richly rewarded for this discovery. Everyone, prepare to dive into this pond!" Xiang Wei called out.

"Yessir!" the black-armored cultivators chorused.

Two hours later, the cultivators passed through the barrier in the underground tunnel and entered the frosty cavern where Xiao Nanfeng was located.

"What a large dragon's head! And two frost spheres...?" remarked the first cultivators who had stepped inside.

Xiang Wei followed suit, accompanied by no less than a hundred black-armored cultivators, along with four golden crow spirits.

"As established in the records, this is the place! There's a tremendous treasure to be found here!" Xiang Wei cried out.

"Second Young Master, where might the treasure be?" one of his subordinates asked.

Xiang Wei ignored him as he looked around the cavern. Suddenly, he glanced up at the frost dragon's eyes. The right eye was hollow, as if someone had scooped away his right eyeball.

"Exactly as depicted in the records." Xiang Wei's eyes lit up. He turned to one of the golden crows. "Crow general, ferry me up there!"

The golden crow spirit ambled close, allowing Xiang Wei to ride it as it took off toward the dragon's eye.

Xiang Wei retrieved a small black orb from his extradimensional storage.

"This array-breaking pearl accompanied the records we had of this place. It won't disappoint me, will it?" Xiang Wei carefully slotted the black orb into the dragon's right eye.

Instantly, a huge amount of golden light emitted from the dragon's eye and surrounded the black pearl, which suddenly seemed to be activated. It generated a tremendous suction around itself, causing the frost all around the cavern to surge toward it, as though it were at the center of a tempest.

"It's working! The array-breaking pearl is dispelling this array!" Xiang Wei's eyes lit up as he commanded the golden crow spirit to bring him back down to the ground.

As the yin frost was sucked away from the cavern, the black pearl turned white. It was like a snowball that grew larger and larger as it absorbed the sleet in the cavern. Even the dragon's head was turning translucent, as though it were melting, and a large pair of copper doors could be seen deep behind its head.

"This is the place!" Xiang Wei's eyes shone with excitement.

The cultivators watched patiently as the black pearl did its job. They glanced curiously around the cavern, their attention largely focused on the two gigantic frost spheres near its center.

As the seemingly interminable frost was sapped away, the frost spheres turned translucent, allowing the contents within to be revealed.

Two toad spirits came into view first, followed by Xiao Nanfeng and the Lady Arclight. They had swallowed up all the draconic aether within the two frost spheres, and were all glowing with golden light. They looked radiant and holy.

"Isn't that the Lady Arclight?!" someone cried out.

"The Lady Arclight? And that bastard?" Xiang Wei's eyes widened.

None of them had expected to encounter the Lady Arclight here. Everyone began to panic.

They still recalled the Lady Arclight's fearsome strength; Xiao Nanfeng, on the other hand, was largely unremarkable. According to the Taiqing disciples they had caught and interrogated, Xiao Nanfeng had been an Acquisition-realm cultivator no less than a month ago. Even if he had managed to find some miraculous treasure, how strong could he have gotten since? All they had to worry about was his Immortal Cicada.

"Second Young Master? Of the cultivators who killed our men in that valley a few days ago, one used an Immortal Cicada, and the other was at late Immanence. Could that have been the Lady Arclight?" one warrior postulated.

"That's very possible—so the Lady Arclight was only at late Immanence a few days ago?" Xiang Wei's eyes lit up.

"But it looks like they've just obtained some benefit... Surely their cultivation has gone up since?"

Xiang Wei narrowed his eyes. "Quick, burst this sphere! While they're deep in meditation, we'll kill them all!"

"Yessir!" One black-armored cultivator slashed at the frost sphere.

Although much of the yin frost had been sucked away, there was still significant remnant frost around the sphere. The moment the black-armored cultivator's blade touched it, he and his blade were frozen stiff.

"There's something wrong with these spheres!" one cultivator called out.

"Crow generals, destroy the spheres with your fireballs!" Xiang Wei commanded.

The four crow generals each spat out a gigantic fireball at the sphere in which Xiao Nanfeng was encapsulated.

The sphere quivered.

"Good. Continue!" Xiang Wei's eyes lit up.

The four golden crow spirits were just about to continue launching fireballs at the spheres when two humongous tongues shot toward them. Two of the golden crow spirits were caught as the tongues retracted.

Everyone turned to the other frost sphere in shock, where they found that the two toad spirits had awoken. The golden light had vanished from their bodies. Their tongues shot out of the sphere, enveloped two golden crow spirits, and swallowed them whole.

Subsequently, they shattered their encapsulating sphere, from which the frost energy had already largely been drained.

"Be careful of these toad spirits!" one cultivator thundered.

The two toad spirits suddenly leapt to Xiao Nanfeng's frost sphere, defending it protectively with their bodies. Then, they looked toward the unwelcome cultivators with fierce glares.