Wayfarer

Chapter 293: The Southern Heavenly Gate

After the Divine Emperor handled the Spirit Emperor's charm, it became scorching hot. Golden flames emerged from it.

"Quintessence of solarfire!" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes lit up.

He inhaled the flames, which split off from the charm, entered his body, and were absorbed into the second sun in his dantian.

The sun quickly shrank in size as it fed all its energy into the nascent spirit in its core. Four hours later, a crow cawed within his body. Flames burst out and ignited all around him.

"The second nascent spirit has hatched. I'm in the second stage of Wingform!" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes lit up.

He walked out of the study and soared into the sky. He flew for some time until he reached an uninhabited region of the sea.

As he strode on the surface of the sea, two three-legged golden crows emerged from his body and flew into the air. They cawed, absorbing the sunlight within fifty kilometers around and transforming it into pure yang elemental force, which they stored within their bodies. Within a short amount of time, coruscant wheels of flaming light encircled the two golden crows.

Xiao Nanfeng spent a significant amount of time testing his strength and confirming that he had grown twice as strong as before. Then, he returned to the Xiao manor, satisfied with his progress.

Upon reaching his study, he pulled out the Spirit Emperor's token and poked around at it. "So this is the key to entering the Spirit Emperor's hidden realm?"

He activated the charm in a burst of golden light, which hovered in the air about three meters away. It expanded toward its surroundings and formed a huge portal.

The portal was wreathed in fog. A huge signboard was barely visible through the portal, on which was written "Southern Heavenly Gate."

"The Southern Heavenly Gate? Could the Spirit Emperor's palace lie within this hidden realm?" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes gleamed with anticipation.

"Are you trying to kill yourself?" the Divine Emperor demanded from within his storage ring.

Xiao Nanfeng blinked. He deactivated the charm, and the portal winked out of sight.

"Senior, I've reached a rather awkward stage of progression with cultivation. I need quintessence of solarfire to advance further. Does the Spirit Emperor's hidden realm possess more solarfire?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.

"There's plenty within, but the hidden realm is full of danger. Considering your cultivation, you'd die within moments. Perhaps your avatar at Yin Body could survive a little longer," the Divine Emperor replied.

"Senior, would you be willing to guide me? I'd like to find some quintessence of solarfire, and you can eat your fill of the shadow cursed effigies! And perhaps we might take down the Spirit Emperor together, too?" Xiao Nanfeng coaxed.

The Divine Emperor: ...

She couldn't help but feel as though Xiao Nanfeng was overestimating his capabilities, that they would end up dying to some hidden danger together.

"Senior, I overheard your conversation with the Spirit Emperor. He's not going to give up. He'll seek you down sooner or later. Rather than wait passively, why not take the initiative and take him down? You wouldn't have to worry about anything afterwards," Xiao Nanfeng continued.

"You really are cavalier, aren't you? That's a cursed king!" the Divine Emperor exclaimed.

"So what? We've taken down cursed kings before. Don't worry. I'm on your side. We'll be able to deal with the Spirit Emperor for sure!" Xiao Nanfeng promised.

The Divine Emperor: ...

The Divine Emperor was certain that Xiao Nanfeng was bragging, but she considered his circumstances more carefully. Xiao Nanfeng really was sinister; who else could survive being haunted by a group of cursed kings for so long?

Seeing that the Divine Emperor was ignoring him, Xiao Nanfeng took a deep breath and said seriously, "Senior, I know that the Spirit Emperor's hidden realm will be particularly dangerous, but I simply don't have the luxury to grow at a more sedate pace. I expect the future to be particularly dangerous for me. The Nalan and Xiang clans are busy seeking opportunities in the Spirit Emperor's hidden realm and don't have the time to deal with me just yet, but the moment they return, they'll want to get rid of me. I need to fight for every second I have. I need to grow stronger, strong enough to defend myself. Quintessence of solarfire is my most expedient way forward. I need to enter the Spirit Emperor's hidden realm. Please assist me."

"Die if you want," the Divine Emperor replied.

Xiao Nanfeng's eyes brightened. He understood that the Divine Emperor was agreeing to his request. He smiled. "Thank you, Divine Emperor!"

The Divine Emperor sniffed.

She was like a frozen mountain that kept others at bay, but Xiao Nanfeng didn't care. As long as the Divine Emperor was willing to help, he would have a much easier time of things.

No one among the Xiang or Nalan clan would know the details of the Spirit Emperor's hidden realm better than the Divine Emperor herself.

Xiao Nanfeng's avatar walked over, activated the Spirit Emperor's charm, and opened the portal once more.

Xiao Nanfeng's main body made to head within.

"Isn't your avatar going to join us?" the Divine Emperor asked.

"I overheard your conversation with the Spirit Emperor, Senior, and he's aware of the location of the Xiao manor now. He'll surely send more shadows over, and my avatar will have to stand guard over the city," Xiao Nanfeng replied.

"You really are trying to kill yourself, aren't you?" the Divine Emperor commented.

"I have no choice, Senior," Xiao Nanfeng replied with a laugh. "Could you tell me about the hidden realm?"

"Let's see if you can survive first," the Divine Emperor replied coolly.

"Oh?"

Xiao Nanfeng sounded confused, but the Divine Emperor refused to divulge more information. Xiao Nanfeng had no choice but to step into the hidden realm. Meanwhile, his avatar reined in his spiritual power, and the portal into the realm vanished.

Within the Spirit Emperor's hidden realm, Xiao Nanfeng's main body passed through layers of fog before he witnessed the signboard for the Southern Heavenly Gate once again.

"All fog? Why does it look like how the draconic palace used to be?" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

Before the Southern Heavenly Gate was a large plaza filled with countless scars from swords and blades. It seemed dilapidated, but there were still a hundred guards standing in the plaza.

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

The guards didn't have physical bodies; they were in the form of white skeletons. Some of their skulls weren't human in origin; many were beastmen. They were extremely tall on the whole, and some of the skeletal guards spanned dozens of meters in height. They held polished bone weapons and were standing at attention.

Suddenly, one skeletal guard spotted Xiao Nanfeng and howled.

All the guards in the vicinity turned toward Xiao Nanfeng and echoed the howl.

Then, their bone weapons in tow, they charged toward Xiao Nanfeng.

"Senior, what cursed effigies are these? Do you want to devour them? Shall I send them into the storage ring for you?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.

The Divine Emperor didn't respond.

Xiao Nanfeng frowned and thought to himself, "Isn't the Divine Emperor being a little standoffish? Won't these guards help her? Does she not want them?"

Xiao Nanfeng had no choice but to deal with the guards himself. He reached out for his divine undying blade, but failed to grab anything out of his storage ring.

"Senior, why are you blocking my access into the storage ring? My blade's inside—I need to fight!" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

Even so, the interior of the ring stubbornly remained inaccessible to Xiao Nanfeng.

Xiao Nanfeng's face turned stiff. "Senior, you aren't trying to kill me, are you?"

Xiao Nanfeng could only fight the guards with his bare fists.

His fist met a skeletal guard's bone blade in an explosion of energy. Both he and the guard stumbled back; they were of comparable strength.

"These guards are only Wingform-realm? Thank goodness." Xiao Nanfeng sighed in relief.

He was particularly confident in his fist technique. He shot forward again and activated Hegemon's Fist. A flurry of punches shot forward like raindrops, instantly causing the skeletal guard to explode in a shower of bone fragments.

"I can do this!" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed confidently.

By then, he had been surrounded by a whole group of skeletal guards.

There were a hundred skeletal guards in all of varying strength, the weakest at Spiritsong and the strongest at Wingform. Xiao Nanfeng took down one guard with every punch of his Hegemon's Fist. Before long, all the guards had been smashed into bone fragments.

"They're not afraid of dying at all. They don't even seem to have even basic intelligence. Are they cursed effigies?" Xiao Nanfeng asked the Divine Emperor curiously.

The Divine Emperor still didn't respond. He frowned dubiously.

Suddenly, a howling gale swept by. The bone fragments scattered over the ground mysteriously recombined into the same skeletal guards that had previously been present.

The guards had a few more cracks running down their bodies, but even those cracks were rapidly self-repairing. The guards twisted their heads, as if having come to life again.

Xiao Nanfeng was silent. "Did I waste all my energy taking them down...?"

The skeletal guards howled at Xiao Nanfeng once more, and another huge battle was about to break out.

Xiao Nanfeng had two choices: turn back and have his avatar open the portal to the Spirit Emperor's hidden realm so he could escape, or charge forward and break through.

Without any hesitation, Xiao Nanfeng obliterated the guard barring his way, snatched his bone blade, and rushed into the Southern Heavenly Gate. The skeletal guards behind him didn't give chase, causing him to sigh in relief. He had made the correct decision.

"Senior, weren't you going to guide me? If not that, at least open up my storage ring for me, won't you?" Xiao Nanfeng smiled wryly.

Even so, the Divine Emperor did not respond. Xiao Nanfeng had no choice but to continue heading onward, swinging his bone blade.

The Spirit Emperor's palace was surrounded by fog and incomparably expansive in size. Within the Southern Heavenly Gate were mountains, streams, and halls. Many of the halls had collapsed and were nothing more than ruins.

Very quickly, Xiao Nanfeng chanced upon another patrol of skeleton guards. They strode around in an orderly fashion with expressionless faces, a sinister sight to behold.

Xiao Nanfeng immediately hid and waited for the skeleton patrol to leave.

Considering that the palace was surrounded by fog, Xiao Nanfeng wouldn't have been able to see a thing even from a high vantage point. Rather than fly, Xiao Nanfeng searched around the region in hopes of finding another living person.

He walked for a few days in that manner, climbing past hills and mountains. He met many skeleton patrols along the way, which he carefully avoided, until he heard the sound of cultivators fighting in the distance.

"Quick, let's take down this slave together. Its halberd is an Immortal relic!"