Wayfarer

Chapter 455: Peach Buddha

"Xiao Nanfeng, have you been provoking me all this time? Were you deliberately luring me to the capital of Chou? Do you think that the Ox Yanluo can kill me?" the blood peach tree demanded.

Xiao Nanfeng ignored it and shouted, "Ox Yanluo, it's skilled at darting into others' mindscapes, and I can only isolate it now while in a harmonized state. You had better be careful not to let it escape!"

The Ox Yanluo narrowed his eyes. With a wave of his hand, he shouted, "Everyone, leave the capital of Chou, now!"

"Understood!" Countless cursed effigies turned to flee.

The blood peach tree could sense the imminent danger. It immediately reined in its domain. The peach blossoms vanished from sight.

"Ox Yanluo, it's trying to run! Be careful!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted.

Although the Ox Yanluo seemed confused, he stared at the blood peach tree. If Xiao Nanfeng really were telling the truth, this would truly be a tremendous gift.

"Peach Buddha? Is that really you?" The Ox Yanluo's eyes lit up.

"Ox Yanluo, Xiao Nanfeng currently possesses three Yanluo Courts. You aren't going to let him go this easily, are you?" The blood peach tree immediately tried to distract the Ox Yanluo.

"Oh? In that case, you are the Peach Buddha, then? It's been a hundred thousand years. To think you would give me such a big surprise! Truly, I didn't even have to work to find you. Haha!" The Ox Yanluo's face was filled with greed.

Just then, a figure charged in from afar. The figure stopped in mid-air in a gust of wind.

Everyone blanched upon seeing who had come.

"Tiger Yanluo, what are you doing here?" The Ox Yanluo stared at his opponent warily, immediately on guard.

He wasn't afraid of the Tiger Yanluo; he was afraid that this was another one of Xiao Nanfeng's schemes.

"We're the only two Yanluo Lords in the Netherworld Palace now. Of course I'd show up after hearing of such a big commotion around your capital. What's more, I heard all manner of reports of a domain of snow and peach blossoms appearing all across the Netherworld Palace. It'd be harder for me not to notice." Then, he turned to the blood peach tree and the silver moon. "My subordinates told me that they heard Xiao Nanfeng's voice from the domain. Ha, Xiao Nanfeng, have you reached the realm of True Yin? You dare to brave the Netherworld Palace once again because of your cultivation? How bold! And this must have been the Rabbit Yanluo's mysterious opponent. What a familiar aura."

A voice could be heard from afar. "King, Xiao Nanfeng told the Ox Yanluo that this peach tree was the Peach Buddha from a hundred thousand years ago. It allegedly swallowed up the Snake and Rabbit Yanluos, and is skilled at intruding into others' mindscapes!"

Everyone turned to the speaker, a tiger-headed humanoid. Clearly, he was a spy that the Tiger Yanluo had assigned to the capital of Chou.

"Oh? The Peach Buddha? In that case, you must have four pages of the Earthly Branches right now." The Tiger Yanluo's eyes lit up with greed.

The blood peach tree hmphed. It could sense that there would be a difficult battle up ahead.

Suddenly, the Ox Yanluo shouted, "Tiger Yanluo, this is none of your business. Leave my capital immediately!"

"Ox Yanluo, do you intend to start a quarrel with me and give them a chance to escape?" The Tiger Yanluo smirked.

The Ox Yanluo frowned and turned to the blood peach tree, which was swiftly flying away.

The Tiger Yanluo made his move then, leaping straight to the front of the blood peach tree. He punched forward in a burst of wind, causing the tree to reel back.

"Peach Buddha, it's been a hundred thousand years. How could you just leave like that?" The Tiger Yanluo smiled.

"Right, why would you leave so quickly? We haven't yet reminisced about the past," the Ox Yanluo added coolly.

He waved a hand, causing paper money to fall from the skies. The word Chou was printed on each one.

"A domain of paper money!" the blood peach tree exclaimed.

The Tiger Yanluo had no intention of losing out, either. With a wave of his hand, paper money floated into the air, the word Yin printed on each one. The sky was filled with paper money, as though they were all participating in a funeral rite.

The paper money surged toward the blood peach tree. When the notes landed on its branches, they began to burn with sinister flames, scorching the peach tree—and the sky was filled with such notes.

"Peach blossoms, scatter!" the blood peach tree commanded.

The peach blossoms that had just vanished once again shot out all around the blood peach tree, striking the paper money and forcing them away from the tree.

"Peach Buddha? So you were already a cursed effigy a hundred thousand years ago, and this was your power. Now that you've gathered some pages of the Earthly Branches and acquired the attributes of two types of cursed spiritual avatars, you must be able to regenerate your body with paper money as well," the Tiger Yanluo surmised.

"Neither of you have yet to fully absorb the strength of the Yanluo Lords you devoured, have you? Isn't it a little too early to fight me to the death?" the blood peach tree retorted.

"On the contrary. We have no other enemies in the Netherworld Palace; it's just the three of us left. It's the perfect time to tear you apart," the Tiger Yanluo replied with a huge smile.

The Ox Yanluo was also eyeing the blood peach tree. He wasn't in alliance with the Tiger Yanluo, but it was clear that dealing with the blood peach tree first was the most logical decision.

The three cursed effigies glanced at each other, none taking the first move.

Just then, the Tiger Yanluo struck, followed swiftly by the Ox Yanluo, and finally the blood peach tree. The three cursed effigies, possessing incredible strength, charged toward each other in an explosion of energy, peach blossoms, and paper money. The fighting was unbelievably intense.

Just then, Xiao Nanfeng found an opportunity to leave the battlefield. He neither reined in his domain nor canceled his harmonization, worried that the blood peach tree would catch him off-guard.

His silver moon flew high into the air, bringing his domain along with it, as he left the capital of Chou.

He was just about to congratulate himself on his successful plan when countless notes of paper money suddenly filled his domain.

"Ox Yanluo? What are you doing here?" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

The Ox Yanluo flashed toward his domain, countering his snowflakes with paper money in a tempest that buffeted the two of them.

"Xiao Nanfeng, why are you running?" The Ox Yanluo laughed. Then, he looked toward Xiao Nanfeng's silver moon with narrowed eyes. "What potent cursed spiritual power is emanating from your silver moon! If I'm not mistaken, you only managed to drag the Peach Buddha out to my capital because it couldn't deal with your silver moon. Isn't that right? Was it trying to exhaust you of all your spiritual power before taking you on?"

"Ox Yanluo, shouldn't you be dealing with the Peach Buddha rather than with me? Do you intend for the Tiger Yanluo to lay claim on all its spoils? If the Tiger Yanluo were to win—no, if either the Tiger Yanluo or the Peach Buddha were to win, you'd be dead meat."

"Don't try to frighten me. I've probed its strength, you see. The Peach Buddha's very strong at the moment, and the Tiger Yanluo won't be able to do anything against it in the short term. During their stalemate, I can take advantage of the situation and take you down instead. Don't you possess three Yanluo Courts, too? How about this? Give me those three Yanluo Courts, and I'll let you go." The Ox Yanluo smiled.

"Do you think I'd believe that nonsense? Ox Yanluo, you were only able to devour the Dragon and Horse Yanluos, and even the Monkey Yanluo, on my account. Even so, rather than being grateful to me, you're trying to harm me. You'll suffer karmic retribution for what you've done!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted.

"And so what? There's no such thing as karma in the world—only kings and bandits. I suggest that you surrender immediately," the Ox Yanluo declared.

Xiao Nanfeng's heart sank. He knew he wouldn't be able to avoid a confrontation now. "Let's see if you really can outlast me, then. After all, in my domain, I've already harmonized with the world. You won't be able to catch me. Let's bet on whether you'll exhaust all my spiritual power first, or if the Tiger Yanluo can devour the Peach Buddha first."

The Ox Yanluo frowned. Although he appeared confident, he was actually paying careful attention to the fight occurring in the distance. Once the Tiger Yanluo devoured the Peach Buddha, he would soon be dead, too.

"Ha! Do you really think you'll be able to last that long? I can speed up the rate of your consumption of spiritual power. Break!"

The paper money suddenly began to fly haphazardly and violently as it struck the blizzard's snowflakes and caused Xiao Nanfeng's domain to start to dissipate. Even more spiritual power would be necessary to maintain it.

Even so, Xiao Nanfeng wasn't fearful. He was gambling on the Ox Yanluo's patience, or lack thereof. He didn't believe that the Ox Yanluo would continue wasting time on him when there was easier prey.

Indeed, after some time, the Ox Yanluo couldn't hold on any longer. He was worried that the fight between the Tiger Yanluo and Peach Buddha had come to an end. Frustrated, he lifted his head and looked toward the silver moon.

"Draining your domain like this really does take too much time—but I could simply break your silver moon apart," the Ox Yanluo murmured.

With a wave of his sleeve, he sent countless flocks of paper money, like a rampaging sea, straight toward Xiao Nanfeng's silver moon. Just as the attack was about to land, the silver moon suddenly widened its maw and sucked violently, devouring all the paper money headed its way.

It resolved the crisis within moments, causing the Ox Yanluo's eyes to twitch.

"No wonder the Peach Buddha wasn't able to deal with this silver moon of yours. As expected, there's something wrong. If I can't get to those three Yanluo Courts with my paper money, then I'll use my own Yanluo Court. Now, die!" the Ox Yanluo demanded.

A Yanluo Court flew out of the Ox Yanluo's sleeve and headed straight for Xiao Nanfeng's silver moon. This wasn't his own Yanluo Court, but rather one that he had obtained recently. He had partially attuned to the Yanluo Court, and it boasted tremendous strength.

Just then, a beam of starlight fell from the skies, encapsulating the Ox Yanluo's body.

"What?" The Ox Yanluo looked up at the sky.

Out of nowhere, the sky had lit up with 361 glowing stars, each shooting down a beam of starlight and encapsulating the Ox Yanluo within. A spherical barrier formed to trap him.

At that very moment, the paper money all around him seemed to lose its sense of gravity. They fell slowly to the ground.

"A starlit barrier!" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

"Where did this formation come from? Do you really think you can trap me? Break!" the Ox Yanluo demanded.

He punched at the starlit barrier, which shuddered but didn't shatter.

"Impossible. How could this barrier be so strong? Again!" the Ox Yanluo thundered.

As he launched a barrage of fists at the barrier, it finally began to crack, but the starlight repaired any cracks in no time at all.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" the Ox Yanluo howled.

A black-robed man appeared in the distance. He shouted, "Xiao Nanfeng, the starlit barrier won't be able to trap him for long. We have to leave, now!"

"Blue Lantern? You really are still alive!" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed in excitement.