Chapter 194: The Sinister Red Moon

On deck, Xiao Nanfeng's clone slowly emerged from his cabin.

The four Taiqing disciples bowed, then retreated to their own ships. Xiao Nanfeng roamed around the deck, encountering Zheng Qian, Zhao Yuanjiao, and Ye Dafu along the way. None of them discovered anything amiss.

"Come help me out, Croak!" Xiao Nanfeng called out.

Croak had been playing with Warble at sea. When it heard Xiao Nanfeng's summons, it immediately flew over.

"What's the matter?" Croak asked curiously.

"Bring me to an uninhabited island," Xiao Nanfeng requested.

Croak didn't understand why Xiao Nanfeng wanted to do so, but brought him through the air anyway.

Man and spirit vanished across the horizon. The cultivators on board seemed uncertain as to what Xiao Nanfeng was doing, but no one paid him much mind.

On a desolate island, Xiao Nanfeng began practicing Hegemon's Fist. His punches struck with the force of howling gales. His control of his avatar was near-perfect; it was almost like his own body.

He punched a rock to smithereens.

"No, something's wrong. This body is that of a Spiritsong-realm cultivator, and I should have that level of strength as well. Why is my avatar's strength so restricted? It's only at the eighth stage of Ascension!" Xiao Nanfeng cried out.

Xiao Nanfeng executed punches repeatedly, but his strength remained stubbornly stuck at the eighth stage of Ascension—and an ordinary one, at that, not the enhanced strength that his original body possessed.

"Is it because of the Taiqing red moon?" Xiao Nanfeng wondered.

"Xiao Nanfeng, why did you come all the way here to practice your punches?" Croak asked.

"Train with me, Croak," Xiao Nanfeng asked.

Croak seemed a little unwilling. "With how weak you are?"

Xiao Nanfeng stepped forward and punched toward Croak, but Croak easily stopped his fist with its palm. His strength was insufficient to break through Croak's defense, but Croak stilled. Surprise flashed in its eyes.

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

"Why was your body giving off red light when you punched forward?" Croak asked.

Xiao Nanfeng blinked. There was no such thing—was there? Was there something different about his fist technique?

"Again!" Xiao Nanfeng commanded.

Croak defended against the blows, not retaliating at first. As Xiao Nanfeng continued to attack, however, Croak's eyes suddenly turned bright red. Then, momentarily panicked, it struck erratically at Xiao Nanfeng, but was unable to hit him.

"Die!" Croak howled.

Croak's palms slammed toward a large boulder; Xiao Nanfeng barely dodged in time.

"Calm down, Croak!" Xiao Nanfeng called out.

Croak shook. As though waking from a dream, its eyes cleared up. It panted and glanced at Xiao Nanfeng in shock. "What happened?"

"That's my question. What happened to you?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.

"I saw red light coming out from your body. You gradually vanished from sight, leaving many evil ghosts behind. They surrounded me and were about to tear me apart and eat me. I didn't know what to do, so I just hit them..." Croak replied, shuddering.

Xiao Nanfeng gave Croak an odd look. "Are you certain?"

"Of course! The red light coming from your body felt evil."

Xiao Nanfeng frowned. "In that case, you must have suffered from some sort of hypnosis that affected your mental state. And that was from my punches...?"

"What sort of technique was it?" Croak asked curiously.

Xiao Nanfeng ruminated on what had happened. His clone's strength was restricted by that of his main body, but his clone's attacks had some sort of hypnotic power that could counteract his otherwise deficient strength. That had to be from the red moon.

"It's a technique I just learned—and this is an avatar of mine," Xiao Nanfeng replied.

Croak gaped at Xiao Nanfeng. "An avatar? I can't tell! It looks just like you."

"It's a little special. Bring this avatar back to the Isle of Xiao, then return to the ship and join my main body as we head back to the island. I don't want anyone to know that I have an avatar just yet," Xiao Nanfeng said.

Croak nodded, then flew into the air with Xiao Nanfeng's avatar.

As it flew, Xiao Nanfeng pondered about the unusual aspects of his avatar. Suddenly, he looked toward the back of his right palm, where a black dot was located.

Xiao Nanfeng frowned.

He was certain that that black dot hadn't been there moments ago. The black dot was like a black mole, and it had arrived out of nowhere. He sent spiritual power throughout his body, confirming that there was nothing else unusual about it.

His avatar returned to the Isle of Xiao with Croak, then disappeared into the island without showing himself again. Two days later, Xiao Nanfeng's main body returned with the rest of the fleet, causing yet another commotion.

The disciples goggled at the octopus spiritbeast carcasses, piled so high they formed mountains. Over five hundred Immanence-realm disciples had advanced to Ascension-realm, and the remaining disciples had all grown in one way or another, significantly raising the overall strength of the sect. Four disciples had even advanced into Spiritsong-realm and become elders, causing a huge stir even among the higher-ups in the sect.

Xiao Nanfeng rested for a day in the Isle of Xiao, then paid his respects to his master Ku Jiang the next day.

He sat beside Ku Jiang and poured him a cup of tea.

"You're making quite a name for yourself, aren't you?" Ku Jiang smiled, taking a sip.

"More like I'm becoming a threat," Xiao Nanfeng replied, smiling wryly. "I expect many have taken notice of me."

Ku Jiang nodded. "It's good that you understand. Being able to excavate these draconic veins isn't too rare a skill; others can do so even without the Immortal's Destruction with the help of a few formations. However, the locations of draconic veins are hard to determine, and even areas flourishing with spiritual aether might not possess such veins. However, you easily and accurately excavated two draconic veins in range of the sect, then three more in succession across the Eastern Sea. Spies have been trying to investigate you, and you've even aroused the attention of a number of elders within the sect."

"I understand, Master. I've told everyone it was a coincidence, and I don't intend to excavate more veins again in the short term. This time, a Wingform-realm spirit attacked me. The next time, Wingform-realm cultivators will surely be lying in wait. I don't intend to make myself a target." Xiao Nanfeng smiled.

"Very good." Ku Jiang nodded.

"Master, I heard my senior brother, Elder Zhao, state that the draconic palace of the Eastern Sea has been opened up, and that elders from the sect are heading there. Is that right?" Xiao Nanfeng asked, frowning.

"Indeed. Countless opportunities await those who seek the draconic palace, and many have naturally been tempted."

"Master, I believe that a tremendous danger lies in wait there. I encountered the truesoul of an elder of the draconic race during my travels, and he told me about the downfall of the draconic palace. That year..." Xiao Nanfeng recounted the betrayal that led to the draconic palace being sealed away.

"A cursed king in the form of a red rope?" Ku Jiang raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, Master. The draconic palace will be tremendously dangerous. Please let the elders be aware of this," Xiao Nanfeng warned.

Ku Jiang was silent for some time. "With sufficient opportunity, they wouldn't care about the danger."

"Please at least inform them of the threat, Master?"

Ku Jiang nodded.

Xiao Nanfeng chatted with his master a little more, then headed for the Vault of Scriptures.

For the next month, Xiao Nanfeng traveled only between Taiqing Island and the Isle of Xiao.

During that time, Xiao Nanfeng locked down the Isle of Xiao, preventing access from any Taiqing disciple.

The black dot on his avatar's palm grew much larger during that period of time, and countless more black dots appeared all over its body.

"Is this... livor mortis?" Xiao Nanfeng gasped.

After a month's worth of observation, Xiao Nanfeng finally realized that his clone was rapidly decaying.

"Has this red moon been causing the decay all along?"

His master had never mentioned having his physical body decay; what could be happening? Xiao Nanfeng meditated for three days, focusing on his mindscape and carefully probing at the red moon. Finally, he discovered something unusual.

"I was mistaken. It's not corroding the avatar, but rather squeezing it dry of its vitality!"

Xiao Nanfeng tried to stop the red moon from doing so, but nothing he tried was effective. He could only watch on as his avatar continued to decay.

"What a sinister red moon..."