Chapter 260: Prey Hunting the Predator

Back in the Xiao manor in the city of Yongding, Xiao Nanfeng walked out to his yard and saw the smoke billowing up from the mountaintop on a mountain to the south of the city. He smiled contentedly.

Zheng Qian rushed in from outside the manor. "King Xiao, you took a tremendous risk in using yourself as bait. What if something were to happen to you? We wouldn't know what to do!"

"There's no need to worry, Mr. Zheng. Even if the monks had struck, Croak and Warble haven't shown themselves yet, and I do possess the Immortal's Destruction. I wouldn't have been in danger, but why not save yourself some trouble if you can?" Xiao Nanfeng smiled.

"It's a blessing that your plan was a success, King Xiao. Xu Kong, Xu Ming, and the emperor's brother-in-law have started fighting each other. Now if only they would kill each other simultaneously," Zheng Qian replied, smiling.

"Perhaps not, but I'll certainly take advantage of the fight." Xiao Nanfeng's eyes gleamed.

"Please be careful, King Xiao."

"Your safety is more important, Mr. Zheng. Stay hidden for the time being. I'll return shortly."

"Of course!" Zheng Qian nodded.

"Spectral guards, I task you with protecting Mr. Zheng to the best of your ability." Xiao Nanfeng was still a little worried for his chief administrator.

"Understood!" the spectral guards replied from all around him.

Only then did Xiao Nanfeng step out of the Xiao manor.

Afar, Xu Kong and Xu Ming, having been made aware of the 'ambush', specifically lured the emperor's brother-in-law away from the city of Yongding as they fought.

"What are the two of you doing here? How did you know I was here? Why aren't you targeting Xiao Nanfeng?!" The emperor's brother-in-law, badly injured, asked the monks three questions in rapid succession.

"Do you really think we're that easy to fool?"

"Die, Cui Haisheng!"

Xu Ming and Xu Kong's staffs seemed to be imbued with divine authority. After they smashed into the mountaintop, they shot toward the emperor's brother-in-law, Cui Haisheng, sending him flying. He barely blocked the blow, but his subordinates were all vomiting blood or had broken bones from the impact. One unlucky cultivator was even squashed into a pancake.

Such was the might of a Wingform-realm cultivator.

Cui Haisheng could never have imagined that his plots would backfire on him so spectacularly.

"You two bald donkeys—how dare you attack me! Die!" Cui Haisheng slashed at them with a radiant longsword.

"Be careful. It's an Immortal relic!" Xu Ming cried out.

Xu Kong was sent flying as a result of the attack, but his staff managed to strike Cui Haisheng once again. Cui Haisheng spat out another mouthful of blood as his clothes were reduced to tatters and he was sent flying.

"Senior Brother, he's wielding an Immortal weapon from the Eastern Sea Draconic Palace. It's corroded, so it's not particularly strong." Xu Kong smiled as he wiped at the blood by his lips.

"Luohan Suppresses the Dragon!" both monks shouted, rushing over toward Cui Haisheng.

Cui Haisheng retaliated with a slash of his sword.

The two staffs suppressed the Immortal sword as Cui Haisheng tossed another Immortal relic at the two monks.

"Explode!" Cui Haisheng commanded.

A huge mushroom cloud formed where the two monks were.

"Cui Haisheng, you're detonating your Immortal relics? How shameless!" Xu Kong thundered, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

Xu Ming likewise sprayed out a mouthful of blood as he smashed at Cui Haisheng with his staff.

Cui Haisheng, badly injured, sprayed out a mouthful of blood as well.

The three cultivators had grown incensed with each other, and they attacked relentlessly. Explosions bloomed in the air, so violent it felt as if the whole world were shaking. Although Xu Ming and Xu Kong had the numerical advantage, Cui Haisheng boasted a large supply of Immortal relics. When he was unable to overcome the monks' attacks, he would detonate another Immortal relic to sap away at the two monks' strength.

After an hour, all three cultivators were injured to a rather significant extent. Although they could keep fighting, it was doubtful that anything conclusive would result from it.

"Cui Haisheng, though you were the one who schemed against us first, if we keep fighting, others might take advantage. We'll stop here and fight again another day!" Xu Ming howled.

"I'll deal with both of you in the future," Cui Haisheng roared back.

Both parties retreated in opposite directions from the firestorm that the battlefield had become.

Just then, Cui Haisheng saw two huge tongues appear behind Xu Ming and Xu Kong like nets.

The tongues enveloped the two monks and sent them into the mouths of the two toads lying in wait.

"What? An ambush? Weren't Xiao Nanfeng's two toad spirits supposed to be at Spiritsong? Why are they giving off Wingform-realm auras?!" Cui Haisheng cried out.

Just then, a longsword stabbed through the back of his heart and out through his chest.

"Impossible!" Cui Haisheng gasped.

He understood everything immediately. Xiao Nanfeng was attempting to take advantage of the fight between him and the two monks to seize them all. He couldn't have expected that Xiao Nanfeng had had two Wingform-realm spirits as subordinates—no, the assassin to his back had to be a third Wingform-realm cultivator. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to penetrate Cui Haisheng's qi barrier.

"No!" Cui Haisheng cried out in fear.

You Jiu twisted his blade, bisecting Cui Haisheng's body.

At the same time, a huge explosion came from within Warble's mouth. It was consumed by fire.

Xu Ming escaped from the flames, but he had lost an arm and a leg, and his body was rapidly decomposing as a result of the gastric acid from Warble's stomach. He was a terrible sight to behold.

"I've been injured, Croak!" Warble clutched its mouth in pain.

"You dare hurt my wife? Die!" Croak roared, leaping toward the monk.

Croak was keeping the monk Xu Kong captive in its mouth cavity, and it didn't dare to extend its tongue. Even so, it was tremendously strong. It slammed into Xu Ming, sending them both smashing into the ground. Audible cracks could be heard all through Xu Ming's body. He immediately picked himself up and flew away as fast as he could.

When he saw Cui Haisheng's bisected body, he immediately understood what had happened. He had fallen for Xiao Nanfeng's trap.

"Xiao Nanfeng, you'll pay for this! I'll send you to hell!" Xu Ming howled, vanishing in a flash of light.

"Hold it!" Croak chased after the monk.

"Don't worry, I'll send your rogue soldiers into hell first!" Xiao Nanfeng howled back, standing atop a nearby mountain.

Xu Ming gave Xiao Nanfeng a furious look from afar as he vanished over the horizon.

Warble clutched its mouth for quite some time. Its vitality meant that the wound healed quickly, but it was outraged by what had happened. It turned to see the two halves of Cui Haisheng's body squirming. His upper half was attempting to flee with his lower half, but Warble immediately extended her injured tongue and swallowed Cui Haisheng up before You Jiu could attack him further.

"Xiao Nanfeng, you'll pay for this!" Cui Haisheng roared.

Xiao Nanfeng ignored Cui Haisheng as he turned toward Warble. "Warble, don't forget to spit out the treasures from his storage ring."

"Got it!" Warble replied.

Croak returned shortly after, a despondent look on its face.

"Did you catch him, Croak?" Warble asked.

"That monk ran away too fast!" Croak spat out. It had clearly failed.

"You've just reached Wingform, so it's natural that you can't outrun these cultivators who have been at Wingform for years. You were only able to take them down so easily because they were already injured," Xiao Nanfeng consoled them.

"But he hurt my wife!" Croak was terribly upset.

"Don't worry. You'll have plenty of opportunities to deal with him later. There are benefits to having him get away, too. I'll treat you both to a good feast." Xiao Nanfeng smiled.

"What feast?" Croak and Warble were instantly excited.

"I promise you'll like it," Xiao Nanfeng replied, his smile widening.

You Jiu headed over with Cui Haisheng's Immortal blade. "Master, we're rather far from Yongding. I doubt anyone will notice us."

"We won't be able to hide the fight. After all, what we slew was only one of Cui Haisheng's avatars. His main body would be quite a bit more difficult to kill." Xiao Nanfeng shook his head.

"His avatar?" You Jiu exclaimed.

"Cui Haisheng is the brother-in-law of Emperor Tianshu. Of course he'd get the benefits afforded his station. Furthermore, Cui Haisheng was one of the men who helped Emperor Tianshu establish his empire to begin with. Considering that Hong Lie has already become an Immortal, do you think it makes sense that Cui Haisheng would be so easy to defeat?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.

You Jiu frowned. "We'll have to suffer his revenge, then."

"His revenge? He was already going to try to take me down, so it's not as if anything has changed. Killing one of his avatars will reduce his overall strength, and does benefit us still," Xiao Nanfeng replied, not overly concerned.

"I understand, Sir Xiao!"

"Alright. Inform everyone that we'll be having a feast!"Xiao Nanfeng smiled.

"Yessir!" You Jiu's eyes lit up.

A certain city's gates were flung wide open.

Fresh blood spilled on the ground within and without the city. Corpses lay scattered; thick smoke roiled. A huge battle had just ended as Ye Dafu claimed the city for Xiao Nanfeng.

Ten thousand troops took over the city. Although the common people were somewhat frightened, they relaxed upon hearing that the soldiers were from Xiao Nanfeng's army.

Over the course of the last month, a significant amount of information had filtered in from Yongding, causing the common people to treat Xiao Nanfeng's rule with cautious optimism.

Indeed, the soldiers did nothing untoward as they streamed into the city, causing the common people to relax.

A group of officials that had accompanied the soldiers quickly took over the governance of the city, which began running smoother than before in no time.

Ye Dafu sat in the governor's manor with a look of palpable excitement. "We were still on our way last night, but we captured the city by noon! I'm getting faster and faster at this, haha!"

"I wonder how the other troops are faring?" one Taiqing disciple asked.

"They're being led by my third uncle and my brothers, so it's only natural that they would be slower, but with Taiqing elders around to guide the way, I'm sure they've all but taken down their respective cities as well."

"Elder Ye, I noticed that the governor's manor has a well-stocked wine cellar. Shall we have a celebration? There are other officials responsible for administration, after all." The Taiqing disciple smiled in anticipation.

Ye Dafu was just about to agree when a black-clad man suddenly appeared by the door to the manor. Ye Dafu recognized the man as a spectral guard immediately. He had everyone wait while he met with the guard, but the guard only passed him a letter before vanishing from sight.

Ye Dafu opened the letter. His eyes widened. "We'll have alcohol later. Summon all the Taiqing disciples. We're leaving immediately!"