Chapter 266: Yu'er's Thoughts

After Hong Lie left, Xiao Nanfeng turned to Yu'er.

"Yu'er, you've been gone for an entire year. If not for Master telling me not to worry whenever I asked about you, I might have issued a quest rallying disciples to find you."

"As I said, you should call me Senior Sister." Yu'er feigned anger.

"Alright, alright, Senior Sister! I'm so glad to see you back." Xiao Nanfeng laughed.

"That's more like it!"

Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er looked at each other with delight.

"What caused you to spend so much time at home?" Xiao Nanfeng asked curiously.

"Ah, it's all my father's fault. He prevented me from leaving, or I would have returned far earlier. Fortunately, my mother pitied me and secretly brought me with her when she left." Yu'er smiled. "Don't worry. Now that I'm back, I'll be able to take care of you."

Xiao Nanfeng sighed. "Senior Sister, I'm not the same newbie cultivator I was before."

"What's different? You're still my junior brother, and you'll always be my junior brother. I'm already a Wingform-realm cultivator now. Surely you're not stronger?" Yu'er preened.

"A Wingform-realm cultivator, Senior Sister? How have you advanced so quickly?" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

"You received Emperor Wei's inheritance, and I received the Red Emperor's Inheritance. Should I have been any slower?" Yu'er retorted.

"Ah, you're quite right, Senior Sister. You're amazing!" Xiao Nanfeng congratulated her.

Yu'er was very pleased with Xiao Nanfeng's response.

"Right, has the Lady Arclight returned as well?" Yu'er suddenly asked.

"She left almost right after you did, and I haven't heard from her since," Xiao Nanfeng replied.

Yu'er frowned thoughtfully.

"Why did your father forbid you from returning?" Xiao Nanfeng changed the topic.

"Oh, don't mention it. My father's an old stick-in-the-mud. I won't listen to him. What's up with the ring that you gave that Envoy Ying, or whoever that was?" Yu'er asked.

"It didn't look like anyone good. I could hardly have given up my treasure to it," Xiao Nanfeng replied.

"Oh?" Yu'er frowned. "But isn't there a cursed king in your storage ring? Wouldn't it be good if they could deal with each other?"

"I'll find another method of dealing with the cursed kings in my orbit. I don't want to involve yet another cursed effigy." Xiao Nanfeng shook his head.

Yu'er frowned thoughtfully. "That might be troublesome. When I returned home and asked my parents about your situation, they were shocked and thought I had caught the attention of a cursed king. When they learned what was going on, they relaxed. Eventually, my father was the one who proposed a solution."

"Oh?" Xiao Nanfeng replied curiously.

"My father said that cursed kings are far stronger than ordinary cursed effigies, and it'll be very difficult to get rid of them. However, if you can identify any weaknesses that these cursed kings have, you can counter curse with curse—a cursed object, or even another cursed effigy," Yu'er replied.

Xiao Nanfeng considered this information carefully.

This was how he had dealt with the shadowy cursed effigy that the Chief Steward had summoned. Furthermore, Madam Rouge had been the one to deal with the red rope cursed effigy that he had encountered previously. It was certainly a workable strategy.

"Conveniently, the Red Emperor's inheritance mentioned that your titled lands contain a dragon-quelling spike. Do you remember them?" Yu'er asked.

"Of course. These dragon-quelling spikes are physical manifestations of the undying cursed king's cursed spiritual power, which Emperor Wei used to establish a few illusory realms for the Red Emperor and Empress Bai's truesouls. Later, Emperor Wei ate the dragon-quelling spikes in our possession," Xiao Nanfeng recalled.

"That's right. A millennium ago, they left one dragon-quelling spike here," Yu'er explained.

"Oh?"

"Before Emperor Wei and the others entered the undying realm, they found a group of cursed effigies in the vicinity. Worried that they would disrupt his plans with the undying realm, Emperor Wei used a dragon-quelling spike to seal them here. In addition, he summoned a draconic vein to provide a source of energy to maintain the seal. If we can find that dragon-quelling spike, we might be able to use it to counter the cursed kings around you," Yu'er suggested.

"Is that so?" Xiao Nanfeng pondered the information carefully.

"However, after so long, who knows where the dragon-quelling spike might be? It should still be roughly in the vicinity, so I'll help you search for it while I'm around," Yu'er said.

"Got it!" Xiao Nanfeng nodded. "How did you end up coming right when I needed help, Senior Sister?"

"What do you mean, right when you needed help? I've already been in Yongding for a few days."

"What? Why didn't you come find me?" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

"I won't tell you." Yu'er's face blushed. She refused to explain more.

"Ah, there's a stall selling amazing stinky tofu near the south of the city. I've been queueing up for it daily. It only opens at a fixed time and has limited portions daily. I think it's open by now. Come and accompany me, won't you?" Yu'er suddenly said.

Xiao Nanfeng hesitated. What would the common people think if they saw him, the ruler of these lands, queueing up for stinky tofu? Might it be a problem?

Considering Yu'er's shining eyes, however, he nodded immediately. "Alright."

Yu'er happily dragged Xiao Nanfeng out of the manor as they headed toward the stinky tofu stall to the south of the city.

As expected, there were already a few people queueing up even as the old seller was just starting to set up his stall.

"Ah, it's Young Master Xiao!"

"He's here to buy fried stinky tofu too?"

"Old Wang, quick, make some tofu for the young master!"

The customers who had arrived in advance all made way for Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er. They shot friendly glances at Yu'er.

"Was she the one who helped Young Master Xiao get rid of Marquis Cui? She's beautiful, like a true Immortal."

"Who else would be a match for our young master?"

"What a perfect couple."

The customers began to whisper to each other, but Yu'er's senses were far too sharp not to catch those hushed whispers. She blushed red and grumbled to Xiao Nanfeng, "I forgot that everyone knows who you are now. I shouldn't have come out with you."

Xiao Nanfeng laughed as he ordered two portions of stinky tofu.

"Lass, I helped you ask about the information you were looking for last time. Young Master Xiao hasn't yet gotten married. His reputation's perfect, and no one knows of any vices that he has. He's a proper gentleman, and only someone like you would be a fitting match for him. How lucky you are!" The stinky tofu seller smiled as he praised Xiao Nanfeng right in front of Yu'er.

Yu'er flushed. She slapped her face in consternation.

"So you've been trying to dig up information about me these last few days?" Xiao Nanfeng teased.

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Yu'er flushed red. "I don't want the tofu anymore!"

She fled from the scene.

Xiao Nanfeng laughed as he waited for the tofu to be prepared. He paid and chased after her once he had claimed the tofu.

Within Cui Haisheng's hideout in the Xiao lands sat Tang and several demonic sect elders, all of whom had been brought back. A group of demonic disciples stood in the middle of the hall, eyeing Cui Haisheng with bated breath.

"Who could have divulged our plans?" Cui Haisheng demanded.

Yesterday, not only had he failed to trick Xu Ming and Xu Kong into launching a sneak attack on Xiao Nanfeng, Xiao Nanfeng had even taken advantage of them to destroy one of Cui Haisheng's avatars. This was outrageously humiliating and a clear sign that there was a traitor in their midst. Otherwise, how could Xiao Nanfeng have learned of the plan?

Everyone present knew of the plan, and Cui Haisheng intended to find the traitor among them.

Everyone shuddered as they shook their heads vehemently, each claiming innocence.

"Division Leader, I suspect that none of the disciples gave away the plan," Tang began.

"What did you say, Pestilence Sage?" Cui Haisheng eyed Tang coldly.

"Ku Jiang and Zhao Yuanjiao control the blackguards, and they likely have spies among the rogue soldiers. Those must have been the ones to divulge the information. The fact that demonic elders would suddenly reach out to Ku Jiang must have alerted him, causing him to pass that information to Xiao Nanfeng," Tang hypothesized.

"Right, right!" everyone exclaimed.

"Division Leader, we've been with you for ages. How could we betray you? Please, none of us are to blame!" Tang urged again.

"What the Pestilence Sage said makes sense," everyone agreed.

They were particularly relieved and thankful to Tang. Otherwise, if Cui Haisheng didn't manage to ferret out a culprit, they would all suffer as a result.

Cui Haisheng frowned and considered the Pestilence Sage's words carefully. Finally, he nodded. "The Pestilence Sage is right. Ku Jiang must have realized that something was amiss and schemed with Xiao Nanfeng. Damn that Ku Jiang!"

Everyone sighed in relief.

"That said, all of you had better listen up. If any of you dare betray me for Xiao Nanfeng, I won't forgive you," Cui Haisheng threatened.

"Don't worry, Division Leader. We'll never side with Xiao Nanfeng!" Tang pledged.

"We won't!" everyone echoed.

Cui Haisheng glared at the cultivators, but didn't press further.

"Division Leader, now that Xiao Nanfeng's back, would it be problematic for us to remain in his territory and fight with his troops? Would Ku Jiang complain to Emperor Tianshu about this?" Tang brought up.

Cui Haisheng shook his head. "Emperor Tianshu wouldn't care. Just make sure to handle the tasks I give you well."

"Understood!" Tang nodded, not daring to probe further.

After everyone was dismissed, Tang returned to the Pestilence Sage's manor to recuperate. He locked the door and immediately took out a storage treasure.

"I wonder what Xiao Nanfeng gave me? He actually went to excavate the draconic vein under the Jingang Temple without me—and to think I almost gave my life to help him!" Tang grumbled.

The next moment, Tang's eyes lit up. Within the storage treasure were the carcasses of two Wingform-realm crow spirits. Considering Tang's current cultivation, he would be able to benefit immensely by consuming them.

"Senior Brother Xiao's this generous? I'm rich! Is this how well spies are treated?" Tang exclaimed. Suddenly, he fell deep in thought. "How strange. Senior Brother Xiao just had a single look at me before ushering me to stay by Cui Haisheng's side. Could I have cursed Cui Haisheng's avatar to death?"