Chapter 282: The Three-Legged Golden Crow

News of Hong Lie's death quickly spread throughout the Tianshu Empire, and even to the Immortal sects that were participating in the confrontation between empires. Every cultivator who learned of the news was shocked.

An Immortal dying just like that? Such was the scale of the confrontation between empires—a moment's carelessness could lead instantly to death.

On the other hand, some cultivators viewed Hong Lie's death as an opportunity.

Strong cultivators of six Immortal sects had gathered in a hall of the Sanyuan sect. Two months ago, Xiao Nanfeng had excavated the draconic veins of each sect, and they had been too fearful of Hong Lie to retaliate. With Hong Lie's death, however, everything had changed.

The strong cultivators of the six sects looked toward a black-robed man standing before them.

"Everyone, relax. I'll snare Xiao Nanfeng. None of you will be too fearful to strike if he's alone, will you?" The black-robed figure smiled.

The cultivators of the six sects fell silent, weighing the odds.

"I accept," one of them stated.

"I accept as well."

The other cultivators all agreed quickly. They were all bound together now; there would be no turning back.

By the entrance to the Mortal division's Hall of Immortals stood Ye Sanshui and Xiao Nanfeng.

"King Xiao, news of Hong Lie's death has spread throughout the Tianshu Empire. The Tianshu Empire has issued a bounty on Xiang Pojun: whoever claims his head will be granted the title of Marquis and the former lands of Marquis Wu," Ye Sanshui reported.

Xiao Nanfeng frowned. His eyes narrowed with displeasure.

Hong Lie placed great importance on fraternal bonds, and he considered Nalan Qiankun one of his closest friends. He had helped Nalan Qiankun establish the Tianshu Empire and would still continue helping him out without a second thought if he needed it.

Now that Hong Lie was dead, although Xiang Pojun was unlikely to be the sole culprit responsible, not only had Nalan Feng done nothing to investigate his death further, all he had done was place a bounty on Xiang Pojun. He hadn't even made a move to avenge his senior brother himself.

"At the moment, several marquises of the Tianshu Empire have sent an army toward Marquis Wu's lands, intending to take advantage of the opportunity to swallow up those lands for themselves. They're going to claim the cities that we've conquered, and the frontlines are suffering. Should we continue our assault against the rogue forces there?" Ye Sanshui asked.

"Those are the lands that my senior uncle conquered. I won't hand them over to anyone. Emperor Tianshu claimed that whoever kills Xiang Pojun will be granted Marquis Wu's lands, didn't he? We'll take those lands for ourselves, then. I'll kill Xiang Pojun myself," Xiao Nanfeng replied.

Ye Sanshui nodded. "Understood!"

"All of you should return to Marquis Wu's lands and defend the cities we've conquered. Don't let the last few months of hard work go to waste. If anyone dares to claw at our territory, we'll break their arms off," Xiao Nanfeng pledged.

"Understood!" Ye Sanshui replied.

"King Xiao, will you return with us?" Ye Dafu asked from the side.

Xiao Nanfeng shook his head. "I can't. My new position as division leader of the Mortal division requires that I deal with many administrative matters personally. Return by yourselves for now."

"Understood!" the two cultivators replied.

After Xiao Nanfeng sent off his subordinates, he handled the most pressing affairs before entering secluded cultivation in the Mortal division's Hall of Immortals.

Xiao Nanfeng retrieved the Mortal token that Hong Lie had given him. He tapped on it, revealing a hidden mechanism that exposed a small golden orb.

"That day, Senior Uncle handed a storage ring to Nalan Qiankun, capturing his attention before passing this token to me. He had me put my hand over this hidden mechanism to hide it from view. Was it to stop Nalan Qiankun from learning what lies within? What is this?" Xiao Nanfeng wondered.

As he squeezed on the golden orb, a burst of golden flame erupted from it. The flame wasn't particularly large, but it generated an incredible amount of heat, so much that the protective formation within the hall activated. The small flame seemed as though it would burn everything around it to a crisp.

"What a frightening flame—it's even burning my pure yang origin qi!" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

Just then, the black lotus projected a message into Xiao Nanfeng's mindscape. "This is quintessence of soulfire."

"Quintessence of soulfire?!" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

He understood why Hong Lie had tried to hide this now. The rest of his treasures combined couldn't have been more precious than this one orb. Was Hong Lie worried that Nalan Qiankun would seize the quintessence from him?

Xiao Nanfeng was touched. Without any hesitation, he absorbed the quintessence of solarfire into his dantian.

His dantian was composed of ten suns, each with a nascent spirit gestating within—but all the spirits were in a dormant state.

As the quintessence of solarfire entered the first sun and surrounded the nascent spirit, it was immediately suffused with vitality and glowed with blinding golden light. The nascent spirit was quickly developing as it absorbed all the energy from the sun. The sun slowly winked out as the nascent spirit took on the form of a three-legged golden crow about three meters tall.

The three-legged golden crow cawed and flew out of Xiao Nanfeng's body. It released wisps of flame that formed a halo of fiery light, like a golden sun, that floated behind Xiao Nanfeng and gave him an awe-inspiring appearance.

"The nascent spirit has been born—I'm a Wingform-realm cultivator now!" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes lit up. "The first stage of Wingform..."

The three-legged golden crow illuminated the hall in blinding light. Its eyes were particularly lifelike; Xiao Nanfeng's mind could control the crow and see through its eyes.

The three-legged golden crow wasn't a spiritbeast, but rather a pure, unadulterated elemental spirit of fire.

Xiao Nanfeng recalled the three-legged golden crow into his dantian as the hall dimmed and returned to its original appearance. He immediately stepped out of the hall and flew toward an isolated region of the sea, where he released the three-legged golden crow again.

The three-legged golden crow flew out of his dantian and cawed. The skies darkened within fifty kilometers of Xiao Nanfeng—not because the sunlight was shrouded by clouds, but rather because all that sunlight had been attracted to the three-legged golden crow.

The sunlight transformed into pure yang elemental force, causing the crow to glow radiantly. Then, a large quantity of golden flames poured out of its body, as though it had transformed into a golden sun itself. It filled up Xiao Nanfeng's body with its elemental force, causing him to be surrounded by a layer of flames as well.

Wielding his blade, Xiao Nanfeng slashed at a small rocky island.

The island was split in twain, and the resulting shockwaves caused huge waves to form in the surrounding sea. Where Xiao Nanfeng's blade had struck the rock, flames began to spread and continued to persist long after the attack.

The crow spread its wings atop Xiao Nanfeng's head, transferring even more sunlight into pure yang elemental force, refilling the energy that Xiao Nanfeng had consumed in his attack and simultaneously tempering his physical body.

"This crow is only a fledgling right now, isn't it? If it were to keep growing, it'd surely become stronger. Sky of Ten Suns—one sun alone already has such incredible might. Imagine having ten of these crows!" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed expectantly.

He tested his strength carefully, familiarizing himself with his newfound powers, before recalling the crow and returning to Taiqing Island.

He began to pore over documents that described the Mortal division's history and secret information privy only to the division leader, as though waiting for something.

Two days later, while Xiao Nanfeng was perusing a document, a Mortal elder stepped into his office.

"Division Leader, I—there's some information that I'm not certain if I should discuss," the elder began.

"Oh?" Xiao Nanfeng replied curiously.

"I've been observing you for some time, and have confirmed that you bear a deep and abiding bond with former division leader Hong Lie. There's a private matter I wish to bring to your attention regarding the former division leader."

"What is it?"

"The former division leader Hong Lie has a son."

"Oh?"

"However, his son's still very young, and the former division leader was afraid that making his existence known could result in incidents. He's been raising his son outside the sect. Now that the former division leader is dead, I'd like to get your thoughts on raising him in the sect proper."

"Where is Hong Lie's son?"

"I can take you there, Division Leader. Would you accompany me?"

"Lead the way!" Xiao Nanfeng instructed.

"We had best keep this matter secret in order to prioritize the safety of Hong Lie's son," the elder warned.

"Just the two of us, then. Let's go!"

"Please follow me, Division Leader." The elder led the way, smiling faintly.

Xiao Nanfeng smirked as he glanced at his back.