Chapter 292: The Spirit Emperor and the Divine Emperor

On a hilltop outside Yongding, Tang was gobsmacked as he watched what was occurring in Yongding. "I knew it! Xiao Nanfeng's even more sinister than I am. He managed to take down that whole group of shadow cursed effigies! Thank goodness I'm his spy, or I would have been done for. He's far more of an omen of calamity than I am!"

Just then, a black-robed figure jumped up the mountain and landed in front of Tang.

Tang blanched. "Who are you?" he asked warily.

"Sir Tang, King Xiao has instructed me to provide you with a reward for your information this time, along with your accrued salary."

This wasn't the first time such a thing had happened; Xiao Nanfeng was very pleased with the information that Tang had brought him, and had lavishly rewarded Tang as a result.

"Oh? Another reward from King Xiao?" Tang's eyes brightened.

The black-robed figure placed his storage artifact against Tang's. Both cultivators worked together to transfer a large quantity of treasure from one storage artifact into the other.

"The reward and salary have been delivered. King Xiao has new orders for you: report to Cui Haisheng and accompany him. You need not do more; just stick around them," the black-robed figure continued.

He jumped down the hill and vanished from sight. Tang happily checked the treasure that had been deposited into his storage artifact.

"Xiao Nanfeng really is generous. These treasures might suffice to advance my cultivation into Wingform!" Tang's eyes lit up, but he quickly frowned thereafter. "But as a 'spy', all I do is eat, play, chat, talk—isn't it a little indecent?"

Meanwhile, in the Xiao manor, Xiao Nanfeng's main body frowned as he considered the outcome of the fight. "The larger I expand my deific domain, the more spiritual power I consume... That fight didn't last very long, but it drained a surprising amount of my spiritual power."

The Divine Emperor suddenly emerged from his ring.

It was silent for some time, clearly not having expected that Xiao Nanfeng's avatar would have such incredible strength after advancing to Yin Body. Indeed, the strength that Xiao Nanfeng had displayed would have been able to threaten the Divine Emperor himself.

After some time, the Divine Emperor finally formed words with black smoke. "There's a cursed king in this red moon of yours?"

Xiao Nanfeng didn't explain the melding of the red rope to his avatar's red moon to the Divine Emperor. Rather, he smiled. "Divine Emperor, these shadows came in search of you, and I've bagged them all. Please accept this offering."

Xiao Nanfeng reached out. A loop of red rope appeared with the five pieces of Envoy Ying's body.

"Divine Emperor, I must have been crazy to work against you. Please spare me!" Envoy Ying's head cried out.

The Divine Emperor ignored it, reached out for the five pieces of its body, and swallowed them all.

With a wave of its hand, Xiao Nanfeng's storage ring transformed into the Divine Emperor's bell once more, with its mouth facing up.

"Toss them into the bell," the Divine Emperor instructed.

"Got it!" Xiao Nanfeng replied.

Xiao Nanfeng sent the shadows into the bell.

"Spare me, Divine Emperor!"

"Divine Emperor, we were only acting on orders! Please spare us!"

"No!"

The shadow cursed effigies screamed, begged, and pleaded, but none paid them any attention. They were unable to escape while restrained by the red rope, and it took only an instant for them to all be tossed inside the Divine Emperor's bell.

The Divine Emperor itself jumped into its bell, which then transformed back into a ring tattooed on Xiao Nanfeng's finger. From within, Xiao Nanfeng could barely make out the Divine Emperor's growls and the shadows' pleas within.

As Xiao Nanfeng's avatar got down from the roof, the red cloud in the sky shrank in size until it vanished into the Xiao manor alongside a red moon.

Even after no trace or tint of red light remained, the cultivators within the city were still staring at the Xiao manor, unable to believe what had just happened. They gulped down mouthfuls of saliva.

"I thought killing Xiang Pojun was Xiao Nanfeng's limit, but to think that there was such a frightening existence in the Xiao manor too..."

"Even cursed effigies have fallen to the Xiao manor. Just how strong are Xiao Nanfeng's forces?!"

"I have to report to my sect at once. We've underestimated Xiao Nanfeng by too large a margin. There's a very strong chance he can establish a kingdom or empire of his own."

"I have to inform my sect immediately! We can't place all our eggs in the Xiang clan's basket. Xiao Nanfeng bears great potential as well."

Two days later, while Xiao Nanfeng was investigating the Spirit Emperor's charm in his study, a hoarse voice suddenly said,

"Hand me the Spirit Emperor's charm. I'll open it for you."

The hoarse voice was of no certain gender, but Xiao Nanfeng could sense that it was coming from his storage ring.

"Divine Emperor, can you speak now?" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

"Not yet. I've simply grown strong enough to disable a portion of my curse. I can vibrate the air to produce sound. Hand me the Spirit Emperor's charm, and I'll open it for you."

Xiao Nanfeng's eyes brightened. "Senior, I dealt with the shadows not because I wanted your assistance, but because I couldn't stand their behavior."

"You don't want my help? Forget it, then."

"No, please, help me!" Xiao Nanfeng hastily stuffed the Spirit Emperor's charm into his storage ring.

Xiao Nanfeng's attempt to develop a relationship with the Spirit Emperor met with questionable success, but at the very least, he would benefit from his actions.

The Divine Emperor induced the ring to transform into its bell once again.

The mouth of the bell was pitch-black. Suddenly, roaring flames flared up from within as a frightening aura emerged from it. Xiao Nanfeng tensed as if encountering an enemy.

"Divine Emperor, are you alright?" Xiao Nanfeng asked in worry.

The roaring flames were being tightly contained by the Divine Emperor's bell. If the artifact weren't present, the entire manor might well have gone up in flames.

Just then, a male voice could be heard from within the bell.

"I've finally found you! Divine Emperor, are you finally willing to meet with me again?" The man sounded unbelievably pleased.

"Spirit Emperor, this isn't your palace, and you're only a fragment of will. Don't try anything," the Divine Emperor warned.

"Divine Emperor, you're far too cold toward me. Don't you remember how we took on the world together? We reigned supreme, just the two of us! How did we end up like this?" The man's voice was tinged with annoyance.

"You instigated it, Spirit Emperor. You wanted to establish the spirits' Imperial Court, and I assisted in your endeavor. We defeated countless cultivators to claim you your throne—and then you turned on me!" the Divine Emperor hissed.

"Don't you know why I wanted to establish an Imperial Court to begin with? It was so I could deserve to be by your side! And I did it, I became the top cultivator in the world, the heavenly monarch of the spirits! Why did you still refuse to look at me seriously? Am I that inferior?" The man's voice bordered on obsession.

"Not between us," the Divine Emperor declared.

"Why not? I'm male, and you're female. I'm yang, and you're yin. Even our cursed spiritual avatars are two halves of the same. Don't you see how compatible, how attuned we are to each other? Why won't you accept me?!" the man howled.

"As I said, not between us. Spirit Emperor, if you still consider me a friend, give up on your desire," the Divine Emperor replied coldly.

"Why not? Is it because you're a human, and I'm a spirit? There are plenty of human-spirit couples, and I can transform into a human myself! What's the matter? I don't want you to just be a friend. I want to marry you!" the man continued stubbornly.

"It's not because you're a spirit. It's because I treat you as a friend, and I simply can't develop romantic feelings for you."

"A friend? Ha! Do you mean a pet? It's true. You were the one who rescued me from a serpent when I was young. You kept me by your side, feeding me and treating me like a pet. You were very kind to me, but I don't want to be your pet. I want to marry you! All I did, I did for you—but you still think I'm nothing more than that little spirit you saved that day, don't you?" the man cried out.

"Listen to me! I don't look down on you. I treat you like a close friend, and I simply don't have any romantic feelings for you. That won't change no matter what you do. Now, dispel your will. I'm going to claim what's within this charm," the Divine Emperor said coldly.

"You want me to back down? I won't do it. You'll have to destroy me!" the man replied stubbornly.

"Be destroyed, then!" the Divine Emperor shouted.

"You're really going to strike me? Just you wait. I know where you are now. I'll have my spirits come claim you as my bride. You'll have to agree to marry me!" The man's tone brooked no refusal.

"You asshole!" the Divine Emperor cried out.

The Divine Emperor's bell tolled, causing the intense aura and the male voice to vanish.

Then, the Spirit Emperor's charm flew out of the Divine Emperor's bell.

"Lad, I've destroyed the fragment of the Spirit Emperor's will in his charm. You can claim the quintessence of solarfire within and unlock the entrance to the hidden realm now," the Divine Emperor said.

Xiao Nanfeng was still stupefied by the conversation he had overheard. Was that the Spirit Emperor's voice? Who could have expected such a relationship between the two monarchs of yore?

"Well? Get to it! Or are you laughing at me?" the Divine Emperor urged.

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"Ah, no, it's nothing. I'm just happy, that's all," Xiao Nanfeng hurriedly replied.

"What's there to be happy about?" The Divine Emperor seemed particularly vexed.

Xiao Nanfeng pursed his lips. No wonder the Divine Emperor had been so erratic toward him. A woman's thoughts were impossible to predict!

"Senior, I'm happy about having received the quintessence of solarfire, not about your personal affairs," Xiao Nanfeng explained.

The Divine Emperor snorted. Her bell transformed into a ring on Xiao Nanfeng's finger once again.