Chapter 302: The Spirit Emperor's First Defeat

Xiao Nanfeng swung the divine undying blade, cleaving the flames before him in twain.

The Spirit Emperor snapped his fingers. The fire recombined and swallowed up Xiao Nanfeng.

"Your physical cultivation is at Wingform, and your spiritual cultivation at the peak of Lunar Deluge. You really overestimate your own capabilities, don't you? My facsimile of solarfire can easily burn you to a crisp." The Spirit Emperor sneered.

Just then, two caws came from within Xiao Nanfeng's body. The facsimile of solarfire that had enveloped Xiao Nanfeng was quickly absorbed.

"Oh? You don't fear the facsimile of solarfire? Could you have quintessence of solarfire in your body?" the Spirit Emperor exclaimed in surprise.

"Take this!" Xiao Nanfeng tossed out one of the Immortal swords he had just obtained.

The sword radiated with energy as it flew toward the Spirit Emperor and self-destructed. An explosion of frightening energy mushroomed toward the Spirit Emperor.

The Spirit Emperor sneered and caught the explosion with a hand. The void distorted as the flames were seized by a power of frightening strength. The flames compressed into a fireball about as large as a palm.

"What?!"

Xiao Nanfeng was taken aback. Was the Spirit Emperor so strong that he could reverse the spread of such an explosion?

"Do you think you could harm me by destroying an Immortal relic? You're far too naive." The Spirit Emperor chuckled as he tossed the small fireball back at Xiao Nanfeng.

"No!" Xiao Nanfeng cried out.

He attempted to evade, but it was simply impossible. The fireball exploded anew before him. Although the recompression had sapped a significant portion of its energy, the resulting explosion was akin to the destruction of a corroded Immortal relic. He was quickly engulfed in flames.

"Argh!" Xiao Nanfeng's screams could be heard from within the fire. "Again! I bet you can't handle the simultaneous destruction of three Immortal relics!"

Xiao Nanfeng tossed the Immortal relics toward the Spirit Emperor.

"You think that'd be enough to hurt me? It's more an annoyance than anything else," the Spirit Emperor replied.

He flashed past the three Immortal relics and instantly appeared by the flames. He reached for Xiao Nanfeng.

At the same time, Xiao Nanfeng slashed at the Spirit Emperor with his divine undying blade.

The Spirit Emperor ignored the attack. He had seen for himself how weak Xiao Nanfeng was; he continued to reach out for Xiao Nanfeng's neck.

Just then, the black lotus infused the divine undying blade with the cursed spiritual power it had extracted from the dragon-quelling spike. The blade glowed with shining blue light that illuminated the entire domain. By then, however, the Spirit Emperor was too close to avoid the attack.

"Impossible!" he howled.

The divine undying blade split the Spirit Emperor into two—but Xiao Nanfeng hadn't made it out of the attack unscathed, either. The Spirit Emperor had dealt his chest a heavy blow before his destruction. Xiao Nanfeng was sent flying, fresh blood pouring out of his wounds. He was gravely injured.

"Xiao Nanfeng!" The Divine Emperor rushed toward him and caught him once more.

All this happened in the flash of an eye. No one would have expected the Spirit Emperor to be struck down. Behind him, the three Immortal relics exploded, making his wounds even more severe.

The two halves of the Spirit Emperor's body were shocked. "Lad, were you planning all this from the start? You used the ineffectual destruction of Immortal relics twice to lure me before you and make sure I couldn't avoid your subsequent blow—how malicious you are. You'll die for this!"

The two halves of the Spirit Emperor's body were about to recombine when the Divine Emperor's bell appeared between them and halted the process.

"Again!" Even as Xiao Nanfeng spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, he tossed four Immortal relics toward the Spirit Emperor.

The four Immortal relics exploded as they struck the two halves of the Spirit Emperor's body. Were he in peak condition, these explosions would have done nothing to him, but his physical body had been destroyed. He was in a state of great weakness. The explosion of the four Immortal relics destroyed one half of his body completely, while the Divine Emperor's bell struck at his other half.

He knew that he had been bested. His fragment of will was about to expire.

"To think I would lose to the likes of you—you're done for, kid." The Spirit Emperor smiled malevolently.

"He's going to self-destruct!" the Divine Emperor cried out.

The two halves of the Spirit Emperor's body let out blinding golden light as they exploded in a burst of frightening flame.

The underwater barrier shattered as the black pond was engulfed in the explosion—and the entire peach orchard along with it.

The Divine Emperor's bell barely caught Xiao Nanfeng and the Divine Emperor in time.

The bell tolled as the explosions persisted. Even within the bell, they could sense the bell being battered and buffeted by the explosions.

It took a tremendous amount of time before everything quieted down again.

The Divine Emperor uncovered the bell to reveal what remained of the domain. All the water had been vaporized from the black pond, and the mountains all around them had been leveled. The land was a mess of rubble and strewn detritus.

The guards and palace maidens coughed out blood as they staggered from the explosions. They revealed their original appearance—they were all shadow cursed effigies.

"They're about as strong as Envoy Ying!" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed in shock.

These were all Immortal-realm shadows, and so many of them, too! If he had been any slower to act, these shadows would have swarmed him. Would he even have been able to swing his blade at all?

"Leave the rest to me," the Divine Emperor said.

Her bell covered Xiao Nanfeng once again as she darted toward the shadows.

Pleas and cries came from outside the bell.

"Spare us, Divine Emperor! We were forced into this!"

"Don't eat me, Divine Emperor! Please spare us!"

"Save us, Spirit Emperor!"

The shadows begged for mercy, but the Divine Emperor showed no mercy. Within moments, she had cleared out their surroundings.

Xiao Nanfeng knew that the shadows had to have scattered, and the Divine Emperor was giving chase to them.

Xiao Nanfeng sat cross-legged in meditation as he attempted to recuperate. The Spirit Emperor had been too strong. Even his hasty blow had dealt Xiao Nanfeng tremendous damage.

Xiao Nanfeng recuperated for three whole days before the Divine Emperor's bell was uncovered once more as she returned.

"I'm back. All the shadows have been destroyed. How are your wounds?" the Divine Emperor asked.

"I'm rather badly hurt, and I'll need to recuperate for quite a while longer." Xiao Nanfeng gave her a wry smile.

"Worry not. I've gathered this for you, and it'll boost your recuperation," the Divine Emperor replied.

With a wave of her hand, she summoned a sea of golden flame. The flames formed two giant whirlpools, with a golden ember radiating incandescent light at the center of each.

"Quintessence of solarfire?" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes lit up.

"That's right. The Spirit Emperor's fragment of will left these two embers behind. The remaining fire is all facsimile of solarfire, and can help speed up your recovery," the Divine Emperor explained.

"Thank you."

Xiao Nanfeng absorbed the sea of golden flames into his body.

The two embers that harbored quintessence of solarfire melded into two suns in his dantian and quickly hatched the nascent spirits gestating within. Meanwhile, he distilled the facsimile of solarfire into pure yang origin qi and used it to quickly repair the damage dealt to his physical body. He was regenerating flesh at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Within just a few hours, two booms resounded through the peach orchard alongside bursts of flame.

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Two more nascent spirits had hatched into three-legged golden crows within his dantian.

"The fourth stage of Wingform!" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes lit up.

Rather than get up, he continued to recuperate. A day later, all his wounds had finally been healed. He opened his eyes and exhaled with satisfaction.

He looked around him to see the Divine Emperor in meditation herself. The black pond water had somehow reappeared and was slowly being infused into her body.

"Have you recovered?" the Divine Emperor asked in concern, without opening her eyes.

"Fully. Thank you, Senior!" Xiao Nanfeng replied.

The Divine Emperor paused. "There's no need to call me Senior. Just address me as the Divine Emperor."

"Understood, Divine Emperor! What's this black water around your body?"

"It's my cursed spiritual power. When the Spirit Emperor betrayed me, he seized all my spiritual power and distilled it into this black water, which he granted to all manner of spirits to turn them into shadow cursed effigies."

"No wonder they only listen to the Spirit Emperor..." Xiao Nanfeng murmured in understanding.