Chapter 310: Candle

Xiao Nanfeng leapt toward the shadows. Wherever he went, howling frost followed in a shower of silver light. Every punch caused another shadow to shatter into countless fragments.

"Quick, use your cursed spiritual power to transform into shadows. We can't let him touch us!"

"It's useless. His punches are infused with cursed spiritual power, and there's superior yin frost all around. No!"

The shadows cried out as they fell. Xiao Nanfeng shot up to them, then rapidly froze and shattered them like fireworks. Even the Divine Emperor was astounded by the sight. For some reason, she felt calm around Xiao Nanfeng, as though whenever she was in danger, whenever she felt weak and helpless, this young man would stand before and shield her.

"Save us, Spirit Emperor!"

"No!"

After reaching Yin Body, Xiao Nanfeng's abilities had increased explosively in terms of strength and speed, and he easily suppressed the shadows. They were dwindling at a rapid rate, and, even though they tried to flee, were trapped inside the bell with Xiao Nanfeng.

Outside, the Spirit Emperor was shocked to hear the shadows' cries.

"Erupt!" he howled.

Flames blazed over the Divine Emperor's bell, causing a slit to widen and allowing him to enter the bell himself.

As he did so, he saw the final shadow running towards him.

"Save me, Spirit Emperor!" the shadow cried out, jubilant at seeing its savior.

However, Xiao Nanfeng slammed into the shadow with a frosty punch and obliterated it in a shower of shards.

"Die, Xiao Nanfeng!" the Spirit Emperor thundered.

"You're the one who should die!" Xiao Nanfeng charged forward.

The Spirit Emperor's fist blazed with flame, and Xiao Nanfeng's fist with ice. As they collided, both parties were forced back.

"What incredible strength! But it's not enough to overpower me," Xiao Nanfeng said.

"If the Divine Emperor hadn't seriously wounded me and sapped my strength, you wouldn't be a match for me," the Spirit Emperor replied.

Xiao Nanfeng and the Spirit Emperor launched themselves at each other once more. Fire and ice clashed; their fist techniques were both particularly aggressive, but despite all their efforts, they seemed equally matched.

"Impossible. You've just stepped into Yin Body. How could you already be so strong? Incandescent Blaze!" the Spirit Emperor cried out.

The interior of the Divine Emperor's bell quickly filled with flames of incredible magnitude. At the same time, the silver moon to Xiao Nanfeng's back released silver light, quenching the flames around Xiao Nanfeng and causing large flakes of snow to fall from the sky.

Half the Divine Emperor's bell was filled with flame, and the other with snow. The clash of the two opposing elements was particularly oppressive, and fog and steam rushed out where the two domains met.

"How could your deific domain be so strong despite your recent advancement? You've shocked me time and again, kid, but you'll die today for disrupting the wedding between me and the Divine Emperor!" the Spirit Emperor cried out.

"You claim you want to marry the Divine Emperor even after beating her that heavily? You really are shameless, aren't you?" Xiao Nanfeng said.

"Who are you to criticize my affairs?" the Spirit Emperor retorted, charging forward.

Xiao Nanfeng did the same.

Xiao Nanfeng smashed his fist into the Spirit Emperor's chest. His frightening strength caused the Spirit Emperor's chest to cave in. Large quantities of fire emerged from the Spirit Emperor's back as a bloody hole formed.

"What?" Xiao Nanfeng gasped.

How could the Spirit Emperor have been so easy to defeat?

"Something's wrong!" Xiao Nanfeng blanched.

"You're too late, haha!" the Spirit Emperor shouted, laughing.

The Spirit Emperor knew that continuing to fight Xiao Nanfeng head-on would only result in losses on both sides. He instead chose to accept a serious injury in order to close in on Xiao Nanfeng. He punched at the silver moon to the back of Xiao Nanfeng's head.

"The strength of cultivators who focus on the spirit come from the moon they cultivate. Once those moons are destroyed, their yin bodies will dissipate as well. Now, begone!" the Spirit Emperor shouted, his fist careening toward Xiao Nanfeng's head.

Suddenly, a thin, horizontal slit opened up in the silver moon like a mouth.

"What? How could the moon have a mouth? It has to be fake!" the Spirit Emperor cried out.

The next moment, the mouth widened to reveal silvery-white fangs that chomped down on the Spirit Emperor's fist—and bit it off.

"Impossible! How could your silver moon have turned into a cursed effigy?!" the Spirit Emperor howled.

The next moment, a second mouth appeared on the moon's surface and bit down on the Spirit Emperor's head.

𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Kid, you tried to bait me—you had an ambush waiting?!"

The next moment, the Spirit Emperor's head was eaten whole.

Xiao Nanfeng was stunned. Had his silver moon become so sinister after the inclusion of the superior yin pearl?

"Explode!" the Spirit Emperor suddenly shouted from within the moon's mouth.

The moon immediately spat out the Spirit Emperor's head and right hand, but he had already initiated his self-destruction. Even the rest of his body was about to explode.

Xiao Nanfeng rushed over to the Divine Emperor as a huge explosion rang out within the Divine Emperor's bell. The frightening force of the resulting shockwaves sent the bell flying.

Xiao Nanfeng grabbed the Divine Emperor and held her tightly, his aura manifesting as a barrier of sturdy ice that was broken and reformed over and over again as the explosion persisted.

Finally, the barrier shattered. Xiao Nanfeng's body took the brunt of the attack.

Xiao Nanfeng sprayed out a mouthful of fresh blood on the Divine Emperor's face, causing her to shiver.

As the explosion finally subsided, nothing remained that could threaten Xiao Nanfeng.

His silver moon returned to his mindscape as he weakly absorbed the flames all around to heal his body.

"How are you, Divine Emperor?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.

She wiped away the blood by Xiao Nanfeng's lips with her hand. "I'm alright. Thank you."

"Those shadows have all shattered, but they might still be of use to you. In addition, the Spirit Emperor self-destructed. I don't think there are any threats left. Please reclaim your cursed spiritual power!"

"I will," the Divine Emperor replied gently.

Both Xiao Nanfeng and the Divine Emperor were rather badly wounded. They left to find the resources they needed to replenish their vitality.

The fragments of ice all around them melted to reveal shards of shadow cursed effigies. The Divine Emperor swallowed them all, while Xiao Nanfeng meditated and absorbed the burning flames around, distilling them into pure yang origin qi and restoring the damage to his body.

Xiao Nanfeng's consciousness returned to his mindscape. His silver moon seemed to have suffered considerable damage, but it was absorbing spiritual aether to repair itself.

Not long afterwards, the Divine Emperor nudged him awake. A sea of flame followed in her wake, with two whirlpools within. Countless rings of flame were circling two golden embers.

"The Spirit Emperor self-destructed, leaving two embers of quintessence of solarfire behind, and a whole batch of facsimile of solarfire. You should absorb them all."

Xiao Nanfeng nodded.

He quickly absorbed the flames, sending the two batches of quintessence into two suns in his dantian to hatch two further nascent spirits.

A few hours later, two booms resounded through the Divine Emperor's hall as six caws could be heard from within his body.

"The sixth stage of Wingform!" Xiao Nanfeng opened his eyes, pleased.

Not far away, the Divine Emperor was seeing to her own injuries. He didn't disturb her and instead continued to close his eyes, focused on healing himself. The facsimile of solarfire proved to be a panacea; he also absorbed the spiritual aether all around him to speed up the recovery of his silver moon and spiritual power.

He stayed in a meditative state for ten whole days before reaching peak strength once more. His silver moon was now bright and pristine, and his stellar lake completely refilled.

The black lotus again floated on the surface of his stellar lake, while Xiao Nanfeng's yin body glowed, resplendent with silver light, as it sat cross-legged on the lake's surface. The silver moon shone peacefully above it all; everything appeared calm.

Xiao Nanfeng's consciousness returned to his physical body as he slowly opened his eyes. The Divine Emperor had placed the divine undying blade by his side.

He turned to see black water surrounding the Divine Emperor. As she absorbed more and more of it, her aura grew stronger.

He guarded the Divine Emperor as she cultivated. Two days later, after she absorbed all that black water, she exhaled and stood up.

"Have you recovered fully?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.

"I have, and I've grown far stronger than before, too." The Divine Emperor smiled.

Her voice had changed; it was now clearly feminine and particularly pleasant to the ears. Xiao Nanfeng blinked, caught in a momentary reverie.

"What's wrong?"

"Your voice is really beautiful." Xiao Nanfeng grinned.

The Divine Emperor was silent for some time, then replied seemingly in a good mood, "I've broken the curse on my body and can now speak, but my looks haven't fully been restored."

"I'll help you," Xiao Nanfeng pledged, smiling.

The Divine Emperor nodded gently.

"If your cursed spiritual avatars are shadows, what are the Spirit Emperor's cursed spiritual avatars?" Xiao Nanfeng immediately changed the topic.

"Candles."

"Oh?"

"We sacrificed countless treasures and fortune to retrieve a cursed effigy from the world away—a candle. Under ordinary circumstances, the candle looked completely ordinary, but once it was lit up, its surroundings would darken. The first time we lit the candle, the candle illuminated me and produced a shadow. This first shadow became a cursed effigy. The candle and shadows are linked by nature, and the candle can counter the shadows. Initially, not having expected that the Spirit Emperor would betray me, I took the shadows for myself, while he claimed the candle."

"Is there anything special about these candle cursed effigies?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.

"When lit up, the candles generate an unusual cursed spiritual power, allowing for short-ranged teleportation across spacetime where the candlelight reaches. He barged into my bell by making use of that cursed spiritual power to form a small rift in spacetime, then hopping from the spacetime outside into the spacetime inside."

"What a sinister power!" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.