Chapter 323: Crushing a Giant Whale with a Hand

When the being within Ao Zhou's body was extracted, his corpulent body quickly shrank in size. In fact, he turned emaciated, nothing more than a bag of skin and bones.

"What's this?" Ao Zhou called out weakly.

The Divine Emperor held a small, bloody snake in her hand. It struggled and screeched, attempting to break free.

"You really were pregnant—and you gave birth to a small snake! Is that what happens when you cross a serpent and a whale?" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

"Nonsense! Prime Minister Whale and I are innocent!" Ao Zhou thundered. Then, he shouted at Prime Minister Whale, "What's going on? What did you do while I was drunk? Tell me!"

"Do you know how much effort it took me to plant that in his belly? And you tore it out just like that—you all deserve to die!" Prime Minister Whale shot toward them, but Xiao Nanfeng easily sent him flying with a punch.

"Wait right there. We'll interrogate you soon enough," Xiao Nanfeng said coldly.

"You!" Prime Minister Whale cried out.

"What's this small snake? Why haven't I sensed it at all?" Ao Zhou exclaimed.

"A cursed effigy," the Divine Emperor replied.

"What?!"

The small snake in the Divine Emperor's hands absorbed all the blood as it struggled, revealing its true form: a white snake that appeared to be made of paper.

"A paper snake?" Xiao Nanfeng gasped.

"It has the same aura as the paper snake from the hidden realm. This must be Cui Haitang's doing as well," the Divine Emperor declared.

"Oh?" Xiao Nanfeng was shocked.

The paper snake twisted its body as it continued to resist.

"Do you think I'll let you bite me?" The Divine Emperor narrowed her eyes at the snake.

A gust of black smoke emerged over her hand, as though poised to drown the snake. The snake seemed to rear away before it ignited in flames.

"Trying to claim the essence you extracted? I think not!"

The paper snake burned to a crisp, leaving behind a ball of blood.

"Swallow this," the Divine Emperor told Ao Zhou, tossing it to him. "This is the essence that the paper snake extracted from your body."

"I will, I will!" Ao Zhou, half-scared to death by what had emerged from his body, immediately swallowed the essence.

"Cui Haitang's machinations really are spread far and wide..." Xiao Nanfeng murmured.

"All spirits, set up the sea spirits' formation and apprehend Prime Minister Whale!" Ao Zhou shouted weakly.

All the serpents and sea spirits rushed over, but rather than attacking Prime Minister Whale, the sea spirits guarded him. Almost half the serpents did the same.

"Who dares strike at me?" Prime Minister Whale demanded.

Killing intent emanated from its body, forcing almost half the serpents to stop short.

"I'll give you only one chance to submit to me. Those who are willing may step over here. The rest of you, await your death by Ao Zhou's side." Prime Minister Whale issued an ultimatum.

The serpents hesitated. Only about thirty quaked as they guarded Ao Zhou, while the rest flew toward Prime Minister Whale. There were thousands of sea spirits and serpents gathered by his side.

"Are you all going to rebel?!" Ao Zhou exclaimed.

"What do you mean, rebel? Except for these serpents that you recruited, the rest of the sea spirits and serpents joined because of me. Should they listen to you instead of me?" Prime Minister Whale smirked.

"You've been lying to me all this time?!"

"You're far too easy to trick, after all."

"You—!"

Xiao Nanfeng gave Ao Zhou an odd look. "What a poor dragon king you are. How did you end up sharing a bed with him? How did you end up believing his lies?"

"I told you, didn't I? I was drunk—no, he must have drugged me before slipping this snake into my belly! Then he hatched this nefarious plan. Blue Lantern and I found him as we sought to erect a temporary palace for the dragon clan. He received us warmly and even guided our way to these accommodations. He treated me respectfully from the very start, and pledged to support me as I revived the legend of the dragons of the Eastern Sea. Blue Lantern told me that he could be trusted—until all this happened!"

"Blue Lantern's a horrible judge of character. How could you believe him at face value?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.

"A horrible judge of character? Says who?"

"He chose not to support someone as talented as I am. Instead, he has to busy himself left and right on your behalf. Doesn't that make him a horrible judge of character?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.

Ao Zhou's eyes twitched. Xiao Nanfeng really was shameless!

He couldn't help but ask, "Prime Minister Whale's an Immortal. Can you really take him on?"

"I'll help you clean up all this trash, but you'll owe me. If I need support in upcoming fights, I expect you to help me out," Xiao Nanfeng said.

"Of course," Ao Zhou promised immediately. As for whether or not he would help, well, that remained to be seen.

"You seem rather confident in your own abilities, but do you think you can defeat me just because you withstood two of my blows? None of you will escape today," Prime Minister Whale said coolly. Then, he commanded, "Establish the formation!"

"Understood!" The sea spirits by his side put down a series of formation flags as they established a formation of surprising scope.

"Those two blows were just to have you wait; they weren't intended to kill. Of course I can take you on—you're not that strong." Xiao Nanfeng chuckled.

He stepped forward as a silver moon appeared to the back of his head. Howling winds blew around him as a blizzard spawned out of nowhere.

"I'm cold! Save me, Prime Minister Whale!" the weaker sea spirits cried out.

They were immediately frozen into ice sculptures; the inchoate formation lay incomplete.

"Even Spiritsong-realm sea spirits can't survive this frost? Impossible!" Prime Minister Whale roared,

sending a frightening burst of sound waves toward Xiao Nanfeng. Xiao Nanfeng retaliated with a punch, dispersing the waves as he appeared before Prime Minister Whale.

Prime Minister Whale blanched as he opened his mouth wide, prepared to absorb everything in his vicinity.

"You must have just become a spirit Immortal. Save the effort," Xiao Nanfeng replied disdainfully, waving his arm and directing the blizzard into Prime Minister Whale's open mouth. His mouth quickly froze over; realizing that the situation was stacked against him, Prime Minister Whale tried to escape, but Xiao Nanfeng froze the entire whale within moments.

With a wave of Xiao Nanfeng's arm, the thousands of sea spirits and serpents were all frozen as well.

Ao Zhou gasped. "Xiao Nanfeng, how have you grown so much stronger?"

"Ancestor, save me!" Prime Minister Whale cried out.

"What ancestor?" Ao Zhou's eyes widened as he sensed something amiss.

Just then, a frightening aura came from a patch of black fog not too far away.

The serpents that were loyal to Ao Zhou found themselves quailing on the ground upon sensing the aura.

"What? How could that be? Isn't Blue Lantern trying to activate a formation within that domain of black fog? How could there be such a strong cultivator over there?" Ao Zhou exclaimed.

The frightening aura caused even Xiao Nanfeng's deific domain to shudder and shake as the two auras collided. Even his silver moon was forced back, and the blizzard cut out abruptly. The ice over Prime Minister Whale shattered rapidly.

"You can't even take on a cultivator at Yin Body? What a piece of trash you are. I can't even suppress Blue Lantern now!" a cold voice came from within the fog.

"Ancestor, I didn't know he would be so strong! Please, save me!" Prime Minister Whale begged.

The aura grew stronger and stronger as a huge being appeared from the black fog, a giant whale hundreds of meters long. There were countless scars all over its body. Its aura seemed to dwarf that of any other cultivator as it swam forward.

"What frightening killing intent!" Ao Zhou, already weakened by what had happened, sprayed out a mouthful of blood as the aura struck him. He found that he was unable to even run away.

Against the frightening aura, even Xiao Nanfeng's body quailed. He prepared to retreat.

Just then, the Divine Emperor reached out. A giant pitch-black hand emerged from the void and clenched its fingers around the giant whale.

"What?!" the giant whale exclaimed.

It furiously attempted to twist its body and shake itself free, but it found that it couldn't move at all.

"Impossible!" the giant whale howled.

Ao Zhou and Prime Minister Whale stared at what had happened in shock. How could this be? How had this woman managed to grab ahold of such a frightening whale with just one palm?

"I would have turned up my nose at the thought of eating you back in my heyday. For you to dare to be so presumptuous—you really have a death wish, don't you?" the Divine Emperor demanded. She began squeezing her palm.

"No! Please, spare me, Senior! I didn't intend to offend you!"

The giant whale's body shook and tore from the incredible force that the Divine Emperor exerted. Huge quantities of blood sprayed forth from its wounds before it visibly wilted, life draining from its body, as it died on the spot.

"Ancestor? Ancestor!" Prime Minister Whale shouted.

Ao Zhou trembled in fear. He hadn't spoken ill of this woman, had he?

"I've sealed this small fry and compressed its inner core. You can consume it," the Divine Emperor told Xiao Nanfeng.

Xiao Nanfeng blinked in surprise, then nodded. "Thank you."

The Divine Emperor retrieved a storage treasure, dumped the giant whale inside, and passed it to Xiao Nanfeng.

"I've already said what I needed to say, and I'll be leaving immediately. There should be nothing else in the vicinity that can threaten you. Take care," the Divine Emperor told Xiao Nanfeng gently.

"You too!" Xiao Nanfeng seemed reluctant to have her leave.

The Divine Emperor smiled, soared into the sky, broke the barrier around the temporary palace, and left.

Everyone belatedly came to their senses.

"Impossible. How could she have killed my ancestor? That's impossible!" Prime Minister Whale howled.

"Is she an elder of the Qitian Alliance? Have I missed my chance to introduce myself to one of them? No, Elder, please come back! I haven't had the time to welcome you properly!" Ao Zhou shouted.

By then, however, the Divine Emperor had already vanished from sight.