Chapter 355: Slaying Cui Haitang

The purple seal was resilient enough for Xiao Nanfeng to be very safe within it, but he didn't choose to weather the barrage of attacks inside. He wanted to kill Cui Haitang; he too wanted revenge!

He stepped out of the seal, only to find torrential flames roaring toward him. Instead of discomfort, he found to his surprise that the flames were able to help heal his wounds.

He looked up at the air where Cui Haitang was manipulating the Hundred-Beast Flaming Dome against him.

"Xiao Nanfeng, were you forced to leave the seal? Very good. Now, die!" Cui Haitang demanded.

Flaming beasts pounced toward Xiao Nanfeng. Their leader swiped a paw at Xiao Nanfeng, poised to take him down in a single blow.

Xiao Nanfeng's eyes turned cold. He didn't move. Instead, three golden crows flew out of his body and smashed into the flaming beast, forcing it back.

The three golden crows cawed fiercely as they flew toward the flaming beasts, their sharp claws stabbing into the beasts' flaming bodies like spears. Their wings sliced apart the flames like divine armaments, tearing the beasts apart. Then, the crows gobbled up the dispersing flames, causing their own golden flames to grow more intense.

"What are those?!" an Immortal cried out from afar.

"Crow spirits? No, three-legged golden crows? And each of them is as strong as a Human Immortal..." Xiang Shaoyin narrowed his eyes.

"Three? No, there are ten of them!"

"Where does Xiao Nanfeng get all his treasures? Are these crows a relic of some sort?" Xiang Shaoyin exclaimed.

Within the Hundred-Beast Flaming Dome, Xiao Nanfeng didn't have to do a thing. The ten golden crows struck at all the flaming beasts in the vicinity, leaving him protected in the center.

"It really is great to become an Immortal. These three-legged golden crows have transformed from solar cells into walking batteries!" Xiao Nanfeng grinned in satisfaction.

The ten golden crows each possessed the strength of a Human Immortal, and they were particularly brutal in their attacks. They repeatedly tore apart the flaming beasts and absorbed their flames, which were transmitted back to Xiao Nanfeng's body in the form of pure yang elemental force. Rather than growing more exhausted from the fighting, Xiao Nanfeng was regenerating from his wounds at a rapid clip.

"Damn them—kill them all!" Cui Haitang roared.

A hundred flaming beasts charged over, but the ten golden crows all possessed Xiao Nanfeng's skill at fighting. They were able to weather the assault.

Ten against a hundred were poor odds, but the crows were nevertheless able to muster an able defense.

Xiao Nanfeng wasn't in a hurry, either. He gave the crows pointers as they fought. Although they seemed to be on the losing end, they didn't sustain any injuries, while the flaming beasts continued getting torn apart and absorbed by the crows.

Two hours later, a huge burst of flame emerged from the ten golden crows' bodies. They had been about three meters tall each; now, they doubled in size. Simultaneously, a tremendous golden firestorm spun into existence around Xiao Nanfeng.

"The second stage of the Human Immortal realm? How did I break through? What are these flames made of, to be able to provide so much energy to me?" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

"Impossible! The flames of the Hundred-Beast Flaming Dome were composed of the highest-quality flames around the world, which the Spirit Emperor himself forged into a hundred and eight flaming beasts. They can burn all things in the world. How could your cultivation have advanced?!" Cui Haitang exclaimed.

"All that happened fifty thousand years ago, didn't it? I'm sure the treasures have grown the worse for wear during that period of time. No matter how strong this relic was back then, it can't have retained more than a thousandth of its initial strength," Xiao Nanfeng replied disdainfully.

"Kill him!" Cui Haitang commanded.

"Devour them!" Xiao Nanfeng commanded.

The three-legged golden crows and flaming beasts struck each other once again. The crows had grown one size larger, and their strength had doubled.

The ten golden crows were now able to fight one against ten without noticeable difficulty. They tore apart one flaming beast after another, then devoured them all.

The golden crows both had to fight and protect Xiao Nanfeng, and were restrained in their ability to fight as a result. Even so, they steadily gained the upper hand, tearing apart and absorbing the flaming beasts as they reformed once and again.

Outside the dome, Cui Haitang fretted. "The Hundred-Beast Flaming Dome is one of the peerless treasures of the Spirit Emperor! Why can't it kill him?!"

"Cui Haitang, the Spirit Emperor's other treasure in Nalan Qiankun's possession is far stronger than this dome. He doesn't treat you well at all, does he?" Xiao Nanfeng called out.

"You dare try to instigate conflict between me and my husband?" Cui Haitang demanded.

"What I'm saying is the truth. I even know that Nalan Qiankun's currently in Tianwu. Tianwu's only fifty kilometers away, and he should have sensed the heavenly tribulation just now. He must have guessed that you were in danger, but didn't come to rescue you. He's not a competent husband," Xiao Nanfeng declared.

"Nonsense! My husband's the best husband in the world! If you dare besmirch his name, I'll kill you!" Cui Haitang roared, her eyes blood-red.

"Come, then. For harming my mother and killing my senior uncle, Hong Lie, I won't let you go today," Xiao Nanfeng said.

Just then, another huge burst of flame emerged from the ten golden crows' bodies. They doubled in size again as another tremendous golden firestorm formed around Xiao Nanfeng.

"The third stage of the Human Immortal realm? How could you be growing so quickly?!" Cui Haitang shouted.

By then, the golden crows were about twelve meters large, and their strength had likewise doubled. They had already been gradually gaining the upper hand against the flaming beasts; now, their advantage was total.

The golden crows speared the flaming beasts with their claws, then absorbed them whole. Where they struck, the beasts were cut down in swathes.

The flaming beasts were forced to retreat.

Cui Haitang's eyes seethed with hatred. Her features distorted, she cried out, "If the Hundred-Beast Flaming Dome can't contain you any longer, then I don't need it anymore. Explode!"

Xiao Nanfeng blanched. "Golden crows, protect me!"

An unbelievably large mushroom cloud formed over the desert. The frightening shockwaves that resulted in the aftermath caused the hidden Xiang Immortals to cry out.

"That crazy woman—will she stop at nothing to kill Xiao Nanfeng?!"

"If she were to attune deeply to the Hundred-Beast Flaming Dome, it would only grow stronger and stronger. Why would she cause it to explode? That's one of the Spirit Emperor's peerless treasures!"

"What a wastrel..."

Xiang Shaoyin and the other Xiang cultivators were enraged. They wanted to take advantage of Cui Haitang's fight against Xiao Nanfeng to take them both down, but that plan was now effectively ruined.

The burst of energy that resulted from the detonation sent Cui Haitang careening into the air, high above the flaming explosion. Her qi barrier shuddered as though it were about to break.

She stared at the heart of the flames, where they blazed strongest. The explosion was like a furnace, one which would melt even an ordinary Immortal—and Xiao Nanfeng lay at its heart. She was certain that Xiao Nanfeng was dead.

Just then, a golden slash shot up from below and reached her in the blink of an eye.

"Xiao Nanfeng's not dead? Impossible!" Cui Haitang exclaimed.

The slash broke through her qi barrier and bisected her body, all the way through the middle of her forehead.

As the flames slowly dispersed, Cui Haitang refused to believe, even to her death, that Xiao Nanfeng could have killed her instead.

"Dear Sister, my physical body and yin body have both been cut apart. I'm about to die. Save me!" Cui Haitang cried out as she fell to the ground.

A swarm of paper snakes emerged from Cui Haitang's body, flying away through the clouds with what remained of her corpse. They vanished from sight in the blink of an eye.

Xiang Shaoyin and the hidden cultivators saw this sight from afar. Their eyes twitched.

"Cui Haitang's been cut in two? How is she still not dead?" one Immortal gaped.

"Her physical body was destroyed, but I'm not sure about her yin body," Xiang Shaoyin said. "That slash struck straight through the center of her forehead, where her mindscape and yin body are located. If her yin body managed to block the blow, she could still be revived in the future, but if her yin body was cut apart as well, she's surely dead. That might just have been a remnant sliver of her truesoul."

"How was Xiao Nanfeng able to kill Cui Haitang under those circumstances? That's crazy!" the Immortals cried out.

By then, the flames from the explosion had dispersed. The desert had turned into glass all around Xiao Nanfeng. Despite their overwhelming strength, even the ten golden crows hadn't survived the fiery explosion unscathed. Even so, they had protected Xiao Nanfeng.

The ten golden crows flew into Xiao Nanfeng's body and vanished from sight. Although Xiao Nanfeng had survived, his wounds from before hadn't completely healed, and the explosion had worsened his injuries. His flesh tore apart, revealing white bone, as he fell to the ground in a weakened state, huffing and panting.