Chapter 385: Heaven Immortal

As Commander Lie Yang shot toward Xiao Nanfeng, he saw Xiao Nanfeng's golden robes turn silver.

What was he doing, changing clothes in the middle of a battle?

Lie Yang cocked his head in confusion, but there was no time to concern himself with such trivialities. His fist met Xiao Nanfeng's fist in a huge explosion that sent everyone else flying. Even he was pushed aside. He fell to the ground and stumbled a few steps before stabilizing himself.

"How could this be? How could your strength have advanced to this degree? Are you an Earth Immortal? No—you're at late-stage Yin Body!" Commander Lie Yang exclaimed.

"To think this formation would be able to absorb all the remnant energy from our clash," Xiao Nanfeng murmured, glancing at the fog all around him in surprise.

To the back of his head, a moon rose into the air.

"Quick, we have to leave! That's a deific domain!" a cultivator shouted.

"Leave? None of you are leaving without clarifying the situation." Xiao Nanfeng waved a hand, spawning a blizzard in the vicinity. Where it passed by, a few weaker cultivators were instantly frozen into ice sculptures. Commander Lie Yang suffered the bulk of the damage. As the blizzard surged forth, his qi barrier was frozen stiff.

"Nice deific domain, but my quintessence of solarfire counters it!" Commander Lie Yang shouted.

Countless flames surged toward him from all over, like fog. The cultivators that had just been frozen quickly unfroze. Blazing flames in the shape of dragons shot toward Xiao Nanfeng, swallowing him whole.

When Xiao Nanfeng dispelled the golden flames, he found small doors situated all around the sea of flames. The flames didn't extend beyond the doors; as Commander Lie Yang waved his hands, everyone else was ushered outside. The doors slammed shut.

Behind Commander Lie Yang was a final small door. He stepped outside and chuckled. "Xiao Nanfeng, let's see if your blizzard is stronger than my tower that encapsulates the quintessence of solarfire."

Commander Lie Yang's door shut as he left the tower. Flames roared once more.

Xiao Nanfeng now understood that the formation of fog was actually a relic in disguise. The moment he stepped into the fog, he had entered the interior of the relic, a tower filled with flames.

Golden flames surged toward him, but the element he feared least in the world was fire.

He returned to his physical body as his silver robes turned back to gold. Ten golden crows flew out of his body, spread their wings, and began to devour the flames all around.

Outside, Commander Lie Yang sat in front of a tower shining with golden light. The exterior of the tower was shrouded with thick fog; the situation within couldn't be seen from the outside.

"Sect Master, why are we taking on Xiao Nanfeng? If the sect master were to find out, we'd all suffer!" one of Lie Yang's subordinates asked in worry.

"If you don't say anything, who would find out?"

"Sect Master, didn't you say that we had to be careful about making enemies? Why would you attack Xiao Nanfeng? I really don't understand, Sect Master!"

"I naturally have a plan in mind," Commander Lie Yang replied, without explaining things further.

"He's far stronger than we anticipated."

"It doesn't matter. He's in the tower of solarfire now, and there's nothing that he can do. Even an Earth Immortal would be suppressed by the tower. His deific domain might be strong, but how much spiritual power does it drain? He'll be begging for mercy in no time."

Just then, Xiao Nanfeng called out from within the tower, "Commander Lie Yang, where's the supposed quintessence of solarfire?"

"Xiao Nanfeng, you're surrounded by it! Are you blind?"

"This isn't quintessence of solarfire, just facsimile of solarfire..."

His ten golden crows had all hatched from quintessence of solarfire; of course he would be able to distinguish the flames immediately. The flames all around them were fake!

"You mean the quintessence of solarfire that exists in the sun? That sort of divine flame is near-impossible to find. It only exists in celestial bodies. This is the quintessence of solarfire that exists on earth, still one of the most domineering flames!" Lie Yang replied coldly.

"Facsimile of solarfire is just that: a counterfeit. You really are shameless, aren't you? I suppose it's still better than nothing. Thanks, then!"

Commander Lie Yang frowned. Why would Xiao Nanfeng thank him?

"Sect Master, doesn't something seem wrong? Xiao Nanfeng's very relaxed for someone trapped in the solarfire tower..."

"He must be feigning. I'll activate the solarfire tower at full force and see just how long he can stand it!"

Lie Yang did just that. Roaring facsimile of solarfire surged toward Xiao Nanfeng.

Xiao Nanfeng remained within the tower, happy to have received such an opportunity. He could easily deal with Lie Yang after sucking the tower dry of all the facsimile of solarfire it contained.

The ten golden crows absorbed the flames furiously. Two hours later, Commander Lie Yang finally noticed something amiss.

"Why isn't he begging for mercy yet? And he's consumed so much of my solarfire already!"

"Sect Master, look! The topmost floor of the tower—it's cracking!" one of his subordinates called out.

Lie Yang looked up to see a crack at the top of the tower. The next moment, several more cracks formed. The cracks spiderwebbed until they covered the whole of the tower.

"Impossible. The solarfire tower is a Heaven Immortal-class relic, and the quintessence of solarfire it contains can even kill an Earth Immortal. How can it look so... drained?!" Lie Yang exclaimed.

The next moment, the tower exploded in a frightening surge of fire and wind. A mushroom cloud erupted over the barracks.

"My tower! Xiao Nanfeng, what have you done?!" Commander Lie Yang howled.

Xiao Nanfeng, seated cross-legged in the middle of the flames, slowly opened his eyes and breathed out. "I've broken through again—to the seventh stage of a Human Immortal! I have to thank you, Commander Lie Yang."

Xiao Nanfeng stood up and transformed into his yin body once more. A full moon manifested behind his back as he shot toward Lie Yang.

The two cultivators again exchanged blows. He sent Lie Yang flying with just one punch. He careened into a mountain and smashed a huge crater in it.

By then, countless cultivators within the city had heard the commotion. They rushed into the air, Lan Jiguang and the seven commanders among them.

"Isn't that Commander Lie Yang's barracks? Who is he fighting? What a huge commotion!"

"It's Xiao Nanfeng, the Ninth Commander! Why are they fighting?"

"Xiao Nanfeng's at late-stage Yin Body?"

The commanders flew over in surprise.

By then, Ye Dafu, Chang Bing, and the others had also heard the commotion. They rapidly flew into the city.

"Xiao Nanfeng's fighting!" Chang Bing exclaimed.

Ye Dafu immediately shouted, "Everyone, clear the battlefield for His Majesty!"

"Understood!" Ye Dafu's lackeys replied.

Xiao Nanfeng clearly had the upper hand; he was knocking Lie Yang flying time and time again. Some of Lie Yang's subordinates tried to assist him, but Ye Dafu and his lackeys stopped anyone from getting near.

"Hasn't Xiao Nanfeng only been in the Taiqing Immortal Sect for a few years? Just how in the world did he cultivate? He's even stronger than Ye Dafu and those maniacs!" Chang Bing exclaimed.

He had hoped to beat up Xiao Nanfeng for what had been done to Lady Yaoguang, but the sight before him made him realize that he wouldn't be able to do so.

The other commanders didn't rush forward; they flew toward Lan Jiguang instead.

"Lord Lan, this ninth commander you've appointed is no ordinary cultivator. He's at late-stage Yin Body! Not only that, he's completely suppressing Commander Lie Yang. Aren't you going to do anything?" one commander asked.

Lan Jiguang frowned, but didn't strike right away. He knew that Xiao Nanfeng wouldn't have started a fight without a good reason.

"Please calm down, everyone. We'll talk about this later. For now, protect the people," Lan Jiguang said.

The seven commanders glanced at Lan Jiguang, confused. They immediately guessed that he was hiding something big.

Afar, Xiao Nanfeng had been particularly restrained during the fight. He did his best to direct all attacks upwards to avoid having any residual shockwaves striking the common people. Fortunately, Fengdu was a particularly large city, and they were far away from the residential district.

"Commander Lie Yang, it's time to end things! Otherwise, I'll beat you to death," Xiao Nanfeng warned.

Commander Lie Yang fled toward a hall shrouded with fog. He shouted, "Save me!"

"No one can save you now." Xiao Nanfeng flew straight to him and downed him with a punch.

Lie Yang, struck by Xiao Nanfeng's fist, spat out a mouthful of blood in mid-air and careened toward that hall. Just then, a bestial howl emerged from the hall, forming an aural attack that smashed the gates to the hall wide open before striking Lie Yang's prone body and halting his momentum.

Then, a fist cloaked in black aura shot out of the hall rapidly, chasing after Xiao Nanfeng. The fist conveyed an aura of intense strength, shocking Xiao Nanfeng and forcing him to defend. Xiao Nanfeng flew hundreds of meters back before he finally caught himself.

"What incredible strength. Could you be a Heaven Immortal?" Xiao Nanfeng demanded.

"A Heaven Immortal? How could that be? Who is it?" the commanders afar cried out.

The strongest cultivator in Fengdu, Lan Jiguang, was only an Earth Immortal. Where did this supposed Heaven Immortal come from?

While everyone was perplexed, a black-robed man slowly walked out of the hall. He looked so fearsome that a single glance caused any spectator to shudder involuntarily.

"Impossible!" Lan Jiguang cried out. "How could it be?"

Everyone else seemed shocked. "Isn't this the person whom Xiao Nanfeng put a bounty on? So he was here!"

"Didn't that Martial Aspect die? How could he be alive?" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.