Chapter 416: Flames of Karma

The horse-headed humanoids were repeatedly killed by Xiao Nanfeng even as they regenerated—but they did so far more slowly than Xiao Nanfeng killed them.

"You're all only at the level of Human Immortals. You should consider yourself honored that I'm using my yin body on the likes of you!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted coolly.

He transformed back into his physical body and sent out ten golden crows, each tearing apart the regenerating humanoids and burning them with facsimile solarfire.

"Facsimile solarfire!"

"No! Don't burn me—all the cursed spiritual power I've accumulated is being drained! How many people do I have to eat to gain so much spiritual power again?!"

"Activate the wok, quickly!"

The horse-headed humanoids were burnt to a crisp and unable to escape. They shrieked.

Just then, Xiao Nanfeng felt a prick of danger to his back. He whirled around to see countless chains from the wok heading straight for him.

"Die!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted, striking at it with his palm.

With a bang, the soul-stealing chains shattered in an explosion.

Suddenly, even more flaming chains emerged from the wok, somehow passed through his palm technique, and hooked onto his body.

"What sinister flames..." Xiao Nanfeng murmured.

With a wave of his hand, the ten golden crows flew back into his body. He was just about to transform back into his yin body when he was dragged into the wok.

One horse-headed humanoid laughed. "Haha, we succeeded!"

"This human can't be a cultivator from the Netherworld Palace. He must have snuck in from outside—otherwise, there's no way he'd be this strong!"

"What do we do now? Report it?"

"That's a delicacy at Yin Body, and we caught him together. Why should we report it and give up on a treat like him? His golden crows consumed a great deal of our cursed spiritual power. Shouldn't we try to get some of it back?"

"Right, let's eat him!"

The horse-headed humanoids all came to an accord.

Meanwhile, the moment Xiao Nanfeng was dragged into the wok, he was surrounded by flames.

But would Xiao Nanfeng be afraid of fire? He immediately stopped trying to transform into his yin body. He stood submerged in the flames with his physical body, welcoming it. The flames were unusually sinister; they scorched his physical body, and he was only able to get rid of the pain by absorbing the flames as quickly as he could.

"What strange flames. Golden crows, emerge!" Xiao Nanfeng commanded.

With a caw, the ten golden crows emerged from Xiao Nanfeng's body and began to absorb all the flames into themselves. Xiao Nanfeng confirmed that, despite how strange they were, the golden crows could absorb them and grow stronger as a result.

"Well, lad?" the horse-headed humanoids called out from a space beyond.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"What manner of flame is this? Why is it so sinister?!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted back.

With the wok sizzling, the horse-headed humanoids couldn't see what was going on inside.

"Sinister? You must be trying to grit your teeth and bear its onslaught right now. This wok was forged from fragments of the eighteen layers of hell and bears the natural law of hell itself. The flames of karma that it produces will burn your physical body and temper your soul. Even a Heaven Immortal's physical body would burn away, leaving their soul to be roasted over the flames. You're dead meat, lad!" one horse-headed humanoid crowed.

"What a domineering flame..." Xiao Nanfeng murmured.

He wanted to mention how interesting it felt to absorb the flames, but ultimately resisted that temptation.

"Domineering? Haha, I bet you're in great pain right now! Once your physical body burns to a crisp and starts on your yin body, you'll beg for us to kill you. Just you wait, haha!"

Xiao Nanfeng grew silent. He ignored the horse-headed humanoids as he focused intently on absorbing the flames of karma.

"He's not saying anything. Could his yin body already be burned to a crisp?"

"It can't be. The flames of karma won't destroy his yin body, only bring him immense, neverending pain for eternity. He must be bearing with that torture right now."

"When can we eat him?"

"Once his physical body's all gone, and his yin body's been burned to the point that his mind's wavering.

"Got it!"

The horse-headed humanoids fed their cursed spiritual energy into the wok in anticipation.

Within the wok, the ten golden crows furiously absorbed the flames all around them. Potent though the flames of karma might be, they were hardly more domineering than quintessential solarfire, which could master all manner of fire in the world.

Two hours passed just like that.

The horse-headed humanoids standing around the wok felt as though something was amiss.

"He really has amazing willpower, doesn't he? He's not even screaming yet!"

"Something's wrong. When I infused my cursed spiritual qi into the runes, it didn't seem to be flowing as smoothly. It's almost as though the runes are becoming defunct."

"The wok's rumbling. Something's wrong!"

The horse-headed humanoids frowned as they tried to infuse more of their qi into the wok, but it was useless. The wok continued to shake more and more wildly as the runes of natural law bound to it began to crack.

"How could this be? The king himself forged this relic. How could it be broken?!"

"Could it be that lad's doing?"

"Quick, bring him up! If the wok's destroyed, our king will surely blame us for it!"

The horse-headed humanoids tried to pull Xiao Nanfeng out of the wok, only to have it explode violently. The horse-headed humanoids were sent flying.

"The wok exploded? No, it can't be!" the horse-headed humanoids cried out.

The next moment, they saw Xiao Nanfeng seated cross-legged, his physical body completely undamaged. A domineering wave of flame emerged from his body; the ten golden crows had grown one size larger.

"He's even stronger than before!" one horse-headed humanoid cried out.

Xiao Nanfeng opened his eyes and took a deep breath. "The eighth stage of a Human Immortal... my cultivation really is rising rather slowly, isn't it?"

"Run!" a horse-headed humanoid cried out.

"Run? It's too late for all of you. You might as well stay behind!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted.

The ten golden crows cawed and shot forward, swiping at the horse-headed humanoids with their sharp claws before burning them with facsimile solarfire. The horse-headed humanoids shrieked in pain.

"It hurts, it hurts! Guards, save us, hurry!"

The demons all throughout the city, completely covered up in armor, shot toward the city lord's manor.

"Do you demons think you can do anything? You might as well burn!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted.

Several of the golden crows let go of the horse-headed humanoids and shot toward the gathered demons. They tore them to shreds and burned the rest with facsimile solarfire; their armor disintegrated as they shrieked.

The demons were just cursed slaves without any of the special characteristics of cursed effigies. Their bodies burned in true death, without any chance of resurrection.

The fighting that had taken place outside the city lord's manor a few hours ago had already caught the attention of the entire city. They saw ten small suns blazing into the air and wrecking much of the infrastructure around the manor. As the dust settled, however, the ten suns likewise vanished—that was when Xiao Nanfeng had first been sucked into the wok.

Meanwhile, the souls that had been extracted from the people finally made their way back into their original bodies.

"Father, how did you come back to life?"

"Mother, didn't you die? You're back!"

Cries of excitement and surprise rang out all over the city.

Those who had just returned to life shuddered in fear. "It's the city lord and the cursed deities. They're demons here to eat our souls!"

"A human demon fought them off and saved us all."

"The only reason we died at forty-five was because the cursed deities sucked our souls away!"

As countless people returned to life, they explained all that they had seen. The people gasped, some in fear, some in hatred.

Quickly, another explosion engulfed the city lord's manor, causing tempests to form all over the city. Many buildings collapsed as the people screamed, but even so, all their attention was drawn to the manor. They saw ten golden crows wreaking havoc everywhere as the horse-headed humanoids were immolated by the golden crows.

"Those suns must be that human demon's magic. He's taking down the cursed deities!"

"What strength! None of the cursed deities can do anything against him!"

"No—the guards all over the city are flying over! Ah, that guard's armor was burned to a crisp. A demon was within this entire time!"

"The cursed deities have been watching over us with these demons. They've been going for our souls this entire time!"

"Sir Human Demon, you have to win!"

Countless people looked toward the city lord's manor in fear, shock, and hope.

Very quickly, all the demons were burned to death, and the ruins of the city lord's manor slowly settled down. All that was left were a few shrieking cursed deities.

"Sir Human Demon won!" The people looked at each other in relief.

Within the city, when Yang San learned of what had happened from his resurrected neighbors, he shouted, "I brought that human demon into the city! His name is Xiao Nanfeng!"