Chapter 420: The Dragon Yanluo's Cursed Spiritual Avatar

A day later, outside the sea of karmic flame, a group of cursed effigies were discussing something.

"Am I blind, or has the sea of karmic flame shrunk?"

"You must be blind. This is only the surface of the sea, and the space within is incredibly large and filled with fire. How could the entrance have shrunk?"

"No, it has grown smaller! And the flames within seem to have dimmed as well."

"Do you hear that? Isn't that... scripture?"

The cursed effigies gaped at each other.

Deep within the sea of karmic flame, Xiao Nanfeng sat cross-legged, ten suns orbiting around his body. He was like a huge black hole devouring the karmic flame in his vicinity. A golden Buddha was manifesting around his body, itself absorbing the flames as it released blinding beams of light. The sound of religious chanting could be heard all around him, as though in ritual prayer to the statue of Buddha he now personified.

Xiao Nanfeng opened his eyes and considered the Buddha statue before frowning. His eyes grew cold as he punched forward, shattering the manifestation.

"I cultivate the Imposing Avatar of Rulai—my body evoking Rulai's form, not Rulai's form taking over my body. Manifest anew!" Xiao Nanfeng commanded.

The fragments of the golden statue that had been shattered swiftly recombined in Xiao Nanfeng's visage.

The religious chanting continued, but had become dissonant and vigorous, like a call to arms in search of glory and brimming with vitality.

The golden statue slowly sat cross-legged, combining with Xiao Nanfeng's body to form a cohesive whole. At that moment, Xiao Nanfeng looked like a blazing golden statue filled with all the energy of the flames he had condensed.

The Imposing Avatar of Rulai was an incredibly difficult technique to cultivate, but Xiao Nanfeng's advancement in spiritual cultivation gave him the background he needed to do so rapidly. In just a day, he had already established the outline of his Immortal body. All that remained was to fill it in and reinforce it until it could take physical form.

By then, he had consumed almost a tenth of the near-limitless sea of karmic flame. Now that the outline was ready, however, he could afford to be less careful. What was important now was absorbing as much energy as quickly as he could.

The rate at which he was absorbing the karmic flames suddenly increased tenfold. The flames surged toward him in a tempest.

The sea of karmic flame was very interesting; the space was formed from evoking natural law. As the karmic flames diminished in volume, so too did the space within shrink.

The entire sea of raging flames was being forged into Xiao Nanfeng's Imposing Avatar of Rulai.

"This avatar truly requires an insane amount of energy. Without this sea of flame, I wouldn't have been able to manifest the avatar even if I had consumed the entirety of the Dazheng Empire's resources..." Xiao Nanfeng murmured, his eyes closed in meditation.

After the majority of the day had passed, Xiao Nanfeng's body suddenly glowed with golden flames. Then, everything halted.

"The first stage of the Earth Immortal realm—and I've successfully begun forging my Immortal body!" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes flashed open.

The flames and golden light on the surface of his body had vanished; all returned to normalcy. There didn't seem to be any change to his physical body at all, but he found that he was unable to cut himself even with his strongest attack.

The ten golden crows had all flown back into his body. The sea of karmic flame had shrunk to such a pitiful extent that they wouldn't fit in it.

"Oh? What's that?" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

As the sea of karmic flame shrank, a golden coffin appeared by the borders of the sea.

Xiao Nanfeng flew toward it, having guessed its identity. He attempted to uncover the coffin immediately.

The coffin had been sealed shut with fire-based techniques, but those were easy for him to deal with. He lifted a hand and absorbed the fire from the techniques until they vanished and the coffin popped open.

He immediately pushed the lid aside, revealing a corpse within.

The corpse was dressed in black brocade with draconic motifs, a humanoid with a black dragon's head. It looked particularly imposing.

"This must be the Dragon Yanluo's cursed spiritual avatar!" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes lit up.

With a hum, the blood peach tree manifested out of nowhere. It formed words with its scattered blossoms. "Xiao Nanfeng, this cursed spiritual avatar is of particular value to me. I just presented you with the manual for the Imposing Avatar of Rulai. Would you hand me this cursed spiritual avatar?"

Xiao Nanfeng frowned inwardly. Was the blood peach tree here to try to claim his spoils again?

"Senior, I'm currently located within the Netherworld Palace, and I'll have to face the Yanluo Lords in battle. I'm not strong enough to do so without external assistance just yet, and I have need of the Dragon Yanluo's cursed spiritual avatar as well. I'd be happy to present it to you once I've escaped from the abyss," Xiao Nanfeng replied diplomatically.

"You intend to possess this cursed spiritual avatar?"

"I do. Perhaps I would be able to take on the Yanluo Lords if I'm in control of the Dragon Yanluo's cursed spiritual avatar."

"It's a cursed effigy, while you're a human. It's easy for a cursed effigy to possess a human, but the reverse would kill you. Its cursed spiritual power will corrode yours."

"Please let me have a try, Senior," Xiao Nanfeng said with a smile.

The blood peach tree fell silent. As though unwilling to be divested of its prize, however, it watched on from the side as it waited for Xiao Nanfeng to make a fool of himself.

Xiao Nanfeng turned to consider the Dragon Yanluo's cursed spiritual avatar.

He knew that not all cursed spiritual avatars could be possessed—his divine undying blade, for instance. Although it was a cursed king's cursed spiritual avatar as well, all the cursed spiritual power within the blade had been sealed. Possession was impossible; even if he could get his soul past the seal, he wouldn't be able to manipulate the power of the cursed spiritual avatar. Even the cursed spiritual power that the dragon-quelling spikes possessed were only sufficient to draw out a portion of that strength.

However, the Dragon Yanluo's cursed spiritual avatar was different. The Dragon Yanluo's body's fundamental nature was paper, but it currently looked like a real body of flesh and blood, as though its owner was only sleeping. This meant that the cursed spiritual avatar's cursed spiritual power wasn't completely sealed; there was plenty that was being siphoned to preserve the body as is. That energy he could command.

Having made up his mind, Xiao Nanfeng transformed into his yin body and shot toward the Dragon Yanluo's mindscape.

He was suddenly knocked back, as though there were some power resisting his possession.

The peach blossom wrote, "Before the Dragon Yanluo left, it must have secured its cursed spiritual avatar against possession. You should give up, Xiao Nanfeng."

"Silver moon!" Xiao Nanfeng commanded.

A silver moon appeared to the back of his head, shining intensely with white light. As the light struck the Dragon Yanluo's cursed spiritual avatar's forehead, a mysterious rune spun into existence.

The silver moon smashed into that rune, causing it to tremble. The barest of cracks appeared.

The peach blossom gaped. "How did you do that? That's a thousand-spirit divine seal! If your yin body were to touch it, it'd immediately dissipate. Even if you're strong enough to withstand that, how could your moon be fine after coming into direct contact with it? Just what manner of spiritual cultivation do you have?!"

Xiao Nanfeng was unwilling to explain. "Senior, there are countless techniques in the world. Mine might be a little special, but it's nothing in the grand scheme of things."

He broke through the thousand-spirit divine seal and entered the Dragon Yanluo's mindscape.

The blood peach tree was silent upon witnessing this spectacle. It had been waiting for Xiao Nanfeng to retreat in failure, only to have been dumbstruck by his success instead.

As Xiao Nanfeng entered the Dragon Yanluo's mindscape, he found himself mired in chaos. Cursed spiritual power surged toward his yin body like a tidal wave.

Any other yin body might have been corroded to the point of fleeing,

but Xiao Nanfeng's spiritual power had been bolstered to a tremendous extent by his Body of Yin. Part of his spiritual power did start to decay, but it was certainly within the range of what he could replenish.

He closed his eyes and considered the cursed spiritual avatar. As he had hoped, it was filled with limitless strength. He had commandeered stronger bodies before, and he quickly grew accustomed to this new body.

With an electrifying hum, the Dragon Yanluo's cursed spiritual avatar's eyes opened as he stood up.

The blood peach tree retreated, as though facing some incredible foe.

The Dragon Yanluo's cursed spiritual avatar stretched, flexed, and tested out Hegemon's Fist a few times, then returned into the coffin. After that, Xiao Nanfeng's yin body flew out of its mindscape.

"You're alright?"

"There's some decay where my yin body interacts with the cursed spiritual avatar's mindscape, but it's at an acceptable level," Xiao Nanfeng explained.

He claimed the Dragon Yanluo's cursed spiritual avatar, along with its coffin, for himself.

The blood peach tree had no choice but to give up on these spoils.

Xiao Nanfeng transformed back into his physical body. He glanced at the few wisps of karmic flame that remained, absorbing them all as the sea of karmic flame popped. Some formation seemed to have shattered.

Then, Xiao Nanfeng was suddenly able to hear a series of shouts coming from beyond.

"Something's wrong. The flames of the sea of karmic flame are vanishing rapidly!"

"Has something happened to the sea? Who could have messed with it?"

"Be careful!"

The cursed effigies were all in a frenzy.

As the final wisp of karmic flame vanished, Xiao Nanfeng appeared within a pit in the valley.

The pit was very strange. Although the bulk of the formations keeping the sea in place had shattered, there was still the outline of a palace steeped in black light left behind.

"A human? How could that be?!"

"Two days ago, he must have been the one who fell into the sea of karmic flame! I was right!"

"Has he devoured the sea?!"

"No, he must have used some treasure or another. We have to catch and interrogate him!"

The cursed effigies pointed at Xiao Nanfeng, their eyes glinting.

"You're making a big fuss. I'm right here. Why don't you come get me?" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed, smiling.

"Get out of the Yanluo Court's domain, then!" one cursed effigy called back.

Xiao Nanfeng looked down at his feet, at the design of a Yanluo Court emblazoned on the ground. It seemed like a special formation in its own right, and gave off the aura of a Yanluo Court.

Xiao Nanfeng considered his situation carefully. "So this is what you're afraid of? This is what's connected to the cloud of annihilation?"

"What do we do if he refuses to come out?"

"Surround him. I'm sure he'll have to step out eventually. Send a messenger to inform our king."

"Right, he won't be able to get away!"

The cursed effigies grinned fiercely.

"Don't worry. Here I come." Xiao Nanfeng stepped out of the pit with a smile.

"What a fool! Take him down!" a cursed effigy shouted. The gathered cursed effigies all shot over.