Chapter 424: Entering the Court and Meeting Yaoguang

"Dragon Yanluo, you can't head in there! That's my lord's Yanluo court," one horse-headed humanoid cried out anxiously.

"Where else would I wait?" Xiao Nanfeng retorted coolly.

"But..." The horse-headed humanoids glanced at each other in panic.

They could hardly stop the Dragon Yanluo. If they annoyed him, he could easily go on a rampage and take them all down. They had no choice but to hope that the horse-headed humanoids who had gone to inform the Horse Yanluo of the situation could get him back quickly.

Xiao Nanfeng, surrounded by countless horse-headed humanoids, flew over to the Horse Yanluo's Yanluo Court. He grew worried as he flew over, because he could sense a Heaven Immortal's aura from a horse-headed humanoid.

Were there other cursed effigies that had reached the realm of a Heaven Immortal beside the Yanluo Lords?

"Qu Jianfeng was plotting something, after all. He said that, excluding the Yanluo Lords, the other cursed effigies were at most Earth Immortals. That was a complete lie," Xiao Nanfeng murmured to himself.

"Dragon Yanluo, my lord's Yanluo Court is currently sealed, and none but he can open it. Furthermore, he has laid out plenty of formations around the Yanluo Court. If you attempt to intrude by force, the cloud of annihilation might be triggered. There are other halls to the side for guests. Could we lead you there instead?" one horse-headed humanoid asked politely.

The horse-headed humanoids surrounded Xiao Nanfeng, worried that he would do something amiss.

Xiao Nanfeng replied calmly, "I heard that the Horse Yanluo caught a woman two months ago. You must be aware of her."

He manifested Lady Yaoguang's appearance in the air.

"That—" The horse-headed humanoids glanced at each other, worried.

"It looks like you do know of her, after all. Where is she? I'd like to have a look at her," Xiao Nanfeng said directly.

"Dragon Yanluo, our lord intends to take that woman as a concubine. Please tread carefully," one horse-headed humanoid replied.

"As concubine? Do you know what happens to those who lie to me?" Xiao Nanfeng demanded.

He caught the horse-headed humanoid by the neck.

"Dragon Yanluo, this is the Horse Yanluo's capital of Wu, not your capital of Chen. Please restrain yourself!" the horse-headed humanoid cried out.

Xiao Nanfeng bisected the humanoid with his blade. "You dare threaten me after a hundred years of absence? Who else dares bar my way? Let me see how bold you've grown!"

An overwhelming aura erupted from Xiao Nanfeng's body.

The horse-headed humanoids blanched. They did want to maintain the Horse Yanluo's authority, but none of them dared to take on the Dragon Yanluo themselves, even if there were Heaven Immortals in their midst. This was a fear deeply ingrained in their bodies over the course of a hundred thousand years.

"Dragon Yanluo, he was telling the truth," another horse-headed humanoid said respectfully. "My lord does intend to take that woman as concubine. You know that my king appreciates beauty, and hers is beyond compare. We really aren't lying to you."

"Dragon Yanluo, if you don't believe us, our lord will confirm it for you himself when he returns," the other horse-headed humanoids advised.

"I care not for these trifles. Will you, or will you not, bring this woman out?" the Dragon Yanluo demanded.

The horse-headed humanoids glanced at each other anxiously. One ventured, "Dragon Yanluo, might I ask why you're interested in this woman?"

"And who do you think you are to pry into my personal affairs?" Xiao Nanfeng retorted.

"I, I'm simply—"

"Are you asking on behalf of the Horse Yanluo?" Xiao Nanfeng deliberately asked a leading question.

"Yes, I am—" Suddenly, realizing that something was amiss, the horse-headed humanoid stopped short.

"Someone like you dares to speak on behalf of the Horse Yanluo? Has he lost all his authority? Are you intending to overthrow him? Now that I've discovered your scheme, I suppose I'll kill you all as a gift for him!" A tremendous aura emanated from Xiao Nanfeng's body, forming a tempest. The horse-headed humanoids reared back in shock.

They suddenly came to the realization that the Dragon Yanluo was here to wage war, not to reminisce about the past.

"Hold on, please!" one horse-headed humanoid shouted. "I know where that woman is!"

"Oh?" Xiao Nanfeng paused and looked coldly at that horse-headed humanoid.

"She's within the Yanluo Court. My lord detained her there!"

"What?"

"It's true! She's within the Yanluo Court. There's a divine sword protecting her that prevents anyone else from getting close by. Even our lord doesn't know what to do with her. He's been persuading her to stop resisting, but she refuses to listen. As a result of that stalemate, she's been detained within the Yanluo Court ever since. I guarantee it on my life!"

"That's right," other horse-headed humanoids jumped in. "She's in the Yanluo Court."

Xiao Nanfeng turned to the Yanluo Court and attempted to push its doors open. Unfortunately, even when he invoked the Dragon Yanluo's cursed spiritual power, he was unable to make them budge.

"Dragon Yanluo, you should know better than we do that each Yanluo Court is attuned to its owner, and no one else will be able to control it. You won't be able to open these doors. Please wait for our lord to return," the horse-headed humanoid pleaded.

Xiao Nanfeng glanced toward the cursed effigy who had spoken. "If you dare lie to me, I'll make sure you won't be able to reincarnate for eternity."

"I wouldn't dare, Dragon Yanluo! She really is inside!" the horse-headed humanoid replied, forehead beading with sweat.

Xiao Nanfeng looked toward the other horse-headed humanoids and carefully considered their gazes. None seemed evasive; it was overwhelmingly likely that she was indeed within.

Xiao Nanfeng then looked toward the doors to the Yanluo Court. He attempted to drag it into his Divine Seal of Dazheng, but it wouldn't budge at all.

He frowned, giving up on this idea, as candlelight blazed from his body.

It shot toward the doors of the Yanluo Court, causing them to burn red-hot.

"This is..." The horse-headed humanoids watched on in surprise and confusion.

The next moment, they saw Xiao Nanfeng step through the burning domain and into the Yanluo Court.

"Impossible! The doors to the Yanluo Court haven't opened at all. How could he have gotten within?!" the horse-headed humanoids exclaimed.

They crowded around the doors to investigate, but the burning domain had vanished. The doors remained secure and immobile, but the Dragon Yanluo was nowhere to be seen.

"Could he really have entered? How could it be?!" a horse-headed humanoid exclaimed.

"The ten Yanluo Lords all possess some special skill. Perhaps this is the Dragon Yanluo's," one horse-headed humanoid suggested.

"I hope the messengers can find our lord quickly. He has to return to ensure that we're safe. The Dragon Yanluo's surely up to no good," the horse-headed humanoid who had just spoken murmured anxiously.

"How could you have revealed that that woman was within the Yanluo Court to the Dragon Yanluo?" one of his companions criticized.

"Do you know what would have happened if we didn't tell the Dragon Yanluo anything?"

"What else? Perhaps a fight, at worst. All we would have to do is to hold on until our lord returns. Even if we're killed by the Dragon Yanluo, we can simply regenerate."

"You haven't thought things through at all! Do you really think the Dragon Yanluo came back by himself? Where are his forces? He's searching for an excuse to take us all on—then to distribute our cursed spiritual avatars and souls to his forces. Do you know how long it'd take us to regenerate in that case? He was deliberately giving us a chance to offend him so that our lord wouldn't even have an excuse to avenge us!"

"Ah? That—" A few of the horse-headed humanoids stepped back in surprise.

"Thankfully, he seems to be more interested in that woman's divine sword. That's for the best. We weren't able to do anything against it, and the Dragon Yanluo may not succeed, either. Let him waste his time trying to deal with the sword while our lord returns. Leave it all to him."

"Got it!" The horse-headed humanoids relaxed now that this plan had been established.

"To prevent us from being surrounded by the Dragon Yanluo's army, we'll have to scout the vicinity of the capital immediately. Make sure we leave no stone unturned," the horse-headed humanoid further commanded.

"Understood!"

The interior of the Yanluo Court was like a huge, dark cavern.

𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Within the endless darkness, light glowed from a certain region. It reflected off a pitch-black pond, which seemed to contain a large number of black chains. The chains were wrapped tightly around a huge blue moon, and black, frothing water was suffusing the moon with wisps of black smoke. Within the blue moon, Lady Yaoguang sat in meditation, her eyes closed. Her hair floated around her body, her brows furrowed. She made an expression of discomfort but was otherwise a picture of breathtaking beauty, one that roused the pity of all around her.

Just then, by the side of the black lake, a group of horse-headed humanoids were staring at the blue moon at the heart of the lake. Beside them was a mud-yellow rock that displayed a close-up of Lady Yaoguang.

"What a stubborn woman she is. Our lord's elevating her far beyond her station by taking her as a concubine, but she refuses to consider the offer. Think about how strong our lord will be once he's freed from the abyss! Don't you remember how many women fought for his attention when we commanded the world? She really is a fool for not taking advantage of the situation."

"Our lord's primarily interested in her sword. That's the reason for her value—and it's not like she has a choice, anyway. She's caught our lord's attention now."

"Is what we're doing going to be of any use?"

"You know that the waters of this lake can obliterate memory. Those touched by the lake will forget their lives and the events of the past. This rock of fate has been marked with her spiritual power. She's caught in our grasp now. In a few months' time, once our lord infuses his cursed spiritual power into the rock, they'll be bound together by fate—in past, present, and future.

Once that binding takes effect, even the most stubborn woman in the world will be fully loyal and subservient to our lord."

The horse-headed humanoids glanced at the lake and the woman within in glee.

Just then, they noticed something amiss and suddenly whirled around.

"Who's there?" one horse-headed humanoid demanded.

The rest of them all drew their weapons and pointed them into the darkness.

A dragon-headed humanoid dressed like a king walked forward out of the darkness, none other than Xiao Nanfeng.