Chapter 61: Revenge

Xiao Nanfeng put on the blue armor of one of the corpses, buried his senior brother, before skulking back to the lotus pond and hiding some distance away.

He knew that his strength alone would be no match for these cultivators, but he couldn't help but return. Even killing a few wounded soldiers would make him feel better.

Furthermore, this group of cultivators was taking part in a heated fight against two toad spirits. There could well be an opportunity for him while the two parties were fighting.

By the time he returned, the fight was over. The majority of the armored cultivators had fallen to the ground, drained of their capacity to fight. Some were even unconscious or dead.

The two leaders of the cultivator group had their hair in disarray and their armor largely corroded away. They were bruised and bloody, a sorry sight to behold, but they looked strangely excited—because they had won.

The two toad spirits each had no fewer than ten bolts stuck in their bodies.

The smaller female toad had her belly facing the sky, a huge wound marring it, revealing flesh and blood within. She seemed to be dead.

The male toad was tied up in a huge ball of rope. It was immobile but still breathing; the faint rise and fall of its chest was visible. Even so, its eyes were closed, as though it had gone unconscious. On its back was a copper spike radiating blue light.

"If not for the Spike of Dispersal, we might all have perished," one leader murmured with lingering fear.

"The crown prince really did bequeath us with a marvelous treasure," the other leader replied happily.

"I can't believe it—I almost died!"

"Even the heaviest injury on our part is worth it. The crown prince only tasked us to recover the flower of the rainbow lotus, but that's not all there is to the lotus! Its seeds can heal injuries, and might even allow us to improve our cultivation."

"That's right!" The two leaders glanced at each other. Then, both turned and eyed the rainbow lotus with avarice.

"Retrieve the rainbow lotus!" one of the leaders commanded. "No, dig it all up and bring the lotus seeds in the mud over as well, but be careful!"

"Yessir!"

Some of these least wounded cultivators shrugged off their armor and swam over. Everyone was focused on the center of the pond; none noticed an armored cultivator covered in blood sneaking up to the toad spirits.

That cultivator was none other than Xiao Nanfeng. He had covered his face with blood so as to make him harder to identify, and he was wearing the same armor the other cultivators did! Who could have anticipated that a spy would pop up at this critical moment?

Xiao Nanfeng stealthily inspected both toad spirits with his spiritual power. Although the female toad looked to be dead, her body seemed to still have a trace amount of vitality. For the moment, she was still alive. The male toad was brimming with vitality. Even the bolts stuck into its flesh hadn't penetrated far; it had bunched up its muscles to prevent its internal organs from being injured. However, its spiritual power had been and remained dispersed.

Xiao Nanfeng sent a wave of spiritual power into the male toad's body.

The male toad's eyes flickered slightly as it caught sight of Xiao Nanfeng. Its eyes brimmed with malice, with anger and grievance.

Xiao Nanfeng immediately grew wary of the toad. Only when he confirmed that it wasn't moving did he dare approach. He discovered that the spiritual power he had infused into the toad's body had dispersed. The glowing spike that pinned the toad down was radiating some mysterious energy that dispersed its spiritual power.

"A talisman?" Xiao Nanfeng blinked.

He now understood that what was suppressing the toad spirit was precisely this copper spike.

"Toad? I'm just like you. I have to take revenge on these cultivators. I can rescue you now, and I'm happy to fight with you to get rid of them together." Xiao Nanfeng sent this message to the toad spirit as a bundle of aural waves conveyed to the toad's head by a burst of spiritual power.

The toad spirit's weak gaze flashed with surprise. It let out a weak croak.

Regardless of whether the toad had understood its meaning, Xiao Nanfeng decided to make his move. He leapt up to the toad's back and removed the spike sealing it.

"What are you doing?!" one armored cultivator cried out, seeing Xiao Nanfeng's actions.

By the time the other cultivators turned to the source of the commotion, it was too late. Xiao Nanfeng had pulled out the spike and infused a huge wave of spiritual power into the toad's body.

The spiritual power immediately rejuvenated the toad spirit, as though it had just revived with full health. With a loud snap, it broke apart the restraints holding it down.

"Be careful!" one of the Ascension-realm cultivators yelled out in shock.

The toad spirit loathed the two Ascension-realm cultivators with all its might. The moment it broke free, it sent its gigantic tongue shooting out at the two leaders. One of them discovered the attack quickly and avoided it with a deft dodge, but the other wasn't so lucky. He was immediately caught by the toad's tongue.

"Lord Huo!" the other leader cried out.

As the toad's tongue retracted, Lord Huo was swallowed whole into the toad's belly.

An Ascension-realm cultivator, killed in an instant? The culprit was the cultivator who had pulled out the spike pinning the toad down!

"Seize him!" Lord Wei pointed furiously toward Xiao Nanfeng.

After Xiao Nanfeng released the toad spirit, he knew it would be disadvantageous for him to remain. He shot toward the distant part of the forest.

Just then, an armored warrior blocked his path and sent a sword slash straight at Xiao Nanfeng. As it was about to land, a flash of golden light appeared to his back, and the Immortal Cicada pierced through his body.

Xiao Nanfeng continued running off far into the forest.

"That's a flying sword?! Quick, capture him!" one cultivator yelled out.

A group of armored cultivators quickly surrounded Xiao Nanfeng.

Just then, the toad spirit loosed a massive aural attack that struck at all the cultivators' souls. Many of them clutched their heads in pain, as did those chasing after Xiao Nanfneg.

The toad spirit's spiritual assault dealt incredible damage to the gathered cultivators, but Xiao Nanfeng was unaffected owing to his wealth of spiritual power. He quickly slashed at the frozen warriors with his Immortal Cicada. Countless warriors close by found their heads sliced off. Fresh blood fountained from their necks.

Xiao Nanfeng glanced at the toad spirit. Had it deliberately attacked in such a fashion because it had seen that he was surrounded and in need?

"You dare—!" Lord Wei thundered, pouncing toward Xiao Nanfeng.

Xiao Nanfeng blanched and continued heading deeper into the forest.

The toad spirit suddenly leapt up and knocked into Lord Wei, who barely defended with his weapon. He was sent flying.

"Impossible! You bastard, your spiritual power should have been dispersed by the Spike of Dispersal! How could you be able to launch an aural attack? How are you still so energetic?!" Lord Wei cried.

The toad had been angered beyond belief, and it didn't care for Lord Wei's nonsense. It flicked out its tongue once again, straight at Official Wei.

"Die, foul beast!" Lord Wei slashed at the toad,

A bloody scar appeared on the toad's tongue, which it immediately retracted into its mouth. The toad leapt up again toward Lord Wei, who blanched as he sent another sword slash at the toad—but one which was blocked by its bulk.

Lord Wei was sent flying by the toad spirit. He vomited out a mouthful of blood in the air.

"Quick, use the spiritbane crossbows to assist me!" he cried out.

"Yessir!" Five armored cultivators moved a giant crossbow engraved with runes over. It began to glow with blue light. A giant bolt aimed straight at the toad spirit.

"Loose!" one cultivator cried out.

With a clean snick, the Immortal Cicada pierced through the cultivator responsible for loosing the bolt. It then struck at two of the other arches, causing the spiritbane crossbow to clatter to the ground.

"Be careful! A flying sword is launching sneak attacks at us!" one cultivator cried.

In the distance, Lord Wei was struggling against the toad spirit.

"Use the spiritbane crossbow, hurry!" Lord Wei howled.

The armored cultivators didn't know what to do. Half of their number had lost their ability to fight in the preceding battle, and a dozen or so had died. Of the remaining thirty, the majority were lightly or moderately wounded, and they considered themselves fortunate just to have avoided the sneak attack from the Immortal Cicada.

In the end, half of their number were dispatched to operate three spiritbane crossbows to assist Lord Wei, while the other half would chase after Xiao Nanfeng.

Xiao Nanfeng had no intention to clash with them head-on; rather, he lured them deep into the forest.

The fifteen cultivators had just prepared to give up the chase and assist Lord Wei when the Immortal Cicada executed one more cultivator. The unlucky cultivator's head was sent flying in a spray of blood, causing his comrades to glance at each other in shock.

"If we don't get rid of that lad, he's going to keep launching sneak attacks on us. We have to charge into the forest and kill him!"

"He won't be able to escape. We'll split up into groups of two!"

With their sight disrupted by the thick foliage, however, how could they hope to catch up to Xiao Nanfeng, who was using spiritual power to bolster his senses?

Not long after, as cries rang out from the forest, Xiao Nanfeng managed to kill two of the armored warriors.

"It's too dangerous to pair up. We'll have four cultivators in a team, quick!" one person commanded.

The remaining twelve cultivators formed three teams as they continued to search for Xiao Nanfeng, but he had long since evaded them. After luring them deeper into the forest, he looped back around and rushed toward the lotus pond, targeting Lord Wei.

At that moment, Lord Wei had struck the toad spirit with a sword slash. The toad spirit howled in pain as both sides reached a stalemate.

Just then, Lord Wei suddenly felt a tremendous sense of danger. He scanned his surroundings, but it was already too late. The Immortal Cicada had flown to the back of his neck.

"Bastard!" Lord Wei roared. He used his full strength in an attempt to evade the attack, which brushed past his scalp.

That dodge, however, left him out of position to deal with the toad spirit's follow-up attack. It stuck out its tongue and curled it around Lord Wei.

"No!" Lord Wei cried out in despair, before the toad spirit swallowed him whole.