Chapter 671: Exchanged for Anything

Just as Xiao Nanfeng pulled Yu'er behind him, ten hands of black smoke emerged from the black coffin, heading straight for Yu'er.

"Die, vermin!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted.

With a wave of his hand, the ten golden crows that had exploded revived and flew toward the ten black hands.

The ten black hands clenched tightly around the ten golden crows, then attempted to pull them into the darkness of the coffin.

"What...?" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed. He frowned and shouted, "Explode!"

𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

The ten golden crows exploded in bursts of golden flame, causing the ten hands of smoke to dissipate. The crows returned to Xiao Nanfeng's dantian in streams of golden light, reborn once again.

Because they were deep within the sea, they were unable to gather as much sunlight as they normally would have, sharply reducing the force of the explosions. Smoke drifted away from the ten black hands as they reached out for Xiao Nanfeng once again.

"Guard His Majesty!" Ye Dafu shouted. The golden cultivators all began to head toward him.

"Stay away. Don't provoke them!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted.

He knew that the black hands were targeting him because he was defending Yu'er, but he didn't regret what he did. He drew his divine undying blade and prepared to defend himself.

Suddenly, however, the hands stopped short. They hovered around Xiao Nanfeng, causing him to frown.

"Why have they stopped moving?" he exclaimed.

Yu'er's eyes widened in alarm. "There are so many hands trying to tear apart my purple moon!"

Within the coffin, the purple moon was under attack by a whole suite of black hands. Even more manifested from the black smoke within the coffin, furiously tearing at the purple moon. They seemed to have succeded—no, they had ripped open a portal of some sort, which was now flooding the surrounding space with purple fog.

The black hands seemed particularly attracted to the purple fog, which they were attempting to bring into the depths of the coffin. More and more began to tear at it, and even the ten black hands that had been attacking Xiao Nanfeng quickly returned into the coffin to join in.

"My soul—it hurts, it hurts!" Yu'er stumbled and almost fell to the ground.

Xiao Nanfeng hugged her tightly, but she was in so much pain that her whole body was vibrating.

Suddenly, a huge shout could be heard from the void portal across the surface of the purple moon. Something seemed to have shattered. The purple fog surged forth in a tempest, filling the coffin and even permeating through the layers of black barriers surrounding the coffin. The entire Southeastern Aquatic Palace was filled with purple fog; even then, it continued to spread until the whole stretch of the sea was dyed purple.

That purple fog continued to expand upward into the sky.

At the same time, within the Yuqing holy land, the twelve mountains of the Yuqing holy land suddenly began to vibrate, as if in resonance with some unknown phenomenon.

On Taiyi Peak, Sage Green Lotus's eyes widened in surprise. "The Southeastern Aquatic Palace must have managed to catch Xia Yu'er and sacrificed her to the black coffin. The seal on the purple moon illusory realm is about to be broken!"

"Mountain Lord, all twelve mountains of the Yuqing holy land are vibrating!" a disciple reported.

"Don't worry about it. I'll be entering secluded cultivation immediately. Let everyone know not to bother me," Sage Green Lotus shouted.

He began to meditate, thinking to himself, "I'll have to be the first to enter the purple moon illusory realm. I'll seize whatever treasures lie within!"

The other Mountain Lords all did the same, including the Yuqing hierarch himself.

Meanwhile, by the surface of the sea, Long Yi continued to fight against Ao Canghai in the form of a dragon of water a few kilometers long. The shockwaves emanating from the fight had caused a hailstorm around them.

Before long, the dragon of water thundered, "Xiao Nanfeng, I'll kill you for daring to mess with my avatars!"

Ao Canghai was taken by surprise, not understanding what was going on. Even so, it wasn't particularly important. As long as he could defeat the dragon of water, he would be able to claim the Eye of the Sea for himself. His attacks grew more and more vicious.

Just then, a cloud of purple fog dyed the entire stretch of the sea, and then the sky, purple.

The dragon of water reared back in shock before he began to roar in laughter. "Xiao Nanfeng, what have you done? Did you bring Xia Yu'er to me as a gift? Haha, haha!"

Ao Canghai stared at the purple fog in confusion. "What's going on, Long Yi?"

"You don't need to know what's going on. Let's continue, haha!"

He had initially wanted to rush back to the Southeastern Aquatic Palace, but not anymore.

"Eldest Brother, what's going on?!" Long Si exclaimed from afar.

Long Er and Long San also glanced over at their eldest brother as they continued fighting.

"Don't worry. This is a good development for us. Keep holding them back. Don't bother returning to the palace," Long Yi instructed.

"Understood!" the three other ivory dragons replied.

The fighting continued in earnest.

Deep within the Southeastern Aquatic Palace, more and more black hands surged out from the coffin and dragged in as much purple fog as they could.

Xiao Nanfeng continued guarding Yu'er; Ye Dafu and the other golden cultivators were arrayed around him.

"How could there be so much purple fog within my purple moon?" Yu'er exclaimed, even as she shivered from the pain coming from deep within her soul.

Just then, a ray of golden light shot toward them from afar. It broke through layer after layer of black barriers and approached them in the blink of an eye.

"Who's there?!" Ye Dafu and the others demanded, preparing to face yet another enemy.

"Father!" Yu'er suddenly exclaimed.

Xia Xingchen had arrived right beside them.

"Thank goodness you're here, Mountain Lord Xia." Xiao Nanfeng smiled in relief.

Xia Xingchen gave him an unamused look. "There's no need to pretend. You've known that I was here for quite a while, haven't you?"

Xiao Nanfeng dipped his head in a smile.

"I suppose you do have some tricks of your own." Xia Xingchen sniffed.

"Thank you for the praise, Mountain Lord Xia." Xiao Nanfeng smiled again. "How's the situation outside?"

"I won't have to step in at the moment, at least."

"Good!" Xiao Nanfeng nodded. "Mountain Lord Xia, do you recognize this coffin?"

Xia Xingchen glanced at the coffin with a frown. "All the hierarch told me was that the Southeastern Aquatic Palace was in possession of a relic that would be able to break the seal to the purple moon illusory realm. I never expected it to be this coffin—this cursed relic!"

"You're aware of this coffin, Mountain Lord Xia?"

Xia Xingchen shook his head. "I've never seen it myself, but I've heard others bring it up. A strange black coffin cursed effigy has appeared throughout the ages; whenever it appears, the entire world begins to fight for it."

"Oh? What's so special about it?"

"The spirit of the black coffin can manifest whatever item you desire."

"Manifest? In what sense?"

"Whatever you want, the black coffin can present to you. However, you'll have to give the coffin the equivalent of thrice its worth."

"Anything? Anything at all?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.

Xia Xingchen shook his head. "I'm not sure. Allegedly, in legend, plenty of cultivators have traded with the coffin for all manner of treasures over the course of history. The Eye of the Sea was one such famous treasure."

"Oh?"

"From the looks of it, the Southeastern Aquatic Palace exchanged for the Eye of the Sea in its possession with the help of this coffin."

"Truly? But you said that they'd have to give up thrice its worth to do so—wouldn't this have been a losing proposition for Long Yi?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.

"Long Yi might have managed the exchange, but I doubt he handed over thrice the worth of the Eye of the Sea."

"Do you mean to say that the coffin accepts exchanges on credit?" Xiao Nanfeng gaped.

"Perhaps..." Xia Xingchen frowned as he glanced at the coffin.

"Isn't it worried that Long Yi would run off after making the exchange?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.

"You were fighting against two of Long Yi's avatars, weren't you? Long Yi must have left his two avatars in the coffin as collateral for the Eye of the Sea. The black coffin must be able to track down Long Yi given his link to his avatars, so there's nothing for it to fear," Xia Xingchen said.

Xiao Nanfeng's eyes widened. No wonder the coffin was trying to break down the Heaven Division's Gate—this was collateral for an exchange it had been responsible for!

"However, I heard that all the treasures that come from the coffin are imbued with cursed energy. The wielders of those treasures will eventually die from the curse," Xia Xingchen continued.

"Die? Then who would dare make such an exchange?" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

"I don't know about the details. All of this is hearsay," Xia Xingchen replied.

"We can worry about it later. Considering the situation at hand, the black coffin must be under the impression that the purple moon is being ceded to it in exchange for the Eye of the Sea," Xiao Nanfeng suggested. "It even tried to claim my ten golden crows, too—that must be why!"

"That's right. You were lucky that the black coffin managed to identify the link to the purple moon illusory realm in time—it wouldn't have left you alone otherwise."

"Can the coffin swallow up the purple moon illusory realm?"

"Hardly," Xia Xingchen replied. "But the purple moon illusory realm has been sealed, and that seal can be absorbed by the coffin. I understand what the hierarch was trying to do now—to borrow the black coffin's power to break the seal leading into the purple moon illusory realm for the disciples of the Yuqing holy land."

Yu'er exclaimed, "So Long Yi needed something valuable to pay off his debt for exchanging for the Eye of the Sea, while the hierarch wanted to break the seal leading into the purple moon illusory realm! But why drag me into all this? Why couldn't they have performed this exchange on their own?"

Xia Xingchen sighed. "For one thing, Long Yi doesn't want the coffin to be stolen. You're far easier to control than they would be. For another, the hierarch and the other Mountain Lords are wary of the danger they would have incurred in the process."

"So I was the obvious option for them to manipulate?!" Yu'er shouted angrily.

Xia Xingchen sighed. He patted Yu'er on the shoulder. "Don't worry. Even if that plan had come to pass, I would have secretly followed you here to protect you."

"Hmph!" Yu'er's features contorted in anger.