Chapter 896: Fenghuang's Calamity

Blue Jade sobbed bitterly. Blue Lantern hugged and consoled her as he treated her wounds.

Meanwhile, the golden cultivators rapidly took down the eight Golden Immortals and sent them flying.

"Damn it, who are you?"

"Did Blue Lantern bring reinforcements from the outside?"

"Blue Lantern, didn't you swear never to return? What are you doing here?!"

The eight Golden Immortals shouted angrily as they attempted to retaliate, but the golden cultivators were particularly strong. They were forced to retreat time and time again.

"Keep them engaged one-on-one! If you can't find a target, help me!" Ye Dafu shouted.

"Got it!" the golden cultivators chorused.

Seven of the golden cultivators each took on one Golden Immortal, while the remaining five teamed up against the last one.

"Take this!" Ye Dafu shouted, punching forward.

"Die!" the other four golden cultivators shouted simultaneously.

The five golden cultivators' combined attack unleashed a devastating burst of flames. The unfortunate Golden Immortal spat out a mouthful of blood as bones cracked all over his body. He fell unconscious instantly.

"Senior Brother!" a Golden Immortal shouted.

"Next one!" Ye Dafu shouted.

"Understood!" the golden cultivators chorused.

The Golden Immortals' eyes widened. This wasn't good. Blue Lantern had yet to make a move, and neither had the male and female duo standing to the side. If they were to keep fighting, they would all perish.

"Run!" a Golden Immortal shouted.

"As if we'd let you!" Ye Dafu and the others surrounded the Golden Immortals.

Instead of flying away, however, the Golden Immortals simply raised their hands and summoned golden runes. They touched the runes and disappeared in a flash.

"They escaped?" Ye Dafu exclaimed.

"It's a formation—some sort of spatial teleportation!" a golden cultivator shouted.

"Damn it, the formations in here are all so odd! Search for them!" Ye Dafu commanded, frustrated.

Despite their efforts, the group couldn't find any trace of the formations that the Golden Immortals had used. They simply didn't understand such advanced formations. Blue Lantern, the only expert, was occupied with Blue Jade.

"At least we captured one. Seal his cultivation to make sure he can't escape," Ye Dafu said.

The golden cultivators rushed forward and sealed the Golden Immortal.

By then, Blue Lantern had calmed Blue Jade down. After venting and being healed by Blue Lantern, she recovered enough to look around. When she noticed how many other cultivators there were, she blushed and pulled away from Blue Lantern, then stood to one side.

"Blue Lantern, the others escaped," Ye Dafu groused.

"It's fine. Even if I had intervened, I couldn't have stopped them. It doesn't matter. We'll find them eventually within the wild wastes hidden realm—and none of them will escape my reckoning." His eyes glinted with cold determination.

"You can track them? You should have said so earlier!" Ye Dafu rolled his eyes.

"Blue Lantern, is this your junior sister? Won't you introduce her to us?" Xiao Nanfeng smiled.

"This is my junior sister, Blue Jade," Blue Lantern began at once. He turned to Blue Jade. "Blue Jade, this is my liege, Emperor Xiao Nanfeng of Dazheng, and his consort, Xia Yu'er. These are my colleagues, Ye Dafu, ..."

Blue Jade glanced at Blue Lantern in surprise. She remembered Blue Lantern as a proud and aloof individual. Countless Immortal Emperors had sought his aid, yet he never even spared them a glance. How could he be serving a mere ordinary emperor now?

Nevertheless, she wouldn't dare show disrespect to anyone Blue Lantern introduced.

"I greet Emperor Xiao and everyone else present." She sketched a bow.

"There's no need for such formality, Miss. It's our first meeting, so please accept this small gift from Yu'er and me." Xiao Nanfeng handed a treasure to Yu'er, who passed it to Blue Jade. "Please take it."

Blue Jade instantly identified the treasure as a Golden Immortal treasure—rare and precious, by her standards. Was Xiao Nanfeng giving them away so freely?

She looked incredulously at Blue Lantern, who nodded.

Blue Jade bowed again. "Thank you, Emperor Xiao, Miss Xia."

Yu'er smiled in return, as did Xiao Nanfeng. A Golden Immortal treasure was still rather precious by his standards, but giving it to Blue Jade wasn't a waste. For one, they would need Blue Jade's help to acquire the fragment of the bronze compass for Blue Lantern.For another, Blue Jade seemed to harbor feelings for Blue Lantern. She might well join Dazheng herself as an official, and would use that treasure to benefit Dazheng.

"Blue Jade, what's been going on all these years? Why were those fools hunting you? What happened to our faction's mountain? And where are the other disciples?" Blue Lantern asked.

Tears welled up in Blue Jade's eyes. "Many of our senior brothers and sisters are dead, and the mountain pass has been destroyed..."

"It's alright. Speak slowly," Blue Lantern murmured, comforting her.

Blue Jade had always been resilient, but for some reason, she couldn't seem to hold back her emotions in front of Blue Lantern.

"After you were expelled from the wild wastes hidden realm, the leaders of each faction gradually left as well. Some powerful cultivators from our sect remained behind, but five centuries ago, during our master's birthday celebration, they suddenly attacked him in an attempt to seize his bronze compass. On that calamitous day, our mountain was utterly destroyed, and most of our faction was killed. It was only thanks to the compass that our master managed to save a few of us and escape."

"But Father was more than a match for anyone else in the sect. How could he have failed to stop them?" Blue Lantern exclaimed.

"There was a traitor in our sect. He poisoned Master, and Master didn't expect that the other seven factions would be willing to cooperate against him," Blue Jade explained.

"And didn't Father take revenge later?" Blue Lantern asked.

Blue Jade looked down. "Master was too badly injured. By the time he escaped with us, he was already..."

"Already what?" Blue Lantern suddenly had a bad feeling.

"He was dead, and his soul had dissipated. Only with tremendous willpower and fortitude did he manage to stabilize his truesoul. He's been in a comatose state all these years, immobile and barely regaining consciousness for brief moments every now and then."

"What? How could this be? Isn't Father in possession of the bronze compass? Even if he were to die, he should have been able to transform into a cursed effigy!" Blue Lantern cried out, shaken.

"I don't know. Over the years, the rest of us disciples have been hunted down one after the other. The seven other factions have been pursuing us ever since, and have even tried to lure us out with fake news. Many of the senior disciples have been caught—tortured to death, or forged into puppets," Blue Jade murmured.

"My father's a living corpse, now?" Blue Lantern's voice was trembling.

He teared up. He still remembered his father's disappointed and angry expression when he expelled him from the sect, a fateful meeting that he had now learned was the last time he would ever see his father alive. The grief of hearing this news overwhelmed him.

"Senior Brother, I'll take you to see Master," Blue Jade said.

"Please," Blue Lantern said hoarsely, his eyes red.

By the side, Xiao Nanfeng and the others glanced at Blue Lantern gravely without speaking. They could all sense Blue Lantern's grief.

Blue Jade led the way through the wild wastes hidden realm.

Meanwhile, back in the purple moon illusory realm, Shi Tianbei's residence had been restored.

Shi Tianbei sat cross-legged on a praying mat. A formation sent waves of roiling heat toward Shi Tianbei, but even that was insufficient to stop frost creeping over his body. He gave off an aura of intense chill that suppressed the heat from his surroundings.

"Damn it—this pure yin energy can't be countered even with quintessential voidflame!" Shi Tianbei cursed.

The next moment, his face went slack. His voice had somehow become androgynous.

His expression darkened. He touched his throat, suppressing the yin energy in his body as his voice returned to normal. "Xia Yu'er, Xiao Nanfeng, once I recover my pure yang pillar, I'll make you both regret you were ever born!"

Just then, Sage Qingyun shouted from outside, "Hierarch, I have urgent news to report!"

"Speak," Shi Tianbei said, dispelling the formations around him and causing the doors to the hall to open up.

Sage Qingyun rushed into the hall, not noticing Shi Tianbei's irregularities. He began, "Hierarch, I have news about Xiao Nanfeng and Xia Yu'er's whereabouts."

"Oh?" Shi Tianbei frowned.

"There's been word from the wild wastes hidden realm. Blue Lantern has returned and saved Blue Jade. Xiao Nanfeng, Xia Yu'er, and twelve of Xiao Nanfeng's Golden Immortal subordinates are present," Sage Qingyun reported.

"They're in the wild wastes hidden realm?" Shi Tianbei frowned.

"Yes, Hierarch."

Shi Tianbei suddenly stood up as he glowered. "To think Blue Lantern would be so skilled with formations. No wonder Xiao Nanfeng was able to discover my curse. Blue Lantern must have realized what was going on. Damn it!"

"Hierarch, do you think they're going after a fragment of the bronze compass to help Xia Yu'er dispel her curse?" Sage Qingyun asked.

"Undoubtedly," Shi Tianbei replied.

"What do we do now?"

"Let them try. The other factions won't sit idly by. The Fenghuang faction head is all but dead, and won't be of any help. If Blue Lantern wants to dispel the curse, he has to attune to the fragment of the bronze compass. There will be a significant disturbance, and the other factions will surely make a move. The other faction heads are already heading toward the wild wastes hidden realm," Shi Tianbei said.

"They're returning? What about us?"

"We'll return as well."

"But we've already established ourselves in the Yuqing holy land! If our identities are exposed..."

"Blue Lantern has already recognized us. There's no hiding our identities now. Forget all that," Shi Tianbei said brusquely.

"Understood!"