Chapter 374: Slaying Nalan Qiankun's Avatar
Within the Gourd of Divine Flame, the moment Xiao Nanfeng's main body was sucked into its depths, he was submerged in roiling flame. The interior of the gourd was a gigantic space filled with fire.
A dragon keened. The giant golden dragon, formed of flame, emerged from the depths of the gourd and shot toward him. His eyes cold, Xiao Nanfeng punched forward and caused the dragon to dissipate in just one attack.
"It's only got the cultivation of a Human Immortal... There's nothing to worry about," Xiao Nanfeng murmured, exhaling deeply.
Suddenly, the flaming golden dragon reformed anew. It roared in outrage. The roar spread throughout the flaming realm, as though it were summoning its comrades. From deep within the flames, another ten flaming dragons emerged. They charged fiercely toward Xiao Nanfeng.
Xiao Nanfeng transformed back into his physical body, his silver robes turning gold. By now, he didn't even have to activate his qi barrier against flames any longer. He bathed luxuriantly in the flames in surprising comfort.
Ten golden crows cawed as they emerged from his body and shot toward the giant flaming dragons.
Before long, they had torn apart the dragons' bodies and devoured them. Huge quantities of pure yang elemental force flooded into Xiao Nanfeng's body.
Xiao Nanfeng sighed in relaxation.
"This realm is like that of the Hundred-Beast Flaming Dome, isn't it? I might as well be in paradise!" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes lit up.
Even more giant flaming dragons emerged from the depths of the flame and charged toward him.
"Good. Take all of them down!" Xiao Nanfeng commanded.
As he waved his arm, the ten golden crows cawed fiercely and shot toward the dragons. The golden crows and giant dragons began to fight fiercely, causing firestorms to rage cross the realm. The golden crows were skilled and rapidly tore apart the dragons, providing even more pure yang elemental force to Xiao Nanfeng.
Two hours later, a large gust of flaming energy erupted from his body.
"I've broken through again—the fourth stage of Human Immortal! This really is a paradise!"
The ten crows each grew twenty-five meters tall.
They cawed in excitement and continued to swoop toward the flaming dragons. More and more flaming dragons approached, attracted by the commotion. The fighting began in earnest once more.
Another two hours later, the ten golden crows doubled again in size, and another burst of flaming energy was emitted from Xiao Nanfeng's body.
"The fifth stage of Human Immortal? Very good. More!"
The ten golden crows continued to attack ever-increasing numbers of giant flaming dragons. As the fighting continued, Xiao Nanfeng could faintly see two other regions that were being sieged by the flaming dragons.
Each region was protected by a barrier formed by a mirror and contained a seemingly unconscious or meditating figure within. Neither were moving.
"The sect masters of the Taiqing Immortal and Demonic Sects? Could it be them?" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes lit up.
He commanded the golden crows to keep fighting as he headed in that direction to investigate.
Within the red moon illusory realm were Xiao Nanfeng and Nalan Qiankun's avatars, both in the form of yin bodies. A red moon shone resplendently behind each of their heads as they dragged each other into the realm.
Xiao Nanfeng was confident that he could beat Nalan Qiankun, but he was extremely cautious. The moment he entered the realm, he punched at Nalan Qiankun, forcing him to step back. With a wave of his hand, he summoned a red cloud in the sky that sent countless lengths of rope at Nalan Qiankun.
"Bell of the Red Moon, reverberate!" Nalan Qiankun shouted.
His red moon shook as a red bell appeared from within. When the bell reverberated, an intense hum could be heard. Red sound waves rippled out of it and blocked the red rope.
Another group of sound waves surged toward Xiao Nanfeng with such ferocity that he immediately punched at it.
Xiao Nanfeng broke apart the sound waves, but he was sent stumbling back as well.
"That's the Bell of the Red Moon? I was wondering how you managed to boost your strength. So it's because of this relic... but it doesn't seem to be particularly strong." Xiao Nanfeng shot over.
"Experience its might for yourself, then!" Nalan Qiankun sneered.
He activated the Bell of the Red Moon at full strength, sending waves of sound surging out like a tsunami. Xiao Nanfeng was buffeted, but continued forging onward. When Nalan Qiankun saw Xiao Nanfeng slowly making his way toward him, he felt tremendous danger, but continued to induce the sound waves as though waiting for something.
Just then, a red figure emerged from behind Xiao Nanfeng and rapidly shot toward him.
Xiao Nanfeng stumbled and whirled around to see that it was a red-furred monstrosity.
He had encountered one such last time, and it was Ku Jiang who had saved him from danger.
By now, however, he had grown so much stronger that he didn't have to fear them at all. He snorted and sent it flying with a punch.
The next moment, however, even more pounced toward him.
"What's going on? Why aren't they attacking you?" Xiao Nanfeng demanded.
"Guess," Nalan Qiankun replied, smiling coldly.
He continued to infuse energy into the Bell of the Red Moon as he guarded against Xiao Nanfeng. Strangely, all the red-furred monstrosities that approached skirted around him.
Within moments, there were dozens of the monstrosities attacking Xiao Nanfeng. While he could handle one easily, he had a hard time dealing with so many at once.
"It must be that bell summoning and influencing them!" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.
"Good eye. I was lucky to obtain this treasure by chance when I headed deep into the red moon illusory realm. Its sound can attract the red-furred monstrosities. They'll only grow more and more numerous, and I won't let you escape. You won't even have time to open up a portal out of the realm. You'll be devoured by these monstrosities, haha!" Nalan Qiankun laughed triumphantly.
"You must have harmed my master using the same trick," Xiao Nanfeng spat out, defending against the red-furred monstrosities.
"Ku Jiang, that old fart, caused his red moon to self-destruct before he died and grievously injured my avatar. It took far too long before it recovered anew. That said, he died a horrible death. His avatar shattered and was devoured by a group of red-furred monstrosities. You'll feel your master's despair too, haha!"
More and more red-furred monstrosities gathered around Xiao Nanfeng, making it harder and harder for him to move. Even though countless lengths of red rope were tossed down from the red cloud, they were all blocked by the sound waves from the Bell of the Red Moon. Xiao Nanfeng appeared to be in dire straits.
"You're done for now. Don't bother to struggle any longer—or maybe you should just self-destruct like Ku Jiang."
"Aren't you being rather overconfident in yourself?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.
The red moon to Xiao Nanfeng's back suddenly transformed from a ball to the shape of a noodle, as though a coiled red dragon had just unfurled.
"How can your red moon change shape? What sort of technique is this? That's impossible. The sect's records state that the Taiqing red moon has no alternative form. How could it become a red rope?" Nalan Qiankun exclaimed.
"It's not a red rope, but rather the red rope king," Xiao Nanfeng replied.
"The red rope king swooped down and flicked all the red-furred lifeforms around Xiao Nanfeng away. It instantly dashed toward Nalan Qiankun's red moon, moving so rapidly that he was caught off-guard. It bound itself around the Bell of the Red Moon, preventing it from making any more noise.
"How could you be able to bind the Bell of the Red Moon? Reverberate!" Nalan Qiankun shouted.
Unfortunately, the Bell of the Red Moon was simply unable to move at all. Countless lengths of ordinary red rope unfurled from the red cloud, tightening around Nalan Qiankun.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye, before Nalan Qiankun could react. The red rope around his four limbs and neck tightened, poised to tear his yin body apart.
"No!" Nalan Qiankun cried out.
"Die, Nalan Qiankun!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted.
The frightening tension that the red rope could bring to bear left Nalan Qiankun in despair. He thought back to the scene of his physical body being torn apart; he had no intention of repeating the situation with his yin body! Furthermore, Xiao Nanfeng would gain control of his Bell of the Red Moon.
"Bell of the Red Moon, explode!" Nalan Qiankun cried out.
The Bell of the Red Moon and his red moon flew toward Xiao Nanfeng before exploding in a huge red mushroom cloud.
The gathered red-furred monstrosities were sent flying from the explosion, and some were torn to pieces in mid-air.
The red rope cursed king immediately flew back to Xiao Nanfeng and protected him. He too had been blown away by the explosion,
but even so, he didn't stop manipulating the ordinary red rope. He tore Nalan Qiankun's yin body into five pieces.
Nalan Qiankun's head fell to the ground as he saw Xiao Nanfeng stagger out of the flames. Blood trickled out of his mouth; he clutched his chest in pain. He had clearly been grievously wounded by the explosion.
"You forced my master to destroy his own red moon and shatter his yin body, which was then devoured by the red-furred monstrosities. Now, you'll suffer that same fate. This is karma!" Xiao Nanfeng asserted, wiping at the blood by his mouth.
Just then, more red-furred monstrosities seemed to rush over from afar upon hearing the commotion. When they saw the fragments of Nalan Qiankun's yin body on the ground, they instantly leapt toward him.
"No!" Nalan Qiankun cried out.
"Don't worry. I won't let you die here," Xiao Nanfeng said.
He waved a hand and summoned a door of light. Gritting his teeth and bearing with his injuries, he snatched up the fragments of Nalan Qiankun's yin body and walked out of the red moon illusory realm.
"What do you want?!" Nalan Qiankun's head cried out.
"If you die within the red moon illusory realm, you'll become a red-furred monstrosity yourself. I won't give you even that opportunity. Die!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted.
"No!" Nalan Qiankun's head screamed.
The fragments of his yin body burst apart and dissolved into smoke.
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