Chapter 310: Candle

Chapter 310: Candle

Xiao Nanfeng leapt toward the shadows. Wherever he went, howling frost followed in a shower of silver light. Every punch caused another shadow to shatter into countless fragments.

"Quick, use your cursed spiritual power to transform into shadows. We can't let him touch us!"

"It's useless. His punches are infused with cursed spiritual power, and there's superior yin frost all around. No!"

The shadows cried out as they fell. Xiao Nanfeng shot up to them, then rapidly froze and shattered them like fireworks. Even the Divine Emperor was astounded by the sight. For some reason, she felt calm around Xiao Nanfeng, as though whenever she was in danger, whenever she felt weak and helpless, this young man would stand before and shield her.

"Save us, Spirit Emperor!"

"No!"

After reaching Yin Body, Xiao Nanfeng's abilities had increased explosively in terms of strength and speed, and he easily suppressed the shadows. They were dwindling at a rapid rate, and, even though they tried to flee, were trapped inside the bell with Xiao Nanfeng.

Outside, the Spirit Emperor was shocked to hear the shadows' cries.

"Erupt!" he howled.

Flames blazed over the Divine Emperor's bell, causing a slit to widen and allowing him to enter the bell himself.

As he did so, he saw the final shadow running towards him.

"Save me, Spirit Emperor!" the shadow cried out, jubilant at seeing its savior.

However, Xiao Nanfeng slammed into the shadow with a frosty punch and obliterated it in a shower of shards.

"Die, Xiao Nanfeng!" the Spirit Emperor thundered.

"You're the one who should die!" Xiao Nanfeng charged forward.

The Spirit Emperor's fist blazed with flame, and Xiao Nanfeng's fist with ice. As they collided, both parties were forced back.

"What incredible strength! But it's not enough to overpower me," Xiao Nanfeng said.

"If the Divine Emperor hadn't seriously wounded me and sapped my strength, you wouldn't be a match for me," the Spirit Emperor replied.

Xiao Nanfeng and the Spirit Emperor launched themselves at each other once more. Fire and ice clashed; their fist techniques were both particularly aggressive, but despite all their efforts, they seemed equally matched.

"Impossible. You've just stepped into Yin Body. How could you already be so strong? Incandescent Blaze!" the Spirit Emperor cried out.

The interior of the Divine Emperor's bell quickly filled with flames of incredible magnitude. At the same time, the silver moon to Xiao Nanfeng's back released silver light, quenching the flames around Xiao Nanfeng and causing large flakes of snow to fall from the sky.

Half the Divine Emperor's bell was filled with flame, and the other with snow. The clash of the two opposing elements was particularly oppressive, and fog and steam rushed out where the two domains met.

"How could your deific domain be so strong despite your recent advancement? You've shocked me time and again, kid, but you'll die today for disrupting the wedding between me and the Divine Emperor!" the Spirit Emperor cried out.

"You claim you want to marry the Divine Emperor even after beating her that heavily? You really are shameless, aren't you?" Xiao Nanfeng said.

"Who are you to criticize my affairs?" the Spirit Emperor retorted, charging forward.

Xiao Nanfeng did the same.

Xiao Nanfeng smashed his fist into the Spirit Emperor's chest. His frightening strength caused the Spirit Emperor's chest to cave in. Large quantities of fire emerged from the Spirit Emperor's back as a bloody hole formed.

Xiao Nanfeng's consciousness returned to his mindscape. His silver moon seemed to have suffered considerable damage, but it was absorbing spiritual aether to repair itself.

Not long afterwards, the Divine Emperor nudged him awake. A sea of flame followed in her wake, with two whirlpools within. Countless rings of flame were circling two golden embers.

"The Spirit Emperor self-destructed, leaving two embers of quintessence of solarfire behind, and a whole batch of facsimile of solarfire. You should absorb them all."

Xiao Nanfeng nodded.

He quickly absorbed the flames, sending the two batches of quintessence into two suns in his dantian to hatch two further nascent spirits.

A few hours later, two booms resounded through the Divine Emperor's hall as six caws could be heard from within his body.

"The sixth stage of Wingform!" Xiao Nanfeng opened his eyes, pleased.

Not far away, the Divine Emperor was seeing to her own injuries. He didn't disturb her and instead continued to close his eyes, focused on healing himself. The facsimile of solarfire proved to be a panacea; he also absorbed the spiritual aether all around him to speed up the recovery of his silver moon and spiritual power.

He stayed in a meditative state for ten whole days before reaching peak strength once more. His silver moon was now bright and pristine, and his stellar lake completely refilled.

The black lotus again floated on the surface of his stellar lake, while Xiao Nanfeng's yin body glowed, resplendent with silver light, as it sat cross-legged on the lake's surface. The silver moon shone peacefully above it all; everything appeared calm.

Xiao Nanfeng's consciousness returned to his physical body as he slowly opened his eyes. The Divine Emperor had placed the divine undying blade by his side.

He turned to see black water surrounding the Divine Emperor. As she absorbed more and more of it, her aura grew stronger.

He guarded the Divine Emperor as she cultivated. Two days later, after she absorbed all that black water, she exhaled and stood up.

"Have you recovered fully?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.

"I have, and I've grown far stronger than before, too." The Divine Emperor smiled.

Her voice had changed; it was now clearly feminine and particularly pleasant to the ears. Xiao Nanfeng blinked, caught in a momentary reverie.

"What's wrong?"

"Your voice is really beautiful." Xiao Nanfeng grinned.

The Divine Emperor was silent for some time, then replied seemingly in a good mood, "I've broken the curse on my body and can now speak, but my looks haven't fully been restored."

"I'll help you," Xiao Nanfeng pledged, smiling.

The Divine Emperor nodded gently.

"If your cursed spiritual avatars are shadows, what are the Spirit Emperor's cursed spiritual avatars?" Xiao Nanfeng immediately changed the topic.

"Candles."

"Oh?"

"We sacrificed countless treasures and fortune to retrieve a cursed effigy from the world away—a candle. Under ordinary circumstances, the candle looked completely ordinary, but once it was lit up, its surroundings would darken. The first time we lit the candle, the candle illuminated me and produced a shadow. This first shadow became a cursed effigy. The candle and shadows are linked by nature, and the candle can counter the shadows. Initially, not having expected that the Spirit Emperor would betray me, I took the shadows for myself, while he claimed the candle."

"Is there anything special about these candle cursed effigies?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.

"When lit up, the candles generate an unusual cursed spiritual power, allowing for short-ranged teleportation across spacetime where the candlelight reaches. He barged into my bell by making use of that cursed spiritual power to form a small rift in spacetime, then hopping from the spacetime outside into the spacetime inside."

"What a sinister power!" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.