Wayfarer

Chapter 639: A Black Coffin and Golden Mountain

Within Zhang Lingjun's rooms in the Palace of the Moon, sunlight filtered in through the windows and struck a patch of snowy-white skin. Zhang Lingjun was in deep sleep, a sweet smile on her face.

Xiao Nanfeng stirred. He awoke and saw a sleeping beauty beside him, sighing in soft admiration.

That year when he first escaped from his manor and headed to the Taiqing Immortal Sect in order to find a master to apprentice under—that was when he had met Zhang Lingjun for the first time. He had been moved by her beauty then; who would have thought that, years later, they would have ended up together?

He stroked Zhang Lingjun's hair as he pulled out a storage bangle.

It had once belonged to Yin Shenhua. However, he had been too busy recently to give it a good look. Now that he was well-rested, he intended to uncover its secrets.

The storage bangle was sealed to an astonishing extent, but with Yin Shenhua's death, much of those seals had faded in strength. Xiao Nanfeng battered them with his spiritual power for some time before they finally snapped open. His spiritual power snaked in to catalog its contents.

Within the bangle were Yin Shenhua's incredible reserves of treasure, pills, and relics.

"The treasure in here is more than sufficient to advance Dazheng by a huge step forward." Xiao Nanfeng smiled in satisfaction as he glanced through and organized the items within.

There were plenty of Golden Immortal relics; it was a pity, however, that there were no Boundless Immortal ones too.

"He was an Immortal Emperor, and one of the most powerful ones at that! Doesn't he have any Boundless Immortal relics of his own?" Xiao Nanfeng sighed in regret.

Suddenly, he reached into the pile of relics and pulled out a huge black coffin, one whose surface was pitch-black like ink. Countless seals were plastered over the coffin.

"This black coffin..." Xiao Nanfeng murmured.

He recalled that, when he and Emperor Feng had gone to challenge Yin Shenhua together, this coffin had managed to suck Yin Shenhua into it. Yin Shenhua had almost perished then and there. Emperor Feng should have been long dead, but was this black coffin cursed effigy still around?

He wasn't certain of the nature of the black coffin cursed effigy. All he knew was that it was a cursed effigy in its own right, and that Emperor Feng had lived in symbiosis with it. He had suppressed the black coffin's original will and stolen its cultivation.

Yin Shenhua likewise paid particular attention to the black coffin and had even transformed it into his draconic throne. He had sat on it for a hundred years. Surely there was some incredible secret lying within the coffin.

Yin Shenhua had sealed the black coffin particularly tightly, and Xiao Nanfeng didn't rush to open it.

After all, a cursed effigy that Yin Shenhua hadn't managed to subjugate even after a hundred years could hardly be an easy opponent. If he were to unseal the coffin now without making sufficient preparations, he would surely trigger an incredible disaster.

With a wave of his hand, he stored the coffin within the storage bangle once more.

Such a potent relic would have to be carefully considered at length.

He continued looking through the storage bangle. There were countless documents, scrolls, and other pieces of writing present. He didn't intend to peruse them himself; rather, he would pass them to specialized officials of Dazheng. Any such writing that Yin Shenhua kept in his own storage bangle was surely a treasure.

Finally, Xiao Nanfeng found a large mountain.

The entire mountain was filled with 卍 runes, resplendent and golden. It shone so brilliantly that it almost blinded his sight.

Xiao Nanfeng frowned as he considered it. He analyzed it within moments. "This is the material used to construct Buddha's Grottos!"

He confirmed his initial analysis with another careful look. He had seen and touched Buddha's Grottos himself, and the material out of which they were made was identical to that of the mountain before him.

The golden mountain was filled with resplendent runes. Brief snatches of chanting could also be heard from afar.

"Can I absorb all this for my cultivation?" Xiao Nanfeng wondered.

He recalled how the black lotus had decomposed the energy from the fragments of six Buddha's Grottos, then channeled a portion into him and a portion into Zhang Lingjun. The excess was given to the praying mat.

That was a sure sign that this golden mountain could be absorbed to advance his cultivation.

He picked up a small fragment that had chipped off the gold mountain and swallowed it. Within his dantian, the ten golden crows quickly began to melt it with their flames.

The small fragment was melted down into different pools of energy. He was able to absorb the golden-colored one easily, but there was also a red-colored pool that felt particularly cold and attuned to yin. He could absorb that pool of energy as well, but to vanishing effect.

"That red energy must be energy of pure yin—that was what the black lotus filtered off to Lingjun!" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

In addition to the golden and red pools of energy, there was a final black pool, turbid and composed of bits and pieces of energy of varying attunement. Not only was it difficult to absorb, the energy would run rampant throughout his body, leaving him highly uncomfortable.

"Damn it, this black energy must be cursed energy—and it's composed of many different types of curses, too! Now that it's within my body, even trying to purify it is a huge problem," Xiao Nanfeng hissed.

He did his best to expel the black energy from his body, causing wisps of black smoke to erupt from his pores. Dealing with this cursed energy posed a significant challenge.

Just then, a hand caressed his back.

"Nanfeng, what's the matter?" asked a voice that was simultaneously gentle and worried.

Zhang Lingjun had woken up. The first thing she had seen was Xiao Nanfeng's pained expression. Black smoke surrounded her body, and she immediately reached out to him in order to help.

The moment Zhang Lingjun touched Xiao Nanfeng, the black, cursed energy suddenly swarmed toward her as though attracted. It flooded out of Xiao Nanfeng's body and straight into hers.

"Be careful!" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed, pushing Zhang Lingjun aside.

However, it was all too late. The black energy had gushed into Zhang Lingjun's body, heading straight to her mindscape. A grain of violet crystal had manifested on her forehead, and it was absorbing all the cursed energy. Then, it radiated with pale violet light.

"This is..." Xiao Nanfeng gaped.

He knew what that grain of crystal was. It was what the purple-furred curse had become when Yu Fuli had cleansed the curse from all the purple-furred lifeforms. It had condensed into a granule of violet light, which Yu Fuli had then bestowed upon Zhang Lingjun, placing it on the center of her forehead.

No one knew what good this violet crystal was; all they knew was that it had formed from an unusual curse and surely had to be a treasure of some sort, but it had remained inert all this time.

Now, it was finally reacting to something. The violet crystal was able to absorb the pitch-black energy—or rather, cursed energy.

"Nanfeng, what was that?" Zhang Lingjun asked in worry.

Xiao Nanfeng explained what had just happened.

"It's that dangerous?" Zhang Lingjun exclaimed in surprise.

Xiao Nanfeng suddenly stared at Zhang Lingjun.

Zhang Lingjun frowned. She followed his gaze to her own body, then flushed. She hurriedly covered her chest. "Don't look at me!"

"Lingjun, you really are beautiful." Xiao Nanfeng leaned toward her.

"Ah, don't just kiss me like that!" Zhang Lingjun's voice turned breathy.

"Lingjun, I found a golden mountain in Yin Shenhua's storage bangle. It's composed of a material that can be distilled into three types of energy. I'll absorb the golden energy, and you the red energy, that of pure yin. As for the cursed black energy, your violet crystal can absorb that. We won't have to share anything with the praying mat," Xiao Nanfeng whispered into her ear.

"But how?" Zhang Lingjun's face was turning redder from close proximity.

"Do you remember those wall murals from the Phoenix Hall in the Buddha of Dual Cultivation's Grotto? We can perform dual cultivation that way," Xiao Nanfeng suggested.

Zhang Lingjun took a deep breath. "But those murals were so embarrassing!"

"Shall we?" Xiao Nanfeng waited until Zhang Lingjun had collected herself sufficiently as to look him in the eye, then smiled gently.

A day later, the two cultivators had finished off the entire mountain. Roiling energy had filled their bodies, no less energy than what they had extracted from the fragments of the six Buddha's Grottos previously.

A wave of flame emanated from Xiao Nanfeng's body.

He quickly reached out to protect Zhang Lingjun from injury.

When the energy had dissipated, he let out a long breath. "The third stage of the True Immortal realm!"

"Your techniques must be incredibly hard to cultivate. Have you only advanced that little from an entire day's worth of exertion?" Zhang Lingjun murmured gently beside him.

"What about you? I notice you've had more success," Xiao Nanfeng replied curiously.

"I'm at the peak of the True Immortal realm now, and I'm just a step away from becoming a Golden Immortal. I have the feeling that I'll be able to break through in just a few days," Zhang Lingjun replied.

"Good!" Xiao Nanfeng nodded.

Zhang Lingjun's advancement would only be a blessing for him.

"I even feel as though I can control the grain of violet crystal on my forehead now," Zhang Lingjun continued.

"Truly? Will you try it?"

Zhang Lingjun closed her eyes and began to manipulate the grain of violet crystal. A violet membrane quickly covered up Zhang Lingjun's body.

Purple fur grew quickly from the membrane, encasing her body.

Xiao Nanfeng gaped as he watched Zhang Lingjun transform into a purple-furred lifeform.

"What's wrong? What's the matter?" Zhang Lingjun asked curiously.

"Have a look for yourself." Xiao Nanfeng handed her a mirror.

"Ah!" Zhang Lingjun exclaimed.

All that purple fur retreated back into her granule of violet crystal.

Zhang Lingjun sighed in relief as she found herself back to normal. "I was so scared!"

Xiao Nanfeng frowned. "Try again. The crystal might have granted you a particularly potent defense."

Zhang Lingjun was a little unwilling to do so, but she repeated the experiment, transforming back into a purple-furred lifeform. She tested her defense with her own body, then tried to stab herself with a Golden Immortal sword that Xiao Nanfeng gave her, to no avail.

"Indeed, the violet crystal the Heavenly Emperor gave you is no ordinary relic. It can provide absolute defense by transforming you into a purple-furred lifeform," Xiao Nanfeng murmured.

"Truly..." Zhang Lingjun nodded as she returned to human form.

"The more cursed energy the violet crystal can absorb, the stronger your defense surely will become. It's a pity that the praying mat absorbed all that cursed energy from the previous Buddha's Grottos. Your crystal should absorb any that we come across in the future."

Zhang Lingjun nodded firmly.

"What's more, even though the Buddha of Dual Cultivation might have been evil, his dual cultivation technique's very promising. Let's cultivate more often so you can become a Golden Immortal more quickly." Xiao Nanfeng smiled.

Zhang Lingjun pouted, her features red from embarrassment once more.

Just as the two of them were fooling around with each other, a Heaven disciple called out from outside, "Division Leader Xiao, Princess, the Heavenly Emperor has considered the report that Ao Canghai submitted. The princess and all Martial Aspects of the Eastern Quadrant have been summoned to court!"

"There's never enough time for fun. It's a pity," Xiao Nanfeng sighed.

Zhang Lingjun, still furiously blushing, mock-pounded on his chest with a fist.