Wayfarer

Chapter 87: Revenge on the Black-Armored Cultivators

Within the forest, a group of black-armored warriors had arrived at the scene of Yu'er's fight. Although the golden crow spirit's carcass had vanished, there were still quite a few regular crow spirit carcasses left.

A group of crow spirits cawed madly in the air, as though angry at something.

"Lord Yan, how could that brat's single Immortal Cicada have allowed her to kill a crow general?" One black-armored warrior looked toward his leader.

Lord Yan glanced at the bloodstains on the ground with a dark expression on his face. "I don't know. It's possible that she encountered some other Ascension-realm spirit, or that she was saved by a third party."

"In that case, could she have been eaten by an Ascension-realm spirit?"

"We can't neglect any possibility. Not much time has passed, so if she's still alive, she can't have gotten far. The crow spirits will scout from the air, and all of you will search throughout the forest. Even if she's dead, you have to retrieve the Immortal Cicada. Now, get to it!" Lord Yan commanded.

"Yessir!" The black-armored warriors quickly scattered throughout the nearby forest.

At that point, Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er were hidden amidst a copse of trees as they glanced at the group of black-armored warriors.

"He was the one who led the assault. We scattered and ran. The golden crow spirits chased me, while he chased our junior sisters. He must have killed them by now," Yu'er hissed.

"A hundred or so Immanence-realm black-armored warriors, and a group of regular crow spirits. We can take them down easily—let's go!" Xiao Nanfeng urged.

"I'm ready!" Yu'er replied.

Two Immortal Cicadas flashed through the air and toward a group of crow spirits, killing a whole swathe of them in a sneak attack.

The other crow spirits fell into turmoil as they scattered and fled for their lives. However, the Immortal Cicadas were like two reapers' scythes that culled their lives one after another. Blood sprayed through the air as the crow spirits' carcasses fell to the ground.

"An Immortal Cicada? Are they around?"

"Two of them? Nanfeng's here too!"

"No wonder they were able to kill a crow general. Those damn brats—they killed a crow general together at Mt. Crow, and the paired blades have been reunited again!"

The group of warriors were in an uproar.

"They must be nearby. Hunt them down!" Lord Yan thundered.

The black-armored warriors quickly began searching the vicinity. Just then, one Immortal Cicada suddenly dipped down, straight toward one unlucky warrior.

"No!" the cultivator screamed. His chest was pierced by an Immortal Cicada, killing him on the spot.

The Immortal Cicada rushed toward its next victim. Where it flew, the black-armored warriors revealed identical expressions of fright. They attempted to run, but weren't able to do so. Even more of their number perished.

"Damn it, you brats! Show yourselves!" Lord Yan thundered.

Yu'er and Xiao Nanfeng ignored him. One of them took care of the crow spirits in the air, while the other slaughtered black-armored warriors in the forest. When Yu'er ran out of spiritual power, Xiao Nanfeng quickly infused more into her body, allowing both their Immortal Cicadas to function at full power.

Within moments, half the crow spirits were dead. The remaining crow spirits scattered and flew toward the horizon before the Immortal Cicada finally gave up the chase.

Meanwhile, the other Immortal Cicada had killed over a dozen black-armored cultivators before the rest began to hide deep in the forest.

Only then did the two Immortal Cicadas fly straight toward Lord Yan.

"Take this!" Lord Yan shouted. He struck one Immortal Cicada with his blade, deflecting it, while the other Immortal Cicada slashed at his chest. His eyes wide, he sent qi surging toward his chest as a protective barrier. The Immortal Cicada crashed into his body, sending Llord Yan stumbling back a few steps.

Together, the two Immortal Cicadas displayed an unmatched prowess. The golden crow spirits had been killed in this manner, and he had no intention of suffering the same fate.

"Find the two bastards, now!" Lord Yan commanded.

The black-armored warriors, trembling with fear, continued their search once again.

"They're over there!" One cultivator's eyes suddenly lit up as she pointed toward a nearby patch of forest.

"Quick, kill them! Now that they're exposed, they're dead, haha!" Lord Yan's face lit up in crazed laughter.

What he didn't know was that the two Taiqing disciples had intentionally shown themselves.

Ignoring the black-armored warriors heading toward them, they manipulated their Immortal Cicadas to rush straight at Lord Yan, holding him back and preventing him from approaching them.

The two black-armored warriors in the forefront leapt right up to Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er's sides.

"Die, you two bastards!" that cultivator cried out.

Xiao Nanfeng slashed forward with his blade, bisecting the cultivator and simultaneously splitting his blade in two.

"What?" The black-armored cultivators behind blanched, not expecting Xiao Nanfeng to be so fierce.

Xiao Nanfeng sneered at them. "It's your turn, now!"

While the black-armored warriors were scattered throughout the forest, it would have been difficult to take them all down. Now that they had all congregated, however, it was trivial.

"Kill them!" the black-armored warriors launched themselves at the two cultivators.

Xiao Nanfeng met their blades with his own. He killed with every swing of his sword, so quickly he was like a prowling tiger. He charged into the group of black-armored cultivators, causing heads to fly wherever he appeared.

Within moments, the dozens of cultivators that charged toward Xiao Nanfeng had all been killed.

Upon seeing Xiao Nanfeng kill dozens of cultivators on his own, the remaining black-armored cultivators all sucked in a breath. Lord Yan, still observing from afar, was stupefied. Even while Xiao Nanfeng was fighting the black-armored cultivators, he was still able to split his attention to hold Lord Yan back with his Immortal Cicada! It was clear that dealing with the black-armored cultivators was hardly a challenge for Xiao Nanfeng.

"Attack Yu'er, quickly!" Lord Yan howled.

"Who dares?!" Xiao Nanfeng stepped forward to shield Yu'er.

The black-armored warriors suddenly seemed hopeful. Xiao Nanfeng's behavior all but indicated that Yu'er was weaker than he was. As long as they could kill her, they could turn the tides.

The black-armored warriors leapt forward again, not knowing that Yu'er was deliberately allowing herself to serve as bait. Her cultivation was even stronger than Xiao Nanfeng's, and she had little fear of them.

Yu'er's feigned fear caused the black-armored cultivators to charge toward her recklessly, but what awaited them was a frightening storm of blades in the same manner as Xiao Nanfeng.

Another few dozen cultivators died to Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er's joint assault, leaving just a scant few remaining. Those that were still alive began to panic.

"Damn it!" Lord Yan cried out.

He expended his qi to launch a blow at full strength, driving the Immortal Cicadas back. He strode forward, refusing to be kept at bay any longer. Even if he were to suffer a few heavy strikes, he wouldn't mind. He desperately consumed his qi in an attempt to close the distance between him and the two cultivators quickly.

With a huge expenditure of qi, he flashed right in front of the two cultivators' faces.

"Die, you little bastards!" Lord Yan howled.

In mid-air, Lord Yan was dealt a heavy blow by an Immortal Cicada, but he blocked it with a significant expenditure of qi. He intended to finish Xiao Nanfeng in a single blow.

Then, Yu'er slashed toward him. Lord Yan glanced at her with disdain. An Immortal Cicada couldn't hurt him, let alone an Immanence-realm cultivator!

The next moment, however, he felt a massive slash of sword energy surging straight at his chest, an attack so strong that it was a match for his peak strength.

"You're not an Immanence-realm cultivator?" Lord Yan cried out, quickly attempting to dodge the attack.

With a huge crash, Lord Yan was sent flying. His right leg was fractured in mid-air in a spray of blood, causing him to scream.

He had grown complacent, not expecting that Yu'er had already advanced to Ascension. By using qi to block the Immortal Cicada and ignoring Yu'er's blow, he had paid a heavy price.

The two Immortal Cicadas headed over once again, slashing at his body with Yu'er's second sword.

Lord Yan barely blocked Yu'er's second sword and her Immortal Cicada, only to have Xiao Nanfeng's Immortal Cicada pierce through its head in a shower of fresh blood. Lord Yan died instantly.

The remaining black-armored cultivators, thinking that Lord Yan would win, were about to cheer. Before they could do so, however, the tides of battle had turned. Shock manifested on their faces as they tried to run.

"You were so excited to kill us both, weren't you? It's too late to swim away now!" Yu'er cried out.

The two Immortal Cicadas gave chase to the dozens of black-armored cultivators left. They fell and died amidst frenzied yelling.

Upon glancing at the forest floor filled with corpses, Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er exchanged a glance. Although they had managed to avenge the fallen Taiqing disciples, the Taiqing disciples were hardly going to come back to life.

"We have to leave for now!" Xiao Nanfeng said.

Yu'er nodded. The two Taiqing disciples quickly left the scene.

Not too long after, the fleeing crow spirits returned with a huge army. A golden crow spirit flew through the air. Two black-armored cultivators stood atop two crows, clearly strong given their imposing auras. When they arrived at the scene and saw a whole patch of corpses, they were outraged.

"Crows, find the assailants who did this, hurry!"

The crow spirits all scattered in an attempt to look for Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er, but the foliage was so dense that they couldn't easily be found.

By a secluded patch of forest, Xiao Nanfeng and Yu'er watched the crow spirit kings fly by, their eyes cold.

"The fun's only beginning. Aren't they trying to kill us? Let's have fun with them slowly," Xiao Nanfeng murmured, killing intent flashing through his eyes.

"Very well!" Yu'er had wanted to exact revenge for almost a whole month. After having been chased for all that time, she was now finally able to realize her goal.

Over the next few days, the two cultivators would kill groups of black-armored cultivators and crow spirits daily. They released their Immortal Cicadas while hiding in one location or another, killing and wounding large groups of crow spirits and the scouting cultivators.

Within a black-armored camp in the valley, Xiang Zhirou listened to her subordinates' reports with an ugly expression on her face.

"Young Miss, those two bastards keep trying to launch sneak attacks at us. The crow spirits are the biggest targets, considering that they're flying through the air. They don't dare fly through the air any longer, and our warriors are suffering the same fate. If this is to continue, the situation will turn on us!" one black-armored cultivator reported.

Xiang Zhirou's face was baleful. "What's the situation like in the centipedes' chasm?"

The red-armored warriors are still guarding the entrance to the chasm. They seem to be worried about something, since they still haven't made their move.

"Have someone interact with them. If they're willing to help us against the two brats, I'd be willing to provide assistance for the centipedes' lair," Xiang Zhirou replied.

"Even though we've had a few altercations with them before...?"

"There are no absolute enemies, only absolute profit. They want to capture foreigners in order to interrogate them about techniques beyond the hidden realm. They're just a group of naive indigenous people. Tell them that we'd be happy to send over any Taiqing disciples we catch as gifts. As long as we can cooperate, I'm happy to ignore any slights and confrontations in the past," Xiang Zhirou continued coldly.

"Understood, Young Miss!"