Wayfarer

Chapter 751: The Loss Diagram

As Xiao Nanfeng fled with the coffin, a large wave of red-furred lifeforms attempted to stop him. Fortunately, the saint's two avatars faced the same problem, making it far harder for them to give chase.

Before long, Xiao Nanfeng shrugged off the saint's two avatars and hid in a nearby forest. Only when the two avatars had flown off did he emerge.

"They're finally gone." Xiao Nanfeng exhaled in relief.

He could beat the two of them, but now wasn't the time to try.

He considered his surroundings in surprise. "The red moon illusory realm really is large. Despite flying so far, I still haven't seen any sign of its boundaries. Is this really an illusory realm? How strange!"

In the past, he had found it exceedingly strange that Yin Shenhua was able to enter the red moon illusory realm with his physical body. Then, the fact that the Heaven Division's Gate allowed the same thing to happen made him suspicious, but he had never investigated it himself.

Now that he too had entered the realm with his physical body, he was taken aback. Just how could an illusory realm support that?

"Aren't illusory realms all mental worlds? They shouldn't have a presence in reality. Why does the red moon illusory realm seem different?" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

Suddenly, he saw a large city rise up in the distance. It flashed with red light and surged with cursed spiritual power, so strong that even he hesitated upon coming into contact with it. He could see countless red-furred monsters roaming about within.

He wanted to get a closer look, but suddenly felt a tremendous sense of threat from the city that caused his hair to stand on end.

He took a deep breath and ultimately quashed his curiosity, turned, and headed toward where he had first entered the red moon illusory realm via the Heaven Division's Gate.

A palace awaited him there, the Loss Palace.

The saint's two avatars had ignored the palace in favor of retrieving the black coffin from Xiao Nanfeng, but Xiao Nanfeng was aware that what he was searching for might very well be within.

Loss chants emanated from the Loss Palace with such intensity and force that even the saint's avatars were hard-pressed to deal with them.

Thanks to the perfected death chants that his avatar was radiating, Xiao Nanfeng was barely able to retain his consciousness, though with no small amount of discomfort.

A number of red-furred monsters rushed toward him from the vicinity, but he sent them all flying as he drew closer to the palace.

Finally, as he reached the palace, he attempted to open its doors, but they didn't budge at all. He was still in his ancestral zombie's body. How could a Boundless Immortal's strength falter against these doors?

"Could the Loss Palace itself be a treasure?" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes lit up.

He tried to unearth the entire palace, but it too was immobile. He sighed. He couldn't bring it with him, then.

He continued to push and prod at the doors, but they wouldn't budge. Suddenly, he had an idea. He infused the doors with his spiritual power, which slowly creaked open.

"I knew it!" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes lit up.

The next moment, the loss chants emanating from the palace suddenly surged in intensity, forming a red wave of sound that gushed out like a flood. The red-furred monsters in the vicinity were all sent flying.

Only Xiao Nanfeng stood firm against the current, forging forward one step at a time.

Golden light shimmered around his body. He was barely defending himself with his death chants, but even so, the red sound waves were exceedingly strenuous to bear.

He headed into the Loss Palace one step at a time. Red sound waves battered the interior of the palace like the giant waves of a tsunami.

At the heart of the deluge was a red object, a word that hovered in the air: LOSS. The word itself looked two-dimensional, as if it had been cut out from thin paper. Even so, it seemed to possess an inexhaustible supply of energy. Red sound waves shot out of it in a staccato rhythm.

"The Loss Diagram?" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes widened.

Was this the relic that Yu Fuli had mentioned that would allow him to deal with a saint?

Even from some distance away, he could sense the terrifying power of the Loss Diagram. Rather than rush over himself, he retrieved a black coffin from within.

"I'll start by claiming it!" He tossed the black coffin over—not the shattered, partially restored one he had just stolen, but rather his own. Although he hadn't attuned fully to this black coffin, using it to transport the Loss Diagram shouldn't be a problem.

The black coffins' original owner might have been planning some great conspiracy with his three coffins, but the Taiqing Grandmaster was no easy opponent, either. If the Taiqing Grandmaster were to hunt down the thief, the black coffins' original owner might shoulder some of the burden on his behalf.

The Loss Diagram released more and more loss chants as it attempted to stave off the black coffin, but to little avail.

Xiao Nanfeng quickly manipulated the Loss Diagram into the coffin.

Even so, the loss chants could still be heard emanating from the coffin, though at a much reduced intensity.

The palace had grown significantly quieter with the Loss Diagram dealt with.

Then, a cloud of red fog suddenly emerged within the palace.

Xiao Nanfeng's eyes widened. He could sense a great danger coming from the red fog. Rather than investigate, he rushed out of the Loss Palace, then sealed its doors shut with another burst of spiritual power.

The Loss Palace had stopped releasing loss chants, but the Loss Diagram in the black coffin in Xiao Nanfeng's hands seemed to be doing so with ever greater intensity. Even when he put the black coffin into a storage treasure, the loss chants could still be heard.

They surrounded him, leaving him uncomfortable and greatly disturbed. If not for the death chants protecting him, he would already have succumbed.

He fled from the Loss Palace and into another forested region. He retrieved the second black coffin he had claimed from the saint's avatars and opened it up. A huge cloud of black smoke drifted into the air, forming grasping black palms that seemed to be contacting the saint's avatars.

Xiao Nanfeng waited patiently as the avatars flew back toward him, whereupon he kept the black coffin again.

The saint's two avatars frowned upon sensing the loss chants emanating interminably from Xiao Nanfeng.

"In Yongding, you schemed against me alongside Yu Fuli. How did you learn of my identity?" one of the saint's avatars demanded.

"I'm unfamiliar with your identity. How might I address you?" Xiao Nanfeng asked, smiling.

"Ha! How did my avatar in Yongding end up being discovered? Yu Fuli had to be responsible. If you weren't aware of my identity, Yu Fuli would never have helped you."

"I heard that you were a saint, but I don't know your name. How might I address you?"

"I am Saint Chi Hai. Now that you've roused my ire, you're done for!" the saint declared.

"Plenty have told me that, but they've all died right before my eyes," Xiao Nanfeng replied disdainfully.

The saint's two avatars were all staring coldly at him. The saint clearly hadn't expected that Xiao Nanfeng would be so arrogant despite knowing who he was.

"Where are we, Xiao Nanfeng?" the saint's avatar demanded.

"Can't you tell?"

"I'm fully aware that this is the red moon illusory realm, but how can it be so large? I've never seen anything on this scale, and I can't even find its boundaries."

"Why should I tell you?" Xiao Nanfeng demanded.

"Hm? No—no one from the Taiqing Immortal Sect has known all these years. You must be unaware yourself," the saint's avatar concluded.

"There's a secret I do know," Xiao Nanfeng replied. "All those who die here will become red-furred lifeforms, including you."

"Ha! You call that a secret? You want to transform me into a red-furred monster? How laughable. Do you think this illusory realm can trap the likes of me?"

Just then, large clouds of black smoke erupted from Xiao Nanfeng's body. Black hands manifested from the smoke and tore at his body.

Xiao Nanfeng grimaced. He could sense the second black coffin vibrating furiously within his storage treasure, causing black smoke to flood out from it. The only reason the second black coffin hadn't yet escaped was because of the presence of the first black coffin and the Loss Diagram.

Even so, black smoke was surging out from his storage treasure and influencing the world at large.

"So that's why you were willing to waste time talking to me—you were manipulating the black coffin in the background! It's a pity that you won't be able to control it now that it's in my possession," Xiao Nanfeng declared.

"Ha! You won't be able to suppress it for long." The saint's two avatars shot over now that their ploy had been exposed.

"If you can't control that black coffin, I'll easily be able to take you both down. You'd fit right in here!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted.

The three combatants began to fight each other once again in a storm of fire and wind. Despite taking on both of the saint's avatars simultaneously, Xiao Nanfeng seemed to have the upper hand.

"How can the loss chants emanating from your body be so strong?" one of the saint's avatars roared.

"Damn it, these loss chants are still affecting me!" the other saint's avatar cried out.

"Hegemon's Fist: Mountainbane!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted.

One avatar's head burst open as Xiao Nanfeng punched it. Black smoke exploded out as the avatar perished instantly.