novelraw Chapter 85 : Xiao Qingfeng
Chapter 85 : Xiao Qingfeng
Chapter 85: Xiao Qingfeng
“Are you saying that the Nether Qi has fallen into imbalance?”
Lu Changyuan opened Luo’s prison, listening as Luo spoke.
He nodded slowly as he said, “Indeed so. The Lord of the Nether has not returned for a long time. At most, after a few more cycles of reincarnation, the Nether Kingdom will dissipate completely. The spirits of this place will also return to dust and earth.”
There was nothing eternal in this world.
Even a kingdom left behind by the Lord of the Nether should have long since faded away in the river of history.
Lu Changyuan narrowed his eyes slightly. “So the reason you once wanted me to become the Acting Lord of the Nether was because of this?”
Luo roared hoarsely.
Without someone bearing the Jade Radiance to correct the disorder of the Nether Kingdom, the Nether Qi would become unbalanced, and everything would fall into nothingness.
A silver-haired girl stood beside Lu Changyuan, holding a birdcage. She was like the brightest and loneliest moon in the darkness—cold yet radiant.
Her voice was as ethereal as ever.
“Master Lu?”
Lu Changyuan shook his head. “What do you mean by saying that I’m the only one qualified?”
Su Youwan frowned lightly. “Master Lu?”
She could not understand the spirit’s words and was waiting for Lu Changyuan to explain, but he merely stared at Luo in silence.
After a long pause—
Lu Changyuan finally explained.
The Nether Kingdom urgently needed a Lord of the Nether to circulate its Nether Qi. Without circulation, the Nether Qi would stagnate like a river turned to dead water, and the kingdom would ultimately vanish.
When Lu Changyuan first entered the Nether Kingdom, he had subdued the spirits through battle, which was why they were willing to let him temporarily assume the position of Acting Lord of the Nether.
But it was only temporary. Once the true Lord of the Nether returned, everything had to be handed back.
Naturally, Lu Changyuan was unwilling. He had stayed in the Nether Kingdom for over a hundred years, then forcefully took the dead-end path to escape it.
After that, the spirits of the Nether languished for another thousand years. When the Nether Kingdom was on the verge of collapse, someone returned the Sun-Moon Sundial. With that artifact, even without the Lord of the Nether present, the Nether Kingdom could restore order and rebalance its Nether Qi.
However, something unexpected happened. The Nether Kingdom remained stable for only a few hundred years. During the most recent summoning of the Lord of the Nether, as per the kingdom’s ancient cycle, the Sun-Moon Sundial was stolen.
It was an impossible theft. The Sun-Moon Sundial was hidden beneath the royal palace—a secret place that could only be accessed through a special resonance ritual with the palace itself to enter the Prison of Sins.
For someone to infiltrate the Prison of Sins, steal the Sun-Moon Sundial, and remain undetected even by the Lord of the Nether’s laws—this was all the more bizarre.
Lu Changyuan could enter the Prison of Sins only because he had stayed in the Nether for long years, had physically fought and earned the spirits’ recognition, and was granted the title of “Feather.” The spirits acknowledged his status.
But how did that thief manage it?
No one knew.
The spirits only knew the name of the thief—Xiao Qingfeng—but not where he was hiding.
Lu Changyuan frowned deeply. “If his goal was the Sun-Moon Sundial, then why did he not leave the Nether Kingdom after stealing it?”
The Sun-Moon Sundial was still within the Nether. What was he planning to do?
Luo roared again.
Lu Changyuan snapped back to himself. “Right, why are you imprisoned here? Surely you haven’t also become a condemned spirit? And that armored spirit who attacked me just now—what is he? Why is his entire body pitch-black?”
The spirits of the Nether were usually gray-white, translucent like shadows.
But that pitch-black spirit, as dark as a lump of coal—this was the first time Lu Changyuan had seen one.
Before he could get an answer—
Two lines of blood-red words suddenly appeared before his eyes.
【You are about to die】
【The Nether River is about to appear】
—I’m going to die?!
Wang Lian was running about in a panic.
Everyone had gone mad.
Completely insane.
Before coming here, she had thought that even if she couldn’t seize a Three-Life Fruit, she could at least use her beauty to charm someone who had.
As long as she was given a chance—even if the opponent was in the Fourth Realm, one realm above her—she had confidence that, in one night, she could make him lose his soul and hand over the fruit willingly.
Cultivators of this world—
Whenever they encountered a member of the Pleasure Sect, their first reaction was never to avoid them. Instead, they would think, I’m powerful enough; there’s no way I’d be bewitched by one of those seductive fiends.
They would “just have a taste,” then pull up their pants the next morning pretending nothing had happened.
Most who thought that way fell into the trap. In the end, they would stare blankly and mutter, “The Pleasure Sect… truly is wonderful.”
Now they would instead say, “She’s different. She truly loves me.”
Wang Lian cultivated the Path of Desire Liberation. Her skill in serving and enticing others had reached perfection. That Xiao Hai was now completely obsessed with her.
So she had come here full of confidence.
But something had gone terribly wrong.
Wang Lian stared, dumbfounded, at the chaos of battle.
At first, everyone was indeed fighting for the fruit.
But gradually—gradually—it changed. Ever since that deformed Four-Armed, Fourth-Realm cultivator had rushed into the battlefield, a strange and maddening aura had spread through the crowd.
Kill.
Kill, kill, kill!
Kill everyone! Forget the Three-Life Fruit! Once everyone else was dead, the fruit would be hers!
That murderous thought infected every single person.
The battle for the fruit turned into pure carnage.
Spells from countless sects erupted in all directions, blooming like countless blood-red flowers across the Nether.
Wang Lian trembled in fear.
And then she saw something even stranger.
The dead bodies lying on the ground—some were devoured by spirits, while others sank into the reddish-brown soil.
Gurgle, gurgle…
Soon, the ground began to churn like a swamp, overturning and birthing one black spirit after another.
Those newly born black spirits stood still for a moment—then disappeared into the shadows one by one, their presence eerie and chilling.
What on earth is happening here?!
Before Wang Lian could think further, her lantern began to glow white.
Night was falling.
She hurried back to the room where she had stayed the night before, only to find Mei Zhao Zhao also staring at the sky.
At this moment, the Nether sky was stained with blood-red hues. Between the black and crimson clouds, the false sun—half black, half white—seemed to open its mouth in a grotesque smile, as if ready to swallow the world.
“Saintess! Something seems to have changed.”
“No matter. We are only here to find someone. As long as we find the person, it will be fine.”
Mei Zhao Zhao did not understand what was happening, but she knew that staying calm amidst change was the safest course.
A cold wind swept through the temple hall, and suddenly, Xiao Qingfeng’s memorial tablet began to tremble.
Xiao Hai stumbled out, his face flushed. “Fairy Wang Lian, I… something’s wrong with me…”
His face was red—not with healthy vitality, but as if his blood was surging uncontrollably, overflowing until it would burst from his seven orifices.
Wang Lian grabbed his hand and circulated the Pleasure Sect’s technique. She gasped. “How can your blood energy be like this?”
She had lain with Xiao Hai—he was only of the First Realm and already aged. Even when she had restrained herself, he had been left weak afterward.
Yet now, as she examined him, she was shocked to find that his blood burned fiercely, like that of a vigorous man in his twenties—his blood nearly boiling out of his skin, turning him into a man made of blood.
Mei Zhao Zhao frowned. “Something has influenced him.”