novelraw Chapter 91 : The Title of “Feather”
Chapter 91 : The Title of “Feather”
Chapter 91: The Title of “Feather”
In the skies above the Nether Kingdom, Xiao Qingfeng gazed down at the city—or rather, the nation.
He thought of many things.
Especially of the several hundred years he had spent as a spirit.
“Nether Lord.”
At first, he had thought the same as most others—that the Nether Lord had already perished, and the Nether Kingdom was but a remnant struggling to survive in the pages of history.
Yet during those centuries as a spirit within the Nether Kingdom, he had discovered that something was amiss.
The Nether Lord had not died.
The Dao of Death still existed within the Nether Kingdom, the Dao Star still hung in the heavens, and all the spirits of the Nether Kingdom continued their endless cycle of dying and being reborn through the Nether Lord’s Dao.
For Xiao Qingfeng, the greatest difficulty in proving his Dao and attaining the realm of Jade Radiance was whether the Nether Lord might suddenly reappear, kill him outright, and sink him into the Nether River.
Fortunately, that had not happened.
So, he had won his gamble.
Xiao Qingfeng had bet that the Nether Lord was imprisoned somewhere, unable to return to his own kingdom.
“Become a part of me.”
Standing high in the air, his Dao of Metamorphosis roared into motion, surging toward the Nether Palace.
All remnants of the Nether Lord’s Dao here were devoured clean by him.
Death and metamorphosis—two sides of the same coin. For Xiao Qingfeng, the Nether Lord’s Dao was the greatest nourishment possible.
He exhaled contentedly and waved his hand. The gates of the Sin Prison were torn open by force.
All the spirits within the Sin Prison exploded at that moment, utterly annihilated.
Henceforth, the Nether Kingdom would be his nation, and the Sin Prison would become the place where he punished those who disobeyed him.
Xiao Qingfeng no longer looked toward the Sin Prison. Instead, he unleashed his half-step Jade Radiance aura without restraint.
From the surrounding mists, colossal beings slowly emerged—then transformed into enormous, black spirits.
Metamorphosis.
Endless metamorphosis.
New citizens would continuously be born.
Gigantic pillars soared toward the heavens, circulating around him like the mythic pillars that upheld the world.
“Pillars that bear the heavens—today, I ascend to Jade Radiance.”
He stepped into the Nether Kingdom.
It had been thousands of years since anyone last entered this place.
When the Ghost Gate opened, the entire Nether Kingdom would briefly regain its colors—except here.
Because this was the Nether Lord’s resting place. The monarch needed no clamor or color, only the black and white that symbolized life and death.
“Noisy!”
The Nether aura condensed into ghosts, yet Xiao Qingfeng crushed them with ease.
Within the vast main hall were countless murals. Beyond that, strange monsters of unknown kind had turned into stone statues, all kneeling toward the white-boned throne at the center.
“Wings?”
Xiao Qingfeng frowned when he saw the pair of wings behind the white-boned throne.
Why would there be wings behind the throne?
“The Nether Lord shall return. Her wings shall once again illuminate the entire Nether Kingdom. The citizens of the Nether shall give everything for their Lord.”
So these were the Nether Lord’s wings?
Xiao Qingfeng didn’t think much of it. Step by step, he advanced toward the white-boned throne.
He could feel that the Nether Kingdom was now under his control. The spirits of the Nether Kingdom had all disappeared—some slain by his own spirits, others inexplicably melted away.
It didn’t matter.
Many new spirits belonging to him had already been born. The cultivators who had entered the Nether Kingdom this time had become the finest nourishment, forming the first batch of powerful black spirits.
Xiao Qingfeng intended to use his Dao of Metamorphosis to freeze the Nether Kingdom forever in this state of color—to transform the entire city into a Living City! This would be the foundation of his Dao.
Of course, this was a shortcut—using the Nether Lord’s authority to alter the laws directly, rather than comprehending them step by step through enlightenment.
But who cared?
In the end, only the victor mattered.
Treading upon the heads of the statues, Xiao Qingfeng approached the throne of his dreams.
Only one step remained.
Centuries of wish and perseverance would finally come true the moment he sat upon that throne.
The Sun-Moon Sundial in his hand spun violently—it was actually a compass-like artifact, with two layers: the outer layer as the sun dial, the inner layer as the moon dial.
The barrier set by the Nether Lord slowly loosened under the trembling of the Sun-Moon Sundial. Xiao Qingfeng turned, placed his hand upon the cold, bony armrest, and heard his own heartbeat—his blood rushing in his ears. In the eerie silence, he finally sat down.
Everything flowed so naturally.
After a hundred years of scheming, how could he possibly fail?
No resistance had appeared.
“Hm?”
Xiao Qingfeng looked blankly at his own hand, then abruptly turned around.
He had not sensed the authority of the Nether Kingdom.
What was happening?
Suddenly, he stood up, staring in shock at the wings behind the white-boned throne.
“Feather!?”
He erupted in fury. “Who is Feather!?”
Since Xiao Qingfeng was not a true spirit, he could not perceive the mark of “Feather” upon Lu Changyuan.
Soon, a spirit gave him the answer.
It was someone who had come to the Nether Kingdom before him—who had walked the Path of Death and earned the Nether Lord’s recognition. The Nether Lord had even bestowed upon him the title of “Feather.”
The Nether Lord’s throne was composed of two parts:
One was the throne itself; the other was the wings behind it.
To completely seize the Nether Kingdom, one must first claim the title of “Feather” before taking the Nether Lord’s authority.
It was like a kingdom—if the sovereign was absent, a usurper might seize the throne.
But what if there was a crown prince?
As long as the prince lived, the usurper could never truly control the realm.
And “Feather” was akin to that crown prince’s position.
Xiao Qingfeng finally understood everything and roared in fury: “Why would the Nether Lord grant the title of Feather to another!?”
The entire sky above the Nether Kingdom turned scarlet with his rage.
But the question would forever have no answer.
“Find him! Find that Feather! I know—he’s somewhere in this city!”
Lu Changyuan was deep in thought.
Where could the Nether Lord have gone?
He had asked this question seventeen hundred years ago.
No spirit in the Nether Kingdom knew.
And of course—if they had known, the spirits themselves would have already found their monarch.
Lu Changyuan refused to believe the Nether Lord had left no contingency within her own realm—nor that she would abandon her nation.
Think carefully.
Where was the most likely place for the Nether Lord to have left her “thought”?
The Nether River? The Path of Death? The Path of Life? Within the Sun-Moon Sundial?
Lu Changyuan narrowed his eyes slightly.
Until the silver-haired girl beside him nudged him.
The silver-haired girl said, “Move over a little.”
The room was small, and the bed even smaller. With three people sharing it, things were naturally cramped.
Mei Zhao Zhao was on the innermost side—already asleep somehow—and Su Youwan lay in the middle, closer to Lu Changyuan’s side.
Lu Changyuan sighed helplessly. “She was the most panicked one just now, yet now she’s fast asleep. Should I say she has a big heart, or that she trusts me too much?”
This Saintess of the Pleasure Sect truly believed that since Lu Changyuan could slay Su Wu Xiang at the peak of the Sixth Realm, killing a half-step Jade Radiance cultivator should not be too difficult.
But right now, Lu Changyuan really couldn’t kill Xiao Qingfeng. In fact, not getting killed by him would already be a blessing.
The silver-haired girl said calmly, “Foolish people have foolish luck.”
Suddenly, a line of text appeared before his left eye:
【Xiao Qingfeng has learned that you bear the title of “Feather.”】
【You are about to die.】
Lu Changyuan spoke suddenly, “Third Highness, do you have any way to temporarily conceal someone’s identity?”
The silver-haired girl looked at him, silent for a while before replying, “Yes. I can temporarily alter a person’s fate to that of another connected to them.”
Having reached the Fifth Realm of Destined Heavenly Dao, she already possessed the ability to conceal someone’s fate.
“But it can last for only one hour. I haven’t yet entered Jade Radiance.”
Su Youwan said seriously.
~~~~~~~~~~
Someone was speaking.
So thought Mei Zhao Zhao.
She couldn’t open her eyes; her eyelids felt weighed down by thousands of burdens.
Had she fallen asleep?
Impossible.
How could she sleep under such circumstances? Yet she had indeed fallen asleep—or rather, fallen unconscious.
Mei Zhao Zhao felt as though she were dreaming, a lucid dream blanketed in thick fog—and something within that fog was staring at her.
Countless colossal beings passed through the mist, surrounding a shadow whose face she could not discern.
She smelled a wisp of floral fragrance.
Faint, yet unmistakably alien to this world—a sweetness tinged with decay. She felt she had smelled it before, though she could not remember when.
Suddenly, that shadow rippled like water.
Mei Zhao Zhao couldn’t see it clearly.
The figure’s outline was blurred—no distinct form, just a deeper shade of darkness.
Yet she heard again the words she had heard when entering the Nether Kingdom.
“Five hundred years of wind, five hundred years of sun, five hundred years of rain—
The Nether Lord shall return and grant all spirits their rest.”
That shadow—was it the Nether Lord?! The Nether Lord was hiding within her dream?
Mei Zhao Zhao trembled. “What do you want?”
The shadow’s form was indistinct, cloaked in black robes just as she was.
Moreover, it exuded that unshakable scent of cold incense—like something from the depths of the underworld—mingled with the perpetual damp mist of the Nether Kingdom.
It was suffocating.
Mei Zhao Zhao shivered slightly.
She hadn’t told Lu Changyuan the full truth. Or rather, she had told him only half.
Why had the Pleasure Sect sent her, their Saintess, into the Nether Kingdom? Did she not know that Red Robe wanted her dead?
Of course she knew.
But only she could carry out this mission.
Because she possessed the “Spirit-Communing Body.”
A rare, innate gift—not particularly useful for cultivation, but one that allowed her to hear the last remnants of a soul’s consciousness.
The spirits of the Nether Kingdom were all such final remnants of thought.
Even among the Spirit Clan, only a handful had ever possessed such a talent.
Thus, she had naturally become the ideal candidate.
“Nether Lord, this humble woman is but a pitiful, weak girl— I’ve done nothing wrong!”
Mei Zhao Zhao pleaded tearfully. Yet suddenly, she seemed to hear the Nether Lord’s voice—a woman’s voice, soft and alluring like her own.
The Nether Lord was a woman?
Mei Zhao Zhao straightened slightly. “Does Your Lordship have any commands? I must say, this weak one hasn’t even reached the Fifth Realm, I can’t do much. As for Xiao Qingfeng, I can’t fight him either. But if Your Lordship wishes to seize my body, I won’t resist.”
She thought perhaps the Nether Lord had been waiting for her to appear—so that she might descend once more and reclaim her kingdom.
The Nether Lord, cloaked entirely in darkness, walked slowly toward her. Mei Zhao Zhao instantly felt an immense pressure, even the urge to kneel.
That voice came forth as if from the depths of the Nine Netherworlds, spoken in the language of spirits—yet Mei Zhao Zhao could somehow understand it.
And she heard the Nether Lord say:
“Assist Feather. Strike down the disobedient.”