Wayfarer

Chapter 501: Golden Lotus Hood

Xiao Nanfeng had made a breakthrough with his cultivation, but he didn't rush out of the Yin-Yang Cauldron immediately. He called out, "Chang Bing, bring in that purple-furred lifeform. Let me have a look at it!"

"Got it!" Chang Bing replied.

The cauldron's lid opened with a creak as a group of golden arhats escorted a purple-furred monster within.

The purple-furred monster struggled furiously.

"Seal," Xiao Nanfeng commanded.

The Divine Seal of Dazheng dropped down on the monster and sealed its movements.

"Do you need my assistance?" Zhang Lingjun asked.

She too had entered the Yin-Yang Cauldron.

"Very well." Xiao Nanfeng nodded. He turned to the golden arhats. "Guard me and prevent anyone from drawing near. Seal the cauldron so no sound can get in or out.

"Understood!" everyone replied.

The golden arhats departed quickly and closed the lid of the cauldron again.

The purple-furred monster continued to howl madly. Xiao Nanfeng turned to Zhang Lingjun and asked, "Can your access token subjugate these lifeforms?"

"Not necessarily."

"Oh?"

"Subjugating these monsters requires hypnosis via a spirit-based relic."

"Hypnosis?"

"My access token for the Palace of the Moon is a spirit-based relic, but these purple-furred monsters are particularly unusual. The stronger they are, the harder it is to hypnotize them. This is a Heaven Immortal purple-furred monster, and is exceptionally hard to hypnotize. We might not even succeed one time in a hundred. Otherwise, Ao Shuai and the others wouldn't have lured it toward us."

"So all the purple-furred lifeforms that the various Martial Aspects subjugate are all at a lower cultivation?"

"That's right. Even Earth Immortal purple-furred monsters are already quite hard to hypnotize, though it's somewhat easier with Human Immortal ones. As a result, the Martial Aspects have gradually lost interest in these hunting grounds. Their sole purpose is for their subordinates to train and grow stronger."

"In other words, we can't subjugate this one?"

"Well, let's try it. There's a one-in-a-hundred chance of succeeding, more or less."

Xiao Nanfeng nodded. "Very well. Let's try it, then."

Zhang Lingjun nodded.

She retrieved the purple token associated with the Palace of the Moon. She activated it and sent a ray of purple light straight toward the purple-furred monster's forehead.

The purple-furred monster suddenly grew agitated. It roared and began to struggle violently, but the Divine Seal of Dazheng suppressed its movements.

It grew more and more violent, but any resistance was futile. The purple light continued to strike its forehead as Zhang Lingjun performed the subjugation.

After an hour, her face had turned rather pale.

"Are you alright? How's the expenditure?" Xiao Nanfeng asked from the side.

"The Palace of the Moon's access token consumes a great deal of spiritual power, and much of my reserves has been used up," Zhang Lingjun murmured.

"Allow me to help." Xiao Nanfeng placed a hand on Zhang Lingjun's back.

A torrent of spiritual power rushed into Zhang Lingjun's body, causing her to shudder. She gave Xiao Nanfeng a surprised look. Although she knew that he was at early-stage True Yin, she was still astounded by the sheer quantity of spiritual power he possessed. She knew that, a few years ago, Xiao Nanfeng had only had a wisp of spiritual power.

The spiritual power surged into Zhang Lingjun's token. The ray of purple light that it emitted magnified greatly. Gradually, the purple-furred monster stopped moving. It looked drained of emotion and energy, and its eyelids drooped as though it were about to sleep.

"Are we going to succeed?" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes brightened.

"It looks like it," Zhang Lingjun replied expectantly.

Just then, a golden lotus hood suddenly appeared floating above the purple-furred monster's head. It was revolving slowly in a sinister fashion.

"What's that?" Xiao Nanfeng asked, frowning.

"I don't know."

"Something's wrong."

Xiao Nanfeng's frown deepened as he remembered where he had seen the hood before. Back when he was trying to melt down Yin Tianci's main body, a relic had protected him for several days and nights. That relic ultimately disappeared, but Xiao Nanfeng had gotten a good look at it before that. It was a golden lotus hood just like the one on the purple-furred monster's head.

"What's wrong?" Zhang Lingjun asked.

Just then, the purple-furred monster's eyes suddenly shot open. It roared at Xiao Nanfeng fiercely.

The roar was like a spiritual attack that caused the purple light emanating from the Palace of the Moon's token to disperse. Zhang Lingjun staggered back, having suffered backlash from the attack.

The hypnosis stopped and the golden lotus hood on the monster's head vanished from sight. It returned to its agitated state, but remained unable to free itself from the seal.

Zhang Lingjun stumbled and almost fell. Her face was pale white, a clear sign of her exhaustion.

"I've failed. These Heaven Immortal monsters really are difficult to hypnotize." Zhang Lingjun smiled wryly.

Xiao Nanfeng sent another pulse of spiritual power into Zhang Lingjun's body, returning some color to her face. However, she still seemed rather exhausted.

"Why don't you rest for a little and let me try?" Xiao Nanfeng suggested.

"It's useless. If it were able to withstand the hypnosis from before, it won't succumb to future attempts at that level. But if you'd like to have a go anyway, feel free."

She passed the token to Xiao Nanfeng. She trusted him enough at this point to be willing to loan him that treasure.

"Thank you."

"I'll be resting for a moment." Zhang Lingjun sat down by the side of the cauldron and began to restore her own spiritual power.

Xiao Nanfeng held the Palace of the Moon's token before him as he walked up to the purple-furred monster, activating the token just as Zhang Lingjun had. Another ray of purple light shot toward the monster's forehead.

The monster continued to roar and struggle, just like before.

Xiao Nanfeng was repeating this process not just because of the sudden appearance of the golden lotus hood, but also because the black lotus in his mindscape had written out, "Try again," in his mindscape.

He used the Palace of the Moon's token to hypnotize the lifeform. Not too long later, a golden lotus hood appeared above the monster's head again, agitating it. Its eyes bulged open and it roared madly.

Just then, the black lotus suddenly flew out of Xiao Nanfeng's mindscape and landed by the monster's head, right above the golden lotus hood.

A large hole appeared on the bottom of the black lotus as it furiously absorbed the lotus hood.

"No, no!" The lotus hood screamed and itself began to struggle.

Xiao Nanfeng gaped. The hood could talk?

The black lotus wrote out, "Hurry, keep suppressing it with your token. Assist me!"

"Got it!" Xiao Nanfeng sent more spiritual power surging into the token.

The ray of purple light from the token grew in intensity as it struck the monster's forehead. It spasmed, as did the lotus hood, which seemed particularly fearful of the black lotus. Suddenly, the lotus hood was sucked all the way into the black lotus' body.

The black lotus flew back into Xiao Nanfeng's mindscape, whereupon it released huge quantities of black light as it revolved. It seemed to be absorbing the lotus hood it had just swallowed.

Xiao Nanfeng sent the lotus a mental transmission. "Senior, was that lotus hood a cursed effigy?"

The black lotus didn't respond. It seemed to be fully focused on absorbing the lotus hood, and didn't have the time or energy to answer his questions. Seeing that the black lotus was busy, Xiao Nanfeng stopped disturbing it for the moment.

Suddenly, he noticed a surprising similarity between the black lotus' appearance with a hole underneath it and the golden lotus hood.

Could the golden lotus hood have something to do with the black lotus?

He then looked toward the purple-furred monster again. To his surprise, after the hood was removed, the monster's eyes grew clear and focused. Gone was the bestial rage, replaced by cool intent.

"Who are you? Why are you suppressing me?" the purple-furred monster suddenly demanded.

Xiao Nanfeng: ... This lifeform can think?

"Xiao Nanfeng, how did it suddenly end up talking?" a voice called out.

Zhang Lingjun awoke from meditation just in time to see the purple-furred monster shout.

She immediately walked up to the monster, which gaped upon seeing her. "Princess, you aren't dead?"

"What did you call me?" Zhang Lingjun asked.

The purple-furred monster suddenly frowned. "You're not the princess. Who are you? Why do you look so much like her? You—"

"You know about my mother?" Zhang Lingjun's face lit up.

Xiao Nanfeng stopped his hypnosis and returned the Palace of the Moon's token to Zhang Lingjun. He introduced, "She is Zhang Lingjun, princess of the Imperial Court."

"You're the princess' daughter! To think you've already grown into your prime—how many years have I been suppressed? It's me, Zeng Daniu! In the past, you would swing your small wooden sword around as you led us to clean up the rabbit warrens in the mountains to the back of the palace. One time, you were so mad at your mother that you had us follow you while you killed all the carp in the pond. The princess attempted to punish you, so you hid in our barracks and fell asleep. We searched all over for you, and I was the one who finally found you!" the purple-furred monster exclaimed.

Zhang Lingjun's eyes turned red. "You're General Zeng? Have you regained your memories? Have you awoken? Do you know how my mother died that year?"

"I don't. That day, we learned the terrible news that the princess had rebelled and died within the Heavenly Palace. None of us believed it, of course, and we were planning to investigate it when the Heavenly Emperor cursed us all. That was the last we knew," Zeng Daniu recalled.

Xiao Nanfeng, finally having decided that Zeng Daniu wouldn't be a threat, reclaimed the Divine Seal of Dazheng.