Chapter 313: Curse of Affection
Xiao Nanfeng headed into the Yao Pool.
As he took his first steps into the area, golden light surrounded him and pulled him deeper within.
"As expected, something's wrong!" Xiao Nanfeng cried out.
He immediately released his silver moon, forming a domain of moonlight around him. The Divine Emperor suddenly appeared and executed a palm strike.
"Spirit Emperor, you really aren't going to leave us alone, are you?!" she thundered.
Her palm hit the void and shattered the golden light.
Xiao Nanfeng and the Divine Emperor landed by an exquisite lake, one filled with pitch-black water. However, above the surface of the lake floated bright red flowers representing all manner of species: orchids, lotuses, almond blossoms, peach blossoms, and so on. The only common feature they shared was their color.
In addition, there were buildings and pavilions all around the lake, all possessing an elegant and understated beauty. Bright red flowers festooned them, glowing with light and illuminating their surroundings in the same color.
The Divine Emperor's body suddenly tensed up.
Not far from the lake, the Spirit Emperor appeared, dressed in gold. He seemed to have been waiting there for quite some time.
"Divine Emperor, I knew you would come here. Do you see all this? I've gathered this lake of cursed spiritual power for you." The Spirit Emperor smiled.
"What are you trying to pull?" The Divine Emperor looked around at her surroundings with some fear.
"I proposed to you here back then. Today, I plan to do so again. As long as you marry me and complete the unfinished ceremony from back then, my heart will be restored in full. You are the most potent pill I could ingest for handling my mental trauma. Today, let the world know us as husband and wife." The Spirit Emperor smiled confidently. This chapter is updated by nov(e)(l)biin.com
"Spirit Emperor—are you crazy? Don't you have many concubines? Why are you so obsessed with the Divine Emperor?" Xiao Nanfeng pulled the Divine Emperor behind him.
The Spirit Emperor laughed. "Kid, you don't know anything. Your cultivation's too weak; you're only cultivating the spirit and body for now, not the heart. The heart is the origin of all life. A pure heart can render you invincible; a flaw in your heart would be magnified many times over. Why did I perish during the calamity that struck me and the Divine Emperor down? It was because my heart was incomplete. My flaw is the Divine Emperor. Cultivating the heart will be straightforward to me: if the Divine Emperor marries me and ascends Mt. Wu with me, all will be well. Unfortunately, she's not been cooperative. Demons of the heart have plagued me for countless years, and I have no choice but to take matters into my own hands."
Xiao Nanfeng gave him an odd look, then turned to the Divine Emperor. "Is he crazy because of a mental illness? Or is this normal for cultivators beyond a certain stage?"
The Divine Emperor was silent. She didn't explain things further, but Xiao Nanfeng easily understood from her response that the Spirit Emperor's claim had at least some truth behind it.
"Let Xiao Nanfeng go, and I'll stay to fight with you," the Divine Emperor said coldly.
"Impossible! He's foiled my plans multiple times and even gained your affection. I won't let him live. There's a cursed effigy in that moon of his, isn't there? Unfortunately, it's too weak. That cursed effigy only managed to attack me because I was injured. This time, I'm on my guard, and no one will be able to save him."
"Divine Emperor, don't worry. Didn't you say that his main body is in the Thousand Spirits' Hall? This is only a fragment of his will. We've already taken down two such fragments. What's one more?"
"It's different this time!" the Divine Emperor replied anxiously.
"Kid, don't you see what's different about the Yao Pool? Do you still think you can take me on?" The Spirit Emperor chuckled.
"See what's different? The fact that your subordinate spirits have vanished?" Xiao Nanfeng frowned.
"What?!" the Divine Emperor, rushing over, exclaimed in surprise.
Just then, because Xiao Nanfeng had been too aggressive, a large cloud of flowers rushed into his body.
Xiao Nanfeng radiated with red light.
"The Spirit Emperor's fragment of will wasn't that strong after all. See?"
"What's this purple seal? That fragment of will was just about as strong as I am. How could this purple seal have caused him to explode?" the Divine Emperor exclaimed.
"Don't you know where I got this seal?" Xiao Nanfeng asked in surprise.
"You never told me."
Xiao Nanfeng blinked. That was true. He hadn't ever explained the source of the divine purple rock to the Divine Emperor.
Red flowers continued to swarm their bodies. They glowed with red light.
"Divine Emperor, I feel something amiss. Are these flowers guiding the curse of affection toward me? What will happen? What might go wrong?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.
The Divine Emperor watched Xiao Nanfeng in silence. She suddenly had the notion that she wouldn't much mind being trapped in a curse of affection with Xiao Nanfeng.
"I feel uncomfortable all over!" Xiao Nanfeng cried out. He immediately sat cross-legged in meditation.
The Divine Emperor didn't waste her breath talking, either. She too did the same.
The two cultivators reached a meditative state quickly. Their bodies brimmed with red light, and the light emanating from their bodies seemed to be linked. The disparate sources of energy tangled together.
Suddenly, Xiao Nanfeng shook his head. He seemed to have arrived in a world filled with seas of flowers. In the middle of one such sea, he could see a tall, curvaceous woman with a pair of long legs. She looked beautiful, her hair scattered behind her shoulders, her white neck like jade, her collarbones exquisite, her features fine and pert.
The woman blushed faintly red as she walked over, affection in her eyes.
Xiao Nanfeng was in an unusual state. He had forgotten who he was. All he could sense was the desire in his heart. When he saw the woman, he felt an unusual sense of familiarity, as though she were his destined lover in life. He was unable to resist his impulses of love.
He hugged the woman before him. The two cultivators locked eyes, their identities forgotten. All that remained was their affection. Xiao Nanfeng reached forward and kissed the woman in the lead.
Just then, both cultivators' mental strength seemed to have risen considerably.
Xiao Nanfeng felt as though he were having a dream. Within the dream, he had forgotten everything but the beauty before him.
In reality, Xiao Nanfeng and the Divine Emperor's physical bodies were still seated cross-legged. As all the red flowers filled their bodies, the red light around their head intensified and linked as though they were sharing the same dream.
Within Xiao Nanfeng's mindscape, the black lotus formed some text with black light. "He really is lucky, isn't he? He managed to take full advantage of the Spirit Emperor's planning. The curse of affection strikes at the very heart. What a pity! I want to have a look, but I can't sense them in a dreamscape. I've only heard of the curse of affection in the past, and I never saw it for myself.Superior Yin Pearl, do you know what'll happen?
The aloof superior yin pearl didn't respond to the black lotus.
