Archfiend

Chapter 198: Danxia Temple (17)

Buuuzzz… A kind of ancient, mysterious aura followed in the slow melding of this blood-colored qi orb. Threads and strands overflowed from it. Any of these slivers were enough to make Xu Yangyi tremble in fear, his heart frightened and courage at war!

It was like… a greater demon of the Godseal era had awakened before him! He didn’t leave, not that he didn’t want to, though. But rather… from the beginning this strange red qi-orb had taken form, boundless red qi spread below his feet and ensnared his legs. Not to speak of leaving, he was unable to so much as budge right now!

Swish swish swish… The coalescence time seemed long, but in fact only needed less than three seconds. Subsequently, all the red qi abruptly charged towards the backside of Duke Jiang’s wall carving! In the wake of a soft hum, a strange red formation was surprisingly formed on it!

“This… is a Transference Formation!” Xu Yangyi’s gaze sharply flickered. A Transference Formation possessed several characteristic symbols that any Transference Formation was unable to omit. The instant this formation took shape, he promptly understood its nature.

Someone… had concealed a Transference Formation in the Yellow Springs Path! There was… a senior of the Tang dynasty who had taken this formation and hid it away for a over a millennium! Waiting for the time of his arrival!

At this very moment, he suddenly recalled something and looked towards the Animus Armament that he was clutching in his hand. The inside… was already dyed red with blood.

“The Animus Armament… caught my blood and aroused the Transference Formation… Is that how it is?”

An untold number of doubts flashed through his heart, but he didn’t have time to continue ruminating. This was because… the instant that the scarlet Transference Formation formed, the qi beneath his feet was like a spirit arm. In a flash, it pulled him into the array!

Xu Yangyi was struck by a slight wave of dizziness but swiftly opened his eyes. At the same time, his body instinctually assumed battle preparations. Nonetheless, he knew at once that his manner of actions were unnecessary.

It was night in this location, devoid of light. The surroundings were filled with an incomparably thick and murky fog. A kind of gentle radiance naturally passed through the clouds and mist. Although the sky’s color appeared to be the black of night, it wasn’t dark at all.

Endless white fog divided the heavens and concealed the earth. He lifted his head, and boundless white at his right and left filled the extremes of his vision. As before, it was a barrier-like mist, unseen in its limits.

He stood there within like a tiny ant. The floor was all yards of neat and tidy white marble. At the very least, it might’ve once been like this. But now, there wasn’t any value that could be made out from this well-known stone material. That was because… the entire plaza surface was littered with countless scars. It resembled a woman disfigured. This limitless and desolate place was silently recounting her lonesomeness.

The ground was a chaotic jumble of fathomless ravines! Each one was no less than a meter wide! An untold number of great pits filled the land. There were even quite a few still carried scorched traces. This expensive white marble had been blasted everywhere, and the entire site was a ghastly sight of savaged walls and broken ramparts.

Even more importantly… there wasn’t a scrap of qi here!

“These… are all marks from divine abilities…” Xu Yangyi surveyed the devastated space in astonishment. From each ravine and each great pit, he felt spiritual-force remnants!

Unknown as to how long ago… a battle that was beyond his imagination had occurred here in the past! The qi within… unvanquished for countless years, contained a dark remnant sliver now at the present!

What kind of divine ability and realm was able to cause qi to still linger after so many years? However, he suddenly turned his head. Barely a moment ago, he felt a spiritual-force fluctuation. As he turned his head, he fiercely gritted his teeth. It was indeed a qi fluctuation… Just now, the Transference Formation that had pulled him in… had disappeared… 

This was a single-use array!

“I’m trapped here.” Xu Yangyi narrowed his eyes as he sized up his surroundings, determining the area that he was stuck in wasn’t an illusory realm. The pain of his arm and thigh was still felt. Moreover… this region was different from the nature of the Yellow Springs Path.

The Yellow Springs Path’s illusory realm all evolved from the heart. It didn’t break away from his thoughts of the world, but this place… he hadn’t heard about it at all. The Yellow Springs Path was absolutely unable to replicate it!

Looking everywhere up and down, his gaze landed on a place on the ground. In the center space… there was a floating sculpture protruding at most a few centimeters off the floor. It seemed to have already broken up quite a bit. Although the floor everywhere was shattered, that place was still incredibly distinct.

He walked over with fast steps. On the surface, there were two great powerful characters written with a flamboyant calligraphy like flying dragons and dancing phoenixes.

“Kun… lun?” he subconsciously read it aloud, and his pupils suddenly needled.

Kunlun? This place was Kunlun?

“Im… Impossible. Godseal has always been a legend. Recordable cultivation history originates from the Qin dynasty. If this place is Kunlun, where is Heavenly Lord Primus’s Jadevoid Palace?” [1]

Kunlun was a mountain. The qi was abundant and it was indeed the abode of many cultivators. However, it absolutely wasn’t the immortal estate of legend.

Shaking his head, Xu Yangyi didn’t plan on investigating this matter. After all, the greater significance of these two characters were possibly a kind of symbol. Nonetheless, before his thoughts even waned and just as he read aloud the word “Kunlun”, these two characters suddenly released white light throughout the realm! This light wasn’t aimed at anyone but rather illuminated the heavens straight above!

Rumble… The fog that originally masked the sky transformed into wisps and drifted through the air. For the first time, Xu Yangyi clearly saw the sky. The sky was night without a single star. However, there was a full moon! It penetrated this thick barrier-like fog and sprinkled brilliance over the earth. At this moment, this light pillar rushed directly towards the moon! With a swoosh, it mutually intersected and shone with the moon!

“This...” Xu Yangyi’s gaze twinkled and looked to the night sky in disbelief. This was because… after the moon was illuminated by this light pillar, it actually seemed to be a mirror suspended in the air! Without missing a beat, it took this light and reflected it into the heavy fog’s abyss!

A tremendous shadow appeared in his field of view. What it was couldn’t be clearly seen. All that was known was that there was something there. In this heavy fog, so dense that it wouldn’t clear, brightness emerged for the first time. 

It pulsed like fire. After isolation in this heavy fog, these two parallel lines went above, hazy but vaguely visible. At the same time, a kind of throbbing was suddenly felt in his qi sea!

It was a type of fear… profound fear. Like a fox smelling the scent of an old tiger in the wind. He immediately used Innersight and discovered the fat silkworm fiercely charging left and right like it was crazy. With all of its might, the bug rammed the seal that he had placed. At this moment, the ordinarily quiet silkworm raised its neck high and whined. Even if its speech wasn’t unintelligible, the anxiety in its voice could be felt.

Xu Yangyi studied the silkworm, silent and motionless. He hadn’t given it the several Godtree Leaves to eat. If it became undying before he understood what it was, then he would be left counting his blessings. 

However, he wouldn’t forget that this silkworm had discovered Daomaster Floatingcloud’s divine ability! In other words, it could sense a Core Formation master’s qi fluctuations! Yet below Core Formation… it was almost without a hair’s reaction. His gaze flashed, and he walked towards that place in the fog without the slightest hesitation.

Bang! Just as he took a step, he suddenly felt his qi sea tremble. The silkworm was actually beginning to hit the seal!

Its strength wasn’t great, quite minor, but strangely, this strike seemed to hold weight. The silkworm appeared to be battering Xu Yangyi’s spiritual sense!

He laughed grimly, simply uncaring, and continued advancing to the region pointed out by the moon.

In the wake of each of Xu Yangyi’s footsteps, the silkworm’s screeching intensified and its attacks became more violent! Yet following his gradual approach to the construct, its cries became weaker and weaker. The critter seemed like it was afraid of being discovered.

Xu Yangyi walked for an unknown passage of time. Perhaps it was an hour or perhaps it was three. The towering shadow in the white fog didn’t appear to be far, but it was in fact distant, like gazing at a remote mountain, a journey that could run a horse to death. Even with his constitution, he walked until he was drenched in sweat. In the end, he clearly saw… the foundation of the object in front of him.

It… was an incredibly tall heavenly altar!

Ancient and stark-white, the exterior flipped heaven and earth upside down, yet this platform hadn’t received a nick of damage. 

He raised his head, but the platform’s height was not clearly visible. Xu Yangyi’s initial estimation was that it was around a thousand meters tall and a hundred-plus meters wide.

There were steps at the structure’s base. Evidently, these steps led directly to the summit of this sacrificial altar. And yet, at each hundred-meter interval on both sides, there were scarlet flames raging. It was unknown whether this was a divine ability or a mechanism.

In his qi sea, the silkworm was already completely motionless. To the extent… that it was shivering a little. Coiling in the seal that Xu Yangyi had put it under, it was morbidly silent, no different from that of death.

Xu Yangyi took a deep breath. This place… had no exit whatsoever. The mysterious pelt scroll and the Yellow Springs Path had formed a Transference Formation that had forcibly pulled him into these ruins. To this day, apart from himself, there was no person or thing. This area was like a corner forgotten by the world, slowly fermenting.

“This is a strange place.” Xu Yangyi cautiously took out a three-eyed spirit ape-puppet and tossed it out. It joyously ran back and forth several times on the ground, carefree. He confirmed that this monument was only the most ordinary white-marble sacrificial altar.

He lit a cigarette and sucked in deeply, forcing himself to calm down. Presently, the more flustered he was, the less there would be of a complete outline.

“It’s not impossible for me to return, since there isn’t anything strange with the other regions, but I’d rather take a look at this weird place. On the other hand… I might be able find a path.” After ages, he mumbled to himself and then smiled. “Maybe this is like a cultivation novel and each step is measuring my potential.”

“Besides…” His gaze twinkled, and he ruthlessly extinguished the cigarette butt between his fingers. “No matter who created this place and concealed the Transference Formation… If its significance was just to pull me in, then this is practically a cruel joke. An array built so deeply in one of the Eight Great Deadlands that even requires the Animus Armament’s awakening… all for a joke?”

He laughed coldly as he used his foot to stomp out the cigarette. “I don’t believe it. There’s definitely a clue that’ll tell me where this place is and why it needs to be hidden…” 

Xu Yangyi fashioned a plan, and his spirit rose up to the highest peak. Extremely cautious, he took the first step.

The area below his foot was rather solid, not containing the least bit qi. There wasn’t a mechanism at all or even an examination of potential to obtain good fortune.

1. Somethings to note here. “Heavenly Lord Primus” is my take on one of Daoism’s supreme gods, Yuanshi Tianzun literally “Primordial Beginning Celestial Lord”. One thing that I omitted for the sake of flow in the text is that he is considered the founder/grand master of the Chan Daoism Sect. He is said to live in the Kunlun Mountains. While the author writes down the palace name as “Jadevoid” it is known as “Jade Purity”. Perhaps an error of misunderstanding on my part, but I do want to make this clear.