Archfiend

Chapter 206: Danxia Temple (25)

At the same time, everyone looked at the portrait “cast” through the Netherpierce Eye. This image was completely different from what their own eyes saw! As before… the honeycomb wall was in the Netherpierce Eye, yet there was color and depth to it! Altogether there were four kinds of colors!

The center was deep and shallow, a streamlined figure. However, it formed the most primordial taiji. As for the exterior, there were completely different dark-colored lines. A tremendous manifestation of the Eight Trigrams was formed! An image of the Eight Trigrams that was several thousand meters in size! 

“It’s really awesome…” Li Zongyuan looked at all of this in shock and lifted his head to survey the honeycomb wall’s exterior. But just as he raised his head, he discovered that it couldn’t be clearly discerned at all!

“If it weren’t for the Netherpierce Eye, everything would interfere with your vision.” Zhao Wuye laughed. “Fellow Daoists, please look.” He took a deep breath, and his complexion suddenly turned ruddy. Immediately, a mouthful of blood spurted onto the light screen. Both of his hands swiftly formed a seal. “Azure Dragon Opens Eye!”

Buzz… In the air, a strange fluctuation spread forth. Everyone raised a brow. This was because each person felt that there seemed to be a pair of eyes opening in the darkness. Passing through endless space and time, this gaze watched them.

“Interesting,” Xu Yangyi laughed. “As expected of specialized techniques. The Xingtian Legion can’t produce an incredible divine ability of this level.”

“A majority of secret realms are the remnants of ancestors and Dao sanctums of seniors… Allow this old man to tell the truth, but the Xingtian Legion lacks talent in this aspect,” Zhao Fenglai quickly followed up, calm and peaceful.

“Relax,” Xu Yangyi laughed. “I said that if we got out I would allow Zhao Ziqi into the Xingtian Legion. I don’t go back on my promises.”

Zhao Fenglai barked twice in wry laughter, focusing his attention as he studied the light screen. After Zhao Wuye’s mouthful of blood sprayed out, it appeared to have jetted onto a solid object, similar to water rinsing glass. The entire Eight Trigrams… instantly moved!

“The Bright Gate…” Zhao Wuye’s entire face was flushed red, and he growled, forcefully turning his hand. Without a moment’s delay, in the wake of the Eight Trigrams plate’s crackle, a pointer was indicated above the Death Gate! This region, however, just happened to correspond with the Eight Trigrams’ Bright Gate on the light screen! At the same time, all the bloodstains on the light screen that had been dyed red with blood fell away. All that remained was a red dot that produced a flashing red light.

“It’s here!” Zhao Fenglai’s gaze flickered, and he snapped his eyes shut and formed a seal. After a while, he opened his eyes and said, “The 272nd row… The 532nd column! This is it! No… hold on!”

His voice yet to fall, he shockingly discovered that the Eight Trigrams plate began to madly spin. The surface pointer swung chaotically and didn’t even stop after a full ten minutes!

It was silent. After ages, Xu Yangyi asked lowly, “What’s going on?”

“I understand…” Zhao Fenglai opened both of his eyes. His eyes were entirely bloodshot, and he clenched his teeth. “This passage… isn’t fixed. It’s based on a specific time. There’s a power in the darkness that’s controlling all the entrance changes here!”

“How long?” Peony asked, her throat rasping.

“Can’t say for sure.” Zhao Wuye pondered and said, “I’ll have to examine it again… The time to enter the honeycomb wall is within this period. After we pass it, we’ll be treading into the true Death Gate!”

No one spoke. Special issues were best handled by experts. In the present area, all the clans were at peace. Xu Yangyi and the rest had walked a separate path, but the other ones had massacred no less than several hundred people. Undergoing this path’s tempering added onto the terrible and mighty name of Danxia Temple. Without absolute certainty in entering the honeycomb wall, no one would act rashly.

After an hour, the red dot twinkled again. Zhao Fenglai took a deep breath. “No… even the time isn’t fixed… The entrance changed location four times in an hour. The longest is twenty minutes, the shortest… is only three!”

Xu Yangyi mumbled as he studied the light screen and compass. After an extended period, he said seriously, “Examine it for another day. If there’s no change… the Xingtian Legion will enter the honeycomb wall.”

Another hour passed… Two hours… After a full eighteen hours, everyone’s faces had become terribly grave. There wasn’t any rule that could be followed! Regardless of region emergence or time, there wasn’t the slightest hint of a rule! In the last second, the entrance was still at the very most east. In the next second, it was quite possibly at the furthest north!

They clearly understood that if a single misstep was made into one of the countless caves here, there would only be death! At this moment, an upheaval of qi passed through from the outside.

Someone’s gone in! This thought flashed in everyone’s minds. Xu Yangyi promptly removed the seal and formation that was encircling the Xingtian Legion, and they looked out.

Under the guide of an extremely weird mecharune demonbeast, five people solemnly advanced towards the honeycomb wall, their faces heavy like water. With each of their steps, endless golden light appeared beneath their feet. On the ground, it formed the image of a strange, old man. It was evidently a supremely awesome protective formation. In the sky, there was a black-clothed woman at the center. Both her eyes were shut and her ten fingers formed seals at lightning speed. An azure qi blade, roughly ten meters long, bobbed up and down in the air. [1]

“The Seven Noble Lineages… The Mo Clan’s main clan…” After getting a clear look, everyone stared at Mo Yeyu. Shortly, they then looked at the Eight Trigrams’ red dot.

“They’re… walking the wrong path…” Zhao Fenglai took a long sigh, yet didn’t have the slightest intention of going to dissuade them. The Mo Clan’s chosen path and the light screen’s marker were at odds, polar opposites of north and south.

“You’re not going to try to persuade them?” Qin Xueluan looked at Mo Yeyu and said, “Those are your clansmen.”

“Only the main clan. We’re just a branch.” Not only did Mo Yeyu not advise them, a smile of schadenfreude was exposed on his face instead. “Each and everyone of them usually walks with their noses up to the sky. For them to die here is a natural matter of course.”

The Mo Clan’s five people were all seated on a flying magik artifact, and they chose a cave in the 80th-something row. However, the present marker was the 400th row!

“Go on.” Xu Yangyi stowed his gaze and said calmly, “In another six hours… we have to enter.”

The people outside the Xingtian Legion’s formation were all of China’s apex clans of the light. They were able to enter… but that didn’t mean others couldn’t necessarily not enter!

Xu Yangyi could accept being late a day, but this was his bottom line! No one knew… whether behind the honeycomb wall there was mortal danger at every step or… a cultivation treasury! 

Six hours passed quickly. The outside echoed with another several qi waves. Obviously, there were also some clans unable to endure and took the initiative to enter the honeycomb wall.

Swoosh… As the seal was undone again, all of the Xingtian Legion’s personnel walked out. On the outside, there were still over forty people who hadn’t entered.

“They…” Fahui’s gaze faintly glimmered, but he said nothing.

Xu Yangyi beckoned. Zhao Ziqi and the light screen had long since vanished. Presently, all that remained was the Eight Trigrams compass held in Zhao Fenglai’s hand.

In everyone’s sight, the Xingtian Legion walked in front of the honeycomb wall a step at a time. Xu Yangyi nodded towards Mo Yeyu. Suddenly, both of Mo Yeyu’s hands shook, and over a dozen hawk puppets emerged again. As for every person of the Xingtian Legion, they all jumped onto a hawk puppet. Each person held onto a medium-grade spirit stone in their hand, and they carried onwards to the middle of the honeycomb wall.

Looking down, everything appeared so tiny. Looking across… only the largeness of this honeycomb wall was felt below, so large that it was intimidating. Right now, as they approached, they felt… a kind of immense spiritual force! The pitch-blackness inside the endless caverns seemed to be the soul-devouring Nine Nether Hells! [2]

However, no one said anything. Even their breathing was so minute that it couldn’t be heard.

“The last light point has gone dark.” Zhao Fenglai stared fixedly at the compass, seemingly tranquil but his palm was in fact slick with cold sweat. “Based on today’s observations, in at most ten seconds… a path will appeared.”

No one spoke. Everyone was biding their time before the battle, heads rested on spears as they waited for dawn.

“Sister Nine! They’re going in!” God Ming Twelve watched the Xingtian Legion’s rear view in front of the honeycomb wall and gritted his teeth.

Sister Nine didn’t say a word. No one saw, but her hair had long since transformed into countless silken threads, unseen in their limits. Every ten threads entered a cave! And yet… half of her hair had already vanished without a trace.

“What are you worried about?” Sister Nine’s gaze was frosty, and she clenched her teeth. “Damn… All of them are death paths… I don’t believe that my Heavenworm Weaves Silk Formation can’t scout out a survival path!”

One second… two seconds… On the tenth second, another vivid red dot suddenly emerged on the Eight Trigrams plate!

“703rd row! 532nd column!” Zhao Fenglai’s pupils swiftly needled! 

In the next second, Xu Yangyi’s snarl was heard. “Go!” 

Swoosh swoosh swoosh! The spirit stones in everyone’s hands were all squeezed into the hawk-puppets’ mouths. The puppets’ eyes quickly emitted around a foot of red light. With blazing speed, they then launched themselves towards a cavern!

Whoosh whoosh whoosh… As if they were soaring on a giant whale’s back, countless caverns swiftly flitted pass their sides. Ten seconds later, everyone stood in front of the indicated cavern’s entrance!

“Inside here… is the honeycomb wall’s true passage…” Zhao Fenglai shivered all over in excitement, eyeing the bottomless cavern. “W-We finally made it! I-I’m already itching to know what the heck is behind this!”

Xu Yangyi said nothing else. With a single breath, he instead released dozens of three-eyed spirit ape-puppets into the pitch-black cave. After entering Danxia Temple, all his prior preparations were being assigned a use.

No one spoke. Through a thousand difficulties and ten thousand dangers, they had arrived here. They all wanted to know where this place led and what secret was concealed!

After a full ten-odd minutes, Xu Yangyi’s expression faintly changed. He turned his head and said, “Everyone… there’s a Transference Formation inside.”

“A Transference Formation?!” Everyone was dazed.

“Yes, my puppets are already in. In addition…” he sucked in deeply. “There’s qi on the other side!”

No one saw, but his hands held behind him were trembling a little! He didn’t cultivate the Dao of Machine Puppets, and puppets couldn’t share visual whatsoever, but… he could vaguely feel whatever object a puppet touched!

Moments ago… as the puppet trod into the Transference Formation, it had indeed touched something on the other side! It… was a flower.

A nine-petaled lotus! A lotus flower’s traits were too distinct; he simply couldn’t have made a mistake! Nonetheless, he hadn’t “felt” water!

Lotus sea… Lotus sea! In his heart, these two words surged and raged endlessly. The Transference Formation… was quite possibly the end point of Danxia Temple’s outer gate. The inside… was the true Danxia Temple!

Danxia Temple’s… inner temple!

The final secret of the one of the Eight Great Deadlands! The secret of “first was Jiang Shang and later was Sun Bin; five centuries prior was Zhuge Liang and five centuries later was Liu Bowen”! The secret of who in the end was the “me” in “save me”! 

And also… what he looked forward to the most, the secret of the Animus Armament!

1. “Mecharune” - Something I came up to use instead of always typing out “Machine Talisman Demonbeast Puppet”.

2. Nine Nether Hells - if you’re familiar with the Chinese concept of “hell”, you know that there are many different names. This particular one can also be translated “Nine Serenities”.