Archfiend

Chapter 224: Danxia Temple (43)

All who remained was Sister Nine, Yi Old Five, and the leaders of the other powers. They had jointly offered sacrifices to a skull and were safely protected within it. However, this skull was obviously inferior to the ancient lamp and the lotus lantern. Presently, its radiance was already dimming.

Nonetheless, their despairing eyes were fixed on the several people in front. Only Xu Yangyi and the others… were Sister Nine and Yi Old Five’s hope!

“How are all of you holding up?” Xu Yangyi deeply asked the others.

After several seconds, Fahui’s voice was heard. “Not bad.”

His voice was quite low. The attack from moments ago had yielded no result. It was the greatest strike against morale. Strength was a word that wasn’t just purely realm. Neither courage nor wisdom could be lacking. A cultivator without courage was nothing more than a weak superhuman.

“If this poor Daoist… doesn’t slay this fiend, how can I face my two fellow apprentices who died for justice?!” Ling Xiaozi and Xuan Chengzi were silent for two seconds, yet they answered resolutely, their voices chopping nail and slicing iron.

Xu Yangyi deeply nodded, not wasting his effort again on something implicit. It was strange… very strange. He had completely received that move from moments ago. However… it seemed as if there was no blood inside his body!

Devour Bone was inexplicably useless against him, as was Devour Blood! He hadn’t considered that everyone had almost mobilized all the qi that they could use in the strike just now. At this moment… if an attack of the same power level moments ago was to be exhibited, each person had at most only one chance!

In other words… if the best opportunity to act wasn’t found… they were certain to die here!

Buzz… Wei Zhongxian’s left hand suddenly brightened with endless blue spiritual light. A few seconds later, a Dharma Wheel, roughly two meters in diameter and the same size as the Dharma Wheel at his head, appeared over his right hand. It was a blue Dharma Wheel covered in countless profound runes!

“This is…” Xu Yangyi carefully studied everything in front of his eyes. In his heart, two words quickly emerged!

Complete repair… 

The first move, Devour Bone, was a divine ability of black qi. A black Dharma Wheel had appeared. The second move, Devour Blood, was a divine ability of blue qi. A blue Dharma Wheel had appeared… 

Presently, Wei Zhongxian’s head, hands, legs, and torso… were altogether six positions! That was to say… 

Of the Heavenly Opening First Erosion and Second Erosion… were there a total of six moves? Yet after all six moves were completed, what would happen? What would Wei Zhongxian complete?

Xu Yangyi dared not continue this thought. Furthermore, he dared not say it to anyone. Current morale couldn’t withstand any blow whatsoever! 

“Devour…” His thought yet to conclude, the third move had shockingly arrived!

“How?!” Stunned, Fahui looked on at Wei Zhongxian who was like a demon descended. “It’s getting shorter and shorter… Fellow Daoists! His seal-forming time is getting shorter and shorter!”

The sky changed color again! Clouds emerged once more, but this time they were different from before. Cloud upon cloud took on the shape of sabers! Layer after layer was arranged in the sky! First they were white, but soon after… they turned purple! They resembled blade edges, bright like snow, wet with purple blood! At this instant, the clouds of the over 20,000 square kilometers of the lotus sea were dyed with blood everywhere!

“Flesh…” Following the slight grasping of Wei Zhongxian’s hand, an invisible shock wave of qi burst forth from his body! It was like the reaper’s sickle, slicing through 20,000 square kilometers of distance!

It seemed… like rows of formless daggers were charging right in front of everyone!

Crash… This time, Xu Yangyi finally felt something. He clearly sensed that all his muscles were swiftly atrophying! A completely unnatural method was used!

In a twinkling, he transformed into a withered, thin, young man, all skin and bones. But! At this time, he sensed even more clearly that all his muscles under his skin were brimming with vitality again! 

“What the hell is going on?” He lifted up his arm and looked. Moments ago, with a blink of effort, all that remained of him was bones. Now he could see his swollen and bulging bicep. Nevertheless, he simply didn’t have the mind to continue thinking because two popping noises rang out at his side. A crisp shattering noise immediately entered his ears. 

He turned his head back and looked, only seeing that Fahui’s lotus lantern and the ancient lamp of Greenwall’s Two Swords had stopped burning at the same time. Golden particles of spiritual light circled around the trio. All of them looked at the two treasures in disbelief.

A smidgen of despair emerged on Fahui’s face for the first time. This disparity of realms… was like a tall insurmountable mountain. Even added together, they of heaven’s pride were still far from being the opponent of a Foundation Establishment corpse puppet! Yet in the next second, Fahui’s facial features suddenly twisted.

“Puh!” A blood arrow sprayed out from his mouth. All his muscles twisted at a visible speed and faded away! A sharp, indescribable pain caused the ever-calm Fahui to produce a terribly wretched scream! “AARRGGHH!!!!!!”

A mournful wail reverberated through the air. It was an internal sensation of each muscle twisting and snapping, breaking into pieces, and emptying out. Not to mention a cultivator… even a robot wouldn’t be able to endure this!

“So… So… I… have heard…” At the juncture of life and death, Fahui’s entire face was gorged with blood, and he gritted his teeth and chanted sutras. His teeth and lips were shivering in paleness.

Following the opening and closing of his lips, the kasaya on his body was immediately suffused with white light. It protected his entire person within it. As for himself, he promptly collapsed and sat down. He was unable to hold a meditative stance. From head to toe, he was cramping as he secreted cold sweat.

In a second, he withered fiercely. He was simply unrecognizable from the young, elegant cultivator still teeming with vigor several seconds ago. The only thing visible was a human-shaped bag of bones. If he delayed by another one or two seconds, he would’ve become lost to the world.

“Fellow Daoist… Xu.” Fahui closed his eyes. Events had come to a head, yet he seemed to unexpectedly calm down. “It… looks like… we will… have to say… our g-goodbyes… here…”

At the other side, Xuan Chengzi’s voice was heard. At some unknown time, a painting of the Eight Trigrams had encased his entire form. However, even so, his level of withering wasn’t one bit better than Fahui’s. “We can’t go on anymore. At most… we can only hang on for ten minutes.”

“In ten minutes… the only person left alive in Danxia Temple might be you, Fellow Daoist.” He lifted his head and surprisingly laughed. He gazed at the various clouds in the sky that still hadn’t retreated, chuckling. “What a pity. No one will pass on all that we’ve seen inside Danxia Temple… It’s also a shame… that I even believed myself to be a young talent. But compared to a Foundation Establishment cultivator, there’s such a large gap…”

Xu Yangyi gritted his teeth. “It’s not over. Why talk about giving up?”

“Forget it.” Xuan Chengzi serenely closed his eyes. “There’s a large disparity in strength… A difference of heaven and earth… To be able to fall in an eternal deadland, I cannot be considered to have made this excursion in vain…” 

Xu Yangyi wanted to make some consolation, but nothing left his mouth. Yes… the strength disparity was too vast! These several moves were ranged attacks without hardly any distinction! How many had died?!

Up close, an attack couldn’t be made. Only Xu Yangyi could attack the corpse puppet because of an unspeakable secret. Nonetheless… his attack couldn’t reach a conclusive result! In retreat, they could only look on helplessly and wait for death!

This was known as a lingering death, a death of a thousand cuts!

Fahui was powerless to keep on fighting. Of Greenwall’s Two Swords, Xuan Chengzi’s heart was like dead ash, but Ling Xiaozi’s gaze was like fire. Still, the only battle strength remaining was Xu Yangyi and Ling Xiaozi. From the beginning, all six of them were unable to break through Wei Zhongxian’s defenses. The corpse’s currently emerging divine abilities gradually progressed one level at a time, Devour Bone, Devour Blood, and Devour Flesh… It seemed that as long as there was still a living person, Wei Zhongxian’s divine abilities wouldn’t cease! It was like his power wanted to torment everyone to death!

At this time, a voice suddenly emerged in Xu Yangyi’s spiritual sense. Fellow Daoist Xu… I got it… I understand!!! I finally know what this is!

It was Zhao Wuye’s voice!

Xu Yangyi’s originally dark eyes quickly shone, and he promptly chased this line of questioning. What is this?

Only by understanding the true inner nature of these moves would there be a chance in unraveling it!

Wei Zhongxian, or perhaps it should be said his corpse, wasn’t like a cultivator. He was more like a “divine-ability trigger device”! These several divine abilities definitely weren’t a Foundation Establishment cultivator’s style! Even a Core Formation ancestor couldn’t attain this level!

Wait… Zhao Wuye’s voice carried intense emotion. Wait for the next move… Fellow Daoist Xu… If I haven’t guessed incorrectly… we might discover an enormous secret in history! I predict… the next move… is his second to last move… The divine ability anomaly… will be azure netherflame! As big as a wheel! If it is… I might know how to break through it!

“Okay.” Xu Yangyi tightly clenched his fist. “I… will take this next move for you!”

Fahui and Greenwall’s Two Swords had already shut their eyes, on the verge of resisting the next coming move with full strength. However, all of Xu Yangyi’s bodily qi revolved. Likewise, he was waiting… for the next move that would affect the fates of the few survivors!

Buzz… Accompanying the third move’s completion, a two-meter-sized Dharma Wheel gradually solidified over Wei Zhongxian’s right hand. Yet at this moment, he opened his mouth.

“Devour…”

The fourth move!

Zhao Wuye was already forcibly propping his body up to stand. The defensive effect of Zhao Ziqi’s Netherpierce Eye really was shockingly awesome against things of the nether. But because of the total crushing of realms, although each move wasn’t much, it still thoroughly affected them!

Zhao Wuye’s legs trembled, but his expression was incomparably burning. He gazed fixedly at the sky!

Xu Yangyi took a deep breath. This move was THE move! If there existed a change in fortune, it would appear in this move! At this moment, apart from having confidence in each other, there was nothing else!

In order to live on, for his own Dao, for his own perfection, and to resolve this final heart tribulation, everything had to be given the utmost! He had chosen this, fully aware that this was Danxia Temple’s inner temple. In also entering, since he had chosen his path, bramble and thorn had to be cut through to continue walking!

To one who has crossed the ocean, there were no difficult waters. For one who had passed Mount Wu, there were no clouds!

“Come on… you old castrated dog…” Xu Yangyi said fiercely, all his spiritual force already revolving to the peak

“Soul…”

Buzz! It was then that countless daggers seemed to be shoved into Xu Yangyi’s head! Blade after blade stabbed into his spiritual sense! The past several moves didn’t affect him, but this attack acted as if it wanted to destroy him from inside out! 

“Fellow Daoist Xu!” Zhao Wuye’s complexion suddenly changed because he had seen very clearly. Before, Xu Yangyi had never reacted to the past moves. At this moment, he swayed twice on top of the Chasing Skylark and actually nosedived into the water!

Pain… Extreme pain… 

Both of Xu Yangyi’s eyes shuttered. He’d never thought that when this move was able to affect him that it would have such a terrible effect! Inside his body, countless hands seemed to rip him apart from inside out! It was the pain of spiritual sense being torn apart. His heart almost stopped beating!

If a cultivator’s qi sea was destroyed, they wouldn’t die. But once the spiritual sense was wrung to shreds, there was no doubt regarding certain death!