Archfiend

Chapter 229: Danxia Temple (48)

“There really is a Sixth Erosion, not just five!” Xu Yangyi suppressed the excitement in his heart and pondered, “But… I can only see this move’s cultivation method. I can’t clearly see anything about the names and cultivation methods of the remaining eight divine abilities. Is it because my realm isn’t enough? Or do I need to meet some condition?”

Nonetheless… to be able to learn this divine ability was already sufficient to break even!

What left him with the deepest impression during this Danxia Temple journey was that his hidden aces were still too few in contrast to the great clans and the three great powers.

Xuan Chengzi and Fahui were able to endure for so long under Wei Zhongxian’s terrible divine abilities. All their cards had been exhausted. As for him, he had walked back and forth several times over the line of death like so. However, once he mastered the Heavenly Opening Six Erosions, his aces could be considered to have greatly increased! At the same time, it could even be said that his killing ability would be absolutely different! 

This divine ability truly wasn’t something that Wei Zhongxian or a Foundation Establishment cultivator could be said to fully utilize. The characteristic of a dead-soul reincarnated corpse puppet was that some almighty figure was able to forcibly instill the Heavenly Opening Six Erosions into Wei Zhongxian’s body! 

In other words… this divine ability was like Azure Dragon Seeks Cauldron and the Ten Cardinals Red Lotus, able to follow realm and strengthen in power. If he used it now, in no way could he do so like that almighty figure. Within hundreds of thousands of square kilometers, winds and clouds changed. And yet… he was already impatient to test what the might of this devastating divine ability was like in his hands! 

“If I can reach the power of the mighty figure behind Wei Zhongxian…” His gaze flashed, and he looked towards the shortsword with boundless expectation. “Core Formation? Or maybe… Nascent Soul? Anyways… ” He licked his lips excitedly. “The Smelting God’s Treasure Mirror… might actually have to be tested out a little.”

In case the Eternal Alchemy Canon’s four great divine abilities and the Heavenly Opening Six Erosions were fused, the emerging divine ability would be a signboard for him, Xu Yangyi, a divine ability unique to himself! 

It was unknown how long he read these characters. They embraced every manifestation of nature, not only his current scarceness of divine abilities and medicinal pills but moreover four classes of apex arcane efforts!

The so-called apex… The four words clearly illustrated on the surface almost moved his heart.

Directly reach Nascent Soul!

Prompt, he restrained this fluctuation. Leaving aside the danger of changing arcane efforts, his meridians had already transformed into such an odd state. The greatest question was whether or not he could even reconstruct them.

Especially… since the Eternal Alchemy Canon’s author was the half-immortal Wei Boyang. In that distant ancient cultivation era of the Eastern Han, Xu Yangyi wasn’t convinced at all that Nascent Soul was Wei Boyang’s summit.

This was a gamble, but he was perfectly delighted to make this bet.

The Violet Cloud Expanse, the Supreme Heaven Defiance Canon, the Heaven-Earth Law, and the Great Dream True Scripture! These were the names of the four heart arts.

“Although I can’t use them now… when I reach Foundation Establishment one day, I’ll get the fire source, and my internal smelting furnace system will be completely set up. The Eternal Alchemy Canon will fire it all up. When the time comes, I’m not even sure how many spirit stones are going to be consumed… ‘A country to nurture a single person’? I still have to plan this out properly first.” 

Mumbling to himself for a brief moment, he decided not to handle this matter first or look at the four heart arts, either. He believed that merely on the basis of the four words ‘directly reach Nascent Soul’, these four heart arts were sure to fetch a horrific price at auction!

As his gaze swept over the final row of characters, the world echoed with a gentle swishing noise. The golden curtain in the sky, and the black-white Taiji and the Eight Trigrams on the water’s surface seemed to have never existed. Everything vanished from the area.

The lotus sea was still the lotus sea. The appearance of the flowers was as before. The ocean surface was still same.

Fahui’s fingers gently shook twice. Afterwards, his eyes also started to turn about. For the first time, he felt something was wrong. He snapped his eyes over at Xu Yangyi.

“It… disappeared?” His voice warbling, he exhaled sharply. He looked at the sky and ocean surface incredulously.

How was this possible… Moments ago, the golden screen of light pervaded the entire firmament and the black-white Eight Trigrams Taiji was on the ground… This was clearly an omen of an Animus Dao-Armament emerging! However… why had it disappeared?

He pursed his lips. His face was seemingly calm, but his eyes were in fact already searching everything in his surroundings.

On the other side, Xuan Chengzi likewise dared not believe his eyes. He was certain that he hadn’t blinked, but all the anomalies had now actually vanished into nothingness.

Not only was it these two, but Quan Ningyue, Zhao Wuye, Mao Ba’er, and Zhan Twelve looked all around in amazement. Nobody knew what had just occurred.

“Just now…” Zhao Wuye looked at Mao Ba’er, a little doubtful of himself. “I…”

“You’re not mistaken.” The husky’s canine eyes twinkled. In front of him, he gravely studied the seemingly unchanged world. “Nobody’s mistaken… It’s just that… our ‘memories’ were just ‘frozen’. So… right now, a couple of hours might’ve already passed for us or just a minute.”

“How is that…”

“Nothing is impossible…” Mao Ba’er narrowed his eyes and said, “I was just thinking about making a mark. You know, this stance of mine is pretty tricky. I just raised my third leg up… but now, my back leg is aching like it’s cramping! Based on my decades of marking perception, only this kind of possibility exists.”

“Don’t forget where this is. In this place, nothing is impossible. Only unexpected.”

Zhao Wuye sighed deeply and nodded. He came to a realization. “The mark you said you made is…”

Mao Ba’er gently coughed, his expression somewhat awkward. “All I did was pee a little… That’s just the habit of a dog’s life… Do you have to ask about the specifics of my technique?!”

Xu Yangyi was reticent. Instead, he pensively stood in his original position. He carefully recollected everything. From Danxia Temple’s hundred streams forming an image, to the lotus leaves that rushed out, and to the Animus Armament’s throbbing… He closed his eyes and gently traced his storage ring. Inside, the white dagger was silently reclining.

Finished… Everything had come to a conclusion… 

The Animus Armament was finally made whole, but while a single puzzle among the countless riddles of Danxia Temple’s inner temple appeared to be solved, nothing in fact had been unraveled.

The Animus Armament… In the end… where did it come from? In that story, why were there so many murals of the white snake? Who was at the bottom of Danxia Temple? Who carved the Yellow Springs Path? Who had constructed the thousand-meter altar? Who was the “she” that Wei Zhongxian had spoke of before he died? Who was the “me” in “save me”? And what of the person who had sealed Wei Zhongxian? Or perhaps… it was Wei Zhongxian himself?

Most importantly… Danxia Temple’s inner temple offered no true answer regarding the Animus Armament’s true secret. This caused him to feel as if he had a fish bone lodged in his throat, unable to spit out this displeasure. 

“It’ll do me no good.” He inhaled deeply and shook his head. “With my realm right now, there are still some questions that I’m better off not looking into.”

At this time, a figure arrived at his side. Seeing that Xu Yangyi was contemplating, this person didn’t speak and moreover didn’t disturb him. On the contrary, he stood there with great respect. He was like the most capable bodyguard. His movements were already as gentle as possible, but in this place, no one was able to truly rest their heart.

“Fellow Daoist.” Xu Yangyi forcibly severed his thoughts and raised a brow. “Is something the matter?”

Although Xuan Chengzi had already suffered heavy wounds to his body, he was half-kneeling on his flying sword, with incredible respect. “I, Xuan Chengzi, hope to pledge allegiance under Fellow Daoist’s banner. No matter what order!”

Xu Yangyi didn’t state his position on the matter. Xuan Chengzi’s sudden display of loyalty wasn’t in his forecast. However, he could roughly guess the gist of things. 

Dao Scripture… Dao Scripture… Since it carried the word “Dao”, in all likelihood… Xuan Chengzi knew a few things… 

Yet regardless of what he knew, Xu Yangyi was in no willing to speak to the sword-cultivator. In any case, he was even more skeptical towards Xuan Chengzi’s loyalty. Greenwall Mountain! One of the Daoism’s Three Great Ancestral Halls! The cultivation Dao sanctum of Celestial Daofather Zhang! 

Xuan Chengzi was one of the First Mountain’s Four Mountain-Protector Swords and also an inheritor. Yet all of a sudden, he expressed to Xu Yangyi that he wished to join the Xingtian Legion?

What status could the Xingtian Legion be said to possess in comparison to one of Daoism’s Three Great Ancestral Halls? Perhaps a mountain elder’s pinky could crush a provincial branch of the Featherwood Guard.

Xu Yangyi still didn’t speak. All of a sudden, his gaze flashed. 

“Fellow Daoist.” 

Just as he spoke to Xuan Chengzi, the sword-cultivator immediately cupped his hands and said, “I dare not. In the future, Fellow Daoist can just directly call out my humble name.”

Xu Yangyi nodded noncommittally. “Just now, did you see the violet talisman formations in the sky flash?”

Without any consideration, Xuan Chengzi promptly raised his head and studied the sky. After several seconds of quiet examination, he shook his head. “Not once… No…”

Before his voice even fell, though, the violet formations in the sky flashed in concert!

Fahui quickly raised his head and gazed cautiously at the sky. Apart from the dead and the unconscious, everyone else lifted up their heads.

After just recently undergoing the great battle against Wei Zhongxian, everyone held trepidation in their hearts. If a monster like Wei Zhongxian appeared again this time… none of them would be getting out alive!

Swish… Swish… In the sky itself, there was a violet formation that covered the entire firmament. However, since everyone had entered, it hadn’t pulsed once. It was like a dazzling background, yet at this moment… it stirred for the first time!

Streaks of resplendent violet light wandered about in the entire formation! After that transient flash, the formation’s radiance actually started to slowly weaken!

“Does Fellow Daoist know about this formation? Xu Yangyi asked lowly. He didn’t have much qi remaining in his body, but the amount he had left was now beginning to fully condense. 

“No.” In the same vein, Xuan Chengzi was cautious. A sword-core spiraled and darted around the duo. At the same time, Fahui’s gaze congealed without warning, and he stood in place as if a devil entered him. He was silent for a long time… and soon began to shiver all over!

Visible beads of cold sweat flowed down from his scalp. His lips were trembling, and his face was paper-white. It seemed that he wanted to say something, but from beginning to end, nothing was said.

After several seconds, he turned his head around as if he had gone crazy. Presently, he, who had never lost composure, was shouting himself hoarse. “Run!!! RUN AWAY!!! Leave this place!!!”

“Why run away?” At this time, just as his voice fell, a woman’s voice abruptly echoed throughout the entire space. “This Palace has just only escaped. You are the first living people that I have seen in thousands of years. Wouldn’t it be too much of a failure of etiquette if everyone left like this?”

“Besides… if all of you leave, how will I repay everyone’s kindness in rescuing me?” Each of her words, each of her sentences caused the world to quake! This desolate voice was heard from all around. It was like a giant was talking to everyone. Following these words, the lotuses in the lotus sea all bloomed in an instant!

A delicate fragrance wafted into everyone’s noses, but they simply weren’t of mind to appreciate it. Shortly afterwards, the wick of each lotus ignited with a finger-sized azure flame!

Swish swish swish… It was similar to the Lantern Festival. In a twinkling, the area had become brightly lit through the illumination of bewitching azure flames!

An azure-jade color shined amidst the lotuses, taking the snowy-pink flowers and dying them into a light-azure domain as far as the eye could see. In the last second, the lotuses even resembled an immortal realm, yet in the next, they seemed to be like a long avenue of ghost lanterns!

Without delay, Xuan Chengzi coldly shivered, and his face reflected an azure color. Not daring to believe, he gazed all around and said tremblingly, “Words… Words arrive and arts follow?!”