Archfiend

Chapter 236: Danxia Temple (55)

Riddles were solved, one by one.

“Senior met him long ago?” Fahai gritted his teeth and said. His expression was already terrible gloomy.

Xiaoqing sneered, not looking at him at all. Instead, she looked at Xu Yangyi and laughed, “Junior, do you know why the first four of the Heavenly Opening Six Erosions didn’t affect you?”

Xu Yangyi schooled his features and shook his head. “No.”

Yu Qinglin gently waved her hand. “Look at your lost left arm.”

Xu Yangyi lowered his head and looked. His gaze suddenly glimmered! Her wave seemed to disperse a seal on his body. He shockingly discovered… that the place where his arm was severed wasn’t bone! On the contrary… 

It was a lotus root! A snow-white lotus root! As for his flesh, bones, and blood, a kind of texture of lotus leaves and seawater actually emerged in his wounds!

“Several years ago, you came here.” Yu Qinglin studied Xu Yangyi’s wounds in satisfaction and said indifferently, “At that time, you had already been seriously injured by an unknown junior. If I hadn’t acted and reforged your entire body with lotus flowers, do you think… that you would’ve managed survive until now, based on the condition of your wounds from back then?”

“This is my demon art, belonging to only my sect, the first boundary of the Lotus Reincarnation. In this magik are profound mysteries unable to be narrated.” She smiled. “As long as you help me escape… I am ready to completely hand over this divine ability to you.”

“This has long since not been our first encounter.” She turned her head and looked at Fahai whose face was deathly ashen. “On that day… I squeezed in a bodhi seed in this Junior’s mind as one of my contingencies. This object… is a rare treasure. His thoughts were leagues faster and more careful because of it. Junior…”

Pleased, she studied Fahai’s expression and turned her head to look at Xu Yangyi. “In these past years, have you not thought that you are usually calm and unperturbed? Similar to the thoughts of Foundation Establishment and even Core Formation juniors? Even if they were quicker-minded, others wouldn’t be able to ponder ideas and concepts. But you can think of anything in the blink of an eye, can’t you?” 

So that’s how it was!

Xu Yangyi sucked in deeply. His nature was inherently cool-headed. He didn’t feel too much regarding this, but his mind did indeed infer many things from a single case. The might of his fleshly body was also far greater than in the past!

Unexpectedly, he had acted as Xiaoqing’s chess piece and had his body transformed in those three years. Another riddle solved again!

He wordlessly eyed Xiaoqing. I really don’t know… if you waited until you knew my choice… knowing it was because of your bodhi seed that made me think of so many things… what kind of reaction would you have?

“Pull out the sword in my chest.” Xiaoqing’s gaze had long since become incomparably scorching. A wait of 3,000 years… was at last going to become reality… Upon thinking of this, she was almost unable to restrain herself from facing upwards and screaming!

“I promise you that as long as I escape, I will accept you as a personal disciple. The people here…” Her gaze faintly swept through. “I promise to protect their advancement to Core Formation.”

Core Formation!

Everyone’s breathing became unsteady. What kind of realm was able to speak bluntly about protecting someone until Core Formation? 

All of a sudden, two rays of red light shot out from Fahai’s eyes! With a speed that Xu Yangyi was simply unable to dodge, the beams arced forth like electricity!

Fahai seemed to still want to sharpen the might of the spiritual light, but his cheeks twitched and he was no longer able to budge. Yet even like so, as these two rays of light shined in Xu Yangyi’s eyes, the demon slayer knew that avoiding them was definitely beyond his skill!

The rays appeared not to be large, only as thick as an arm, but they contained a kind of power that caused Xu Yangyi’s heart to shudder! Leaving aside being swept away a little if Xu Yangyi let these two beams hit him, the end result would see him annihilated into cinders!

“The great courage of a dog,” Xiaoqing sneered and likewise spat out an azure light from her mouth. Unexpectedly, even though it was launched last, it arrived first. The light intercepted the two red glints ahead of Xu Yangyi. Immediately… 

BOOM! Violent shaking rang out! Xu Yangyi hadn’t made any preparations whatsoever. Or perhaps it should be said that while he prepared, his body was basically unable to follow suit. In front of his eyes, a giant orb of spiritual light suddenly exploded!

The two moves formed a qi fluctuation. Xiaoqing didn’t move by a hair, yet in an instant, the wave stopped at Xu Yangyi, who was in his original position. It was akin to a squall blowing towards a bird’s nest. In a twinkling, he was directly flushed out several hundred meters away!

“Puh!” Xu Yangyi sprayed out a mouthful of blood. The view above him was all gold and black. He couldn’t see anything clearly at all. His chest felt as if it had been struck by a 10,000-catty heavy hammer! He didn’t scream because even now his mind hadn’t reacted, owing to the fact that the fall-back speed of this impact was too fast. In the sky, he actually took the shape of a straight line!

“Angry because you are ashamed?” Xiaoqing giggled, her laughter like silver bells. She spat out an azure ray again. In the next second, Xu Yangyi’s eyes flashed and the surrounding space flickered. To his surprise, he oddly returned in front of Xiaoqing!

“Puh!” Beyond his control, a mouthful of blood sprayed out from between his lips. A scorching pain was felt in his chest, and his heartbeat was strangely fast. His complexion seemed as white as paper.

Fahai gazed at him icily, not saying a word.

Xu Yangyi piloted the Chasing Skylark and flew thousands of meters away with his fastest speed. Xiaoqing laughed grimly, “No harm, stay behind me. His trifling divine ability is unable to wound me by the slightest fraction.”

“Senior.” Only when Xu Yangyi saw that he was a sufficient distance away did he take a deep breath. He cupped his hands. “But Junior isn’t planning on undoing the seal for Senior Yu.”

In an instant, a deathly stillness, bringing the heart to quiver, enveloped the entire landscape. Xiaoqing’s voice faintly echoed, a brief moment later. “To dare take This Palace as a joke… you are the first.”

“You know, you will be trapped here forever if you do not undo the seal. You must be aware… that if there is no follow-through to the Lotus Reincarnation divine ability, you will stop at the first level for all eternity, yes?”

Xu Yangyi laughed. Neither side’s seal was to be undone, yet Fahai and Yu Qinglin absolutely wouldn’t let go of such a good opportunity! They truly wouldn’t act to injure the people here at all!

People would eventually hold concerns. If they held concerns, they would hold misgivings. The concerns of these two prisoners were greater than everyone else’s! Their misgivings… were also greater than all others!

“But we might not necessarily be trapped here forever.” Xu Yangyi curbed his smile and gritted his teeth. “Junior still wants to try.”

Xiaoqing let out a stream of mirthless chuckles. Try… Come, try… This is the bottom of Danxia Temple, those who have entered cannot be considered many! They can be counted on one’s fingers! Escape was her long-cherished wish. She had already waited for several millennia. She didn’t care to wait another century! Maybe...

She coldly eyed Xu Yangyi. Maybe when you advance to Foundation Establishment, you will ask to leave… Even if you’re unable to reach Foundation Establishment, I will still guide your Foundation Establishment myself. It’ll be no more than thirty years. I… can still wait.

But in the next second, her pupils suddenly needled!

Xu Yangyi faced behind and shouted out, “You’re not coming out now? What are you still waiting for?”

There’s someone here? Xiaoqing nearly broke out into a cold sweat. How was this possible?! Those who she couldn’t detect were all ancient cultivators who had lived longer than her! Nonetheless, hadn’t all these ancient cultivators disappeared?

Prompt, she shook her head. Impossible… From the information brought back from her avatar, she also knew. This era was the End of Days. Core Formation was already the apex. Of those who lived even longer than her, which one wasn’t a legendary myth? How could they still be alive on Earth?

The sky was a silent domain. After ten seconds passed, a delicate voice quietly rang out, “Immortal-Master Xu’s thoughts are meticulous. You have my unmatched admiration.”

“It’s you?!” At this time, Xiaoqing and Fahai simultaneously cried out in alarm!

Yes… they were both concealing the truth… Fahai was hiding the truth of the Legend of the White Snake. The instant the seal was undone, he was bound to kill everyone. Yet Xiaoqing… was hiding this person. And also… the enormous secret hidden and buried behind him!

“You actually haven’t died yet?” Fahai’s face had already transformed into a stretch of icy-coldness. “Why didn’t This Sage Lord and Senior not sense your existence? If you are alive…” Fahai’s grinding teeth clenched aloud. “Why… You answered me but didn’t come to my rescue!!!”

Everyone else was dumbfounded. There was someone else… There truly was someone else! Xu Yangyi’s deduction… surprisingly wasn’t wrong! And this person… They’d actually heard his voice! Not too long ago!

Wei Zhongxian! Li Jinzhong!

A figure stepped on the water, unhurriedly floating. He had yet to arrive, and his hand gently waved. A brilliant dagger had already flown above Xu Yangyi and the rest. Following a humming sound, a golden protective-screen activated and confined everyone inside it!

“Emperor Armament!” In an instant, Xiaoqing’s complexion was seized by ugliness. Wei Zhongxian… his authority had overturned both the imperial court and the common masses. The Emperor Armament that he brought out was unquestionably rare!

At the very least… she felt a brilliant imperial might from this sword! This was an Emperor Armament that she couldn’t break and moreover kill everyone in her present sealed state!

The blade seemed to be considering her current realm, like it was taking her measurements for an order!

“The corpse… is alive?” Eyes blank and tongue tied, Mao Ba’er watched Wei Zhongxian. Wei Zhongxian appeared as if he’d just walked out from his coffin, vivid and lifelike. Furthermore, both of his eyes weren’t lifeless, but rather expressive and twinkling.

At this moment, he possessed consciousness!

“This slave Wei Zhongxian greets Master.” Wei Zhongxian floated below Xu Yangyi. Without pause, he kneeled down and knocked his head against the water’s surface.

“It’s him… It’s really him!” From head to toe, Zhao Wuye trembled in shock and confusion. A little while ago, he’d thought to himself that if a third person was said to be here… only this person would be capable of bringing a late-Ming text, while giving Fahai such a detailed explanation. In that case… this person could be none other than Wei Zhongxian!

Xu Yangyi took a step back and shook his head. Chaotically tangled and unbroken by shears, this thread had finally exposed Wei Zhongxian’s true and complete appearance.

Three people… In this place, there were three people from the very beginning! One human, one demon, and one dead man. As Wei Zhongxian appeared, the last riddle also received answer!

Xu Yangyi was able to guess with seventy-to-eighty-percent certainty that Wei Zhongxian’s reverence was bound to be related to the Animus Armament. Nonetheless, he couldn’t take such respect as a matter of due course. At the very least, before he clarified the eunuch’s intentions, he absolutely couldn’t. Especially… 

If he could make Wei Zhongxian kneel in front of him and obey… then what could he be considered as?

Such a feeling was quite subtle… 

“I am not a cultivator.” Wei Zhongxian’s smile was unique, like it had been intentionally practiced. Those who saw it felt this smile was akin to spring winds brushing the floor. He faced Xu Yangyi and bowed deeply. “I am only a mortal. How could I stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Immortal Master? You are a celestial-like figure above the nine heavens. For me to be able to see your visage is already the blessed fortune of several cultivated lifetimes.”

“Wei Zhongxian…” Xiaoqing closed her eyes, her teeth grinding as she shouted out his name, “Since you are alive… why did you not fulfill your promise from that time?”

“Oh my… this could be said that I was hard-pressed to do so.” Wei Zhongxian’s old face was smiling as before. “I am only His Majesty’s dog. Whatever His Majesty had me do is what I did… Could the two celestials be unaware that in the Imperial Palace Courtyard, His Majesty’s prestige, concerning we who acted as dogs and horses, was much stronger than an immortal’s…?”

“Wei Zhongxian.” Fahai used an ice-cold gaze to study the revived corpse. “Then why… didn’t we feel your existence?”

“Of course the immortals wouldn’t sense my existence…” Wei Zhongxian laughed, “I am a dead man. You two are immortals; how could you possibly sense a dead man’s qi?”

No one spoke any further. In the end, those who were alive in Danxia Temple—or perhaps not—had all gathered together.

The matter that Xiaoqing and Fahai were concealing… was ultimately about to be exposed on the water’s surface. The current mood was incredibly solemn. Xiaoqing and Fahai were silent. Wei Zhongxian was one who was skilled at discerning thoughts from body language and moreover wouldn’t speak. As for the people on Xu Yangyi’s side, they were still more astonished by this strange assembly before their eyes. For a while, they didn’t know what to say.

After ages, Xu Yangyi took the lead to speak, “Grandpa Wei… was it you that made the wall carvings?”

“To answer Master’s words.” Even now, Wei Zhongxian hadn’t stood up from the water’s surface. Upon hearing Xu Yangyi speak, he said softly, “It was this slave that carved them… but I just heard both of the immortals tell a story. It just so happens that I also have a tale. I am unaware if Master wants to listen.”