Archfiend

Chapter 406: Dharmadhatu (10)

“Master Xu, what do we do now?” Zu Huai’en turned his head and asked, unwilling to look at the bloody scene in front of him.

“Now, only one question remains.” Xu Yangyi was already ten meters away from the group. His hand gently waved, and the obsidian-black body of his Emperor Armament appeared in his hand again. The sword point was aimed at everyone present. “Who are all of you?”

Everyone stared blankly. A couple seconds passed, and Zhao Ziqi floated over in doubt. Big bro, what do you mean?

“Take one more step, and I’ll kill you on the spot,” Xu Yangyi said without a trace of emotion. “Maybe none of you can see.”

“But I can!” His gaze swept through everyone. “You pack of monsters want to deceive me?”

In his gaze, a black thread was connected in between the middle of everyone’s eyebrows!

And this black thread led straight to his dantian. It seemed that they were being absorbed by something!

Indeed, something was drawing the black threads in, the Azurecloud Seed! It was already turning pitch-black! The endless black qi hovering over it turned the egg into a black cocoon!

Ten spirit threads… Zhao Ziqi, Moonless, Cui Xusheng, Shao Yufeng, Mu Yang, First Rat, Second Ox, Ninth Monkey, Seventh Horse… there was no exception! In addition, they couldn’t sense that with each fluctuation of these black spirit threads that their figures would imperceptibly shrink by a portion!

They… were absolutely not human!

“Fellow Daoist, have you misunderstood…?” Moonless furrowed his brows and advanced towards Xu Yangyi, but the demon slayer hacked down without any hesitation as Moonless entered the Animus Armament’s range.

Swoosh… Moonless’s expression was startled. Following this sword, his entire figure slowly faded apart in the air like black sand.

Xu Yangyi deeply eyed the Azurecloud Seed. In his mind, there was a connection that not even he dared to believe!

Regardless, only this connection clearly explained the situation at hand!

The Azurecloud Seed had been obtained from Butterflymother Southflower herself, and she was most skilled at traversing dream realms and reincarnation through another’s body. These words had originally been said by Xiaoqing. Furthermore, Xu Yangyi remembered very well from the Eternal Alchemy Canon that the Azurecloud Seed evolved into a Dream Eater. The first condition was through countless spirit stones. And the second… 

The engulfment of a Core Formation-level Nightmare!

Although he didn’t know what a Nightmare was, he risked confirming now that the Azurecloud Seed was swallowing something. Along with its swallowing, he could distinctly feel that the Azurecloud Seed’s qi was getting stronger and stronger. Although the rate was so slow, it didn’t stop.

Butterflymother Southflower. Dream. Azurecloud Seed. Between these three parties, there was a hazy connection.

“In other words… I’ve been in a dream this entire time?”

“In that case, everything that I ran into before that didn’t make sense, the endless reincarnation of death, the instant rise of realms, Nalan Liusu, and Daomaster Ancientpine… why these things showed up can all be explained.”

“But the Azurecloud Seed has been like this since I entered the Clearcloud Realm. Is it possible… that I’ve been in a dream since then?”

Twenty years of bitter cultivation, A Thousand Li Invincible, the Heavenly Opening Six Erosions, Foundation Establishment… all of it was a dream?!

“I… don’t believe it!”

He was unwilling to believe it, and also unable to!

But if all of this was impossible, what ultimately remained was the truth. This dream, now confronted with all of this, could only be resolved in one way.

“Even if this is a dream… I’ll turn this dream into reality!” he sucked in heavily, his gaze like fire. Following Moonless’s “disintegration”, everyone around him seemed to turn completely dumb like puppets on strings.

“There’s definitely truth to this dream. I don’t believe that Great Sage Sun, Bladevessel, the Gold-Banded Staff, and all of this could be dreamed up by that old monster.” The imprint of ten fire-dragons curled upon the Animus Armament. The sword tip rose up, pointed straight down at his feet. “I want to see… what the hell this damn thing is! I’ll bring it into this long and terrible dream!”

“TEN CARDINALS PURGATORY!!!”

BOOM!!! Purple fire followed the armament’s downward thrust and detonated in an instant! Fire reached out everywhere, up, down, left, and right, to north, south, east, and west, and to past and future. In this feast of flames, everything around was similar to a candle, melting away like ice and snow.

“Who first sensed the great dream… all of my life I myself knew.” In the fire, he reared his head back and screamed to the heavens. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a dream or not. I’m going to break this fabrication, and move to reality!”

Crash!!! Following this noise, countless spider-web cracks sprung up wherever the tip of his sword made contact. Three seconds later, a tremendous boom rang out! Endless Buddhist light shot out from underground! Again, Xu Yangyi was forced to close his eyes.

He could sense nothing underneath him. Very soon, he plummeted down.

The fall was fast, but it didn’t give him any sense of discomfort. On the contrary, he felt peaceful and tranquil, as if even falling was a kind of pleasure.

In the endless golden light, he was like a fish returned to water. Oddly… he could actually “see” something now!

And that… was star atlases!

Countless star atlases were embedded in the vast cosmos. Some were deep-black without light, and some gave off waves of gentle brilliance. These specks of light were large, and all of them were golden. In these continents, or perhaps planets, that emitted gentle light, there were blue lines. These lines enveloped both heaven and earth, and there were no less than a hundred of them.

However, at the side of these giant blue dots of light, another several hundred lines extended out and linked somewhere else deeper into the universe. Their objective were all dots of green light. At the same time, a few small red dots also appeared.

The entire star atlas covered the entire world. It was unclear how big it was, but… Xu Yangyi saw that the final destination of all star atlases was connected to a dot of light at the very middle.

The dot of light… was dark-gold in color! And in the dot of light, a planet was slowly turning.

It was sky-blue, incomparably familiar. Xu Yangyi had seen it many, many times in magazines, or watched it on television.

Earth!

It was unknown why, or maybe it could be said to be a kind of wondrous feeling, but Xu Yangyi knew. All of this was real! Absolutely real without any falsehood! Without half a bit of pretense!

Swoosh… He was like a feather, floating for an unknown length of time. Finally, he landed on the ground.

As he opened his eyes, he looked on in shock at the blue sky in front of him. There was no sun, but the rays of light were very gentle, and white clouds drifted. Underneath him was a lawn of soft grass.

“What is this place?” He stood up doubtfully. As far as his eyes could see, the lawn in front of him went straight to the limitless horizon. Moreover, it was extremely level and even! He couldn’t see an end in sight!

There were no mountains, and there was no water, only a lawn that spread out like a sea, and wildflowers that dotted the ground like motes of starlight.

With a deep breath, he turned around. Afterwards, his gaze suddenly brightened. Something different had finally appeared in front of him!

They… were two trees!

Two great trees that were massive, their branches and leaves plentiful and lush!

They twisted together, but didn’t give one a feeling of dread. Instead… one felt peaceful and serene. As if the morning’s rising sun was gazed upon, leaving the heart at ease. Only a rueful sigh remained.

The treetop extended over a hundred meters. Suspicious, Xu Yangyi walked over to the trees. This was the only place different here.

As he walked closed and closed, he suddenly saw that there was actually a person under the tree!

An old monk!

He wore tattered clothes, and his face was old. His gaze was no longer clear, but neither was it muddled. As if he blended into this world, he flashed away in a moment. He simply couldn’t be seen.

But above all else… he was alive!

Xu Yangyi gritted his teeth and soared up. Without any obstruction, he flew directly towards the trees' canopy.

Several minutes later, his foot softly touched the lawn. In this instant, the old monk also opened his eyes at the same time.

“Amitabha…” The old monk’s gaze settled over Xu Yangyi. “It has been centuries… but someone has at least seen through fabrication and reached this place. But I never would’ve foreseen… that a mere Foundation Establishment fellow Daoist would be the one to arrive. And this fellow Daoist’s qi should be the one who opened the seal.”

Xu Yangyi didn’t relax. This old monk appeared ordinary, but he didn’t conceal his cultivation at all.

Great Circle Foundation Establishment!

“How is Fellow Daoist addressed?”

“This poor monk’s Buddhist title is Enihilus.” The old man looked calm, but no matter how he tried to hide the disappointment in his gaze he couldn’t. Still, he asked with a trace of expectation, “Benefactor doesn’t have the aura of the Clearcloud Realm. You should be one of an upper realm. Dare I ask, Benefactor… how do you rank in the upper realm?” [1]

He stared fixedly into Xu Yangyi’s eyes, and Xu Yangyi said indifferently, “I have no ranking.”

No ranking!

Enihilus’s throat shivered, and he then made a long sigh. “Dare I ask Benefactor… how do you compare to the ancient cultivators five centuries ago?” 

“Not as good.”

“Not as good?! Not as good, but you dare speak?!?! What qualifications do you have to set foot here?!” At this time, an angry shout echoed from all around, jolting space so that it droned. “Insignificant Foundation Establishment! You talk big! Do you know that once that thing below wakes up, it can exterminate you with a flip of the hand?! That it can crush you to death no different than an insect?! If not for you, how could’ve This Throne and my fellow Daoist get caught up in this current predicament?!”

Angry curses spewed out non-stop, and golden light shone in front of Xu Yangyi. In the blink of an eye, a middle-aged man with a great beard appeared, his entire body emitting splendid light. His upper body was bare, and he was covered with scars. His eyes were like lightning, locked onto Xu Yangyi, and his voice continued to get louder. “Don’t you know how to use your big brain to think! If it was so simple to be able to come here, how could it be your turn?!”

“How many of Earth’s elites have come?! Yet none of them paid attention to this place? An entity that no one dares to swallow! Yet you dared?! Didn’t you know to use your pitiful thought process to consider why?! You think you’re one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors? Bullshit!!!” The man suddenly spat on the ground. “An insect like you has the qualifications to set foot here?! Enihilus! Why did you let this thing that doesn’t know of heaven and earth’s immensity in?! Answer me!!!”

Enihilus didn’t refute the man’s words, only chanting. “According to reason, any who can see through the fabrication has the qualifications to enter this place…”

“That’s only cultivators at or above Core Formation! Who fucking knows how this idiot saw through! Those under Core Formation only get the chance to come here in case they walk into dogshit luck! The Clearcloud Realm’s in a state of emergency, and you go and pull over this trash?!”

1. I had a very hard time trying to come out with a good name for the monk. His full name is “Comprehension Extermination”, 悟灭. In the end, I settled on Enihilus. Enlightenment + Annihilation. The “-lus” ending is something I just went with (much like how Kongzi = Confucius, and Mengzi = Mencius). Sounds better than just leaving it in pinyin “Wumie”.