Archfiend

Chapter 57: A Fleeting Life Like an Empty Dream (2)

Xu Yangyi sucked in deeply, and he watched with his own eyes as character after character flutter on the ornamented tome. Personally watching these characters enter the bamboo scroll of golden light, he looked on as if a pair of incorporeal hands were automatically arranging the script in the sky. After everything was sorted and increased, the result saw that no character was the same! 

Boom… At this moment, a faint voice chimed out from some unknown location. “Return… to…” The voice was leagues away but extremely rich in cadence. When this chiming echoed, the color of the sky suddenly blackened!

In the next instant, a lotus ignited with a shining blaze. Subsequently, the lotus flower instantly burst into fire like it had been doused with gasoline! It wasn’t confined to this lotus… but rather… the entire lotus pond!

Craaaacckle… In a wink, half of the sky reflected the redness of flames, bringing the lotus flower ocean that stretched as far as the eye could see to shine like daytime! On the water’s surface, the reflections of flames all gently swayed! It appeared that the lotus pond water was boiling!

Xu Yangyi wasn’t alarmed. He stared unflaggingly at the bamboo slip in the sky. Whether or not this situation could be explained, was the Burning Heavens Revelation just a badly ruined secret law? If explained… was it originally this never-before-heard-of Eternal Alchemy Canon? If clarified… wasn’t this a true arcane effort lost to the long river of history? 

The Burning Heavens Revelation was already a Core Formation arcane effort. If that was so… what level was this completed Eternal Alchemy Canon? No… It wasn’t limited to just that!

Xu Yangyi sucked in deeply. From his experiences starting from the branch academy to the graduation ceremony, he was already aware as to what extent modern Alchemy Dao had fallen to. As for this arcane effort… was it possibly an alchemy one? A supplementary arcane effort?

All kinds of doubts arose in his heart. When he was in the Unrivaled Beneath the Heavens Arena, he could’ve taken the pledges of the great powers and clans at any time he desired. But in comparison to his present harvest and the complete activation of the mysterious half-chest, their promises were like firefly light contrasted to a luminous moon, unable to be mentioned together on any grounds!

As he carefully observed each character, countless bubbles suddenly erupted from underwater!

“Shit!” Without a second word, Xu Yangyi gritted his teeth and got down on his stomach on top of a lotus leaf. In the sea of lotuses, perhaps such a large movement had long since disturbed the terrifying prehistoric beast below!

SWOOSH!!! A massive wave that could flood the heavens overturned the sky. A fish tail, no less than a thousand meters long, whipped out from the sea of lotus leaves! Under the flames, the azure fish scales glimmered with a devilish brilliance! 

The fish tail rose up, blotting out the sky and concealing the earth! This simply couldn’t be a creature that could appear on Earth! Even if it was the legendary kraken of the North Sea, it was impossible to have such tremendous mass!

The sky’s brilliance was covered by the fish tail, serving as a deathly still black cloth that covered the surface. Countless lotus leaves and lotuses were sent flipping through the air in the wake of this gigantic mountain range-like fish tail. With a rumble, an explosive tide climbed up a hundred meters high like a tsunami! It charged directly at the bamboo scroll of golden light in the sky!

When the Kun Peng flaps its wings, whirlwinds and tornadoes would arise within 90,000 li. It shouldered the azure skies to look down below at the city walls of the human realm.

From extremely large to extremely small, Xu Yangyi’s pupils suddenly shrunk. He could already imagine that as the fish tail fell, a mega tsunami would erupt from the entire sea of lotuses! He was like a withered leaf within torrential rains, facing imminent crisis!

“Huff…” Life and death hanging in the balance, Xu Yangyi suddenly closed his eyes. He seemed to hear a crash, and the entire landscape before his eyes shattered. 

Thump… Thump… The violent beating of his heart seemed to resonate at the side of his ears.

Swoooosh… Heavy rain downpoured, striking his eyes and wetting his body.

Vrooooom… The sound of a car raced by from a not-so-distant location. His camouflage pants were already soaked in the heavy rain. He immediately felt a fiery pain from the injuries on his bare upper body. His entire skeleton seemed to be broken, and he couldn’t even summon an iota of strength.

His present location was a small mountain at the side of a highway. There were trees growing all over, and he just happened to be on a hilltop. From this location, a few vehicle headlights could be seen on the highway and a nearby thinly spread metropolitan area. 

Below, not a skyscraper could be seen, representing that the lighting magnitude of the population concentration was frighteningly sparse. At least, that was what Xu Yangyi who had just been at Fengyi City believed.

“Heh…” He exhaled with trepidation, and his heart pounded fiercely. The scenery moments ago seemed to be just before him. He could even still clearly remember the thousand-meter-long fish tail that could overturn rivers and seas, as if that landscape was a natural disaster. 

It seemed to have been a lifetime ago.

Was that scene just now real or fake? Was that experience an illusion or fantasy? If it was a fantasy, why did he remember everything so clearly? Nevertheless, it wasn’t important.

He tested out his qi sea; it was completely void. On the contrary, though, the bullet in his chest had faded away, but his current “reserve” of qi was almost nil. With such grave injuries, and without qi to mend his body, Xu Yangyi knew that if he laid down here that while he wouldn’t die, he would surely come down with a serious illness.

Gritting his teeth, he turned over. Facing the torrential downpour of the night sky, a weak smile surprisingly hung from the corner of his mouth. 

“Hehehe…” He began to only laugh gently, but finally he faced the heavens and howled in laughter, “HAHAHA!” 

Everything else was unimportant. What was important was that he’d survived. From the midst of hellish tempering, he had survived! All the Foundation Establishment cultivators had been exterminated and the amount of dead Qi Condensation cultivators and mortals numbered in the thousands. It could be said this was the first major incident in close to thirty years!

He had continued to live, and moreover, even ruthlessly beat up Vermilion Snow.

A painful sensation passed through his entire body, ceaselessly reminding him that this was proof of his existence.

“Huff…” He inhaled deeply, feeling strength slowly return to his body. Familiar qi began to bore into his qi sea strand by strand, and he shut his eyes. His first order of business wasn’t to circulate his arcane effort but rather immediately arrange his thoughts. 

Being the first place of a branch wasn’t so simple. He had to be outstanding countless of times in live combat training. He was tossed alone on uncharted islands filled with demons an unknown number of times. Over a decade of hell training had allowed him to cultivate a very good habit. 

Fearless to assume, but even more fearless to confirm.

If the Burning Heavens Revelation was a splintered fragment picked out from this “Eternal Alchemy Canon”… 

Wasn’t this section the prime arcane effort of an apex cultivator in this world? In that case, what was the power of the intact Eternal Alchemy Canon? What was its rank?

Almost without a sliver doubt, Xu Yangyi immediately began to recall each character of the Eternal Alchemy Canon, taking advantage of time while he still hadn’t forgotten it. If this arcane effort was assumed to be true… then, his key to treading into this world’s great gate would surpass everyone’s imagination!

This… was quite possibly an arcane effort that transcended the current world’s pinnacle! Beyond Core Formation!

Success would be taken from details, riches and honor would be sought out amidst danger!

Cultivation was to defy the heavens with all of one’s life! One who was fearful of the slightest thing and overly cautious would forever be incapable of reaching the other shore! [1]

Perhaps this chance was only a sliver, but he had to seriously concentrate on it! After all, if he seized onto it, it would be a genuine Mark Six! [2] 

Just as this thought surfaced, a golden brilliance appeared without slightest warning in his spiritual sense. Golden characters neatly floated into view within his mind. The title was the Eternal Alchemy Canon!

Xu Yangyi’s gaze deepened a bit. The Eternal Alchemy Canon had actually been carved into his mind! He sucked in deeply and his qi sunk into his dantian. He suddenly sat down.

Shhh… A sound gently rang out, and an object rolled out onto the ground from his body. He looked on in shock; it was surprisingly the half-chest that had disappeared. 

Xu Yangyi looked complicatedly at this item. It had caused his qi sea to expand limitlessly. While he presently couldn’t figure it out, it even provided him with some advantages. However, following the progressive increase of his realm and the increasing depth of his cultivation, it was akin to drinking poison to quench thirst!

And yet, it had saved his life during a calamity. What was the meaning of Vermilion Snow shouting “Emperor Armament”? This item… in the end, was it good or bad? Was it a secret treasure or deadly nightshade?

“Although I don’t know what the heck you are…” He laughed grimly as he put the box into his pocket. “This ain’t the academy, and I got ten thousand kinds of methods to get a clean hold of your origin.”

Peering into the distance as far as his eyes could stretch, his gaze reached a place with waning lights. While the heavy downpour concealed the sky, it was unable to obstruct the bright scenery of the human realm.

Snap… His fist made a cracking noise as a knuckle was squeezed. His gaze had already turned fiery. A tiger was left free to reign in the mountains and forests! A dragon roamed about in the great sea!

This human realm, this world, this was the moment he had at last truly set foot in it! With the status of a demon slayer! With the status of an avenger! With the status of a cultivator! 

And with the status as a human, Xu Yangyi’s status.

He didn’t do anything else, rather beginning to calmly meditate. No less than an hour later, he felt the rain truly immerse his skin in icy-coldness. It was then that he stood up.

The initial stage of Qi Condensation was still not the time one could fast. It wasn’t until the late stage could one be detached from the life of an ordinary person. 

“I have come…” His gaze swept over four staring shadows within the rainy night, and he grinned. “Be careful, demons.”

In his qi sea, a layer of weak qi was roiling. Although he had only restored approximately one percent of his qi, the feeling of cultivating under rain wasn’t all too great. In particular...

His gaze cast towards a few shadows in the city. Was there not an even better place to rest…? 

At this time, a tree behind him split into two with a crash. Just as he turned his head, a boy wearing a high schooler’s uniform suddenly appeared from the parted area. To say it was a boy was not completely correct.

The boy’s skin was quite good, but he shockingly had two pointed ears on his head and a pair of dark-green slitted pupils. His hand was black with thick hair. Because his mouth was opened half wide in astonishment, his steel-needle-like teeth could be seen filling the inside. 

Evidently, the high schooler also hadn’t expected someone would be here. The boy’s shock lasted for less than half a second, and his first response was to let loose a low wolf’s howl from his throat. Subsequently, his four limbs touched the ground, his body arched, and he seemed to immediately want to pounce forth. 

Xu Yangyi didn’t move at all. The boy’s transformation just now… was simply outrageously weak. Even if he only had one percent of his qi right now, he wouldn’t even need thirty seconds to handle the thing before him. That was, if it dared to take the initiative to attack.

However, in the next second, as the boy prepared to pounce, the front half of his arched body abruptly hunched down to the ground as if he had quickly sensed something. His fierce howl surprisingly forced itself to become a kind of cute sound, and he incessantly wagged his stiff tail. 

Spare my life! This was the boy’s first reaction, just as he was preparing to attack! From his shock, he had only wanted to make this man who had mysteriously appeared in front of him to pass out and leave things be. But he cautiously felt… 

From snout to tail, he was exuding a cold sweat!

How was this possible?! How could such a terrifying human cultivator appear in this kind of remote location!? An elite of the Featherwood Guard? A special agent of the CSIB? A manager-level figure of the Bountiful Treasures Pavilion?! Or perhaps he was a weird reclusive professor of Heavens Law?

His heart almost skipped!

“You’re pretty smart.” Xu Yangyi looked at the boy, who was on all fours and tirelessly wagging his tail, and laughed, “My impression of demons has never been very good, especially now.”

Xu Yangyi’s laughter was quite soft, yet the boy on the ground felt his entire body tremble. The wolf-demon buried his head deep in a pile of wet leaves and mud. He dared not raise it at all. 

“Fiend, behold my magik treasure!” Before Xu Yangyi’s voice even subsided, the voice of a delicate young girl shouting could be heard loud and clear from the forest.

Xu Yangyi narrowed his eyes. Magik treasure? This word evoked his interest. Unless one was at Foundation Establishment, how could a magik treasure possibly be used? In addition...

The aura chasing from behind was no different from this weak wolf!

And thus… he saw a trembling peachwood sword, worn-out and dilapidated, with a 300 RMB Demon Breaking Talisman suspended on it, carried by an incredibly frail qi that was staggering like an eighty-year-old grandma, coming towards his direction. [3]

1. Interesting to note that the word for “other shore” has the meaning of paramita, a buddhist idea of perfection or completeness. This is Daoist, so I left it as “other shore”.

2. Mark Six is a Hong Kong lottery game. In the lottery, there are six drawn balls and one extra ball. Getting all six drawn ball numbers means getting “Mark Six”. I don’t think I need to explain how insanely lucky this is.

3. Historically, peachwood is known as the anti-demon wood.