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 towards Xu Yangyi and laughed: “Junior, do you know why the first four of the Heavenly Opening Six Erosions didn’t affect you?”

Xu Yangyi forced everything about his expression to be calm as usual and shooks 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! This 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 recasted your entire body with lotus flowers, do you think… that you would be able to live up to now now based on the condition of your wounds from back then?”

“This is my sect-exclusive demon art, the Lotus Reincarnation’s first boundary. 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 towards Fahai whose face was deathly ashen: “On that day… I squeezed in a bodhi seed in this junior’s mind as one of my back-ups. This object… is a rare treasure. His thoughts were incomparably faster and more careful because of this. Junior…”

Pleased, she studied Fahai’s expression and turned her head to look at Xu Yangyi: “In these past years, haven’t you thought that you are usually calm and unperturbed? Similar to the thoughts of Foundation Establishment and even Core Formation juniors? Even if they were more quick-minded, others wouldn’t be able to think of things. But you can think of them 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 was 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 a reality… Upon thinking of this, she was almost unable to restrain herself from looking upwards and shouting!

“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 a person until Core Formation? At this time, two rays of red light shot out from both of Fahai’s eyes without warning! With a speed Xu Yangyi was simply incapable of dodging, it arced forth like electricity!

However, Fahai seemed to still want to sharpen this spiritual light’s might. Nonetheless, 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, he knew that avoiding it was certainly beyond his means!

The rays appeared not be large, only the as thick as an arm, but they contained a kind of power that caused Xu Yangyi’s heart to shudder! Leaving aside being swept a little if he let these two rays 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. It intercepted the two red glints ahead of Xu Yangyi. Immediately… 

BOOM! A violent shaking rang out! Xu Yangyi hadn’t made any preparations at all. Or perhaps it should be said that while he prepared, his body was essentially 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 front of 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. It was because 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’re 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 dazzled. To his surprise, he oddly returned in front of Xiaoqing!

“Puh!” Beyond his control, a mouthful of blood sprayed out from his mouth. A scorching pain was felt in his chest and the speed of 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 the 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 palpitate, enveloped the entire landscape. After a brief moment, Xiaoqing’s voice faintly echoed: “To dare take This Palace as a joke… you are the first.”

“You know, you’ll be trapped here forever if you don’t undo the seal. You know… if there is no follow-up to the Lotus Reincarnation divine ability, you will stop at the first level for all eternity?”

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 present people at all!

People would eventually hold concerns. If they held concerns, they would hold misgivings. The concerns of these two people 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 laughed mirthlessly again and again. Try… Come, try… This is the bottom of Danxia Temple, the people 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 millennium. She didn’t care to wait another century! Maybe...

She coldly eyed Xu Yangyi. Maybe when you advance to Foundation Establishment, you’ll ask to leave… Even if you’re unable to reach Foundation Establishment, I’ll 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?

Immediately, 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 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 Legend of the White Snake’s truth. 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 still haven’t died?” 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’re alive…” A clenching noise echoed from Fahai’s grinding teeth: “Why… You answered me but didn’t come to rescue me!!!”

The others were all dumbfounded. There was someone else… There truly was someone else! Xu Yangyi’s deduction… surprisingly wasn’t wrong! And this person… They had 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 absolutely uncommon!

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!

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

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

At the 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 on the water’s surface.

“It’s him… It’s really him!” Zhao Wuye trembled all over in shock and confusion. Moments ago, he had thought… that if a there was a third person said to be here, this person would be able to take a late-Ming composition and give Fahai such a detailed explanation. In that case… this person could be no one else but 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 whole 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 an answer!

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

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

Such a feeling was quiet subtle… 

“I am not a cultivator.” Wei Zhongxian’s smile was unique like it had been intentionally practiced. It caused those who saw it to feel that 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’re alive… why didn’t you 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 celestial immortals 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 him: “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 possible sense a dead man’s qi?”

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

The thing 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 didn’t speak. Wei Zhongxian was a person good 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 did 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.”