Archfiend

All was serene inside Yue Congrao’s magik treasure.

Xu Yangyi calmly took account of his body. Last time in the Clearcloud Realm, his qi was already very close to late Foundation Establishment. The Spirit Forbiddance Pill was such a profound formula. As long as he refined it, he would definitely have the hope to break through to the late stage.

He surveyed the area. The inside was a simple white stone room, and the surface carved full of blue runes. Apart from this, there was a pre-prepared pile of heavenly treasures.

“This is… a high-level Spirit Focusing Formation? And the refinement materials for the Spirit Forbiddance Pill?” He narrowed his eyes. “Daomaster Yue really did spend a lot of hard-earned capital for the Spirit Forbiddance Pill.”

He swiped his storage ring, and the pill furnace which had always accompanied him flew out. There were already a few hairline cracks on some parts of the exterior. This was the pill furnace he purchased when he was Qi Condensation, until presently it was no longer suited for Foundation Establishment pills.

“The qi for any kind of Foundation Establishment pill is pretty big. A low-level pill furnace won’t be able to take the spiritual impact when the pill is created.” He slowly stroked the cracks that represented the path he traversed on the Dao of Pills. He contemplated and said, “Looks like I’ll have to swap out once I finish refining the Spirit Forbiddance Pill.”

Seated in front of the pill furnace, he didn’t immediately merge with the Divine Flame of Conviction. Instead, his fingers tapped out continuously in the air, and azure Chinese characters emerged. On and on, he wrote a great amount. Afterwards, he waved, and they all floated away.

These were the cultivation materials for A Thousand Li Invincible. He didn’t get to work at once, but rather read Yue Congrao’s scroll word by word.

This was possibly the first actual and ancient formula that he’d seen up to now. Much of the Eternal Alchemy Canon’s knowledge and this ancient formula was mutual, allowing his understanding towards the Dao of Pills to deepen by a fraction.

“1,500 years ago, this was the Gu-training art of Yunnan’s Zhao Clan… I once read about it in the Eternal Alchemy Canon…”

“This was the pill-hammering art of Jinling’s Liu Clan 700 years ago, but now a section is used for compaction?”

“And here, 1,200 years ago, the pill-congealing secret of Hebei’s Cao Clan… but now it’s used to pair together with other pill-forming arts?”

The several-meter-sized scroll floated ahead. Xu Yangyi entered a meditative state. As soon as he started reading, he looked on for an unknown length of time. It wasn’t until he stowed his gaze did his face become incomparably serious, devoid of the slightest trace of calm.

“Ridiculous… I can’t even imagine this!”

“If I hadn’t seen it myself, I wouldn’t have been able to imagine that this was a concoction method for a seal-breaking pill. It… fuses nearly all supreme Pill Dao methods together. Just barely the refinement sections is split into several major processes. Each kind of ingredient is a kind of method, and when it’s combined the skills against each other are completely different…”

“There are some that I know, but there are a few that I haven’t even heard of. There are also some that I’ve only read about… The challenge to refine the Spirit Forbiddance Pill in four months is going to be huge.”

The past pills he’d concocted were all simple equations like 1+1=2. At most, there was added multiplication and division. But the Spirit Forbiddance Pill… its equation was much, much more complicated than a simple calculation!

Nonetheless, the light of his eyes was strangely bright, without the slightest discouragement.

This was presently the best challenge for him!

Furthermore, in the Eternal Alchemy Canon, concocting pills was cultivation. The harder the pill, the faster the qi increase. Four months was tight, but it wasn’t like he was hopeless.

“My greatest advantage is that my techniques are all based on the Eternal Alchemy Canon, as well as my thought process. There’s no rejection with the ancient arts. If I let the western master spirit-technician’s see this, maybe they would cry once they read this scroll.” He laughed as he stroked the parchment, but just as his hand swiped over it, a voice echoed behind him like a ghost.

“What are you laughing about? You didn’t even say anything, but then you started to laugh… What a scary person.”

“Fuck!” Xu Yangyi’s heart jumped. Inside the magik treasure, he was all alone, but a second voice had suddenly emerge. He nearly swung his sword behind him out of instinct. Gritting his teeth, he endured his desire to cut down the woman in front of him. He said in a cold voice, “I didn’t know you would be able to enter too.”

“Well don’t you know now?” Angel laughed cutely and walked in front of him, forcing him to look at her. “Isn’t this a pleasant little scare?”

Xu Yangyi looked at her with cold eyes and eventually said, “It is a scare.”

“How am I scary?” Angel took out a mirror and looked at it.

Hmm, red lips, white teeth, and round eyes. That shouldn’t be a beautiful woman like me, right?

“You’re definitely mistaken,” she said certainly and stowed away the mirror.

Xu Yangyi’s grinding teeth were clearly audible as he held in his anger. “Fellow Daoist, why have you entered?”

“First off, to correct you, it’s not Fellow Daoist. It’s Dao Companion.” Angel curbed her smile and said heavily, “The House of Corvinus’s qualifications have already been received. A week before the Holy War, a list of all participating clans will be posted. At that time, it’ll be known how many clans are joining in. As well as the name of their competitors.”

“They have a request. Your first work must be sold to the Corvinus.”

“Mhm.” Xu Yangyi winded around Angel in a noncommittal manner and carefully read the scroll. “It’s not only the Dracul and the Corvinus?”

“No, these two houses can have ten spots, but there are some clans, like the Sirens of the sea and the Dragonmen of the mountain peaks. These are extremely powerful clans. They can get one to two spots.” Angel pouted and tossed out a storage ring. “Just know you’re being mean to me. If it wasn’t because I asked, wouldn’t you be planning to call yourself ‘This Throne’ for your entire life?” [1]

Xu Yangyi didn’t pay attention to her and received the storage ring. He looked through it, and his mood finally became a little better. A slight curve perked up at the crook of his mouth. The inside was filled with the first important resource for A Thousand Li Invincible. As expected, even if a Core Formation master didn’t publicly traverse the cultivation world, they were just as wealthy as a country.

Regardless, Angel obviously wouldn’t let him be alone for too long.

“Did you know you look nice when you laugh? It’s charming… Like a lonely lion finally willing to lie down and bask in the sun.” Her red lips also curved up. “The cheer of oneself is less than the cheer of many. Are you not planning on listening to your future wife?”

“I think your Chinese needs some proper study.” Xu Yangyi said absent-mindedly, looking away and mumbling to himself as he read the scroll. 

“I understand what ‘the cheer of oneself is less than the cheer of the many’ means. When a man is alone for too long, naturally he’ll think about finding a woman to do a little cheer of the many… What are you glaring at me for!” Angel put on a proper face.

Stay calm… Stay calm! Xu Yangyi pursed his lips and turned his head back. He couldn’t understand how he was so patient. How was it that each time he saw this woman that he had a kind of feeling of just wanting to let everything out?

It was probably because she kept on appearing in front of him during inopportune moments using inopportune methods… 

“Get out.” Xu Yangyi waved his hand, and a gush of wind pressure escorted her out. She couldn’t even budge by a hair.

“What the heck are you doing?!” Angel cried out.

Ultimately, he wasn’t able to contain the evil fire in his heart. Time was so tight, and this woman was causing trouble everywhere! At the very least, that was how it appeared to him.

With incredible fondness, he cherished his past days of solitary cultivation. No restraints and no obstructions. But now, a burden was inexplicably added. Such an intense uneasiness caused him to hide the anxiety in his heart from the beginning.

“You’re being mean to me again!” Angel snorted, “Just you wait until that inevitable day in the future when I won’t let you in bed!”

“...Then I’ll really have a lot to be thankful for.”

“You…” Angel’s nose twitched, her face somewhat unsightly. She was always a proud daughter of heaven. She had gotten off her high horse to chase after this man, whom she felt something special for since she laid her eyes on him, but who could’ve imagined that he wouldn’t show her a good face even after so many days?

Angry, she sat straight down on her butt. Her voice was also cold. “Cultivate.”

“Get out.”

“Why! This is my dad’s treasure! Why do I have to get out?!” she said loudly, but then she quieted down and said softly, “I won’t make a noise and distract you again, I won’t bother you. Pretty soon…  you’ll really have a lot of things to do!”

As she said these final words, her voice became louder again.

Xu Yangyi coldly brushed an eye over her and shook his head. “Don’t regret it.”

Afterwards, he calmly started to meditate.

After roughly a day, he clearly sensed that his body had recovered to peak condition and opened his eyes.

Behind him, Angel was likewise watching him quietly. She didn’t cultivate, but her feelings were complicated.

Somethings were just the work of destiny. The so-called red string of fate.

The first time she saw Xu Yangyi, she liked him. However, all she liked was his looks.

But then… the demon slayer really had wanted to kill her. But not only was she not afraid, she instead felt a sliver of irritation.

With the status she possessed, who didn’t come to curry her favor? In the West, as long as she was willing, she could marry at any time. She didn’t want to, though.

Such a contrast made her want to see if this man who closed his eyes to destiny was so proud and aloof in his heart.

She wasn’t an easily convinced woman, otherwise she wouldn’t have cultivated to Foundation Establishment even with Yue Congrao’s help. Again and again, her goodwill was rejected, and a feeling of unacceptance also welled up inside her.

Why?! Even if you don’t like me, who are giving that sour face for? Am I lacking in comparison to some cultivator woman? As she continued to think this way, she kept on wanting to see through Xu Yangyi. Regardless, she had no choice but to admit that the other’s nature really stepped on the edge of that one feeling that she was somehow lacking.

Yet before she even finished thinking, she gently chirped up all of a sudden and looked all around in doubt.

“Shut up.” Xu Yangyi’s solitary voice sounded. Angel fell into a daze. Afterwards, she really discovered that something was actually radiating from the tall man in front of her.

Myriad Qi Turns To Silk!

Xu Yangyi was silent as he split his spiritual sense into tiny threads, extending them towards the small mountain of heavenly treasures ahead of him. As he did so… the Divine Flame of Conviction finally emerged from his storage ring.

Fire imprinted itself into Xu Yangyi’s eyes, and a wisp of thirst flashed through his gaze. Without hesitation, he let his body open wide and allowed the Divine Flame of Conviction to rush into his dantian.

BOOM! In the twinkling the divine flame entered him, a sound similar to iron chains breaking echoed from his entire body. A hard-to-describe coziness hurried into his mind. The azure vortex, which was like a wheel long covered in dust, unexpectedly started to turn little by little.

Hum… Hum… Streaks of qi gushed in from all around, causing a never-before-experienced feeling of power to rise in him. The Divine Flame of Conviction charged exactly into the middle of the vortex and very soon… crimson meridians rapidly flashed through his body.

“This…” His gaze flashed. These were the pill-cauldron meridians that had disappeared after the Voidspirit Immortal Physique had formed the vortex inside him. He thought that both sides had fused to birth the vortex, but he didn’t expect that the meridians were still inside him. The vortex had simply concealed them.