Archfiend

Chapter 101: A Battle of Wisdom, A Battle of Courage (1)

“D-Dad, w-what is this?” A young girl sobbed as she hid herself in her father’s embrace and asked shrilly: “I-i-is t-this a m-monster?”

“Hiss!” The father immediately covered his mouth, his voice likewise quavering fiercely: “I d-don’t know, b-b-but it can’t be a human!”

“What’s that oddity?” A duo with a bit of courage—a numbing sensation crowning their scalps—while they weren’t pointing their practically swaying cell phones at anyone, still tremblingly aimed it towards the volcanic lake.

“I don’t know…” The person at his side used a blanket to tightly wrap himself, as if he was able to reduce his presence as such. Merely, the chattering echo of his teeth betrayed him: “Is h-h-he going to dispose of everyone?”

They had witnessed all of it. They knew of how everything had come about! That man at the center of the lake, holding a head and gripping a sphere that was filled with blue light in his hand… No, was he a man? 

They were both bestirred with emotion and excited because they had seen an unknown side of the world. They realized to their surprise that such things truly existed in the world! Yet their terror… originated from the thought that not a person felt Xu Yangyi to be a human!

Was a human able to radiate light? Was a human capable of jumping ten meters? Was a human able to stand firm in a maelstrom, unflaggingly? In comparison to this human-shaped creature what was even a Hollywood blockbuster? The consideration of unrestrained might? This was a genuine superhuman! 

The present scenery was quiet, devoid of sound. There were only cell phones filming everything in front of them as the people bore a complex feeling at the bottom of their hearts. Xu Yangyi simply didn’t care for the thoughts of others.

So what power had been displayed before mortals? He would never regret, merely panting for air. The instant the blue radiance spread to the mountaintop, he could already sense a thread of a deep connection between the origin crystal and himself. Meanwhile, he seemed to hear the faint bellow of a furious “No!!!” come from the ten-plus people on the horizon.

“A disgrace!” An old man erupted with a heaven-shaking roar, the expression in his eyes like he wanted to fiercely take a bite out of Xu Yangyi. His eyes suddenly reddened, and he charged over, nearly disregarding the consumption of his spiritual force!

That twinkling… was the severing of Jadewave’s origin crystal to the world.

“Ah…” The whole gown of a young lady in an evening dress flew up in the air. At this instant, her eyes were painfully shut and her lips were shivering. In the next second, her reddened eyes opened, and she charged towards the dead volcanic lake as she rigidly gritted her teeth!

“A monumental waste! A reckless squandering!” A sixty-plus-year-old woman suddenly raced towards the dead volcanic lake, her white hair rising upwards at the roots! Over yonder… they could all see a silhouette holding high its right hand, an origin crystal akin to a lighthouse in the dark night. That figure’s hand dazzled with a glow!

Even if they were Foundation Establishment cultivators… Even true cultivators of the late stage and Great Circle of Foundation Establishment were still unable to stymie the envy and jealousy in their eyes at this moment!

This was a Core Formation origin crystal! The origin crystal of a millennium-old demon! It was an object that couldn’t be measured with wealth; this was to profane it. Its true price was without market! A supreme treasure never once seen in several centuries! Nonetheless, this origin crystal had recognized a master… however, by no way were they resigned! If they didn’t see it with their own eyes, how could they possibly be reconciled?! 

“This is…” Flying at the forefront was a sleepy-looking househusband. He was even still wearing slippers; it could be well imagined that he had left home with much anxiety! Already… he could clearly see that silhouette, that of a young person. However, what the other held high wasn’t the resplendent origin crystal, but rather...

A head!

“Heavens Law student of the sixteenth graduation, Xu Yangyi, has executed God Ming’s successor at the Four Great Joint Pools!” His voice travelled onwards to the four reaches!

“What?!” A man’s figure came to a sudden stop, looking incredulously at the location beyond!

“Did I hear that right?!” 

“A successor of God Ming?! A Qi Condensation cultivator?!” 

“A scion of God Ming has been executed at the Four Great Joint Pools?!”

The feeble sound of cold gasps came out from all the mouths of the flying silhouettes. They almost collectively froze in step, looking at the lonely figure in astonishment.

Beneath the black night, that figure was covered with bloodstains, yet he was like a sharp sword, straight and unbending. His face was colored by mud, sweat, and blood, but a handsome and masculine man could still be made out. The head he raised high into the air in his hand was akin to the crown of an emperor’s coronation, even more radiant than the origin crystal!

That was a warrior’s crest. A man’s glory. Ten-odd rays of spiritual sense immediately wound forth. They simply dared not to believe that a successor of God Ming had actually fallen at this place! What came soon after… was an expanse of deathly stillness! There weren’t any doubts whatsoever! This familiar silkworm aura… such a demonic aura brimming with killing intent… It was undoubtedly the Ming Clan!

“It really is a successor of God Ming…” The sleepy man looked at Xu Yangyi, lost in thought. His mind was practically a tangle of complex emotions!

“The Ming Clan, the top figures below Core Formation… A demon of the great Ming Clan…” A young woman was a kilometer high in the sky, her evening dress rustling in the blowing wind. Her heart was terribly shaken: “three thousand disciples, two thousand retainers, and ten grand elders… One of the twenty trained successors of this era’s God Ming has… actually… actually…”

Actually met his demise here!

“Young friend…” An old man stifled the trembling of his heart, his voice carrying a raspiness: “Whose sect are you under? What is your specialization?”

“This… is really a successor of God Ming?” 

These words were spoken at nearly the same time the old man opened his mouth. The old man was dazed. He couldn’t help but to say these words upon seeing the somewhat absent-minded expression of a silhouette over a thousand meters away. Squinting his eyes, he sighed ruefully: “So it turned out to be a Fellow Daoist of the Sima Clan…”

“Indeed, this is a scion of God Ming…” The evening-dressed young lady looked at the sharp sword-like figure in the black night, deeply eyeing the other’s gaze and firmly memorizing it in her heart: “Fellow Daoist Sima please look over there. It’s said… the Ming Clan possess twenty coffins altogether. The twentieth coffin is one of their strongest puppets. The top five are true unparalleled devices of massacre. However, each puppet among the twenty coffins is by no means a target easily provoked.”  

The head of the shadow called Sima moved and looked towards the broken upper body of the three-headed demon beast. “This… is the tenth coffin… Chen Jintie’s corpse… I once traded blows with a Foundation Establishment expert of the Ming Clan in a troublesome place. It far exceeds the imaginations of all the Fellow Daoists…” A voice faintly echoed out. Soon after, the figure looked towards Xu Yangyi with incredible complexity: “Qi Condensation… Executing a successor of God Ming… Young friend, you have good courage. And, good strength.” 

The praise of a Foundation Establishment senior! To be able to fly in the sky, one had to be at Foundation Establishment or above!

Xu Yangyi raised the head high. Presently, he was at the peak of radiance; he possessed strength that brought everyone’s recognition! A Qi Condensation cultivator had slain a scion of God Ming. Surveying the entirety of the Qi Condensation realm, few individuals could accomplish this!

Xu Yangyi who had traded hands with God Ming had a fair understanding of the other’s formidability. He believed that in relation of the middle stage of Qi Condensation to himself, there were not many human cultivators capable of triumphing. Were it not for the final hidden ace he had laid down to reverse the tides, right now, the one left here would not be him!

During his time as a student, apart from Chu Zhaonan, if others were substituted in, they would all die here! It was possible they wouldn’t even get past the sword formation of the twenty puppets! He possessed the grounds to be arrogant!

At this time, all the Foundation Establishment cultivators suddenly paused, all thoughts disappearing without a trace in their minds. Because at this very moment, three streaks of spiritual sense, boundless like the ocean, swept past with a simply unfathomable speed from three directions!

It was obvious their realms were the same… at most, the Great Circle of Foundation Establishment. Yet this spiritual sense… was terrifying in its vastness! It was comparable to the sea! Such a sensation was like the blotting of the heavens and the shrouding of the earth. It was as if at this instant, at this place, and at this time, all had been thoroughly grasped. Like sprinkling moonlight, there wasn’t a place that could escape.

The incarnation of a Core Formation master!

Thud thud thud… All Foundation Establishment cultivators, even if they had further thoughts they desired to express in their hearts, all immediately fell to the ground without the slightest hesitation. They half-kneeled on the ground and clenched their teeth: “Respectful greetings, ancestors!”

No one hesitated. No one delayed. No one objected. This was the influence of humanity’s authorities. Even though it was an incarnation, none likewise dared to resist! Three silhouettes rumbled like a hawk sweeping the sky. They suddenly charged over the dead volcanic lake from different directions!

Xu Yangyi sucked in deeply. The current him’s heart was beating like a drum. It wasn’t because he was scared he would be murdered and his treasure plundered. This was no novel. Rather… even if those immense, surging tide-like spiritual pressures from the three directions were meticulously suppressed, they would still make him feel like he was at the heart of a storm! So long as they willed it, he would be destroyed in the blink of an eye.

In the next second, there were three images that stood silently in a void that was a hundred meters away. However… they were merely images! The possessed no form nor shadow, nothing but faint, empty images! They seemed as if they could be blown apart by the yearly wind, and wisps of white qi slowly floated off their bodies, yet they ultimately didn’t dissipate in the slightest. Furthermore… their faces were simply incapable of being clearly seen. Obviously, the turn of a head could be clearly felt, but not to speak of facial features, stature, or voice, all could not be perceived. 

Heaven and Earth seemed to still in this twinkling. Even the wind ceased to be at this moment. The insects of the night appeared to respond to something, quiet without so much as a chirp. Their cultivations were at best the Great Circle of Foundation Establishment. There was even someone at the late stage of Foundation Establishment. However, right now, it was like three gods were standing here.

Three gazes looked straight at Xu Yangyi. Eventually, a voice, indiscernible from man or woman, with the likeness of great reed pipes, masterly and harmonious, rang out from the void: “Fellow Daoist Earthcleaver, Fellow Daoist Floatingcloud. This Dao Master believed my avatar to be the fastest. I didn’t expect that both of your avatars would likewise be undelayed.”

Xu Yangyi inhaled deeply, his head cold with sweat. Even his palms felt somewhat wet. 

Floatingcloud’s incarnation has personally come! This was the person… who had issued him the Black Kill Order, that of no reprieve until death! In his mind, an insane thought re-emerged! From the look of things, Floatingcloud still hadn’t told anyone of the Emperor Armament on his person!

Yes… such an eternally supreme treasure could absolutely not be told to others! 

In case there was no great business, the avatar of a Core Formation Dao Master went unseen. This time, the total arrival of three great avatars was already the extremes of importance this business was valued with. Especially, since the person who had come this time was named Earthcleaver. 

The names of the ten great Dao Masters in all of China were akin to thunder piercing through the ears. If Xu Yangyi had remembered incorrectly, this person held post together with Skybearer in the Cultivation Court as the vice president! A Core Formation cultivator that assisted the Chinese government!

Success was taken from among details and fortune was sought amidst danger!

In his mind, it was a mere consideration of a minute. Immediately revolving qi around his entire body, he used all of his strength to resist the three spiritual pressures that could be reckoned as a tide and said clearly: “Heavens Law student of the sixteenth graduation, Paragon Xu Yangyi, has executed a successor of God Ming at the Four Great Joint Pools!”

These words were the same as moments ago, merely… the word “paragon” had been added on! 

“Paragon?!” A Foundation Establishment cultivator, who had just lowered his head, raised it in a flash!

“Sixteenth graduation… Vermilion Snow! Unrivaled Beneath the Heavens?!” The gaze of a Foundation Establishment senior suddenly glimmered. In his heart, he seemed to come to some abrupt realization. 

“No wonder… No wonder… Young friend Chu has never recognized himself as paragon. Then… what occurred in this time?” 

“The sixteenth graduation… He was actually capable of still surviving beneath the hand of a monster like Vermilion Snow?”

“The sixteenth graduation. The escape of a calamity. On this day, he has executed a successor of God Ming at the Four Great Joint Pools. This child… his future prospects cannot be limited in measure.”

There wasn’t a person who doubted Xu Yangyi’s words. If not a paragon, how could one have the skill to slay a scion of God Ming? If not a paragon, how could one have the courage to publically inform everyone?

The successor of God Ming was executed by me, Xu Yangyi!

At the Four Great Joint Pools at 2:40 in the early morning, God Ming’s head was presented in full view!