Archfiend

Chapter 167: The Last

The fifth was a rogue cultivator named Gao Wuguo. In all of Xu Yangyi’s battles, he had altogether used Azure Dragon Seeks Cauldron twice. Once against Quan Ningyue and once against Gao Wuguo. Nevertheless, it was still a single fist!

The sixth… was actually the chief disciple of an unknown third-rate clan, Song Zifu. His battle strength wasn’t all that strong, but his strength laid in his mental power and that he had already advanced in level in both Daos of Talismans and Artificing. If it weren’t for the fact that Zhuzhou’s Song Clan was very small, there simply wouldn’t be resources to train the two great money-burning crafts of talismans and artificing. Such talent was absolutely begrudgingly parted with.

When Song Zifu had been selected, the several old men who had followed from the Song Clan suddenly took long, deep sighs. However… this battle was one fist as before!

The last was Yao Xintan of Beijing’s Yao Clan. His name was somewhat womanly,  but the name of the Seven Devilslayer Blades was not undeserved. Even if the Yao Clan had gradually declined, they were a meter-long-deep gorge on the floor path of the forty-nine days, seven nails per each seven days, still able to draw no question from the majority of people. [1]

However, what caused the gazes of the people on the floor to become increasingly shocked… was that this battle with the Seven Devilslayer Blades was still one punch!

Xu Yangyi’s strength reigned free, a cool breeze brushing the mountaintop. His willfulness was unyielding, a bright moon illuminating the great river. [2]

All gazes focused on Xu Yangyi’s body. This commander… How powerful was his strength in the end? Counted among the past paragons of Heavens Law with such surpassing strength, perhaps there exceeded no more than five! Which one of them wasn’t awe-inspiring and famous now? Hopeful for Core Formation! Included within them was the number one of all past graduations named Sunnihilator! This was a name that all of humanity drew as goal!

“Could it be… this is the the second Sunnihilator?” A cultivator pursed his lips, bearing a fiery and envious gaze as he looked at Xu Yangyi and murmured: “It seems all the rounds have been ties, but… Commander Xu has only made a single fist the entire time. As for this fist, do each of these chosen legionnaires actually recognize victory and defeat?”

When the final bell tolled… who was leaving who honor? No one was willing to go. Xu Yangyi, this name so dreadfully subdued. This time, after being paid attention to by a great many high-level figures, he had finally walked into the vast “common masses”.

This recruitment was bound to leave an inextinguishable shadow in the hearts of too many people, a target to overtake!

A second-rate clan departed in silence. The recognized seed of their clan turned his head back to glance at Xu Yangyi’s figure and inwardly gritted his teeth: “In twenty years… I’ll be sure to find you again to talk about heroes!”

“Just wait…” The Lu Clan quietly left the floor, and the Lu Clan woman with a veil covering her face looked deeply at Xu Yangyi: “Next time, I’ll have you personally choose me.”

The people in the venue were becoming fewer and fewer, yet the atmosphere was becoming hotter and hotter! There were still three places! The final three!

In contrast to those who were stiflingly nervous, the legionnaires who had taken a position were already furthering their relations together, except for Zhan Twelve who was the kind of outsider that didn’t like making contact with people. The others had all gathered in company. A kind of relaxed mood gave those who stayed to be chosen an incomparably scorching heat. 

“Brother Yao. When the time comes, you’ll have to look after this little sister.” Qin Xueluan flashed a charming look of the eyes at Yao Xintan, not masked in the slightest. The other’s height was around 1.83 meters, and he had brows like swords and eyes like stars, a model of good lucks.

However, towards Qin Xueluan’s flirtatious glances, Yao Xintan could only cough dryly: “When the time comes, everyone will naturally be looked after a lot…”

What a joke. He liked gentle and soft women, not women that a viper could come from a kiss. And that wasn’t sure to say… if the other had hidden some frightening things inside a certain place… Scared out of his wits by his thought, Yao Xintan firmed his belief once again that he would in no way have thoughts of seeking this woman.

“I’m pretty curious who’re going to be our last three legionnaires.” Jun Man’s appearance was fierce and rough, but his Mandarin was very much fluent: “Our combat unit in addition with Commander Xu might rank top in strength in the whole nation’s Featherwood Guard. Our scout doesn’t need to be dwelled on. If the Reddust Executioners dared to allow Fellow Daoist Zhan Twelve come, they won’t smash up their own reputation. Fellow Daoist Song is the team’s so-called lubricant, and I’m the team’s shield. There is no one better at assaulting defenses than Fellow Daoist Quan. And for heavy firepower, there’s Fellow Daoist Qin…”

“Yeah…” Qin Xueluan eyed Yao Xintan discreetly: “I’m curious too… For the last three squadmates, will the commander take precedence over support or offensive cultivators?”

Gao Wuguo said indifferently: “Compared with these things, I care more about the commander’s true strength.” His warring gaze locked fixedly on the silhouette on stage: “I really want to know… what kind of scene there’ll be if such a man completely explodes.”

Everyone raised a brow. Even the distant Zhan Twelve cast a gaze, as well.

The past chosen really weren’t cultivators with elysial divine abilities. Sima Gong and Qiu Hong of Ninghai’s five great clans had a special acuity towards qi, but they had both been rejected by Xu Yangyi.

“Let’s continue to watch.” Gao Wuguo watched the martial stage with rapt attention: “It has begun… Perhaps someone will be able to make Commander Xu completely erupt. Bring out his strongest fist.”

“It’s starting again…”

Zhao Wuye’s heart was like a beating drum. He gritted his teeth as he watched the martial stage. In his mind, there were a hundred twenty hesitations. In the end, were they going to go up? Or not go up? The past several cultivators with elysial divine abilities had been rejected. He had also seen with his own eyes what the strength was of a cultivator selected. Right now… he didn’t have the slightest bit of confidence in the Netherpierce Eye!

The Netherpierce Eye could distinguish life and death and could observe fortune and calamity. However… how much weaker were the prior few clans’ divine abilities in comparison to the Netherpierce Eye? 

None whatsoever! But they had still been rejected!

“Fifth uncle…” Zhao Ziqi tapped Zhao Wuye: “Are we still going? If we aren’t, let’s go ahead and leave, alright? I-I’m a little scared of commander…”

“NO WAY!” Zhao Wuye didn’t even think and shouted. Finished shouting, he felt regret. Presently… he really dared not to. He had thought beforehand that this Commander Xu was sure to be in a position where he excelled past others to be regarded as important by Ancestor Ancientpine. However… he simply hadn’t expected that the other would be strong to such a degree!

Zhao Wuye feared… that even late-stage Qi Condensation, an old late-stage Qi Condensation advanced in years, would defeat Xu Yangyi, but was obliged to say that it was rather difficult! His heart was timid. He looked on blankly at the eruption of qi rays on the martial stage, only daring to grab Zhao Ziqi’s hand, but no daring to go forth.

An hour passed and the eldest daughter of Shanghai’s second-rate Yang Clan, Yang Xueqing, was selected. She herself was almost without hardly any defensive divine abilities, but none could’ve expected that this unassuming woman even now didn’t lose out to her father in the Yang Clan’s Heaven-Earth Thunder Art! Thunderbolts enveloped the entire martial arena for twenty minutes! They ground had nearly been completely destroyed, and Xu Yangyi had almost come to a decision on the other right on the spot!

“Fierce… Really fierce!” A cultivator below panted heavily, intoxicated by the battle: “This is a true genius! A genius among geniuses!”

“Hehe… Before I came, I still believe the juniors in my clan could be rated as heaven-defying in talent… but now I know, there’s always a stronger hand…” 

“Ah… No matter which one, all of them have the promise for Foundation Establishment… Dragons and phoenixes among men!”

Demon and ghost, both sides mysterious and netherworldly beings. Lightning was their greatest nemesis! Moreover… everyone was also aware that among divine abilities, lightning arts were the divine abilities with the greatest might!

In the past, over a hundred had flaunted themselves as geniuses, but now, there were only room for ten true geniuses! These ten remained.

The second hour passed, and Zhao Wuye’s hand was grabbing even tighter. His heartbeat was like a drum… because a seemingly seventeen-or-eighteen-year-old youth was called up. None objected.

The Mo in the south and the Ming in the north. It was said that a minor branch of the Dao of Artificing had paired with the Dao of Talismans and given rise to Dao of Runic Machine Puppets. The north’s Ming Demon Clan could be said to be an inheritance of the most ancient grand puppet masters. As for the south’s Mo Clan, they likewise didn’t lose out to the Ming Clan.

The Mo Clan was an inheritance since the Hundred Warring Schools era. It could even be assessed as humanity’s grand master in machine technique! To the extent that it could be said that they were the founder of humanity’s machine techniques! The Mo Clan ranked as one of humanity’s seven great apex clans. [3]

Mo, Fang, Chen, Wang, Li, Yi, and Ye. Humanity’s seven great cultivation lineages! Even the top three clans of Mo, Ye, and Yi didn’t lose out too much in comparison to the CSIB, Bountiful Treasures Pavilion, and the Featherwood Guard! They lost no more than to the Core Formation ancestors. 

The number of puppets a cultivator of the Mo Clan was able to control was determined by rank. In the Qi Condensation realm, an additional puppet could be controlled in each level. This Mo Yeyu was from one of the Mo Clan’s branches. Their branch wasn’t prosperous at all, but Mo Yeyu was able to control one defensive, two offensive, and one detection puppet with the strength of middle-stage Qi Condensation! He could simply be said to be the best jack of all trades in a team!

Only the final position remained...

Zhao Wuye painfully shut his eyes. Clenching his teeth, he said brightly: “Longsu’s Zhao Clan…”

His voice hadn’t finished, because at this moment, a strange transformation abruptly occurred!

In front of Xu Yangyi, a shadow circle oddly appeared. Countless profound runes were inscribed around it. There wasn’t a whisper whatsoever. Like so, the circle emerged suddenly, roughly three to four meters in range. Everyone looked at this black array in shock. Even Xu Yangyi was a little dazed. However, realization flashed in his mind, and the corner of his mouth immediately began to curve.

It really is… a scene of Déjà vu, eh. It’s him? In his heart, a chain seemed to crack and fall apart. He knew what this was. That chain was locking up the warring beast in his heart. Today was merely testing, but he almost used his full power. However, almost was just almost. It was far from an all-out degree!

If it was him appearing inside… In that case...

In less than three seconds, Fang Cheng’s blank and distracted figure appeared on stage. He was still wearing a T-shirt, jeans, and headphones. In the same vein, based on his vacant eyes, it was quite obvious he had been delivered again without the slightest notice. Ancestor Ancientpine evidently wouldn’t inquire in advance if he was willing or not.

“Ahem… Junior-apprentice brother…” Fang Cheng was dazed for good while and sighed in resignation. He cupped his hands and coughed dryly.

“Senior-apprentice brother.” Xu Yangyi laughed as he returned a greeting. A wisp of fiery heat sparked through his eyes.

On that day, with Ancestor Ancientpine in attendance, they had completely released hands and feet. A clash of divine abilities had surprisingly yielded a Nirvana Void! Xu Yangyi understood very well that the strength of this endearingly silly youth before him was quite possibly no weaker than his own! 

With Fang Cheng’s assistance, the position of the Xingtian Legion’s final person had been settled on in a flash! The audience simply hadn’t paid attention to the duo’s conversation on stage. The people present all gasped coldly!

Zhan Twelve swiftly opened his eyes and took a deep glimpse at Fang Cheng. Afterwards, he shut his eyes.

The same… Completely the same! This youth was the same as Commander Xu. On the surface, he couldn’t make out any depth at all! Only be moving into action would he know if the other was a ferocious lion!

“This is… a Daomaster disciple?!” Yao Xintan’s gaze burned hot: “Commander Xu called him senior-apprentice brother. Is… his cultivation even above Commander Xu’s?”

“A Daomaster disciple…” Below the stage, the gazes of an unknown number of clans turned fervent. The number of Daomaster disciples who traversed the cultivation world could be counted on one’s fingers! Many people only knew the names of Daomaster disciples but not their appearances.

But now, there were two in a single outing! Even if they weren’t themselves, wasn’t this still capital to brag about later?

“Senior-apprentice brother wants to join the Xingtian Legion?” The light of Xu Yangyi’s eyes flashed, and he laughed and asked.

It wasn’t satisfying… The last battle… really wasn’t satisfying...

Xu Yangyi had long since wanted to have a good contest with Fang Cheng the next time he saw him. He wanted to see how great the disparity was between similar Daomaster disciples. Perhaps… there wasn’t a gap!

[1] The forty-nine days/seven nails per each seven days is a custom originating from Buddhism. In Buddhism, the religion believes that the human soul has forty-nine nails keeping it to the human body, so it can’t escape to the afterlife. Buddhist priests hold a ceremony over forty-nine days, removing seven spiritual nails each seven days to free the spirit. P.S Xintao might seem womanly because xin = heart and tao = pool. 心潭

[2] This is a pretty abstract line from what I have found. It originates from Jin Yong’s Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber. Supposed to give an idea of freedom/power, but at the same apparently has a connotation to a cultivator in good health and spirits, where breathing is sound and one’s body is in harmony.

[3] Hundred Warring Schools era is considered Warring States period (475-221 BC).