Archfiend

Chapter 399: Dharmadhatu (3)

The old man stopped chewing. Under the bean-sized light, a terrible darkness crept around him. And yet… one could clearly see that this crouching old man’s surroundings were slathered with flowing blood. 

Swoosh… In the wake of a soundless noise, the old man turned his head. However, his face caused Xu Yangyi’s gaze to deepen.

The old man… had no face!

There was only a large mouth that ran across his entire face! And in his mouth, he was chewing on human hand bones!

Crunch… Crunch… The sound of bone being chewed and broken down echoed in the deathly still room, making one’s hair stand on edge. The monster seemed to “see” Xu Yangyi. Its mouth opened as wide as its face was, and its limbs rested on the ground. It suddenly snarled at Xu Yangyi!

“GRRR!!!”

“Just an ordinary demon. Its rice-sized pearl doesn’t even risk shining,” Xu Yangyi laughed coldly. Not one scrap of qi was felt from the other’s body, Although its speed was a fold beyond normal people, it was practically as slow as a tortoise to a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Bang! The demon slammed against his protective qi cover without the slightest mishap, and was bounced straight back by several meters. A heavy thump echoed, and it heavily smashed into a wall. The wooden room shook. In the next second, however, the unknown demon roared and charged again!

This time, what greeted it was a black longsword.

The Animus Armament in Xu Yangyi’s hand brightened with a rumble and casually slashed out from over a dozen meters away. Regardless, the armament wasn’t like Falling Moon in filling the air with black smoke. Instead… purple lightning exploded out!

Swoosh! Flashes of lightning became a roaming dragon! The purple fire-dragon imprint on the black longsword vanished and was replaced by glittering electric sparks!

Crash! A law of heavenly thunder! Wherever the lightning went, a path of purple fire was unexpectedly burned in the air. It was a white steed flitting past a crack, transient and fleeting. In the last second it was in front of Xu Yangyi, and in the next it had already dove into the monster’s body!

The monster came to a sudden stop, the lightning seemingly freezing it with a finger press. In the next moment, a resounding boom followed! The old man roared! From his enormous mouth, ears, and even all his pores, terrible purple flames gushed out! He was instantly burned into a man of fire!

“GRR! GRRR!!!” The monster’s great mouth issued hair-raising snarls. Both of its hands frantically patted its body as if it wanted to sway the flames away. Nonetheless… the Ten Cardinals Purgatory wouldn’t rest until the target was burnt to a crisp!

The raging blaze was like a heel maggot, directly boiling all the liquid in the monster’s body! Sizzle… In barely twenty seconds, like the symphony baton of a cremation, the monster was a heap of coal without the slightest discernible shape. It stood there for less than a second and then immediately collapsed with a bang!

Cindering ashes scattered through the air. Xu Yangyi tightly gripped the Animus Armament, his finger softly brushing his face. He didn’t even glance at the slag in front of him.

“There’s actually such a big difference between sustaining a divine ability through a magik treasure or magik artifact!” His gaze flashed with a red-hot wisp. “Falling Moon’s power back then seemed big, but I’ve always felt that its steel was never pushed to the edge. While fierce is fierce, it never could kill the enemy in one strike. But with the Animus Armament… If a Foundation Establishment cultivator isn’t careful then they’ll pay the price!”

“Is this the difference between a magik artifact and a magik treasure? In that case… what about a spirit treasure? Or… other magik arts? Like the Heavenly Opening Six Erosions?”

“Would they show an even stronger power? The Heavenly Opening Six Erosions is a ranged attack without distinction. If it can be condensed into one point like the Ten Cardinals Purgatory, the power…”

He broke out of his thoughts and waved in passing. The black sword hummed in response. “Only late-stage Foundation Establishment can use magik treasures, but I’ve been nurturing this magik treasure embryo since the start of my Foundation Establishment. Originally… the Ketu-Rahu Sword with the Heavenmend Stone was an absolute magik treasure embryo. It was also linked to my body. It’s unfortunate… that I don’t have the Foundation Establishment blueprint. I heard that a nurtured magik treasure has a unique divine ability as well. I didn’t even know… I could only cleanse my treasure with qi for all these years. There was only slight resonance between us then.”

He raised his head pensively. “Even if the Clearcloud Realm was richer, there’s no way I can stay longer. If this keeps up, I’ll just be considered garbage here.”

“In experiencing the nine-layered heavens, what meaning is there in continuing to stay in the mortal world?”

At this time, a light at the corner of his eyes moved. Just now… the pile of black ash seemed to slightly twitch.

This was impossible… Even if a Foundation Establishment cultivator casually attacked, it would be enough grind a mortal’s bones and scatter their ashes. And that wasn’t even mentioning his use of the Animus Armament.

Still, as if verifying his doubts, the pile of black ash seemed to sprout up like a sapling. Following a grinding-like rustling noise… the entire black pile actually began to slowly arch upwards!

No… Eyes wide and tongue tied, Zhao Ziqi looked on at the ash. The slag neatly gathered towards the center, as if that space was shaking! In less than three seconds, a very mottled skeletal hand, intertwined in white and gray, falteringly stretched out from within. Soon… it slammed the ground!

Swoosh! All the surrounding dust flew up. With the slam, the entire room quaked without warning! A ring of faintly discernible and extremely simple qi formed a cursory qi loop. As sudden as it had come, the loop vanished even faster!

That’s! Surprised, Zhao Ziqi swiftly flew out from Xu Yangyi’s spiritual sense. His spirit form revealed powerful disbelief. Qi?!

Xu Yangyi’s gaze stirred, and a trace of solemness finally flitted across his face.

This was indeed qi.

It was extremely weak. Ordinarily it wouldn’t draw his attention, but now it quite deserved rumination. When they had entered, this monster didn’t have a wisp of qi!

In other words, it was an “ordinary person”! An ordinary person that couldn’t even be more ordinary!

Still… after being turned into ashes by the Animus Armament-concentrated Ten Cardinals Purgatory, not only had the demon not died, it had instead scaled the heavens in one step and directly surmounted the heavenly moat of mortal and cultivator!

H-How is this possible? Zhao Ziqi cried out incredulously, There’s never been anything like this! Or any arcane effort like this! Even if this is a secret realm, any secret realm depends on the world’s laws! Even if this thing died and cultivated into a ghost cultivator, that would still take a hundred years! How could it instantly become a monster-thing right in front of us?! There’s no Feng-Shui treasure cave, either! Just like that, it broke though the boundary of heaven and man!

“Interesting…” Xu Yangyi’s gaze flashed. This time, the Ten Cardinals Purgatory didn’t concentrate on his sword. Instead, he chopped straight out with the armament! In the air, a pitch-black arc continued directly above the piles of bones.

“I want to see. If I kill you again will you die?”

Swoosh! The sword-light was akin to unparalleled blackness. Wherever it passed, the air seemed to shudder. In the next moment, the skeletal hand fragmented apart with a boom. 

Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment was a difference of heaven and earth.

Boom! Blackened bones filled the air and landed all over the floor. Round and round, they spun. However… in less than five seconds, all the bones shook again!

It shouldn’t… If said he was astonished just now, then Zhao Ziqi could no longer find any words in this moment. Since earlier, the Netherpierce Eye was whirling. According to reason, this was part of his field, but his two Taiji pupils didn’t see the nether! Only a strange black orb floated in front of them!

Big bro… this thing is really weird… It’s not a ghost, and it’s not a spirit. It… I don’t even know what this thing is! This is the first time I’ve ran into something that the Netherpierce Eye can’t tell if it’s dead… Dumb as a wooden chicken, he looked at the bone pile in front of him. Presently, the bones were already spinning in the air. Zhao Ziqi’s voice was shaking.

Crash… The countless bone shards formed a tornado in front of them that went up to the ceiling. Wisps of icy-cold black qi lingered upon it, and the sound of the fragments sounded from the tornado and the bone pile on the floor.

It… was human hair.

The demon… was slowly coming out from the bone pile. Shattered little chunks of bone slowly separated everywhere as it reared the top of his head.

Black hair like satin. In the instant its black hair appeared, a qi signature more than a fold stronger than before quietly spread.

Middle-stage Qi Condensation!

In a short span of ten-odd seconds, the demon nearly completed the lifetime of a poorly talented cultivator!

The crooked path through the nether… Zhao Ziqi’s spirit form began to shake, and his Taiji eyes suddenly spun. Just as he was about to act, Xu Yangyi raised his hand and stopped him.

“Your qi isn’t easily stored, use it only as a last resort. Don’t use your ace.” He licked his lips, and his eyes revealed a chilling glint. “I want to see how many times you can survive.”

He didn’t attack, instead waiting. The body fully formed and stood out from the bones.

It… was a skinless human.

All its organs were revealed under the naked eye. If it ventured into the mortal world, it would’ve frightened numerous people. But now, a pair of ice-cold eyes and a sword-like finger welcomed it.

The finger took aim at the monstrosity. Xu Yangyi said coldly, “Heavenly Opening, Devour Flesh, Devour Bone!”

BOOM! A wild qi erupted from his body! An oppressive might stemming from hundreds of years ago descended. It was like a dire beast of primal chaos, arriving upon the wooden room like a monarch!

Crack crack crack! An ear-piercing sound rang out besides the monster. The air around it had been totally locked down, forming an invisible cage!

A ring of white light rapidly spread underneath Xu Yangyi’s feet. Where he stood, a rippling wave came, seemingly trampling the surface of a lake. Yet underneath the lake, the appearance of a stargazer altar was vaguely discernible.

The Demonchariot Pheasant halts upon the stargazer altar!

Swish! White light swept through the entire wooden room with extreme speed. Just as the light spread to the fringes of the wooden room, it abruptly vanished!

Huuummm… The sound of a qi ripple echoed, and Xu Yangyi, his clothes rising up, unexpectedly settled down a little! Furthermore… the ripple below him was gradually disappearing!

The Demonchariot Pheasant’s cry vanished without a trace as the noise ventured farther and farther from the stargazer altar. Virtually triumphant, the Heavenly Opening Six Erosions had actually been forcibly broken inside the simple and ordinary wooden room!