Archfiend

RUMBLE! In the instant the Dream Walker woke up, the entire passage began to wildly tremble. Black spaces, from extremely far away, began to collapse towards the beast. And behind, there was oppressively black nothingness.

Crack… A sound like shattering glass rang out, and black marks spread out like spider webs from the extremes of one’s vision. Endless black light seeped out from black cracks. It was like everything was gently swaying. Hordes of Nightmares flew out from the black cracks and chaotically bumped into each other like headless flies. In the wake of a resounding boom, towards the direction they had come, fragments of black space fell and transformed into streaks of black mist that scattered apart.

At this time, Xu Yangyi felt the Azurecloud Seed in his dantian suddenly shiver. Afterwards, it began to frantically suck in the black mist. Streaks of black mist that only he could see circled over the seed and he could even hear a loud and clear heartbeat coming from inside!

Nonetheless, there was no time for him to make considerations. His gaze shot out at Rocjourney like a sword.

Rocjourney was also stunned. He hadn’t expected this conclusion at all!

“It’s not me!” He was almost causing an uproar with his eyes, and shouted out, “I didn’t know a thing! I only know that I’m the seal here!”

“Who told you that?” Moonless locked his molars and said.

“Enihilus… it was Fellow Daoist Enihilus!” he gritted out through clenched teeth. Just as he was finished speaking, though, his gaze suddenly flashed, and he stuttered, “Could it… Could it be… that h-he was deceiving me all along?!”

He despondently looked at the Dream Walker’s spiritual sense that black mist was lingering upon. “He deceived me… for a full 300 years?”

“I did not deceive you.” Enihilus’s voice was like an imperial bell or a grand pipe, bubbling in like a tide from all around. “Fellow Daoist is indeed this place’s seal. It is merely… in the situation that the watchman gives his consent… and I just happen to be the watcher.”

Xu Yangyi said coldly, “So you’ve been lying since the beginning? You’re the one that actually wants to forcibly possess the Dream Walker?”

“Nothing more that nine truths and a lie.” Enihilus’s voice was brimming with excited delight. “Core Formation… Core Formation… Here I have sat bitterly for centuries, and I have witnessed three Core Formation! That which is a cultivator’s dream of a lifetime! Indeed… how many does a Realm produce of those who can form the core? But the Dream Walker… hehehe… forgive my forthrightness, but how did you ignorant and narrow-minded cultivators who flaunt your End of Days as an upper realm ever know of its true use! Hahahaha!”

As he reached the final part of his remarks, the monk was already starting to cackle wildly. His mad laughter echoed all around. Xu Yangyi didn’t speak, instead looking at his surroundings with great vigilance.

Just now, he hadn’t felt it alone. So did Moonless and Rocjourney.

Following the Dream Walker’s awakening, the Nightmare passage and dreamland were on the verge of collapse. However, these dreamlands were like a veil being taken off. A burst of qi, surging violently like a tide, filled the entire passage in a flash!

“I still must give you many thanks for killing Floatingcloud. You were the sole variable in my plan… Amitabha, gentlemen… I invite you to share this feast with me!”

“ENIHILUS!!!” Rocjourney’s eyes were crimson-red, and he yelled angrily, “You… are the Clearcloud Realm’s protector!!! The Dream Walker’s suppressor!!! The tree-nurturer of the twin sal-trees!!!”

“But that being the case, I am still Foundation Establishment after 800 years!!!” Enihilus’s mad laughter swiftly turned into a furious howl, his voice like surging thunder. “800 years of Foundation Establishment… a whole 800 years!!! Compared to a Core Formation supreme, an even-longer-lived insect is still an insect!!!”

“In all realms, is the adulation towards Foundation Establishment cultivators the cornerstone of strength? The backbone of power? Ridiculous!” His voice accompanied the crash of the passage’s collapse. “Before the supreme of Core Formation, it is nothing more than a dog!”

“Only the Dream Walker can allow me a sliver’s chance to assail Core Formation! I am majestic Great Circle Foundation Establishment! I have spied the Grand Dao of Core Formation, do I still need you to come teach me?! WITHDRAW!!!”

Rocjourney’s gaze suddenly needled, and his azure protective cover loudly exploded! In the next second, the qi cover in front of his chest warped, and he soon let out a heavy groan. As if he was struck by a giant invisible palm, he plummeted by several hundred meters.

Xu Yangyi coldly observed all of this. A few seconds later, he sneered, “The ordinary yet changes men’s hearts, but you say that the heart changes so easily between lovers. This Throne has received instruction.” [1]

A cold snort echoed, Enihilus’s voice heard again. But ahead, the crumbling passage was already closing in from only 10,000 meters away!

RUMBLE!!! Just as the front of the dreamland uniformly collapsed, Moonless exhaled coldly and said shakily, “Everyone… look!!!”

A stretch of golden radiance suddenly broke through the darkness, like a lonely lamp on a dark night. It was about 10,000 meters ahead of them. Following the tunnel’s collapse, everyone clearly saw… 

That it was a Buddha statue!

To be exact, it was a picture of golden light depicting a Buddha statue. This Buddha statue, however, was drawn inside an extremely strange design.

“That’s… a mandara!” Rocjourney saw two eyes, and his breathing became somewhat turbulent. But in this present situation that he could no longer deal with, he gasped, “In Buddhism, a mandara has two kinds of explanations. The first, is the unforeseeability of love and death. The second… indicates a platform stage! The one drawn is a Buddhist platform stage!”

“No… hold on, this style…” Before Rocjourney finished speaking, he interrupted himself, and his gaze chilled. “Something’s off… Realism… this is a realistic style?! How could there be a realistic style in Buddhism?”

But without even waiting for his voice to fall, the heavens opened.

Golden lotus flowers blossomed through the entire passage, and rootless golden lotuses sprinkled all over the sky, turning the surrounding tens of thousands of meters into a field of golden light. Endless brahmic chanting entered the ear, and mysterious and profound Sanskrit characters slowly emerged in the air.

And underneath everyone’s feet, a kilometer-sized formation brightened simultaneously!

“This… is a Transference Formation?” Moonless gasped and then suddenly looked at the sky. “E-Enihilus made this?”

“No,” Xu Yangyi said decisively, a steely quality to his voice. “He can’t make a formation this big! This… is the formation that the Sage sealed the Dream Walker with!”

The collapse of endless space, everyone else sighed because of these words. Very quickly, their hearts hitched up again.

They understood Xu Yangyi’s implication!

This formation definitely wasn’t simple! And the Dream Walker, sealed by this formation, was late Foundation Establishment. Even if its realm was less than Enihilus’s… it was unusually strange! Enough that the Sage had to use such a complicated formation?

But right now… there was no uncertainty that the Dream Walker was already waking up! Emotionless eyes watched those who had suddenly appeared in its world!

“It has awakened… I can feel it… It’s already awake!” Rocjourney gritted out, “The dreamland is collapsing because it’s awakened! We…”

Xu Yangyi stared blankly into space as Rocjourney continued speaking. But in the following moment, everyone fell into a daze and then immediately closed their eyes.

From their bodies, a wave of dizziness came, and they seemed to spin together with their surroundings.

“Space is shifting!” Xu Yangyi kept his cool as a weightless feeling spread. They all seemed to sense themselves float up and shuttle through a temporal-spatial tunnel. After no less than ten minutes did they feel themselves touch the ground.

Xu Yangyi’s head was a little faint, a residual effect from the transference. Still, he had to time to wait for the effects to subside, and he quickly ran his eyes through the area.

As far as he could see, an earthy-yellow entered his eyes. After waiting for the thing facing him to slowly clear up, not even he could help but exhale coldly!

“This…”

At this time, Moonless and Rocjourney gritted their teeth and unhurriedly found their footing. They were the same as Xu Yangyi, quickly looking around them as well. But with this glance, they became like Xu Yangyi, dazed where they stood!

In this place… was a palace.

A colossal palace.

But in spite of this, the style certainly wasn’t Chinese. On the contrary the palace carried a somewhat Persian air. It was over 2,000 meters all around, the same size as a large football field.

On the stone walls within the stone palace, there were many oily hues that still hadn’t completely faded away. They were extremely mottled, and sunlight shone through the gaps that Xu Yangyi had made, covering the walls with the marks of time. But in the palace’s surroundings, eight giant Buddha statues, each one over dozens of meters in height, towered.

However, their appearances weren’t peaceful and harmonious. On the contrary, they were strange and malevolent. They weren’t sculpted in Buddhism’s freehand style, but rather in a quite realistic way! Their essential points were almost sketched in nigh-strict accordance. One could even speculate on the original appearances of these stone sculptures.

Their hands all gripped chains, and the extremes of these chains connected to the middle of the palace.

There within… was a throne.

It was simple, but what was not simple was the solemn-faced monk sitting on it. It was Enihilus. But what was even more unusual… was the 300 meters of misty white fog that was behind this throne. At this moment, it was boiling like an open pot. Inside, two golden lights, like searchlights in the white mist, were flickering continuously.

They were the Dream Walker’s two eyes!

Swoosh! Infinite black mist bubbled forth from the tiny shadows all around. Afterwards, they were sucked into the Dream Walker’s body. With each assimilated fraction, the white mist, like a small mountain, fiercely oscillated a bit. A sliver of excitement mingled with a furious echo coiled like a viper from within.

“So this is the Dream Walker…” Moonless glanced at Enihilus, somewhat lost in thought. He looked directly at the behemoth behind the monk, which undulated like a misty sea. “This place…”

“Is the third level.” As if he was a Buddhist king, Enihilus sat atop the throne that was already wobbling due to many years and moons. The monk said in an indifferent voice, “Apart from myself, no one knew of this. Not even Floatingcloud knew that the nightmare was imprisoned on the third level. The location of the Dream Walker’s true body.”