Archfiend

Chapter 54: Emperor Armament (2)

Vermilion Snow couldn’t flee. This was because Xu Yangyi’s hand had firmly seized onto hers! Xu Yangyi didn’t speak, only using his faintly reddened gaze to look at the panic-stricken expression that covered her face. He didn’t know why he did this, but it stemmed from instinct.

Within his body, golden light radiated all around, and an incredibly powerful qi filled each one of his muscles to the brim! Every one of his bones! He dared not believe this was his own body. He also knew this absolutely wasn’t his own cultivation!

But then…  who did it belong to?

Xu Yangyi was only aware the he was very strong! The current him was terribly strong! So strong… that he could stand on equal footing with Vermilion Snow!

“No… Let go of me, Junior!!!” Vermilion Snow didn’t know what to think, completely lacking her prior cool and collected composure! Followingly, her hand immediately sprouted white fur! Layer upon layer of fur spread forth in transformation! She was undergoing her demonization again without the slightest hesitation!

Rays of white qi flickered. Afterwards, golden brilliance radiated from all over Xu Yangyi. Like a god overlooking the human realm, he lightly seized Vermilion Snow’s finger.

Swooosh! One by one, snow-white silver tails swiftly emerged from Vermilion Snow’s body. In a twinkling, a tremendous fox appeared once more! This time, it was devoid of grace or unhurried calm. There was only a voice that flooded the Unrivaled Beneath the Heavens Arena!

“KILL!!!”

Over 200 meters long, a silver nine-tailed fox with her right claw at her foremost had been grasped in the hand of a blood-soaked youth. However, the youth was only pulling on a few of her hairs. In her alarm, she discovered that she was unable to wrest herself free!

She was a half-step Core Formation demon, and he was at the initial stage of Qi Condensation, yet she… was still unable to throw him off!

“Accept your death!” Vermilion Snow’s killing intent had thoroughly erupted, and her nine tails and mouth spread open at the same time. A purple origin crystal suddenly flew out like thunderfire!

It was merely the size of a soccer ball. In comparison to Vermilion Snow’s demon form, it couldn’t possibly be even smaller. However, the crystal’s surface was covered with blood vessel-like veins, streaks of rushing thunder, and wisps of clamoring purple clouds, certifying that it contained a might that could overturn the heavens!

This was an origin crystal. An origin crystal born from a half-step Core Formation demon. If Vermilion Snow reached Core Formation, the blood vessel-like veins on the surface would all disappear, and the origin crystal would become a true demon core. 

She was only a step away from the true realm of Core Formation. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have taken the risk of braving the massive danger of washing a Heavens Law branch with blood. She was incapable of NOT exploding with rage. The present Xu Yangyi gave her a sense of immense danger! Confronted with such an “organism”, her first instinct was to attack!

That was because this attack was for her to escape!

It was an Emperor Armament… An Emperor Armament! Her heart screeched, how could such an item, lost for countless years, possibly be in Xu Yangyi’s hands?!

Escape… Escape was her first reaction! Even though over a century had passed, she vividly remembered how she, who was already at Foundation Establishment, was laid to waste under the hands of that damned eunuch and had to flee miserably! This current Xu Yangyi appeared to be even more powerful than that eunuch!

“What powerful strength…” Xu Yangyi didn’t even spare a glance at the flying half-completed origin crystal. Instead, he studied himself. There wasn’t a single trace of a flaw on his entire body, and rays of golden light erupted from his pores and his seven apertures. A palm-sized half-chest revolved in his qi sea. He himself didn’t dared not be convinced; what even was this realm? Making a fist, the wind around his figure immediately tightened as it rustled. 

Thou only has three breaths.

“Who are you?” He immediately asked as a voice suddenly appeared in his mind. No one responded, but Xu Yangyi wasn’t presently in the mood to listen to the other’s explanation.

Three breaths… Three seconds?

The battle intent within his heart erupted like a volcano!

Several thousand human lives… The lives of eight Foundation Establishment cultivators...

“Time to settle the debt… whore…” There was no reason to speak. He would kill without mercy!

The first second!

“Solution Ninety… Life Sacrification! Solution Eighty-Three… Starfire. Solution Seventy… Water-Moon Void!” [1]

“Alert! Alert!” At the same time in the level above, motes of information frantically flickered all over Heavens Law, amidst the savage desolation. Without a shred of emotion, Heavens Law’s voice echoed repeatedly, “Detecting energy that surpassess world’s tolerance levels… Detecting energy that surpassess world’s tolerance levels… Initializing scan…”

“Initial-stage Core Formation… Middle-stage Core Formation… Late-stage Core Formation… Great Circle Core Formation… Alert! Alert! Incapable of continuing data retrieval! Has transcended branch avatar’s scope of power! World-transcending energy grade!”

“Request whether or not to activate Slaughter Weapon? Request whether or not to activate Slaughter Weapon?”

“No…” At the same time, several complex voices spoke out in unison and echoed out within a room, close yet worlds apart. Subsequently, information beams suddenly flashed all over Heavens Law’s avatar. Afterwards, it shut its eyes.

“Record all visual.” A voice rang out, “Include this matter on secrets surpassing S-rank. Pertaining the Emperor Armament, we must not grow complacent by even a hair!’

“Shut off all channels. Within ten minutes, This Dao Master shall personally take to the scene.”

In the Unrivaled Beneath the Heavens Arena, a lightning-fast mirage drew out a long afterimage. With a speed impossible to clearly see with the naked eye, it appeared on top of a fox’s head in a flash!

Life Sacrification amplified all skills. Starfire, as Xu Yangyi remembered it, was the swiftest body lightening solution. Water-Moon Void was a solution in the middle ranks that he had always wanted to use but was simply unable to!

Everyone knew that the Hundred Solutions was an elementary-rank arcane effort; who would spend so much thought to study it? Even Xu Yangyi only remembered a couple tens of solutions. Life Sacrification was worthy of use, but the cost was too great.

Yet at this instant, Life Sacrification didn’t seem to use spiritual force! However, speed that shifted at nearly a wink caused Xu Yangyi’s gaze to flicker. Nevertheless, he didn’t stop.

The present landscape was no longer the joyous and harmonious scenery that had taken place an hour prior. Ruined limbs, blood, and corpses… were everywhere! This was an asura ground. The gazes of several thousand lives and eight Foundation Establishment Seniors landed on him. With this fist, he exhausted his full strength!

Boom! A heavy sound rang out, and Vermilion Snow was forcibly smashed down into a gigantic crater by the crown of her head! However… things didn’t end there!

The Water-Moon Void was a solution that erupted with layer upon layer of spiritual force. After the first punch descended, Xu Yangyi’s fist raised upwards in the middle of the sky, echoing with a series of heavy booms!

CRACK!!! The Baihui Meridian was located in the crown of the head and a heavy blow to it would incur fatal consequences! Vermilion Snow raised her tremendous head and screeched miserably! This was the first time she had been met with blood. Furthermore, blood spilled out from her seven apertures!

“Junior!!!” In the midst of her throat-splitting screech, her voice transformed into ripples that were visible to the naked eye! These waves scattered in all directions! Followed by a rumbling, the arena floor and the audience stands all collapsed one by one!

But just as Vermilion Snow raised her head upwards, looking at Xu Yangyi with a fury that split her eyes apart, her pupils suddenly needled! This was because… in the sky, the four characters of Unrivaled Beneath the Heavens ceased to be!

It was not a true non-existence, but rather the stirring of countless golden rays and sunlit clouds! Glimmers of golden light outlined a man’s image! It was a bizarre leopard-headed man riding a strange beast with the body of a horse and the head of a boar. His face was nebulous, but it could be clearly sensed. Yet with a glance, it left one at a lost. With a bamboo slip grasped in one hand and a fist formed in the other, the man slowly advanced to hammer her down!

Buzz! At this second, as if a massive airplane propeller was on top of her head, all her hair was sent completely billowing through the air! To the extent that it even blinded her eyes! 

Crunch! Without warning, her four claws forcefully stomped into the ground, splitting apart the floor! Giant spider-web cracks appeared! Her sharp fox eyes turned into slivers as they were blown downwards by tremendous wind pressure.

She caught sight of a fist. It wasn’t fast, yet she was simply unable to evade it!

“How… How is this possible?!” She screeched towards the heavens, “It was ‘erased’! My intent to ‘dodge’ was ‘erased’! What the hell is this monster?!”

Boom! Before her voice even fell, the golden fist had already hammered down on her head neither slowly nor swiftly!

Crack! Crack! Crack! The sound of breaking teeth filled the air. All her teeth, because the top of her head and jaw had both been struck by heavy blows, shattered completely!

Blood freely torrented out from her orifices! Already, a clearly visible depression was left on her head! This strike had sent her seeing stars, and her feet stood wobbly! Her immense body fell on the ground with a rumble, and sand scattered through the air!

Second number two!

Xu Yangyi didn’t give his opponent an opportunity to rest, and his second strike came like lightning! It was an ordinary blow, but the strange silhouette twisting in endless golden light appeared behind him again!

“This, it’s…” In this waning moment, Vermilion Snow recalled an ancient legend. A leopard-headed man sitting atop a boar-headed horse… nonetheless, it was too late. A fist twisting with endless golden lights rumbled above her origin crystal, mercilessly! This strike was directed towards her origin crystal.

You want to produce a core? Then, I’ll shatter your origin crystal to pieces!

CRACK!!!! A blood-curdling scream that seemed like the collapse of dead wood rang out! Just as Vermilion Snow’s massive 200-plus-meters-long body fell to the ground, blood came jetting out of her mouth! Her heart was trembling!

The origin crystal and a demon’s cultivation were intimately related. In this twinkling, Vermilion Snow only felt that her body was like an iron leaf, set down and frantically pounded with a gigantic hammer! However, her heart was without an iota of struggle. Since she had recalled who the manifestation behind Xu Yangyi’s back was, her desire to continue battle had died!

What a joke… This… was a legend! A legend known to all of China!

“Yiiiiip!” The vixen howled mournfully upon receiving this heavy blow, yet she didn’t attack. On the contrary, her tremendous form sharply turned tail, madly escaping towards the entrance! She had to escape! This was frightening, too frightening!

This legend was actually true! In her life spanning over two centuries, this was the first time she had seen it! Flee! She had to flee! Staying here would only lead to a path of death!

In the thick of her escape, her body swiftly shrunk, finally transforming into a young girl wearing a qipao, terror smeared across her face. However, her hands, feet, and hair were all formed from black smoke. Within the lingering black smoke, she made a mad dash towards the entrance!

The third second!

In the air, only a golden afterimage could be seen! In the next second, Xu Yangyi was already standing before her, looking at the young girl’s fright-stricken face.

“Spare…”

Boom!

“A while ago, it was you that wanted to kill me.” Xu Yangyi felt his fist sink into Vermilion Snow’s tender abdomen, not giving her a chance to finish speaking at all. Her expression was terrified, and her lustrous cascade of black hair almost hung down on his shoulder. His expression was ice-cold, without a sliver of hesitation due to her beauty. 

With a heavy thud, Vermilion Snow was struck to the ground. On her back, there was a distinct bulge that had been dug in by the deep insertion of a fist. Her mouth opened wide and her eyes saucered. She couldn’t believe in anything which had transpired.

This insignificant Qi Condensation insect… This dreg of a Qi Condensation cultivator… This trash who had casually grinded her to death! Despite everything… she had actually been beaten into such a state by him, in three seconds!

In this instant, her facial features twisted, her entire face alternating between demon and human without pause. Sometimes, she had fox ears. Other times, she had human ears. Occasionally, her pupils would be slitted, and at others, they would be black. Her snow-white skin continuously flickered between fur and skin in less than a span of a second! Her hair fluctuated from black to white. In one moment, it would be nine white sections, and in the next, she would have a full head of hair like ebony silk!

Both her hands trembled madly, suddenly extending to foot-long fingernails. In the next second, the nails would recede once again! Her origin crystal trembled; her demonic base had suffered damage… In her heart, her spirit fled away in terror!

A fist had almost brought her back to her true form!