Archfiend Chapter 57

Chapter 57: A Fleeting Life Like an Empty Dream (Two)

Xu Yangyi sucked in deeply, and he watched character upon character flutter on the ornamented book with his own eyes. Personally watching these characters enter the golden light bamboo scroll, he looked on as if a pair of incorporeal hands were automatically arranging the script in the sky.

The result was that after everything was sorted and increased, there was no character that was the same! 

"Dong…" At this moment, a faint voice rang like the chime of a bell from some unknown location: "Return… to…" The voice was leagues away, but extremely rich in cadence. When this chiming bell of a noise echoed out, the color of the sky suddenly turned black!

In the next instant, a lotus ignited with shining blaze. Subsequently, the lotus flower instantly burst into fire as if it had been doused with gasoline! It wasn't confined to this lotus… but rather… the entire lotus pond!

"Craaaacckle…" In the wink of an eye, half of the sky reflected the redness of flames, bringing the lotus flower ocean that stretched as far as the eye could see to shine like daytime! On the water's surface, the reflections of flames all gently swayed! It appeared that the lotus pond water was boiling!

Xu Yangyi wasn't alarmed. He stared unflaggingly at the bamboo slip in the sky. Whether or not this situation could be explained, was the Burning Heavens Revelation only a badly ruined secret law? If it was explained… was it originally this never before heard Eternal Pill Sutra King? In the case it was made clear… wasn't this a true arcane effort lost to the long river of history? 

The Burning Heavens Revelation was already a Core Formation arcane effort. If that was so… what level was this completel Eternal Pill Sutra King? No… It wasn't limited to just that!

He sucked in deeply, and from his experience starting at leaving the branch academy to the graduation ceremony, he was already aware as to what extent modern Pill Dao had fallen to. And so… was it possible this arcane effort was an alchemy arcane effort? A supplementary arcane effort?

All kinds of doubts arose in his heart. When he was in the Unrivaled Beneath the Heavens Arena, he could've taken the others' pledges any time he desired. However, in comparison to his present harvest and the complete activation of the mysterious upper half of the chest, their promises were like firefly light contrasted to a luminous moon, unable to be mentioned together on any grounds!

As he carefully observed each character, suddenly, countless bubbles erupted from underwater!

"Shit!" He suddenly grit his teeth and laid down on a lotus leaf without a second word. In the sea of lotus leaves, perhaps such a large movement had long disturbed the terrifying prehistoric beast below!

"Swish!!!" A massive wave that could overflow the heavens flipped over the sky. A fishtail no less than a kilometer whipped out from the sea of lotus leaves! Beneath flame, the azure fish scales glimmered with a devilish brilliance! 

The fishtail rose up, blotting out the sky and concealing the earth! This simply couldn't be a creature that could appear on Earth! Even if it was the legendary kraken of the North Sea, it was impossible to have such a tremendous volume!

The sky's brilliance was covered by the fish tail, serving as a deathly still black cloth that covered the surface. Countless lotus leaves and lotus flowers were sent flipping in the air in the wake of this gigantic mountain range-like fish tail, and with a rumble, an explosive tide climbed up a hundred meters high as if it was a tsunami! It charged directly at the golden light bamboo scroll in the sky!

When the Kun Peng flaps its wings, whirlwinds and tornadoes would arise within 90,000 li. It shouldered the azure skies to look below at the city walls of the human realm.

From extremely large to extremely small, Xu Yangyi's pupils suddenly magnified. He could already imagine that as the fish tail fell, a mega tsunami would erupt from the whole sea of lotuses! He was like a withered leaf within torrential rain, facing imminent crisis!

"Huff…" Life and death hanging in the balance, Xu Yangyi suddenly closed his eyes. He seemed to hear a crash, and the entire landscape before his eyes shattered. 

"Thump… Thump…" The violent beating of his heart seemed to resonate at the side of his ear.

"Swoooosh…" Torrential rain downpoured, striking his eyes and making wet his body.

"Vrooooom…" The sound of a car raced past from a not so distant location. The camouflage pants on his body had long been soaked in the heavy rain. He immediately felt a fiery pain from the injuries on his bare upper body. His entire skeleton appeared to be broken, and he couldn't even summon a bit of strength.

This was a small mountain at the side of a highway. There were trees growing all over, and he just happened to be on a hilltop. From this location, a few vehicle headlights could be seen on the highway as well as a nearby thinly spread metropolitan area. 

Below, not a skyscraper could be seen, representing the lightning of the population concentration degree was frighteningly sparse. At least, that was what Xu Yangyi who had just come to Fengyi City believed.

"Heh…" He let loose a breath of air in lingering trepidation, and his heart palpitated fiercely. The scenery moments ago seemed to be just before him. He could even still clearly remember the thousand-meter-long fish tail that could overturn rivers and seas, as if the landscape was like a natural disaster. 

It was as if it was a lifetime ago.

Was that scene just now real or fake? Was that experience an illusory fantasy? If it was a fantasy, why did he remember everything so clearly? Nevertheless, it wasn't important.

He tested out his qi sea, and it was completely void. On the contrary though, the bullet in his chest had faded away, but his current "reserve" of qi was almost nihl. With such grave injuries, and without qi to mend his body, he knew that if he laid down here that while he wouldn't die, he would surely come down with a serious illness.

Gritting his teeth, he turned his body over. Facing the torrential downpour of the night sky, a trace of a smile surprisingly hung from the corner of his mouth. 

"Hehehe…" He began to only laugh gently, but finally, he turned up towards the heavens and howled in laughter: "HAHAHA!" 

Everything else was unimportant. What was important was that he had survived. From the midst of hellish tempering, he had survived! All the Foundation Establishment cultivators had been exterminated and the amount of dead Qi Condensation cultivators and mortals numbered in the thousands. It could be said this was the first major case in close to thirty years!

He had continued to live, and moreover, had even ruthlessly beat up Vermillion Snow.

A painful sensation passed on through his entire body, endlessly reminding him that this was the proof he was alive.

"Huff…" He inhaled deeply, feeling strength slowly return to his body, and familiar qi began to bore strand by strand into his qi sea. He shut his eyes, and his first order of business wasn't to circulate his arcane effort, but rather immediately arrange his thoughts. 

Being the first place of a branch wasn't so simple. He had to be outstanding countless of times in live combat training and had to be tossed alone on an uncharted island filled with demons an unknown amount of times. Over a decade of hell training had caused him to cultivate a very good habit. 

Fearless to assume, but even more fearless to confirm.

If the Burning Heavens Revelation was a splintered fragment picked out from this "Eternal Pill Sutra King"...

Wasn't this section the mastered arcane effort of an apex cultivator of this world? In that case, what was the power of the intact Eternal Pill Sutra King? What was its rank?

Almost without a sliver doubt, he immediately began to recall each character of the Eternal Pill Sutra King, taking advantage of time he had still not forgotten it. If this acane effort was assumed true… Then, his key to treading into this world's great gate would surpass everyone's imagination!

This… was quite possibly an arcane effort that transcended the current pinnacle of the world! Above Core Formation!

Success would be taken from details, riches and honor would be sought out amidst danger!

Cultivation was to defy the heavens with all of one's life! One who fearful of the slightest thing and overly cautious would forever be incapable of reaching the other shore!*

Perhaps this chance was only a sliver, but he had to seriously concentrate on it! After all, in case he seized onto it, it would be a genuine Mark Six!** 

Just as this thought surfaced, a golden brilliance appeared without the least warning in his spiritual sense. Golden characters neatly floated into view within his brain, and the title was Eternal Pill Sutra King!

Xu Yangyi's gaze deepened a bit. The Eternal Pill Sutra King had actually been carved into his mind! He sucked in deeply and his qi sunk into his dantian. He suddenly sat down.

"Shhh…" A sound gently rang out, and there was an object that had rolled onto the ground from his body. He looked on in shock; it was surprisingly the upper half of the chest that had disappeared. 

He looked complicatedly at this item. It had caused his qi sea to boundlessly expand, and now that it perhaps couldn't even be seen, it even brought to him some advantages. However, in the wake of his realm progressively becoming higher and his cultivation increasingly becoming deeper, it was akin to drinking poison to quench thirst!

However, it had yet saved his life during a calamity. What was the meaning of Vermillion Snow shouting "Emperor Armament"? This item… in the end, was it good or was it bad? Was it a secret treasure or deadly nightshade?

"Although I don't know what the heck you are…" He laughed grimly as he put the box into his pocket: "This ain't the academy, and I got ten thousand kinds of methods to clearly get a hold of your origin."

Gazing into the distance as far as his eyes could stretch, his eyes reached a place with lights waning. While the heavy downpour concealed the heavens, it was incapable of obstructing the bright scenery of the human realm.

"Snap…" His fist made a cracking noise as a knuckle was squeezed. His gaze had already turned fiery. A tiger was left free to reign in the mountains and forests! A dragon roamed about in the great sea!

This human realm, this world, this was the moment he had at last truly set foot in it! With the status a demon slayer! With the status of an avenger! With the status of a cultivator! 

And with the status as a human, Xu Yangyi's status.

He didn't do anything else, and rather began to calmly meditate. No less than an hour later, he felt the rain truly immerse his skin in icy-coldness. It was then that he stood up.

The initial stage of Qi Condensation was still not the time one could fast. It wasn't until the late stage of Qi Condensation could one be detached from the life of an ordinary person. 

"I have come…" His gaze swept over four staring shadows within the rainy night and he grinned: "Be careful, demons."

In his qi sea, a layer of weak qi was roiling. Although he had only restored approximately one percent of his qi, the feeling of cultivating under rain wasn't all too great. In particular...

His gaze cast towards a few shadows in the city. Was there not an even better place to rest…? 

At this time, a tree behind him split into two with a crash. Just as he turned his head, a boy wearing high schooler's uniform suddenly appeared from the parted area. To say it was a boy was not completely correct.

The other's skin was considerably good, but he shockingly had two pointed ears on his head and a pair of dark-green slitted pupils. His hand was black with thick hair. Because of his mouth opened half wide in astonishment, his steel needle-like teeth could be seen filling the insides. 

Evidently, the other also hadn't expected a person would be here. The boy's shock lasted for less than half a second, and his first response was to let loose a low wolf's howl from his throat. Subsequently, his four limbs touched the ground, his body arched, and he seemed to immediately want to pounce forth. 

Xu Yangyi didn't move at all. The transformation of moments ago… was simply outrageously weak. Even if he only had one percent of his qi right now, he wouldn't even need thirty seconds to wrap up the thing before him. That was, if it dared take the initiative to attack.

However, in the next second, just as the boy prepared to pounce, the front half of his arched body abruptly laid on the ground, as if he had suddenly sensed something. His fierce howl surprisingly forced itself to become a kind of cute sound, and he incessantly wagged his stiff tail. 

Spare my life!

This was his first reaction just as he was preparing to launch his assault! This man that had incomprehensibly appeared before him could only be considered to have confused him amidst his stupefaction, yet he cautiously become aware of… 

From snout to tail, he was exuding a body-wide cold sweat!

How was this possible! How could such a terrifying human cultivator appear in this kind of remote location!? An elite of the Featherwood Guard? A special agent of the CSIB? A manager-level figure of the Bountiful Treasures Pavilion?! Or perhaps he was a reclusive weird professor of Heavens Law?

His heart nearly leapt out!

"You're rather intelligent." Xu Yangyi looked at the boy on all fours who was incessantly wagging his tail and laughed: "My impression of demons has never been very good, especially now."

Xu Yangyi's laughter was quite soft, yet the boy on the ground felt his entire body tremble and buried his head deep in a pile of wet leaves and mud. He dared not raise it at all. 

"Fiend, behold my magik treasure!" Before his voice had even fallen, the voice of a delicate young girl shouting could be heard loud and clear from the forest.

Xu Yangyi narrowed his eyes. Magik treasure?

This word evoked his interest. Unless one was at Foundation Establishment, how could a magik treasure possible be used? In addition...

The aura chasing from behind was no different from this weak wolf!

Thus, he saw a… trembling peachwood sword, worn-out and dilapidated, with a 300 RMB demon-breaking talisman suspended on it, carried by an incredibly frail qi that was staggering like an eighty-year-old grandma, coming towards his direction.***

T/N: Might be changing name of Eternal Pill Sutra King in the future. Unsure as to a certain aspect of the phrasing. Also, anyone watching OWL? Crazy Seoul vs Dallas game. Made a bet I would try to double release if they won, but they didn't RIP

* Interesting to note that the word for "other shore" has the meaning of paramita, a buddhist idea of perfection or completeness. This is Daoist, so I left it as "other shore".

** Mark Six is a Hong Kong lottery game. In the lottery, there are six drawn balls and one extra ball. Getting all six drawn ball numbers means getting "Mark Six". I don't think I need to explain how insanely lucky this is.

*** historically, peachwood is known as the anti demon wood.

Chapter end