Archfiend

Chapter 380: The Gold-Banded Staff (5)

Translator: XTB

“REEE!!!” Almost simultaneously, the skeletal monkey’s maw snapped open. The white light, already condensed to the pinnacle, transformed into a rocketing pillar of light. Without warning, it jetted out!

Crash! Everything on the ground was razed wherever the light beam passed! Fine cracks appeared on the seabed, and a meter-deep trench emerged in a flash! At both sides of the trench, mud flew up several meters into the air and scattered as the lightning-like white light charged straight ahead!

“ROAR!!!” ten fire-dragons roared together. In the following instant, in the sky above and the earth below, to east, west, north, and south, fire-dragons wildly rushed to the middle of the seabed. They engulfed and bore down, surprisingly encircling the skeletal monkey in a purple fireball that was over sixty meters in size!

The ten dragons were indistinguishable from each other! A fire-god’s trap of ten dragons!

Swoosh! In the purple blaze, a ray of white light shimmered, and the white beam surged into the horizon! On the light’s path, seven figures of Xu Yangyi crumbled apart in a flash! Very soon, the clang of breaking sounds screeched from behind! In all places the white light traveled, a hole was unexpectedly punched through the surrounding airplanes and ships! The aftermath was several meters in size, and the gash was as smooth as a mirror!

The Ten Cardinals Purgatory didn’t collapse, and Xu Yangyi was relentless in his actions. Taking advantage of the moment, his hands weaved seals at a dizzying pace.

Huuummm... Green radiance enveloped his entire body. From his forehead, a mysterious rune started to appear. This rune swiftly crept forward and shrouded his form within. The pattern marks revealed a kind of ancient and mysterious air. At the same time, his hair and clothes moved freely of the wind! Something seemed to be on the cusp of exploding from his body!

Pill Cauldron Is My Heart!

Screeech... The ground all around him fissured, and he then floated up. Everything before his eyes was growing hazy, yet quickly became even clearer. His spiritual sense was clambering up at a terrible speed. Three seconds later, he took a deep breath, “Myriad Spirits Suppression.”

Whoosh... In this fleeting moment, the wind stopped.

The roar of seawater went unheard. As if time had stopped in this twinkling. In the next second, this pause, in the wake of a crisp crunching noise, was broken.

It wasn’t the sound of any object breaking, no, this was the echo of space shattering apart! As this crash rang out at the same time, anguished and unknowing wails came from all around!

“Argh...”

“Urk...”

“Hiss...”

Quiet like a demon yet lingering at ear side, noiseless screeches echoed everywhere from the seabed grave. The Myriad Spirits Suppression was the suppression of all spirits! So long as the spirit existed, so long as the spirit hadn’t dissipated, all would be influenced!

Still, this voice lasted for barely a tenth of a second. At the same time before one’s thoughts could even react, an absolute spiritual force, like a massive palm that was dozens of meters wide, slammed down in the air!

Crash! Beneath this great palm, everything: seaweed, sand, and coral, were rendered motionless, yet one could sense some entity coming towards their spirit!

It was like a great mountain! An ocean tide!

BOOM!!! There was no sound, but a loud boom rang out, resonating only through spiritual sense. The purple fireball slightly trembled, and a formless manifestation forcibly covered and descended in the air! Surprisingly, it passed through the fireball and directly struck the skeletal monkey!

“REEEEEE!!!” a thunderous howl shook the world. The skeletal monkey let loose an agonizing scream! Purple fire-dragons expanded with a boom!

Just like a ball was placed in the monkey, a sixty-meter-sized purple fireball like the sun bulged out one section from the left and then sunk in by the same margin from the right. Xu Yangyi stared, and his hands came together with full force!

His arms veins were flushed out against the surface of his skin. In the next moment, a deafening explosion rang out! The purple fireball totally exploded!

The ten draconic fire-gods smelted the skeletal monkey!

However, just as a sliver of calm took home in Xu Yangyi’s eyes, his gaze immediately became grave.

Nothing... Nothing had actually happened to the monkey!

No... not just nothing. Right now, it was floating in the air and clutching at its head while moaning in pain. Outside its body, though, a ring of golden light appeared!

“Om, Ma, Ni, Pad, Me, Hum...” Waves of unfathomable, grand Sanskrit chants radiated from the golden ring. Xu Yangyi’s pupils violently needled, and his body flickered. The Ketu-Rahu Sword’s wings spread open. In the blink of an eye, he’d already flown dozens of meters away!

“The Six-Syllable True Incantation?” He looked at the skeletal monkey in disbelief. “How is this possible? This is obviously a demon... no, a ghostly entity. How could the Six-Syllable True Incantation protect its body?!”

This was no ordinary protective qi cover!

This... was already considered above a defensive divine ability! A divine ability of perpetual defense!

But at the same time... the environment and surrounding void around the shrieking monkey rapidly morphed. Over a dozen golden sanskrit characters appeared again, as if... something was freezing its surroundings and and also maintaining its body!

Swoosh! Without any hesitation, black light flared all over Xu Yangyi’s body. The ancient man, his face unseen and his momentum terribly shocking, appeared again. Infinite black light coalesced and became a shining, metallic dot, thrusting towards the monkey howling in pain!

Xu Yangyi’s only regret, though, was that the current Ketu-Rahu Sword could no longer follow his progress.

After its might had shocked Nanzhou, the Ketu-Rahu Sword was still initial-stage Foundation Establishment. It didn’t hold that realm-surpassing power of one strike that was beyond late-stage Qi Condensation. There was quite the chance that forging it again was needed. Regardless, there was no grand master to check and research now. Everything was a vain attempt.

Shing! Even if a sword was more mysterious, it was still useless if its realm was inadequate. It was no surprise that the golden halo of the Six-Syllable True Incantation rippled with a gentle tremor. Afterwards, the mote of black light vanished within the formlessness.

“This...” At the same time, all the spiritual light around the skeletal monkey gathered together. To his shock, Xu Yangyi discovered that this... was actually a suit of armor!

Crack! Like a holy raiment fitted snugly to the body, a purple pheasant-tail headdress, glimmering with dazzling golden light, suddenly covered the skeletal monkey’s head.

Clang... clang clang clang! Rainfall like the vast starry sky. Sharp sounds rang out. In less than five seconds, the monkey’s entire body was donned with a chestplate, legguards, and boots. “REEE!!!” an angry howl shook the heavens! Everything in the vicinity faintly trembled! It was as if a demon-god had come!

“So strong!” This howl’s power actually caused Xu Yangyi to fall back a couple steps!

“This isn’t its power in itself!” Understanding quickly dawned on him. “The more this demon is hit, the stronger it gets... In less than ten minutes, I can sense that its power will even be above mine. That armor... there’s something up with it. Maybe its something left behind by a high-level cultivator.”

“Screech...” Dark-green radiance was no longer present in the monkey’s seven apertures, instead replaced by a kind of golden haze. It appeared not to be strange anymore, but rather containing a divine feeling.

A purple cap, a tiger-skin cloak, and silver armor. Xu Yangyi looked on for three seconds and let loose a long sigh. “Is this thing copying Great Sage Sun?”

“But just because you have the form doesn’t mean you have the meaning. If you’re Great Sage Sun, you would be able to grind me to death a hundred thousand times with a single finger. But now...” He settled his figure in the air, both his hands already in an odd shovel shape. “If you’re just going to stop at this, you’re still not my opponent.”

Following this hand seal, a melodious cry suddenly came from the sky.

Carrying boundless deathly stillness and extreme menace, this sound echoed throughout the seabed. Even the skeletal monkey felt the oppressive qi within. It raised its head and growled lowly, looking solemnly to the sky.

The sky was black, yet was brightened with all kinds of light from the clash of magiks below. Black coffins hung at all three sides of the water walls that formed the sea triangle. At this moment, however, the triangle above couldn’t be seen.

The Clearcloud Realm’s blackness was a blackness without stars. Still, the darkness now covering their heads was pure black, deep black, swallowing everything! A blackness that corroded everything!

“Heavenly Opening First Erosion...” Xu Yangyi extended a finger, and streaks of qi scattered above his head. The price of this move was one half of his spiritual force.

“Screech...” Nine spirit-shaking cries, like the soul-hastening bell of the underworld, echoed in the sky. In the following moment, a massive stargazer altar composed entirely out of light awesomely emerged under Xu Yangyi’s feet!

Endless light intertwined, shining upon a hundred-meter-sized nine-headed pheasant above his head. The beast shouldn’t have belonged to a Foundation Establishment cultivator!

Although it was inferior to the several-hundred-meter-sized worldly anomaly directly imbued into Wei Zhongxian by Celestial Master Zhang, this finger already put a great majority of Foundation Establishment cultivators to shame!

“Devour Bone!”

Following a soft cry, the Demonchariot Pheasant halted upon the stargazer altar! A tide of a black radiance loudly exploded from the stargazer altar under Xu Yangyi’s feet!

Swoosh! The black light was like a tsunami! In an instant, it consumed the surrounding 200 meters!

Crack crack crack... All the wreckages groaned, finding it hard to shoulder the weight. Very soon, they collapsed with a bang!

Black light swept over the skeletal monkey. Five seconds later, the Six-Syllable True Incantation divine ability outside its body transformed entirely into qi! The black light was like a heel maggot, swiftly dyeing the monkey’s bones black!

Crack... The first sound was a brittle noise that echoed from the monkey’s lower legs. Afterwards... all of its bones sparkling with runes crackled softly! Visible to the naked eye, cracks climbed all over its body in an instant!

The skeletal monkey, however, was motionless, not even worried. As he witnessed the following scene, Xu Yangyi could hardly believe his eyes.

Swish... After it donned the armor, the monkey’s movements didn’t have a trace of weirdness. It was brimming with Buddhist tranquility, wisdom, and divinity. Its left hand was presented in the shape of an orchid, and from the only hole in its ear... it actually took out a needle-thin object that was emitting rays of golden light!

This needle welcomed the wind and extended! In the end, it became a two-meter-long staff that was fully engraved with talismans! With a flourish, illumination glittered, and the ground surrounding the monkey suddenly collapsed!

Xu Yangyi looked before him in astonishment, stricken dumb. Immediately, he forcefully clenched his fist, bringing him back to clarity at once.

“No!”

“It’s definitely not that object!

“If it was him, based on Great Sage Sun’s level, he wouldn’t need to take out his staff. He would be able to crush me to death with spiritual pressure alone!”

“This...” he took a deep breath, “is a fake!”

“Just like the sword tip of the Xuan-Yuan Sword I had back then, it’s a fake!”

“At that time, the sword point was broken by Nalan Liusu who was far stronger than me. I... can block this move!”

He would have to fight with every fiber of his being...

His eyes flashed without a trace of hesitation. The monkey taking out this object was evidently its final move. Yet even if it wasn’t, Xu Yangyi still resolved himself to fight with all he had.

And that... was because the other was getting stronger and stronger! Armor similar to the Great Sage’s, in addition to the object it had now taken out... In another half an hour, he wouldn’t even feel it be strange if flesh started to grow on the monkey’s body!

He waved his hand and the supreme-grade spirit stone rolled into his hand. He sucked in deeply and felt his spiritual force almost replenish in a flash. His gaze was stern as he said, “Smelting God Art...”

“Heavenly Opening First, Second, and Third Erosions.”

“Devour Bone, Flesh, and Blood!”

In the past ten years, this was the first smelting he chose, the Heavenly Opening Six Erosions. Still, he only wanted a Heavenly Opening One Erosion!

Spoiler

1. “The Six-Syllable True Incantation”. It is usually parsed as “Om mani padme hum”. This is the six-syllable mantra of Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva. It is believed that by meditating on this mantra, one can achieve the 800 samadhis. A samadhi is a state of meditative consciousness.

2. “A purple pheasant-tail headdress”. This is a somewhat specific hat worn by a very specific figure... Look up “雉鸡尾紫金冠”, for better imagery.

3. “Great Sage Sun”, otherwise known as Sun Wukong.

4. I believe this hand gesture is the middle finger and thumb pressed together.

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