archfiend

As it just happened, Xu Yangyi was fortunate to have some faint dealings with several Core Formation masters. He understood the dread of Core Formation very well. The power that could be spoken of upon reaching Grand Duke rank, the realm of Core Formation. While Qi Condensation could still rely on thousands of people to overwhelm Foundation Establishment, one couldn’t even think of capturing a Dao Master!

This was because after Core Formation… there existed a specific terrible divine ability.

Heaven and Earth within a Square Inch.

A single foot to stride out and shrink the Earth to an inch. There was no way to get hold of a Core Formation master’s whereabouts. This was why Core Formation cultivators received many more restrictions. If these superhumans of Earth were let go to act as they pleased, the consequences couldn’t dare to be imagined!

“That’s right.” Upon seeing the look in Xu Yangyi’s eyes, Stanford’s voice shivered. “Grand Dukes leave no trace wherever they go to and fro. But this move can disconnect all the surrounding space around a Grand Duke. On top of that, its might is so great that it goes beyond imagination. A high Marquis can cross a great rank to slay a low Grand Duke-rank supreme!”

Xu Yangyi’s gaze was shimmering. He deeply breathed in and out a few good times, but then made himself simmer down.

“What are the conditions?”

“That’s right, any powerful magick has a corresponding price. This move has a total of four conditions.” He extended his fingers. “The first, the user must be a Human Pillar. Otherwise one cannot borrow the spiritual force. Second, the user’s physique arts must reach an extremely high boundary. This is so one can endure the blowback. Third, the user must be at or above high Marquis. One must be able to support this move’s colossal essence absorption. Fourth, the user’s spiritual sense has to be much stronger than an ordinary person’s. This is so that one can definitely target a Grand Duke.”

Xu Yangyi wordlessly sighed. These conditions weren’t just harshed. They were virtually inhuman!

The first, second, and third were perhaps accomplishable. But the fourth truly restricted everyone.

What kind of person could achieve a spiritual sense higher than that of ordinary people?

A master spirit-technician!

If not for master spirit-technicians needing to transform their spiritual sense into threads to control all kinds of heavenly treasures, their spiritual sense wouldn’t be tempered year round. Otherwise, it was impossible to ‘far surpass an ordinary person’.

But in that case, a contradiction emerged in this.

If someone was tempering their spiritual sense year round, what was to be done about the second point referring to physique arts?

How many did the West have in total? And from this number, there were barely over a dozen master spirit-technicians. Even in China, grand masters and masters were as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns. Was there any master who didn’t have a weak body? So they instead relied on the power behind them and not themselves? The cultivation time for a Marquis was also only 200 years. Who could achieve this in 200 years?

This condition seemed to be unattainable.

But luckily he met them.

My Sacred Spirit is the Wolfbane. My physique art is A Thousand Li Invincible that I just finished cultivating, so I was able to go against Malorne’s divine avatar head-on. My realm fits, and my spiritual sense… I cultivate the Eternal Alchemy Canon, and I use the Dao of Pills, which has been passed down in China for thousands of years. It’s far beyond western sciences. This… was basically made for me!

He glanced at Stanford a little pityingly. Based on America’s alchemical standards, he, who had just entered the Pill Dao as an apprentice, was revered as an honored guest. Perhaps even centuries ago one wouldn’t be able to find such a person who fit the requirements for this move.

Stanford laughed wryly when he saw Xu Yangyi’s expression. “Yes… originally, the Elves believed this move only to be made-up. How could there be someone who fit all four conditions at once? But then I saw you…”

Silence. The old elf was waiting on Xu Yangyi to make a decision. Xu Yangyi pondered for several seconds, forced down the expectation in his heart, and asked in a heavy tone, “What’s the name.”

Stanford took a deep breath and said solemnly, “The name passed down among the Elves is known as ‘The Sword of Damocles’. But I prefer to call it…”

“The Sacred Sword!”

“It can allow you to instantly borrow a ten thousandth of a Sacred Spirit’s power at some time! It pours into you, and your body becomes stronger. With this move, you can even slay mid Grand Dukes!”

Xu Yangyi inhaled deeply. In his heart, he was excited yet rueful.

His trump card was too monotonous.

Indeed, the Heavenly Opening Great Explosion was strong. Nonetheless, it still didn’t suit the word ‘trump card’. Follow the elevation of realms, his worldview became higher, and he also started to have a little understanding regarding divine abilities. He was more prone to using the Heavenly Opening Great Explosion as a ranged killing move that made no distinction. If it was one-versus-one, like in the Holy War, its power wasn’t as significant.

Massacring cities and annihilating nations was its true usage.

He sighed sorrowfully over the world’s sheer size. If he stayed as a frog at the bottom of a well, perhaps he would never know here and now, in the distant land of the West, that there were actually people who considered the words ‘Human Pillar’ and ‘Power of Human Sacrifice’ as specialized knowledge. That there was also a complete set of legacy magicks about this subject.

“A thousand li journeyed, ten thousand books and scrolls read. As expected, I was not deceived.” [1]

“Please tell me now. How long does this move need to be trained for?”

“A month?” Stanford stuck out a finger. “And the Holy War’s duration just happens to be a month.”

“From the start that the list of names for the six strongest on both left and right sides is determined, it’ll be four days between each round. And the Sacred Sword’s training method doesn’t need you to comprehend anything. It is instead to unearth. To unearth the potential inside you left by your Sacred Spirit. The foundation. To completely induce it out. As long as you agree, His Majesty Antonio will immediately return to the Woodland of Nature’s Dream and fetch the spring water of the World Tree. As long as you assimilate into yourself, your Demonic Mark will be activated right away.”

“Demonic Mark, huh?” Xu Yangyi stroked his arm covered in tattoos. “Name’s not bad.” Turning his head, he laughed and said, “I have another condition.”

“Please speak.”

“I’ve heard that elves are pretty good when it comes to spiritual sense, right? I hope I can have a whole elf corpse.”

“No problem.”

“Good, let’s get this done as soon as possible. I hope our deal will be completed before the finals.”

“Certainly. This preparation is in order to guarantee you can enter the top three. There’s no other magick more suited for you. Mr. X, I must remind you. In this Holy War, there a good few people who are unreasonably strong. Savidean VII on your side is one of them. Although he is merely at the quasi Grand Duke rank, he still has a hundredth of a Grand Duke’s might, so he can determine the battle situation.”

Xu Yangyi nodded, and the two of them tacitly agreed to part. He spent a few minutes resting in his lounge and then walked to the arena again.

He wanted to see his opponents’ strength.

The second battle was about to start.

However, as he saw the fighters of the next round, his gaze grew colder and colder.

Savidean VII.

Versus ‘Twisting Dorothy’ Dorothy Videl of the Black Witches Coven.

Following the curtain fall of the first fight, the entire audience’s mood was fully heated up for the second fight. As Savidean and Dorothy took to the arena, the crowds’ cheers became far more deafening than the first round.

In the sky, the betting numbers frantically increased, but this time Xu Yangyi found them somewhat unexpected.

200,000 to 378,000!

It seemed to be more normal than the previous ratio, but this wasn’t the case. For this fight, almost no Counts had made any bets. The amount was short by at least over a hundred thousand, though, because their spirit stones had already been swept clean by the wretched Master Spirit-Technician X. The ones to bet were all Marquises, but Dorothy’s side added another 50,000. It was from the Black Witches’s Evil Fire Church. They were different from Xu Yangyi. Whatever the case, they had to bet on their own candidate.

And Xu Yangyi, strictly speaking, wasn’t considered someone from the House of Corvinus.

But regardless, if these two sums were eliminated, this ratio was more terrifying than the previous battle!

“Let me see your strength. Let me see what’s the difference between the peak western battle powers and Asia.” Xu Yangyi’s gaze swept over the two people in the arena. Dorothy was cloaked in a black gown. On her shoulder, there was a red crow peacefully perched. Savidean had already transformed into a lycan, but in comparison to his opponent’s grave expression, he was clearly much more relaxed.

“Ready?” As the judge, Lawrence asked Savidean and Dorothy. Once he gained their affirmation, he waved his hand, and holy light shrouded the arena. “Begin.”

As soon as Lawrence gave them the start, a dreadful inferno flared from Dorothy and then a wooden staff fell into her hand. An expanse of extremely pure spiritual energy fiercely erupted.

Boom! In merely an instant, the several-hundred-meter-sized arena immediately became a sea of fire. Her black cloak turned into ashes, thread after thread, and inside… was unexpectedly not a person, but rather a spirit harmonizing with the fire!

Hum… Blazing rings spread out. In less than a second, they engulfed the arena like a maelstrom. Rings of fire followed each other in their wake in a neat and rhythmic order. In the blink of an eye, six rings of fire brightened!

“Strong!” Even so far away, Xu Yangyi still felt the heat waves cascading through the air. The blazing flames overturned the arena, and the fire within the seams of the stones seemed to give rise to giant trees of fire. The stones were all ceaselessly shaking on the ground.

However, what truly made him serious wasn’t this sky of fire. Instead, it was the red crow on Dororthy’s shoulder. In a short moment, it became a one-meter-sized firecrow. Furthermore… a kind of indescribable oppressive force was radiating from it. Although its body was the size of a palm, it surpassed Dorothy herself!

“This… is Core Formation oppressive force!” Xu Yangyi took a deep breath. “Angel once said that the reason why cultivators at half-step or above are formidable is because they have a hundredth of this power… A sliver of Core Formation oppressive force, what is it? The feeling its giving me is just like something on top of the food chain. Even if all of Dororthy’s spiritual energy isn’t less than this sliver, it absolutely isn’t as scary as that firecrow!”

“Meteor Shower.” Floating in the air, Dorothy waved her staff, and a sharp screech suddenly rang out in the sky. The infinite array of flaming rings exploded in the sky. In the rings, a shower of meteors came down with long fiery tails. They were around ten to twenty meters in size. In a twinkling, the arena was filled with a scorched smell.

“Hiss…”

“Gasp… this is…”

As soon as Dorothy cast her spell, the gazes of all the Marquises brightened. The intent study in their eyes instantly transformed into seriousness. The Counts sitting in the back were dazed, and they followed up with exhilarated clamor.

“The Sixth Circle! That’s a Sixth Circle magick!”

“God! When you look at the family resources, hasn’t Madame Dorothy only trained in Fifth Circle magicks?”

“Training in Sixth Circle magicks before Grand Duke! Madame Dorothy will definitely be able to advance to the Grand Duke rank!”

It was a confrontation between two quasi Grand Dukes, and the opponent was likewise an apex battle power. Savidean didn’t dare to act negligently one bit. He was crouched over on the ground, all his muscles swelling up. Although he was larger than he was previously, a swooshing sound followed and he vanished without a trace.

1. I feel like I translated this term a long time ago, but Xu Yangyi here is just being emotional about how big the world is. He spits out some words of wisdom. This is the specific idiom: “行千里路，读万卷书”. It’s quite nice considering it rhymes pretty well, in my opinion.”