Archfiend

Swish… Swish… No one whatsoever could feel the terrible spiritual pressure inside Xu Yangyi’s room. The entire outside world had been locked down by Antonio. However, his initial caution now gave birth to regret as he faced the monster before him.

The plant phantasm had already become more and more distinct. It was different from any Sacred Spirit he’d ever seen.

Simple and pure.

Extremely simple pure.

Apart from those faint slivers of spiritual energy, the unfurling of each leaf and the connection of each vein was telling him that this was merely a simple and pure plant. That and nothing more.

And yet… these faint slivers of spiritual energy made him feel like the tip of a needle was up against his back.

His mind was telling him that the plant was a sick tiger, so sick that it was soon to die. Its carrier was weak—at least to him, Antonio the Great King of the Elves, this was so, but he still didn’t have the idea of seizing it away.

Even a single sliver.

What would he take it away for?

To protect the Elves?

Not to joke, but perhaps the first to flee wouldn’t be anyone else, but rather the only conscious Sacred Spirit, the Whitedeer King Malorne. Furthermore, the king would never return.

On a hopeful field, a leg strode forth and galloped. As the deer gradually moved further and further away into the distance, it didn’t even turn its head back.

“It…” Antonio opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but he discovered that his voice was hoarse. Taking a deep breath, he finally settled himself down. “Is too pure… So pure that it is a creature on a different level in comparison to Malorne. You should understand what I mean.”

The long-lived spirit treasure had an IQ that was higher than a majority of normal people. 300 years was no less than a third of an elf’s lifespan. Normal people couldn’t hope to strive for this.

So, the box wasn’t foolish.

“I got it…” The spirit treasure contemplated for three seconds and sighed. “You’re talking about its high level of purity, its pinnacle of strength, its pinnacle of perfection… but how could something like this appear on Earth?”

Silence.

A brief moment later, Antonio’s gaze was a look of calm fire. “But there is.”

“Quetzalcoatl.”

“How could it compare to Quetzalcoatl?!” The box nearly hopped up. “The world’s earliest civilization, the Sumerians, had traces of Quetzalcoatl! This was 3,000 years before the common era! No! 3,200 years, the era Uruk! That history is almost already over 5,000 years, nearly 6,000 years removed from the present day! Plus, it’s only a legend! Earth can’t possibly have such an ancient creature! Malorne’s a liar! Hey, last time he lied that I could increase my intelligence if I went into the moon well, but I ended up sleeping for twenty years!”

Antonio shot a cool glance at the spirit treasure. “So you are still just an artifact-spirit.”

“...You think I won’t go on strike right now?!”

“I don’t care if you do or don’t… I feel that it’s far beyond Malorne.” Antonio keenly gazed at Xu Yangyi shiver, and essence explosively flashed in his hand again. “We have to hurry up. This kid might not be able to hold on for much longer.”

Swish swoosh swish. The quill roamed like a dragon and serpentined like a snake, and azure flowers blossomed on Xu Yangyi’s body. On Xu Yangyi’s arms, shoulders, heart, dantian, shoulder blades, mid back, and lower back, there were a total of thirteen azure flowers. After they bloomed, the azure lines that were beginning to spread without any thought suddenly seemed to gain a mind of their own, and they began to link up.

Whoosh… Spiritual energy extended on Xu Yangyi’s back to form the totem of an azure flower. As the azure light flourished, all the shining flowers dimmed out and died. All that was left on his body was a dark tattoo.

In his body, the sharp pain vanished like an ebbing tide. Xu Yangyi couldn’t help but let out a long sigh of relief, and said hoarsely, “Is it alright?”

“Yes.” Antonio wiped away the cold sweat on his face. The work was in fact pretty simple, but the preparation time for the power to awaken a slumbering Sacred Spirit transcended the imagination. If it weren’t for the Elves, no one would be able to make the brush and ink to draw a Demonic Mark.

“A Demonic Mark… is a Sacred Spirit’s grace. Only things of an extremely similar quality can be used to guide it and alter it. And in the entire world, apart from the World Tree’s sapling, there is no such thing.” He satisfiedly looked on as Xu Yangyi slowly opened his eyes. “Look at yourself; it is practically a work of art. Ah, it is too beautiful. Its perfection adheres to the trend of time, carrying an aesthetic that returns to the old ways. The feeling of power of it and your flesh. I dare say that even England’s queen would go mad upon seeing it.”

Xu Yangyi didn’t look at the tattoo that traversed over his entire body. Instead, he opened his eyes and allowed his spiritual sense to understand.

Different…

While there was something specifically different from before, he couldn’t completely realize it.

Inside him, there seemed to be something extra. The azure vortex hadn’t changed, and the two nodes of his fourfold spiritual force was still there. Everything appeared to be the same as usual, but he sensed that he wasn’t the only one in his body anymore. There was another… very weak spiritual consciousness.

His thoughts were the other’s thoughts. And yet it wasn’t like the other had no thoughts at all. And the spiritual energy was there, but not there. Like it would scatter away at any moment.

“Your Majesty… may I ask if this is the Sacred Sword?” He studied his hand a little incredulously. He didn’t feel any change whatsoever.

“That’s right,” Antonio said in a low voice. “I said that any Human Pillar has a life-saving card in their body left behind by their Sacred Spirit. With the Elves’ special technique, the Demonic Mark can be linked together and the time to touch this card is shifted earlier in advance. But you must remember at all costs that the Sacred Sword has a restriction on the number of times. This is because any Sacred Spirit can’t fully instill their power on a Human Pillar below Grand Duke. Therefore, for Marquises, the power of a Sacred Spirit’s ‘life-saving card’ is very limited.

He narrowed his eyes as he examined Xu Yangyi. “You… probably have a limit of ten uses. The method is quite simple. Try calling the true name of the Sacred Spirit in your heart. No matter how far away, as long as it is still in this realm, it will answer you. I shall remind you again that this is only the method for using the Sacred Sword. The Demonic Mark’s strongest point is still from ‘God’s Grace’ from the Sacred Spirit itself. The spirit is in full agreement with your body; this enables the opening of the greatest treasure!”

But before his voice even fell, Antonio sensed… spiritual energy already rocketing up in front of him!

Huuummm… The entire space was trembling! From Xu Yangyi’s body, a determination that seemed to stride across eras, and feelings of precipitated time, heaviness, and murder ascended with a rumble!

Xu Yangyi looked at his hand in shock. Not even he dared to believe this. All he did was try summoning the Wolfbane, but in an instant that seemingly weak spiritual force clambered up to the summit!

Another qi, completely different from the Voidspirit Immortal Physique, was madly torrenting out from the center of his vortexes. He could sense that this qi was very horrible! To the extent that his scalp became numb! This thing absolutely didn’t belong to him! Regardless, he didn’t have the slightest rejection.. Instead, he felt all too familiar with it.

In the twinkling this qi appeared, the Dream Eater began to screech in fright. It scurried off to a corner in Xu Yangyi’s dantian and safely covered itself with its wings. For the entire time, this qi was surging to converge in his right arm. There, the Demonic Arm was fully manifested on his arm, flaring with soaring azure light!

“No good!” He coldly gasped. This power wouldn’t harm him, but he couldn’t control it at all!

In other words, once used, he had to use it. Otherwise, he would immediately explode and die if he stifled it in his body!

“Your Majesty…” He was stiffly pressing down on his arm, cold sweat involuntarily bubbling on his head. “Junior… can’t control it!”

Antonio looked at Xu Yangyi’s arm in shock. He’d never seen this situation before!

A host unable to control their Sacred Spirit’s power? Impossible! No matter how a Sacred Spirit was attuned to its host, it shifted based on the host’s will. How could this loss of control happen?

“Old man…” The box’s voice was a little shaky. “The Moon God’s Cave… In this Moon God’s cave! Do you remember?!”

“You’re saying…” Antonio’s lips slightly parted. At this moment, he actually felt a rare helplessness.

“The Enlightenment Chapter! It’s the fourth mural! On it, it says that there’s a kind of situation… where the host can’t exercise control.”

Antonio’s gaze slightly flickered, and his head snapped around to look at Xu Yangyi. “You mean…”

“The Sacred Spirit in him… has truly killed a god?!”

He remembered!

There was indeed only this kind of situation!

In the distant ancient times, some Sacred Spirits were incredibly powerful. In that era, those with roles like the Whitedeer King Malorne were only worthy to eat dirt. As for these powerful Sacred Spirits, some called them Ancient Gods. Against those entities in legend, they truly waged fierce battles.

It was once recorded that 2,000 years ago, when a majority of the Americas was a savage land, there was a lion-vulture with three heads and six wings at the very center. Due to its battle, the Americas had been split in two. North and South. According to the Elves’ hidden secrets, this lion-vulture fought a cloud in the sky.

A cloud in the shape of a head.

In the account, it was known as a ‘Titan’.

In other records, under the waves of the Pacific Ocean, at the very center, there was a cave that had always forbade entry. Inside, there was a slumbering Sacred Spirit. Over a thousand years ago, an apex cultivator once saw a massive eye in this cave, as well as a broken, blood-dyed trident stabbed in front of the cave.

Allegedly, it was Poseidon’s trident.

All Sacred Spirits that had bathed themselves in godblood no longer had to ‘seek refuge’ or ‘rely’ on a Human Pillar, instead… they exercised control!

However, the elf king wasn’t aware that Xu Yangyi and the Wolfbane were one and the same in body.

“That’s merely a legend.” Antonio took a deep breath. “No one knows whether gods exist. Not even the four major ancient civilizations consider this matter. I only know… that if X doesn’t release this move, then there’s no doubt he’ll die.”

As soon as his voice fell, his right hand gently pushed out. In the air, a soft hum was suddenly heard. Afterwards, it was unexpectedly like muffled thunder. Xu Yangyi’s hand rose up uncontrollably and pointed at the sky.

Meanwhile, the entire space was faintly trembling.

There seemed to be a resounding noise, yet there seemed to be nothing at all. Regardless, a jarring buzzing noise rang out in everyone’s ears. The room Xu Yangyi and Antonio were in visibly sunk down into the earth.

But in the next moment there was nothing whatsoever.

Xu Yangyi was dazed. Antonio was as well.

“Impossible.” Before Xu Yangyi even opened his mouth, Antonio was already taking a step forward and looking at Xu Yangyi’s hand with suspicion. “How can this be? There wasn’t the slightest essence fluctuation? This move should’ve split open the horizon. It possessed the power of a Core Formation worldly anomaly!”

“How could something like this happen now?”

Xu Yangyi was silent. He could sense that something had exploded out from his hand just now, but likewise he couldn’t feel a spiritual force fluctuation.

“Can this… really kill a Grand Duke?” he couldn’t help but ask.

Antonio’s lips were set into a thin line. He furrowed his brows. “I’ve never seen such an odd sight. Once the Sacred Sword is unleashed, it’s practically difficult for a low Grand Duke to resist. I once drew the Sacred Sword for another good friend. When he unsheathed it, there were rainbow clouds on the horizon. A hundred flowers bloomed on the ground. The slash of a sword made between the fade away of life and death. A sword that breaks through a Marquis’s shackles of range to attain that of a Grand Duke’s. All around, not a blade of grass survives. You…”

But they didn’t see.

At the same time, over a thousand meters above in the sky, there was a flight of migrating birds. All of a sudden, though, an incredibly resplendent light flashed in the night.

Without a sliver of pity, for no reason, a white light cut the sky into two. Subsequently, all the birds’ severed heads fell in concert! All that remained were their headless bodies flying forward. As before, the hundreds of heads were the same as when they were alive, nor were they frightened one bit. From the sky, they slowly fell.