Archfiend

Chapter 450: Battling the Nine Tails (2)

Translator: XTB

Terrible black qi condensed into a blazing hell of black fire in the air. The streaks of qi chaotically dancing everywhere appeared to be solid, to the extent that cries of bitter lamentation rang out.

Vermilion Snow snapped her head to the sky. On her forehead, a blood-red rune was striking to the eye! A ray of soaring red light brightened! Afterwards, her body began to swell at a rate visible to the naked eye!

In New York, ten-odd, and also the only, cultivators at and over Foundation Establishment, all raised their heads. They looked at the sky in shock.

“Such powerful essence force!” An old white man with a stark-white beard suddenly shot up from a sofa and took a long stride forward. “This... is that mysterious overseer from the House of Dracul?”

“Mid Marquis... but the feeling it gives off... is like facing a Grand Duke! Oh, that’s right... there’s a very small presence of a Grand Duke’s prestige... She was so strong?”

In a Manhattan villa with a black wolf’s head drawn on it, two men stood up at the same time.

“Is this her true power?”

“No wonder, no wonder even though we sent so many assassins that none of them succeeded! She’s much more powerful than other mid Marquises!”

In the sky, following a rumbling screech, a white nine-tailed fox that Xu Yangyi was all too familiar with roared again as it emerged!

Windswept pure-white fur, hair that grew out for three feet, rolled like a silver wave. Dozens of meters long, massive tails rose through the air like nine evil dragons. Golden slitted pupils glared at Xu Yangyi with searing-hot killing intent. A black rune was positioned on the fox’s forehead. All of this was so familiar.

Xu Yangyi took a deep breath. In his veins, in his muscles, each one of his cells was seething.

It was her who had massacred thousands of people back then.

It was because of her that eight cultivators had died for justice.

And it was also her... who made him realize what a cultivator was.

That which was shouldered was that which made a cultivator!

Today was the time to settle all of this!

The mood was still, still like death.

Vermilion Snow arched her body and faintly swelled up. Fiercely, she howled into the sky, “AWOOO!!!”

“Life is like dust and dew, the Heavenly Dao profound and long-lasting.” Her cry seemed to vent her decades of sullenness. She lowered her head, her voice already cold to the point of callousness. “Decades later, I can still fully manifest my demon form. Yet it was unexpectedly in another country. Who could’ve expected this?”

Her voice was devoid of warmth or coldness. There was only nigh solidified killing intent.

Solidified to the point of being icy-cold, icy-cold to the point of being burning-hot.

Between Xu Yangyi and Vermilion Snow, neither was an exception!

Rumble! The sound of thunder answered and surged. In the air, numerous black clouds were jolted and scattered away, and bright moonlight sprinkled down upon the pure, holy silver of a nine-tailed fox.

In comparison to the nine massive fox tails, Xu Yangyi was practically an ant.

“Yeah...” Xu Yangyi made a long sigh, seemingly as peaceful as a lake. His left hand softly pinched at his ear, and a streak of silver light was followingly drawn from his hand, welcoming the wind and fluttering in the air. In less than half a second, a staff radiating light all around appeared in his hand.

Wukong’s Gold-Banded Staff.

“Thank you.”

“For giving me the opportunity to chop your head off with my own hands.”

“Those eight cultivators’ avenger spirits are waiting for you on the Narakade Bridge.” Xu Yangyi softly swung the staff, and the staff’s shadow looped like a sphere under the moonlight. “In all likelihood, they won’t be able to reincarnate easily without seeing you.”

“Heeheehee... Is such trash even worthy to think of me?” Vermilion Snow’s massive form was trembling rhythmically. After a brief moment, she lowered her head and uttered, “Let me think. What about using that move to send you on your way...”

She fixed her eyes on Xu Yangyi, and her gaze suddenly flashed. “Yes.”

“I think you certainly have an impression of this move.”

Her nine tails all straightened out. Like nine poisonous snakes, they were aimed at Xu Yangyi, and on each tail a giant orb of light that was around twenty to thirty meters in size awesomely glimmered.

“Three Realms Demon Phantasms!”

Just as her voice her fell, endless white light ran through heaven and earth! Her nine tails were like nine laser beams, jetting out extremely concentrated qi. One split into two, two split into three, and three split into an infinite number! In a mere twinkling, a terrible purgatory of white light weaved through the entire sky!

“Fuck!!!” Richard and Vanessa cried out in alarm, and their wings promptly shielded them. At the same time, numerous runes swept over their wings, but the two of them were both shaken back a step as the white light approached!

The strength of one hit was actually so great!

And yet... the sky right now was interwoven with white light, as if the Grim Reaper’s scythe was harvesting all life!

Waving cudgels struggled for the intensity of lightning, feathers flying in discord of starlight!

Swoosh! Hundreds of white lights criss-crossed and ventured forth, forming a giant net in front of Xu Yangyi. Behind the light net, even if Vermilion Snow was concealed again, her giant frame still faintly shivered due to incredible excitement. “Lie down... Perish! To die by my hand is your privilege!”

“The privilege I bestow to you!”

Xu Yangyi said nothing at all. He inhaled deeply, and just as the white light was about to reach him, his hands formed a seal with razor-swiftness. Soon... from his seven apertures, from his entire body, boundless azure light exploded!

The Voidspirit Immortal Physique was unleashed!

His Voidspirit Immortal Physique, having already stepped onto the threshold, was certainly not a passive skill. His stored qi was doubled, and in this same vein the might of his divine abilities was also doubled! Nonetheless, he still didn’t choose to use divine abilities outside of physique arts!

Swoosh! Without the slightest hesitation, the Gold-Banded Staff smashed down! The staff’s shadow was simply unseen. All that was visible was a golden barrier dragged into the air! But in this barrier, Buddhist light unexpectedly flared everywhere!

Hum... In space, a soundless noise lightly trembled, and a white lotus bloomed on top of the staff’s head. In the next second, though, the white lotus suddenly shattered to pieces! It was by the staff that it was crushed into a sky raining with petals of spirit light!

Broken stones and collapsed clouds, raging waves battering the shore, a great blizzard in full swirl.

“This is?” Vermilion Snow narrowed her eyes. In the instant she laid eyes upon this staff, she quickly felt a kind of unease.

The two of them were unable to tolerate too much thought, however. In a spark of flint, endless white light clashed against field after field of lotus flowers, and a booming explosion followed! In the sky, the sun seemed to rise in the night, everything revealed down to the finest hair!

“Gasp!!!” The immense wind pressure forcibly pushed Vanessa and Richard another hundred meters away. As Vanessa unfolded her wings, she couldn’t help but cry out in alarm, “Overseer!”

“Begone,” Vermilion Snow’s ice-cold voice rang out. She seemed to have been hit by a sledgehammer. “This child... must die at my hands... Whoever dares to interfere... I will exterminate them!”

Clang clang clang!!! The Gold-Banded Staff danced into the shape of a golden sphere, Brahmic notes mingling upon it. Vermilion Snow’s barrage of white light struck the orb like the pitter-patter of rain, and the discordant note of shattering jade echoed. This reflected onto the world, making it appear like daytime.

After no less than five minutes, Xu Yangyi pulled his hand back. At the same time, the last ray of white light dissipated in the air! He took a deep breath, and afterwards reared his head back and screamed into the air. That year, this move had killed countless cultivators, but today, he’d taken the full brunt of it alone!

This was the difference between Foundation Establishment and Qi Condensation, that of heaven and earth!

“Today, I will kill you!” He extended a finger and pointed at Vermilion Snow, his words clear and concise.

Vermilion Snow lowered her giant head and glared daggers at Xu Yangyi. Her slender tongue licked her shaggy lips. “You have improved, I see. You, who I once hit like a stray dog, actually managed to resist one of my killing moves...”

But before she even finished speaking, her pupils shrunk without warning. This was because Xu Yangyi hadn’t retreated but advanced. The demon slayer had now transformed into azure light, shooting straight at the top of her head!

In the next second, a shadow appeared on her head, and like the Buddha of Triumphant Battle himself, Xu Yangyi slammed his staff down on the fox-demon’s face!

Swoosh swoosh swoosh! Three soft noises rang out. Under the staff’s head, three azure lotuses flashed. Afterwards, a crash boomed and turned into skyful of floral showers. Azure-white petals sprinkled through the air, carrying a heart-shaking killing intent.

In an instant, tens of thousands of pear flowers bloomed.

Vermilion Snow didn’t dodge. She only studied this staff, and said somewhat in a trance, “That year, you were stepped on under my foot and wantonly trampled on. Today, with your insect body, you try to shake a tree in vain...” She sucked in deeply, swelled in size, and roared furiously, “Who gave you such dog courage!?!?!?!”

With her angry shout, all her hair perked up. In the next moment, they became a sky of piercing arrows and rushed straight into the air with an oppressive blackness!

Swoosh... Above the sky, rain after rain of silver arrows aligned in the wind and set sail to surge towards Xu Yangyi. A sharp scream even echoed in the air! Nonetheless, Xu Yangyi didn’t dodge. On the contrary, as he found himself on the brink of crisis, he was already wearing a strange mask.

“Pill Cauldron Is My Heart!”

Buzz! In the sky, a soft vibration spread, and spiritual sense madly expanded around Xu Yangyi. Anyone in the vicinity could sense this!

“A frog at the bottom of a well cannot know of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers’ greatness.” Vermilion reared her head back and howled, her tails chaotically dancing like nine silver dragons. Her golden pupils reflected Xu Yangyi’s approaching figure in flight, and streaks of black qi rose up like a tsunami from every single direction with a momentum that could topple mountains and overturn seas.

“You have newly advanced into Foundation Establishment for no more than ten or twenty years. Even this present battle is the right I grant you.”

“Clearly know your own status, you wild dog!”

As she spoke, plumes of black ghostfire formed out of nothingness! In the night and below the bright moon, ten thousand rays of glinting black light gathered at the top of her great head, swallowing the sky and pervading the clouds. Even the neighboring space was audibly cracking!

“So strong!!!” Richard and Vanessa both cried out in alarm and retreated another hundred meters! Currently, they had already fallen back 200 meters from the battle enclosure!

“She’s worthy of being the Dracul’s overseer...” Vanessa pursed her lips. “This move... is comparable to a high-rank Marquis... no! It’s still going! It even has a trace aura of the perfect rank already!”

Richard’s complexion was likewise grave. “I heard she was a quasi Grand Duke in the past, was it actually true?”

“If she wasn’t, it’s practically unimaginable that she can use this move as a mid Marquis!” He gazed at the sky. “And this yellow monkey... was actually able to make her use it! He’s definitely a powerhouse among mid Marquis powerhouses!”

After the radiance gathered, there was only a dot of azure light. It was only a meter in size, condensed between Vermilion Snow’s eyebrows. Azure flames welcomed heaven and filled earth, illuminating her malevolent vulpine face.

“One move.”

“I will have you clearly reckon... the difference between a swallow and a swan.” Her gaze reflected ghostfire. “No matter how hard a sparrow strives, in the eyes of a swan, it is nothing more than respectively one on the earth and one in the sky.”

In the next second, a world-shaking rumble followed! To Xu Yangyi’s surprise, Vermilion Snow’s azure light instantly jetted out as a hundred-meter-thick beam! The titanic blaze was small from below and large from above!

“Green Hill’s Lonely Lantern!!!”

1. I believe this is a poem from the Tang emperor Gaozong (628-683 CE). It is called The Ninth Day of the Ninth Month.

2. In Chinese legend, there is a place called Green-Hill Mountain. It is said that a nine-tailed fox lives there. You may recall that Vermilion Snow mentioned cultivating there in the past.