Follow Yue Congrao’s words, the surrounding clouds suddenly began to ripple. Rays of golden qi appeared from them and encaged the region almost a thousand meters all around! If someone was in the sky at this moment, they would see the miraculous sight of a white sun rising in the night. Endless golden light, seemingly ripping apart the night to come forth, gathered on Yue Congrao’s finger. Because of this, one couldn’t look directly it. It was as if it was forged from gold.

Xu Yangyi’s expression was terribly grave. He sensed… an astonishing oppressive might forming in front of him. It was akin to facing the Three Great Mountains and the Five Sacred Mountains, no, this was even heavier!

[1]

Crack crack crack

. The crack of his bones was faintly audible, yet he wasn’t the least bit panicked. Instead, he fixed his eyes on Yue Congrao’s finger.

The bodhi seed in his mind spun at lighting speed, and his heart was pounding so hard that he could hear it in his ears. Plan after feasible plan streaked through his brain.

“Formless.” At this time, Yue Congrao spoke softly. His golden finger rumbled and exploded.

An immeasurable amount of light seethed out and shrouded Xu Yangyi’s body. There was no part of the sky untouched by murderous will. To the extremes of the sky and the depths of the earth, it was hard to escape.

“Ten Cardinals Purgatory!” Xu Yangyi roared. On the Fishbowel Sword, the Five Star-Deities shimmered. Nothing held back at all, his total spiritual force dramatically flared.

“ROAR!!!” Ten fire-dragons snarled and emerged with shocking momentum. Arriving in a flash, the golden light loudly collided with the fire-dragons. One sonorous boom afterwards, the area 300 meters all around spread with purple flames! The golden light was like an all-pervading death god, but the flames were similar to a flight of rampaging dragons. Unexpectedly, Yue Congrao’s golden light was obstructed for a breath of time!

“Four times the spiritual force?” Yue Congrao’s gaze slightly flashed. “Superb… this fortune really is hard to gain. But in that case, it is likewise a great added difficulty for advancing to Core Formation. Regardless, it is only this. If he wants to obstruct Formless, it still isn’t enough.”

This time, he crooked his finger, and vast breadths of golden light burst into a sky of golden lotuses in the next second. All the flames were absorbed inside them.

“My virtuous son-in-law, don’t blame me for breaking this move of yours. Cultivation requires a reverential heart. If one is arrogant, sooner or later your head will end up somewhere it shouldn’t be. I will give you a reminder. This is good for you.”

Swish swish… 

The fields of golden lotuses welcomed the wind and swayed. Lotuses slowly blossomed, and golden light turned the surroundings into a golden paradise. A pure and holy murderous will was vaguely contained within, as if one was facing a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers.

“Break,” Yue Congrao uttered.

However… in this moment, his brows furrowed together, and his head snapped up.

In the air, something was rushing straight at him!

Not aimed at his body, but rather his spiritual sense!

Hum hum hum… 

In the sky, the cloudbank trembled. An invisible palm was frantically falling. No one whatsoever could’ve expected that Xu Yangyi would actually go on the offensive against an initial Core Formation move! A counterattack on Daomaster Yue!

Yue Congrao didn’t know what to think, and softly exhaled. In a flash, a sharp crash rang out, akin to the sound of glass hitting the floor. Inch after inch, the formless palm cracked apart a hundred meters away from him. But at the same time, a silhouette appeared behind him.

“A spiritual-sense attack? Virtuous son-in-law, you actually have such a precious divine ability? Truly unfathomable.”

He gained no response.

There was only a swoosh and a streak of resplendent azure light. Shining on the horizon, the light went into the form of a crescent and slashed straight at Yue Congrao’s neck.

“Divine Dragon Stomps Mountain!”

Thrum!

 The air in the vicinity was sliced oped. Clouds drained away into the space all around. Yet in the next second, the azure crescent-shaped dragon vanished without warning. The tip of Xu Yangyi’s foot was already in Yue Congrao’s palm, not budging an inch. 

But now, Yue Congrao’s endless golden light shredded apart that space. All the clouds there were relentlessly quaking.

“Not bad, not bad.” Yue Congrao nodded emotionally. “Just now you had at least two opportunities to flee, you…” Suddenly, his brows knitted together, and he looked at his hand in shock.

A sensation of feebleness… 

Where the two of them were connected, a feeling of powerlessness unexpectedly spread. The flesh of Yue Congrao’s hand was withering at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Weakening!

This was the negative effect Xu Yangyi felt was attached to his leg. A wisp of ecstasy surged in his heart.

The lottery-like Hundred Eras of Spring had actually triggered!

Furthermore, the level of this weakening divine ability definitely wasn’t low!

In spite of this, Yue Congrao didn’t care about his hand. How rich was his battle experience? He already felt… a terrible qi madly gathering under his feet.

This was Xu Yangyi’s true killing move!

Infinite red light surged under Yue Congrao’s feet, and one after another mysteriously profound runes sprang up in the surrounding space. A feeling of seriousness that he hadn’t felt for a long time arose in his heart.

Heavenly Opening Great Explosion!

The Five Star-Deities on the Fishbowel Sword were already manifesting. In the next second, Xu Yangyi hacked out with full force!

“This move’s power is not weak. But the reason is because of his realm. This is a divine ability that can jointly rise with one’s realm. The higher the realm, the greater the power…” Yue Congrao could no longer continue thinking. He took a deep breath, qi explosively flaring, and raised his hands up. “Open!!!”

Following his shout, the golden character of open, no less than a hundred meters in size, appeared in the air. The entire space seemed to be shaking. The red light that was just starting to spread unexpectedly died out little by little in a strange manner.

[2]

Xu Yangyi took a step back, but there wasn’t a trace of dejection on his face. Instead, he looked at Yue Congrao’s left hand in satisfaction.

In a trance, Yue Congrao also looked at his left hand.

The second hand.

Presently, he had now used two hands!

At the very beginning, Yue Congrao had said that once Xu Yangyi received his finger he could consider himself to have passed the test. Right now, however, Yue Congrao had used ten whole fingers. Two hands!

But he also hadn’t expected that Xu Yangyi was actually concealing a killing move that made him feel a little fear.

“You, have passed.” Eventually, Yue Congrao raised his head and looked at Xu Yangyi gravely. “I never could’ve imagined that a late Foundation Establishment cultivator, not even half-step Core Formation, would truly be able to force an initial Core Formation cultivator to use two hands in a mere time frame of four months.”

Xu Yangyi’s heart was frantically pounding. Moments ago, he seemed calm, but in fact all his qi had converged into these three chained moves. Up against another cultivator, he absolutely couldn’t have managed this, but under the premise that Daomaster Yue was only teaching him a lesson, he then forced the other to use two hands.

Once again he clearly recognized the powerful of Core Formation.

He carefully checked himself over. In his body, the Divine Flame of Conviction was still burning, but it was already much, much smaller than before. It was now the size of a fingernail at most. He roughly estimated that in a month it would burn out.

He inhaled heavily and looked directly at Yue Congrao. “Daomaster Yue, you aren’t starting to think about not going to Saint John’s Cathedral to save Junior, right?”

“Oh?” Yue Congrao remarked noncommittally.

“I acknowledge that my relation with Daomaster Yue is not deep. No one would be kind to anyone for no reason. But in these past months it could be said that you’ve treated me with the utmost care. Although my realm is not high, I am not stupid.”

“Hehe,” Yue Congrao let out a bark of laughter.

Xu Yangyi considered his words. Presently, he deeply felt the other’s moodiness. In addition, it was extremely well hidden. If he hadn’t seen a thread of a clue just now, perhaps he himself wouldn’t have found it at all.

“The first time you met me, you said that ‘no matter what I had to go to Saint John’s Cathedral’. This time, though, you said that ‘if my strength isn’t enough, then I won’t be going’. Junior believes that Daomaster Yue finally takes me seriously now?”

If it weren’t for the eidetic memory granted by the butterfly pill spirit, he absolutely wouldn’t have seen Yue Congrao’s change of attitude in these two sentences.

“My guess is that maybe you didn’t have hope I could enter the top three, sir. Instead, you have some other methods to allow me to enter the Holy Relic’s main hall in Saint John’s Cathedral. But to your surprise now, you’ve discovered that I really have the strength? The safety and lack of consequences is far better than your way?”

Yue Congrao held a smile for a few seconds and then unexpectedly nodded. “Not bad.”

“In general, China considers the western cultivation world a savage land. How could 200 years of development be spoken of on equal terms with a grand, ancient country’s 5,000 years? But that being the case…” He seemed not to expose anything alarming, and said calmly, “The apex cultivators of the West are just the slightest hair different than China, and only the least bit worse than India.”

“From the beginning, I truly didn’t think you would be able to enter the top three. Still, I wasn’t going to let you die, either. I must save someone who Angel fancies. It’s just that…” he said emotionlessly, “Not dying is not equal to not ruined.”

“Under the hands of the Holy Whip and the two legendary devil-hunters, my being a step late would lead to my virtuous son-in-law’s qi sea being wasted. Angel likely wouldn’t blame her father, but the inheritor of the Dao of Pills must not die.”

Xu Yangyi wasn’t angry. At least Daomaster Yue’s move was played a lot more obviously and properly than Daomaster Ancientpine’s. Yue Congrao also admitted it without fooling around.

As for the other not being embarrassed, what good would that do?

This word didn’t exist in the dictionary of Core Formation supremes.

There was no point in anger. Only power was real. 

“You need an opportunity to truly approach the Holy Relic with the Spirit Forbiddance Pill, so my ‘little sacrifice’ isn’t a big deal,” Xu Yangyi said lowly, “But then what’s changed your decision, Daomaster Yue?”

“What do you think, my virtuous son-in-law?”

Xu Yangyi didn’t shy away, either. “Probably because the Dao Master found out that these juniors aren’t so easily played around with when you when to ‘hang out with them’. But just as you were hesitating to completely sacrifice me, you found out that my strength isn’t inferior to theirs, right?”

Yue Congrao finally laughed, his smile reaching the corners of his eyes. “Well said.”

“I keep on wanting and wanting you to marry Angel.”

Xu Yangyi let out a long sigh.

Only now he was safe and sound.

At the very least, Yue Congrao would definitely save him now.

Because I made him see my ‘value’. My potential. Starting now, I can consider myself to actually be on the chessboard for the Secondary Realm Anchor. Not as a pawn that can only advance without retreating! 

Xu Yangyi inwardly gnashed his teeth, and his desire for strength became even heavier in his heart.

“Virtuous son-in-law doesn’t have to worry. If said that I once hesitated to sacrifice you or not, it was because of the Dao of Pills. Now, though, it is because of you yourself.” Yue Congrao shot a deep glance at Xu Yangyi. “Your potential is too rare. For me… to once in a while plant the seed of good karma is not necessarily undoable.”

“Wait,” Yue Congrao finished speaking, and the two of them spoke no further. Instead, they looked at the surroundings of the eight towering pillars of light.

Ten minutes passed, twenty minutes passed… thirty minutes passed, and the light pillar with the giant blood-red bat spinning inside began to quiver.

Hum hum hum… 

On top of the several-hundred-meter-sized light pillar, the bat was slowly fading away. Instead, it was unexpectedly replaced by a name.

‘The House of Dracul, Ansas ‘The Ice-cold Visage’. Quasi Grand Duke.’

“It has begun…” Not even Yue Congrao hid his excitement in this moment. He took a step forward, reared his head back, and erupted with great laughter. “The once-in-ten-years discord of devils has finally begun!”

“And our opportunity… has also begun!”

1. The Three Great Mountains being referred here, I believe, are Mount Huang, Mount Lu, and Yandang. The Five Sacred Mountains are Tai, Hua, Heng, Heng (a different character), and Song.

2. Open = 開.

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