“Jianzheng!”
Desolation slowly opened Its gaping, bloody maw and spoke without much emotion.
Although It didn’t know when the old thing had met Xu Qi’an, nor by what method, the spatial artefact in his hand had undoubtedly been a gift from the Jianzheng.
As for that “spatial domain” behind him, it wasn’t as though It had never passed through it before.
And in all the world, the only person likely capable of refining the lingering spirituality there into an artefact was probably the Jianzheng, a first rank Arcanist.
At the same time, a thought flashed through Desolation’s mind:
He really is the gatekeeper!
Using the power of the “gate” on this island to briefly break free of the seal in a special way, that too was a trait possessed only by the gatekeeper.
Even a Beyond-rank existence couldn’t use the power of the “gate” before mastering it.
“Catch up to It!”
The nine tails behind the Nine-tailed Fox slapped the ground like tentacles, like soldiers beating war drums.
Of course, this movement too had been slowed tenfold.
Can’t let our guard down. Even though we’re racing, this is more like a race on Road Rash… Xu Qi’an slowly drew the Sovereign Sword and the Taiping sabre, then tossed the latter to the Nine-tailed Fox.
Over the past few days, the two of them had communicated frequently, discussing a detailed plan for dealing with the enemy, as well as methods of response.
Judging by the characteristics of Desolation’s spirituality, once both sides started racing, the methods the other party would use were no more than three:
First, speed up and, while there was still a gap between them, cross this region first and seize the treasure.
Second, swing the bat and deliver a deadly beating, killing the dog man and fox woman who dared chase after It .
Third, if there was really no other way, cast caution aside and use Its innate divine ability to devour all things.
Once the Nine-tailed Fox took the Taiping sabre, Xu Qi’an slowly raised his wrist again, aimed his palm at Desolation, and made the glass-like eyeball light up.
It intended to shift the space Desolation occupied into the distance, using that method to throw It far away.
This was the simplest and most effective plan he and the Nine-tailed Fox had come up with.
First, Desolation didn’t know spatial spells, so there was nothing It could do about such an operation. Second, It was already in an overloaded state. If It dared resolve this move by devouring spirituality, It would inevitably fall into slumber.
Just then, the monster with a human face and sheep’s body suddenly swelled in size. Its body, already comparable to a mountain, grew several times larger and over a hundred metres taller.
The process wasn’t fast, it was even slow, but Its suddenly increased height exceeded the area of space Xu Qi’an had cut.
Originally, the cut-out section of space had been just enough to encompass Desolation, but after Its body expanded, some of Its limbs extended beyond the space.
The calm, mirror-like space suddenly rippled, then smoothed out and returned to stillness.
The spatial transfer had failed.
Desolation’s fleshly body was too powerful. It was like a wedge, connecting the two spaces together. The cutting force that came with the spatial transfer couldn’t split Desolation’s body as it had the Nine-tailed Fox.
Failure had been inevitable.
On Desolation’s almost human face, a sneer slowly appeared.
“For us gods and demons, our bodies can be as large as we want, or as small as we want.”
By now, It was already very close to the edge of the slowed-time domain. Without hesitation, after speaking, Desolation’s enormous body suddenly lunged forwards of its own accord. At a speed ten times slower than normal, the massive body slowly threw itself to the ground.
With a rumble, the earth shook and clouds of dust rose into the sky.
Even the speed at which the dust billowed up was incomparably slow.
It fell over? What’s It trying to do?
The same doubt flashed through the minds of Xu Qi’an and the Nine-tailed Fox.
A dignified ancient god-demon suddenly tripping over, what’s that supposed to mean? Relying on being old to extort me?… Xu Qi’an muttered inwardly. He didn’t relax his vigilance because of the complaint in his heart.
Desolation definitely wouldn’t fall for no reason.
At that moment, the Nine-tailed Fox seemed to notice something, and her tone changed slightly as she said,
“It’s crossed the boundary…”
Xu Qi’an followed her gaze, and his pupils contracted slightly.
Desolation lay flat on the ground, forelegs stretched straight and hind legs braced straight. The posture made It look rather comical, even a bit foolishly cute.
It had already been very close to the edge of the domain. With that fall, two of Its hooves had actually managed to stretch out beyond the domain.
Damn it!!
Xu Qi’an and the Nine-tailed Fox both turned grim. The former glanced at the beam of light rising into the sky at the end of the horizon, gritted his teeth, and used spatial jump.
Once Desolation’s two hooves extended beyond the domain, they were no longer restricted by the flow of time. They began scraping frantically at the ground with rapid thuds, trying to drag the rest of Its body out.
The kinetic force produced by the scraping was also slowed tenfold by time, so Its body didn’t immediately leave the domain.
But this was much faster than taking one step after another.
That’s far too shameless. Have you no dignity or style as a Beyond-rank god-demon… Xu Qi’an swore inwardly in urgency. It was too late. If this continued, Desolation would leave the domain several hours before they did.
Several hours in this domain meant several days in the outside world.
After several days, the daylilies would be cold. Not only would Desolation be able to take the treasure without obstruction, It’d even have time for a bath and a nap, then restore Its energy before slaughtering them.
Bang bang bang!
The scraping sounded like an earthquake, one thud after another entering their ears. The sound was very slow, yet Xu Qi’an could clearly see that Desolation’s two hooves were practically a twelve-cylinder pile driver, rapidly gouging two deep trenches across the wilderness.
With such terrifying kinetic force, even after being weakened and slowed, Desolation’s huge body was still moving forwards at a visible speed.
“Broken Jade can’t effectively stop Desolation. At Its level, any injury is nothing more than a mere fatal wound. Instead, if I attack, I won’t have the time for short-range teleportation… Offensive methods won’t work.
“The Sevenfold Gu has no binding methods, and control methods are even less possible. How could Gu arts that have only just entered the beyond-mortal level possibly control Desolation…”
It racked his brains for a countermeasure, cursing only that he was a crude martial artist.
If this were a Confucian scholar, with Heaven’s decree in his mouth and law following his words, he could just say: stinky little brother, you’re under my legs!
Everything would be sorted.
At that moment, Xu Qi’an saw the Nine-tailed Fox beside him calmly and unhurriedly take out the Huntian Divine Mirror and shine it at Desolation from afar.
In the distance, Desolation immediately sensed an artefact aimed at the primordial spirit shining upon It. Filled with disdain, It buzzed with laughter and said:
“If it is a Beyond-rank treasure, I’d admit my bad luck.
“But for a mere broken mirror, by the time it affects me, I’ll already have left this region.”
It took a long time to finish those two sentences, but Its hooves didn’t stop. It managed to move Itself further out again.
“My good Queen! My good big sister!”
Xu Qi’an, however, was invigorated. Seeing the Nine-tailed Fox’s operation had given him inspiration. With a thought, the Stupa tower floated out of the Earth Book fragment.
Though he was a crude martial artist, he had plenty of magic treasures.
Above the top of the Stupa tower appeared a golden Dharma Aspect with hands clasped together, and behind its head a seven-coloured halo symbolising wisdom slowly revolved in reverse.
…
Without saying a word, Desolation began scraping at the ground, faster than before.
It couldn’t laugh any more.
Gradually, It began to feel a trace of confusion about what It was doing now, no longer knowing what the point of it was.
Its thinking slowed, and his intelligence declined.
Under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t have harmed It in any way, but as Its intelligence dropped, It immediately sensed a huge suction force tugging at It .
It was as if there were a vortex above Its head, calling to It, pulling at It.
And that force indirectly fed Its confusion. The more it pulled, the lower Its intelligence became, and the lower Its intelligence became, the stronger the pulling force grew.
They complemented one another.
The golden pupils gradually became vacant and lost their sharpness. Desolation slowly turned into the foolish son of a landlord’s family, a fool suffering from absent-mindedness or congenital stupidity.
Its gaze became dull, and every now and then It scraped once at the ground.
Its instinct drove It to keep scraping, but It could no longer remember why It was doing it.
Xu Qi’an and the Nine-tailed Fox, combining the power of two great treasures, temporarily brought Desolation under control.
To be more precise, by combining the power of two great treasures, they brought under control Desolation while It was bound by the slowed-time domain.
“I can’t keep It under control for too long.”
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox warned him.
Seizing the opportunity, Xu Qi’an used spatial transference without pause, chasing Desolation step by step, overtaking It.
Throughout the process, the two of them kept hammering away at Desolation’s wits and working soul-snaring techniques on It.
If this domain of slowed time hadn’t restrained Desolation, there was no way they could have controlled an ancient god-demon so easily.
At last, they reached the edge of the domain and saw the true form of the pillar of light ahead.
The Nine-tailed Fox stared blankly forwards. Within the pillar that reached the heavens stood a gate of light with a clear outline, hundreds of feet tall and grand beyond measure.
This gate stood upon layers upon layers of white bones.
As though the white bones had forged its throne.
Yet it was not merely a gate of light. It fused wind, rain, thunder and lightning, yin and yang, the five elements, the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. It fused all things, like the aggregate of everything in the world.
It symbolised heaven, symbolised earth, symbolised power, symbolised knowledge, symbolised law.
The moment the silver-haired fox enchantress saw the gate of light, she understood the Jianzheng’s meaning.
It could not be precisely described in words, because it was the symbol of all things, containing everything.
Suddenly, she heard Xu Qi’an say in a tone half-bewitched, half-dreamlike, half-full of wonder:
“What an unrivalled divine sabre. If I can have it, I’d have the power to split heaven and earth.”
???
The fox spirit’s ears twitched sharply. Bewildered and confused, she looked at the crude martial artist beside her.
A divine sabre?
What sabre? Isn’t that clearly a gate?
She was just about to ask when, from the corner of her eye, she noticed that Desolation’s vacant pupils were slowly regaining focus.
“Its primordial spirit is too powerful. I can’t hold It any longer…”
The spirit of the Huntian Divine Mirror said.
Soul capture was its strongest method, but this ancient god-demon was simply too powerful. Even with the Huntian Divine Mirror using all its strength, it was only just able to contend with It in a tug-of-war.
It couldn’t even drag out Its primordial spirit.
And that was with the aid of two great external forces.
“Go…”
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox gave the briefest reminder.
Xu Qi’an had already completed one spatial transference and brought her to the boundary. Then, under Desolation’s gradually clearing gaze, he made two more spatial leaps and finally succeeded in breaking free of the domain of slowed time.
At that instant, both man and fox felt so comfortable they almost wanted to sigh.
This comfort did not come from the flesh, but from the soul. Their thoughts became suddenly clear and open, with a lightness they had never known before.
“It really is an unrivalled divine sabre.”
Xu Qi’an gazed into the distance and spoke in a low voice.
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox finally couldn’t hold back any longer. With a complicated expression, she looked at him and said, “This isn’t a sabre. It’s a gate.”
??
Just like the Nine-tailed Fox earlier, two question marks seemed to drift through Xu Qi’an’s mind.
He frowned.
“But what I see really is a sabre.”
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox thought for a moment, then guessed:
“Perhaps because you’re a martial artist.”
Your Majesty, you’ve caught that habit too, insulting martial artists whenever you’re unsure what to make of something… Xu Qi’an analysed,
“Or perhaps what each person sees is different? That’s why the Jianzheng said it can’t be accurately described as any one thing.”
His guess did not win the Nine-tailed Fox’s approval. The silver-haired fox enchantress looked at him ever more oddly.
“I think I more or less understand what the Jianzheng meant, but it’s not like what you said.” She shook her head.
“A sabre? Why would what you saw be a sabre?”
Desolation’s voice came from behind them. It had already recovered Its clarity, though nearly a third of Its body was still inside the domain.
Though the overall situation was clearly lost, It remained incomparably calm, not the least bit flustered or anxious.
If It wasn’t anxious, Xu Qi’an was even less so. With the mentality of getting something for free, he asked:
“What do you see?”
Desolation replied flatly:
“Gate!”
Xu Qi’an raised his brows.
“You saw the same thing as the queen of the realm because you’re both god-demons?”
The descendants of gods and demons counted too.
Desolation fell silent, seemingly unable to provide an answer either.
Because since time immemorial, Xu Qi’an was probably the first human to see it.
“You don’t seem anxious at all. That doesn’t suit you.”
Xu Qi’an scrutinised Desolation.
They had dealt with each other many times. It knew Desolation was a god-demon with a less than pleasant temper, one who would neither suppress nor deign to suppress Its emotions.
“Why should I be anxious?”
Desolation’s golden eyes rolled upwards as It glanced at the top of Its head, and the face that resembled a human’s revealed a mocking expression.
Only then did Xu Qi’an notice that of the six long horns on Desolation’s head, five had disappeared. Only one horn remained.
“I’ve sealed the Jianzheng,” It said.
“I know,” Xu Qi’an replied.
“No, you don’t.” There was satisfaction in Desolation’s tone as It said:
“The previous seal wasn’t truly that strong. The six horns becoming one is the strongest seal I can cast. Don’t you want to know why I waited until now to completely seal the Jianzheng?”
Xu Qi’an fell silent, and suddenly had a bad feeling.
“I was waiting until I entered god-demon Island, to test whether he could borrow the power of this place. If he could, then he must be the gatekeeper. If he couldn’t, then he wasn’t.
“But the Jianzheng is old and crafty, and I was worrying over how to test him without leaving a trace, how to make him expose himself of his own accord. Your arrival happened to give me the opportunity.”
Desolation spoke.
Xu Qi’an suddenly thought back to not long ago, when Desolation had seen them and cried out “Jianzheng”. There had not been much emotion in Its tone, no anger, no surprise.
No surprise and no anger meant the other side had not feared being beaten to the prize.
But where had Its confidence come from?
Desolation let out a buzzing laugh.
“You don’t know what this gate represents, but I do. I also know that aside from the gatekeeper, no living being can obtain it or approach it.
“Mm, Beyond-rank can, but sadly, neither you nor I are.”
Xu Qi’an and the Nine-tailed Fox exchanged grave looks. They now understood where Desolation’s confidence came from.
With the gatekeeper in Its grasp, even if someone got there first, It needn’t fear the treasure falling into someone else’s hands.
And the seal formed from six horns becoming one meant the Jianzheng had completely lost any chance of borrowing the power of god-demon Island.
Beings that had lived too long really are difficult to deal with… Xu Qi’an let out a breath.
Desolation said leisurely:
“If you want to leave god-demon Island, you must pass through that revolting domain again. If you flee now, it’s already too late.
“Why should I be anxious? You are the ones who should be anxious.”
This… The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox felt somewhat lost. She had worked so hard to devour the spiritual essence of the Qingqiu fox clan, had come here prepared to die once, or even many times.
And for what? To throw her life away?
She couldn’t help looking at Xu Qi’an, only to find that the man was not anxious in the slightest.
The Nine-tailed Fox’s heart stirred, and she vaguely grasped something.
At that moment, she heard the Jianzheng’s voice come from Desolation’s remaining horn:
“Xu Qi’an, take the Taiping sabre and go into the gate of light.”
Xu Qi’an broke into a smile.
“I’ve been waiting for you to say that. Also, that’s a sabre, not a gate!”
He did not ask for a reason. Taking the Taiping sabre from the Nine-tailed Fox, he shot towards that peerless divine sabre standing above the piled bones.
Desolation’s golden pupils turned abruptly sharp. It realised something was wrong and said in a deep voice:
“What are you trying to do? What are you trying to make him do?”
The Jianzheng answered without the slightest concealment:
“Make him the gatekeeper.”
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox blurted out:
“What?!”
She suspected she had heard wrong, or else that the Jianzheng had misspoken.
Make him the gatekeeper… Desolation’s feelings were much the same as the Nine-tailed Fox’s as It said:
“You, what do you mean? Aren’t you the gatekeeper?”
The Jianzheng laughed.
“Who told you I was the gatekeeper? Did I ever admit it?”
Desolation’s breathing suddenly grew rapid. After several seconds, It roared like one gone mad:
“Impossible!
“You must be the gatekeeper. You are the gatekeeper! The gatekeeper comes from the Way of Fire and Incense, from the Arcanist system.”
All the previous signs had pointed to the Jianzheng being the gatekeeper. If he wasn’t, then those signs could not be explained.
Including his use of the power of god-demon Island.
Desolation knew very clearly the secret of the great tribulation, knew what the gatekeeper symbolised.
If he was not the gatekeeper, then it was absolutely impossible for the Jianzheng to have reached this step.
“Wrong!”
The Jianzheng’s voice came from the horn, calm and indifferent.
“You’ve stayed overseas for too long. How much do you know of the affairs of Jiuzhou?
“Do you know why the Buddha and the Warlock God wanted to strangle first rank martial artists in the cradle?
“Because the gatekeeper can only come from the martial artist system.”
Desolation roared hoarsely:
“If you aren’t the gatekeeper, then what exactly are you?!”
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