Archfiend

“The last time I saw him, he wasn’t a master spirit-technician.”

After ages, the man said these words. Elisana felt as if she was relieved of a heavy burden. She immediately set down a gold box and quickly left.

But upon seeing her hurriedly leaving back, the man in the room began to silently laugh.

“What are you worried about…”

“This Dao Master only said that he wasn’t a master spirit-technician when I last saw him… but in regards to someone who has committed a tremendous offense in China and harbors a supreme technique, it can only be him. If I hadn’t remembered his qi up close, perhaps I wouldn’t have ever figured it out.”

“Xu Yangyi oh Xu Yangyi… in merely twenty years, you were surprisingly able to return alive from a Lesser Thousand Realm. How difficult, how truly difficult…”

By now, Xu Yangyi had returned to the hotel. He poured a cup of coffee and began to ponder.

Not a single word Savidean VII had said was wrong. That meaning he couldn’t presently return to China. But in America, no, in the cultivation world, he could cleave through without obstruction like a spearman on horseback. Especially at a realm such as his and with his kind of power. If he was in China, countless clans would be willing to make friends with him and invite him to serve as their idol.

Only like so he wouldn’t waste his own time. He would have others gather required cultivation resources for him. He would have his subordinates search information for him. Although he had cultivated for less than a hundred years, he still had a lot of time left. However, this time didn’t mean he could be free and easy.

At this time, the phone rang. As soon as he picked it up, he heard Laurent’s nervous voice.

“Your Highness, what happened? The Corvinus released a statement saying that you disturbed their Holy War Feast, and they’ve listed you as wanted! In three months, the newest pursuit order will be sent! At that time, you…”

“Three months from now?” Xu Yangyi murmured as he looked at the bright, flashy lights outside the window. “I thought that they would do it right away.”

The other side of the suddenly went silent. A few seconds passed and Laurent said solemnly, “Your Highness… it’s not that they don’t want to do that, but… there’s only three months until the Holy War.”

“In three months, in a spatial tear in New York, a new Decennial Holy War cycle will be held. Before the Holy War, all business must be set aside. The Corvinus don’t want to force you into becoming a problem because of this time period.”

Xu Yangyi’s brows furrowed. Only three months, huh…

An opportunity to comprehend the Core Formation realm in advance perhaps didn’t occur even once in decades. And this strange Holy Relic could actually accomplish something that China couldn’t. He absolutely couldn’t let this go!

With this enlightenment, then he would have first-hand insight about how spiritual force was cycled in a Golden Core itself and how to transform Foundation Establishment into Core Formation when he made his breakthrough.

“I know,” he said lowly, “In three months, I’ll make them happy to give me a position in the Holy War.”

“Your Highness,” Laurent murmured for a moment and said, “I still want to remind you that in these three months that the Dracul and the Corvinus have already started internal selection for the battles. Once you take out a capsule this time, that’ll be the same as giving coal to them during a snowstorm. You’ll instantly draw a great deal of attention. Before the Holy War… hmm, forgive me for being frank, but this doesn’t make any sense. This time, the two houses have already ignited the flames of war. Likewise, they aren’t quite reasonable. This auction might be a bucket of oil on the fire.”

In the same vein, excessive attention would draw excessive jealousy and hatred.

“There’s no harm.” Xu Yangyi’s gaze flashed. “I want them to come. It’ll be good to have those dog-demons come.”

“My bronze longsword does not put the nameless to its edge.”

The eerie killing intent in Xu Yangyi’s tone caused Laurent’s head to shiver. He only heard Xu Yangyi speak again.

“Right now, I’m pretty interested in the Holy Relic. Laurent, do you have any information about it? It has to be known that this Holy War’s been going on for a hundred years all because of this Holy Relic. Is it certain that Vatican City isn’t baiting everyone?”

Laurent was quiet. He went through his memories and said, “It shouldn’t be. In fact, I really do have some hearsay about the Holy Relic. Although all the news related to the Holy Relic is based on confidential secrets from the Dracul and the Corvinus.”

“Go on.”

Organizing his words, Laurent said, “In reality, the lycans and vampires must have a great clash every twenty to thirty years. This is their Holy War. The Holy Relic just cuts down this time, that’s all. In addition, it’s only really been over thirty years since the Holy Relic was unearthed.”

“Back in ‘86, Saint John’s Cathedral was rebuilt. At that time, the Corvinus and the Dracul were already at top strength in America. In order to balance New York’s powers, Vatican City decided to set foot here. Their selection was Saint John’s Cathedral. However, during the remodel, a terrible phenomenon appeared…”

Through the phone, Xu Yangyi clearly heard Laurent take a deep breath. Xu Yangyi didn’t interrupt him, and Laurent followed up in the next second, “This information is stored in New York’s top secret files. On the Christmas of ‘86, a strange situation occurred in Saint John’s Cathedral. It was a tree of flashing golden light, no less than a thousand meters tall. Its surface was hanging with gold, silver, lapis lazuli, crystal, white coral, ruby, and emerald. It instantly lit up from Saint John’s Cathedral.”

“The great tree of golden light was entirely composed of essence. The government spent a great deal of effort to suppress this fluctuation, but this isn’t the important point. The crux of this is that the Dracul and the Corvinus have a hidden record. I happened to hear someone talk about it once.”

“Anyone who gets within a hundred meters of the tree spiritual light will hear… Brahmic chanting!”

Xu Yangyi’s gaze flashed, and he quickly asked, “The Holy Relic wasn’t brought over by Vatican City?”

“No, the Holy Relic as always been buried under Saint John’s Cathedral. At the same time the Saint John’s Cathedral Project was completed on the Christmas of ‘86, the Holy Relic manifested. All of New York saw it. But if you search on video websites and the net, you won’t find anything at all. That’s because anything that has the words ‘spiritual light tree, shining tree, and tree-shaped fireworks’ cannot be searched. Meanwhile, the information source will be immediately investigated and all their activity on the internet is monitored.”

Xu Yangyi nodded thoughtfully, “No wonder… it can’t be moved. I understand. If there’s new information, tell me at once.”

After hanging up, he sunk into his thoughts as he rubbed his chin.

There was a very interesting term in Laurent’s words.

Brahmic chanting.

Not holy chanting.

In Heavens Law, there was once a specialized subject about legends concerning Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian topics. As for gold, silver, lapis lazuli, crystal, white coral, ruby, and emerald… In an instant, Xu Yangyi linked this description with something else.

“Maybe the actual naming should be bright gold, white silver, colored glass, crystal quartz, jade, red bead, and agate. This…” His gaze became solemn. “Is the Seven-Jeweled Wondertree!”

“This is a Holy Relic of Buddhism! It doesn’t belong to Catholicism at all! The Seven-Jeweled Wondertree is one of the Ten Great Pre-Celestial Spirit Treasures in legend. Spiritual light manifestation… Does that mean that the Seven-Jeweled Wondertree is hidden at the bottom of Saint John’s Cathedral?”

“No, that’s impossible. I didn’t even see a legendary treasure like this in Xiaoqing’s treasure. How could it be here? In that case…” He cautiously looked at all of New York. “What’s hiding down here?”

“And who hid a supreme Buddhist treasure here? One that can manifest the Seven-Jeweled Wondertree?”

“Crossing the Pacific Ocean to reach America… Who could have such awesome skills? Don’t tell me… it was a defecting Core Formation master? No, a Core Formation master can’t move a treasure like this. What is it underneath Saint John’s…”

Someone had taken a supreme Buddhist treasure across the Pacific Ocean and buried it under America’s Saint John’s Cathedral. As this thought crossed the mind, it caused one to tremble with fear.

Xu Yangyi mumbled to himself, turned on the hotel room computer, and began to search.

As expected, all records around Christmas 1986 had vanished. Even more strangely, the introduction regarding Saint John’s Cathedral didn’t really elaborate on much.

“Construction on the cathedral was first started in 1573, funded by Grand Master Jean de la Cassière… no, wrong church. Situated in northwest Manhattan in New York City. It is presently the world’s largest gothic church… hold on!” [1]

He continued to read word by word. All of a sudden, his computer mouse stopped over something.

A sentence drew all his attention.

“Construction started in 1892, but stopped for a period of 41 years. In 1982, construction was resumed…” He gently rapped the table, his gaze fiery as he read these words.

Ziqi, he said in his mind and continued to call out a good few times.

Only then did Zhao Ziqi’s drowsy voice echo, Big bro, what’s up? Zhao Ziqi narrowed his eyes for a while and thought to himself. You want to know which time period the Holy Relic is from by deducing the church’s construction period? This cathedral is super famous. I kinda remember a little something. It should be something from the year 1900. Mhm, that’s right!

“1900…” Xu Yangyi rubbed his chin. “Did something big happen in China or India?”

Big bro… Ziqi’s voice was very helpless. You… really should read up on history! I don’t know about India, but something huge did indeed happen in China!

The Eight-Nation Alliance! The Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China! [2]

Xu Yangyi’s gaze flickered. “Ziqi, there might be a secret Buddhist treasure hidden under Saint John’s Cathedral.” He ruminated Laurent’s words and said in a low voice, “Back then… did the Eight-Nation Alliance bring something back?”

Possibly! Zhao Ziqi said excitedly, If that’s how it is, everything can be explained… 1900 was the time of the Eight-Nation Alliance!

However, Xu Yangyi became even more doubtful.

“That’s not right… The Eight-Nation Alliance… It was already the End of the Qing. At that time, Core Formation was already close to reigning supreme, and Nascent Soul hadn’t revealed themselves for a long time. And something that can allow oneself to comprehend Core Formation in advance… No matter the time, it can definitely be said to be an important national treasure. Based just on the mortals of the Eight-Nation Alliance, how could such an important treasure be robbed from the Chinese cultivation world?”

“Second, because of the existence of the nation protector-array and a few reasons I still don’t know about currently, the magik treasures of all nations are hard to use. Therefore, crossing borders to look for grandmaster artificers is basically impossible. If this Holy Relic is Chinese, why can it be used by foreign cultivators? Plus, it’s not effective for humans?”

Zhao Ziqi was dazed and said embarrassedly, Yeah… you said it right, big bro. This thing is really old. But I feel that it can’t be that powerful of a secret treasure. If it really was, it would probably be placed in Vatican City’s Dome of Holy Light. The Holy See would be guarding it. There’s no way it would be left here…

Xu Yangyi muttered to himself for a moment, “What if… it’s broken?”

1. The church referenced here is Saint John’s Co-Cathedral in Malta.

2. The Eight-Nation Alliance was a band of eight nations that decided to carve up China for their own economic interests during the early 20th century.