Stranger Danger

Chapter 295: Boundless Heart Demon

“Also, Guixu is quite the boring place. The monk hates talking, the barbarian loves running all over the place, and that sword maniac didn’t even leave behind his consciousness. Seriously, this place is so boring I could die.”

“Naturally, I couldn’t kill you, at least not right away. And for a time, you have proven to be an interesting and passable playmate.”

“Playmate?”

Xiangqi Demon sounded so insulted that his voice turned shrill and distorted. It sounded like someone was scratching a wooden board with their nails. “You think you’ve won? You think I wouldn’t have a back-up plan or two after spending centuries preparing for this? Oh no! This is just the beginning!”

“The world is my board, and its denizens are my pawns! Show yourself, Xiangqi of Heaven and Earth!”

Xiangqi Demon’s voice suddenly turned shrill and ominous as if it contained some sort of strange power. The next moment, silver lines appeared across the entire Mountain of Demons. Nine vertical lines and ten horizontal lines joined together to form ninety points in total.

The crisscrossing lines severed the space it encompassed without a sound. From an outside perspective, it was as if this part of the world had been cut off from the outside world.

At the same time, thirty two tall and powerful silhouettes appeared on the points. Each silhouette was so strong that their auras filled up the world, and they resembled gods and demons.

“What happened?”

At the periphery of the Mountain of Demons, Hong Jianglong, Laughing Buddha, Lady of Yin Mountain and more Grnadmasters were looking at the silver lines and towering silhouettes with severe expressions. Each silhouette was as strong as they were, and the silver lines especially made them feel like they were in grave danger.

One of the Grandmasters decided that it was unsafe to linger and took off, but he had just reached the edge when his body abruptly split into multiple pieces. Not even his mind managed to escape before it was snuffed out like a candle.

“Amitabha! Stay calm, everyone.” Laughing Buddha spoke up, “It would seem that this mountain was placed under some sort of restriction and cut off from the outside world temporarily. Let us wait and see what happens next, shall we?”

The Grandmasters wasn’t the only ones who were stuck, of course. The same thing was happening all over the Mountain of Demons. Some people were shocked, some people were afraid, and some were hacked into pieces by the silver lines...

“So this is your trump card?”

Xiao Feng smiled lazily as he stared at the crisscrossing lines around him. “It certainly looks intimidating.”

Xiangqi Demon ignored his taunt and narrowed his fingers as if he was holding a xiangqi piece. Space shuddered, and the thirty two silhouettes of gods and demons attacked Xiao Feng at the same time.

One silhouette wielded a saber and let loose a slash that seemed capable of tearing the heavens and the earth asunder,

Another silhouette wielded a sword that fired a sword beam that drew everything around it into a devastating cyclone,

A third silhouette spat out a puff of air that brought forth an unstoppable, world-ending storm,

A fourth silhouette swung his sleeves and caused incessant rumbles throughout the skies. There were celestials standing in two lines to their left and right side as well,

A fifth silhouette stepped forth and threw a punch that shattered heaven and earth and shook the sun and moon from the sky. It was a punch that could kill anything and everything,

A six silhouette summoned forth a seal that shattered mountains and rivers, threatened to upend the mortal coil, and blur the fine line between life and death,

And more.

......

All thirty six silhouettes all used their ultimate moves from the get go. For them, it was do or die.

“The ‘Sky Opening Slash’ from the Crazed Saber, the ‘Nine Heavens Galactic Sword’ from the Chief Sword, the ‘Qi That Moves Mountains and Rivers’ from the Scholar of Wind and Rain, the ‘Flying Immortal Sleeve’ from Celestial Master Zhang, the ‘Finality Fist’ from the King of Killing, The ‘Nine Seals of Mortal Coil’ from the Mortal Coil Visitor...”

“Interesting, interesting.”

Xiao Feng was unperturbed despite staring down the ultimate attacks of the thirty six silhouettes. He even had the time to point out everyone’s identity and technique before the attacks finally reached him.

Xiao Feng opened his mouth and exhaled a breath of fresh air. The breath encompassed the entire pocket world in just a single breath.

A series of indescribable explosions took place as the saber beam, sword qi, fist force, astral qi and more all shattered into pieces. The silhouettes too crumbled along with their ultimate moves.

“Is that it?” Xiao Feng asked with a dissatisfied frown after the world had returned to normal. It was as if he hadn’t just performed the impossible.

“No! No! No!” Xiangqi Demon’s face was contorted with madness, loss and pain. Blood positively streamed down his empty eye sockets as he screamed in hate and despair, “You ruined a thousand years of hard work! A thousand years! Ahhhhhhhhh!”

It had taken Xiangqi Demon nearly a thousand years to refine the remnant soul, consciousness, martial intent and the like into xiangqi pieces. Each and every last one of them was a foundational piece of his Xiangqi of Heaven and Earth. However, Xiao Feng had annihilated it all in the blink of an eye.

“I won’t accept this! I refuse!” Xiangqi Demon screamed on top of his lungs. Who wouldn’t be angry and hateful after losing a thousand years of hard work?

The Xiangqi of Heaven and Earth began falling apart. As it crumbled, the demonic qi started stirring, the mountains started collapsing, the rivers started drying, the earth started pulling itself asunder, and even space itself began breaking like a cracked mirror.

“Are you going to destroy the Mountain of Demons?”

For the first time, Xiao Feng lost his smile.

Xiangqi Demon screamed back, “Why not? You destroyed one thousand years of hard work! The least I can do is to destroy the Mountain of Demons and take you all to the grave with me!”

Xiao Feng scoffed, “Perchance you forgot that we are already dead? You and I are but a wisp of our original self. Even if you destroyed the Mountain of Demons, all you would’ve achieved is destroying our wisps of consciousness.”

“Kekeke! Do you think I’m not aware of the true secret of the Demon’s Tomb? A long time ago, Rahu the Progenitor Demon used his own body to seal off an Extinction-class Stranger, and the Mountain of Demons is the core of the Demon’s Tomb. Simply destroy the Mountain of Demons, and the Extinction-class Stranger would be released from its seal.”

“I didn’t want to destroy the world, really. It’s all your fault! All your fault!”

Xiangqi Demon screamed and laughed like a madman, but he didn’t notice that strange, identical faces were appearing all across his body. Their eyes were narrowed into mocking slits, and their lips were curled into disdainful smiles. It was like they were mocking everyone and everything[1].

“I see! I see now!” Xiao Feng exclaimed in realization. “This explains everything.”

“No wonder you came up with the audacious idea of using the Mountain of Demons as the foundational stone of your Xiangqi of Heaven and Earth.”

“No wonder you were able to assassinate so many remnant souls and consciousness with your pitiful strength.”

“And no wonder you were able to set up something like this in just a few centuries!”

“It’s because the Heart Demon is the one who has been pulling your strings this whole time. Truly impressive!”

Xiao Feng let out a sigh and shot Xiangqi Demon a look of sympathy. “Truly, there is no one more pitiful than the pawn who thinks of himself as the player!”

“Pitiful? Whatever do you mean?” Xiangqi Demon tilted his head to one side, causing the mocking smiles on his body to tilt to one side as well. Still, the man didn’t notice a thing.

Xiao Feng answered, “Do you know who the Stranger the Progenitor Demon, Rahu, had sealed inside the Demon’s Tomb is?”

“Have you heard of a formless, intangible and infinite demon who exists beyond the nine heavens? It cannot be seen or perceived, and it excels at toying with a human’s heart and controlling souls. It is why it is named the Boundless Heart Demon.”

“The Demon’s Tomb is a place where dying people like us come to bury our bones, so the Boundless Heart Demon’s influence on us is minimal. But you, you came here not to die, but to enact this grand plan of yours. You probably caught its attention as soon as you entered the Demon’s Tomb, and everything you did from then to now was probably influenced by the Boundless Heart Demon in some way. To what end? To destroy the Mountain of Demons and free it, of course.”

“Even if I haven’t stopped you, you were never going to succeed in making your Xiangqi of Heaven and Earth. After all, the Boundless Heart Demon just wants to use you to destroy the Mountain of Demons. There is no way it would have allowed you to create a Treasure of Heavenly Way since the Heavenly Way would’ve given it its Primordial Purple Qi and Profound Yellow Mother Qi, which would perfect the natural laws and solidify its boundaries of this place even more than it already was. That would be counterproductive to its plan to escape.”

“This means that you were a pitiful pawn from the start until the end; a piece on a board you never even knew existed.”

“Hehehe...”

As soon as Xiao Feng was finished speaking, the smiling faces on Xiangqi Demon’s body let loose a disturbing cackle. Xiangqi Demon couldn’t seem to hear them, however. He couldn’t accept Xiao Feng’s words either. “I don’t believe it! You’re lying to me! You’re lying to me!”

“I will destroy the Mountain of Demons! Destroy it!”

Xiangqi Demon roared, and the Mountain of Demons began crumbling at an accelerated rate. Countless crisscrossing lines appeared all around the mountain and shook the world.

As the Mountain of Demons crumbled bit by bit, a giant face appeared on the ground underneath it[2]. In fact, the face spanned the entire Demon’s Tomb. The lakes were its eyes, the bottomless chasms were its ears, the mountains were its nose, the long, jagged crevices were its mouth and teeth, and the forest was its hair.

If someone were to look down from above, they would notice that the face was smiling slightly with squinted eyes. It was a cold, evil and mocking smile.

As soon as the face appeared, the demonic qi within the Graveyard of Demons grew even thicker than before. Most of the warriors and Strangers hiding in what they thought were safe places went insane as a result.

“Pitiful!”

Xiao Feng noticed what was going on outside, of course. He immediately reached out and crushed Xiangqi Demon into bits.

As long as Xiangqi Demon was dead, no one would be able to control the Xiangqi of Heaven and Earth. It was just a matter of suppressing its power after that.

This was why he was willing to entertain Xiangqi Demon and the mastermind pulling his strings for so long. Not even the most devious plot didn’t matter before absolute strength.

... Or it would, if not for the fact that Xiangqi Demon reappeared at a different location. The blood drained away from his face when he realized the implications.

“Keke... Since you know that I cultivate the ‘Infinity Soul Earth Gate True Sutra’, you must know that it also contains a secret art called the ‘Infinity Soul Detachment Art’. It allowed its practitioner to split their soul and attach a soul fragment to an object. So long as my main soul is still alive, I will never die.”

“I’ve hidden my main soul elsewhere a long time ago. The me before you is my subsoul. You can kill me a million times over, and you still wouldn’t be able to change anything.”

“Hahaha... No one can stop me! I will take the whole world to the grave with me!”

“Madman.”

For the first time, anger appeared on Xiao Feng’s face. He inhaled, and Xiangqi Demon was sucked into his stomach.

The crumbling didn’t end even after he had eaten Xiangqi Demon. It was then Xiao Feng confirmed that the bastard was telling the truth.

“How troublesome.” Xiao Feng let out a long sigh and shouted, “Monk, barbarian, you can stop watching from the sidelines now! If the Boundless Heart Demon really breaks out of its confinement, humanity is the one who suffers in the end!”

1. I can’t help but imagine Anonymous when I see this... ?

2. If you guys remember, the mountain is floating upside down above ground. ?