Desolate Devouring Art

Uncertainty flickered through Liu Wuxie's eyes as he surveyed the sprawling mountain range. A reaction from the Desolate World always heralded the presence of a rare substance, while a response from the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron signaled the emergence of an extraordinary treasure. The Heavenly Dao Book was different. If it reacted, then it could only have discovered a rare sequence hidden within the world.

"Heavenly Dao Book, show me the way," Liu Wuxie commanded.

Since the Heavenly Dao Book had alerted him, he wouldn't ignore it. Whatever secret the Spleen concealed, he would uncover it with his own eyes. He abandoned his search for the Spleen Palace gate without hesitation and turned toward an entirely new destination.

The Heavenly Dao Book throbbed several times. Then a golden beam erupted from Liu Wuxie's soul sea and stretched toward the left, marking the path ahead.

After mastering the fourth form of the Divine Ninefold Step, Liu Wuxie had gained the ability to fly for brief periods. Borrowing the power of spatial laws, he rose into the air with the graceful sweep of a celestial crane taking wing.

It did not take long for Liu Wuxie to realize that his immense reserves of immortal energy could sustain his flight far longer than expected.

According to the Divine Ninefold Step, an ordinary cultivator could remain airborne for no more than a hundred meters. Liu Wuxie, however, crossed more than three hundred meters without the slightest hint of losing altitude.

Only after covering roughly five hundred meters and expending a portion of his immortal energy did Liu Wuxie descend steadily to the ground. Rather than taking to the air again, he raced across the ground like a thunderbolt, leaving a towering plume of dust in his wake.

Shen San and the surviving Shen Clan disciples stood only a thousand meters away when the disturbance caught their attention. They turned toward the commotion, but the churning yellow sand swallowed their vision. Through the haze, they could distinguish only the blurred outline of someone racing across the ground.

"What kind of speed is that?!" the Shen Clan disciples exclaimed, astonishment spreading across their faces as they stared at the distant figure.

"That aura... doesn't it belong to a True Immortal?"

The storm of dust concealed the figure's identity, but the fluctuations of immortal energy revealed the person was only at the True Immortal Realm.

"That's Liu Wuxie," the Shen Clan disciples cried after exchanging startled glances.

Every one of them had witnessed Liu Wuxie's speed before. He moved fast enough to leave ordinary Profound Immortals struggling in his wake. Who else at the True Immortal Realm could possess such terrifying movement?

"After him. Don't let him escape," Shen San roared, launching himself forward and crossing a thousand meters in only a few leaps.

As a peak Profound Immortal, Shen San had a slight advantage over Liu Wuxie in raw speed. The other Shen Clan disciples raced after him, but fell farther behind with every passing moment because of their inferior movement techniques.

"Run all you want, Liu Wuxie. Let's see how far you get," Shen San bellowed. His voice thundered against Liu Wuxie's back as the distance between them rapidly narrowed.

Liu Wuxie frowned. He hadn't imagined that he would encounter Shen San here. Without pausing, he executed the Divine Ninefold Step again and soared skyward, hoping to shake off his pursuer.

Shen San's eyes twitched violently the instant he saw Liu Wuxie take flight. Every cultivator knew that anyone below the Origin Immortal Realm could not fly, yet Liu Wuxie had somehow overturned that iron rule.

Liu Wuxie remained in the air for nearly a thousand meters this time. After consuming roughly one-tenth of his immortal energy, he immediately withdrew several immortal stones and threw them into the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron.

For now, immortal stones ranked among the resources Liu Wuxie possessed in greatest abundance. The auction of the Sumeru Stone in Fourfold City had earned him 3,500,000, and the destruction of the Shadow Divination Gate had brought him another considerable fortune. At present, he had no reason to worry about exhausting his supply.

A fresh surge of power doubled Liu Wuxie's speed, and the gap between him and Shen San widened with every passing moment.

Shen San could only roar in fury as Liu Wuxie vanished into the distance. Liu Wuxie flew directly over the mountain ranges and saved precious time, while Shen San had to circle every obstructing peak. Each winding detour cost him more ground.

When Shen San finally emerged from behind the mountain, Liu Wuxie had already disappeared without leaving a visible trace.

"You can run, Liu Wuxie, but you won't escape," Shen San roared, glaring toward the horizon as frustration burned openly across his face.

Liu Wuxie might have vanished from view, but faint remnants of his aura still drifted through the air. Shen San believed that if he continued following that trail, catching up would only be a matter of time.

Meanwhile, Liu Wuxie alternated between brief flights and swift leaps until he had crossed nearly ten thousand meters. Only then did he descend to the ground.

"The Heavenly Dao Book is reacting even more strongly now. Whatever it sensed must be close," Liu Wuxie murmured.

After landing, he scrutinized every corner of the surrounding landscape. Desolate mountain peaks rose in all directions, yet nothing appeared unusual. Liu Wuxie activated Ghost Pupil and examined everything within a radius of ten thousand meters, but his search uncovered nothing, making him frown.

"Could the Heavenly Dao Book actually be wrong?" Liu Wuxie muttered.

The Heavenly Dao Book had become even more ancient after merging with the Heavenly Derivation Codex. For that reason, Liu Wuxie could not believe that its reaction had been a mistake.

He roamed the mountain range, searching in every direction. By then, he had explored nearly the entire region, with only one final stretch of ground left to investigate.

"Heavenly Dao Book, reveal its location to me," Liu Wuxie said.

Time continued slipping through his fingers, forcing him to uncover the source of the Heavenly Dao Book's reaction as quickly as possible. He still had to secure the Divine Earth Core before Shen Can and the others arrived, but the Heavenly Dao Book refused to provide another response.

A helpless curve touched the corner of Liu Wuxie's lips. With no alternative, he resumed the search. The moment he sensed other cultivators approaching, he donned a mask and concealed his identity.

Soon, four or five cultivators appeared from the right, cursing bitterly as they struggled through the mountains.

As soon as Liu Wuxie detected them, he slipped behind a large boulder, not out of fear but to avoid needless trouble.

"What miserable luck. Who would've thought monsters were roaming here inside the spleen?" one of the five cultivators complained.

Despite their deliberately lowered voices, Liu Wuxie heard every word. Wounds covered their bodies, and one cultivator had suffered a fractured arm so severe that white bone protruded from the torn flesh.

Monsters? Living creatures inside the spleen? The implications sent Liu Wuxie's thoughts racing.

Countless years had passed since the Ancient Origin Spatial Realm had fallen, so no living creature should have survived within it. Yet it was obvious from their conversation that something, or someone, had attacked them. More importantly, every member of the group possessed cultivation at the high levels of the Profound Immortal Realm.

If that monster could overpower high-level Profound Immortals, its strength had to be terrifying beyond imagination. A sudden possibility flashed through Liu Wuxie's mind. Could this monster have triggered the Heavenly Dao Book's reaction?

If so, retreating immediately would be the only sensible decision. Even high-level Profound Immortals had failed against the creature, so confronting it would likely cost Liu Wuxie his life in a single exchange.

Once the group vanished into the distance, Liu Wuxie emerged from behind the boulder with an unusually grave expression.

"Forget it. Walking away is the wiser decision," Liu Wuxie muttered.

He refused to stake his life on such a gamble and discarded the idea at once. Returning the way he had come was equally impossible because Shen San was probably still pursuing him. His only remaining option was to circle the area by another route. The detour would consume valuable time, but it offered the safest path forward.

Liu Wuxie continued onward at a measured pace, spreading his divine sense through the surrounding area to remain vigilant.

Unbeknownst to him, a strange shadow glided silently across the ground behind him, following without producing a single footstep.

The elongated shadow drifted forward like a wandering ghost. Its general shape resembled a human, but sharp ears and a narrow face lent it the features of an ape. Unlike a beast, however, it walked upright on two legs.

A black staff nearly two meters long rested in its hands, its surface engraved with ancient patterns.

The ghostly creature steadily closed the gap without producing the faintest sound. It had concealed its aura with such terrifying perfection that even an Origin Immortal would have struggled to match it. More astonishingly, Liu Wuxie detected nothing despite keeping his divine sense spread throughout the surroundings.

A sudden chill crawled along Liu Wuxie's spine. Every cultivator possessed that instinctive warning, a mysterious sixth sense that tightened the pores whenever danger crept close.

Liu Wuxie whirled around and nearly collided with the creature looming behind him. It stood almost two meters tall, its face hovering mere inches from his own.

Their eyes locked. Liu Wuxie barely dared to breathe as he held the creature firmly within his gaze.

The creature returned his stare without blinking, while a faint gleam of desire flickered within its eyes.

Liu Wuxie tensed instinctively at the sight, and an absurd thought flashed through his mind. Could this creature possibly be after his chastity?

Liu Wuxie and the creature remained motionless in a silent standoff. When the creature displayed no intention of attacking, Liu Wuxie gradually relaxed and edged backward. Yet whenever he retreated one step, it advanced by the same distance, preserving the half-meter gap between them.

Every hair across Liu Wuxie's body rose as his instincts screamed of danger. The creature radiated an overwhelmingly oppressive aura that clearly surpassed even the Origin Immortal Realm.

Liu Wuxie carefully inspected the figure before him. Its unusually long legs bent slightly at the knees, and dense muscles packed beneath them promised explosive power. Its arms stretched beyond ordinary human proportions, while coarse black fur covered them from end to end and made its appearance even more fearsome.

The black staff in its grasp drew the most attention. Strange, contorted patterns twisted across its surface, completely unlike the markings found on conventional artifacts. One glance told Liu Wuxie that the staff possessed incomparable sturdiness.

Never before had Liu Wuxie encountered patterns of that kind.

Coarse black fur also spread across the creature's chest and back. The bulging muscles beneath it convinced Liu Wuxie that one punch from the creature could kill a peak Profound Immortal.

Continuing his examination, Liu Wuxie slowly raised his gaze toward the creature's face. Its features carried a faint human resemblance, though its nose was considerably smaller and its protruding mouth appeared distinctly ape-like.

A pitch-black, horn-like protrusion rose from the center of its forehead. Though the creature had roughly sixty percent resemblance to an ape, Liu Wuxie knew with certainty that it was not one. Apes possessed natural intelligence and extraordinary spirituality, whereas this creature's green eyes remained empty and expressionless.

Unlike an ordinary ape, whose limbs were relatively proportionate, this creature possessed abnormally long legs and webbed feet. Stranger still were its emerald-green eyes, unlike any Liu Wuxie had encountered in either of his lives.

Whenever Liu Wuxie retreated, the creature followed him by precisely the same distance. When he shifted to the right, it mirrored him without hesitation.

"Why do you keep following me?" Liu Wuxie asked after drawing a deep breath and suppressing the shock within his heart. His only hope was that the creature could understand human speech.

Confusion crossed the creature's face as it tilted its head, making its lack of comprehension obvious. Liu Wuxie spent a long time attempting to communicate through gestures, but every effort ended in failure.

With no other method available, Liu Wuxie extended his divine sense and tried to make direct contact with the creature's soul sea. The instant his soul energy neared its head, however, it crashed against something resembling an iron wall and rebounded violently. Whatever protected the creature's soul sea was utterly impregnable.

Neither spoken words nor soul energy had succeeded, leaving Liu Wuxie uncertain how to proceed. All the while, the creature continued following closely behind him.

"What exactly do you want from me?" Liu Wuxie asked. Now certain that the creature meant him no harm, he calmed down and tried communicating once more.

"%@#&$..." the creature uttered, releasing a string of incomprehensible sounds before pointing its left hand toward Liu Wuxie's interspatial ring.

Realization dawned upon Liu Wuxie. Something inside his interspatial ring had attracted the creature.

"You want something from inside here?" Liu Wuxie asked, gesturing toward the interspatial ring.

The creature nodded at once. Body language predated every spoken tongue, and even without a shared language, a handful of simple gestures could still convey the most basic intentions.

Assuming the creature wanted food, Liu Wuxie withdrew several immortal stones and placed them before it.

One glance at the immortal stones made the creature shake its head, naked disdain filling its eyes.

Liu Wuxie stored the immortal stones again and replaced them with several pills. The creature shook its head once more, its expression equally disgusted.

Judging from those reactions, Liu Wuxie estimated that the creature possessed intelligence comparable to a toddler.

The cultivators he had encountered earlier had most likely provoked the creature and paid the price for it.

Liu Wuxie removed one item after another from his interspatial ring, but nothing earned the creature's approval. As the search dragged on, growing impatience surfaced within its eyes.

A terrifying aura slowly seeped out of the black staff in the creature's hands, warning Liu Wuxie to hurry and produce whatever it desired.

The creature could not retrieve the object because it remained stored inside Liu Wuxie's interspatial ring. Otherwise, it would have seized the item long ago.

Thousands of different objects filled Liu Wuxie's interspatial ring, and by this point, he had nearly emptied everything he carried.

Then his gaze landed upon the crystals condensed through the Desolate Devouring Art. Without considering the matter too deeply, Liu Wuxie casually withdrew one.

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