Desolate Devouring Art

The cultivators outside stood on the brink of breaking through, and Liu Wuxie knew that even one more wasted moment could cost him everything.

Blackie struck the colossal yellow mountain several more times with its staff, spreading countless fractures across the surface. The widest fissure resembled a wound ripped open by a giant hand, while enormous chunks of stone poured down without end.

Liu Wuxie abruptly disappeared from his position. Paying no heed to the collapsing rubble, he charged directly into the mountain. A protective barrier wrapped around his body and blasted every falling boulder from his path.

Blackie stayed outside the mountain. It casually withdrew ten crystals and chewed on them with complete satisfaction.

Liu Wuxie flashed through the passage like lightning, covering more than a thousand meters within moments before reaching the mountain's central region. The instant he penetrated its depths, a terrifying tide of earth-attribute energy crashed toward him and tried to drive him back.

"Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, come forth!" Liu Wuxie roared, refusing to retreat a single step.

Earth-attribute energy flooded him from every direction with overwhelming force. Since he couldn't approach the Divine Earth Core directly, he had no choice but to seize it with the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron.

A pitch-black vortex opened as the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron plunged toward the mountain's heart.

Liu Wuxie activated Ghost Pupil and carefully guided the cauldron through the mountain's interior, directing it toward the Divine Earth Core.

Outside the Spleen Palace, Shen Can used the momentum created by the others to reach the colossal stone golem ahead of everyone else. His longsword flickered repeatedly, carving a passage open before he continued his charge.

"We need to move. We can't allow Shen Can to reach it first," Gong Shangming roared.

He shot forward with astonishing speed and left only an afterimage behind, quickly abandoning the other experts as he pursued Shen Can. The two raced against each other until the shattered spleen palace's gate finally appeared before them.

"That power is terrifying. The Spleen Palace gate should be the strongest of the five elemental palaces. How could Liu Wuxie possibly have destroyed it?" people said to their companions.

Several cultivators besides Shen Can and Gong Shangming slipped past the colossal stone golem and reached the spleen palace's gate. None could believe that one person had caused such overwhelming devastation.

"Nothing about Liu Wuxie makes sense anymore. How could a mere True Immortal wield enough strength to shatter the Spleen Palace gate?"

Everyone froze before the ruined entrance in disbelief. The evidence stood directly before them, giving them no choice but to accept the impossible reality.

"Move! We can't let Liu Wuxie take the treasure," someone shouted.

Several more cultivators surged forward and rushed into the Spleen Palace. The moment they crossed the threshold, a crushing wave of earth-attribute energy descended and pinned them in place. Every step demanded tremendous effort.

Blackie remained on the far side of the colossal mountain, completely concealed from the arriving cultivators.

"What happened to that mountain? What could have split it apart like that?"

Neither Blackie nor Liu Wuxie was anywhere to be seen, but the sight of the shattered mountain sent a chill through the onlookers. Such destructive power far exceeded the limits of a Profound Immortal. Perhaps even a peak Origin Immortal would have been incapable of such a feat.

The Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron reached the deepest part of the mountain's core, revealing an oval yellow stone. This was the Divine Earth Core, and terrifying earth-attribute laws surged within it.

"Collect it!"

A tremendous devouring force erupted from the black hole and pulled the Divine Earth Core into its depths.

"Time to get out of here!" Liu Wuxie murmured.

Collecting the Divine Earth Core required only a split second. Without pausing, Liu Wuxie executed the Divine Ninefold Step and vanished, racing out from the depths of the mountain.

With a wave of his hand, Liu Wuxie recalled Blackie into the Desolate World. Blackie possessed extraordinary combat ability, but its speed couldn't compare to Liu Wuxie's. Liu Wuxie needed to reach the next region as quickly as possible, and allowing Blackie to travel beside him would only slow him down.

Just as Liu Wuxie burst from the colossal mountain, Shen Can and the others entered the Spleen Palace.

"You're not getting away this time, Liu Wuxie," Gong Shangming roared, his eyes burning with fury.

He summoned another longsword and brought it crashing from the sky with overwhelming force, determined to kill Liu Wuxie on the spot.

"Out of my way," Liu Wuxie roared.

The Bloodthirst Blade materialized in his grasp and swept outward, knocking Gong Shangming's sword aside. Liu Wuxie seized that fleeting opening and shot toward the depths of the Spleen Palace.

"You're dead," Shen Can roared, launching his attack the instant Liu Wuxie avoided Gong Shangming's strike.

Shen Can's treacherous sword technique slithered forward like a venomous viper and targeted every fatal point on Liu Wuxie's body. Regardless of how Liu Wuxie attempted to evade, the blade pursued him without mercy.

Liu Wuxie's mental energy had detected Shen Can and the others from the moment they had entered the Spleen Palace.

The bone-chilling sword ray locked Liu Wuxie in place. Shen Can appeared to possess cultivation at the pinnacle of the Profound Immortal Realm, but his true cultivation had already reached the eighth-level Origin Immortal Realm. The Ancient Origin Spatial Realm might have suppressed his cultivation, yet his combat instincts and skills remained those of an Origin Immortal.

Liu Wuxie suddenly felt as though a swamp formed from countless sword rays had swallowed him. He had fallen into a Sword Prison.

Shen Can's ability to condense sword energy into a prison proved that he was far from ordinary. Perhaps not even one person in ten thousand could accomplish such a feat.

Despite the Sword Prison's suffocating suppression, Liu Wuxie's expression remained tranquil. Without panicking, he formed several seals with both hands and sent faint ripples through the surrounding space.

A fissure instantly opened within Shen Can's Sword Prison.

The third form of the Divine Ninefold Step allowed Liu Wuxie to merge perfectly with the surrounding space. Shen Can's Sword Prison might have confined another cultivator, but it could never hold him. Before Shen Can crossed the distance between them, Liu Wuxie had already vanished without leaving a trace.

"Damn you!" Shen Can roared, withdrawing his sword as murderous intent blazed within his eyes.

He was beyond frustrated, as no matter how he examined the exchange, he could not understand how Liu Wuxie had escaped his Sword Prison.

"Did anyone see how Liu Wuxie got away?" he asked.

Everyone shook their heads in response. The cultivators who had followed one step behind Shen Can quickly caught up. They had plainly witnessed Liu Wuxie trapped within the Sword Prison, yet not one of them had seen how he had escaped.

The instant Liu Wuxie broke free, he reappeared a thousand meters away. Even Shen Can would struggle to close that distance quickly.

"Liu Wuxie, what happened to Elder Shen San?" Shen Mo roared as he rushed forward and spotted him.

Shen Mo was filled with a mounting sense of dread after seeing Liu Wuxie alive, with Shen San nowhere to be found.

"He's never coming back," Liu Wuxie replied with a devilish smile before disappearing again.

As Liu Wuxie's cultivation climbed, the Divine Ninefold Step gradually revealed its true power. At his current speed, even a peak Profound Immortal would find it difficult to catch him.

"That can't be true. Elder Shen San is at the pinnacle of the Profound Immortal Realm," Shen Mo cried.

Surrounding cultivators looked horrified.

Even though Liu Wuxie had clearly told them that Shen San was dead, they were in complete denial. However, the unfolding events left them no choice but to believe him.

From the opposite side of the mountain, Zhu Li and the members of his group witnessed the entire exchange.

"Young Master, what should we do? Even Shen San couldn't deal with Liu Wuxie," a Zhu Clan disciple asked.

The Zhu Clan had suffered nowhere near the losses sustained by the Shen Clan. Every disciple now turned toward Zhu Li and waited for his decision.

"Young Master Zhu, Liu Wuxie is as cunning as a fox, and his mastery of spiritual arrays is extremely high. I suspect he trapped Shen San inside a spiritual array before killing him. If we encounter Liu Wuxie, we can't waste time approaching him cautiously. We need to kill him before he has an opportunity to use any schemes against us," Wei Wenbin said, drawing upon an understanding of Liu Wuxie that surpassed most of those present.

"Mentor Wei is right. Liu Wuxie must have used some kind of trick to kill Shen San. In a confrontation, he couldn't possibly rival him," Jiang Hongran agreed.

Zhu Li nodded, then turned his attention toward the colossal mountain. Without the Divine Earth Core sustaining it, the entire structure had begun collapsing.

"We're moving to the next region," Zhu Li said, waving his hand as he led the group onward.

Meanwhile, Liu Wuxie understood that he needed to refine the Divine Earth Core and break through to the Spirit Immortal Realm as quickly as possible. Crossing the boundary of a major realm, however, allowed no margin for error.

With Blackie accompanying him, Liu Wuxie no longer needed to fear for his safety. Once he located a secure place, he could complete his breakthrough without interruption.

After traversing another passage, Liu Wuxie emerged into a dramatically different landscape. The boundless yellow sand disappeared behind him, replaced by a world brimming with lush greenery.

"This must be the liver," Liu Wuxie muttered.

The liver corresponded to the wood element, and its region covered far more ground than the spleen. Ancient trees towered more than three hundred thousand meters into the sky, their crowns piercing the clouds. If even one of those colossal trees existed in the outside world, its canopy would reach directly into the heavens.

"The wood-attribute energy here is remarkably dense," Liu Wuxie remarked.

He drew in a deep breath, and a tidal surge of wood-attribute energy flooded his body before the Ancestral Tree devoured it without restraint.

"This place is perfect. I can use this wood-attribute energy to accelerate the Ancestral Tree's growth," Liu Wuxie said.

After surveying the surroundings, Liu Wuxie resumed his journey toward the area where the trees clustered most densely. Thick vines carpeted the ground, making land travel difficult. He was forced to jump through the trees, moving between their branches with an ape's agility.

By the time Shen Can and the other cultivators reached the liver, Liu Wuxie had already disappeared without a trace.

The liver rivaled even the lungs in vastness. Unlike the heart and spleen, this enormous region would make it difficult to find Liu Wuxie.

Several hours passed before Liu Wuxie finally stopped deep within the liver.

"Blackie, I need a quiet place to complete my breakthrough. Stand guard while I cultivate, and kill anyone who approaches," Liu Wuxie said as he released Blackie from the Desolate World.

Blackie nodded, then promptly raised five fingers again.

Liu Wuxie's expression immediately darkened. If anyone claimed Blackie possessed low intelligence, Liu Wuxie would argue with them to the bitter end. Without hesitation, he withdrew another five hundred crystals and tossed them over.

A broad grin spread across Blackie's face as it accepted the payment and stored every crystal within the black staff. It had already discovered how remarkably easy it was to earn crystals from Liu Wuxie.

Naturally, Liu Wuxie had no understanding of the true value of crystals containing primal chaos energy. The Desolate Devouring Art allowed him to create them continuously, so spending them caused him no reluctance whatsoever.

That endless supply was precisely why Blackie had chosen to follow Liu Wuxie. It understood that finding crystals infused with primal chaos energy anywhere else would be extraordinarily difficult.

After examining the area, Liu Wuxie discovered a spacious hollow inside a gigantic tree trunk. He immediately set up an illusory spiritual array around it, so that no one could discover his hiding place easily.

Once Liu Wuxie finished every preparation, he repeatedly warned Blackie not to stray. If Blackie became lost in the vast forest, finding it again would be nearly impossible, and it would never taste those crystals again.

Blackie nodded with solemn gravity, given the possibility of losing the crystals forever. Any desire to explore the surrounding forest instantly disappeared.

Liu Wuxie entered the tree hole, settled cross-legged, and began circulating the Desolate Devouring Art. Boundless wood-attribute energy gathered around him and formed an enormous vortex, while large numbers of crystals gradually crystallized throughout the area.

The Desolate Devouring Art and the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron created those crystals by compressing the surrounding immortal energy. Within a short time, Liu Wuxie had already condensed several thousand.

Blackie watched Liu Wuxie sweep the crystals into his interspatial ring, drool slowly gathering at the corner of its mouth.

Inside the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, terrifying demonic flames enclosed the hovering Divine Earth Core.

Liu Wuxie swiftly emptied his mind and devoted his full attention to the breakthrough. He retained only a thin wisp of divine sense to monitor the outside, primarily so he could keep watch over Blackie.

The past few days had given Liu Wuxie a basic understanding of Blackie's temperament. Although the foundations of trust had formed between them, caution remained necessary.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!