Desolate Devouring Art

Cultivators streamed steadily into the liver, one group after another. The towering trees and boundless sea of greenery immediately brightened everyone's spirits.

Green carried the promise of vitality and renewal. Flowers bloomed across the land while ancient trees pierced the clouds, creating breathtaking scenery that brought comfort to both mind and eye.

"Liu Wuxie must be hiding somewhere in this region and refining the Divine Earth Core. Spread out and find him," cultivators shouted.

Their journey through the lungs, heart, and spleen regions had finally taught them the same lesson. Being the first to reach the next palace gate did not guarantee entry. They therefore abandoned their search for the Liver Palace gate and focused on hunting Liu Wuxie, determined to kill him and seize the Divine Earth Core.

Liu Wuxie was only a seventh-level True Immortal at the time of entering the Ancient Origin Spatial Realm. In merely five or six days, he had ascended to the pinnacle of the True Immortal Realm. At his current pace, reaching the Spirit Immortal Realm would take little time.

Killing Liu Wuxie would become even harder once he crossed that threshold. The cultivators quickly reached an agreement and separated into four groups to hunt him down. A breakthrough of such magnitude would inevitably produce a disturbance they could detect.

Within the tree hollow, the Desolate Devouring Art revolved with ever-increasing speed, pulling the surrounding immortal energy inward like a raging tidal current. Liu Wuxie sat calmly at the center of the torrent and allowed the surging energy to crash into him without pause.

Blackie waited quietly nearby, wearing a robe Liu Wuxie had given it because leaving it unclothed was hardly appropriate. Unfortunately, the garment was far too small for Blackie's enormous frame. It stretched tightly across its body and barely concealed its private parts.

The ill-fitting robe made Blackie appear neither entirely human nor wholly monstrous. When it sensed the violent fluctuations of immortal energy, it turned toward the tree hollow with confusion.

The Divine Earth Core possessed far greater power than the Divine Metal Core or the Divine Fire Core. Liu Wuxie had refined it for fifteen minutes without leaving even the smallest mark upon its surface. Earth truly merited its position as the foremost of the five elements.

"Mysterious axe imprint, descend," Liu Wuxie roared.

With no other solution available, Liu Wuxie summoned the mysterious axe imprint. Its overwhelming power cleaved the enormous Divine Earth Core cleanly in two, and dense liquid earth-attribute energy immediately flowed from the broken halves.

"Refine it!"

Demonic flames surged around the liquid energy and purified it at once, dissolving it into earth-attribute laws that streamed into the Desolate World.

Thunderous rumbling and powerful pulses spread through the Desolate World as the earth-attribute laws nourished it. Earth represented the ground itself, and once those laws merged with the realm, the entire Desolate World visibly expanded in every direction.

The mountains that pierced the clouds became larger and denser. A faint fragility had once lingered within them, but the Divine Earth Core's nourishment made every mountain and every inch of soil countless times sturdier. Even the reefs beneath the oceans became virtually indestructible.

Liu Wuxie's cultivation climbed steadily. Already standing at the pinnacle of the True Immortal Realm, he was now only one step away from the Spirit Immortal Realm.

Crossing into the Spirit Immortal Realm would bring another profound transformation to his cultivation. His combat strength would soar, giving him enough power to kill low-level Profound Immortal cultivators with a single strike. He would also gain access to additional techniques, including the third form of the Heavenly Crest Divine Blade Art and the fifth form of the Divine Ninefold Step. Even if immediate mastery remained beyond him, he could at least begin comprehending their mysteries.

The surrounding ancient trees swayed violently, filling the air with the endless rustle of leaves. Tens of thousands of wood-attribute laws existed within each towering tree.

Liu Wuxie secretly summoned the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron and began devouring the surrounding wood-attribute laws. Their continuous flow into his body provided another powerful force to drive his breakthrough.

Deprived of the wood-attribute laws sustaining them, the surrounding trees rapidly withered as their vitality drained away. Liu Wuxie did not stop. Instead, he reached deeper beneath the earth and extracted even more wood-attribute energy.

Roots from the Ancestral Tree emerged from the Desolate World and plunged far into the ground, greedily drawing out wood-attribute laws without restraint.

"That's the Liver Palace gate!" Liu Wuxie exclaimed as the Ancestral Tree revealed its location to him.

Even so, breaking through a major cultivation realm had never been simple, particularly when Liu Wuxie still needed to temper and solidify his foundation.

The gateway to the Spirit Immortal Realm had not yet manifested, clearly indicating that his accumulated foundation was insufficient.

"Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, devour!"

Liu Wuxie produced eight hundred thousand immortal stones and cast them into the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, hoping to accelerate his breakthrough. The immortal stones exploded upon entering the cauldron and dissolved into an immense river of energy that hovered above it.

"The moment has come. Break through," Liu Wuxie murmured, pouring the entire river of liquid energy into the Desolate World.

That immense influx of nourishment drove the Desolate World through another dramatic transformation.

Wood- and earth-attribute laws intertwined into a raging storm, and the gateway to the Spirit Immortal Realm finally emerged within it. Liu Wuxie released a sigh of relief.

He still did not rush to complete the breakthrough. Instead, he continued tempering his foundation. The deeper his accumulation became, the more terrifying his combat strength would be after he entered the Spirit Immortal Realm.

Meanwhile, the cultivators inside the liver region had begun conducting a carpet search. At their current rate, they would discover Liu Wuxie's hiding place before long. He knew he had to finish his breakthrough as quickly as possible.

The Ancestral Tree's roots had already penetrated deep beneath the earth and extended across tens of thousands of miles. Through the immense current of information flowing back from them, Liu Wuxie sensed numerous cultivators steadily approaching his location.

The Heavenly Dao Book rustled violently as the sequences written across its pages fluctuated and rearranged themselves.

Inside the deepest reaches of the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, the Purgatory Palace began expanding until it reached twice its previous size. After Liu Wuxie had entered the celestial realm, the Purgatory Palace had rarely revealed itself. If he could summon it from the cauldron, its power would be sufficient to suppress everything in the world.

The Purgatory Palace gradually evolved into a completely new world. At the same time, strange runes surfaced throughout the Desolate World. They resembled the characters and sequences of Heavenly Dao, weaving together until they formed a new chapter.

These changes signified that the desolate world had begun progressing toward civilization. Liu Wuxie believed it would eventually nurture life of its own. For the present, however, Ariel and Blackie remained its only residents.

Half a day passed without any sign of Liu Wuxie completing his breakthrough. The gateway to the Spirit Immortal Realm had already appeared, but he still lacked enough power to shatter it.

He abruptly opened his eyes, releasing two golden beams that pierced the distant void.

"The Spirit Immortal Realm... where immortality exists, spirit exists as well!"

Entering the Spirit Immortal Realm meant awakening a trace of spirituality. This was no ordinary spirituality, however, but immortal spirituality.

Immortal spirit roots began emerging from deep within Liu Wuxie's body, marking the birth of that spirituality. His spiritual roots had shown their first signs of awakening back in the mortal realm, but those had merely been ordinary spiritual roots. They could not be compared with the immortal spirit roots now taking shape.

A measure of relief finally appeared across Liu Wuxie's face as the immortal spirit roots emerged. Their birth proved that his constitution had undergone a fundamental transformation and now possessed the potential to reach the Immortal Emperor Realm.

Even the heaven-defying Desolate Devouring Art could not transform Liu Wuxie into a true powerhouse on its own. Without a sufficiently powerful physique and exceptional innate potential, his cultivation would eventually reach an insurmountable limit.

The great powers of the celestial realm possessed countless formidable cultivation techniques, yet mediocre cultivators still emerged from their ranks. They simply lacked the foundation required to reach the Immortal Emperor Realm. Ultimately, the constitution determined everything.

Even so, many cultivators had transformed their constitutions with heaven-defying treasures, enabling them to advance as far as the Immortal Venerable or even the Immortal Regnant Realm.

Only one immortal spirit root appeared at first. Soon, however, more began emerging one after another. Liu Wuxie could only stare in bewilderment as they multiplied without any guidance from him.

The immortal spirit roots spread at an astonishing rate, flourishing through his body like vigorous vines. Before long, a fifteenth immortal spirit root had taken shape, and even Liu Wuxie could scarcely believe how quickly they were growing.

As far as Liu Wuxie knew, Immortal Emperor Shui Yao held the celestial realm's record with ten immortal spirit roots. Most Immortal Emperors possessed only five or six, and Liu Wuxie himself had cultivated merely seven in his previous life.

Increasing amounts of earth-attribute laws streamed into Liu Wuxie's body, where the Heavenly Dao Book rapidly rearranged them. Meanwhile, the immortal spirit roots continued multiplying until twenty had emerged, each possessing extraordinary thickness.

An ordinary cultivator's immortal spirit roots were no thicker than slender hemp ropes. Those belonging to slightly more talented cultivators might reach the thickness of chopsticks. Liu Wuxie's immortal spirit roots, however, rivaled the size of an adult's arm. News of such a phenomenon would undoubtedly shake the entire celestial realm.

The transformation continued for another fifteen minutes. Thirty immortal spirit roots had now emerged, weaving through Liu Wuxie's body and anchoring themselves within different regions. He suspected that their formation was related to the unity with heaven and earth, which had driven his physique through a drastic transformation.

Possessing more immortal spirit roots did not necessarily bring greater benefits. In many cases, the opposite was true. The more immortal spirit roots a cultivator possessed, the more resources they required, while comprehending the mysteries of heaven and earth became increasingly difficult.

Before reaching the Immortal Emperor Realm, however, Liu Wuxie had no reason to concern himself with comprehension or enlightenment. His only worry was whether he could secure the immense resources his future cultivation would require.

The Desolate World continued expanding without interruption. For an ordinary cultivator, absorbing one of the five elemental divine cores would provide enough energy for several consecutive breakthroughs. Liu Wuxie, however, could gain only a single level from it. He had absorbed less than one-tenth of the Divine Earth Core's energy for himself, while the overwhelming majority went toward perfecting the Desolate World.

As the thirty immortal spirit roots devoured the Desolate World's energy, Liu Wuxie's physique strengthened at astonishing speed. His unity with heaven and earth had remained trapped at a bottleneck for a long time, but the birth of those roots shattered the barrier and elevated his physique to the high levels of the Spirit Immortal Realm.

"This should be enough," Liu Wuxie murmured after examining every transformation within his body.

He slowly closed his eyes and fixed his full concentration upon the gateway to the Spirit Immortal Realm. At last, the time had come to attempt the breakthrough.

A group of eighteen or nineteen cultivators appeared ten thousand meters away.

"Why have the leaves around this area turned yellow?" one of them asked.

Lush greenery covered the entire liver region, yet the leaves surrounding this particular area had withered because of Liu Wuxie's breakthrough. He had drained away all nearby wood-attribute energy and stripped the trees of their vitality. The contrast stood out so sharply that anyone could see it from a great distance.

"Let's get closer and see what's happening," a few cultivators said.

The cultivators had no idea that someone nearby was attempting a breakthrough.

Blackie sprang to its feet, its gaze turning vigilant as it hoisted the black staff onto its shoulder. Having witnessed Liu Wuxie create the crystals, it refused to let anyone threaten his life.

Liu Wuxie's death would deprive Blackie of its sole source of food. Without a constant supply of primal chaos energy, it would eventually sink back into slumber. For that reason alone, Blackie would allow no one to interfere with Liu Wuxie's breakthrough.

"All the immortal energy in this area seems to be gone." one of the cultivators said.

Ten thousand meters meant little to cultivators at their level. Once they got within several thousand meters, they clearly sensed that someone had completely drained the surrounding immortal energy.

"Could Liu Wuxie be breaking through here? I heard a terrifying black hole exists inside his body and can devour all immortal energy within a radius of ten thousand meters," another cultivator added.

Several members of the group came from Fourfold City, so they naturally recognized the disturbance that accompanied Liu Wuxie's breakthroughs.

"Hurry! We need to reach him before he finishes breaking through."

The fluctuations in the surrounding aura made it clear that Liu Wuxie was still accumulating power and had not yet entered the final stage of his breakthrough.

Without exchanging another word, the group executed their footwork techniques and darted through the dense forest. However, when they reached the area, Liu Wuxie was nowhere in sight. An illusory array concealed the entire surroundings from their vision.

"Something's wrong. Why can't we locate him?" the cultivators murmured, searching the area with puzzled expressions.

Not far from them, a pitch-black figure crouched soundlessly on the ground, raising its black staff in preparation to strike.

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