Desolate Devouring Art

After advancing into the Spirit Immortal Realm, Liu Wuxie could release the arrows in rapid succession. The expenditure of only dozens of immortal stones allowed him to reap dozens of lives within moments.

Complete chaos swallowed the battlefield. However desperately the cultivators fled, none could outrun the merciless hail of arrows. Once Liu Wuxie's mental energy marked someone, the pursuing arrow fastened onto its prey like an unbreakable curse and chased them relentlessly across even ten thousand meters.

Meanwhile, Blackie fought fiercely against Gong Shangming and the other peak Profound Immortals. It used no intricate techniques, relying solely on the repeated descent of its black staff. Yet that one brutally simple attack left Gong Shangming and the others entirely incapable of resisting.

Every assault they launched against Blackie ended in futility. Their strikes produced only showers of sparks upon impact, never inflicting so much as a scratch.

"What in the world is that monster?!" the cultivators surrounding Blackie cried, their voices nearly breaking. Whenever they attempted to withdraw, Blackie hunted them down without mercy, giving them no opportunity to escape.

"Forget the monster and kill Liu Wuxie. Once Liu Wuxie dies, that thing won't threaten us anymore," Gong Shangming roared, ordering the surrounding cultivators to launch an all-out assault while he and the others restrained Blackie.

A battle cry sounded. "Everyone, charge!"

Since Liu Wuxie's arrows slaughtered anyone who attempted to flee, the cultivators finally committed themselves to one last desperate stand. Killing Liu Wuxie had become their only hope of survival.

"You should've attacked me from the very beginning!" Liu Wuxie replied, a wicked smile crossing his face.

Liu Wuxie's main goal was to force them to gather and attack him together so he could erase them with a single strike. Pursuing them individually would squander far too much of his time and energy.

Nearly two hundred cultivators converged into one formidable force as they closed in. Bewilderment spread across their faces when Liu Wuxie suddenly put away the Bloodthirst Blade. They could not help wondering whether he had recognized the hopelessness of resisting them and chosen to surrender.

Overwhelming pressure engulfed Liu Wuxie and hurled him skyward. Countless attacks surged after him, obscuring the heavens and blocking every possible avenue of escape. The barrage was packed too densely for him to evade it all.

"Purgatory Palace, the stage is yours," Liu Wuxie commanded.

Even after reaching the Spirit Immortal Realm, Liu Wuxie remained unable to summon the true Purgatory Palace. He could, however, call forth its phantom projection, and even that projection wielded power far beyond anything ordinary Profound Immortals could endure.

A pitch-black palace manifested across the sky. The moment it emerged, violent tremors convulsed the entire liver region. Even Shen Can, a hundred thousand miles away, sensed the disturbance with perfect clarity.

"What is happening over there?" Wei Wenbin asked, turning toward his companions. He, Jiang Hongran, and Shen Chao had continued traveling with the Zhu Clan.

"Could some kind of treasure have appeared?" Jiang Hongran asked quietly.

If a treasure truly had emerged, then they had already lost their opportunity to claim it.

......

Every artifact and immortal art hurtling toward Liu Wuxie abruptly froze in mid-air.

Above the cultivators, the phantom projection of the Purgatory Palace expanded until it obscured the entire sky. Its crushing pressure made every breath painfully difficult.

Gong Shangming's eyelids twitched violently as a powerful foreboding seized his heart. Liu Wuxie's terror surpassed even their darkest expectations.

"Get away from here!"

"NOW!"

The cultivators finally awoke to the danger. No one knew who shouted first, but panic instantly scattered the crowd in every direction. They all understood that once the Purgatory Palace descended, none of them would survive.

"You missed your chance," Liu Wuxie replied.

After driving matters this far, he had no intention of permitting a single person to escape.

The Purgatory Palace plunged from the heavens, releasing an overwhelming force that bound every cultivator where they stood.

A thunderous detonation shook the forest as the phantom projection crashed down and annihilated nearly two hundred cultivators in a single instant.

The horrifying spectacle frightened Gong Shangming so badly that his legs gave way beneath him. The peak Profound Immortals fighting Blackie also lost every shred of courage. They hastily withdrew their weapons and fled in all directions.

"Blackie, hunt down every last one," Liu Wuxie ordered before collapsing weakly onto the ground.

Calling forth the Purgatory Palace had emptied the Desolate World of immortal energy. Liu Wuxie could barely handle the surviving cultivators.

A strange cry burst from Blackie as its pitch-black fur rose on end. Explosive strength erupted through its legs, propelling it more than a thousand meters in one leap. Each descent of the black staff extinguished another life.

"Please, don't kill me! Spare my life!"

The survivors scattered with terrifying speed, but Blackie's leaps carried it even faster. Within moments, it overtook dozens of fleeing cultivators and left their corpses scattered across the ground.

A cunning glint flashed through Gong Shangming's eyes. He slipped into a nearby thicket and buried himself under the dense bushes, convinced that Blackie would fail to notice him.

Silence soon descended upon the battlefield as Blackie killed the last visible fugitive. Even the cultivator who had escaped the farthest, reaching tens of thousands of meters away, was eventually caught and dragged back.

Few intact corpses remained across the battlefield by then. Most had become shriveled heaps of skin after the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron devoured their energy and cultivation laws. That power replenished the exhausted Desolate World, allowing it to recover gradually.

The battle had clearly delighted Blackie. It extended its left hand and silently demanded payment. Liu Wuxie immediately gave it five hundred crystals, and Blackie happily crunched through several dozen before storing the remainder inside the black staff.

From within his hiding spot, Gong Shangming witnessed everything, holding his breath.

"Gong Shangming, have you finished watching?" Liu Wuxie asked, turning toward the distant thicket.

Liu Wuxie had deliberately chosen not to expose Gong Shangming earlier, allowing him to relax his vigilance.

Gong Shangming's heart plummeted upon hearing Liu Wuxie's voice. He had completely concealed his aura, yet he could not understand how Liu Wuxie had still found him.

Liu Wuxie gave Blackie a slight nod. Blackie immediately began walking toward the thicket at an unhurried pace. If Gong Shangming still refused to reveal himself, the creature would show him no mercy.

The instant Blackie raised its staff, he scrambled out, flashing a fawning smile as he begged Liu Wuxie for mercy. None of his former arrogance remained.

"I was wrong, Liu Wuxie! Please let me live," Gong Shangming screamed.

"End your own life," Liu Wuxie demanded.

Liu Wuxie could not be bothered to waste another moment on Gong Shangming. Ordering the man to kill himself would spare them the trouble.

"Do you really intend to drive this to the bitter end, Liu Wuxie?" Gong Shangming asked hoarsely, reluctance blazing in his bloodshot eyes. He refused to accept death and secretly gathered his remaining strength. If no other path remained, he would stake his life on one final struggle.

"This has become tiresome," Liu Wuxie said before turning and walking away.

Watching Liu Wuxie depart drained every trace of color from Gong Shangming's face. Beneath Blackie's ferocious stare, he could not summon even the faintest desire to resist.

"Brother, please spare me! We can work together, and I promise you'll live in endless luxury," Gong Shangming pleaded, desperately addressing Blackie as his brother in his final attempt to survive.

Blackie remained utterly unmoved. It slowly raised the black staff and showed no interest in changing its allegiance. After all, Gong Shangming possessed nothing comparable to crystals infused with primal chaos energy.

"You demon, Liu Wuxie! You'll die a miserable death," Gong Shangming roared. Every possible route to survival had failed, leaving him with nothing but despairing curses. He abandoned the final shreds of dignity he once carried as an expert.

Blackie's staff descended, and Gong Shangming burst into a cloud of blood.

With the last enemy dead, Liu Wuxie released a long sigh of relief. From that moment onward, even if Shen Can confronted him directly, Liu Wuxie possessed a reasonable chance of victory. Once Liu Wuxie successfully forged the Divine Penta Elemental Bolt, none of his enemies would remain beyond his reach.

Blackie disappeared again and returned to the Desolate World.

Guided by the Ancestral Tree, Liu Wuxie raced toward the Liver Palace gate. So much time had passed that the other cultivators had probably discovered its location already, forcing him to move quickly.

Liu Wuxie tore forward at breathtaking speed. Beyond the dense forest, an ancient tree of staggering height appeared in the distance. Closer inspection revealed that it was not an ordinary tree, but the gate itself, far exceeding Liu Wuxie's expectations. Its trunk possessed such immense girth that even a hundred people joining hands might have failed to encircle it.

Hundreds of cultivators had already assembled around the Liver Palace gate. Given the situation, Liu Wuxie could tell that they had arrived only moments ago.

"Ghost Vines," Liu Wuxie murmured, stopping several thousand meters from the gate when he noticed countless Ghost Vines wrapped around the colossal tree.

These Ghost Vines possessed far greater strength than those Liu Wuxie had encountered in Heavenly Deity Valley.

The dense vines prevented every cultivator from advancing. Ghost Vine Demons were exceptionally difficult opponents. Once they ensnared a victim, they would rapidly drain every trace of energy from their body.

When Liu Wuxie had rescued Yin Ying, his third senior sister, he had encountered a swarm of Vine Demons and eventually subdued Xiao Rou. Although she had already assumed human form, she remained in the mortal realm and had not ascended with him to the celestial realm.

"Damn these things! Those Ghost Vines are almost impossible to handle," the distant cultivators complained. Every attempt to approach the gate ended with the vines driving them back.

"Those aren't ordinary Ghost Vines. They're Ghostswift Vines. Barbs cover their surfaces, and even the slightest scratch will poison you. At worst, they'll drain your body completely dry," several peak Profound Immortals explained, shaking their heads and refusing to risk getting closer at the gate.

Compared with this obstacle, the Spleen Palace was considerably easier to enter. At least the stone golems had still left the cultivators with some possibility of forcing a path through.

Liu Wuxie activated Ghost Pupil and surveyed everything within a thousand-meter radius. With his current abilities, flying over the sea of vines would not have posed much difficulty.

The Ghostswift Vines, however, possessed extraordinary cunning. Though they lay motionless across the ground, every vine could extend ten thousand meters into the sky. Worse still, the vines intertwined with one another. Once they attacked, the Ghostswift Vines could coordinate without the slightest gap, making them several times more dangerous than the stone golems.

Even Liu Wuxie frowned at the sight. He intended to seize the initiative and enter the Liver Palace before Shen Can and the others arrived. Once the larger groups reached this place, breaking through the gate would become significantly harder.

By that point, Liu Wuxie would have to confront both the Ghostswift Vines and the pursuit of Shen Can and the others.

Blackie could not fly, and falling into the Ghostswift Vine swarm would be disastrous. No matter how formidable its physique was, countless vines would immediately coil around it, rendering it immobile.

Liu Wuxie studied the Ghostswift Vines with Ghost Pupil for a long while but failed to discover any weakness. They had existed for countless years and developed a measure of spirituality, living solely to protect the Liver Palace gate.

Just when Liu Wuxie found himself without a solution, he noticed an unusual detail. The roots of the Ghostswift Vines did not penetrate the earth and instead remained coiled across the surface. This characteristic defined them. Ordinary Ghost Vines could travel underground anywhere their roots reached, but Ghostswift Vines lacked that ability.

In exchange, they possessed a different advantage. They could not move beneath the ground, but they could stretch as high as ten thousand meters into the air, a feat ordinary Ghost Vines could never achieve.

With the right precautions, Liu Wuxie still had a strong chance of crossing the Ghostswift Vines and reaching the Liver Palace gate. More cultivators arrived with every passing moment, leaving him no time to hesitate.

Ghost Pupil transmitted all its observations into the Heavenly Dao Book, which immediately began calculating the optimal path through the Ghostswift Vines.

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