Desolate Devouring Art

Outside, every cultivator watched the ancient tree begin to sway. Boundless immortal energy thundered in from all directions like converging tides. It flowed through the ancient tree into the depths of the Liver Palace, gathering above Liu Wuxie.

"Why is all the immortal energy converging there? What's happening?" The cultivators seated nearby sprang to their feet and stared at the ancient tree in confusion.

"Liu Wuxie is absorbing the Divine Wood Core so he can break through again," Shen Chao said, breaking his customary silence.

"What can we possibly do? Are we supposed to stand here and watch him refine the Divine Wood Core?" The surrounding cultivators stomped their feet in frustration. Powerless to intervene, they could only watch Liu Wuxie's cultivation continue rising.

Frustrated sighs mingled with envious voices and jealous whispers, filling the surroundings with a turbulent blend of emotions.

Shen Can, however, appeared to have accepted the outcome. No matter how many treasures Liu Wuxie gathered here, Shen Can remained certain that death awaited him the instant he left the Ancient Origin Spatial Realm.

Once they departed the Ancient Origin Spatial Realm, Shen Can would recover his Origin Immortal Realm cultivation. Killing Liu Wuxie then would require no more effort than crushing an ant between his fingers.

......

Meanwhile, the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron appeared and swallowed every current of immortal energy surging toward Liu Wuxie. It condensed that power into an ink-green river that rose and plunged like a soaring dragon before pouring into the Desolate World.

The Divine Wood Core also sank into the Ancestral Tree, which consumed most of its energy. Liu Wuxie wasn't bothered by it because he knew the Ancestral Tree would eventually return that power to him in an even purer form.

The transformation from the Crystal Glazed Beads had further compressed and purified Liu Wuxie's immortal energy, causing the vast Desolate World to appear somewhat empty.

The Ancestral Tree's explosive growth gradually eased. Its trunk continued thickening while an increasingly ancient aura radiated from its depths.

Two hours vanished in the blink of an eye, and the Ghostswift Vines outside weakened even further. The Divine Wood Core's energy had nearly run dry, depriving the vines of the wood-attribute energy and causing them to wither.

"Let's charge them again," Wei Wenbin said as he rose.

As a peak Profound Immortal, Wei Wenbin naturally possessed formidable strength and had led the previous assaults.

Large numbers of cultivators immediately surged upright. With weapons gripped tightly in hand, they charged forward and advanced more than a hundred meters.

Deep inside the Liver Palace, sharp cracking sounds rang around Liu Wuxie as the gateway to the second-level Spirit Immortal Realm slowly emerged.

The Ancestral Tree abruptly trembled. After passing through its conversion, the energy released by the Divine Wood Core had become purer than ever.

"This is the moment. Break through," Liu Wuxie roared.

Advancing through a minor level presented comparatively little difficulty. Liu Wuxie mobilized all the immortal energy within the Desolate World and shattered the gateway to the second-level Spirit Immortal Realm in only two hours.

The instant the gateway collapsed, Liu Wuxie's aura erupted without restraint and rapidly climbed toward the pinnacle of the second-level Spirit Immortal Realm. By then, not a trace of energy remained inside the Divine Wood Core.

Deprived of the Divine Wood Core's support, the Ghostswift Vines withered at an alarming speed. Zhu Li and the others finally received the opening they had been waiting for and advanced with almost no resistance. At their present speed, they would reach the Liver Palace gate within fifteen minutes.

"Collect every last trace," Liu Wuxie roared.

The Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron immediately consumed all the surrounding immortal energy and poured it into the Desolate World, helping him consolidate his newly advanced cultivation.

Thunderous rumbling rolled through Liu Wuxie's body like war drums sounding before battle.

A deafening explosion shook the Liver Palace gate and made it tremble violently, clearly signaling that the cultivators outside were close to breaking through.

"Blackie, how about we play a little trick on them?" Liu Wuxie asked, a wicked smile slowly lifting the corners of his lips.

Those people had attacked him from behind and nearly sent him to his death beneath the Ghostswift Vines. He had escaped only because of the fifth form of the Divine Ninefold Step. Liu Wuxie naturally had no intention of leaving that grievance unanswered.

Unless he killed at least a few of them in return, the resentment burning in his heart would never fade.

Blackie answered with a chuckle and promptly raised five fingers.

Liu Wuxie stared at Blackie in speechless resignation. Ultimately, he could only withdraw five hundred crystals and throw them over. A broad grin spread across Blackie's face as it stored the crystals within the black staff.

Before the cultivators outside could breach the gate, Liu Wuxie produced a set of array flags and used the opportunity to construct a lethal spiritual array around the entrance. He completed the entire arrangement in only fifteen minutes.

Meanwhile, Blackie concealed itself within a black robe and covered its face with a strange mask. The disguise obscured its appearance so completely that no one could determine whether it was human or a monster.

Liu Wuxie concealed himself nearby, crossbow in hand and several hundred immortal stones arranged within easy reach.

Outside the ancient tree, dozens of cultivators summoned their swords and repeatedly hacked at the trunk. Without the Divine Wood Core's energy to sustain it, the ancient wood had lost much of its toughness, and the relentless barrage soon sent cracks spreading across its surface.

"Young Master, why aren't we joining the attack?" Shen Mo asked.

Shen Can had always led the charge whenever they had assaulted a gate in the past. This time, however, he had deliberately held back.

"Are you an idiot? Liu Wuxie already took the Divine Wood Core. What does Young Master gain by entering first? Let everyone else do the work while we preserve our strength," Shen Shui replied.

Shen Can had previously rushed forward because no one knew for certain whether Liu Wuxie had claimed the divine core. The circumstances had now changed completely. The Divine Wood Core had unquestionably fallen in Liu Wuxie's hands, giving them no reason to charge into the Liver Palace along with everyone else.

Under the crowd's relentless bombardment, a breach more than three meters wide finally opened in the Ancestral Tree. The cultivators immediately surged through it.

Just as Wei Wenbin prepared to enter, Shen Chao reached out and stopped him.

"Why are you holding me back?" Wei Wenbin asked, irritated.

Shen Chao could not explain the unease gripping his heart. Yet neither Shen Can nor Zhu Li had moved, suggesting that both had noticed something unusual.

"Let's wait a little longer. The Divine Wood Core has already fallen into Liu Wuxie's hands anyway," Shen Chao replied after considering the situation.

Many other cultivators reached the same conclusion. The entrance was extremely narrow, so competing to enter first offered little benefit. Allowing others to advance ahead of them seemed far wiser.

"I heard Liu Wuxie repays even the smallest grudge. We attacked him from behind and nearly got him killed by the Ghostswift Vines. Could he have prepared a trap for us inside?" several cultivators from Fourfold City whispered among themselves.

The Wen Clan offered the clearest warning. Liu Wuxie's schemes had destroyed the entire clan. The White Tiger Merchant Association, the Azure Bamboo Gang, and the Shadow Divination Gate had met the same fate after provoking him.

"There's a strong chance he's waiting for us with a trap. We should hold back and watch for a while."

Most cultivators knew Liu Wuxie only through rumors and hearsay. Those from Fourfold City had personally witnessed the Wen Clan's destruction, and only they could understand how deeply the spectacle had affected them.

Within only three breaths, more than five hundred cultivators flooded into the Liver Palace. Finding the vast interior apparently deserted, they immediately scattered and searched in every direction.

Dim light shrouded the surroundings, severely restricting everyone's vision.

"Did Liu Wuxie leave before we arrived?" the cultivators murmured, sweeping their gaze throughout the Liver Palace without finding the slightest trace of him.

"That brat got away again," someone shouted.

Anger swept through the crowd, though no one felt truly surprised. They had expected Liu Wuxie to flee instead of waiting for them to break in and hunt him down.

At that exact moment, a white arrow appeared without warning and tore through the darkness at astonishing speed. It pierced the forehead of the cultivator who had spoken, and his lifeless body hit the ground.

"Junior Brother," the man beside him cried, rushing forward to catch him.

"We're under attack! Someone's ambushing us!"

None of the cultivators knew that Liu Wuxie possessed an artifact belonging to the Celestial Forge Clan. Everyone who had discovered its existence was already dead.

The crossbow had never failed Liu Wuxie, making it the perfect weapon for an ambush.

Liu Wuxie had even wrapped the arrows in demonic flames, silencing their flight and allowing them to disappear seamlessly into the darkness. That concealment made the crossbow even deadlier during sneak attacks.

The slaughter continued as several more cultivators inexplicably crumpled to the ground, dying before they understood what had struck them.

"We walked straight into his trap," someone shouted. Only then did the crowd realize that Liu Wuxie had prepared an ambush in advance.

"He has to be hiding nearby! Spread out, find him, and kill him!"

The surviving cultivators immediately scattered through the surroundings. The Liver Palace had only so much space, and with such a large group searching together, they felt certain that Liu Wuxie had nowhere left to hide.

It did not take long for them to discover how catastrophically wrong they were. Without realizing it, every one of them had already entered a lethal spiritual array from which escape was impossible.

"Retreat! Get out of the Liver Palace," a cultivator cried in panic.

Advancing only invited further slaughter, so the cultivators had no choice but to retreat through the gate and wait for someone to break the spiritual array. The first ones to reach the entrance saw a black staff emerge from the darkness as it came crashing down from above.

Blackie seemed to have developed a taste for ambushes. It swept the staff several times in rapid succession, smashing the heads of multiple cultivators apart and killing them instantly.

Their screams reached the cultivators still attempting to enter from outside, stopping them in their tracks.

"Liu Wuxie prepared a trap for us," a cultivator shouted to the ones on the other side.

Those waiting to enter hurriedly retreated a hundred meters, lingering fear filling their faces as they silently celebrated their decision to remain outside.

Wei Wenbin and Shen Chao exchanged glances and saw the same fear reflected in each other's eyes. Neither had expected Liu Wuxie to be so vengeful, nor had they imagined his retaliation would be this ruthless.

"You shameless bastard, Liu Wuxie. You trapped all of us in a spiritual array. I'll fight you to the death," Furious screams and curses echoed from the Liver Palace.

Five to six hundred cultivators remained imprisoned within the lethal spiritual array, unable to find any route of escape. Meanwhile, the mysterious arrows sliced through the crowd like the scythe of death, harvesting lives with ever-increasing speed.

Blackie prowled through the darkness as well, becoming increasingly skilled at ambushing enemies who never saw it coming.

In only fifteen minutes, corpses already covered the ground. Some victims had died beneath Blackie's black staff, while the mysterious arrows had claimed the rest.

Throughout the massacre, the trapped cultivators failed to even determine where Liu Wuxie was hiding.

"There's no feud between us, Liu Wuxie. Please let me live," many cultivators begged desperately for mercy. They had never attacked Liu Wuxie, yet they were dying beside those who had.

Liu Wuxie remained unmoved and continued releasing arrow after arrow without the slightest pity. These cultivators might not have attacked him personally, but that did not mean they lacked the desire to kill him. They had simply never had the opportunity to act.

The instant an opportunity presented itself, they would kill Liu Wuxie without hesitation and seize every treasure he possessed. For that reason, he had decided to destroy every potential threat before it could become reality.

As the corpses continued to accumulate, the cultivators outside extended their divine sense into the Liver Palace and attempted to investigate the situation.

Even the peak Profound Immortals wore horrified expressions upon realizing that Liu Wuxie could now kill peak Profound Immortals. Yet how could something so impossible be true?

Many of those who had entered the Liver Palace possessed cultivation at the higher levels of the Profound Immortal Realm. Without exception, however, Liu Wuxie slaughtered them ruthlessly.

More than six hundred cultivators had entered the Liver Palace, yet barely two hundred had survived the relentless massacre. Fear had utterly overwhelmed those survivors and shattered their courage.

The arrows, Divine Mystic Yin Needle, and Blackie's ambushes formed a nearly invincible combination. Together, they cut through the cultivators like weeds as one figure after another collapsed to the ground.

Furious curses continued echoing throughout the Liver Palace.

"You demon, Liu Wuxie. You'll die a miserable death," people shouted.

One cultivator reacted too slowly, allowing the Divine Mystic Yin Needle to rip through his defenses. An arrow followed through the opening in the next instant and pierced directly into his soul sea.

"Blackie, finish every last one of them," Liu Wuxie ordered as he put away the crossbow.

Slaughtering so many cultivators had nearly exhausted Liu Wuxie's mental energy. With little strength remaining, he could only leave the survivors to Blackie.

Upon receiving the command, Blackie abruptly stepped out of the darkness, startling every surviving cultivator.

The cultivators outside had already retreated far into the distance. Their divine senses could reach only the edge of the gate, leaving them in the dark about what transpired inside the Liver Palace.

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