Desolate Devouring Art

Actions carried more weight than any argument, and Liu Wuxie had demonstrated the true value of Zhang Dashan’s sword through blood and steel.

The weapon wielded by the Profound Immortal he had killed was vastly superior to Tong Gu’s artifact, yet even that sword shattered beneath Zhang Dashan’s creation.

“You’re asking to die, Liu Wuxie. How dare you murder a mentor of the Celestial Moon Dao Hall!?” Zhu Gaoyang roared, thick veins bulging across his neck. Tong Gu’s sword no longer mattered to him. Liu Wuxie had publicly killed a Celestial Moon Dao Hall mentor, and Zhu Gaoyang considered that offense unforgivable.

“One defeat demands one death. Do you have a problem with me collecting what I’m owed?” Liu Wuxie asked, turning his cold gaze upon Zhu Gaoyang. Sooner or later, he intended to sever Zhu Gaoyang’s head as well.

Their wager clearly stipulated that every Celestial Moon Dao Hall defeat would cost one mentor’s life. Liu Wuxie had merely collected the debt personally.

“The result has already been decided, so everyone should return to their places. We still have a long competition ahead of us,” Xiang Zicheng said, stepping forward to ease the confrontation. He draped an arm across Liu Wuxie’s shoulders and guided him away from the arena before desperation drove the Celestial Moon Dao Hall into reckless action.

At his words, the surrounding crowd gradually withdrew from the arena.

Shen Guang alone remained frozen where he stood, his expression terrifyingly dark. His scheme had come within moments of success before Liu Wuxie had abruptly intervened. Liu Wuxie had not only proved that Zhang Dashan’s sword was superior, but he had also killed a Celestial Moon Dao Hall mentor in the process.

“Escaping this time changes nothing. Plenty of matches still remain, and we need only one victory to take his life,” Zhu Gaoyang said viciously.

Once everyone returned to their seats, they understood that the competition had changed beyond recognition. It was no longer an exchange of skills between two Dao Halls. It had become a genuine struggle of life and death.

The students had become instruments by which the wager would be decided, while their mentors’ lives hung in the balance with every match. Each defeat would claim a mentor until one side eventually had none left.

A brief silence settled across the venue, though everyone recognized it as nothing more than the calm before the storm.

The spiritual array category followed. Like alchemy, it included an individual event and a team event, with a total of two matches.

The Azure Flame Dao Hall had selected eighteen participants, while the Celestial Moon Dao Hall fielded roughly the same number.

Zhang Hua and Liang Han exchanged a look, each finding the same gravity reflected in the other’s eyes.

“Liang Han, I’m entrusting the team event to you,” Zhang Hua said, resting a hand on Liang Han’s shoulder. Zhang Hua would compete personally in the individual event.

“I’ll handle it,” Liang Han replied with a firm nod. Liu Wuxie had granted him a second chance at life, and he intended to win even if victory demanded that life in return.

The Celestial Moon Dao Hall also hurried through its final preparations. Zhu Gaoyang stayed out of the arrangements this time, leaving everything to the mentors who taught spiritual arrays. They gave their last instructions and repeatedly urged the students to give their all.

Liu Wuxie said very little to the Azure Flame Dao Hall students. He had already done everything possible during the previous three days. The rest depended entirely on how well they performed, and he believed victory would remain within their grasp as long as they displayed everything they had learned.

Liang Han led the students into the arena before the Celestial Moon Dao Hall’s representatives appeared. Every Azure Flame Dao Hall student carried an array flag, since both teams would compete entirely through spiritual arrays. Victory belonged to whoever shattered the opposing formation first, leaving no opportunity for shortcuts.

“Get in there and slaughter every last one of them,” Zhu Gaoyang barked just as the Celestial Moon Dao Hall students prepared to enter.

For some reason, his command stirred no response. Several students even looked at Zhu Gaoyang with undisguised disgust.

Once both teams assumed their positions, neither side knew which spiritual array the other intended to deploy.

Liang Han moved first, sweeping the array flag through the air.

"Formation, rise!" The other sixteen students immediately sprang into action and spread into a formation resembling a crane with its wings fully extended. Both wings closed from opposite directions, forming a pincer around the Celestial Moon Dao Hall students.

The Celestial Moon Dao Hall's representatives reacted with equal speed. Their array flags snapped in unison, summoning a powerful gale that expanded rapidly and swept toward the opposing formation, seeking to engulf Liang Han and his companions.

When the two spiritual arrays collided, fierce gusts surged from the Azure Flame Dao Hall's formation while crane-like cries echoed across the arena.

"Form the Fish Scale Array!"

The Celestial Moon Dao Hall's formation transformed with astonishing speed. Its encirclement dissolved into countless overlapping fish scales, each generating a terrifying slicing force. Though they looked like ordinary scales, every one possessed the sharpness of a blade.

One Azure Flame Dao Hall student failed to evade quickly enough, and a fish scale tore a deep gash across his arm.

The Celestial Moon Dao Hall’s contingent immediately erupted into loud cheers.

"Kill them! Tear them all apart," Zhu Gaoyang shouted, waving his arms with wild excitement. He had long since discarded the dignity expected of an expert and could barely contain himself at the thought of killing Liu Wuxie if they won.

The situation grew steadily worse for the Azure Flame Dao Hall. Several more students suffered cuts from the fish scales, and their blood stained the spiritual array crimson.

Liang Han didn't attempt to change the formation. He maintained its existing structure and continued to tighten the encirclement around the enemy, though it still appeared incapable of breaking the enemy's spiritual array.

The Azure Flame Dao Hall’s mentors and students watched anxiously, unable to understand why Liang Han refused to adjust his spiritual array. Everyone knew that escaping the relentless assault of the Fish Scale Array required a change in formation.

Spiritual arrays naturally countered one another. The Thousand Net Array, for example, could restrain the Fish Scale Array, yet no one understood why Liang Han wouldn’t deploy it.

Only Liu Wuxie remained completely composed. Concern never touched his face as he watched the students get injured. He could see clearly that although the scales wounded them, none of the injuries threatened their lives.

Though the confrontation between spiritual arrays looked simple from the outside, it concealed extraordinary danger. One mistake could leave either side without even an intact corpse.

After securing the advantage, the Celestial Moon Dao Hall students intensified their offensive. Their spiritual array split into three separate formations and exerted pressure from several directions. Their objective was obviously to scatter Liang Han’s group, then eliminate its members individually.

Their strategy was sound. Once Liang Han’s formation broke apart, his entire team would fall helplessly into their hands.

"Pull inward!" Liang Han commanded, sweeping his array flag. The sixteen students immediately compressed their formation until it gradually became a sphere capable of reflecting the incoming attacks. The formation resembled a crane folding its wings around its head to shelter itself from every assault.

"Why is the Azure Flame Dao Hall doing nothing but defending? A flaw will inevitably appear if this continues. Does Liu Wuxie truly have no intention of changing their strategy?" the surrounding spectators discussed. Everyone could see that the Azure Flame Dao Hall had fallen into a disadvantageous position and needed to act quickly.

Defense remained important, but committing everything to it was equivalent to surrendering every opportunity to counterattack.

One Impact after another thundered across the arena. Liang Han and his companions remained tightly withdrawn inside the formation and refused to alter their strategy. Several weaker students had already coughed up blood beneath the repeated assaults.

The Celestial Moon Dao Hall's side had begun celebrating, utterly convinced that victory was already theirs.

"Why haven't they changed the spiritual array, Wuxie?" Ye Linghan asked. Even with her experience as a spiritual array mentor, she couldn’t decipher Liang Han's intention.

This looked like the perfect moment to change formations and catch the opposing team off guard.

"Pay attention to the Kan and Qian positions," Liu Wuxie said, pointing toward two specific places inside the arena.

Ye Linghan followed his gesture. The instant her gaze settled upon those locations, her eyes narrowed with disbelief.

"Now I understand. I never imagined the Celestial Moon Dao Hall would stoop this low!" she exclaimed.

The battle sank deeper into a deadlock as additional Azure Flame Dao Hall students suffered injuries. The match carried a one-hour time limit, and little of it remained.

Maintaining such an aggressive spiritual array had also consumed a significant portion of the Celestial Moon Dao Hall students' immortal energy. They knew the battle had to end quickly. If Liang Han seized even the smallest opening, the entire situation could reverse in an instant.

"Chariot Wheel Array, crush every one of them!" the Celestial Moon Dao Hall's leader roared.

The students immediately regrouped into a terrifying wheel that rolled toward Liang Han’s formation with overwhelming momentum. Murderous intent flooded the entire arena.

A thunderous rumble shook the stone platform as the enormous wheel swept across it. If the formation struck Liang Han’s group head-on, none of them would survive.

The moment the Celestial Moon Dao Hall changed its spiritual array, Liang Han finally moved the array flag in his hand.

"Form the Spearhead Array," he roared.

Liang Han’s sudden formation change stunned everyone, particularly his decision to deploy the Spearhead Array.

The seventeen Azure Flame Dao Hall students regrouped instantly, transforming their formation into a colossal spear aimed at a single point on the wheel. With the right fulcrum, even the slightest force could move an immense weight. Likewise, no matter how massive the wheel, a precise strike against the right point could overturn it.

The Celestial Moon Dao Hall students immediately sensed the danger.

"Something’s wrong! Change formations. Deploy the Cross Lotus Array," the leader ordered.

They reacted swiftly and attempted to transform the Chariot Wheel Array into the Cross Lotus Array.

"You’re too late!" Liang Han declared, a devilish smile rising across his lips.

Liang Han had refused to counterattack because the Celestial Moon Dao Hall secretly concealed two hidden spiritual arrays at the Kan and Qian positions. Had his team attempted to change formations earlier, those concealed traps would have killed them on the spot.

Hidden spiritual arrays existed inside larger formations, burying killing moves beneath an outer structure. The instant an opponent began changing formations, the hidden arrays could exploit the opening and launch an attack, making them exceptionally difficult to detect or defend against.

The Spearhead Array transformed again without warning, splitting into two spears that shot outward.

The Celestial Moon Dao Hall had controlled every advantage from the beginning but failed to capitalize on it. Had its students continued using the Fish Scale Array, Liang Han and his companions could simply have endured until their enemies exhausted their immortal energy before counterattacking.

That reality left the Celestial Moon Dao Hall no choice but to deploy the Chariot Wheel Array.

The Celestial Moon Dao Hall’s mentors finally understood what was happening. "This has gone terribly wrong," they exclaimed.

Liang Han’s spiritual array was simple and couldn’t rival the Celestial Moon Dao Hall’s formations in complexity or transformation speed. Yet that very simplicity made his true intentions even more difficult to decipher.

Liu Wuxie’s instructions to Liang Han had been remarkably simple. He was to devote everything to defense and refrain from attacking until the decisive moment.

That single directive formed Liang Han’s entire strategy.

Liu Wuxie knew the Celestial Moon Dao Hall would employ hidden measures during the spiritual array competition, especially after six months of preparations. Liang Han and his team, by comparison, had trained together for only three days. Expecting them to overpower a spiritual array refined over half a year would have been pure wishful thinking.

Liu Wuxie was an immortal, not a deity. Liang Han’s only viable strategy was therefore to hold his ground and wait patiently for an opportunity.

The strength separating the two spiritual arrays wasn’t vast, so victory would belong to whichever side seized the decisive opening first.

Despite the injuries they had sustained, Liang Han and his companions had finally seized the opportunity. It would vanish almost instantly, however. Before the Celestial Moon Dao Hall completed its formation change, Liang Han had to eliminate several opponents, break apart the survivors, and defeat them one by one.

No shortcuts existed in this contest. With both teams so evenly matched, the Azure Flame Dao Hall couldn’t crush its opponents through overwhelming power.

One of the two spears swept upward and blasted a Celestial Moon Dao Hall student out of the arena.

The instant that student fell, a gap appeared inside the Celestial Moon Dao Hall’s spiritual array. Liang Han’s next objective was to widen it before the opposing team could recover.

"Damn it! We clearly had the chance to win," Zhu Gaoyang roared, flailing his arms so wildly that he seemed ready to charge into the arena himself.

Once the Celestial Moon Dao Hall lost one participant, Liang Han's team intensified its offensive. The two spears bombarded the opposing spiritual array relentlessly, ripping it apart whenever it tried to reform.

"Change formations now," the Celestial Moon Dao Hall's mentor shouted. Even after losing one member, the team could still win by switching formations.

Liang Han's group had finally seized its opening. How could they possibly allow their opponents enough time to recover?

"Form the Scorpion Siege Array," Liang Han roared.

Under his command, the spiritual array transformed again with seamless fluidity, driving the Celestial Moon Dao Hall students into an unbroken retreat.

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