Chapter 2 - Desolate Devouring Art
The Xu Clan’s buildings were well arranged in the form of rings.
The Xu Clan was a prominent household in Azure Billow City as one of the four big clans, albeit having a weaker foundation than the other three. This was because Xu Yilin’s cultivation was at the pinnacle of the Spirit Cleansing Realm, and he was one of the top ten experts in Azure Billow City. It was no wonder, the Xu Clan was on par with the other three clans.
Liu Wuxie walked into his courtyard and entered his room. A stench assaulted his nostrils as the corners of his room were littered with heaps of worn clothes and soiled socks.
“Interesting...he lived in such a tattered courtyard when he married the Xu Clan’s young missy...” Liu Wuxie rubbed his nose. But the wedding was held in a low-profile manner, and only a few elders in the clan were invited to witness the ceremony. As for the consummation of the marriage, the previous Liu Wuxie was beaten out of the bridal chamber by his wife even before he could see her face. This was the reason why Liu Wuxie visited the brothel out of a fit of rage with his friends.
Liu Wuxie opened the cabinet and retrieved an azure robe. He changed his clothes before leaving his residence, passing through the hall, and entering the inner chamber. This was the residence of the Xu Clan’s patriarch, and only a select few were allowed to step into this place.
In the main hall, there were three people seated around a table. They were his father-in-law, mother-in-law, and his wife, respectively. His mother-in-law’s name was Yang Zi, and his wife was called Xu Lingxue.
Xu Lingxue was a great beauty, emanating a serene and noble aura. She had long eyelashes, a high nose bridge, rosy lips, and a voluptuous body that outlined her impressive and charming figure.
Liu Wuxie had lived for millennia as an Immortal Emperor before his transmigration, and he had seen countless beauties in his lifetime. The woman he was most attracted to was the Aquatic Jade Immortal Empress, publicly acknowledged as the top beauty in the Celestial Realm. But Xu Lingxue wasn’t any inferior compared to her.
“This woman is my wife?!” It wasn’t an understatement to call her a femme fatale based on her appearance and temperament. He couldn’t believe such a woman was married to a piece of trash like Liu Wuxie.
On the other hand, Xu Lingxue furrowed her brows briefly before her expression returned to indifference. Liu Wuxie’s actions from last night affected the Xu Clan greatly, and she didn’t even want to glance at him.
Liu Wuxie sighed when he noticed the slight changes in Xu Lingxue’s expression, and he knew that she was greatly disappointed with him. But he quickly shifted his gaze away from Xu Lingxue and entered the main hall. He didn’t sit at the table and simply stood by the side.
His mother-in-law’s expression was ugly as though she wanted to chase him out the next moment. As for his father-in-law, he took a deep breath to suppress the boiling rage in his heart.
“Are you not going to give us an explanation regarding what happened last night?” Xu Yilin panted heavily, his chest moving in sync with his rage. He didn’t have a son and had long treated Liu Wuxie as his own, not to mention that Wuxie was his close friend's only child. This was why he put up with Liu Wuxie’s behavior throughout the years, but what happened last night was the last straw.
“I have nothing to say. It has already happened, and any explanation is pointless,” Liu Wuxie said calmly.
Liu Wuxie’s response naturally made Xu Yilin more furious. He raised his hand but lowered it. Liu Wuxie admitting his fault would calm Xu Yilin down, but he knew any explanation was pointless. Then again, he didn’t know that the Liu Wuxie he knew had already died from a palm strike.
Xu Yilin’s response made Liu Wuxie feel the concern a family shared for one another. He was alone in his previous life, relying on his blade to slowly rise to become a prestigious Immortal Emperor. Now that he had a family, he felt the urge to protect them, and he embraced this new feeling. As for what happened last night, he decided to investigate who was trying to kill him.
“Big Brother Liu is a good man. I don’t understand how he gave birth to a piece of trash like you. You’ve humiliated the Liu Clan and are no different from a beast for what you did last night!” Yang Zi stood up and lost it. After all, Liu Wuxie greatly humiliated the Xu Clan last night, and they wouldn’t be able to raise their heads again in Azure Billow City or even the Great Yan Dynasty.
Liu Wuxie didn’t refute those words. His memories of his parents in this lifetime were blurred because they went missing when he was young.
“This has nothing to do with my parents, and I am solely responsible for this matter,” Liu Wuxie said unhappily. In the entire Xu Clan, only Xu Yilin treated him well. Xu Lingxue was aloof and didn’t interact much with him, even if they grew up together.
“You’re solely responsible?! How are you going to take responsibility? Everyone taunts our Xu Clan for indiscipline, and they are seeking to have you delivered for execution!” Yang Zi sneered. If her husband didn’t have a reputable position, Liu Wuxie would’ve already been beaten to death by now.
But Liu Wuxie simply ignored what she said. As he inherited the previous Liu Wuxie’s memories, he also inherited all the scoldings that everyone had for him in the Xu Clan, so he was already used to it. Not to mention, he owed the Xu Clan through all these years.
“That’s enough!” Xu Yilin interrupted. No matter how unsightly Liu Wuxie was, he was still the only child of his Big Brother Liu. Without Big Brother Liu, the Xu Clan would have been destroyed long ago, and he remembered this grace in his heart.
“Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, I’ll take my leave if there’s nothing else.” Liu Wuxie bowed and left directly before they could say anything. Throughout the entire process, he kept a calm face.
Yang Zi often scolded him, and he argued with her occasionally. So Liu Wuxie’s calm attitude puzzled Yang Zi, and she wondered if last night’s ordeal significantly impacted Liu Wuxie.
“Stay home and cultivate if you have nothing better to do.” Xu Yilin’s voice sounded when Liu Wuxie was about to leave the main hall.
This made Liu Wuxie feel warm in his heart, and he nodded slightly before returning to his residence.
Upon returning to his residence, Liu Wuxie cleaned up the mess and sat down. He finally had the time to check the mysterious characters in his mind. But when his consciousness sank in, his body trembled.
“The long lost Desolate Characters!” Liu Wuxie felt a jolt of shock, as the Desolate Characters were ancient relics lost in history. No one knew about them in the Mortal Realm, and the number of people who knew them in the Celestial Realm didn’t even exceed five. Of course, he happened to be one of them.
The Desolate World was born at the beginning of the universe and was already destroyed, lost through the river of time.
He spent an incense stick of time, sorting out the Desolate Characters, and each word directly pointed to dao, especially the last sentence.
Everything in the world can be devoured and refined.
“Desolate Devouring Art!” The three words hovered before his consciousness, looking grand and majestic as a stream of desolate aura flowed out of his body.
“What a terrifying cultivation technique! This is on a whole new level from the Primal Celestial Art I practiced in my previous life.”
The Primal Celestial Art was a powerful cultivation technique in the Celestial Realm, and he relied on it to become an Immortal Emperor in his past life. So did that mean this Desolate Devouring Art could surpass it and allow him to reach a new height?
Liu Wuxie didn’t dare to imagine it, and no one knew what was beyond the Immortal Emperor Realm.
“Let’s hope that this Desolate Devouring Art isn’t like the other Celestial Realm’s cultivation techniques, where mortals are incapable of practicing them.” He had already failed when trying to practice several cultivation techniques he knew, which made him uneasy as he tried to circulate the Desolate Devouring Art according to the Desolate Characters.
When he circulated the Desolate Devouring Art within his body, the spiritual energy in the courtyard was sucked over. This spiritual energy sizzled and poured through the slit between the doors and entered his body. As soon as the spiritual energy entered his body, it became liquified and entered his dantian. Liu Wuxie’s shock deepened as the Heavenly Devouring Cauldron swallowed half of the spiritual energy.
“It can absorb spiritual energy by itself?” Ultimately, cultivating the Desolate Devouring Art was a success, which was a piece of good news. As for the spiritual energy devoured by the Heavenly Devouring Cauldron, he wasn’t too bothered. Since cultivating the Desolate Devouring Art was a success, he circulated it in full force. The spiritual energy became liquified when it entered his meridians, coursing violently through them.
His meridians emitted a faint luster after being nourished by the spiritual energy. Impurities were expelled from his body, forming a layer of black substance on the surface of his skin, and the stench covered the entire room.
His newly revealed skin was smooth like a baby when he circulated his cultivation technique to repel the black substance away from his body.
“Cleansing of the body!” He had purged half of the impurities in his body in no time, and he marveled what would ensue if he continued. The body was the foundation, and he needed a strong foundation if he wanted to ascend to a higher level. Without hesitation, Liu Wuxie used the surplus spiritual energy to fortify his physique, but he refrained from making a hasty breakthrough.
Liu Wuxie’s eyes shot open two hours later, radiating a frosty gleam that transformed into two formidable gusts of wind.
“Not bad. The Heavenly Devouring Cauldron produced ten droplets of that mysterious liquid in two hours.” As the liquid flowed out of the cauldron and coursed through his body, his meridians began to crackle, slowly transforming his physique
Liu Wuxie swiftly made a breakthrough in his cultivation. He advanced through several bottlenecks from the first to the fourth level of the Houtian Realm in a few breaths before slowing down. He let out a breath after he was done. His drastic transformation wasn’t inferior to undergoing a rebirth and gave off an ethereal temperament.
Exiting the house, he stood beneath the Banyan Tree and fell into deep thoughts.
Cultivating requires resources, and I need money to speed up my cultivation. It’s too slow to rely on the Desolate Devouring Art alone, mainly because my main objective is to refine the Pulse Guarding Pill. I also need to purchase the ingredients for the Body-Refining Elixir, as I have to keep tempering my physique in the Houtian Realm. Liu Wuxie pondered as he rubbed his chin.
He took out a paper and a brush before listing the ingredients required for creating the Body-Refining Elixir. After he was done, he hesitated briefly before writing down another formula and folding the paper, and tucked it in his clothes close to his chest.
It was already morning, and the entire Xu Clan became bustling. As Liu Wuxie closed the doors of his courtyard and walked down the hallway, he could sense the gazes of disdain coming from the Xu Clan’s servants in the surroundings.
“How embarrassing. Because of him, our Xu Clan won’t be able to hold our heads high in Azure Billow City anymore.” Liu Wuxie could hear whispers from the maids in the surroundings, and they even pointed at him as he walked down the hallway.
“Young Missy must be heartbroken that her husband visited the brothel on the first night of their wedding. Not only did he visit the brothel, but he even caused a huge commotion. Everyone in Azure Billow City now knows about it.”
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