Chapter 34 - Devour and Refine
Empowered by the special true essence of the Desolate Devouring Art, Liu Wuxie’s attack was ten times stronger. The mysterious liquid had transformed his body. Combined with his soul as an Immortal Emperor and the Ghost Eye, Liu Wuxie’s blade locked onto three of Xu Yilin’s weaknesses.
As the blade cut through the air towards Xu Yilin, his face changed, and he quickly enveloped himself in true essence to avoid being struck. He couldn’t find a flaw in Liu Wuxie’s attack and had no idea how he did it.
If news got out that someone in the Spirit Foundation Realm couldn’t find the flaw in the attack of someone in the Xiantian Realm, they would surely be shocked. Liu Wuxie was only in the second level of the Xiantian Realm, but his fighting prowess was comparable to the pinnacle of the Xiantian Realm. So Xu Yilin was stunned and surprised as he looked at Liu Wuxie.
Liu Wuxie strode the Seven Dipper Steps, leaving behind afterimages, and he disappeared. When he reappeared without any sign, he was already within five meters of Xu Yilin. At such a close distance, it was too late for Xu Yilin to avoid his attack.
“Scorching Sun Palm!” Left with no choice, Xu Yilin was forced to execute his martial technique. His palm was like a rising sun, enveloping the entire main hall in a powerful radiance and emitting boundless heat waves around him to block Liu Wuxie’s blade.
“Father-in-law, you have to be careful now,” Liu Wuxie said with a smile, executing the Ghost Eye. The surroundings slowed down, and he could see every movement of Xu Yilin. His blade technique changed, swinging in an unexpected trajectory towards Xu Yilin’s right underarm, his weak spot. Everyone who practiced martial techniques had a weak spot, and Liu Wuxie easily found Xu Yilin’s.
“You...” Xu Yilin’s shock turned into horror. This might be an attack, but it contained countless changes. Liu Wuxie had mastered the Blood Gleam Blade Art entirely and could use any form he wished.
But there was no time for words as another scorching sun appeared in Xu Yilin’s other palm, heading towards Liu Wuxie. He couldn’t stay on the defensive because Liu Wuxie had locked onto all his weak spots, so he needed to turn defense into offense to have a chance. Xu Yinlin was shocked that he was being overpowered by Liu Wuxie, even though he had suppressed his cultivation to the low levels of the Spirit Foundation Realm. It was beyond his imagination.
Xu Yilin pushed his palm toward Liu Wuxie’s right shoulder. But even though he had rich experience in fighting, how could he be compared to Liu Wuxie? A smile rose on Liu Wuxie’s lips as he disappeared, dodging Xu Yilin’s attack.
“Not good!” Xu Yilin quickly realized something was wrong and retreated, but it was too late. A cold wind swept across his underarm, and when he reached for it, he found it damp with blood seeping through his clothes.
This was a small cut, but it still covered Xu Yilin in a cold sweat. He would have already been a corpse if this were a life-and-death battle.
“Father-in-law, you lost!” Liu Wuxie sheathed his blade, and the corner of his lips rose. He didn’t execute the Ghost Eye entirely because he could attack his opponent’s soul sea. But it was too lethal, and he wouldn’t use it unless he faced a mortal enemy.
“Wuxie...c-can you tell me when you became so strong?” Xu Yilin stuttered, not knowing if it was because he was too emotional or shocked. He even began to suspect that Liu Wuxie was possessed by someone else.
“Father-in-law, don’t worry. I’m still the same person and had an opportunity, but I can’t disclose it. We’re racing against time, and I’ll head to the Iris Gold Mine immediately. I can ensure my safety even against opponents in the high levels of the Spirit Foundation Realm. In two days, give these pills to the Treasure Pill Pavilion and tell them I won’t be back for a while.”
The deadline was approaching, and Liu Wuxie had to handle the Iris Gold Mine’s matter. So he could only put the Treasure Pill Pavilion aside for now, and these pills should be able to last for a few days.
He bowed to Xu Yilin and left quickly to avoid the transportation team being ambushed while delivering goods.
“Hahaha! This is great! Big Brother Liu will be happy if he sees you now. But be careful on the way.” Xu Yilin couldn’t refuse Liu Wuxie since even the Spirit Foundation Realm opponents might not be his match. With Liu Wuxie going on his behalf, he could stay in Azure Billow City and guard the Xu Clan.
“Yes, I’ll keep it in mind!”
When the main hall doors were opened, Deacon Lan was still standing outside, not knowing what had just happened in the main hall. Watching Liu Wuxie leaving, Deacon Lan returned to the main hall and asked, “Patriarch, what happened? Why are the tables and chairs destroyed?”
It had just been fifteen minutes, and the main hall was in a mess when he re-entered.
“It’s nothing. We’ll continue to discuss the matters of the weaponry workshops. Go and inform the buyers that our weapons will be completed on schedule, and we’ll compensate them with 30% damages according to the contract if there’s even a day of delay,” Xu Yilin laughed, and all his concern was swept away.
After leaving Azure Billow City, Liu Wuxie headed straight to the Sunset Mountain Range. According to his memory, the Sunset Mountain Range covered hundreds of thousands of miles. Powerful demonic beasts lived deep in the range, and martial cultivators trained there, hunting them for their cores to sell to shops for use in refining pills. Most cores were sold to the Treasure Pill Pavilion.
The fur, bones, and muscles of demonic beasts were also valuable for use in medicine and forging armor. Spiritual herbs could be found in dangerous spots throughout the range, with a hundred-year-old herb worth 100,000 gold coins.
As Liu Wuxie entered the mountain range, three people watched from a distance.
“Go back and tell the Patriarch that the trash has entered the Sunset Mountain Range. It’s a good opportunity to kill him. If we do it without anyone noticing, Master Huo won’t be able to do anything to us. He won’t stand against the Tian Clan for a dead person.” They were scouts sent by the Tian Clan to watch the Xu Clan and would notice any movements from the Xu Clan.
Liu Wuxie stood on a big tree, his eyes flickering with a cold flash. “Do you think I don’t know someone is following me? Let’s see who sent you to kill me!”
He had noticed someone following him when he left the Xu Clan but pretended not to see them and let them follow. He wasn’t in a hurry because the transportation team wouldn’t reach the canyon until the next day, so he found a quiet place to cultivate.
As he circulated the Desolate Devouring Art, the surrounding spiritual energy in the Sunset Mountain Range poured in, twice as dense as in Azure Billow City.
His dantian was like an entire world, absorbing spiritual energy from the surroundings at a terrifying speed. The Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron devoured most of it to form more of the mysterious liquid, which he could use to make a breakthrough once it reached a certain level. With the increase in his cultivation, he would require more mysterious liquid.
The bright moon hung in the sky, and the entire Sunset Mountain Range was quiet. But many nocturnal demonic beasts came out to hunt for food.
When he opened his eyes, Liu Wuxie raised his head to look toward those demonic beasts. Training in the spiritual array was pre-set, and the training efficiency was limited. But there were too many variables in fighting real demonic beasts.
With a leap, Liu Wuxie disappeared and headed deep into the mountain range. He wanted to hunt demonic beasts at night and use them to temper his blade techniques.
As Liu Wuxie stepped on dead branches, the crunching sound alerted a nearby demonic beast hunting in the distance. It was an Evil Tiger Beast, two meters tall and four meters long, with immense strength.
No ordinary person would want to provoke an Evil Tiger Beast because its thick fur made it difficult for weapons to penetrate its defenses. Its huge jaw could open over a meter wide and easily devour three adults at once.
Just when Liu Wuxie was having a face-off with the Evil Tiger Beast, the Evil Tiger Beast let out a roar and dashed forth. The ground began to shake, and the tremor made the surrounding trees tremble. As it charged, a few trees in front of it were smashed into pieces.
But Liu Wuxie stood firmly on the ground, his legs slightly bent and his right hand resting on his blade hilt. The Evil Tiger Beast was a first-grade ninth-level creature, equivalent to the ninth level of the Houtian Realm for human cultivators.
But demonic beasts were stronger than human cultivators under the same cultivation. Liu Wuxie suppressed his cultivation in the Houtian Realm and didn’t release his Xiantian Spirit. The Evil Tiger Beast would probably run away if he released his aura in the Xiantian Realm.
As the distance between them rapidly closed, the beast was only three meters away, its jaws emitting a foul stench.
Liu Wuxie unsheathed his blade and drew a cold arc in the air, plunging his blade into the Evil Tiger Beast’s brain. Blood splashed from its head as it froze, collapsing to the ground a minute later, killed in a single strike.
“Not challenging at all...” Liu Wuxie said with disdain, swinging his blade to reveal an egg-sized core in his hand. It was a first-grade ninth-level beast core, worth 1,000 gold coins, but better than nothing.
Suddenly, the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron shook, and the core turned to powder, blown away by a breeze.
“What’s going on? Where did the beast core go?” Liu Wuxie was confused and quickly sank his consciousness into his dantian to find out what had happened. He just hoped that there was no issue.
“This is...?” There was a droplet of mysterious liquid hovering above the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, and it gave off powerful demonic energy. “Is this the beast core’s essence?” Liu Wuxie said uncertainly.
“Everything in the world can be devoured and refined...but does it also work this way?” Liu Wuxie was dumbfounded. The beast core was devoured to strengthen his true essence, and the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron had far exceeded his imagination. He initially didn’t have much desire to hunt demonic beasts because he didn’t need to hone his martial techniques.
But it was different now since he could use the beast cores to strengthen his true essence and use this opportunity to reach the third level of the Xiantian Realm.
His dantian was more than ten times larger than an ordinary person’s, and he would need ten or even a hundred times more spiritual energy and resources for each breakthrough. Without resources, it might take him a year or more to reach the third level of the Xiantian Realm.
This motivated him to head deeper into the mountain range, searching for more demonic beasts to test if they could all be devoured.
......
A group of mysterious people appeared at the entrance to the Sunset Mountain Range, some emitting an aura in the Xiantian Realm.
“Are you certain the trash has entered the Sunset Mountain Range?” The one leading the party was a sinister-looking old man in his fifties.
“Yes, Elder. We’ve been here all afternoon, and he hasn’t come out yet. He must still be in the range,” replied a Tian Clan disciple who had been waiting there, not daring to leave for a moment.
“Very well. That brat must be courting death to enter the Sunset Mountain Range. Let’s go in!” The Tian Clan’s elder waved his hand and led the party into the mountain range to pursue Liu Wuxie.
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