Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 716 - Scarlet Ridge City

When Liu Wuxie stopped after entering the alley, he turned around to see six people. Although they weren’t strong, as they were only in the Heavenly Phase Realm, they could be considered experts in this city.

They followed Liu Wuxie partly because he had concealed his cultivation since arriving in the Central Plains, making him appear ordinary. His refined understanding of the universe’s laws after consuming the Divine Fruits allowed him to blend seamlessly into his surroundings.

“Boy, hand over your interspatial ring, and we might spare your life!” one of the six demanded. Though from two different factions, they shared the same goal.

“What if I refuse?” Liu Wuxie asked with a smile. This wasn’t his first time dealing with cultivators from the Central Plains, and he had killed many of them back in the Heavenly Nether Battlefield. He naturally wouldn’t feel bad killing a few more.

“Don’t blame us for being merciless if you refuse to comply!” the man growled, his large blade radiating a murderous intent born of countless similar deeds. This was their way of life.

“You think the likes of you can kill me?” Liu Wuxie asked indifferently. These people were too weak to pique his interest, let alone his murderous intent.

His blatant disregard for them further enraged the six. While they weren’t experts, no one dared to provoke them in the city, and most people would scramble in fear upon seeing them.

“Damn it! He’s too arrogant! Kill him and divide his treasures!” one of the six roared as they lunged at him.

Facing them, Liu Wuxie merely stood motionless with indifference on his face, allowing their attacks to reach him. He planned on testing the combat strength of the Central Plains.

While he had killed many cultivators from the Central Plains in the Heavenly Nether Battlefield, he hadn’t fought them on their home ground.

Sensing the differences in laws between their attacks, Liu Wuxie began to absorb every detail. The Heretic Blade appeared in his hand, and he could feel the laws restricting his movement when he tried to swing it.

He was still adapting to the laws of the Central Plains, sensing how they influenced him. It was a gradual process, as stepping into the Central Plains felt like entering an entirely new world.

As the six attackers closed in, Liu Wuxie swung the Heretic Blade downward. There was no dramatic outburst of energy, just a simple yet decisive strike. In that instant, their movements were sealed, and their escape routes cut off, as though the blade had locked onto them with unrelenting precision.

Although there wouldn’t be any blade aura unleashed after Liu Wuxie’s true essence was compressed, that didn’t mean the True Strike was weak. Instead, it became even more refined aside from the speed and trajectory.

After consuming the Divine Fruits, each of Liu Wuxie’s attacks now carried divine force.

The man who charged over the fastest was split apart before he could let out a scream, his head decapitated with his blood dying the walls on both sides.

Everything happened in a heartbeat, and Liu Wuxie had slain one of them. This left the remaining five paralyzed in fear, their weapons frozen awkwardly in mid-air as they hesitated, uncertain if they should proceed with their attack.

However, Liu Wuxie wasn’t about to stop as he raised the Heretic Blade again, slashing it downward unleashed a sharp energy, forcing the five to stumble backward.

“Screw it!” The five had no other choice, and they could only fight with their lives on the line if they didn’t want more deaths.

“Garbage!” Liu Wuxie narrowed his eyes with boundless murderous intent flashing in them. The Heretic Blade danced in his hand, and it didn’t take long before five corpses were lying on the ground in less than one breath.

They were all killed in one strike, but Liu Wuxie still looked unsatisfied. After all, every battle would benefit him after entering the Central Plains, helping him adapt to the environment there.

After killing them, Liu Wuxie retrieved their interspatial rings before leaving. He did not need to clean up the corpses, as he would soon leave this city.

“What poor fucks,” Liu Wuxie muttered after sweeping a glance at their interspatial rings. If the six had been alive to hear what he said, they’d have likely died of rage all over again. They had been robbing to accumulate so many resources for a long time, but it had gone to Liu Wuxie now.

Then again, Liu Wuxie was filthy rich, and he had taken a portion of the resources from the Heavenly Dao Society before leaving, not to mention the resources given to him by the sect master.

Though his wealth couldn’t rival the monstrous prodigies of the Central Plains, he had enough spirit stones for himself compared to those in the same cultivation level.

Though he might have a lot of high-grade spirit stones, the number of spirit stones he required in each breakthrough would increase as his cultivation rose. Not to mention, he would also need spirit stones to open the gates in his soul sea. This meant he could only take one step at a time.

Following the waiter’s directions, Liu Wuxie finally located the teleportation array after an hour. The city lord controlled the teleportation array, raking in large amounts of spirit stones daily.

Liu Wuxie had to part with a thousand high-grade spirit stones to secure a passage to the Scarlet Ridge City. A thousand high-grade spirit stones were considered a fortune even in the Central Plains, and he used the spoils he had obtained from the six to cover the fees for the teleportation array.

When Liu Wuxie stepped into the teleportation array, the spiritual runes began to glow and envelop him, making him feel lighter, as though he was floating in the void.

He was pulled backward as the surrounding scenery distorted, sharp pain radiating from his soul sea. Rapid traversal through space tested not only his physique but also the resilience of his soul sea. Without sufficient physical strength, the spatial energy would have torn him apart. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Liu Wuxie could only close his eyes to focus on the changes in the surrounding space. This was because he had to comprehend spatial energy to reach the True Profound Realm, allowing him to travel through space.

After what felt like an eternity later, Liu Wuxie’s body became heavy by the sudden gravitational pull that yanked him out of the void. When his feet landed on the ground, he opened his eyes to a scene bustling with activity.

He found himself standing on another teleportation array, surrounded by a steady flow of people entering and exiting. Beyond the array, the streets were teeming with activity, far busier than the city he had come from.

Even so, the Scarlet Ridge City could only be considered a second- or third-tier city in the Central Plains.

“What a powerful aura!” Liu Wuxie muttered after two experts in the Nascent Transformation Realm passed him with a gust of wind. Even at the same cultivation level, the cultivators here were leagues ahead of those in the Southern Province.

What shocked Liu Wuxie, even more, occurred next as cultivators in the Astral River Realm were a common sight in the Scarlet Ridge City. Those in the Nascent Transformation Realm were considered ordinary cultivators, and he could tell from their conversation and attire that they weren’t any big shot.

“This is truly a paradise for cultivators,” Liu Wuxie said with a glint of longing in his eyes. He knew the Desolate Devouring Art could shine to its fullest potential in the Central Plains.

This place was a heaven for cultivators, and those in the Heavenly Phase Realm could only be responsible for insignificant tasks with low status. As for those in the Heavenly Dipper Realm, they were no different from mere ants living in the city.

Liu Wuxie quickly blended into the bustling crowd, moving like a drop of water in an ocean. Venturing into a shop, he purchased a detailed map of the Central Plains for one high-grade spirit stone. The map came as a thick book, filled with countless recorded locations.

He decided to rest for a day in the Scarlet Ridge City as he still felt discomfort from using the teleportation array. When he passed by a bookstore, he purchased fifty books, planning to read and familiarize himself with the Central Plains environment.

When he found an inn, he didn’t hesitate to walk in. As he didn’t lack any spirit stones, he rented an individual courtyard, mainly for convenience. He didn’t want a noisy environment, so he chose rooms aligned with each other.

The courtyard was peaceful, but the price was also steep. After he settled in, he didn’t immediately open the map and turned his attention to the books instead. The books weren’t cultivation manuals, and several books introduced the power structure in the Central Plains, like the various sects and clans.

There were also some introductions to mountain ranges, and Liu Wuxie rapidly scanned through the books with Ghost Eye. It only took him ten breaths to finish reading one book.

He spent most of the day reading through all fifty books, including the comprehensive map of the Central Plains. Closing his eyes, he began organizing the newly acquired information, merging it with his existing knowledge to form vivid images within his soul sea.

“Here it is—the Liu Clan!” Liu Wuxie exclaimed as he pinpointed the Liu Clan’s location on the map. Reaching it would take over ten days using teleportation arrays, with sections of the journey requiring travel on foot due to the lack of arrays in certain areas. The entire route would span nearly half of the Central Plains.

“The Heavenly Spirit Celestial Academy? What’s this place?” Liu Wuxie muttered, intrigued by how frequent it appeared. Aside from that, another name, the Dragon Emperor Academy, also appeared just as often.

Despite his extensive reading, the information he obtained wasn’t complete, as the fifty books couldn’t represent the entire Central Plains. He still needed to uncover much slowly, but his priority now was to reach the Astral Glory City to investigate the Liu Clan.

If the Liu Clan there held no connection to his parents, he would move on to other Liu Clans in the region. Should his search in the Central Plains prove fruitless, he resolved to continue in the Northern City, hoping luck might favor him there.

After digesting the information, Liu Wuxie entered meditation, never neglecting cultivation regardless of time or place. Dense spiritual energy from the surroundings surged toward him, pouring into the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron and converting into liquefied spiritual energy over a dozen times purer than what he had experienced in the Southern Province.

As the liquefied spiritual energy infused into the desolate world, the purity of Liu Wuxie’s true essence increased rapidly. In just a few days of being in the Central Plains, he noticed a significant boost in strength, even though his cultivation realm had not advanced.