Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 186 - Sixth-Level of the Spirit Cleansing Realm

There weren’t any fancy moves involved as the Overlord Fist crushed down on Cui Shao like a mountain, tearing him into pieces and reducing him to a puddle of blood. The shockwave produced by the impact of Liu Wuxie’s punch extinguished the flames on both sides, forcing the surrounding Earth Scorch Dragons back.

The punch also created a massive crater at the center of the battlefield, enveloped in a cloud of dust.

The Earth Scorch Dragons, observing from a distance, exhibited a hint of fear in their eyes, for Liu Wuxie’s power was indeed formidable.

Chen Yusheng was taken aback. Just as he was about to assist, Cui Shao had been annihilated; no trace of him remained intact.

This spectacle terrified the remaining experts, prompting them to retreat hastily. They had no desire to continue the fight, for Liu Wuxie’s terrifying power was beyond their comprehension. To them, Liu Wuxie seemed less like a human and more like an explosive force of nature.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Liu Wuxie had just reached the fifth level of the Spirit Cleansing Realm, and he wanted a satisfying battle to calm the anger in his dantian.

The volcano within Liu Wuxie’s dantian continued to erupt, with a fearsome fire-attribute true essence enveloping him. His Overlord Fist, powered by this fire-attribute true essence, was more potent than ever; its strength amplified tenfold.

True essence morphed into a pair of wings, lifting Liu Wuxie into the air. Grasping the Heretic Blade with both hands, he unleashed a blade ray that swept across the sky, plunging a ten-mile radius into darkness.

The darkness lasted for half a breath before light returned, followed by a scream. Liu Wuxie’s blade bisected the other expert who had allied with Cui Shao, and the energies within him flowed into Liu Wuxie, causing his cultivation level to ascend.

With the three people dead, the battlefield fell silent. Everyone looked at this scene silently; even the Earth Scorch Dragons retreated several steps.

“Am I hallucinating? How can someone in the Spirit Cleansing Realm effortlessly slaughter experts from the Marrow Cleansing Realm?” The remaining Marrow Cleansing Realm experts, including the one at the seventh level, exchanged incredulous Looks.

Chen Yusheng smiled bitterly, recalling how he had warned Liu Wuxie to leave multiple times along the way.

“Senior Chen, we must make haste!” The Earth Scorch Dragons were teetering on the brink of madness, unwilling to let humans seize the Fire Spiritual Bead, their best chance for escape.

“Agreed! Let’s move!” Chen Yusheng was quick to decide. His wife’s injuries might be under control for the moment, but their situation was not conducive to combat, and they risked losing their lives if they lingered.

Even if they were to secure the treasure, they wouldn’t live to utilize it. Their desire for the Fire Spiritual Bead wasn’t strong; they had merely wanted to partake in the excitement.

Chen Yusheng, supporting his wife, trailed behind Liu Wuxie, gradually retreating to the battlefield’s periphery. The Earth Scorch Dragons mirrored their movements, stepping back each time they advanced. These dragons didn’t fear the other experts but appeared terrified of Liu Wuxie.

Upon awakening his fire attribute, Liu Wuxie found something within him that resonated with the dragons. Interestingly, Liu Wuxie discovered that the surrounding heatwave posed no threat to him, with the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron absorbing the flames.

“He can’t be allowed to leave!” A figure obstructed Liu Wuxie’s path.

If Liu Wuxie were to depart, the thousands of Earth Scorch Dragons would go berserk and assault the remaining individuals. The question wasn’t just whether they could secure the Fire Spiritual Bead but whether they could even escape this place alive.

“Wen Li, what are you trying to do?!” Chen Yusheng was furious. The old man standing in Liu Wuxie’s way was Wen Li, a cultivator at the seventh level of the Marrow Cleansing Realm. He was strong, and they might not be able to defeat him even if all three of them attacked together.

“You two can leave, but not him!” Wen Li stated without answering.

The other experts soon came to their senses and stood behind Wen Li. After all, Liu Wuxie was the only person who could restrain the Earth Scorch Dragons. If he left, who would deal with them?

“Master Wen is right. The two of you can leave, but not him!” The ten-odd Marrow Cleansing Realm experts released their aura, forming a powerful shockwave that nearly sent Liu Wuxie’s group of three flying away. The two parties fell into a stalemate, and even Liu Wuxie’s act of killing Xuanyuan Guang’s group of three didn’t intimidate them.

“Are you certain you wish to obstruct us?” Liu Wuxie’s expression was ominously dark, his lethal intentions spilling forth. His Heretic Blade radiated a chilling aura emanating from him as the epicenter.

The Fire Spiritual Bead hovered in the air and began to jump around as though attracted by something. At the same time, the flames erupting within Liu Wuxie’s body also grew stronger.

The power of ice and fire formed a unique phenomenon, with fire on the left and ice on the right swirling above Liu Wuxie.

Historically, fire and water have been at odds, making Liu Wuxie’s ability to manifest both ice and fire simultaneously defy logic. The flames ascended skyward while the ice surged towards the earth.

Wen Li’s countenance shifted. He realized that Liu Wuxie harbored some hidden secret and that his combat abilities were more complex than they initially appeared.

“Brat, we acknowledge your strength. However, with our numbers, we advise you to stand down. Don’t compel us to take action!” A sneer escaped from an expert at the sixth level of the Marrow Cleansing Realm.

As the tension escalated and the onset of a battle seemed imminent, Chen Yusheng made a sudden decision. “Brother Liu, you should escape first. We will hold them off,” he proposed, offering himself and his wife as a distraction to allow Liu Wuxie to flee. They owed their lives to Liu Wuxie, having been saved from certain death at the hands of Xuanyuan Guang, and saw this as a way to repay him.

“We will depart together!” Liu Wuxie insisted. Chen Yusheng had saved his life by intercepting Cui Shao during a critical breakthrough, and he could not abandon them now.

Liu Wuxie’s flames intensified because cultivating a fire-attribute technique in this place could achieve twice the result with half the effort.

As the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron continued to devour, the surrounding flames gushed over, and the volcano in his dantian expanded. While it may not yet rival the Dragon Rock Mountain Range, its growth rate suggested it would soon.

Suddenly, the Fire Spiritual Bead jumped and flew toward Liu Wuxie. This scene shocked everyone. It was likely that the flame in Liu Wuxie’s body had attracted the Fire Spiritual Bead. In terms of the purity of fire, the fire-attribute energy, after being refined by the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, was purer.

As the Fire Spiritual Bead relied on fire to survive, the purer the flame, the easier it was to attract it.

From a distance, the Earth Scorch Dragons roared deeply, approaching Liu Wuxie and signaling him to vacate the area.

The unexpected turn of events took Liu Wuxie aback, as he hadn’t anticipated the Fire Spiritual Bead to gravitate towards him. As the bead neared, the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron above Liu Wuxie morphed into a black vortex, swallowing the bead before it could react.

The sequence of events unfolded rapidly, with the Fire Spiritual Bead vanishing before anyone could fully comprehend what had transpired. Liu Wuxie was equally perplexed, unsure of the unfolding situation.

Wen Li and the other experts were left agape, utterly bewildered. What was this black vortex on Liu Wuxie that had the capacity to consume even the Fire Spiritual Bead?

Soon after, Liu Wuxie erupted in a terrifying blaze, forcing Chen Yusheng and his wife to retreat due to the intense heat. Even Wen Li had to withdraw to a distance of fifty steps.

While the fierce flames would have incinerated anyone else, Liu Wuxie remained unharmed, standing serenely amidst the inferno, seemingly relishing the experience.

The Fire Spiritual Bead, rich in fire elements, would typically take a Marrow Cleansing Realm practitioner between one to six months to refine slowly. However, Liu Wuxie had managed to consume it directly.

After the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron devoured the Fire Spiritual Bead, the energy began to weaken, but it wasn’t dissolved. An egg-sized bead flew out from the cauldron and sank into the newly formed volcano within Liu Wuxie’s dantian.

Suddenly, Liu Wuxie’s aura rose, charging towards the sixth level of the Spirit Cleansing Realm. This shocked everyone because Liu Wuxie had made two breakthroughs within a day.

They had encountered numerous prodigies, but Liu Wuxie was a first, baffling them all. Spirit stones began to shatter, liquefying and seeping into Liu Wuxie’s dantian. The ground beneath them cracked as dozens of Scarlet Demon Hearts emerged from below. As the fire-attribute energy flooded his body, his cultivation continued to ascend post-breakthrough.

Liu Wuxie was in no rush to ascend to the seventh level of the Spirit Cleansing Realm, understanding the importance of solidifying his foundation. Two breakthroughs in a single day were his limit; any further advancement could risk destabilizing his foundation.

He couldn’t afford to be distracted, so he used the energy from the Scarlet Demon Hearts to temper his physique.

If possible, someone would’ve rushed forward to chop Liu Wuxie into pieces, but no one could get close to him because of the fire. Thus, they could only wait until Liu Wuxie finished his breakthrough before deciding.

As time passed, the Earth Scorch Dragons became furious and raised their heads to roar, causing the entire Dragon Rock Volcano to tremble.

Due to the tectonic movement, the volcano was about to erupt, resulting in an early eruption for this year.

Like an earthquake, the ground began to shake, with fissures spreading across the surface and volcanic ash spewing from the summit.

“This is bad! The volcano is about to erupt!” If the volcano erupted, no one could avoid the magma, necessitating immediate evacuation to avoid being incinerated.

The Earth Scorch Dragons also began to retreat and return to their caves, hiding underground.

Flames gushed into the air as the rumble continued, followed by magma spewing into the sky.

At this moment, Liu Wuxie also completed his breakthrough and joined up with Chen Yusheng and his wife.

“Let’s leave this place quickly!” The couple followed behind Liu Wuxie as they ran down the mountain.

Several Earth Scorch Dragons attempted to block their path, spewing fire. However, Liu Wuxie effortlessly neutralized them by creating a vacuum passage through the fire.

The magma flowed rapidly, soon engulfing the spot where they had previously stood in an instant.

Unconcerned with confronting Liu Wuxie at the moment, Wen Li and the others followed the trio, prioritizing their escape. Once they reached a safe location, they planned to confront Liu Wuxie and compel him to surrender the Fire Spiritual Bead.

Approximately thirty individuals descended the mountain, with Liu Wuxie leading the way. He performed the Nine Heavenly Crane Dance and reached the foot of the mountain with comet-like speed.