Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 271 - Ninth-Level Marrow Cleansing Realm

The reality of Xue Shixiong’s demise was not a dream. The Xue Clan descended into a profound silence, from the servants to the descendants. A mirror of fear was reflected in their eyes.

If Xue Shixiong were used as a comparison, he would be the foundation of a house. The elites would be the beams and pillars, and the ordinary descendants would be the bricks and tiles.

A house would ultimately collapse after losing the foundation, no matter how luxurious the bricks and tiles were.

Thousands of spiritual liquid droplets flowed into the world in Liu Wuxie’s dantian. A bean-sized core hovered above the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron. There was a figure on the core that looked precisely like Xue Shixiong; this was the latter’s remnant soul.

Though Xue Shixiong might’ve lost his physique, his soul remained. This was like the demon’s head Liu Wuxie had encountered back in the Python King Battlefield. The demon's head had managed to kill many cultivators in the Marrow Cleansing Realm, even if it was just a strand of remnant soul.

Xue Shixiong’s soul strand hovered above the cauldron, spewing all kinds of nasty words.

Demonic flame gushed and enveloped the core, refining it with Xue Shixiong’s remnant soul. Screams could be heard coming from the remnant soul, and it didn’t take long before it dissipated.

As the spiritual liquid flowed into the world within Liu Wuxie's dantian, it fortified it with energies imbued with the essence of a True Core Realm expert's law.

Liu Wuxie’s cultivation began to rise shortly after, swiftly heading towards the ninth-level Marrow Cleansing Realm.

Witnessing this, members of the Xue Clan relinquished their weapons and succumbed to despair. With their elite warriors defeated, it wouldn't be long before the ordinary descendants faced inevitable annihilation.

Liu Wuxie extracted thirty thousand spirit stones and cast them into the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron. The stones disintegrated into thousands of droplets of spiritual liquid, replenishing the depleted energy.

The mysterious tree began to flourish, with more branches spreading to the universe, drawing spiritual energy from heaven and earth.

Potent shockwaves radiated from Liu Wuxie, propelling all nearby rocks into the air. The intensity of the shockwave prevented anyone from approaching within a hundred-meter radius. A subtle true core intent began to permeate the spiritual array.

“True core intent! He cleared his divine bridge?!” Luo Zhaojun was shocked. No one knew what it meant for someone in the Marrow Cleansing Realm to clear their divine bridge.

Many people were bewildered because they didn’t know about the divine bridge.

Mu Yueying’s eyes shimmered with splendor and surprise. She finally understood why Liu Wuxie was so strong and capable of killing an expert in the True Core Realm. It turned out he had already cleared his divine bridge.

Fan Zhen was taken aback, realizing that his previous estimations of Liu Wuxie had fallen short.

The True Core Realm spectators were taken aback. They had devoted over a hundred years to clear their divine bridge, yet Liu Wuxie was still so young. They didn’t dare to imagine what height Liu Wuxie would reach when he had already reached such heights at his age. Perhaps only the cultivation world was suitable for him.

Liu Wuxie spent fifteen minutes finishing his breakthrough to the pinnacle of the Marrow Cleansing Realm and stabilized his cultivation. He was only one step away from the True Core Realm.

A powerful True Core Realm aura swept out when he reached out and clenched his fist. He hadn’t reached the True Core Realm, but he could already manipulate the power of True Core.

After his cultivation stabilized, Liu Wuxie raised his head to look at Xue Dingtian. The Xue Clan’s higher hierarchy was practically dead, and the remaining were only in the higher levels of the Spirit Cleansing Realm.

Feeling Liu Wuxie’s gaze, Xue Dingtian shivered and finally came out of his stupor. He realized that with Xue Shixiong’s demise, the Xue Clan was doomed.

“Liu Wuxie, do you intend to annihilate us all?” Xue Dingtian asked through gritted teeth. If the conflict ended with Xue Shixiong’s death, Xue Dingtian could still gather the remaining clan members to recover. There might still be a chance for them to rise again in the future.

“That’s right!” Liu Wuxie said, pronouncing the Xue Clan’s fate. Some ordinary descendants collapsed to the ground, their hopes shattered, and their will to live extinguished.

For a cultivator, losing one’s will meant forfeiting any chance of becoming an expert.

“Hahaha!” “Hahaha!” Xue Dingtian laughed, tears streaming down his face. He had never anticipated the downfall of the Xue Clan.

A montage of memories flooded his mind, and he was acutely aware of Liu Wuxie’s grudge against the Xue Clan. Once his laughter subsided, his gaze hardened, and he turned to Xue Yu, who had already collapsed on the ground.

“Bring that scoundrel here!” Xue Dingtian commanded through gritted teeth. He had lost his sons, and Xue Yu was his only remaining kin.

Two Xue Clan’s descendants carried Xue Yu over to Xue Dingtian.

“Liu Wuxie, everything started because of him. Can you give the Xue Clan a chance if I kill him with my own hands?” Xue Dingtian raised his head and planned to kill his most beloved grandson to save the Xue Clan.

His decision stirred a wave of admiration among many. It was expected of Xue Dingtian to make such a harsh choice for the welfare of the clan. There’s a saying that a tiger wouldn’t eat its cubs, but for Xue Dingtian, it was worth it if he could trade Xue Yu’s life for the survival of the entire Xue Clan.

“Grandfather, don’t kill me!” Hearing that Xue Dingtian wanted to kill him, Xue Yu was scared out of his wits, losing control of his bowls. A pungent stench came from his pants as he grabbed onto his grandfather’s legs because he didn’t want to die.

Tears rolled down Xue Dingtian’s cheeks as he sighed. Liu Wuxie and Xue Yu belonged to the same generation, but no one in the Xue Clan’s younger generation could surpass Liu Wuxie.

“Child, I’m sorry. But I have no choice but to sacrifice you for the entire Xue Clan.” Not everyone dared to take the life of their bloodline. Xue Dingtian raised his hand but hesitated, awaiting Liu Wuxie’s response.

“I can promise not to take another life!” Liu Wuxie agreed after a brief pondering. Xue Yu was the cause of everything, and their feud would end with Xue Yu’s death.

Upon receiving Liu Wuxie’s response, Xue Dingtian let out a laugh. However, his figure appeared forlorn, as he had hoped for Liu Wuxie to refuse his proposition, thereby sparing him the agony of taking his grandson’s life.

“My child, my feelings for you are a mix of love and resentment. I despise your incompetence and uselessness...” Xue Dingtian closed his eyes, and his right hand came down on Xue Yu’s head, ending his life.

Xue Yu’s eyes were filled with fear before his death. He was still young, and his life had just begun. But his life had come to an end at the hands of his well-respected grandfather.

His eyes remained wide open as he fell to the ground, gazing at his surroundings as if expressing his unfulfilled desires and longing for the world.

The surroundings fell into silence. Everyone had mixed emotions and couldn’t express the discomfort they were feeling.

Perhaps, in the eyes of many, it should have been Liu Wuxie who met his end. This unexpected turn of events, with the sudden reversal of fate, took everyone by surprise.

Even those who supported Liu Wuxie didn’t think he could come out unscathed and win the fight. Xue Shixiong’s death had never crossed anyone’s mind.

“Liu Wuxie, I have taken his life myself. Shouldn’t our grievance come to an end now?” Xue Dingtian took a deep breath. He concealed all the pain and hatred for his losses in the depths of his heart to ensure the Xue Clan could make it through this crisis.

“I said that I won’t take another life, but I didn’t say I won’t cripple all of your cultivation.” Liu Wuxie’s tone didn’t contain a hint of emotion, and he drew out the Heretic Blade, swinging it down and unleashing countless blade auras to the surroundings.

He knew how many experts were left in the Xue Clan because of Ghost Eye.

Screams and cries could be heard coming from the surroundings as all the Xue Clan’s members had their dantian destroyed. Only the old, sick, young, and disabled were spared.

Even Xue Dingtian wasn’t exempt; his dantian shattered, rendering him crippled.

“Hahaha! I knew it! I knew it wouldn’t end so easily!” Xue Dingtian suddenly went insane and looked pitiful. “My beloved grandson, your grandfather will come and join you.”

Xue Dingtian took out a dagger from his interspatial pouch and stabbed himself in the heart before collapsing beside Xue Yu.

“Patriarch!” All the servants and descendants went on their knees, and the Xue Clan was utterly destroyed from that moment onward.

Sheathing the Heretic Blade, Liu Wuxie slowly exited the Xue Clan. Everyone made way for him, and he formed a seal to dismiss the Immortal Burial Array when he was at the entrance.

With the spiritual array lifted, everyone could come and go now.

Liu Wuxie continued to walk out without excitement, even after destroying the Xue Clan. He was calm and composed because the Xue Clan was only a stumbling block in his life, and he had to carry on his journey after kicking it away.

The crowd made way for Liu Wuxie, and even the True Core Realm experts had fear reflected in their eyes. Everyone’s assessment of Liu Wuxie was his cruelty. Once he made up his mind, he would spare no effort to accomplish it.

“Wuxie!” Xu Yilin squeezed his way through the crowd and yelled.

Upon hearing Xu Yilin’s voice, a radiant smile spread across Liu Wuxie’s face. In that instant, his emotions surged back, making him feel like a young man again, a stark contrast to the formidable warrior he had been moments before.

“Father-in-law, mother-in-law!” Liu Wuxie bowed at the sight of Xu Yilin and Yang Zi.

“It has been a month since we last met, and even I have to look up to you now!” Xu Yilin patted Liu Wuxie’s shoulders heavily.

Depending on the pills and cultivation technique that Liu Wuxie had previously left behind during his last visit to Azure Billow City, Xu Yilin had managed to reach the advanced stages of the Marrow Cleansing Realm. However, just when he believed he had caught up to Liu Wuxie, he discovered that the gap between them had widened rather than narrowed.

As the streets were crowded, Liu Wuxie brought Xu Yilin and Yang Zi to the Treasure Pill Pavilion instead of the Imperial Academy.

Upon learning that Xu Lingxue had left the academy and entered the cultivation world, Liu Wuxie no longer had any sense of belonging to the Imperial Academy.

He had joined the Imperial Academy with two objectives: to acquire resources and to look after Xu Lingxue. Now that he had already achieved his goals, it no longer mattered to him if he stayed in the Imperial Academy.

The three came to the Treasure Pill Pavilion because this place made Liu Wuxie feel more at ease, and everyone here was his friend.

Liu Wuxie’s arrival was greeted with utmost enthusiasm, and they spared a courtyard for Xu Yilin and Yang Zi. After all, as the chief alchemist, Liu Wuxie had a courtyard to himself, but he never stayed there.

The aftermath of the earlier battle still lingered in everyone’s minds. Following the downfall of the Xue Clan, the remaining four clans quickly seized the Xue Clan’s assets within a mere span of two hours.