Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 646 - Assault

A thick stench of blood filled the surroundings, enveloping a radius of thousands of kilometers, and it only drew more creatures over.

Aside from the Frost Mice, the Heavenly Mountain was home to another creature that few humans dared to provoke: the Ice Spirit Serpents. These serpents were far more terrifying, with snow-white bodies seamlessly blending into the icy landscape, making them nearly impossible to spot.

The Ice Spirit Serpents preferred to lurk in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. A single bite could paralyze their prey, turning them into lifeless ice sculptures.

Although Liu Wuxie had comprehended the ice element, he would be immobilized if they bit him. While the bite wouldn’t be fatal to him, it would be troublesome.

For the other disciples, however, the consequences were far more dire. An encounter with an Ice Spirit Serpent could mean death. Their blood would be drained, leaving them as frozen husks if they weren’t careful.

Remaining vigilant, Liu Wuxie kept his divine sense active, scanning the area as he battled the Frost Mice. His caution wasn’t limited to the Frost Mice; he was wary of anyone or anything that might be hiding nearby, ready to exploit a moment of weakness.

Three Ice Spirit Serpents were slowly creeping behind the boulder, approaching Liu Wuxie. They planned to strike when Liu Wuxie’s guard was down, aiming for a sudden and deadly attack.

Little did they know, Liu Wuxie had already noticed them relying on Ghost Eye, and he would unleash Soul Spears at them the moment they attacked.

The Ice Spirit Serpents had a striking weakness: their fragile souls. However, their physical forms could meld with the ice, making it hard to kill them even if severed.

Meanwhile, the Frost Mice continued their relentless assault on Liu Wuxie, their corpses piling up around him. Watching its offspring fall, the Mouse King’s eyes turned bloodshot with fury, and it let out a piercing, sharp screech that echoed across the icy landscape.

The screech caused the surrounding Frost Mice’s attacks to increase. They began biting each other’s tails and formed a long, twisting chain that spiraled into the air like a long whip, and this action startled Liu Wuxie.

The attack of the Frost Mice was special, and they could act individually or take on a formation. Once they formed into a whip, they attacked Liu Wuxie’s legs, hoping to bind him tightly.

Though the Frost Mice couldn’t understand human language, it didn’t mean they weren’t intelligent. They were highly intelligent species, especially the Mouse King, who commanded the horde with their screech.

Liu Wuxie didn’t fear the Frost Mice, but the three Ice Spirit Serpents lurking in the surroundings as they posed a greater threat. A single bite would immobilize him, leaving him defenseless against the ravenous rats.

For years, the Frost Mice and Ice Spirit Serpents had worked together to kill countless disciples from the ten major sects. Aside from humans, other demonic beasts also fell victim to them, such as Frost Bears and Snowmen.

The white pine tree trembled under the shockwave as it cascaded to the ground in a flurry.

“Do you really think you can kill me?” Liu Wuxie growled. He was furious, and his patience wore thin. He had to end the fight quickly, or the commotion might attract Snowmen.

Snowmen didn’t cultivate true essence, but their immense size and innate strength made them a formidable foe that even experts in the Nascent Transformation Realm had to be cautious of.

Liu Wuxie drew a shadow with the Heretic Blade, which turned into a screen of blade auras as a waterfall descended from the sky, tearing the surrounding Frost Mice apart.

He had only used ten percent of his strength, and the sudden outburst was like a hurricane that cleaned all the Frost Mice within dozens of meters.

The distant Mouse King’s expression shifted to a human-like fear. It hadn’t expected Liu Wuxie to be so formidable.

When Liu Wuxie began cleaning the surrounding Frost Mice, the three Ice Spirit Serpents hidden behind the boulder finally moved. They were like three bolts of lightning, aiming at Liu Wuxie from three directions—high, middle, and low.

“Hmph!” Liu Wuxie snorted as the Soul Spears manifested into three swords and locked onto the three Ice Spirit Serpents, shattering their soul sea while they were in mid-air.

The Ice Spirit Serpents fell to the ground, curled up and dead.

“They’re all treasures, containing powerful ice elements within their corpses. I can use them to practice my ice dao technique,” Liu Wuxie murmured. He didn’t waste the corpses and threw them into the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron with a wave of his hand to refine them.

Seeing the death of the three Ice Spirit Serpents, the Mouse King let out another sharp screech as the surrounding Frost Mice immediately burrowed into the ground. In mere moments, the battlefield had been cleaned up with shattered remains and blood stains left on the ground.

This place was no longer safe. The thick stench of blood might attract more predators, and Liu Wuxie set off on his next journey under the cover of night.

As time gradually passed, it had already been two days since Liu Wuxie had entered the mountain range. He crossed paths with other people, but there was no feud between them, nor did Liu Wuxie start a massacre.

......

Ten disciples of the Heavenly Origin Sect stood together on the distant mountain, with Bai Yuan leading this group.

“Young master, we’ve searched for the past two days, but there are no tracks of Liu Wuxie,” one disciple reported. They tried to find Liu Wuxie; the latter would mysteriously vanish whenever they found his tracks.

“It’s only a matter of time before we find him,” Bai Yuan said. Over a hundred disciples of the Heavenly Origin Sect had scattered out, and he believed they would find Liu Wuxie soon enough. Moreover, every group had an expert and only had to hold Liu Wuxie down the moment they discovered him.

“Young master, why don’t we capture his wife and force him to show up?” a disciple of the Heavenly Origin Sect suggested.

The group had given birth to sinister ideas upon learning that Xu Lingxue was Liu Wuxie’s wife. If they captured Xu Lingxue, they could force Liu Wuxie to show himself.

"That’s an excellent idea, Senior Brother Yu!" Ye Feng said with enthusiasm, readily agreeing to the plan. The suggestion had come from Yu Tianyi, who harbored a deep grudge against Liu Wuxie since their encounter in the mundane world.

However, Bai Yuan frowned at the idea. He had pursued Xu Lingxue for over a year, but there wasn’t any progress. If he went to threaten Xu Lingxue, it would shatter whatever little friendship they had. Xu Lingxue would also hate him if he killed Liu Wuxie.

However, it would be an entirely different story if they killed Liu Wuxie secretly, with no one knowing.

“Young Master, this is our last resort. You’re meant for greater things and do not need to dwell over a woman. To achieve your goal, you must be willing to sacrifice everything—even loved ones,” Yu Tianyi said with murderous intent flashing in his eyes.

The events in the mundane world still filled Yu Tianyi with bitter hatred. Liu Wuxie had destroyed his warship and humiliated him in front of all the disciples who had traveled with him. The memory of that embarrassment festered, driving his desire for revenge.

The other disciples nodded at what Yu Tianyi said. While Xu Lingxue was gorgeous, Bai Yuan had to be ruthless as he was meant for greater things. Thus, everyone turned to look at Bai Yuan, waiting for his reply.

Bai Yuan fell into deep thoughts and found sense in what they said, but the latter couldn’t cross that threshold in his heart. He was the strongest prodigy in the Southern Province, and his reputation would be tarnished if others knew that he had to capture Liu Wuxie’s wife to kill him.

“We’ll use that plan if we still can’t kill Liu Wuxie in half a month,” Bai Yuan said after a long pause. As it was only half a month, no one refuted his suggestion.

......

Liu Wuxie stood on a pine tree and looked into the distance. He had searched the surrounding mountain range and could only venture deeper to look for the mythical ten-thousand-year Snow Lotuses.

When he executed the Ghost Eye, he captured everything within a kilometer radius.

“So, they still found me,” Liu Wuxie murmured as he retracted the Ghost Eye. It was inevitable as he couldn't go unnoticed despite the massive mountain range.

Thousands of people gathered in the surroundings, and avoiding detection was almost impossible. Now, ten had closed in on him with great speed.

This time, Liu Wuxie didn’t choose to run, so he braced himself instead. He had lacked an actual battle after reaching the third level of the Astral River Realm to consolidate his foundation.

“Liu Wuxie, it was not easy to find you.” the Azure Crimson Gate’s Wei Xiu approached with a grin. He had a cultivation in the ninth-level Astral River Realm.

“A battle is bound to break out between us, so let’s start today,” Liu Wuxie said. It was time for a massacre now that he had trained himself in the mountain range for two days.

The final battle was like a gladiator’s arena, and only those who survived the bloodshed could be considered a prodigy. Such was the brutality of the cultivation world. He had used two days to familiarize himself with the mountain range and prepare for the battle ahead.

He would have to fend off the snowstorm and eliminate his enemies simultaneously.

“Senior Brother Wei, stop wasting time with him! Don’t forget how cunning he is!” one of the Azure Crimson Gate disciples urged, not wanting to waste time with Liu Wuxie. They had suffered too much at the hands of Liu Wuxie, and the best way was to kill him.

“Hear that? They all want you dead! Do you want to do it yourself, or do you want me to help you?” Wei Xiu said with a playful smile.

For the past two days, everyone had been hunting relentlessly for Liu Wuxie, driven by the allure of the secrets he carried—prizes that could alter their destinies. Wei Xiu, in particular, was in high spirits, marveling at the stroke of fortune that had brought this opportunity to him.

He would reach the Nascent Transformation Realm without a hitch if he could obtain the Golden Spirit Fruits.

“Do you think a bunch of garbage like you can kill me? What a joke!” Liu Wuxie shook his head, his voice laced with disappointment. While they were strong, they could barely take a blade strike from him.

He could slaughter cultivators in the ninth level of the Astral River Realm like dogs when he was in the first-level Astral River Realm, and his strength had undergone a drastic transformation after reaching the third level.

“What arrogance! How dare you speak so boldly in front of Senior Brother Wei? You can die now!” Aside from Wei Xiu, the other nine disciples weren’t weak; the lowest was in the sixth level. The majority ranged from the seventh to eighth level. Even someone in the ninth-level Astral River Realm would die if they joined forces.

“Don’t waste my time. If you’re not going to attack, I will!” Liu Wuxie urged them to attack without wasting his time. One month might seem long, but it was short for cultivators.

“I have never seen such an arrogant person before!” Liu Wuxie’s provocations ignited a wave of anger among the group; disbelief etched on their faces at his sheer audacity.

Wei Xiu stepped forward with a sword in hand that gave off a cold glint.

“You may have deciphered the Seven-Lethals Sword Array, and even I admire your talent. But it’s a pity that your cultivation is too low. This is your weakness, and you’ll die even if you can decipher martial techniques,” Wei Xiu said.

Liu Wuxie had deciphered many martial techniques during the Martial Tower trial, but that didn’t mean he was strong in combat. After all, true essence wasn’t needed to decipher the martial techniques.

It was different this time because they would fight for real, and Wei Xiu planned to suppress Liu Wuxie by relying on his cultivation.