Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 130 - Eighth Level of the Xiantian Realm

In a swift sequence of events, Liu Wuxie managed to secure the Frost Spiritual Bead, latched onto a rope with his left hand, and used the force from his foot tapping the ground to propel himself towards the cliff.

After losing the Frost Spiritual Bead, the magma beneath let out a roar in protest. The surrounding magma formed into a wave a few meters tall, crashing down at Liu Wuxie. This was the power of nature, and it wasn’t something that flesh and blood could withstand. If the magma engulfed Liu Wuxie, he would be incinerated to death.

Using the rebound force, Liu Wuxie launched himself upwards. However, the surging magma formed a massive wave, obstructing his escape route.

“There’s only one chance!” Liu Wuxie’s eyes reflected a calm determination. While an ordinary person would be paralyzed with fear in such a situation, Liu Wuxie remained composed. He had already mentally rehearsed this scenario dozens of times, including the trajectory of the magma.

Implementing the Ghost Eye technique, Liu Wuxie’s path took an unexpected turn. As anticipated, a small vortex appeared at the center of the magma wave, akin to the eye of a tornado, the safest spot. The magma, behaving like a cabbage, attempted to envelop him, placing him at its core and surrounding him with molten rock.

The Frost Spiritual Bead released a terrifying chill that enabled Liu Wuxie to resist the high temperature. Even so, the cold nearly froze him.

“Overlord Fist!” In the nick of time, Liu Wuxie threw out a punch that created a vacuum passage in the magma. Before the second wave of magma came at him, Liu Wuxie exerted force with his left hand and shot out of the magma like a comet. The magma behind him crashed down like a waterfall, ready to consume him if he showed any hesitation.

The magma beneath him suddenly manifested into a ferocious beast, opening its jaws and accelerating at Liu Wuxie’s legs.

“Damn it!” There was no way Liu Wuxie could exert force in mid-air as he could only rely on the rope to climb. He could only watch as the huge jaw approached, putting him in a dangerous situation. He didn’t expect the magma river to be so ferocious without the Frost Spiritual Bead.

He had already performed the Overlord Fist once, exhausting half his true essence. He couldn’t execute the Overlord Fist again, as he would fall without any true essence. With no other alternatives, Liu Wuxie could only watch as the wave of magma approached him while his brain processed rapidly, trying to find a solution to this situation.

In the critical moment, Liu Wuxie took a long sword from his interspatial pouch and stabbed it into the cliff before using it as leverage. Earlier, he was unable to find leverage in mid-air, but it was different now since he could use the sword as a footing. The sword shattered as he stomped on it with his true essence to increase his speed and propel himself forward.

The magma arrived simultaneously, and Liu Wuxie could sense the scorching pain on his feet. But he didn’t have the time to think about that right now as he was closer to the cliff. He took out another sword, repeating what he had done earlier. But when his feet came in contact with the sword, he let out a scream from the excruciating pain.

Gritting his teeth, Liu Wuxie performed a somersault in mid-air and landed on the cliff. When the magma was one meter from the cliff, it lost all the kinetic energy and returned to the magma river. Everything had calmed down, and the magma was no longer as ferocious as before. As for the rock that the Frost Spiritual Bead previously resided in, it was instantly devoured by the magma in the next moment.

“That was close!” Liu Wuxie was still in lingering fear as he had narrowly escaped death. If he had made the slightest mistake, he would’ve been dead now. Fortunately, he used swords as a footing at the very last moment, allowing him to escape the fate of being devoured by the magma.

Stinging pain radiated from his hand as the Frost Spiritual Bead released a terrifying chill, covering the ground and the cliffs on both sides with a layer of frost. But Liu Wuxie couldn’t be bothered about that as he quickly took out some herbs to treat the burns on his feet. His injuries were minor and would heal within a few days of rest.

Furthermore, Liu Wuxie’s robust physique ensured that no scars would remain once his injuries healed. Then again, if presented with an alternative, he would pause to consider whether risking his life again was truly worthwhile. He had been in the Flame Sun Cave for five days and wanted to reach the eighth-level Xiantian Realm in the remaining five days.

After resting for half a day to recover from his injuries, Liu Wuxie turned to look at the Frost Spiritual Bead. The entire cave was already turned into an icy world because of it. As he activated the Desolate Devouring Art, the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron started to rotate, with the Frost Spiritual Bead floating in front of him, leaving him stunned.

“What’s going on?” He recalled a similar incident when he had repurchased the painting. The painting was devoured by the cauldron and transformed into a strand of blade intent. Was the cauldron now intending to consume the Frost Spiritual Bead?

Before Liu Wuxie could do anything, the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron became a black hole in his dantian and devoured the Frost Spiritual Bead.

“Holy shit!” The Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron snatched the Frost Spiritual Bead before Liu Wuxie could refine it. Over the past two months, Liu Wuxie had discovered that the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron could evolve through devouring treasures. This meant that the mysterious liquid refined by the cauldron would also have a stronger effect.

The Frost Spiritual Bead vanished after being consumed by the cauldron, leaving Liu Wuxie in a state of shock. He managed a bitter smile, realizing that he still had much to learn about the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron. The fact that it could ingest the Frost Spiritual Bead on its own wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. There had to be a reason why it could consume both the painting and the Frost Spiritual Bead.

Time slowly passed, and Liu Wuxie waited for the feedback from the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron. Roughly an hour later, a terrifying chill gushed out of the cauldron and filled Liu Wuxie’s dantian.

“What terrifying ice elements!” Before he could think more about it, he quickly circulated the Desolate Devouring Art. After being refined by the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, the feedback energy was pure and convenient for Liu Wuxie to absorb.

Liu Wuxie was in the seventh-level Xiantian Realm for two days, and he was going to make another breakthrough. The feedback energy from the Frost Spiritual Bead was like a torrential wave pouring into his dantian. Furthermore, snow began to fall from the sky, which was a sign that he had comprehended the ice attribute.

He had grasped the wood attribute and the ice attribute now. His bottleneck loosened up, and he reached the eighth level of the Xiantian Realm. The underground spiritual energy began to gather towards Liu Wuxie at a frightening speed.

Liu Wuxie had used up all the spiritual stones, and he didn’t have many pills left. He had exhausted almost all his resources to reach the seventh-level Xiantian Realm. Thus, he could only absorb spiritual energy from the surroundings.

At another location within the Flame Sun Cave, the cultivating platform saw an increase in the number of people who spent credits to cultivate there.

“What’s going on? The density of spiritual energy here seemed to have gotten much thinner than before!” Everyone cultivating there opened their eyes, complaining. They had come there not only to absorb the flame yang energy but also the spiritual energy, as the density of spiritual energy was ten-odd times thicker than outside.

In the next few days, the density of spiritual energy became much thinner. This meant that the credits they had spent for cultivating there were no longer worth it.

“Someone must be responsible for this! If I find out who it is, they’ll pay dearly!” Despite the lack of evidence, they were convinced that someone was siphoning off their spiritual energy. Their complaints fell on deaf ears for half a day as the density of the spiritual energy continued to decrease.

“Look, the spiritual energy is flowing in that direction!” A purple-robed youth stood up and looked at the entrance. Part of the spiritual energy flowed towards the exit, and they had no idea what was happening.

“Let’s go and check it out!” Several youths stood up and headed in the direction that the spiritual energy flowed in. Roughly fifteen minutes later, they stood before a passage and could only see the spiritual energy entering this passage and disappearing.

“Why is the spiritual energy flowing into this passage?” The youths exchanged a look. They knew about this passage as some people had entered it in the past, but no one had come out alive. As time passed, the passage became a forbidden zone in the Imperial Academy.

“Quick, go and report this to the academy’s higher-ups. Get them to check it out!” Someone quickly ran out of the Flame Sun Cave to inform the higher-ups of the academy, requesting an investigation.

Meanwhile, Liu Wuxie remained oblivious to these developments, engrossed in the satisfaction of his breakthrough. His cultivation was rapidly advancing towards the pinnacle of the eighth level of the Xiantian Realm, just a step away from reaching the ninth level.

“It’s a pity I don’t have enough spiritual stones. Otherwise, I could have reached the ninth level of the Xiantian Realm at this rate,” Liu Wuxie lamented. The resources were a significant issue, and he needed to earn more soon. Not only did he have to earn credits, but also resources to reach the Spiritual Cleansing Realm as soon as possible.

Since he couldn’t reach the ninth level of the Xiantian Realm, he could only stabilize and accumulate his foundation. The Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron continued to devour the spiritual energy in the surroundings, soon condensing it into over a hundred droplets of the mysterious liquid. Liu Wuxie planned on accumulating them for his next breakthrough.

As everything gradually calmed down, Liu Wuxie planned on refining his cultivation for the next few days. As time passed, the news of spiritual energy flowing into the mysterious passage finally attracted the attention of the higher-ups, who planned to send a teacher to look at the situation.

As Elder Gu was responsible for this place, he was naturally in charge of investigating this matter. Thus, he brought several students and appeared at the passage's entrance.

“Elder Gu, are we going in now?” The key was with Elder Gu, but no one dared to step forth as this passage was famed for devouring people. Entering this passage only meant a one-way trip to hell.

“There’s no hurry. The flow of spiritual energy has weakened. Let’s wait for a little longer!”

As Liu Wuxie had no intentions of continuing with his breakthrough, he naturally slowed down his speed of devouring the surrounding spiritual energy compared to a few days before.

Unless necessary, Elder Gu didn’t want to take any risks. He planned to wait a few more days to observe the situation. If everything calmed down, he would just report to the higher-ups that there was nothing there.

The countdown to the tenth day drew near. On the tenth day, Liu Wuxie opened his eyes, his aura reaching a new peak. A powerful shockwave swept from him, causing the ground and surrounding walls to crack as broken stones fell into the magma river, producing a sizzling sound.

“I’m finally done with my seclusion!” Liu Wuxie stretched his body as his harvest in the past ten days had far exceeded his expectations.