Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 94 - Wipe Out

The ten adversaries cautiously advanced while Liu Wuxie retreated slowly, observing the scene. With numerous individuals outside the formation, his strategy was to entice them in.

“Brat, die!” The group of ten launched their assault, executing a variety of martial arts techniques. Their moves created a vibrant display of true essence, all aimed at hurling Liu Wuxie off the cliff.

In response, Liu Wuxie unsheathed his sword. The meeting of the weapons produced a harmonious clash of metal. Then, without warning, Liu Wuxie charged forward. His offensive move, instead of a defensive stance, took everyone by surprise.

Throughout this, Xue Changqing’s gaze remained fixed on Liu Wuxie. He tracked every shift in Liu’s movement technique. Liu Wuxie was as elusive as an eel, effortlessly dodging the onslaught from the ten attackers. When the ten attacks landed on the cliff’s edge, it shattered several large rocks.

“Die!” With a swift motion, Liu Wuxie brandished his sword. One by one, the ten heads exploded in succession. Their headless corpses maintained their lunging posture before tumbling off the cliff and vanishing from sight. In a single move, Liu Wuxie had defeated them all.

This scene made Xue Changqing’s eyes twitch.

The commander of the City Lord Mansion’s forces wore a grim expression. The ten individuals were his handpicked elites; losing even one was a significant blow. The rest of the City Lord Mansion’s troops also looked visibly upset, their eyes reflecting a hint of fear. This adversary was simply too formidable.

“Senior Xue, what should we do?” The leader of the City Lord Mansion’s troops turned to look at Xue Changqing. The latter was the only expert in the Marrow Cleansing Realm here, and he was their only hope of killing Liu Wuxie.

Xue Changqing was no fool; he wasn’t going to rush into action. Since the City Lord Mansion had sought an alliance with him, he intended to utilize their forces.

On the day they were set to depart Azure Billow City, the City Lord Mansion’s butler approached them with an invitation to discuss a plan to eliminate Liu Wuxie.

The three members of the Xue Clan were shrewd. After the discussion, they left Xue Changqing behind to solidify the alliance. The Xue Clan didn’t want to completely sever ties with the Treasure Pill Pavilion. If the City Lord Mansion succeeded in killing Liu Wuxie, the Xue Clan could distance themselves from it. This was their true objective.

In a nutshell, both sides were fearful of each other.

“This brat is relying on his movement technique, and we have the advantage of numbers. Go at him together and force him off the cliff!” Xue Changqing proposed his strategy.

The leader of the City Lord Mansion shot a glare at Xue Changqing. In the end, it was evident that Xue Changqing intended for the City Lord Mansion to spearhead the attack, ensuring that only their people would die without the Xue Clan’s involvement. He discovered that Xue Changqing was a ruthless person, conserving his strength while willing to send others to their deaths.

“Senior Xue is right, but there’s something peculiar about this person. I suggest Senior Xue strike first and eliminate him while we block his escape routes.” Both sides were throwing the ball at each other and didn’t want to make the first move.

Meanwhile, Liu Wuxie stood by, patiently waiting for them to make a decision. Eventually, he interrupted their discussion with a bright smile, “Are you still planning to fight? If not, I’ll be on my way!”

The situation was unusual because no one had considered this problem when they formed an alliance.

“Let’s make a move together!” Xue Changqing said with murderous intent flashing in his eyes.

“Agreed!” The leader of the City Lord Mansion waved his hand as everyone charged forth.

Seeing this, Liu Wuxie wore a triumphant smile and waited for everyone to enter the array as he wanted to send them to their death.

Xue Changqing hid in the crowd, planning to launch a sneak attack. After all, he was the only one here who could threaten Liu Wuxie’s life.

“Attack! Kill him!” When the leader of the City Lord Mansion gave the order, over a hundred people charged forth in unison, forming a formidable formation.

Liu Wuxie had no intentions of clashing with the formation right from the start, and he suddenly retreated before everyone could get close.

Xue Changqian’s eyes didn’t leave Liu Wuxie for a second, and a strong sense of danger spread throughout his body the next moment. He was in the Marrow Cleansing Realm, and he had a better sense of danger than someone in the Spirit Cleansing Realm. Just as he was about to voice his concern, a loud cracking noise echoed around them. The entire Blackwind Cliff trembled, leaving everyone stunned and wondering if an earthquake was occurring.

Unexpectedly, spikes erupted from the ground. Martial cultivators in the Xiantian and Spirit Cleansing Realm were unable to fly, and the spikes were like blades thrusting upwards from the ground, impaling their chests.

“ARGHHH!” Screams filled the air, reverberating throughout Blackwind Cliff.

The sight nearly made Xue Changqing’s eyes bulge out of their sockets as he hastily retreated, narrowly avoiding the spikes. Each spike was razor-sharp, and as everyone attempted to retreat, they found that their surroundings had transformed. They were no longer on Blackwind Cliff; they had been ensnared by the intricacies of a spiritual array.

As more individuals fell to the ground, impaled by the spikes, chaos ensued among the City Lord Mansion’s troops. Their formation disintegrated as they scrambled to evade the spikes, even trampling over their fallen comrades in their desperation.

But there were too many spikes. They were densely packed, and each was manifested with the power of the earth. This was similar to what Liu Wuxie experienced in the Song Clan’s Spiritual Array Hall. Despite being formed from elements, they felt incredibly real and lethal.

In a matter of moments, the ground was carpeted with a thick layer of bodies. Of the original hundred or so individuals, only ten-odd people remained unscathed.

The leader of the City Lord Mansion’s troops was livid as he watched his subordinates fall. He roared as he lunged at Liu Wuxie, “Liu Wuxie! I’ll kill you!”

The remaining ten-odd people also gritted their teeth and launched at Liu Wuxie.

“You guys are courting death!” Liu Wuxie retorted. Even if they hadn’t attacked, he would have made his move. This was his golden opportunity to eliminate the City Lord Mansion’s troops before confronting Xue Changqing. As he swung his blade, the aura he emitted in the fifth-level Xiantian Realm obliterated countless bodies on the ground and targeted the remaining troops. His aura was formidable, illuminating the surroundings with the glow of his blade.

The force emanating from Liu Wuxie’s blade seemed capable of obliterating everything in its path. With a single stroke, he dispatched fifteen individuals, their bodies exploding and their essence absorbed by him.

Fear had been forgotten by the remaining troops, replaced by a singular focus: to slay Liu Wuxie and avenge their fallen comrades. They believed this was the only way they could justify the heavy losses when they returned. Otherwise, they were at a loss as to how they would explain the extensive casualties to the City Lord.

Liu Wuxie’s blade aura swept across the battlefield, severing the neck of the City Lord Mansion’s troop leader before he could even brandish his weapon. After eliminating everyone, Liu Wuxie licked his lips and turned his gaze towards Xue Changqing.

A spiritual array guarded the Blackwind Cliff, and Liu Wuxie had successfully used the spikes to ambush and annihilate the City Lord Mansion’s troops.

“Brat, aren’t you too ruthless to kill so many people?!” Xue Changqing took a deep breath. He didn’t consider himself a saint and had taken countless lives in his time. The number of martial cultivators who had fallen by his hand was substantial. However, he suddenly felt insignificant compared to Liu Wuxie.

“What’s the difference between killing one and ten thousand?” Liu Wuxie sneered. Most importantly, he had to kill them if he wanted to live. This was a life-or-death battle, a true test of survival of the fittest.

“Excellent. Since you’ve conveniently disposed of the trash for me, no one will suspect me after I kill you. If anyone investigates, I can simply claim that you perished alongside the City Lord Mansion’s troops,” Xue Changqing said with a smile. He stepped over the bodies strewn on the ground and slowly advanced.

The spiritual array gradually weakened as the spikes manifested by elements gradually disappeared. It had already reached its limit after lasting for so long. This was why Liu Wuxie wanted to lure everyone into the array to ensure no one could escape.

Liu Wuxie’s expression turned serious. His chances of defeating Xue Changqing, a Marrow Cleansing Realm expert, were slim despite his advancement to the fifth level of the Xiantian Realm. After all, experts from the Xue Clan were not comparable to individuals like Liu Wuxie. Yun Lan.

The gap between their abilities was vast, and battling someone with a higher cultivation level became increasingly difficult as one’s own cultivation level increased. The difference between the Xiantian Realm and the Spirit Cleansing Realm might be likened to a mountain, but the disparity between the Spirit Cleansing Realm and the Marrow Cleansing Realm was as vast as heaven and earth.

The two stood five meters apart, neither making the first move. Liu Wuxie held his blade in his right hand, while Xue Changqing brandished a longsword. A dragon’s roar echoed as Xue Changqing flicked his wrist.

“A spiritual artifact!” Liu Wuxie murmured in surprise. His own blade, though it had reached the peak of a mortal artifact and possessed some spirituality, was vastly inferior to a genuine spiritual artifact.

“Impressive that you recognized my sword as a spiritual artifact!” Xue Changqing expressed his surprise. He hadn’t expected someone from a rural area like Azure Billow City to be familiar with spiritual artifacts.

“It’s just a low-graded spiritual artifact without any spiritual runes engraved!” Liu Wuxie was only slightly surprised as a spiritual artifact of this quality couldn’t even catch his eye. This sword was crudely forged, and it was just a level higher than his blade.

However, even a single-level difference meant that spiritual artifacts could easily overpower ordinary weapons. Higher-grade weapons amplified true essence more effectively and were more resilient. An ordinary weapon would shatter upon contact with a spiritual artifact.

“What arrogance! Let me put an end to you!” Xue Changqing trembled with rage at having his weapon dismissed as trash. He had saved for years to purchase this spiritual artifact and treasured it, using it sparingly.

However, Xue Changqin was shocked after witnessing Liu Wuxie’s performance on the Blackwind Cliff and took out the spiritual artifact as a failsafe. The artifact in his hand vibrated, and the sword aura it emitted grew stronger, amplified by the spiritual artifact. His aura was no less potent than Liu Wuxie’s blade intent.

As he pointed his sword forward, the surrounding space began to quiver. This unassuming sword concealed countless variations.

Liu Wuxie didn’t dare to take this attack head-on. He performed a mid-air somersault and retreated to open ground. When the sword aura struck, it shattered a massive rock into smithereens.

This startled Liu Wuxie, who realized he had underestimated Xue Changqing. He felt relieved that he had dealt with the City Lord Mansion’s troops first; if they had joined forces wholeheartedly, he would have been doomed.