Desolate Devouring Art

The surviving Wen Clan experts could no longer pose a meaningful threat. Their deaths were only a matter of time.

Freed from the suppression of the three-legged cauldron, Elder Wu unleashed a thunderous roar and plunged toward Wen Ding like an eagle descending upon its prey.

"Sky-Piercing Eagle Strike," Elder Wu roared.

Immortal energy hurled his body high into the air before he dived with the ferocity of an eagle, radiating terrifying power.

Blood flooded Wen Ding's eyes. Had poison not crippled him, he could have defeated Elder Wu within five moves.

Now, however, the balance had completely reversed. Poison coursed through Wen Ding's meridians, subjecting him to unbearable agony. Merely circulating his immortal energy sent excruciating pain tearing through every meridian.

Elder Wu now moved twice as fast as Wen Ding. He intercepted him with ease and sealed off his escape route.

On the other side of the battlefield, the relentless assault of the other City Lord Mansion elders claimed the lives of two more Wen Clan experts. If the battle continued along this path, the City Lord Mansion's faction would steadily seize the upper hand, making their victory inevitable.

Liu Wuxie stood atop a towering tree, his face utterly devoid of emotion even as murderous intent flickered through his eyes. He had already decided not to leave Fourfold City until he destroyed the entire Wen Clan.

"Wu Sheng, you've taken this too far!" Wen Ding roared furiously, raising both hands toward the sky before sweeping them at Elder Wu.

"You're right. Then today, I’ll show you just how far I can go," Elder Wu retorted.

Wu Sheng was Elder Wu's full name. He deliberately provoked Wen Ding, hoping the man's fury would accelerate the poison spreading through his body.

Their attacks collided again, blasting a towering cloud of dust into the air and carving a colossal crater into the ground.

The mountain road had long since vanished beneath the destruction of their battle. Villagers watched from dozens of miles away, but not one dared to approach. They were mere mortals, and even a lingering shockwave could slaughter them all.

Wen Ding hurtled through the air, coughing up blood as the poison invaded the meridians surrounding his heart. Black miasma spread across his face, transforming his features into something terrifying. He had already swallowed several Detoxification Pills, but they offered him no relief.

The poison Liu Wuxie had concocted wasn't powerful enough to kill them all immediately. Instead, it embedded itself within their bodies like maggots and slowly gnawed at their bones.

Even Wen Ding, a ninth-level Origin Immortal, couldn't stop the poison from reaching his heart's meridians. The remaining Wen Clan experts naturally fared far worse.

Wang Xiang and the others quickly regrouped and slaughtered the last Wen Clan expert. Once the killing ended, they rushed over and joined Elder Wu in surrounding Wen Ding.

Wen Ding tilted his head toward the sky and released a long, bitter sigh. He had never imagined he would fall into such a miserable state at the ninth-level Origin Immortal Realm. The irony cut deeply. Wu Sheng and the others hadn't defeated him. He had lost to the insignificant-looking True Immortal watching from a distance.

Wen Ding understood perfectly well that Liu Wuxie had orchestrated everything. Wang Xiang and the other elders of the City Lord Mansion had merely followed his instructions.

"At least tell me who he is," Wen Ding said, turning his gaze toward Liu Wuxie.

Curiosity consumed him as he tried to uncover Liu Wuxie's identity.

Liu Wuxie's disguise had remained flawless from the beginning, which was why Wen Ding had fallen for the deception. With poison now invading his heart meridians, his strength had deteriorated until it barely matched that of a first- or second-level Origin Immortal. Elder Wu could easily kill him alone.

Liu Wuxie descended and stopped twenty steps away, carefully maintaining a safe distance. From there, Elder Wu and the others could intercept Wen Ding immediately if he attempted to attack him.

A strange light glimmered through Wen Ding's eyes. He had indeed planned to strike the moment Liu Wuxie came close enough, dragging the young man down with him.

Liu Wuxie reached up and removed his disguise, revealing his true appearance.

"Liu Wuxie!" Wen Ding exclaimed, shocked.

Never had he imagined that Liu Wuxie had masterminded the entire operation.

When the seven experts had departed Fourfold City, Liu Wuxie had only just finished treating Ye Guhai. They had all seen his portrait and naturally remembered his face. However, they knew nothing about his recent exploits. Had they known, their thoughts might have been entirely different.

Liu Wuxie showed no surprise at being recognized.

"Hand over the Sumeru Stone," Liu Wuxie said, extending one hand.

He had already devoured the other Wen Clan experts and converted them into nourishment for his desolate world.

"H-how do you know about the Sumeru Stone?!" Wen Ding demanded, panic surging across his face.

Only the patriarch and a handful of others knew about the journey to purchase the Sumeru Stone. How could Liu Wuxie possibly have uncovered such a closely guarded secret?

"I know far more than that. I also know the Wen Clan intends to use the Sumeru Stone to forge a Golden Immortal Realm artifact," Liu Wuxie replied with a faint smile.

Elder Wu and the other elders listened in confusion. Until this moment, none of them had known where the Wen Clan experts had been returning from.

"Tell me one thing. How did you pull it off?" Wen Ding asked, his face deathly pale.

He knew his time was running out. Before he died, he only wanted to understand how Liu Wuxie had deceived them.

"Simple. I deliberately threw myself onto the table and forced your group to remain there," Liu Wuxie replied.

He concealed nothing, choosing to grant Wen Ding's final request.

Liu Wuxie had no reason to explain any further. Wen Ding could already reconstruct the rest of the plan. After Liu Wuxie had crashed into the table, Yuan Jiang had stepped forward to demand justice, placing the Wen Clan under intense psychological pressure.

Without Yuan Jiang's intervention, the burly man would have killed Liu Wuxie with a single punch, and none of the subsequent events would have unfolded. In their eyes, an ordinary mortal held no more value than an ant.

The arrival of Wang Xiang and Li Da had added another layer to the trap. The Wen Clan had to endure Yuan Jiang's accusations while confronting the supposed threat of the Heaven-Eclipsing Serpent. Combined with their extreme exhaustion, those pressures plunged their thoughts into chaos.

The plan appeared simple, but carrying it out under the scrutiny of a ninth-level Origin Immortal demanded extraordinary composure. From the moment Wen Ding had arrived, he had swept his divine sense over Liu Wuxie countless times.

"It seems we grew careless enough to fall for such a crude scheme," Wen Ding said with a bitter smile.

Flaws riddled the plan, yet every one of them had still fallen into it.

"It was crude," Liu Wuxie admitted.

The time constraint had left him with no choice but to improvise this variable plan. Had the Wen Clan experts entered Fourfold City, killing them would have become nearly impossible.

"Then explain the tea. Why weren't they poisoned?" Wen Ding asked.

He had already pieced together everything else.

"That's simple. I held the kettle in my left hand when I served them. When I poured your tea, I held it in my right hand," Liu Wuxie explained.

He picked up the kettle and demonstrated both pouring motions.

"I understand... The poison was never in the water but in your hand," Wen Ding replied with a wry smile.

Such a simple trick had deceived them all.

Placing poison directly into the water was the most primitive approach. It might've fooled others, but it could've never deceived a ninth-level Origin Immortal.

"Now will you hand over the Sumeru Stone?" Liu Wuxie asked.

He had shown Wen Ding this much respect solely because the man was a ninth-level Origin Immortal.

Once Liu Wuxie obtained the Sumeru Stone, he could use it to reach the fifth-level True Immortal. He couldn't allow such an opportunity to slip through his fingers.

"I'd rather die than let you succeed!" Wen Ding roared.

Without warning, he detonated himself, intending to destroy his interspatial ring along with himself.

"Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, devour them all," Liu Wuxie commanded with a sudden smile.

The Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron swallowed everything the instant Wen Ding detonated. Even so, the resulting shockwave still injured Elder Wu and the others.

Fortunately, the explosion didn't put their lives in danger. Two days would be enough for them to recover.

The moment the interspatial ring entered the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, the cauldron suppressed the crack that had only just begun spreading across it. A pitch-black mushroom cloud surged into the heavens, visible from a hundred miles away.

"Is everyone all right?" Elder Wu asked, brushing the dust from his body.

"We're fine!" Wang Xiang and the other elders replied as they crawled from the ruins.

The explosion had inflicted only minor injuries upon them.

"Where's Young Master Liu?"

None of them could have stopped Wen Ding's self-detonation. He had ultimately been a ninth-level Origin Immortal. They had survived only because the poison had severely restricted the circulation of his immortal energy. Had Wen Ding remained at his peak, his detonation would have killed everyone present.

The elders searched the wreckage until they finally discovered Liu Wuxie beneath a heap of rubble, drenched in blood. However, Liu Wuxie only pretended to be injured. The Divine Tribulation Pupil had warned him of the detonation in advance, but he chose not to reveal that fact.

"Young Master Liu, are you all right?" Elder Wu asked anxiously.

If anything happened to Liu Wuxie, he would have no way to explain himself to the young lady.

"I'm fine. The aftershock only struck me," Liu Wuxie replied.

He dusted off his clothes and coughed several times, but he had suffered no serious injuries.

"What a waste. Wen Ding's self-detonation likely destroyed the Sumeru Stone as well," Yuan Jiang said with deep regret.

A Sumeru Stone possessed immeasurable value, yet it had seemingly vanished just like that. They could easily imagine how many resources the Wen Clan had spent to purchase it.

Liu Wuxie, however, laughed to himself. This was precisely the outcome he wanted. Everyone now believed the Sumeru Stone had perished with Wen Ding, allowing Liu Wuxie to refine it without arousing anyone's suspicion.

Liu Wuxie might have devised the plan that killed the seven Wen Clan experts, but it could never have succeeded without the City Lord Mansion's cooperation. By rights, they should've shared the recovered treasures. Wen Ding's self-detonation had conveniently allowed Liu Wuxie to keep everything for himself.

"We're all alive, and that's enough. Let's hurry back and report that we've completed the mission," Elder Wu said.

He didn't dwell on the lost treasures. Killing seven Wen Clan experts already counted as a heaven-defying accomplishment, and treasure had never been his primary concern.

The group swiftly donned fresh disguises before setting out once again for Fourfold City.

At that moment, Wen Changxing remained in high spirits within the Wen Clan's estate. Not long ago, Wen Ding had sent word that they would return to Fourfold City tomorrow.

"Patriarch, terrible news. The Grand Elder's soul tablet has shattered, along with those belonging to Wen Sheng and the others!" a deacon reported.

He rushed into the main hall in the middle of the meeting and delivered news that sent Wen Changxing into a fury.

"Say that again," Wen Changxing demanded as he jumped to his feet, crimson light radiating from his eyes.

Believing he had misheard, he ordered the attendant responsible for overseeing the soul tablets to repeat the report.

"T-the Grand Elder's soul tablet has shattered, along with those belonging to Wen Sheng and the others," the deacon stammered, dropping to the floor and prostrating himself.

"What?!" Wen Changxing exclaimed.

He collapsed back into his chair as the expressions of everyone around him changed drastically.

Many members of the Wen Clan's upper echelon still knew nothing about the Sumeru Stone.

"Patriarch, this is bad!" an eighth-level Origin Immortal exclaimed.

He rushed to Wen Changxing's side and whispered into his ear, making it clear that he also knew about the Sumeru Stone.

The main hall plunged into absolute silence. No one dared to utter a single word.

Murderous intent poured from Wen Changxing with ever-increasing intensity until it manifested as a fiend god behind him. Terror gripped everyone present. They feared that one careless remark would make Wen Changxing kill them in his rage.