Desolate Devouring Art

At first, the pill flower did not simply bloom. It opened like a sacred omen above the alchemy chamber, layer after layer spreading outward until the countless petals gathered and transformed into a drifting mantle of pill clouds.

By noon, the three Soul Healing Pills were finally complete. Since Liu Wuxie had already refined them once before, this second attempt moved far more smoothly, as though every step had already been carved into his bones.

When Liu Wuxie walked out of the alchemy chamber, exhaustion weighed heavily on his face, and he silently handed the porcelain bottle to Xiang Zicheng.

"There are three Soul Healing Pills inside. They should be enough to repair your soul sea," Liu Wuxie explained.

After saying that, he turned to leave. At that moment, what he needed most was a proper rest.

"Young Master Liu, wait a moment," Xiang Zicheng said.

Earlier, excitement had overwhelmed him so completely that he had nearly forgotten himself. Only when Liu Wuxie was about to leave did he finally regain his composure.

"Is there something else?" Liu Wuxie asked, his brows drawing together slightly.

Helping Xiang Zicheng refine the Soul Healing Pills counted as repaying the favor. From this moment on, neither of them owed the other anything.

"Take this thousand-year Blood Spirit Ganoderma. It will benefit you," Xiang Zicheng said.

He took out a crimson ganoderma and offered it to Liu Wuxie as thanks for the pills.

Liu Wuxie examined the ganoderma and instantly recognized its exceptional quality. If sold outside, it would easily be worth five to seven hundred thousand immortal stones, and Xiang Zicheng had indeed been generous.

"Then I won’t turn it down," Liu Wuxie replied.

He urgently needed to raise his cultivation, and with this Blood Spirit Ganoderma, he could break through to the third-level True Immortal Realm.

The enemies awaiting him would only grow stronger, each more dangerous than the last, while his current cultivation still left him teetering on the brink of death. After what had happened last night, Liu Wuxie no longer wanted to rely too heavily on Ye Linghan. From now on, he had to depend on himself because in this world, only strength could keep him alive.

When Liu Wuxie returned to the courtyard, Ye Linghan was still there. She sat alone looking gloomy, and the moment she saw him enter, she pouted.

"Let’s go back," Liu Wuxie said calmly.

His calmness only made Ye Linghan’s anger burn hotter, nearly pushing her beyond restraint. Couldn’t he see that she was upset?

Ye Linghan followed him in silence, and neither of them spoke along the way. Their return to the Azure Flame Dao Hall was smooth, and by the time they arrived, the sky had already darkened.

After returning to the courtyard, Liu Wuxie sent someone to summon Shi Wa. He circulated the Desolate Devouring Art, drawing the surrounding immortal energy toward him, and his fatigue was swept away like dust before a gale.

He was not in a hurry to refine the Blood Spirit Ganoderma, and Shi Wa was already waiting outside the courtyard. The moment Liu Wuxie opened the gate, Shi Wa hurried inside and greeted him.

"Show me everything you’ve learned recently," Liu Wuxie said.

He wanted Shi Wa to demonstrate both his talisman art and assassination art.

Shi Wa began performing the assassination art in the courtyard, slipping between the trees so quickly that afterimages trailed behind him. One moment, he appeared behind an artificial hill; the next, he emerged beside a tree. Each time his dagger flashed, it cut a faint current through the air.

He moved like a cunning hare, too fast for the eye to follow. Every attack struck with the force of thunder. He had cultivated the assassination art to this level in just half a month.

When Shi Wa stopped, satisfaction shone faintly in his eyes. But Liu Wuxie frowned, and that single expression was colder than any rebuke.

The instant Shi Wa saw his mentor’s frown, his confidence cracked, and nervousness seized him.

"You’ve made a serious mistake," Liu Wuxie said, his sharp gaze fixed on Shi Wa.

Shi Wa lowered his head at once and waited for Liu Wuxie to point out where he had gone wrong.

"Assassination isn’t just speed. It’s silence. You’ve chased speed so blindly that you ignored the airflow your dagger creates. A true expert will detect that tiny ripple from a thousand meters distance and will kill you on the spot. If you had tried to assassinate me just now, you would have died a hundred times," Liu Wuxie said.

His tone was nearly a reprimand.

Since returning from the Dragon Burial Mountain Range, he had not had time to guide Shi Wa’s cultivation, but he had never expected Shi Wa to stray onto a crooked path so quickly. If these mistakes were not corrected now, Shi Wa would be ruined.

Shi Wa trembled, and sweat rolled down his forehead. He knew Liu Wuxie was right. He had pursued speed alone, and every time his dagger moved, it left behind a faint ripple.

During this period, he had spent most of his time sparring with Xiang Rulong, and his assassination art had always allowed him to seize the advantage. That repeated success had inflated his confidence, but now he understood the truth. He had only held the upper hand because of his footwork. In a true life-and-death battle, Xiang Rulong could easily take his life.

That was the difference between a spar and a battle to the death.

"Your life-and-death battle with Bai Jingye is tomorrow. Are you ready?" Liu Wuxie asked.

He did not dwell too long on the assassination art and had Shi Wa display his talisman art next.

Shi Wa put away his dagger and began tracing his hand through mid-air. Runes appeared one after another before Liu Wuxie, then fused into new talismans. He continued for more than two hours and only stopped late into the night.

Liu Wuxie pointed out several areas that needed improvement before telling Shi Wa to return and rest. He also instructed Shi Wa not to cultivate tonight and to sleep well instead.

After watching Shi Wa leave, Liu Wuxie returned to his room and took out the Blood Spirit Ganoderma. He threw it into the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, and demonic flames immediately coiled around it to begin refining it.

The Blood Spirit Ganoderma contained powerful energy from heaven and earth. As it slowly dissolved, it broke apart into streams of crimson energy.

Ye Linghan came to see Liu Wuxie once that night, but she only lingered outside the courtyard for a short while. After seeing him cultivating, she quietly left, most likely because she had come to discuss Shi Wa's situation.

Shi Wa’s duel with Bai Jingye had already spread throughout the Azure Flame Dao Hall. When Liu Wuxie poured all the crimson liquid into the desolate world, a violent roar erupted like the earth itself had been struck from below.

Terrifying ripples surged outward as the branches of the Ancestral Tree began to sway, devouring energy from heaven and earth. Ever since Liu Wuxie had entered the celestial realm, the Ancestral Tree’s growth had slowed significantly.

The energy contained within the Blood Spirit Ganoderma was so powerful that Liu Wuxie felt his body swell from the inside. He activated unity with heaven and earth to absorb the Blood Spirit Ganoderma’s energy.

Even Liu Wuxie’s soul sea and upper dantian began devouring the Blood Spirit Ganoderma’s energy, rapidly increasing his mental energy.

As Liu Wuxie’s desolate world expanded and contracted, it exhaled powerful currents that surged back into his body. Those currents gathered into a boundless force and pried open the gateway to the third-level True Immortal Realm.

With a thunderous explosion, the gateway to the third-level True Immortal Realm shattered into countless fragments and sank into the desolate world. Every fragment contained powerful laws belonging to the True Immortal Realm.

The True Immortal Realm laws inside the desolate world multiplied at a terrifying pace. In the blink of an eye, the original one million strands surged to three million.

An ordinary third-level True Immortal would possess only a few hundred thousand laws at best, while Liu Wuxie had surpassed them by more than ten times.

After Liu Wuxie broke through to the third-level True Immortal Realm, he no longer feared first- or second-level Spirit Immortals. As for True Immortals, no matter how many came, they would not be his match.

As the Desolate Devouring Art continued circulating, its devouring speed climbed higher and higher. A vast aura erupted from Liu Wuxie and swept through the room, shattering the tables and chairs.

This was Liu Wuxie’s first breakthrough since moving into this courtyard, and only in the latter half of the night did his surging aura finally begin to settle.

......

Bai Jingye did not sleep at all that night. He stood alone in the courtyard, his figure swallowed by the stillness as he stared up at the cold stretch of sky.

"Jingfu, tomorrow, I’ll finally avenge you," Bai Jingye said before returning to his room, where he continued practicing his talisman art.

Students had already crowded around the Talisman Tower in large numbers. Many of them had arrived the night before to secure the best viewing spots.

An invisible current rolled through the Azure Flame Dao Hall, heavily and restlessly. Ever since Liu Wuxie's arrival, too many storms had broken loose. Some mentors had died because of him, while others had been expelled.

When Liu Wuxie’s eyes snapped open, he released a long, steady breath. His cultivation finally stabilized at the third-level True Immortal Realm. The instant he rose, crisp popping sounds rang from every inch of his bones.

"That feels incredible!" Liu Wuxie said, stretching his body. He felt like every pore on his body had opened wide and greedily devoured the energy of heaven and earth. His mental energy had doubled, and his upper dantian had expanded by one-third.

Liu Wuxie took out the crossbow he had refined the night before and held it in his hand. After he placed an immortal stone into the groove, the runes flickered to life, and a thick arrow slowly manifested.

"What a powerful arrow!" Liu Wuxie murmured, shocked. As his cultivation rose, his mental energy had grown stronger, and the crossbow’s power had increased along with it.

The thicker the arrow became, the farther it could travel and the stronger its force would be. Liu Wuxie controlled it with his mental energy, sending it flying out to circle the courtyard without any fixed target. He was using the arrow to temper his mental energy.

Though mental energy was intangible, it truly existed. The purer it became, the sharper his control would be. The arrow flew for about fifteen minutes and still showed no sign of fading.

Beyond controlling arrows, mental energy could also weave illusions. Liu Wuxie had fused some illusions into the arrow, making the attack even harder for opponents to guard against.

Right then, the courtyard gate suddenly swung open.

The arrow shot out and appeared outside the courtyard gate. The moment Ye Linghan stepped inside, it locked onto her, nearly piercing straight through her head.

However, the instant Liu Wuxie saw Ye Linghan, he controlled the arrow at once, scattering it into mental energy that vanished back into heaven and earth.

Ye Linghan rolled her eyes at Liu Wuxie before stepping into the courtyard.

Liu Wuxie also put the crossbow away, his expression calm and unreadable.

"Shi Wa and Bai Jingye will duel today. It’s getting late, so we should leave soon," Ye Linghan said. The corners of her eyes were faintly red, and she had probably cried the night before.

She could not understand why Liu Wuxie had suddenly pulled away from her. She even began to wonder whether she simply was not good enough.

Seeing Ye Linghan’s haggard face, Liu Wuxie felt a dull ache twist through his chest, but he forcefully suppressed the impulse rising within him.

"I know. Wait outside," Liu Wuxie replied. He returned to his room to change, since cultivating through the night had left him drenched in sweat.

Ye Linghan felt her heart ache when she saw Liu Wuxie’s cold indifference.

After changing his clothes, Liu Wuxie walked out of the room and saw Ye Linghan wiping the corner of her eyes. He pretended not to notice and walked outside to wait.

It was not that Liu Wuxie had no heart. He simply refused to drag her into the dangers surrounding him. He had countless enemies, and one day he would even face the pursuit of Immortal Emperors. Staying by his side would mean living with danger at every turn.

A clean break was better. Perhaps this was cruel to Ye Linghan, but it was the only choice he had if he wanted her to survive.

Naturally, he could not tell Ye Linghan the truth. If she knew, she would follow him without the slightest hesitation. That was why he could only bear it alone, even if she misunderstood him for the rest of her life.