Desolate Devouring Art

Elder Kong held off his announcement until Liu Wuxie reached the edge, deliberately granting him a little more time to recover.

Liu Wuxie would remember his kindness.

The participants assembled at the center of the platform again, and Liu Wuxie joined them. Walking out and returning had given him dozens of breaths, enough to consolidate his soul sea. He ignored the eyes following him. Many were trying to provoke him, so they could find an excuse to act against him.

"Congratulations on the breakthrough, Brother Liu," Huang Zechang said, hastening to his side. This time, neither of the Huang Clan's Immortal Kings intervened.

"Quiet. Concentrate on the assessment," Liu Wuxie replied with a nod. Unlike the other applicants, he knew exactly what the second trial involved. A single lapse in attention could cost them everything they had gained.

The Azure Jade Palace had adopted an unconventional approach, setting its assessment apart from those of other sects. The first trial alone had left more than half the participants severely depleted. At least thirty percent had consumed over half their soul energy reserves, while the rest suffered varying degrees of exhaustion. Most would need several days to recover fully.

Liu Wuxie alone had expended little soul energy. Far from weakening, his soul energy had grown more than tenfold.

"What will the second trial be?" people wondered.

They waited at the center, but no trial began. There was no test of aptitude, no examination of martial techniques, and no challenge of strength.

"Who can say? In previous years, the second trial was always about combat techniques," replied participants who had attended last year. Many had narrowly missed admission to the Azure Jade Palace then. This year, however, innate talent mattered more than strength or cultivation.

Time could raise cultivation and improve combat strength. Innate talent was another matter. Birth determined it, and only extraordinary fortune could alter it.

That was why so many cultivators at the higher levels of the Divine Immortal Realm had failed the first trial. They lacked neither cultivation nor combat strength, but their innate potential had reached its limit, leaving little room for further advancement.

......

The immortal crane returned to the Matriarch Cradle Peak and took human form once more.

"Mistress, I've finished gathering information. His name is Liu Wuxie..." the woman reported, beginning to recount everything she had discovered.

"Wait! Say that again. What's his name?" Shui Yao interrupted.

"Liu Wuxie," the woman repeated, raising her voice. Each word struck Shui Yao's heart like a hammer.

"Liu Wuxie... His name is Liu Wuxie too..." Shui Yao murmured. Throughout the Fleeting Cloud Celestial Realm, that name belonged to one person alone.

They had met only a handful of times, yet she had felt as though she had known him for years. Seven years ago, upon hearing of his death at the Soul-Severing Cliff, she had gone there to investigate herself. Her discovery had left no room for doubt. His soul had dispersed completely, confirming that he had truly perished.

After returning to the Azure Jade Palace, she had entered seclusion. Now she had awakened to hear that name again. How could it fail to affect her?

"Are you all right, Mistress?" the woman asked when Shui Yao fell silent.

"Go keep an eye on him. Report to me at any time," Shui Yao instructed, dismissing the immortal crane with a wave.

......

A mounting buzz spread through the sky above the platform, as though countless insects were gathering from every direction. Light descended in a curtain and enclosed the entire platform.

Black insects filled the air over the participants moments later. They were Black Beetles, common throughout the Celestial Realm, each roughly the size of an adult's fingernail. Hundreds of thousands circled overhead, obscuring the sky.

"You have an incense stick's worth of time to count them. The eight thousand participants whose answers come closest to the actual total will proceed to the third trial," Elder Kong announced, lighting an incense stick to begin the countdown.

Confusion swept through the applicants. "We're supposed to do what?! Count the Black Beetles?"

Counting the Black Beetles was no simple task. They moved with extraordinary speed and looked almost identical. A beetle counted in one place could dart elsewhere a moment later and be counted again, making an accurate total extremely difficult.

Some applicants set to work immediately. Before long, they encountered the same problem. Whenever their count reached ten thousand, it fell apart.

Some abandoned the task almost as soon as they began. "To hell with it. I'll just guess." The first trial had depleted their soul energy, and counting the Black Beetles would demand still more.

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Cultivators who exhausted their soul energy in combat had to adapt. This trial placed that same demand upon them.

Complaints and frustrated cries erupted across the platform. "That's not fair! The first trial drained our soul energy. How are we supposed to have enough left to count the Black Beetles?"

Those with little soul energy remaining clutched their heads in exasperation. The insects' relentless buzzing tangled their thoughts.

The most reliable approach was to place a soul energy mark on each beetle, then count the marks. At full strength, the participants could have managed it. Even those unable to reach a perfectly accurate answer would have come close.

However, few had finished the first trial with their soul energy intact. That depletion transformed what seemed a simple counting task into an ordeal they could scarcely overcome.

The Black Beetles tested whether they could adapt under strain. Without sufficiently pure soul energy, they would fail.

Thuds began sounding across the platform. Dozens of participants spent their last reserves of soul energy and collapsed, foam spilling from their mouths.

The beetles never stopped buzzing. Around them, participants jostled one another, adding still more noise and distraction. Even cultivators with steady soul energy began losing concentration, revealing their inability to adapt.

Relief washed through Huang Zechang. Before the trial had started, Liu Wuxie had already warned him to concentrate.

Liu Wuxie raised his gaze and activated Ghost Pupil. The Black Beetles appeared to slow to a crawl, their flight paths unfolding with perfect clarity. His soul energy swept through the swarm, marking each insect. Images took shape inside the Heavenly Dao Book, and a number emerged in his mind.

His task finished, Liu Wuxie deactivated Ghost Pupil and made for the edge. At the center, participants had already started trampling one another.

Spectators noticed Liu Wuxie leaving and turned their attention toward him. "Look at him! Only ten breaths have passed, and the incense has plenty of time left. Why is he heading for the edge already?"

"He must have given up." Several shook their heads and resumed watching the center.

Above the platform, Elder Kong frowned. Liu Wuxie had stopped after just ten breaths. Counting the entire swarm in so little time would tax even a Golden Immortal.

The curtain of light surrounding the platform prevented all voice transmissions from reaching the participants. No one outside could feed them the correct answer.

Time continued slipping away. When half the incense stick had burned down, Long Yuanxiong left the center, becoming the second participant to finish.

Upon reaching the edge, he looked toward Liu Wuxie. Liu Wuxie happened to glance his way at the same moment. Their eyes met, and Long Yuanxiong nodded. Liu Wuxie acknowledged him in return.

Others soon began moving toward the edge as well, drawn by its relative quiet. The center had become too noisy a place to wait.

"Your time is up!" Elder Kong declared as the incense in his hand burned to its end.

Many participants were still trying to find a workable method when the second trial ended.

"Record your answers in your tokens now," Elder Kong instructed. To prevent cheating, no participant could consult another. The tokens would transmit their answers to the crystal sheet for the examiners' inspection.

Liu Wuxie took out his token and entered the number he had counted.

The crystal sheet expanded slowly in Elder Kong's hand, emitting a soft glow. Figures appeared alongside the applicants' names. Within mere breaths, everyone had submitted an answer.

Elder Kong nodded to the other nine examiners, and together they dispelled the curtain of light. Xia Ru beckoned the Black Beetles into the bottle in her hand. It was astonishing to watch hundreds of thousands of insects disappear into such a small vessel.

"I'll display all your answers now," Elder Kong announced. He sent a seal into the crystal sheet, and light burst across half the sky, revealing every participant's name and answer.

"There were that many Black Beetles? I tried counting and only reached a little over a hundred," one spectator remarked. Others outside the platform had attempted the task as well, but their position prevented them from clearly distinguishing the insects crowded over its center.

Conversation spread through the gathering. "Long Yuanxiong will take first place without question. He's at the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Realm, and unlike the others, he didn't spend any soul energy on the first trial. Counting the Black Beetles should be easy for him."

"Look! Liu Wuxie's answer is only one away from Long Yuanxiong's!" someone cried in surprise. The discovery spread across the platform like wildfire.

Unlike the participants, the spectators had not depleted their soul energy during the first trial. They quickly searched the displayed names and figures, confirming that only a single beetle separated Liu Wuxie's count from Long Yuanxiong's.

"How can that be?!" No one doubted Long Yuanxiong's tally. Even if it was not perfectly accurate, they trusted it would be extremely close to the true number.

Overhead, the elders looked at one another, profound shock evident in their eyes.

Long Yuanxiong studied Liu Wuxie's answer and frowned. He clearly remembered counting 300,070 Black Beetles. Why, then, had Liu Wuxie entered 300,071, exactly one more than his own total?