Desolate Devouring Art

The sword ray tore through the air with blinding speed, catching Tian Zijin utterly by surprise. Helpless before the approaching strike, he could only surrender to fate.

At the final instant, Xiang Zicheng intervened. An invisible force surged across the hall and knocked He Lianyi's sword ray off course. The backlash hurled He Lianyi through the air, sending him crashing heavily into a corner.

"What an idiot," Xiang Zicheng spat with open contempt. Did He Lianyi truly believe that his Divine Immortal Realm cultivation existed merely for display?

"Tian Zijin, tell us exactly what you've done. Confess everything, right now!"

By then, the other mentors inside the main hall had already guessed most of the truth. He Lianyi and Tian Zijin had clearly conspired together, only for Liu Wuxie to expose their scheme before they could carry it out.

"He Lianyi approached me several days ago and told me he intended to leave the Azure Flame Dao Hall. Before he left, however, he wanted Liu Wuxie dead," Tian Zijin confessed. Too frightened to conceal anything else, he revealed every detail of his conversation with He Lianyi.

Shock swept across the hall, and everyone's expressions changed violently.

"What did you say?!"

They couldn't understand why He Lianyi remained so determined to eliminate Liu Wuxie after deciding to betray the Azure Flame Dao Hall. If he wished to leave, nothing prevented him from simply walking away.

"Keep talking," Liu Wuxie said, his expression darkening.

"The plan was straightforward. We intended to exploit the competition between the two Dao Halls and coordinate our movements from both inside and outside. We hadn't finalized every detail, but He Lianyi was supposed to act as our insider and pass information to the Celestial Moon Dao Hall. I was tasked with serving as the intermediary and lure Ye Linghan away, giving the Celestial Moon Dao Hall the opportunity to kill Liu Wuxie," Tian Zijin confessed, laying their entire conspiracy bare.

Ye Linghan was furious after hearing the plan. At the same time, relief flooded her heart because Liu Wuxie had exposed He Lianyi before the conspirators could act. Otherwise, the consequences would have defied imagination. Liu Wuxie might have died, and the entire Azure Flame Dao Hall could have fallen with him.

Once Tian Zijin finished confessing, every mentor in the hall glared at him and He Lianyi, especially those who remained loyal to the Azure Flame Dao Hall.

"This is beyond outrageous! He Lianyi, you served as a mentor of the Azure Flame Dao Hall, yet you dared conspire with outsiders against us. A traitor like you deserves execution," Yi Zhong declared, striding forward in fury. The severity of He Lianyi's crimes had already surpassed anything that could be resolved by merely revoking his position.

The other mentors nodded grimly. Only He Lianyi's execution could eliminate every threat he posed to the Azure Flame Dao Hall.

"Well, He Lianyi? Do you have anything left to say?" Liu Wuxie asked with a quiet chuckle, his gaze fixed upon him. Murderous intent rolled from Liu Wuxie's body, making He Lianyi tremble despite himself.

"Since we've already reached this point, Liu Wuxie, I might as well tell you the truth. That competition will become your grave!" He Lianyi declared before erupting into maniacal laughter.

"HAHAHAHA!"

His words left everyone stunned. Liu Wuxie had become one of the Azure Flame Dao Hall's central pillars, and losing him would inflict an enormous blow to the Dao Hall.

The other mentors stepped forward in succession to condemn him, their fury thoroughly ignited by his betrayal.

"You ungrateful bastard, He Lianyi. The Hall Master valued you enough to promote you to the position of an official mentor, and you repaid him by colluding with outsiders?!"

"Mentor Liu, attend to your other business and leave this man to me," Zuo Yang said courteously. Having remained in the main hall throughout the confrontation, he now stepped forward, seized He Lianyi by the shoulder, and lifted him off the ground.

Liu Wuxie nodded. Killing He Lianyi personally would only stain his hands, so he was content to let Zuo Yang take the traitor away. He trusted that Zuo Yang would eventually provide him with a satisfactory explanation.

Zuo Yang could never have entered the Azure Flame Dao Hall's upper echelons without possessing exceptional capabilities. Liu Wuxie believed those abilities would prove particularly effective during an interrogation.

The elders belonging to the Shen and Zhu Clans exchanged silent glances. Without another moment of hesitation, they walked away and voluntarily surrendered their positions as mentors of the Azure Flame Dao Hall.

"Thank you for helping me, Manor Lord Xiang. Once I've settled everything here, I'll visit you personally," Liu Wuxie said, cupping his fists in gratitude. He had no time to entertain Xiang Zicheng at present.

"Take care of your business first. If you need help with anything, have Rulong send a word to me," Xiang Zicheng replied, returning the gesture with cupped fists.

The Wen Clan's destruction had elevated Liu Wuxie even further in Xiang Zicheng's eyes. He sensed that Eastern Emperor City’s entire balance of power stood on the verge of a violent upheaval, one that even a Divine Immortal like him might not survive. Wen Changxing offered the clearest warning, for he too had been a Divine Immortal, yet he had still failed to escape death.

Silence returned to the main hall, but the mentors' emotions remained far from calm. Many had chosen to stay, yet their obedience toward Liu Wuxie had existed only on the surface, while resistance lingered in their hearts. After all, he had joined the Azure Flame Dao Hall only recently and remained a newly appointed mentor.

Watching Liu Wuxie rise above them in such a short period had inevitably awakened jealousy in many hearts. After everything they had just witnessed, however, no one in the hall dared underestimate him again. Instead, their fear of him had only increased.

"The competition between the two Dao Halls is almost here, so I won't waste our time with empty words. If we're going to achieve worthwhile results, I need every one of you to cooperate fully," Liu Wuxie said. He had no intention of explaining himself further. He needed only their unquestioning obedience.

If anyone considered defying him, He Lianyi's fate provided a warning too vivid to ignore. Every person in the hall had witnessed the consequences firsthand.

A mentor stepped forward. "You can rest assured, Mentor Liu. Tell us what you need, and we'll follow your directions," he said, publicly declaring his willingness to obey.

The other mentors swiftly voiced their agreement. The tension that had gripped the main hall finally loosened, replaced by an outward appearance of harmony.

"We'll need roughly a hundred students for the competition, so I want the records of every student in the Dao Hall. Return to your classes, compile all available information about your students, and deliver everything to me within two hours," Liu Wuxie instructed.

This had been the true purpose behind summoning every mentor. Southern Lake still had several hundred students, but identifying 100 suitable candidates from that group alone would be difficult. The most effective approach was therefore to gather detailed records on every student in the Azure Flame Dao Hall and select the finest candidates from the entire pool.

The mentors gradually departed from the main hall, including Yi Zhong and the others. They also needed to compile their students' information, leaving only Liu Wuxie and Ye Linghan behind.

"How did you discover that He Lianyi and Tian Zijin were working with the Celestial Moon Dao Hall to target you, Wuxie?" Ye Linghan asked. Curiosity had troubled her throughout the confrontation, but the presence of so many others had prevented her from asking sooner.

"You remember that the Xiang Manor controls the Drunken Fragrance House, don't you?" Liu Wuxie asked.

He had not been entirely certain at first. However, the Heavenly Dao Book had warned him the moment he had entered Eastern Emperor City, prompting him to visit the Xiang Manor immediately and ask Xiang Zicheng to investigate several matters.

Xiang Zicheng had readily accepted the request and mobilized the Xiang Manor's elites to examine everything that had recently occurred throughout Eastern Emperor City. The Drunken Fragrance House was originally established to gather intelligence, and its network eventually revealed that He Lianyi had shared a meal with Tian Zijin.

The pair had reserved a private room and dismissed every attendant, preventing even Xiang Zicheng from discovering their conspiracy. Tian Zijin had incited a mob to besiege the Xiang Manor only a month earlier; however, Xiang Zicheng immediately sensed that something was wrong.

That same night, Xiang Zicheng had tracked Tian Zijin down and imprisoned him. Faced with interrogation, Tian Zijin eventually confessed everything.

Just as Liu Wuxie had finished bidding farewell to Gongye Zhang, Xiang Zicheng sent him a message containing everything he had uncovered. Every event that followed inside the main hall was part of Liu Wuxie's plan to lure He Lianyi into exposing himself. Even if He Lianyi hadn't provoked him, he still wouldn't have survived that day. More importantly, Liu Wuxie hadn't designed the scheme solely to eliminate He Lianyi. He also intended to draw out everyone else who harbored malicious intentions toward him, including the elders of the Zhu and Shen Clans.

"Thank goodness we uncovered the plot before they could put it into action. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable," Ye Linghan said, lingering fear still visible across her face. The competition itself frightened her far less than the conspirators' intention to use it as an opportunity to kill Liu Wuxie.

The Celestial Moon Dao Hall had already placed Liu Wuxie on its hit list.

Roughly an hour later, the mentors began returning one after another. Each carried thick ledgers containing comprehensive records of their students.

"Leave the ledgers here. All of you may return for now," Liu Wuxie told the assembled mentors.

"If you need anything else, Mentor Liu, don't hesitate to give the order. We'll be ready whenever you call," one mentor replied.

Their attitudes had transformed beyond recognition. Many of them were nearly a hundred years old, yet every one now treated Liu Wuxie with unmistakable respect. Had their students witnessed the scene, their jaws would have dropped in shock.

Liu Wuxie found their newfound attitude naturally satisfying. After the day's events, he knew that no mentor in the Azure Flame Dao Hall would dare display open hostility toward him again.

Once the final mentor departed, Liu Wuxie picked up the ledgers and turned through them at astonishing speed. Ye Linghan's expression soon grew peculiar. She had barely worked through several pages while Liu Wuxie had already finished reading several complete ledgers, a pace that seemed utterly inconceivable.

Fifteen minutes were sufficient for Liu Wuxie to review every ledger. He then closed his eyes, and every recorded name emerged within the Heavenly Dao Book. The page containing the Heavenly Derivation Codex stirred at once, revealing faint traces of each individual's past and present.

"What a surprise. I never realized the Heavenly Derivation Codex could be used like this. It'll save me an enormous amount of time, and I won't have to assess every person individually," Liu Wuxie murmured.

Choosing a hundred students from several thousand candidates would ordinarily demand tremendous effort. With the Heavenly Derivation Codex assisting him, however, the entire process became vastly easier.

The competition focused primarily on alchemy, blacksmithing, spiritual arrays, talismans, and the martial path. It also included smaller events covering disciplines such as poison art and magic, though those contests drew far less attention. Few mentors showed any interest in wagering on those minor competitions either.

After only fifteen minutes, Liu Wuxie abruptly opened his eyes and instructed Ye Linghan to prepare writing materials. Names then poured from his mouth one after another as Ye Linghan hurried to record each one.

At first, Ye Linghan doubted that Liu Wuxie had genuinely memorized everything written inside the ledgers. However, as he continued reciting one name after another without the slightest pause, the wonder in her gaze grew increasingly vivid. Before long, a complete list of one hundred students lay before her.

The hundred names written upon the page didn't belong to students with particularly high cultivation. Most had reached only the High Immortal Realm. Xiang Rulong, Shi Wa, and the others naturally appeared among them.

"Clear the eastern side of Southern Lake and relocate these hundred students there. No one may enter without my permission," Liu Wuxie instructed. He ordered Ye Linghan to begin making the arrangements at once while he remained seated in the main hall, absorbed in thought.

They had extracted little useful information from Tian Zijin. Liu Wuxie still didn't know how the Celestial Moon Dao Hall planned to target him. The future remained shrouded in uncertainty. Although the Heavenly Dao Book could warn him whenever danger approached, it couldn't reveal the specific details concealed behind that threat.

The entire Azure Flame Dao Hall sprang into action. Excitement mingled with disbelief among the chosen students, while many who usually maintained a low profile stared in bewilderment, unable to understand why Mentor Ye had selected them.

Everyone nevertheless understood that Liu Wuxie's selection would dramatically alter their futures. Xiang Rulong, Shi Wa, and the others served as living proof, having advanced their cultivation at an astonishing pace. Their rapid growth naturally awakened intense envy from all other students.