Desolate Devouring Art

Liu Wuxie let Ye Linghan hold him. After everything she had endured, after all the grievances that had crushed her for so long, he could not bring himself to resist.

Ye Linghan's fingers finally slipped from Liu Wuxie's neck. Their gazes locked in the dim cave, and a heartbeat later, she leaned in and pressed her lips against his.

"Take me," she whispered, her voice soft with a dangerous trace of temptation. She wore almost nothing, and the warmth of her body clung tightly to him.

If Liu Wuxie claimed he was unaffected, he would only be deceiving himself.

"You've only just recovered. What you need right now is real rest," Liu Wuxie said. He tried to push himself up, but Ye Linghan tightened her arms around him and refused to let go of him.

"Do you think I'm cheap?" she asked, a bitter smile tugging at her lips. She had already offered herself to him so openly, yet he still held himself back.

"I don't deserve this much from you," Liu Wuxie replied, his fingers brushing her face gently. A deep ache spread through his chest. It was never that he didn't want her. He simply could not allow himself to take that step.

"I want this," Ye Linghan said, kissing him once more.

"I'll go outside and see whether Lu Baoguo and the others have gone far," Liu Wuxie said. He forced himself upright and walked toward the cave entrance without looking back at her.

Ye Linghan stared at Liu Wuxie's fading silhouette until tears clouded her sight. Taking a deep breath, she silently retrieved a set of clean clothes from her interspatial ring and slowly dressed herself.

Cold wind brushed against Liu Wuxie's face the moment he stepped outside the cave, clearing his mind. The burning restlessness inside him gradually sank. After all, he was a man, so of course he had emotions and desires.

However, he could not surrender to those desires. Countless dangers and hardships lay ahead, and one careless step could damn him beyond redemption. He refused to drag Ye Linghan into that abyss with him.

He remained seated at the cave entrance instead of going back inside, worried that the same moment might happen again. Roughly fifteen minutes later, Ye Linghan stepped out of the cave.

She sat beside him and gently guided him to rest his head onto her shoulder. This time, he did not pull away, and the two of them sat beneath the star-filled sky in silence.

"I may not know who you truly are, but I know there's a place for me in your heart. Whatever comes in the future, I won't leave you. Life or death, I'll stand beside you," she said, her voice steady with unshakable resolve as she turned toward Liu Wuxie.

The determination in her eyes struck Liu Wuxie harder than any blade, and he could no longer bear to hurt her again. He reached out and drew her gently into his arms.

They stayed close to each other until dawn broke. Only then did they rise. They still had to make their way out of the Dragon Burial Mountain Range.

"How did the four of them end up chasing you?" Liu Wuxie asked. Killing intent flickered through his eyes as the image of Ye Linghan covered in blood from the night before flashed through his mind.

The Wen, Shen, and Zhu Clans had provoked him again and again. Did they truly believe he was some harmless man they could trample on at will? Since they refused to stop, they would soon face his frenzied counterattack.

The moment the subject came up, embarrassment flashed across Ye Linghan's face.

After Liu Wuxie had said he would leave the other day, her mood had fallen to its lowest point. She wanted to go somewhere and clear her thoughts, but she did not dare return to Fourfold City, fearing her father would discover it.

So she had decided to head into the Dragon Burial Mountain Range to train and steady her mind. But when she passed through Eastern Emperor City, the Shen Clan's scouts unexpectedly spotted her.

They then moved quickly, joined forces, and hunted her all the way into the depths of the Dragon Burial Mountain Range.

"Wuxie, they're not weak. I know you're furious, but this isn't the time to start a war with them," Ye Linghan said. She feared his anger would drive him to do something reckless.

"I remember your father suffered injuries in the Dragon Burial Mountain Range. Do you still know where it happened?" Liu Wuxie asked as he stood up.

With only their strength, taking on all four enemies would be harder than ascending to heaven. If they wanted a real chance to win, they had to borrow power from elsewhere.

"It should be thirty miles from here," Ye Linghan replied, scanning the area before pointing southwest.

"Good. We'll head there," Liu Wuxie said. He took the lead at once, and Ye Linghan followed close behind. After a full night of recovery, she had regained about seventy to eighty percent of her strength from her injuries, and the reason her wounds had healed so quickly was also thanks to the wood-attributed energy from the Ancestral Tree.

"Wuxie, why are we going there?" Ye Linghan asked softly while staying close to him.

"To find the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent," Liu Wuxie replied.

A chill ran down her spine the instant she heard the name Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent. No one knew its terror better than she did. Even her father had nearly died after suffering the bite.

The Wen Clan had definitely lured the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent here, which allowed it to ambush Ye Guhai successfully. So much time had passed since then, and no one could say whether the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent remained in the area. Liu Wuxie only intended to test his luck.

If they managed to capture the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent, they would gain a weapon against Wen Qu and the other three. Others were likely powerless before the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent, but Liu Wuxie was not necessarily one of them.

"Wuxie, why are you looking for the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent?" Ye Linghan asked, worried. She feared he would do something reckless, such as provoking the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent.

"To catch it, naturally," he replied.

She almost stumbled face-first to the ground, hearing his response.

"You're planning to catch the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent? Why?" she asked. At this point, she had nearly gone numb. In all the time she had spent with Liu Wuxie, he had performed miracles one after another.

"You'll understand when the time comes," Liu Wuxie replied with a mysterious smile. He said nothing more and carefully moved toward the place where Ye Guhai was ambushed.

He activated Ghost Pupil and scanned the surroundings, pulling every detail into his sight. After that, he used the Divine Tribulation Pupil, which allowed him to see every hidden corner nearby, including the spaces behind the boulders.

"It happened around here," Ye Linghan said, her sword already in hand. If the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent struck, she was ready to attack without the slightest hesitation.

The two searched for a long time, but they found no sign of the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent. Not even a trace of the serpent remained, which immediately made them wonder whether it had already left after ambushing Ye Guhai.

"I need to lay a trap," Liu Wuxie said. He walked into an open space, withdrew several strange containers from his interspatial ring, and set them across the ground. Some were jars, while others were bottles, scattered in deliberate disorder.

Liu Wuxie drew a dagger and cut open his palm, letting blood drip into the bottles and jars. Then he took out some Fish-Scented Grass, a type of grass that released a scent Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpents were especially fond of.

Once Liu Wuxie finished preparing everything, he hid with Ye Linghan in a large tree. If the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent still lingered nearby, the smell of Fish-Scented Grass and blood would surely draw it out.

Time passed in suffocating silence. The waiting felt dull and tense, but neither of them spoke, afraid even the smallest sound might alert the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent.

An hour slipped by. Just as Liu Wuxie prepared to abandon the attempt, a faint rustling noise came from the distance.

A serpent crept out from a small hole in the ground. The instant it emerged, it began scanning its surroundings with extreme caution.

The Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent was not large, but its speed was frightening, and its poison was lethal. Its head was tiny, roughly the size of a rice grain. Who could imagine that such a small jaw could so easily take the life of a Divine Immortal?

Under normal circumstances, the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent stayed hidden underground and rarely showed itself in public.

Only after confirming that no danger lurked nearby did the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent begin crawling toward the bottles and jars.

Ye Linghan pressed a hand over her mouth, afraid she might make a sound. After all, the legendary Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent had appeared right before her eyes.

The Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent's tongue was so short that it was almost invisible. Even Liu Wuxie could barely distinguish it.

Only through Ghost Pupil could Liu Wuxie clearly follow every movement the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent made. He watched it approach the nearest bottle, but it did not enter recklessly. Instead, it continued forward, searching for a jar with a wider opening so it could escape at the first sign of danger.

The Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent slowly slipped into one jar while keeping its tail outside, leaving itself a path to flee if danger appeared.

"The Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent is too cunning," Ye Linghan murmured. She clearly had not expected such craftiness from the serpent.

Liu Wuxie remained perfectly calm. As time went on, the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent almost finished consuming the blood in the bottle before turning toward the next one.

Fresh blood filled each of the many bottles scattered across the ground. The moment the serpent turned, Liu Wuxie had a chance to seal the bottle and capture it alive, yet he held back.

Ye Linghan grew anxious as she watched, but she could only force herself to remain patient.

When the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent burrowed into the second bottle, its caution had clearly faded. It relaxed considerably and crawled into the jar to feast on the blood inside.

Just as the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent was eating happily, a restriction suddenly flared over the bottle and sealed the entire container. No matter how violently the serpent attacked, it could not break through the restriction.

Liu Wuxie had covered the bottles and jars with runes so powerful that even an ordinary Spirit Immortal wouldn't be able to break through them.

"We got it!" Ye Linghan cried in excitement. She could hardly believe they had truly captured the legendary Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent.

Other cultivators would flee as far as possible the moment they heard of the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent. Liu Wuxie, however, had walked straight into its territory and captured one alive.

Just as Ye Linghan prepared to jump down, Liu Wuxie suddenly pulled her back. They bumped into each other, knocking their heads. Ye Linghan rolled her eyes at him, but she did not blame him.

Right then, another Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent burrowed out of the same hole the first snake had used earlier. The previous one was male, and this one was female. They were likely a pair.

The second serpent had crawled out of the den because the first one had been gone too long.

The Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron appeared abruptly and took away the jar containing the first Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent. Liu Wuxie could not let the second serpent discover it. If it realized what had happened, it definitely would not fall into the trap.

The second serpent slithered over the soft grass, following the aura the first serpent had left behind before it fully faded. When it saw the bottles and jars filled with human blood, the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent hesitated for a brief moment before temptation overcame its vigilance and drew it toward the jar.

The Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent did not possess great intelligence, but it possessed extraordinary vigilance, incredible speed, and deadly poison. That was why anyone who had heard of it would be terrified upon encountering one.

The instant the second serpent crawled into the jar, Liu Wuxie sealed it without hesitation using the restriction he had left behind. In just two hours, Liu Wuxie had captured two Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpents.

He did not dare touch the jar with his hands, so he used the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron instead. When the right moment came, he could release them and deliver a fatal strike.