Desolate Devouring Art

The instant Liu Wuxie stepped forward, the true immortal seized the chance to stir up trouble.

"You’re Ma Jun. Your mother died when you were three, and by the time you turned fifteen, you were buried under a mountain of gambling debt. When your creditors came to collect, and you couldn’t pay, your father was beaten to death because of you. Am I wrong?" Liu Wuxie asked, a faint and strangely eerie smile resting on his lips.

Ma Jun trembled in shock. His father’s death, caused by his gambling debts, was a secret even his closest friends did not know. All these years, he had claimed his father died from a sudden illness.

The surrounding crowd fell into confusion, unable to understand what Liu Wuxie was talking about. One after another, they exchanged bewildered looks.

Ye Linghan, Xiang Zicheng, and everyone else were just as baffled. But from Ma Jun’s expression alone, anyone could tell Liu Wuxie had dragged out secrets buried deep in his heart.

"H-How do you know that?!" Ma Jun asked, his voice shaking, the forceful arrogance from earlier completely gone.

"That’s not all I know. Three days ago, you broke into someone’s house and stole..."

Before Liu Wuxie could finish, Ma Jun looked as though he had seen a ghost and fled without leaving a trace.

Watching Ma Jun run, the surrounding people grew even more confused. They desperately wanted to know whose house Ma Jun had broken into.

He was only an ordinary cultivator, and if others learned he had stolen from a major clan, he would die without even a burial place.

Everyone stared in bewilderment, unable to understand how Liu Wuxie had frightened Ma Jun into fleeing with nothing but a few words.

The eight sufferings of life and six paths of reincarnation encompassed everything in the world. The six paths of reincarnation were divided into three higher paths and three lower paths. The three higher paths were the Heavenly Path, the Human Path, and the Asura Path, while the three lower paths were the Beast Path, the Ghost Path, and the Purgatory Path.

The eight sufferings of life represented the suffering of birth, death, illness, old age, parting with loved ones, seeing what one hated, unfulfilled desire, and the five aggregates.

Just last night, the Divine Tribulation Pupil had advanced, allowing Liu Wuxie to grasp the human path among the six paths of reincarnation. Through the Divine Tribulation Pupil, he could see through Ma Jun’s entire life, which was why he had spoken those words.

However, the backlash was also clear. The moment he revealed that information, a sharp sting pierced his upper dantian, the consequence of exposing heavenly secrets.

The Divine Tribulation Pupil still had many wondrous uses, and Liu Wuxie was still exploring them. He still had a long road ahead before reaching the level where he could perceive everything in the world.

"If only I could obtain the Heavenly Derivation Codex and grasp the heavenly path among the six paths, I wouldn’t suffer this backlash," Liu Wuxie murmured to himself.

He had deliberately chosen less important matters to expose, things that had already happened. Strictly speaking, that could not truly be counted as revealing heavenly secrets.

With the current ability of the Divine Tribulation Pupil, Liu Wuxie could easily calculate what Ma Jun would do three days from now. But that would amount to revealing heavenly secrets, and the resulting backlash would be severe.

The Heavenly Dao Book merely recorded the Heavenly Dao. It did not control the Heavenly Dao. Those were two entirely different concepts.

"Liu Wuxie, what did you do to Ma Jun to scare him off like that?" a Spirit Immortal roared as he stepped forward.

No one else came out to interrupt. Everyone merely stared at Liu Wuxie, wanting to uncover the truth. With the Divine Tribulation Pupil’s current ability, seeing the heavenly path of spirit immortals was already his limit. If he dared to peer into Profound Immortals, he would surely suffer a backlash.

"Your name is Cang Tian. A year ago, you had an affair with your sister-in-law. When your elder brother found out, you killed him while his guard was down. Then, three months ago, afraid the truth would come out, you personally killed your sister-in-law in bed," Liu Wuxie said, his gaze settling on the Spirit Immortal’s face. His tone remained flat and calm, without even the slightest change.

Cang Tian froze where he stood as though lightning had struck him. No one besides him knew about this matter.

"That’s bullshit!" Cang Tian shouted, flying into a rage and preparing to attack Liu Wuxie.

However, with Xiang Zicheng’s aura pressing over the area, a mere Spirit Immortal had no chance of getting close.

"Your elder brother may be dead, but his resentment never scattered. Every night, don’t you hear someone whispering by your ear? Don’t you feel that chill crawling along your neck? That’s your elder brother’s lingering resentment, and it’s been following you all this time," Liu Wuxie continued. His voice stayed calm, yet every word pierced Cang Tian’s ears like poisoned needles.

Cold sweat slid down Cang Tian’s forehead, and he trembled uncontrollably. He knew Liu Wuxie was telling the truth. Every night, he heard someone speaking beside his ear and felt a creeping down his neck.

At first, Cang Tian had not cared much about it. But as time passed, the situation had only grown worse.

Those standing close to Cang Tian instinctively stepped back. They clearly had not expected that a man who usually appeared so proper could be this despicable. Resentment could also be called lingering grievance. If the grievance did not vanish, resentment would continue existing in the world.

Ordinary people could not detect it, but through the Divine Tribulation Pupil, Liu Wuxie could see resentment clinging to Cang Tian’s neck.

"What are you, human or demon?!" Cang Tian roared, his face turning pale. He tried his best to hide it, but the terror inside him shattered his composure. That roar alone was enough to prove he had admitted what he had done.

"Human or demon, it comes down to a single thought," Liu Wuxie replied.

Cang Tian might have worn a human face, but his actions were worse than a beast’s. At that point, no one could say whether he was human or demon.

"Brother, forgive me!" Cang Tian’s resolve shattered. He drew his sword and slit his own throat on the spot.

Liu Wuxie did nothing to stop him and allowed him to die. A person like him deserved no pity even if he died a hundred times.

Everyone looked at Liu Wuxie with fear lingering in their eyes. Strangely, no one stepped forward to trouble him anymore. No one dared claim they had never done anything against their conscience, and if Liu Wuxie exposed their secrets in public, how could they ever show their faces again?

"Does anyone else have questions?" Liu Wuxie asked after a long silence, when no one stepped forward. The faint smile on his lips made him look like a demon.

After using the Divine Tribulation Pupil twice in succession, Liu Wuxie had little mental energy left in his upper dantian.

Ninety percent of the crowd gathered here had been incited by the Kang, Zhu, and Yue Clans after accepting bribes from them to cause trouble.

"No! No questions!" The timid ones quickly fled, no longer daring to linger for even another moment.

Tian Zijin watched anxiously as Liu Wuxie dismantled all their efforts with two inexplicable revelations. This time, even the bolder ones no longer dared to test him lightly.

In no time, more than a hundred people left, leaving only a few dozen behind. Those who remained continued glaring at Liu Wuxie with fury.

A pinnacle Spirit Immortal stepped out of the crowd and scolded, "Liu Wuxie, you won’t scare us off that easily. We came sincerely to ask for guidance on alchemy, but you are simply resorting to sorcery!"

Those behind him immediately echoed in agreement.

The Divine Tribulation Pupil continued devouring mental energy from the surroundings, forming faint ripples that spread outward without pause.

Xiang Zicheng kept his gaze on Liu Wuxie. He could sense a mysterious energy burrowing into Liu Wuxie’s body, but he could not clearly identify it.

"I have nothing to say to someone from the Shen Clan," Liu Wuxie replied, flicking his sleeve and showing the Spirit Immortal no courtesy.

The moment he heard that this person was from the Shen Clan, Xiang Zicheng flew into a rage. He reached out and lifted the man into the air.

"Manor Lord Xiang, I’m not from the Shen Clan! Don’t just believe his words!"

The Shen Clan and the Xiang Manor had long held a bitter feud, and for someone from the Shen Clan to stir trouble at the Xiang Manor was no different from courting death.

Doubt flickered in Xiang Zicheng’s eyes. He did not recognize this Spirit Immortal and wondered whether Liu Wuxie had made a mistake.

"Your name is Gui Fei, and you are Shen Guang’s illegitimate son. Twenty years ago, Shen Guang passed through a small town and violated your mother, and that was how you were born. Over the years, Shen Guang has taken good care of you and your mother, hasn’t he?" Liu Wuxie asked, staring at Gui Fei as though he were already looking at a dead man.

Gui Fei’s legs began shaking, but Xiang Zicheng had already lifted him into the air, leaving him no way to break free.

Shen Guang was the patriarch of the Shen Clan, and when everyone heard what he had done, his reputation immediately began to collapse.

"That’s a lie!" Gui Fei snapped stubbornly.

"We’ll know soon enough whether it’s a lie," Xiang Zicheng said.

For a Shen Clan disciple to cause trouble in front of the Xiang Manor was an unforgivable offense, and once discovered, such a person would be executed immediately.

Just yesterday, Shen Guang had gone to the Azure Flame Dao Hall and nearly killed Liu Wuxie. Liu Wuxie had only been fortunate that Xiang Zicheng had appeared in time. Naturally, Liu Wuxie had no goodwill toward anyone from the Shen Clan.

Xiang Zicheng burrowed into Gui Fei’s soul sea with his own powerful soul energy, forcefully searching his soul.

"He really is Shen Guang’s illegitimate son!" Xiang Zicheng confirmed, then turned his gaze toward Tian Zijin’s group of four.

Gui Fei was left mentally crippled after the soul search and tossed aside.

"Get out before I lose my temper!" Xiang Zicheng snapped.

The wrath of a Divine Immortal shook the heavens, and cracks spread across the ground. From Gui Fei’s memories, he had learned the full story behind today’s incident. It turned out everything had been orchestrated by Tian Zijin and the other three, who had joined forces with the Shen Clan to create this scene.

Fortunately, Liu Wuxie had exposed them in time and prevented the situation from worsening further.

The Shen Clan had not dared to send their own people openly, so they had sent Gui Fei instead. But who could have expected Liu Wuxie’s Divine Tribulation Pupil to see straight through Gui Fei’s identity?

Without the Divine Tribulation Pupil, today’s matter would have become extremely troublesome. Xiang Zicheng could not simply grab people at random and search their souls.

Since Tian Zijin and the other three came from various major clans, Xiang Zicheng did not kill them on the spot. If he killed them, those clans would immediately join forces against the Xiang Manor, resulting in catastrophe.

It was not because Xiang Zicheng feared them. He would settle today’s matter in the future. Once his soul sea recovered, his cultivation would advance even further. At that time, he would have nothing to fear even if the other major clans joined hands. Right now, the most urgent matter was refining the Soul Healing Pill.

After seeing Gui Fei’s fate, the remaining people fled without hesitation. Most had close ties to the major clans. Though they weren't part of the main lineage, the clans' blood still flowed through their veins.

Tian Zijin and the other three left in disgrace without even offering a farewell.

Not long after they left, Liu Wuxie’s vision went black, and he fell backward.