Desolate Devouring Art

Liu Wuxie had drained every trace of his mental energy to force the Divine Tribulation Pupil into action, and the brutal pain struck so fiercely that he fainted on the spot.

Ye Linghan rushed forward at once and caught Liu Wuxie in her arms before he could fall.

"Quick, bring Young Master Liu inside so he can rest," Xiang Zicheng said.

Several guards hurried and carried Liu Wuxie into the courtyard.

Xiang Zicheng stepped forward and examined Liu Wuxie several times once they returned to the courtyard.

"Manor Lord Xiang, how is Wuxie?" Ye Linghan asked.

"He's fine. His soul energy is just exhausted, and he'll wake up after some rest," Xiang Zicheng explained with a sigh. If anything happened to Liu Wuxie, not only would he be unable to explain himself to the Azure Flame Dao Hall, but the injury to his soul sea might never recover in this lifetime.

Ye Linghan finally exhaled in relief and sank into a chair after hearing that Liu Wuxie was safe, the worry on her face gradually fading.

After everyone else left, only Ye Linghan remained to care for him. The courtyard soon sank back into peace, while Liu Wuxie felt his divine sense drifting up and down like a lone boat on dark water. This time, he had not merely exhausted his soul energy; his upper dantian had also undergone a drastic transformation.

Among the six paths of reincarnation, he had grasped the human path. As for the heavenly, asura, beast, ghost, and purgatory paths, he still had no clues yet. The six paths consisted of three upper paths and three lower paths.

Whether humans, deities, beasts, demons, ghosts, or monsters, all had their place within the six paths of reincarnation.

As for the eight sufferings, Liu Wuxie still had no understanding of them. They likely correspond to the joy and sorrow of the mortal realm, representing the experiences one would endure throughout life.

Although Liu Wuxie had lived two lifetimes, there were still many things he had never experienced. Because of that, his understanding of them remained unclear.

As the Divine Tribulation Pupil revolved, it gradually fused with Liu Wuxie's upper dantian. Although it had entered his upper dantian before, it had remained an independent existence and had never truly become one with him.

However, after advancing the previous night and allowing Liu Wuxie to comprehend the human path, the Divine Tribulation Pupil had finally acknowledged him as its master.

His upper dantian suddenly began to expand. For now, the Ghost Pupil remained stronger than the Divine Tribulation Pupil, since it had followed him for several years already.

Mental energy flowed in from the surroundings and poured into Liu Wuxie's upper dantian.

Ye Linghan sat beside Liu Wuxie, gently wiping his forehead with a fragrant handkerchief. As the surrounding mental energy passed through her and entered Liu Wuxie's upper dantian, it carried with it a vast amount of human energy, which was also a form of human path.

Ye Linghan did not notice it, but her human energy had formed a mysterious connection with Liu Wuxie. That connection resembled leaves and trees, a boat and oars, or fish and water.

Leaves grew upward while roots burrowed downward. They seemed unrelated, yet without the roots delivering nutrients, how could the leaves grow lush? No matter how sturdy a boat was, without oars, it could only sit motionless.

Liu Wuxie was nourishing Ye Linghan's human energy, and because of that, a trace of Ye Linghan's aura remained inside Liu Wuxie's body. It made him feel an inexplicable closeness toward her, a closeness shaped by the influence of human energy.

This would never have happened if Liu Wuxie had absorbed mental energy from the surroundings as usual, but Ye Linghan had stayed too close to Liu Wuxie. It would have been fine if Liu Wuxie were only absorbing pure mental energy. But after he used the Divine Tribulation Pupil, the human path had yet to close, which meant he did not absorb mental energy alone. The nourishment of human energy allowed Liu Wuxie's upper dantian to recover.

Liu Wuxie felt as though he had slept for a long time, yet throughout that haze, he could feel Ye Linghan's soft bosom pressing against him. When he opened his eyes, the world around him had gone dark, and the room was pitch-black.

Perhaps Ye Linghan had been too worried about him because she had fallen asleep while leaning over him. Her soft breasts rested intimately against his chest, while her black hair brushed against his neck, making him feel both ticklish and oddly comfortable.

He could not bear to wake her, so he silently began recalling everything that had happened during the day.

"So this is the human path?" Liu Wuxie murmured.

He no longer dared to control the Divine Tribulation Pupil recklessly. If he fainted during a battle, wouldn't he be completely at the enemy's mercy? His mental energy was still too weak, and if he could reach the Spirit Immortal Realm, he would not have fallen into such a terrible state.

After everything that had happened during the day, Liu Wuxie discovered that his comprehension of the human path had become much clearer than before. If he used the Divine Tribulation Pupil again, he could now last at least five times as long.

Strange patterns had begun appearing along the crystalline wall around his upper dantian, and they were runes of the human path. If he could gather the runes of all six paths, he would grasp the six paths of reincarnation. By then, he would be able to calculate life and death, fortune and disaster.

The six paths of reincarnation gave rise to the Great Samsara Mythical Art. After reaching the celestial realm, executing it had become difficult because the laws here were thousands of times stronger than those in the mortal realm.

Liu Wuxie made up his mind that he would not use the human path again unless it was necessary.

"Wuxie, please be safe. What am I supposed to do if you die?" Ye Linghan murmured in her sleep, wrapping her arms tightly around Liu Wuxie.

Liu Wuxie sighed, seeing her worry.

When Ye Linghan woke at daybreak, her face flushed red as she remembered that she had slept on Liu Wuxie for the entire night. She immediately rose and walked out of the room.

Looking at Ye Linghan's retreating figure, Liu Wuxie's gaze grew complicated. He murmured, "It looks like I need to leave the Azure Flame Dao Hall as soon as possible."

He got off the bed at once. He did not want to sink into romantic entanglements because he carried too many responsibilities. He had to bring his family to the celestial realm.

"You're awake," Ye Linghan said.

Liu Wuxie walked out of the room and saw Ye Linghan coming in. She had prepared some food for him.

"I'm fine now," Liu Wuxie replied.

He did not mention anything about last night and began practicing Instant Flash in the courtyard.

The stronger Liu Wuxie's mental energy became, the stronger the Heavenly Crest Divine Blade Art grew. Although he had yet to begin the second form, he had already cultivated the first form to perfection.

Ye Linghan placed the food on the stone table in the courtyard, waiting for Liu Wuxie to eat once he finished practicing.

After watching Liu Wuxie swing his blade hundreds of times until sweat covered him, Ye Linghan hurried over with a towel to wipe his sweat for him.

"I can do it myself," Liu Wuxie said.

He took the towel from Ye Linghan and maintained his distance, making the moment awkward for her.

Anyone could tell that Liu Wuxie was deliberately keeping his distance, but Ye Linghan could not understand why.

After putting the towel down, Liu Wuxie sat and ate a little. He still had to refine the Soul Healing Pill for Xiang Zicheng.

Shi Wa and Bai Jingye's life-and-death battle would begin soon. Liu Wuxie still planned to use the last two days to guide Shi Wa, because they could not afford to lose that battle.

"Stay here. I'm going to refine the Soul Healing Pill," Liu Wuxie said.

He did not even look back, treating her as though she were a stranger.

Tears rolled down Ye Linghan's cheeks as she watched Liu Wuxie's silhouette. How could she fail to see that Liu Wuxie was deliberately distancing himself from her? She could not understand what she had done wrong for him to dislike her.

The moment Liu Wuxie stepped out of the courtyard, his heart suddenly ached for no reason, as though a blade had cut across it.

He was shocked. He had never had any improper thoughts toward Ye Linghan, nor did he intend to become entangled in a romantic relationship. So why would his heart ache?

Suddenly, realisation dawned on him. When the Divine Tribulation Pupil had absorbed mental energy last night, the human path had not closed, and he had also absorbed Ye Linghan's human energy. That was not a good sign because the human energy had already taken root in his upper dantian, merging with his mental energy until it could no longer be separated.

He shook his head and could only let everything take its natural course.

When Xiang Zicheng saw Liu Wuxie, he immediately set aside what he was about to do.

"Manor Lord Xiang, let's keep this short. Prepare an alchemy chamber for me. These are the ingredients I need," Liu Wuxie said, getting straight to the point without wasting a single word.

"Very well. I'll have everything prepared immediately," Xiang Zicheng said.

He was even more anxious than Liu Wuxie. He had already prepared the alchemy chamber in advance. He immediately rushed off with the ingredient list Liu Wuxie had written down, and in only fifteen minutes, he prepared three sets.

The speed even surprised Liu Wuxie. The moment he entered the alchemy chamber, Xiang Zicheng dismissed everyone nearby.

Anyone could see that Xiang Zicheng was nervous.

"Wuxie, I'm counting on you," Xiang Zicheng said as he halted outside the alchemy chamber.

Liu Wuxie nodded and entered. The instant he stepped into the alchemy chamber, intense heat surged toward him, and the scorching waves even lifted his clothes.

The alchemy chamber was enormous and built from special stones that could withstand extreme heat. At the center stood a high-quality alchemy cauldron.

Xiang Zicheng himself was an alchemist. Back in the Myriad Artifact Pavilion, he had also wanted to buy an alchemy cauldron, but had run into Liu Wuxie and helped him resolve his crisis.

Liu Wuxie did not use the alchemy cauldron prepared in the chamber. It was not because the cauldron was poor, but because using the Heavenly Destiny Alchemy Art would leave traces behind.

He took out his own chipped alchemy cauldron and placed it above the fire. Then he organized the materials before reaching out and controlling the flames to wrap around the cauldron.

This was Liu Wuxie's second time refining the Soul Healing Pills, so he was already familiar with the process, and everything flowed smoothly.

The Heavenly Destiny Alchemy Art contained the powers of creation, heavenly dao, and destiny. Refining pills with this technique was far from easy, and it was several hundred times harder than refining ordinary pills.

Two hours passed, yet there was still no reaction from the alchemy chamber. Xiang Zicheng could not help growing anxious. According to his estimation, the pills should have entered the forming phase by now.

This was exactly what made the Heavenly Destiny Alchemy Art unique. Its refining process was several times more complicated than ordinary techniques.

The technique itself was not particularly complicated, but drawing energy from heaven and earth was a slow process that required constant refinement.

When the power of creation descended, a seven-colored pill flower appeared above the alchemy chamber.

The moment Xiang Zicheng saw the pill flower, a smile spread across his lips, and the concern in his heart gradually faded. But as he watched the pill flower slowly develop into pill clouds, that smile froze on his face.