Desolate Devouring Art

Emerging from the bushes, Liu Wuxie brushed the dirt off his clothes and set out again. He kept a gap between himself and the travelers ahead.

"Brother Liu, why don't we go together?" Huang Zechang offered, slowing deliberately until he was walking beside Liu Wuxie.

Two Immortal Kings had accompanied the Huang Clan's disciples as escorts. Huang Zechang was not the only applicant among them, and several other clan members had also come for the recruitment.

From their conversation, Liu Wuxie gathered that Huang Zechang had a strong chance of securing a place in the Azure Jade Palace.

He glanced at Huang Zechang, but neither agreed nor refused. The road belonged to neither of them, and he had no authority to decide who traveled it. Besides, the young man appeared sincere and showed none of the scheming nature that would have discouraged Liu Wuxie from speaking with him at such length.

The following two days passed without incident. When darkness fell, the Huang Clan's two Immortal Kings laid out a defensive perimeter to protect the camp from ambush.

"Here, Brother Liu. Have some," Huang Zechang said, handing him a piece of roasted meat.

Other cultivators had made a point of camping near the Huang Clan, placing themselves under its protection. Should the Heavenly Alliance's experts attack, the defensive perimeter could withstand them long enough for reinforcements from the Azure Jade Palace to arrive.

"Much appreciated," Liu Wuxie replied. In his haste to depart, he had brought little food. His cultivation had not yet reached the point where immortal energy could sustain him alone. His body still required nourishment.

"Two days without an attack. The Azure Jade Palace's reinforcements must have arrived by now," Huang Zechang remarked as he sat down beside Liu Wuxie. Taking out a jar of wine, he began drinking.

Something in his untroubled manner brought Han Feizi and Qiao Bian to Liu Wuxie's mind. Liu Wuxie opened the jar without hesitation and drank half of it, letting the wine spill down his neck.

Six months had slipped by since he had ascended to the Celestial Realm. How his family and friends were faring, he could not say. Every step forward in cultivation brought enemies of greater strength, and the path ahead only grew harder. That half jar of wine did much to loosen the weight on his shoulders.

"Something on your mind, Brother Liu? You can talk to me," Huang Zechang offered, drinking half a jar himself.

"What made you decide to join the Azure Jade Palace?" Liu Wuxie asked, directing a question at Huang Zechang instead. Some burdens were not his to share.

"The woman I love entered the Azure Jade Palace last year. I promised her I'd get in this year, whatever it takes," Huang Zechang replied without reservation. He had tried to gain admission last year as well, but failed.

Everyone seeking a place in the Azure Jade Palace had something driving them. Few, however, shared Huang Zechang's reason.

Their conversation ended there. Wine and the stars occupied them in companionable silence.

Night deepened over the distant landscape, stilling it completely. Around them, only the crackle of the bonfire broke the quiet.

They could go no farther until daylight. The cultivators gradually withdrew into their tents, while a few remained outside to keep watch.

"Brother Liu, we have plenty of spare tents. Why not stay with us?" Huang Zechang asked as he got up. Sharing a camp would make it easier for them to watch out for one another.

"No, thank you," Liu Wuxie replied, shaking his head. A light movement carried him onto a tree branch. He had no intention of letting an opportunity to cultivate pass unused.

With every stretch of ground they covered toward the Azure Jade Palace, the immortal energy thickened. Its richness here had already exceeded that of Ancient Providence City.

A sigh escaped Huang Zechang before he headed back to his clan's tent.

"Zechang, why bother so much with that young man? His cultivation can't possibly compare to yours," remarked the few men sitting inside. As fellow Huang Clan disciples, they couldn't understand what had sparked his interest.

If the Huang Clan wanted to build friendships with talented people, it would choose those with genuine promise. Liu Wuxie had reached only the third-level Profound Immortal Realm.

Huang Zechang, on the other hand, was at the third-level Divine Immortal Realm. What could possibly draw his attention to someone like Liu Wuxie?

"When we were attacked a few days ago, did any of you notice who reached the bushes first?" Huang Zechang countered, offering no direct answer.

The young Huang Clan disciples shook their heads. When the man in black had attacked, they had been too terrified to notice who had taken cover first.

"Liu Wuxie did," Huang Zechang said, an uneasy note entering his voice. An ambush by an Immortal Venerable could strip almost anyone of their composure.

Yet Liu Wuxie had moved the instant the sword intent had descended, darting into the bushes without a moment's hesitation. More than that, he had chosen a hiding spot so well concealed that even an Immortal Venerable would have difficulty finding him.

For Huang Zechang, that alone spoke of extraordinary ability. Several Divine Immortals had fallen beneath the sword ray, while a mere Profound Immortal had survived. There was nothing ordinary about that.

"And? He got lucky, that's all!" the young man opposite him insisted, brushing aside his explanation.

"If it had happened only once, I might agree. But haven't you noticed where he positions himself as we travel? He always chooses ground that lets him advance or retreat," Huang Zechang explained, already expecting them to challenge him again.

At first, he too had believed that luck had saved Liu Wuxie from the Immortal Venerable's attack. Watching him over the following days had changed that judgment. The young man was concealing far more than Huang Zechang had initially realized.

The youths reflected on everything that had happened during their journey. Their brows furrowed as they began to understand what Huang Zechang meant.

"Let's sleep. We have more traveling to do tomorrow. All you've shown is that he's cautious, and caution won't earn a mere Profound Immortal a place in the Azure Jade Palace," one youth retorted impatiently.

The others let the matter drop and lay down. Huang Zechang continued watching through the window. In the tree, Liu Wuxie cultivated as the surrounding energy rushed toward him in a raging tide, yet even that immense influx barely advanced his cultivation.

Well after midnight, an unfamiliar bird cry split the darkness and startled everyone awake.

Liu Wuxie snapped his eyes open and activated the Ghost Pupil. His gaze swept into the distance, finding no obstruction in the darkness.

The camp lay silent, with no visible sign of danger within a kilometer. Even Liu Wuxie could not understand why the Heavenly Dao Book had warned him of an approaching threat.

Here, the Celestial Weave Domain's spatial laws exceeded those of Eastern Emperor City by dozens of times, limiting his Ghost Pupil to a radius of only a kilometer. He called forth the Bloodthirst Blade and watched the surroundings with renewed vigilance.

The two cultivators assigned to stand watch struggled to stay awake.

Then a bone-piercing chill swept through the camp. Frost glazed the tents without warning.

The first disturbance brought both Immortal Kings charging out of their tents, prepared for battle.

"An attack! Everyone up!" The resting cultivators sprang awake and rushed from their shelters with weapons in hand.

"Where's the enemy?" Their searching gazes found no assailant. Frost alone blanketed the ground, spreading steadily until it crept up the tree trunks and reached Liu Wuxie's feet.

Liu Wuxie brought the Divine Tribulation Pupil into play. A powerful surge of mental energy pierced the frost before him.

"Ivory Wraith Worms! Get into the trees, quickly!" Liu Wuxie roared. The frost was no frost at all, but a swarm of rare white insects known as Ivory Wraith Worms. He sprang upright and scrambled farther up the tree. The swarm below made it halfway up the trunk before its ascent faltered.

"Aaargh!" Several Origin Immortals screamed as Liu Wuxie's warning carried across the camp. Their feet had already touched the insects, which slipped effortlessly through their pores. Half a breath was all it took for two cultivators to become frozen sculptures.

"Get off the ground!" The Huang Clan's two Immortal Kings grabbed their few disciples and sent them up into the tree. Divine Immortals and Golden Immortals took flight after them, reaching the branches under their own power.

Several people remained stranded on the ground. "Help me! Please, someone, help!" They had reacted too late, allowing the Ivory Wraith Worms to invade their bodies and rob them of movement. Without Liu Wuxie's warning, the toll would have been higher still. That the Heavenly Alliance would employ even insects as rare as these laid bare the vileness of its methods.

"You warned us just in time, Brother Liu. We'd have lost far more people without you. Thank you," Haung Zechang said as he landed beside Liu Wuxie, his gratitude evident.

Not a single member of the Huang Clan had suffered harm, thanks to that warning. Even the disciples who had questioned Liu Wuxie's worth turned to look at him. Only moments ago, they had considered Huang Zechang's regard for him misplaced. Now they finally saw the exceptional abilities behind it.

The other cultivators, too, looked toward Liu Wuxie with gratitude.

"They won't face us openly, so they stoop to something this vicious," the Huang Clan's Immortal Kings said, fury darkening their expressions.

The assailants knew that a direct assault would summon the Azure Jade Palace's experts to the scene. By using Ivory Wraith Worms, they could mount a far more insidious ambush that was much harder to guard against.

"Ivory Wraith Worms inhabit icy seas. Capturing them is extraordinarily difficult. Who could have gathered so many?" someone asked.

They resembled ice so closely that even divine sense couldn't distinguish them from the real thing. It was hardly surprising that so many cultivators had fallen victim to them.

Anger did not delay their report to the Azure Jade Palace. About ten breaths later, an elder at the Immortal Venerable Realm reached the camp. He unleashed True Samadhi Fire, sending flames across a several-kilometer radius.

Under that fire, the Ivory Wraith Worms swiftly melted into white liquid and sank into the earth.

"Who first identified the Ivory Wraith Worms?" the Azure Jade Palace's elder asked after eliminating them.

"That young man," a rogue cultivator replied, pointing at Liu Wuxie.

The elder looked over immediately. Upon discerning Liu Wuxie's cultivation, he showed a flicker of disbelief. A mere Profound Immortal, who couldn't even fly, had spotted the Ivory Wraith Worms before everyone else?!

"What's your name?" the elder asked.

𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"Greetings, Senior. I'm Liu Wuxie," he replied with a slight bow.

At the sound of his name, frowns formed among the surrounding cultivators. Immortal Emperor Liu had borne the same name. Could that, too, be a coincidence?

"You did well tonight. Once this night is over, all of you will be safe. We've activated the defensive array covering a three-thousand-mile radius. There will be no more ambushes," the elder assured them.

Others would have regarded praise from an elder at the Immortal Venerable Realm as an immense honor. Liu Wuxie accepted it with an unchanged expression.