Desolate Devouring Art

If Wen Qu had sensed anyone else nearby, he would've never revealed himself so easily and stayed vigilant. Only after confirming no one else was around did he signal Zhu Chiran to regroup, and the two began forming an encirclement to seal off Ye Linghan's escape route.

The moment they came within a hundred meters, Ye Linghan abruptly stood and grabbed the Frostsword beside her.

"How did you two find me here?" she asked, forcing fear and tension into her voice. The moment her gaze landed on Wen Qu, her grip tightened around her sword hilt.

Only someone frightened and nervous would react like this, and her actions convinced Wen Qu. Ye Linghan had to have suffered serious injuries, which was why she had no choice but to hide here and recuperate.

"Ye Linghan, who saved you from us?" Wen Qu asked. Holding his spear at the ready, he stopped thirty meters away, keeping a safe distance while remaining close enough to strike at any moment.

"You don't deserve to know," Ye Linghan replied, giving him a deliberately vague answer to keep him guessing.

"Ye Linghan, tell us who saved you, and I will consider letting you live," Wen Qu said. His tone had lost some of its earlier harshness.

He understood that anyone capable of controlling their upper dantian and firing those strange arrows could not be ordinary.

"Don't waste your breath. You won't get a word out of me," Ye Linghan snapped at him. She clutched her wound and slowly retreated toward the large tree, pretending to search for a chance to escape.

"Don't let her get away!" Wen Qu shouted at Zhu Chiran, who immediately rushed toward Ye Linghan with his longsword.

The two clashed fiercely. At first, Zhu Chiran did not dare to use his full strength and kept part of his attention on the surroundings. As the fight dragged on and Wen Qu confirmed no danger lurked nearby, he also entered the battle.

Ye Linghan was immediately placed at a disadvantage, forced to fight two opponents alone.

As for Liu Wuxie, he remained silently stretched across a large tree, watching the battle unfold below.

"Spiritual array, activate," Liu Wuxie whispered.

A thin veil of mist spread through the surroundings, and an invisible force formed within it before pressing down on Wen Qu and Zhu Chiran.

"This is bad!" The two reacted quickly and tried to retreat, only to realize something was wrong. The spiritual array had never existed to trap them to death. They were Origin Immortals, and with Liu Wuxie's current cultivation, trapping Profound Immortals was already his limit.

Just as Wen Qu and Zhu Chiran tried to break away, Ye Linghan's aura erupted, and the weakness she had shown vanished completely.

"Ye Linghan, you tricked us!" Wen Qu roared. He finally realized Ye Linghan had deceived them and prepared this trap for them.

"Isn't it a little late to figure that out?" Ye Linghan asked. Her attacks surged like a bursting flood, nothing like before, and every sword strike carried devastating force that crashed down from above, forcing both men to lower their heads.

"Damn it! Damn all of this!" Zhu Chiran swung his fist in frustration. As a first-level Origin Immortal, he soon found himself suppressed beneath Ye Linghan's aura.

The pressure from the spiritual array intensified, and the battle soon locked into a stalemate, with neither side able to defeat the other.

Liu Wuxie continued waiting for the right moment. Since Wen Qu was far too cautious, he knew his chances of success would be low if he released the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent now. He needed them to exhaust their energy first, then he could ambush them.

Ye Linghan held both of them down with force. No matter how Wen Qu and Zhu Chiran attacked, she drove them back each time.

"Ye Linghan, you despicable woman! Do you really think this spiritual array is enough to defeat us?!" Wen Qu roared. He had known for a long time that Ye Linghan taught spiritual arrays in the Azure Flame Dao Hall, so he naturally assumed she had set up this spiritual array.

Liu Wuxie stayed silent despite Wen Qu and Zhu Chiran's curses.

Thunderous explosions rolled through the forest as waves of attacks filled the sky. Invisible ripples surged outward, bringing down the surrounding trees one after another.

Ravines tore across the ground, and countless rocks burst apart. A battle between Origin Immortals was devastating by nature.

Wen Qu moved with his spear, thrusting forward one moment and sweeping across the next, making it difficult for Ye Linghan to defend. Several times, the spear nearly pierced her, and she only lasted this long because she relied on the spiritual array.

"Stellar Execution!" Wen Qu unleashed his strongest attack, and a stellar compass took shape, radiating a terrifying presence.

Facing what appeared to be Wen Qu's strongest move, Ye Linghan did not dare act carelessly. She slashed diagonally, and her sword split into three afterimages. One targeted Zhu Chiran to stop him from launching a sneak attack, while the other two went straight for Wen Qu.

"Now!" Liu Wuxie immediately summoned the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron and released the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent. Because the female serpent had died, the male serpent was now furious beyond measure.

The instant it saw humans, it wanted nothing more than to devour them.

Wen Qu had just used his ultimate attack, leaving a brief gap in his defenses, and he had no strength left to protect himself. Ninety percent of his power was focused on Ye Linghan, so how could he have expected someone to ambush him at that exact moment?

Worse still, the attack was not a martial technique but a cold, chilling ray. The Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent shot out like a thunderbolt and vanished in a flash.

Everything happened too fast. Before anyone could even blink, the serpent had already appeared behind Wen Qu.

With the attack bearing down on him, Wen Qu had no time to dodge because Ye Linghan's strike had already descended. He could only shift sideways, trying to prevent the blow from striking a vital point.

As long as the attack did not hit a vital point, it would not matter much to an Origin Immortal like Wen Qu.

Wen Qu shot into the sky, trying to protect his vital points.

The Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent bit Wen Qu's ankle. If it had been even a little slower, Wen Qu would have avoided the attack.

When Liu Wuxie saw the snake bite land, his heart finally settled. If the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent had failed, he and Ye Linghan would have been the ones to die, especially since Ye Linghan's injuries were showing signs of worsening. On top of that, she had consumed far more immortal energy than her enemies.

At first, Wen Qu paid little attention to it, since it felt no worse than an insect bite. But when he landed and saw the brightly colored snake clinging to his ankle, his soul nearly left his body.

"T-The Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent!" Wen Qu's face turned deathly pale as he froze where he stood.

The Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent was easy to recognize because the nine colors on its tail resembled nine tails. That was how the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent earned its name.

Zhu Chiran also froze on the spot as a chill ran down his spine.

"Run!" The thought of escaping seized Zhu Chiran's mind.

In less than half a breath, Wen Qu felt his left leg go numb. With the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent's poison entering his body, he could no longer muster any strength.

Zhu Chiran had only managed to retreat three steps before the Heaven-Veiling Banner wrapped around him.

Although Ye Linghan had severely exhausted her immortal energy, she still had more than enough power to deal with a first-level Origin Immortal.

After putting away the Heaven-Veiling Banner, Ye Linghan felt every ounce of strength drain from her body. She had reached her limit and could no longer gather the power needed to deal with Wen Qu.

At that moment, Liu Wuxie descended from the large tree with a bright smile on his face. This time, he did not bother hiding himself, and Wen Qu's eyes turned bloodshot the instant he saw him.

He had long known that Liu Wuxie was extremely cunning, and today proved it beyond doubt. The only thing Wen Qu could not understand was where the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent had come from.

"Are you alright?" Liu Wuxie asked. The moment he landed, he did not even glance at Wen Qu and instead looked at Ye Linghan, concerned.

"I'm fine. I just need to rest for a while," Ye Linghan replied after taking a deep breath. She swallowed several pills, allowing her immortal energy to recover slowly.

Only after confirming that Ye Linghan was fine did Liu Wuxie finally turn toward Wen Qu, a faint mockery curling at the corner of his lips.

"Liu Wuxie, I didn't expect it to be you," Wen Qu said. He finally understood that all of them had fallen into Liu Wuxie's trap.

Through Ye Linghan, Liu Wuxie had already learned the identities of all four enemies. His cold gaze swept over Wen Qu without the slightest trace of emotion.

After all, the Wen Clan had nearly killed him when he had entered the Dragon Burial Mountain Range, and he had not yet settled that debt with them.

"Your Wen Clan used the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent against my father and nearly killed him. You didn't expect us to use the same method against you, did you?" Ye Linghan asked, adjusting her condition. Murderous intent filled her tone, and her hatred for the Wen Clan ran even deeper than Liu Wuxie's.

"Can you tell me how you controlled the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent?" Wen Qu asked. Half his body had gone numb, and even the circulation of his immortal energy had slowed. He was no different from a lamb awaiting slaughter.

As he spoke, his gaze settled on Liu Wuxie's face. He knew Ye Linghan could not have controlled the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent while she had been busy fighting him earlier. That meant Liu Wuxie had manipulated everything.

"You're not qualified to know," Liu Wuxie replied. He lifted the Bloodthirst Blade and swept it horizontally, ending Wen Qu's life.

With all four Origin Immortals inside the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, Liu Wuxie would have a ninety percent chance of reaching the fourth-level True Immortal Realm if he refined them at the same time.

Only after confirming that all four were dead did Ye Linghan finally sigh in relief.

"Wuxie, thank you. Without you, I might have died in the Dragon Burial Mountain Range," Ye Linghan said solemnly as she walked over.

After what had happened inside the cave, the bond between them had grown stronger than before.

"Let's find somewhere safe for now. I need to enter seclusion for a few days," Liu Wuxie replied with a nod. Killing the four of them had been a dangerous gamble. If the Nine-Tailed Heptabane Serpent had failed even once, they would have been the ones lying dead instead.

The two crossed the mountain range and returned to the cave from the previous night. For some reason, Ye Linghan felt heat rise in her cheeks the moment she entered. Liu Wuxie had treated her injuries here last night and had nearly seen every single part of her body.

Liu Wuxie's expression, however, did not change. After strengthening the spiritual array at the entrance, he went inside, sat on the soft dry grass, and circulated the Desolate Devouring Art. This time, he held nothing back because no cultivators would enter the Dragon Burial Mountain Range so late.

Liquid spiritual energy surged outward like a flood in every direction. A portion of that energy entered Ye Linghan's body, helping her recover her immortal energy at a terrifying speed. Before long, her injuries had healed to about ninety percent.

Under the burning demonic flames, the four Origin Immortals decomposed into boundless Origin Immortal Realm laws. Every strand of law carried immense power, yet Liu Wuxie could refine them with ease.

A vast amount of liquid flowed through the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron. Liu Wuxie had stripped away the four interspatial rings and collected over a million immortal stones from them, along with large quantities of pills and herbs. As for their artifacts, he smelted them down to help the Bloodthirst Blade advance.

After devouring so many materials, the tip of the Bloodthirst Blade grew back by the slightest amount. This proved that restoring the entire Bloodthirst Blade would not be an easy process.