Desolate Devouring Art

The triangular seal emerged and sank into the nonagonal seal, and the larger seal erupted at once, burning like a suspended fireball above the Death Talisman Pool.

The runes rising from the depths of the pool melted away one after another, transforming into a vast tide of laws of the talisman path that poured into the blazing sphere.

At that very instant, the Pentabolt Talismans came crashing down. Five thunderbolts descended with the might to destroy heaven and earth, shaking the entire Death Talisman Pool until it convulsed violently.

Water burst in every direction, surging into thunderous waves that battered both shores.

Shi Wa found himself trapped in an instant, and one careless move would leave him without even a corpse. The talisman beneath his feet flared with dazzling brilliance and raised a defensive barrier around him, shielding him within.

When the first thunderbolt fell from the sky, cracks crawled across the barrier. The second thunderbolt followed without pause, and another deafening rumble tore through the air as the cracks spread like a spiderweb.

Flames raged in the void with growing ferocity, and the heat turned the entire Death Talisman Pool scorching hot as the water began to boil. Terrifying steam billowed into the air, swallowing the two figures from view until those outside could no longer make them out.

"Shi Wa's done for!"

Many mentors shook their heads, their hearts filled with regret that such a monstrous prodigy might fall here.

The five thunderbolts descended in succession, and each strike struck with greater force than the last.

With a deafening explosion, the barrier protecting Shi Wa shattered into fragments and dispersed above the Death Talisman Pool.

As another thunderbolt plunged from the sky, Shi Wa had no choice but to meet it head-on now that the barrier was gone. The talisman carried power comparable to the Profound Immortal Realm, and if it struck him, death was inevitable.

Just as the thunderbolt was about to land, the fireball hovering in the air suddenly swelled and transformed into a ferocious beast. No one recognized the creature, for none of them had ever seen anything like it.

The vicious beast roared into the sky, and countless sword runes shot out from it, charging toward the Pentabolt Talismans above. In the end, one thunderbolt was cleaved apart by a sword rune.

Hundreds of sword runes swept upward, forming a scene so grand that the spectators outside froze in awe. Many even waved their hands and feet wildly, unable to contain their excitement.

"The Heart-Piercing Myriad Swords!"

These were the legendary Heart-Piercing Myriad Swords, formed from countless sword runes.

Zuo Yang and the upper echelons of the Azure Flame Dao Hall were shocked. After all, how many years had passed since the Heart-Piercing Myriad Swords had last appeared?

Bai Jingye was equally stunned. The sudden emergence of so many sword runes had caught him completely off guard.

When the sword runes collided with the Pentabolt Talismans, the two powers crashed together, and the Pentabolt Talismans began to rumble violently as cracks split across their surfaces.

More runes poured from the vicious beast's mouth. Frost runes emerged like icy thorns, followed by lightning runes, five-elemental runes, yin-yang runes, wind runes, and many more.

The runes hovered across the sky without any fixed pattern, weaving themselves into an encirclement that trapped the Pentabolt Talismans inside.

"How is this possible?!" Bai Jingye cried, helplessness flooding him as he watched the Pentabolt Talismans teeter on the verge of collapse. He had already exhausted every trump card he had, yet he still failed to kill Shi Wa.

Hundreds of sword runes surged forward together and pierced through the Pentabolt Talismans.

The Pentabolt Talismans exploded into flashing bolts of lightning across the sky, and they pierced through the talisman beneath Shi Wa's feet as well. His feet had already touched the pool, and the talisman could sink at any moment.

The instant the Pentabolt Talismans were destroyed, Shi Wa drove the damaged talisman beneath him toward the opposite shore with blinding speed. By the time Bai Jingye tried to stop him, it was already too late.

"You're not getting away!" Bai Jingye roared, his eyes turning bloodshot as he shot forward and drew several talismans in succession. He used their power to close the distance between them in only a few leaps.

Shi Wa found it difficult to avoid Bai Jingye. Even though he had surpassed Bai Jingye in talisman art, the gap between their martial cultivation remained vast.

Even so, Shi Wa stayed calm beneath Bai Jingye's pursuit. When the attack came within ten meters, the vicious beast plunged from the sky, opened its maw, and tried to swallow Bai Jingye whole.

Before Bai Jingye could even scream, flames engulfed him. Everything happened in the blink of an eye, and after fusing with all the runes in the Death Talisman Pool, the nonagonal seal Shi Wa had inscribed had reached an unimaginable height.

The rune Shi Wa drew was not particularly powerful on its own. Its true strength came from the runes within the Death Talisman Pool.

The nonagonal seal's true purpose lay in conversion. It gathered the power of every rune in the Death Talisman Pool and forged them into this destructive strike, allowing Shi Wa to defeat Bai Jingye.

With his cultivation suppressed, Bai Jingye had no way to dodge the attack. If he had been at his peak, Shi Wa killing him would have been nothing more than a fantasy.

As the flames slowly faded from the void, the nonagonal seal spent the last of its energy and gradually vanished. Some of the runes returned to the pool.

The talisman beneath Shi Wa's feet had also burned through all its strength, but he still managed to cross the pool and land on the opposite shore.

How many years had passed since anyone had successfully crossed the Death Talisman Pool? The moment Shi Wa's feet touched solid ground, his cultivation surged violently, for Bai Jingye had been his inner demon. Now that the inner demon had perished, his cultivation naturally underwent a tremendous rise.

Roars and thunderous applause erupted outside the Talisman Tower. They cheered not merely because Shi Wa had won, but because they had witnessed a thrilling battle that might not appear even once in a century. Whether it involved the clash of talismans or runes, the display could only count as heaven-defying.

Despite his inferior cultivation, Shi Wa had defeated Bai Jingye, overturning everyone's understanding of talisman art. Only then did they realize that talisman art could work in such a way.

When Ye Linghan and the others saw Shi Wa's victory, their anxious hearts finally settled, and they began to celebrate. Everyone was drowned in excitement, unaware that one figure had already left. By the time they noticed, Liu Wuxie had already returned to the Southern Lake.

Bai Jingye's death had never exceeded Liu Wuxie's expectations. What he had to consider now was his next step because he could not remain in the Azure Flame Dao Hall forever. If he wanted more resources, he had to go out and seize them.

"I need to get my hands on the Heavenly Derivation Codex as soon as possible," Liu Wuxie muttered.

The Divine Tribulation Pupil had already grasped the human path, but it carried an obvious flaw. Each time he used it, a sharp pain tore through his upper dantian. If this continued, cracks would soon appear in his upper dantian.

Liu Wuxie's best bet was to use the Heavenly Derivation Codex to grasp the heavenly path. Once he grasped the heavenly path, heavenly dao would no longer bind him. After all, the Heavenly Dao Book had only recorded heavenly dao; it had never commanded it.

From what Lao Kaiyu had told him, the Heavenly Derivation Codex was now in the hands of the Shadow Divination Gate. That meant obtaining it would be far from easy.

If not for the Divine Tribulation Pupil, Liu Wuxie would not have been so eager to obtain the Heavenly Derivation Codex. But things were different now. He believed the Divine Tribulation Pupil likely shared some connection with the Heavenly Derivation Codex, and he needed both of them.

As the crowd gradually dispersed, many began searching for Liu Wuxie with questions on their minds, only to discover that he had already vanished.

After Ye Linghan brought the students back to the Southern Lake, she immediately went to find Liu Wuxie.

"What's been going on with you these past two days? Why have you become so quiet?" Ye Linghan asked as she entered the courtyard and found Liu Wuxie standing beneath a large tree, lost in thought.

"I've fulfilled my promise by helping you recruit a large number of students. In a few days, I may leave the Azure Flame Dao Hall," Liu Wuxie said indifferently, turning his gaze toward Ye Linghan.

When Ye Linghan heard that Liu Wuxie intended to leave, tears rolled down her cheeks.

"You're really going to leave?" Ye Linghan asked, sobbing.

"Nothing lasts forever, and sooner or later, I was always going to leave," Liu Wuxie said, turning his eyes away.

"Is this because of me?" Ye Linghan asked, thinking she had become a burden to Liu Wuxie.

"No," Liu Wuxie replied, shaking his head. Even without Ye Linghan, he would not have stayed in Eastern Emperor City for long.

"Where will you go?" Ye Linghan asked.

"I don't know," Liu Wuxie answered.

The celestial realm was vast. With his current cultivation, leaving Eastern Emperor City would be extremely difficult. Unless he reached the Origin Immortal Realm and gained the ability to fly, even walking for an entire year might not be enough for him to leave the Dragon Burial Mountain Range.

"Since you don't know, can you stay a little longer? Once you know where you want to go, it would be easier to leave. Don't worry, I won't cling to you," Ye Linghan reassured. She wiped away her tears, straightened her back, and walked out of Liu Wuxie's courtyard.

Liu Wuxie turned and watched Ye Linghan's departing silhouette, and an ache tightened his chest. In the quiet of the courtyard, he could only release a heavy sigh.

He knew leaving without a word would hurt her. Although he had spoken of leaving, he still had not chosen a date. Just as Ye Linghan said, he would leave once he decided where to go.

The next few days passed in peace, and Ye Linghan did not come looking for him again. It was as though she had vanished.

Shi Wa came every day to cultivate and brought out all the sword runes he had obtained from the Talisman Tower, handing them over to Liu Wuxie. There were too many sword runes inside the Talisman Tower, and Shi Wa could not absorb them all.

Though those sword runes were not useful to Shi Wa, they were extremely valuable to Liu Wuxie.

"Shi Wa, have you seen Mentor Ye?" Liu Wuxie asked, worried that something might have happened to her.

"Mentor Ye hasn't been at the Southern Lake these past few days," Shi Wa replied respectfully.

"She's not here?" Liu Wuxie asked, his heart sinking at Shi Wa's answer as he feared Ye Linghan would do something foolish.

With her fiery personality, she could easily act on impulse. He knew his tone that day must have hurt her, and the thought left him uneasy.

"I'm not sure about the details, but she left after saying something to Mentor Yi Zhong and the others. She didn't say when she would return," Shi Wa said, recounting everything that had happened.

"Go and cultivate," Liu Wuxie said. He turned and returned to his room, realizing that Ye Linghan must have left in anger.

He knew that he had hurt her feelings.

"Silly girl, don't do anything foolish!" Liu Wuxie said, unable to calm himself inside the room as a dark premonition rose in his heart.

Whenever that feeling appeared, it meant something major was about to happen. As for the exact details, he still could not predict them unless he obtained the Heavenly Derivation Codex.

"Shi Wa, tell the mentors that I'll be away for a few days," Liu Wuxie said as he walked out of the room and left Southern Lake. He even disguised himself to prevent anyone from following him.