Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 781 - Siege

Liu Wuxie still lacked a great deal of Nascent Transformation Realm laws, and he could make a breakthrough if he could absorb enough. This was a rare opportunity as there were over twenty thousand participants taking this assessment. If he could absorb a few hundred more to replenish his desolate world, he would be able to attempt a breakthrough.

After receiving the sacred light's cleansing, and having tempered on the Bridge of Heaven, Liu Wuxie had expelled all the impurities from his body. His cultivation and physique had now reached a state of absolute perfection.

Upon receiving Liu Wuxie's instruction, Fiery leaped out from his clothes and strutted toward the viper. Every step Fiery took forced the viper to retreat by instinct, which left Liu Wuxie shocked.

Not long ago, Fiery was chased by a jackal, running for its life. But its bloodline probably hadn't awakened yet, rendering it powerless against profound beasts.

Suddenly, Fiery began to produce weird sounds as it communicated with the viper through beast language.

Liu Wuxie could roughly tell what Fiery was saying. It ordered the viper to assist him in the fight and hold back the pursuers.

But the viper hesitated. While it was affected by Fiery's bloodline suppression, Fiery wouldn't be its match in an actual fight.

The Viper’s defiance angered Fiery. It breathed a terrifying flame, forming into a scorching wave that engulfed the viper.

Right then, Liu Wuxie moved and swung the Heretic Blade at the viper's head, but he stopped an inch away.

The viper collapsed to the ground, paralyzed in fear.

"It would be easy for me to kill you," Liu Wuxie said, his tone steady. "But if you’re willing to help me stop them, I’ll teach you a demon clan’s cultivation technique. It will significantly shorten the time needed for you to evolve into a dragon." He had already refined dragon bones and nourished them with dragon blood, making it a simple task to guide the viper’s evolution.

The viper initially narrowed its eyes, skeptical and suspecting Liu Wuxie of bluffing. But when Liu Wuxie suddenly spoke the ancient language of profound beasts, his words resonated directly within the viper’s soul sea, shattering its doubts.

Upon receiving Liu Wuxie's guidance, the viper began to tremble excitedly. The cultivation technique taught by Liu Wuxie had immense value. According to the cultivation technique, it could shorten the time required to transform into a dragon.

But it was a pity Liu Wuxie only gave it half of the cultivation technique, which made the viper thrash around furiously, but there was nothing it could do.

"It will be up to your performance if you want the second half. It's best if you gather more profound beasts, or it won't be possible for you to stop the humans on your own," Liu Wuxie said with a faint smile, planning to sit back and watch the show. He planned to use profound beasts against his enemies while reaping the rewards.

The viper was an overlord in this region, and it could summon many profound beasts with a single call. Most importantly, the cultivation technique provided by Liu Wuxie was too important and valuable for it to refuse.

While human cultivators were strong, it wasn't impossible to fight them if enough powerful profound beasts gathered. The physiques of profound beasts granted them an inherent advantage.

Cries echoed as the viper began calling upon its companions. It didn't take long before a terrifying python slithered out from the distant stone wall, bigger than the viper despite its less pure bloodline.

It didn’t take long before hundreds of profound beasts converged from all directions. Among them were several pinnacle ninth-grade profound beasts, each one comparable in strength to the pinnacle of the Nascent Transformation Realm for human cultivators.

This was a formidable formation. Liu Wuxie would have a tough time escaping if he faced them.

He found a higher vantage point and sat cross-legged atop a rock while Fiery nestled at his feet. Fiery emanated an overwhelming aura of a profound beast, causing the assembled profound beasts to tremble in fear.

It was like the leader, and the profound beasts awaited its command. The profound beasts began to gather with a single order, and Liu Wuxie taught them a combined assault technique.

Profound beasts typically fought individually, but their fighting strength was significantly boosted under Liu Wuxie's guidance.

"Liu Wuxie, get down here at once!"

Liu Wuxie sat at the top of the valley and looked at the people gathering below. This was the Heavenly Spirit Mountain Range, where flight was prohibited. He had reached the summit by scaling the rugged stone walls, and if anyone wanted to reach him, they would have to do the same.

In mere minutes, more than fifty cultivators had flocked into the valley.

"Come up if you have the guts!" Liu Wuxie taunted, curling his fingers to provoke them.

Everyone wasn't familiar with the environment, and no one knew a powerful viper was lurking. Most of them were in the Nascent Transformation Realm, as only a hundred or so participants had reached the True Profound Realm.

They didn't dare to attack Liu Wuxie carelessly as they had to maintain a good impression with the examiners. If someone in the True Profound Realm bullied someone in the Astral River Realm, it would stain their reputation.

Consequently, they intended to let cultivators in the Nascent Transformation Realm deal with Liu Wuxie while they reaped the benefits.

Liu Wuxie's taunting gesture had naturally enraged everyone, prompting them to rush into the valley.

"Don't go in! It could be a trap!" Some remained cautious, wary of a trap.

"What's there to be afraid of? How strong can he be when he's alone? Stay back if you're scared, and don't cry when we take all the rewards." More participants arrived, and many were bold enough to push forward.

The valley's interior was rugged and overgrown, affecting visibility. The divine sense was also restricted to ten meters.

Many profound beasts lurked behind the boulders, and they couldn't be seen or sensed through divine sense.

A faint smile curled on Liu Wuxie's lips as more people ventured deeper. He was determined to use them to help him make a breakthrough in the Nascent Transformation Realm today, and they would probably go insane if they knew his intention.

Liu Wuxie found someone with the number seven among the crowd, identical to his own. He would receive one hundred points if he could seize the other party's jade token. But the others had unrelated numbers, meaning they were worth only one point.

The people gathered outside the valley and began pouring in just five minutes. No one wanted the benefits to fall into the hands of others, so they all rushed in.

A second wave of cultivators approached from afar. They had been nearby and gathered over the first thing.

Right then, rumbling sounds echoed from the valley, and large boulders rained down from above as colossal aerial profound beasts emerged. They were lacking in offensive ability, which is why they used boulders to catch everyone by surprise.

Dozens of participants were caught off guard and crushed, forcing them to flee with their primordial spirit.

Liu Wuxie had summoned the Demonic Purgatory Chains and spread them across the valley to absorb their Nascent Transformation Realm laws.

"Damn it, it's an ambush!" someone yelled. They didn't expect so many profound beasts to be lurking there. The primordial spirits that tried to escape were captured by the Demonic Purgatory Chains when they tried to escape.

"What's going on?!" The Demonic Purgatory Chains were invisible to the others, except Liu Wuxie. This naturally left everyone baffled, including the seven examiners in the mid-air.

"How is he controlling so many profound beasts?" the examiners wondered. They had all assumed that Liu Wuxie was doomed, as there was no escape from the valley. However, profound beasts had ambushed the participants who came hunting for him.

"Look at that creature by his foot!" Everyone noticed a red furry creature beside Liu Wuxie's feet.

"It possesses the aura of a divine beast!" Qu Su nearly fell from the sky from shock as he looked at Fiery in awe.

Heaven and earth favored divine beasts, and the dragon clan was considered a divine race.

"It's indeed the aura of a divine beast, but we can't determine its species for now," another elder confirmed. “Judging from the looks of it, this divine beast has stayed beside Liu Wuxie willingly, which is highly unusual.”

After all, divine beasts were proud creatures and carried deep hostility toward humans. They loathed servitude and would never submit to humans. But this little creature seemed content in Liu Wuxie's presence and showed no signs of resistance.

"The battle is starting!" The battle had reached its climax when the profound beasts attacked.

The viper slithered through the battlefield with its massive body, claiming multiple lives with each attack.

The Demonic Purgatory Chains continued to shuttle across the valley, absorbing the laws of fallen cultivators. The profound beasts had fully mastered the formation taught by Liu Wuxie, making it practically impossible for humans to hurt them. @@novelbin@@

The reverence for Liu Wuxie began to spread among the profound beasts. Moments ago, many had viewed him with hostility, as their respect had been reserved for Fiery, not him. But the tides were shifting, and their recognition of Liu Wuxie deepened with every passing moment.

"This can't be happening!" a man shouted in desperation, only to be silenced as the viper lunged forward and sank its fangs into him. His body was ripped apart, only leaving his laws intact. As for his corpse, it was devoured by the viper to replenish itself.

As the death toll among the human cultivators climbed, there were also casualties among the weaker profound beasts. However, the balance had tipped overwhelmingly in favor of the beasts. The human cultivators struggled, their strength greatly restricted by the Demonic Purgatory Chains, which Liu Wuxie used strategically to suppress them. Whenever the viper found itself in danger, Liu Wuxie would intervene, tipping the scales further.

With his support, the profound beasts' combat strength only grew stronger, and the human death tolls began to increase.

Countless laws were gathered in the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, and Liu Wuxie could attempt a breakthrough to the Nascent Transformation Realm if he absorbed them into the desolate world.

When Liu Wuxie had made a breakthrough to the ninth-level Astral River Realm in the Gate of Heart, he was only one step away from the Nascent Transformation Realm. He even had Earth Profound Realm laws in his body that he had absorbed when his grandfather had made a breakthrough.

But now wasn't the time for his breakthrough, as he could still collect more laws. His breakthrough would have to wait until the battle ended.

The entire valley was drenched in blood. Upon witnessing the scene, those who arrived late turned and fled.

The battle raged on for two hours, and under Liu Wuxie’s guidance, every human cultivator in the valley had been slain. The battlefield was littered with bodies, their jade tokens now in Liu Wuxie’s possession. His collection had reached an astonishing total of over three hundred tokens.

Among them, another jade token with the number seven was worth a full one hundred points. He had also gathered over a dozen tokens with matching rear digits, each valued at five points. While the remaining tokens were only worth one point each, their sheer quantity more than compensated.

"They're all dead?" Qu Su felt a chill running down his spine as he looked at the corpses littering the battlefield.

As someone in the Earth Profound Realm, he thought he had seen everything. But no one would believe him if he told them how someone in the Astral River Realm commanded a horde of profound beasts to kill so many cultivators in the Nascent Transformation Realm. He wouldn't believe it either if he hadn't witnessed it personally.

"It's time to make a breakthrough," Liu Wuxie murmured. He ordered the viper to stand guard while he was prepared to make a breakthrough. As the sky had already darkened, no more people came to the valley and were prepared to rest for the night.