Desolate Devouring Art

Liu Wuxie chose not to escalate the situation for everyone's safety.

"You killed my pet and still want to leave? Not that easy!" the black-robed man sneered, landing lightly nearby. He landed silently, his black robes shrouding his entire body—a black cloth covered even his face, revealing only a pair of sinister eyes.

Anyone capable of rearing Drought Wraiths wasn't an ordinary person. No sane cultivator would dare raise such wicked creatures.

"Are you truly determined to fight me?" Liu Wuxie asked, his voice calm. He hadn't suggested peace out of fear, but the other party misunderstood his intentions.

Though the Drought Wraiths were formidable, Liu Wuxie was confident he could slay them.

As for the black-robed man, he was merely a pinnacle of the Earth Profound Realm cultivator. Liu Wuxie had no reason to fear him. After all, just days ago, he had slain two Black Plume Pavilion assassins of similar strength.

Moreover, after devouring their law energy, Liu Wuxie refined his cultivation further—he was now one step away from the ninth-level Spirit Profound Realm.

The black-robed man said nothing. He pulled out a whistle and blew into it. A strange and eerie sound echoed through the night.

In response, the eleven Drought Wraiths that surrounded Liu Wuxie suddenly lunged forward in unison with terrifying speed.

Facing all eleven at once put Liu Wuxie under pressure, but not enough to overwhelm him. Without hesitation, he raised the Heretic Blade and swung it down, unleashing a terrifying wave of power.

He had already torn through one of the creatures earlier, relying purely on true essence.

"Origin Blade!" Liu Wuxie shouted, and the blade technique now burst forth with more power than ever before.

Countless blade afterimages swept outward, engulfing a radius of hundreds of meters.

The black-robed man paused, blowing his whistle, and narrowed his eyes at the battlefield. To his surprise, Liu Wuxie was holding the Drought Wraiths at bay with wave after wave of unrelenting strikes.

Then his gaze drifted to the distant tent, where the four women stood, beautiful and radiant in the flickering firelight.

"Well, well... I didn't think you'd have such stunning beauties by your side. They'll be mine tonight!" he cackled and, in a blink, appeared before the tent.

The moment the four women saw someone approaching, they instinctively drew their weapons and assumed defensive stances.

But before he could get closer, the spiritual array activated and halted his advance.

"A spiritual array?" he muttered with a slight frown, pausing briefly.

"You think a flimsy spiritual array can stop me?" he said with a disdainful sneer. Being adept in array formations himself, he quickly identified a weakness.

"Damn it!" Liu Wuxie clenched his jaw. If he breached the spiritual array, enemies could take the four women hostage.

His rage surged.

With a sweep of the Heretic Blade, he sent the eleven Drought Wraiths flying before reappearing in front of the tent in an instant.

"Great Five Elemental Palm!" Liu Wuxie struck decisively. If he could kill the black-robed man, the Drought Wraiths would lose their master and fall.

The black-robed man's eyes narrowed, shocked by the raw power radiating from Liu Wuxie. He hadn't expected someone at the Spirit Profound Realm to possess such terrifying combat strength.

Abandoning his attempt to break the spiritual array, he raised his palm to meet Liu Wuxie's strike.

As their forces collided midair, a powerful shockwave erupted, tearing through the ground like a raging tide.

The shockwave violently shook the tent, nearly collapsing it. Without the array's protection, an enemy might have inflicted serious injuries on the four women.

With a deafening boom, the force blasted both Liu Wuxie and the black-robed man several hundred steps back before they managed to regain their footing.

"How interesting..." the black-robed man murmured, his eyes glowing with twisted excitement, as if he'd discovered a rare treasure.

The Drought Wraiths quickly charged to assist their master.

"Brat, hand over the four ladies, and I'll make you my disciple. I'll even let you command these Drought Wraiths. With my guidance, you'll roam the continent unchallenged," he offered.

It wasn't empty boasting—few could contend with a formation like this unless Heaven Profound Realm experts stepped in. These eleven Drought Wraiths alone could raze countless sects across the True Martial Continent.

"You talk too much," Liu Wuxie said, his voice cold as ice.

The four women were his reverse scale. Anyone who dared to touch them must die.

Without another word, he raised his right hand and silently cast the Curse Dao Art and Death Dao Art, followed by the Great Dragon Aspect Art, Poison Dao Art, Spatial Dao Art, and the Frost Dao Art.

The moment he unleashed them, the eleven Drought Wraiths froze, terror etched across their distorted faces. They began backing away instinctively.

Liu Wuxie had given them a chance to leave. Since the black-robed man refused, he would show no mercy.

A flicker of disbelief crossed the man's eyes. He finally realized that he had severely underestimated this youth, who possessed terrifying power despite his young age.

"A monstrous prodigy like this has emerged in the Central Plains during my centuries of seclusion?" the black-robed man muttered.

Judging by Liu Wuxie's display of the Death Dao Art, it wasn't hard to guess his identity. He was the only known cultivator in the region with mastery over that forbidden dao.

The black-robed man had just emerged from isolation and knew little of recent events across the continent.

As the Great Dragon Aspect Art descended, he finally retaliated.

"Darkness Dao Art!" he roared, unleashing a wave of pitch-black energy that surged outward, completely devouring the Great Dragon Aspect Art.

Liu Wuxie's heart trembled. He had never encountered such a strange dao before—one capable of swallowing light itself.

His alertness spiked.

The darkness continued to spread, devouring even the Poison Dao Art. For the first time, Liu Wuxie's techniques failed to affect his opponent.

But when the darkness touched the Death Dao Art, the black-robed man's expression changed instantly. Death energy seeped into his body, and when the curse laws entered, he froze.

"W-Who the hell are you?! How do you know these dao techniques?!" he shouted, alarmed.

The presence of the Cursed Dao Art alone proved Liu Wuxie wasn't someone ordinary.

"You're not qualified to know," Liu Wuxie replied icily.

He cast the Frost Dao Art again, turning the eleven Drought Wraiths into grotesque sculptures of ice.

He'd held back earlier, wary of more assassins from the Black Plume Pavilion.

But now that the black-robed man had crossed his line, Liu Wuxie wouldn't rest until the man died tonight.

After all, this wasn't the first time he had slain a cultivator at the pinnacle of the Earth Profound Realm.

"Dark Spirit!" the black-robed man shouted, forming seals rapidly with both hands.

A thick darkness surged forth again, dozens of times stronger than before, plunging the entire area into a black void. He controlled dark energy with rare mastery, a talent seldom seen across the entire Central Plains.

"Light law!" Liu Wuxie countered with a roar.

Though he hadn't yet cultivated the Light Dao Art to its fullest, he could still summon the power of light laws. A glowing sphere burst into existence above, illuminating the sky and driving back the darkness like the sun piercing through a storm.

The black-robed man froze, speechless with disbelief.

He had lived for thousands of years, yet never had he encountered an opponent like Liu Wuxie. The youth's relentless cascade of dao techniques shattered everything he thought he knew.

The sphere of light suppressed the Dark Spirit and nullified its power.

"It's time to end this," Liu Wuxie said coldly.

He raised his fist and unleashed the Annihilation Fist, now fully under his control without fear of backlash. His roar echoed like a thunderclap, and a mighty gale burst forth from his strike, shattering the surrounding space.

Empowered by an immortal rune, this punch carried the destructive might of a Quasi-Heaven Profound Realm expert.

"Not good!" The black-robed man's face twisted in panic. If that punch landed, he would die without a doubt.

Liu Wuxie used the Frost Dao Art to freeze all the Drought Wraiths into lifeless statues, and from behind the spiritual array, the four women stared in awe.

"Big Brother Liu is incredible!" they exclaimed in unison.

They had witnessed battles between Earth Profound and even Heaven Profound Realm experts, but Liu Wuxie's strength at this moment had touched the peak of the Earth Profound Realm.

The black-robed man began to retreat rapidly, unwilling to continue the fight.

"Trying to flee now? Don't you think it's too late?" Liu Wuxie's voice was like an icy blade.

The Annihilation Fist locked onto its target—there was no escape.

"Brat, if you want to kill me, you'll pay the price too! You better think this through!" the black-robed man snarled.

With a twisted grin, he revealed a pitch-black spiritual talisman in his palm.

"A Black Talisman?" Liu Wuxie's pupils contracted as he halted his attack, frowning deeply.

He recognized it instantly. The man wasn't bluffing—he meant to activate the talisman if Liu Wuxie continued attacking.

Cultivators considered the Black Talisman an extremely rare artifact, notoriously difficult to inscribe. Even Liu Wuxie wasn't confident in crafting one yet.

Not only did this man possess advanced array skills, but he also had mastery over spiritual talismans, and this alone proved he was far from an ordinary cultivator.

A new thought struck Liu Wuxie: killing this man might be a waste. If he could convert him, he could gain a powerful ally.

Though converting someone at the pinnacle of the Earth Profound Realm carried risks, especially with his current divine sense, his chances weren't zero.

"You recognize it, huh?" the black-robed man sneered. "Then you should know its power."

"I imbued this one with my dark energy. If I detonate it, the darkness will consume everything within a hundred miles, including you and your women."

He wasn't exaggerating. A Black Talisman crafted by a peak Earth Profound expert exceeded most spiritual artifacts. Its destructive power could obliterate everything nearby—Liu Wuxie, the four women, and even the user himself.

Liu Wuxie didn't expect him to carry such a terrifying trump card.

Ordinary profound talismans wouldn't deter him, but the Black Talisman was different.

Seeing Liu Wuxie pause, the black-robed man smiled slyly.

"Boy, join forces with me! We'll conquer the world together!" he urged, trying to tempt Liu Wuxie.

But that was precisely what Liu Wuxie had waited for.

"Soul Capture!" he struck the moment the black-robed man relaxed, executing the technique with precision.

He didn't intend to devour the man's soul—to throw his soul sea into chaos.

The instant the man wavered—

"Faith energy!" Liu Wuxie roared, summoning a surge of radiant power and thrusting it straight into the man's soul sea.