Desolate Devouring Art - Chapter 1121 - Altars Changes
Chapter 1121 – Altar’s Changes
Liu Wuxie knew that many experts from the Golden Cauldron Pavilion had entered the heavenly coffin. He had seen at least a thousand outside, yet aside from Chen Shan, he hadn’t come across a single one inside.
Their absence deeply unsettled him.
Now that his Conversion Art had grown more powerful, he was certain he could convert Chen Shan with ease if they crossed paths again.
He had to uncover the secrets of the Golden Cauldron Pavilion. He even suspected they were behind the coffin’s emergence itself. Otherwise, why would it appear in Eternal Spirit Mountain of all places?
“Big Brother Liu, look!” Chen Ruoyan shouted, her voice edged with alarm as she suddenly pointed ahead.
Liu Wuxie looked up and spotted a colossal altar ten thousand meters ahead. Massive stone blocks formed the altar, and ordinary people couldn’t move even a single one. Countless runes of laws covered their surfaces, each one representing a different type of origin force.
Around the altar, countless cultivators gathered, silently studying the scene.
“Let’s go,” Liu Wuxie said, signaling the others as the three of them dashed forward.
Of the tens of thousands who had entered the heavenly coffin, only half remained. However, the battles hadn’t ended yet, so it would be a miracle if even a third made it out alive.
Too many had fallen. Whether it was worth it depended on the opinions of the survivors; the dead had no say in the matter.
The three crossed the ten-thousand-meter distance in fifteen minutes. When they reached the altar, the sight left Liu Wuxie momentarily speechless.
To the altar’s west, thousands of natives knelt in reverence, chanting as they offered streams of faith energy. The altar towered like a mountain of pure faith, radiating an overwhelming aura of worship.
“So much faith energy,” Liu Wuxie murmured, standing frozen in astonishment.
Anyone who absorbed all of it could ascend to godhood, or perhaps even immortality.
The coffin’s master had once raised these natives to offer their faith energy daily. Even after their master’s demise, they continued to provide faith energy, saturating the altar with the power accumulated over centuries.
“That’s strange,” Chen Ruoyan said with a frown. “Why isn’t anyone rushing in?”
Logic dictated that such a treasure would certainly cause chaos. Strangely enough, those surrounding the altar showed no signs of charging forward.
No one could buy faith energy. Its benefits weren’t immediately visible, but as one advanced in cultivation, it would steadily strengthen one’s fortune.
“Master, over here!” Hei Kui called out, hurrying back toward them. He had slipped away earlier to gather information.
Following him, they circled to the front of the altar and found an even larger crowd; seven to eight thousand cultivators were packed in a tense standoff.
To their surprise, two clear factions had split the crowd. One group stood guard, preventing anyone from approaching the altar. The other group kept trying to force their way through, only to be blocked.
“Qiu Hang! You traitor! How dare you stand in your master’s way?! Step aside, or don’t blame me for what happens next!” an old man roared. He fixed his eyes on his most prized disciple, who now blocked his path.
Even a sliver of faith energy was enough to benefit someone for a lifetime. Most people would never obtain even a trace of it. Ninety-nine percent of cultivators remained ordinary in this regard, as they couldn’t create faith energy without believers.
Only exalted figures had the means to cultivate it by raising disciples who would offer them faith through worship and offerings.
“I’m sorry, Master,” Qiu Hang said, voice trembling in pain with a sword in hand. “But I can’t let you near the altar.”
“Gu Hengshan! You dare betray your own family?” another cultivator shouted in fury.
Similar scenes unfolded throughout the crowd. Friends and family members turned against each other, blocking their advance toward the altar.
It wasn’t just the faith energy. The altar’s carved origin force runes also counted as priceless treasures. No one doubted that even greater treasures lay hidden within.
“Big Brother Liu, why are they fighting people they know?” Chen Ruoyan asked, bewildered. “They seem like they know each other.”
Liu Wuxie didn’t answer. His eyes narrowed as he focused on the altar. He spotted faint soul imprints glowing inside the minds of five thousand cultivators, clear marks of the Golden Cauldron Pavilion’s control.
“I understand now,” Liu Wuxie muttered, realization flashing through his eyes. “That’s why the Golden Cauldron Pavilion gave them no missions for years and summoned them all here now.”
It all made sense.
The Pavilion had always shied away from worldly affairs. Now, Liu Wuxie finally understood why they had spent the past decade planting soul imprints across the continent.
For years, they issued no tasks or directives. Then, they suddenly summoned their pawns here without explanation. Liu Wuxie had never understood what they were after until now.
The experts they controlled came from all across the True Martial Continent. They included disciples from the Heavenly Spirit Celestial Academy and Dragon Emperor Academy, elders and juniors from various sects, and even the patriarchs of powerful clans.
“Big Brother Liu, what is the Golden Cauldron Pavilion?” Chen Ruoyan asked, clearly overwhelmed.
“You don’t need to know for now,” Liu Wuxie said, his brow furrowed. “It’s more dangerous than we thought.”
Whatever the Golden Cauldron Pavilion had planned, this grand event was no game. A greater conspiracy loomed, and the altar was the key.
Among the crowd, many powerful cultivators stood without the soul imprints, and some had even reached the Heaven Profound Realm.
“Elder Madman,” Liu Wuxie murmured, spotting a familiar figure in the crowd.
Sensing Liu Wuxie’s gaze, Elder Madman turned and nodded in silent greeting.
That quiet gesture warned Liu Wuxie to stay back. Whatever was happening, even Elder Madman hadn’t fully understood it. Keeping one’s distance was the safest course of action.
Ji Yuzhen and Bai Wensheng also stood among the crowd. Besides them, more than a dozen Heaven Profound Realm cultivators hovered around the edges of the crowd; all of them were simply observing, and none had decided to make a move.
At the top of the altar, Liu Wuxie could only make out the backs of several figures.
All the Golden Cauldron Pavilion members stood only at the Earth Profound Realm. None of them had broken through to the Heaven Profound.
It had to be due to the imprint. The moment they entered the heavenly coffin, the Golden Cauldron Pavilion summoned them straight to the altar. None of them had searched for treasures or explored elsewhere. They were here only to guard.
Dozens of corpses lay before them, and most of them were likely cultivators who had tried to storm the altar.
“Enough! They’ve turned on us! Kill them and seize the altar!” someone roared.
The altar’s entrance was nearly open, and time was running out.
“That’s right! Kill them all! We have over a dozen cultivators at the Heaven Profound Realm on our side!” more voices echoed, urging the crowd forward.
The five thousand cultivators guarding the altar stood their ground, ready to die. They understood that retreat meant certain death. They could grasp a sliver of hope only by fighting.
“Kill!” one of the Heaven Profound experts roared, charging headfirst into the fray. He charged forward with sword in hand, aiming to break through the defenders.
At that moment, several figures standing atop the altar turned around. When Liu Wuxie saw them, he looked like he had been struck by lightning as he stood frozen in place.
“Big Sister Xu, Murong, and Jian! Why are they up there?” Chen Ruoyan cried out in disbelief.
A powerful murderous intent erupted from Liu Wuxie. It wasn’t because of the three women, but because of the burly man standing beside them.
“Jiao Ba!” Liu Wuxie snarled, his jaw tightening with rage.
Jiao Ba was the very man who had poisoned his grandfather, nearly causing his death at Liu Xiaotian’s hands.
Another figure stood nearby, draped in black robes and radiating a powerful aura. Though the figure’s face remained hidden, Liu Wuxie had no doubt that the black-robed man was the Pavilion Master of the Golden Cauldron Pavilion—the mastermind behind everything.
In that instant, Liu Wuxie understood it all. The Golden Cauldron Pavilion’s goal had always been the altar, but with only a handful of their own, they could never challenge all the cultivators present.
Their only path was enslavement, forcing cultivators from the Central Plains to fight for them. Ten years wasn’t enough to raise a loyal army, but controlling others was always easier than that.
“Stop them!” Jiao Ba roared.
Without hesitation, the five thousand enslaved cultivators charged forward.
An earth-shattering clash broke out immediately. The opposing side struck the Golden Cauldron Pavilion’s faction down one by one, while the altar’s sealed entrance remained shut.
If the opposing faction reached the altar’s summit, they would reduce the Golden Cauldron Pavilion’s decade-long effort to nothing.
Ji Yuzhen, Bai Wensheng, and several other Heaven Profound Realm experts joined the fray, blasting anyone who got in their way aside.
Corpses flew through the air. Blood splattered in every direction. Blood and corpses turned the battlefield into a nightmare. Yet many cultivators still chose not to intervene, preferring to remain on the sidelines and forgo the treasure rather than gamble with their lives.
In just a few breaths, the attackers had already killed hundreds of altar defenders.
“Hei Kui, keep her safe!” Liu Wuxie ordered, then vanished into the chaos like lightning.
He had to rescue the three women before anyone could harm them. He wasn’t afraid of any mysterious imprints, as he could dissolve them with the Conversion Art. What concerned him most was the possibility that enemies could take them hostage to use them against him.
Liu Wuxie charged through the battlefield like a thunderclap, blowing apart anyone who dared to stand in his way. His momentum rivaled even the strongest Heaven Profound Realm experts.
With a single sweep of his blade, he cut down dozens who tried to stop him.
Countless cultivators watched, their jaws slack as they witnessed the destruction Liu Wuxie was unleashing. The black-robed figure was one of them.
“It’s him!” someone from the crowd exclaimed. The crowd sounded startled.
Ji Yuzhen’s face darkened the moment he recognized Liu Wuxie—the man who had taken the war blade from him, while Bai Wensheng’s face twisted into a rage. It was clear that none of them had forgotten how Liu Wuxie had humiliated them.
