Desolate Devouring Art - Chapter 1147 - Entering the Astral Domain

Chapter 1147 – Entering the Astral Domain
When Liu Wuxie woke up at dawn, he looked at the woman lying in his arms with a hint of heartache. He gently lowered his head and gave her a peck on her forehead.
“Mmm…” Xu Lingxue stirred and opened her eyes. However, she instinctively recalled the events last night and pulled up the blanket, curling up in it.
Just as she curled up in the blanket, Liu Wuxie hugged her tightly, and his lips met hers once more. His hands also began roaming across her delicate body.
“No!” Xu Lingxue resisted. She still felt some lingering soreness between her legs. Though she could use her cultivation to ease the pain, she chose not to do so. No matter how much of a struggle she put up, she couldn’t escape Liu Wuxie’s grasp.
Her soft moans soon filled the room, and peace returned only when the sun hung high in the sky.
“You’re terrible!” Xu Lingxue bit Liu Wuxie’s shoulder and shoved him out of bed.
By the time they came out of their rooms, it was already midday.
“Xue’er, I have to make a trip to the Heavenly Spirit Celestial Academy, and I might only return at night,” Liu Wuxie informed as he got dressed.
“Okay!” Xu Lingxue replied. She stayed in bed, wrapped even tighter in the blanket, and eyed Liu Wuxie warily.
Liu Wuxie left the chamber after he got dressed. He cherished the time with his family and loved ones, but there was something he had to do. Not long after Liu Wuxie left, Murong Yi, Jian Xing’er, and Chen Ruoyan tiptoed into the chamber and closed the door behind them.
“Big Sister Xu, tell me, how was it last night?” Chen Ruoyan asked with her usual liveliness.
“Thank you for making this possible,” Xu Lingxue said with a slight bow, her face filled with gratitude.
“That was your first time, and you will need some time getting used to it. Rest well for the day,” Murong Yi advised.
……
The repairs had finished in the Heavenly Gate Peak, making the area habitable once more.
“Greetings, Master!” Liu Wuxie greeted upon entering Elder Madman’s thatched hut.
Elder Madman had been waiting inside.
“Come, have a seat,” Elder Madman said. He had already prepared a steaming cup of tea.
Liu Wuxie sat across from Elder Madman. He realized that his master had been expecting his visit.
“Master, I’ve come to bid you farewell,” Liu Wuxie said sincerely. He had come to say goodbye before entering the Astral Domain.
“I know. But before you leave, go and meet the grandmaster. He has something important to tell you,” Elder Madman said with a nod.
Phenomena had appeared everywhere, and the True Martial Continent was fracturing. This was the best time to enter the Astral Domain.
“Okay!” Liu Wuxie nodded. He planned to visit the grandmaster before entering the Astral Domain, even if the latter hadn’t summoned him.
Liu Wuxie and Elder Madman talked for a long time. This was their first heart-to-heart talk as master and disciple.
“Master, is Ji Yuzhen still in the Heavenly Spirit Celestial Academy?” Liu Wuxie asked.
When Liu Wuxie destroyed the Profound Cloud Sect, Ji Yuzhen was nowhere to be seen. It made no sense that Ji Yuzhen hadn’t come for revenge, as Liu Wuxie had killed his father.
“He left not long ago after returning,” Elder Madman replied, shaking his head. He knew about the feud between Liu Wuxie and Ji Yuzhen.
Liu Wuxie had failed to kill Ji Yuzhen back in the heavenly coffin, so he would become much harder to kill next time.
Liu Wuxie furrowed his brows as he listened to Elder Madman. He knew Ji Yuzhen had left the Heavenly Spirit Celestial Academy in advance, knowing that he would seek him.
An hour later, Liu Wuxie left the thatched hut and headed for the Central Peak. He had an unmatched status in the Heavenly Spirit Celestial Academy, and he landed atop the Central Peak without any obstruction at all.
“Go on in,” said the Divine Sun Sword, which had assumed human form.
Inside the cavern, the grandmaster’s complexion looked much better than before.
“Sit,” the grandmaster said, with a cushion prepared before him.
“Greetings, Grandmaster,” Liu Wuxie bowed after sitting down.
“The gateway to the Astral Domain has opened. There will be a storm in the next few days, and it’s your only chance to enter. Are you prepared?” the grandmaster asked, his gaze on Liu Wuxie’s face.
The True Martial Continent had been waiting countless years for this day.
When Liu Wuxie mobilized world force, he had drawn away one-third of the True Martial Continent’s power. If the True Martial Continent couldn’t merge with the Astral Domain soon, it would collapse just like the Sacred Ground.
“I’m ready,” Liu Wuxie said, nodding. He had long been waiting for this day.
Even without Han Feizi’s condition, he would still head to the Astral Domain. That was the only place he could regain his strength as an immortal.
“This is the Astral Domain’s map. Study it well once you’ve left. That way, you won’t lose your way,” the grandmaster said. The grandmaster waved his hand, summoning a paper made of special material covered with cryptic markings—a map unlike any ordinary continent’s map.
The moment Liu Wuxie’s eyes fell onto the small map, he felt a sense of vast boundlessness coming from it.
He stored it carefully. The Astral Domain was vast, and the map would make it convenient for him to locate the Heavenly Dragon Sect and find the Dragon Origin Herb to save Han Feizi.
“Now, for the serious part,” the grandmaster said, his tone shifting.
“Please speak,” Liu Wuxie said, his expression turning solemn.
“It’s up to you now whether the True Martial Continent can return to the Astral Domain. Judging from the current development, we only have ten years before this continent collapses. By then, everything will vanish,” the grandmaster said with a grave tone.
They believed the True Martial Continent could last a century, but Liu Wuxie’s extraction of world force had accelerated its collapse.
Liu Wuxie’s brow furrowed upon hearing that. He knew he had to merge the True Martial Continent with the Astral Domain for his family and friends’ sake.
He couldn’t allow anyone to destroy the True Martial Continent. After all, the continent’s destruction meant the deaths of his family and friends as well.
The Heavenly Spirit Celestial Academy had been seeking the chosen one for eons for the sake of saving the True Martial Continent.
“How can I build a path to the Astral Domain on my own?” Liu Wuxie asked with a wry smile. The True Martial Continent was too vast, and it was a monumental task for him to build a bridge to connect it to the Astral Domain.
“Take this. If you somehow entered the Heavenly Dragon Sect, hand this token to their upper echelons. They will know what to do,” the grandmaster said.
A strange ripple appeared in the air with a wave of his hand, and a metallic token appeared before Liu Wuxie. On the front side of the token was a large “dragon” character, and on the other side was the diagram of the sky.
This was the Heavenly Dragon Sect’s emblem.
Time had smudged the token’s appearance, likely due to age.
Upon receiving the token from the grandmaster, Liu Wuxie scrutinized it and sensed a faint aura within.
“And what if the Heavenly Dragon Sect no longer exists?” Liu Wuxie asked after a moment of pondering.
After all, no one could guarantee that the Heavenly Dragon Sect still existed after so many years. Even the Profound Cloud Sect, with a legacy of tens of thousands of years, had perished.
The grandmaster fell silent without an answer. Even he had no idea if the Heavenly Dragon Sect still existed. What he said were mere instructions passed down from the previous grandmaster.
“We can only place our hopes on fate,” the grandmaster said, sighing.
With that, Liu Wuxie left with the grandmaster’s instructions.
When he returned to the Liu Clan, darkness had already blanketed the land. He sat on the rooftop and gazed at the sky. Eight stars hung high in the sky, and the nine stars’ alignment was nigh.
Perhaps the alignment would come tonight or tomorrow; no one could predict it.
The True Martial Continent remained peaceful and developed rapidly as more Heaven Profound Realm cultivators emerged.
The Heavenly Dao Society also saw the rise of another Heaven Profound Realm cultivator—Xu Lingxue herself. She had to have benefited significantly from their dual cultivation.
This time, Liu Wuxie had chosen to go alone; he chose not to bring Fiery along.
Finally, the last star appeared in the sky. The nine stars aligned as a storm, and a storm erupted across the heavens. The scene resembled the end of the world, as countless people emerged from their homes, drawn by the phenomenon.
A storm grew stronger and swept across the skies of the True Martial Continent.
The Liu Clan and Heavenly Dao Society cultivators stepped out of their homes.
Fiery sprawled out next to Liu Wuxie shot to its feet and stared at the sky.
“Fiery, take care of my family,” Liu Wuxie said.
Farewells were always painful, and Liu Wuxie didn’t plan to say goodbye. He soared to the sky and vanished into the starry sky.
Yan Yu wept as she stared at the starry sky. Liu Danshan clenched his fists, while two tears slid down Liu Xiucheng’s cheeks. Xu Yilin wrapped an arm around his wife’s shoulder as they watched Liu Wuxie disappear from their sight.
Everyone held a heavy heart. They knew Liu Wuxie hated farewells, so none went to see him off.
This farewell could only be for a year, ten years, or perhaps forever.
Just then, the four women broke down, knowing Liu Wuxie had already left.
Standing on the Celestial Astral Platform, Han Shanzi stood with his hands behind him, gazing into the starry sky.
“Fei’er, perhaps meeting that man was the greatest fortune of your life,” Han Shanzi muttered.
Liu Wuxie soared higher into the sky, and eventually, he could no longer see the True Martial Continent. Ferocious currents swirled around him, containing the Astral Domain’s laws.
The powerful current swept him away, dragged him into an endless vortex.
As he flew farther and farther away, his vision began to blur. Liu Wuxie guarded his primordial spirit and physique as he passed through the thick crystalline barrier, entering the vast cosmos.
A thunderous rumble shook Liu Wuxie. It felt as if lightning had struck him. An intense pain wracked him, nearly destroying his body.
His consciousness began to fade as the surrounding scenery slowly vanished.
It didn’t take long before Liu Wuxie passed out.
After an uncertain amount of time, the ferocious current softened as Liu Wuxie plummeted downward. He survived the brutal currents by relying on the True Dragon Physique, Divine Thunder Physique, and Divine Panwu Art.
If anyone else at the Heaven Profound Realm had entered the violent storm, it would have torn them apart. The violent force could even tear someone at the fifth-level Heaven Profound Realm apart.
Even so, wounds covered Liu Wuxie, leaving him battered beyond recognition.
Not long after Liu Wuxie vanished, several figures appeared and tried to enter the vortex, but the storm’s violence tore their bodies apart. The storm killed even Heaven Profound Realm cultivators who approached it.
However, one person survived, protected by a strange artifact.
“Liu Wuxie, we will meet again,” Ji Yuzhen’s voice echoed from within the storm.
He used an artifact that he had acquired in the heavenly coffin to shield himself from the violent storm.
The astral storm passed as quickly as it came. A few minutes later, the nine stars’ alignment vanished, and peace returned to the True Martial Continent.
……
In an ancient mountain range, countless members of the divine race had gathered. They had built a massive altar with countless divinekins gathered around them, chanting in unison.
“Disrupt the Astral Domain Path! We can’t allow him to enter the Astral Domain alive! If no one destroys the Ancestor Tree, the divine race will perish!” A powerful divinekin raised his scepter to the sky, and the astral storm began to distort.
……
“Wake up! Who said you could sleep here?!” someone bellowed beside Liu Wuxie.
The bellow jolted Liu Wuxie upright as he looked around in confusion.
