Desolate Devouring Art - Chapter 1163 - Grand Victory
Chapter 1163 – Grand Victory
A massive iceberg plummeted from the heavens, its crushing aura smothering a third of the castle as it descended with a deafening roar. Darkness swallowed the battlements, forcing the guards lurking in the shadows to reveal themselves.
Yu Wentai’s face turned grim enough to curdle blood. If his Origin Conversion Art allowed flight, he would have risen into the air and cut Liu Wuxie down himself.
However, he was bound to the ground, and his attacks could not touch the youth high above, while the latter could strike from the skies without restraint.
“I knew it! That brat is a troublemaker—I should’ve killed him when I had the chance,” Liu An snarled through clenched teeth.
The iceberg crashed into the northwest side of the castle with an earth-shaking impact.
Liu Wuxie had studied the fortress on his previous visit and knew that this was its weakest point. The northwest wall, near the arena, was poorly built, and guards were seldom stationed there.
Stone and debris exploded outward, leaving a gap several meters wide.
Through the breach, a tide of astral beasts surged in. The heavily guarded warehouse stood at the castle’s flank, nearly impregnable under normal conditions, but with Liu Wuxie’s breach, the defenders faced attacks from two fronts and failed to hold.
“Get lost!” Yu Wentai roared at last, summoning his sword. One sweeping strike ripped through the oncoming beasts, tearing them to bloody fragments.
From above, Liu Wuxie narrowed his eyes. This was his first time witnessing the power of the Origin Conversion Art—laws and true essence, and it was a dozen times stronger than those of the Transcendent Realm.
However, the beasts did not falter. A second wave crashed in, only to meet Yu Wentai’s relentless blade. Alone, he held them back like a god of slaughter, felling them faster than anyone could count.
Unfortunately, Anlu Star teemed with astral beasts, and more poured in from every direction.
Just then, Liu Wuxie made his move. He swooped down from the Astral Moon Bird, arrowing toward the ground. The raw stones were his priority. The teleportation array was out of the question, as using it would be walking into the Immortal Slaughter Palace’s jaws. If he wanted to leave Anlu Star, he needed the birds’ help, and he had to win their trust by securing the stones.
“Liu Wuxie, die!” Liu An had been watching him like a hawk, seizing the moment to strike.
“Die!” Liu Wuxie’s retort came with a merciless swing of the Heretic Blade. The air screamed as his blade ray carved a vacuum in its wake.
Shock twisted Liu An’s face. In just a month, Liu Wuxie’s strength had risen to rival high-level Transcendent Realm cultivators. His laws and true essence crushed Liu An like a tidal wave.
Their blades met with a sharp crack. Liu An’s sword shattered instantly, and the Heretic Blade swept through like a scythe, severing his head.
“No!” The scream barely left his lips before his body burst into a mist of blood, his laws and energy devoured to fuel Liu Wuxie’s power further.
Liu Wuxie pressed on, cutting down or casting aside any guards who dared bar his path. In one sector, Yu Wentai’s slaughter kept the beasts at bay, but elsewhere the slave army surged forward, overwhelming the few defenders left.
Above, the Astral Moon Birds worked in perfect coordination, clearing Liu Wuxie’s path to the warehouse.
“Origin Blade!” With both hands on the Heretic Blade, he brought it down in a strike that shattered the massive structure, revealing the glittering raw stones within.
The sight drove the slaves into a frenzy. With enough of those stones, they could break through their cultivation limits and escape this star. Some charged the City Lord Manor with the intention of seizing the teleportation array.
The warehouse roof erupted as Astral Moon Birds dove in, scooping up stones in their claws. Even with the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, Liu Wuxie managed to collect only tens of thousands in moments. There were too many.
Yu Wentai’s heart bled. This was the year’s harvest, meant for the Immortal Slaughter Palace after the beast horde passed, and Liu Wuxie had destroyed it all. Bellowing in rage, he hacked through the beasts and sprinted toward Liu Wuxie, sword in hand.
“I swear I’ll kill you!” he roared, crossing hundreds of meters in a blur.
Thousands of Astral Moon Birds descended, darkening the sky. In moments, the warehouse was nearly empty. Even some opportunistic guards snatched stones for themselves.
The king of the Astral Moon Birds swept down, a gale from its wings slamming into Yu Wentai and forcing him back, buying precious seconds for its kin. This raid had yielded more stones than the flock had gathered in years, and they would not need these stones again for a long time.
“Get lost!” Yu Wentai’s sword cleaved through the air, but the king shot skyward, letting the strike pass harmlessly beneath.
At Liu Wuxie’s whistle, his mount dove to scoop him up, carrying him aloft before Yu Wentai could close the distance. The king issued a final call, and the flock began to withdraw, leaving the scraps for other astral beasts.
Once the gap was open, thousands of beasts poured into the warehouse and devoured the remaining stones. Power surged through them instantly, and they rampaged through the castle, tearing it apart.
Meanwhile, slaves who seized the teleportation array activated it the moment they grabbed stones and fled Anlu Star.
In the blink of an eye, over a thousand vanished; whether they survived was another matter altogether.
The flock wheeled toward the Northern Foothill Mines, where the astral wind howled so fiercely that even Origin Conversion experts dared not tread lightly.
From above, Liu Wuxie surveyed the battlefield. Many slaves hid rather than resisted; they knew from bitter experience that few survived the beast horde each year.
Then, his gaze fixed on a figure among the ruins.
“Chen Gang!” Hatred flared in his chest for the man who had nearly killed him. He patted the Astral Moon Bird’s neck, and it dove, snatching Chen Gang from his hiding place.
“ARGH!” Chen Gang’s scream was torn away by the wind as talons dug into his shoulders.
Carried high into the sky, he could only look down in terror as Heaven Profound cultivators could not fly in the astral domain. A fall from here would turn him to pulp.
“Chen Gang, I didn’t expect us to meet again so soon,” Liu Wuxie said with a cold smile.
“Liu Wuxie, I’m wrong! Please, spare me!” Chen Gang begged. He had bribed the guards and planned to leave Anlu Star soon.
“Too late for regrets,” Liu Wuxie sneered. Liu An was dead, and Chen Gang would follow. Yu Wentai was too dangerous to confront directly, but Liu Wuxie knew that he had already sent word to the Immortal Slaughter Palace. Reinforcements would come soon. The consequences would be dire if Yu Wentai were to catch him.
If his guess was correct, they summoned them the moment he breached the warehouse. Anlu Star had never taken such losses, and Yu Wentai usually appeased the beasts with a token offering.
This year, the Immortal Slaughter Palace had lost hundreds of thousands of raw stones, worth millions once refined. Without those raw stones, they would struggle for the following year.
Liu Wuxie had claimed a share, the Astral Moon Birds another, with beasts, slaves, and guards each taking what they could.
The bird loosened its grip, hurling Chen Gang toward the ruins down below.
……
The slaves who fled through the teleportation array emerged into blinding sunlight, only to meet drawn blades. In three breaths, all lay dead. The Immortal Slaughter Palace, informed by Yu Wentai, had sent its experts through the array and intercepted them.
……
An hour later, Liu Wuxie returned to the Northern Foothill Mines atop his mount. The raid had been a windfall for the Astral Moon Birds, and many approached him with obvious affection. Instead of suffering grievous losses, they had obtained all they needed, and it was all thanks to him.
Simple-minded, the astral beasts repaid kindness in kind. The king met Liu Wuxie’s gaze and spoke in the language of beasts before calling over three more Astral Moon Birds, each radiating a formidable aura.
They would fly Liu Wuxie and He Yingwu away from Anlu Star. The nearest planet lay more than ten days away, and no single bird could endure the journey alone; they would rotate, ensuring the riders’ safe passage.
Liu Wuxie clasped his fists in salute to the king. Time was short; once the Immortal Slaughter Palace’s reinforcements arrived, escape would become impossible. He mounted one bird while He Yingwu took another. With a final cry from the king, the three great birds spread their wings and rose into the starry void.
