Desolate Devouring Art - Chapter 1297 - Snatching the Runes
Chapter 1297 – Snatching the Runes
As more divinekin entered, the spatial storm grew even more ferocious, its tearing force surging from all sides. A human cultivator failed to dodge, and the maelstrom swept him away, vanishing him without a trace. A few skirted the core, but the storm caught their arms and mangled them, leaving bloody ruin at the edge.
Liu Wuxie steadied his breath, set his bizarre footwork, and inched toward the storm. He had comprehended Spatial Dao Art; space wrapped around and shifted around him, blunting the storm’s harm and letting him press forward where others dared not.
“Sixth-level Origin Conversion Realm? Could it be Liu Wuxie?” someone asked, frowning. Though he disguised his face, his cultivation showed.
Only a handful dared step into the storm; most humans lingered at a safe distance, unwilling to wager their lives.
“It could be him. There aren’t many at the sixth-level Origin Conversion Realm.” Heads nodded in agreement. Among humans who came for the Myriad Race Ceremony, the norm was the seventh- or eighth-level Origin Conversion Realm.
“Surround him! When he comes out, capture him first—Liu Wuxie or not!” In moments, several Primal Origin Realm experts formed an encirclement, cutting off any retreat.
Liu Wuxie noticed and let a cold smirk tug at his lips. If he secured those runes, he could craft a complete profound talisman, and even a massive siege wouldn’t frighten him. A powerful profound talisman could blast an ordinary Void Realm expert to death.
Inevitably, a spatial abyss opened. The whirling vortex swelled—a clear sign the space was collapsing.
“Fall back!” several humans cried. They were only dozens of meters from the runes, yet it was already too late. The abyss kept expanding.
Liu Wuxie’s expression turned solemn. Even he wouldn’t survive a plunge into the abyss; no one knew where it led, and he might fall for ten thousand years without reaching a bottom.
As the abyss widened, it devoured the surrounding space like a colossal drain, and the suction tugged at Liu Wuxie until his body swayed.
“ARGH!” a member of the oceanic clan screamed as the storm dragged him into darkness.
Retreating wasn’t safe; the suction would sap their speed. Liu Wuxie weighed pressing for the runes or pulling back—when a sudden flare of intense light burst ahead.
A strange artifact appeared in a young man’s hands, releasing a terrifying spatial force that made the air on either side shiver.
“He’s the prodigy of the Jianmu Star, and I recall his name being Yi Shuifeng. That spear is the Storm-Breaking Spear, capable of tearing through the resistance in space,” someone said, recognizing a youth from Jianmu Star, not from Indigo Bamboo Star.
The spear ignored spatial resistance and ripped a path toward the storm’s heart. In a blink, Yi Shuifeng closed in on Liu Wuxie’s position.
That left Liu Wuxie two choices: step aside or let the spear hurl him straight into the spatial abyss. Dodging conceded the golden runes; bracing risked the void. The storm on his right raged hardest; he didn’t fear it, but it promised trouble. As Storm-Breaking Spear bore down, the chance to sidestep slipped away.
“Get lost,” Yi Shuifeng roared, his voice detonating a shockwave through the space he controlled.
“Restrict,” Liu Wuxie answered, freezing the surrounding space with Spatial Dao Art. Yi Shuifeng’s eyes narrowed at once.
Yi Shuifeng saw Liu Wuxie’s spatial control matched his own. He twisted the spear at a strange angle and stabbed a weakness in Liu Wuxie’s Spatial Dao Art.
Space quivered; Liu Wuxie’s Spatial Dao Art unraveled in an instant. Yi Shuifeng had also grasped the Spatial Dao Art, and Storm-Breaking Spear itself tore the fabric of space. Together, they put Liu Wuxie at a disadvantage in a contest of spatial control.
“Don’t blame me—you’re courting death,” Yi Shuifeng roared. Had Liu Wuxie retreated, he might have lived, but trying to halt Yi Shuifeng stoked murderous intent.
“Dragon-Grasping Hand,” Liu Wuxie struck. The technique’s silhouette gave him away at once.
“He’s Liu Wuxie,” a Heavenly Dragon Sect disciple exclaimed. They knew that skill too well to mistake it.
At Liu Wuxie’s name, greed flashed in many human eyes. Capturing him meant a seventh-grade spiritual pill, 500,000 Pure Yang Pills, and millions of astral stones from the Grand Unity Sect.
As Dragon-Grasping Hand descended, Storm-Breaking Spear’s speed faltered under the pressure. The storm raged fiercer, and the vortex expanded, swallowing a golden rune and erasing it on the spot.
A smile crept over Yi Shuifeng’s face the moment he heard the name.
“You walked right into my hands. Not only can I retrieve the golden runes today, I can also capture you, killing two birds with one stone,” he said, shattering the Dragon-Grasping Hand with a thrust and pressing the attack, his ninth-level Primal Origin Realm strength on full display.
Their clash sent the surrounding spears, manifested by spatial currents, into a frenzy. The runes jittered wildly; some shook loose from the storm’s center.
The Storm-Breaking Spear cut in, forcing Liu Wuxie to meet it head-on.
“Great Five Elemental Mythical Art,” he roared. Inside the storm, he had no other choice. Outside, he could have unleashed the Nine Heavenly Dragon Forms, but here, one misstep meant the abyss.
They fought to a stalemate, yet the shock of their exchanges accelerated the abyss’s birth.
With a thunderous boom, two opposing forces rippled out. The blast hurled Liu Wuxie deeper into the storm. Yi Shuifeng’s power surpassed that of ordinary ninth-level Primal Origin Realm cultivators, and the recoil slung him back to the outer ring while it flung Liu Wuxie nearer the core.
“You’re finished!” Yi Shuifeng growled, murderous intent darkening his gaze. Being forced back a few steps was unforgivable. He leveled the spear to drive Liu Wuxie into the abyss.
Liu Wuxie twisted midair, slipping the storm’s teeth, only to tumble toward the abyss’s lip. At the last heartbeat, a massive hand seized his arm and hauled him from the brink.
He was about to summon Earth-Binding Chains; he hadn’t expected the giant clan to intervene.
“Thank you!” Liu Wuxie said, meeting the eyes of the young giant who saved him, a dark-skinned, towering figure barely past his twenties.
“Don’t bother about it,” the giant said. He detested Yi Shuifeng’s methods. With Storm-Breaking Spear, Yi Shuifeng posed a grave threat to the nearby giants. Had Liu Wuxie not clashed with him, the giants would have suffered first.
“Damn it!” Yi Shuifeng snarled. He had been a breath from the kill when the giant interfered.
“You’re dead,” Liu Wuxie said, though the golden runes took priority.
“Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron—collect,” he roared, and dozens of runes cascaded into his grasp. The sight nearly made every pair of eyes around him pop.
“Stop him,” people shouted.
Runes secured, Liu Wuxie veered sharply and shot to the side, the Divine Dragon Phantom blurring his form as he pushed the Spatial Dao Art to its limit. His goal wasn’t slaughter; it was escaping the storm’s heart.
Those who failed to seize the runes fell back, summoning weapons to cut him off. Yi Shuifeng, most incensed of all, roared and blurred into afterimages, crossing dozens of meters in a blink.
“Leave the runes, and I’ll spare your life,” Yi Shuifeng’s voice chased him.
Liu Wuxie had no interest in brawling with so many elites at once. He would settle accounts after forging the profound talisman. The instant he cleared the storm’s core, the spatial abyss detonated, whipping into a hurricane that swallowed hundreds of meters around.
Several members of the ghost clan failed to escape, and the abyss dragged them in before they could scream.
Ignoring Yi Shuifeng’s thrust, Liu Wuxie unfurled Nine Heavenly Dragon Forms and streaked through the sky.
“Don’t let him get away,” cultivators roared, unleashing a storm of techniques.
“Heaven-Severing Strike,” the Heretic Blade cleaved down from above, its edge tearing space and spawning a fresh abyss.
“What a terrifying strike,” gasped onlookers who had never witnessed the Heaven-Severing Strike. They watched space itself shear open beneath that blade.
Several Heavenly Dragon Sect disciples held their hands; they would not turn on one of their own. But a wave of bizarre energy swept over Liu Wuxie, spiking pain through his soul sea—the faceless clan had joined the fray.
“Curse Dao Art,” Liu Wuxie roared. Though it hadn’t evolved into a mythical art, the cursed energy alone was enough to slay the faceless.
Their wails rose and cut off as the curse within their bodies erupted. In moments, Liu Wuxie devoured them all.
Against dozens, the spectacle stunned the crowd. Even the young giant who saved him stood surprised by such ferocity.
With Heaven-Severing Strike ripping an exit, Liu Wuxie seized the opening and fled before the surrounding attacks converged.
“Quick, after him,” more pursuers shouted, pouring after him. Capture him, and they would gain not only dozens of runes but also a seventh-grade spiritual pill. In that moment, Liu Wuxie was a moving treasure, and few could resist the temptation.
