Desolate Devouring Art - Chapter 1428 - Transforming the Heavenly Dao Society

Chapter 1428 – Transforming the Heavenly Dao Society

Liu Wuxie had already finalized the plan for the next month, and the Heavenly Dao Society would be extremely busy.

“Wuxie, what’s the Nightmare City?” Mu Tianli asked. They had only just arrived in the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain and were still getting used to the astral domain’s environment.

Although Luo Hai had brought back many books for them to study, their knowledge still couldn’t compare with that of local cultivators born in the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain. Everyone else shared the same curiosity as they turned to look at Liu Wuxie, sensing from the name alone that Nightmare City couldn’t possibly be an ordinary place.

“Nightmare City lies on the border between the Indigo Bamboo and the Spirit Martial Astral Domains. It sits in a desolate region where fog smothers the land year-round and evil spirits roam unchecked. That place isn’t suitable for human habitation, but every eighth month the fog clears, turning it into a paradise,” Liu Wuxie explained, sharing everything he knew with them.

Even he had been shocked when he first heard about such a bizarre place.

“There’s such a miraculous place?” Mu Tianli asked, stroking his beard. This only deepened his anticipation for the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain.

“Every eighth month, a starry tide appears, and the sandstorm between the two astral domains disperses for a short time. During that period, many Spirit Martial Astral Domain cultivators came to buy goods from the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain. But because time is limited and they can’t travel to the most prosperous regions, the local cultivators bring goods over instead. Over time, Nightmare City has grown into a trading hub between the two astral domains,” Liu Wuxie continued.

After hundreds of thousands of years of development, what had once been a small market had expanded into a colossal city. Rumor had it that Nightmare City had once been prosperous, but after the astral domain shifted, the entire city was shrouded in fog and became a dwelling place for evil spirits.

Every eighth month, the major sects of the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain would travel to Nightmare City to sell their products to the Spirit Martial Astral Domain and promote those products across the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain.

After so many years, the market in Nightmare City had grown into a system of its own, and most planets would send representatives there to make their purchases.

If the Heavenly Dao Society could create a stir in Nightmare City, their name would quickly spread throughout the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain.

In addition to the trading market, Nightmare City also hosted a variety of competitions among cultivators. These events allowed various forces to showcase their products and let everyone judge their value.

“Nightmare City will surely be full of experts, but our products are nowhere near that level,” Mu Tianli said after listening to Liu Wuxie’s explanation. He understood that it was a golden opportunity for them, but also knew that the Heavenly Dao Society had nothing truly valuable to offer.

Everyone, including Bi Gongyu, Lan Yu, and the others, nodded with heavy expressions. They lowered their heads in discomfort. Their alchemy, talisman crafting, artifact forging, and spiritual arrays were all still in their early stages, and they could only produce goods aimed at the Transcendent and Origin Conversion Realms.

The real spenders in the market were cultivators at the Primal Origin Realm and the Void Realm. They formed the backbone of the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain, and each possessed immense wealth.

“This is exactly why it’s part of our plan for the next month. We don’t have much time left, and I’ll make arrangements as we go,” Liu Wuxie said, dismissing everyone to rest. Over the next month, he would personally guide them, enough for the Heavenly Dao Society to undergo a drastic transformation.

Time was tight. Liu Wuxie immediately sought out Bi Gongyu and the others, using Bloodking Bamboo Shoot to raise their cultivation. Because time flowed differently within the cultivation chambers, one year passed inside while only a day passed outside.

Not only did Bi Gongyu’s cultivation rise rapidly, but his alchemy skills also improved significantly. By reaching the Origin Conversion Realm, he could now refine sixth-grade spiritual pills. As for seventh-grade spiritual pills, he would need to step into the Primal Origin Realm, and he still had some distance to cover.

That, however, posed no real problem. Liu Wuxie could refine a large number of Golden Cicada Pills in a single day. Once they made a name for themselves in Nightmare City, they could decide their daily sales on their own terms.

Next, Liu Wuxie helped Song Ling raise his talisman art. This time, he didn’t intend for Song Ling to produce profound talismans, but to engrave talisman runes capable of amplifying the effects of spiritual talismans. Cultivators could also apply these runes to strengthen artifacts, pills, and their own cultivation, giving them far broader uses than ordinary profound talismans.

That was the Heavenly Dao Society’s true advantage. Other forces typically focused on a single craft, whereas the Heavenly Dao Society had three or five disciplines moving forward together.

As for Lan Yu’s spiritual arrays, Liu Wuxie overturned her original approach entirely. From now on, she would no longer refine spiritual array compasses, but spiritual array runes, and they would be the only ones offering such runes throughout the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain.

Only Liu Wuxie could conceive of something like that. When someone laid down a spiritual array and found its power lacking, the only way to strengthen it would be to add spiritual array runes.

However, most people only knew a limited selection of spiritual array runes. If someone could supply them with stronger runes, they could use those to reinforce their existing spiritual arrays.

People gradually abandoned ordinary profound talismans and spiritual array tools, leaving Liu Wuxie no choice but to open an entirely new path. With the Heavenly Dao Book and his experience as an Immortal Emperor in his past life, he had countless possibilities at his fingertips.

Next came the most troublesome part—blacksmithing. As cultivators grew stronger, they relied less on weapons and could defeat their opponents with pure techniques alone if their mastery was high enough. Compared to weapons forged by others that might not suit them, many cultivators preferred to refine their own.

Because of this, Liu Wuxie had to completely alter his strategy. Since they couldn’t compete by selling artifacts, they would instead sell blacksmithing runes used to strengthen artifacts, and the value of a single blacksmithing rune could easily surpass that of a spiritual array rune.

The stronger the artifact spirit, the more powerful the artifact itself became; that much was unquestionable. Usually, artifact spirits needed long periods of time to grow, and it was unheard of for them to grow rapidly with the help of blacksmithing runes.

Liu Wuxie had no prior knowledge of blacksmithing runes or spiritual array runes in his memories, but he could rely on the Heavenly Dao Book for analysis. He would need to test their effects afterward.

Sometimes, Liu Wuxie couldn’t help sighing. Even though he had been an Immortal Emperor in his past life, his past knowledge could no longer fully support his current needs. The cultivation world changed with each passing day, but with the Heavenly Dao Book in hand, he had little to worry about.

Once he completed these preparations, Liu Wuxie gathered Xu Lingxue and the other ladies, who demonstrated their current understanding of the Martial Soul Art. Their results were decent, but the power still fell short. Even so, it already proved how hard they had worked during his absence.

After briefly correcting their Martial Soul Art, Liu Wuxie went on to impart what he had learned from the loulan race, and these women would become his trump card in Nightmare City.

The ladies threw themselves wholeheartedly into practicing the Martial Soul Art. During this time, Liu Wuxie shot Xu Lingxue and a few of the others a meaningful look, but they remained unresponsive. He could only sigh inwardly in helplessness. He would have to look for his brothers to drink with tonight instead.

He then sought out Luo Hai to arrange their plans for the Sky Cloud Star and the Tranquil Meteor Star. If they did not erase those two planets, a knot would remain lodged in his heart. Those planets had dispatched assassins against him multiple times and had nearly taken his brother’s life. With such enmity between them, he saw no reason for those planets to continue existing.

“Wuxie, Shen Tian and Mu Ye aren’t weak, and they’re both at the Earth Immortal Realms. If we march in just like that, isn’t it…” Luo Hai didn’t finish his sentence, but his meaning was clear. He hoped Liu Wuxie could borrow the Heavenly Dragon Sect’s strength. If the sect sent an expert to the high levels of the Earth Immortal Realm, erasing both planets would pose no difficulty.

“This feud is between them and us. We should settle it ourselves, and if we rely on the sect, others will say that the Heavenly Dragon Sect is bullying the weak,” Liu Wuxie replied with a shake of his head.

He understood that Luo Hai was concerned about his safety, but certain matters had to remain separate from the Heavenly Dragon Sect. Moreover, Gu Yu wasn’t a disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Sect, and the sect had no proper justification to act. Liu Wuxie didn’t want to put his master in a difficult position.

Luo Hai nodded. He knew that Liu Wuxie’s reasoning was sound and that this affair indeed belonged to the Heavenly Dao Society.

Over the next few days, cultivators continued to flee from the Sky Cloud Star and the Tranquil Meteor Star. The news that they had kidnapped Liu Wuxie’s sworn brother had already spread.

During those days, Shen Tian and Mu Ye lived in constant fear, worried that the Heavenly Dragon Sect would send experts against them. But as day after day passed without any movement from the sect, they slowly relaxed. As long as the Heavenly Dragon Sect didn’t interfere, they felt completely confident and feared nothing. On top of that, they had already attached themselves to the Grand Unity Sect, and if the Heavenly Dragon Sect truly sent someone, the Grand Unity Sect would surely dispatch people in response.

When half a month passed with no action from the Heavenly Dragon Sect, Shen Tian and Mu Ye finally let their guard down.

“Father, what are you worried about?” Shen Yue asked when she stepped out and saw her father’s troubled expression. Both she and Mu Heng had already been expelled from the Heavenly Dragon Sect and sent back to their home planets.

“It’s nothing,” Shen Tian replied. Even he didn’t know what exactly he feared. The Heavenly Dragon Sect had taken no action all this time, and by all logic, the matter should have ended. Yet an indescribable unease lingered inside him, like fearing that he might choke while eating, cough while drinking, or suffer nightmares every time he lay down.

He had lived in that torment day after day. None of the men he sent out came back alive, and from that alone, he knew someone had already exposed their scheme.

The Lingqiong Clan had sworn that Liu Wuxie would undoubtedly die, but who could have predicted that he would solve the Undying Chessboard?

……

“Young Master Liu, let us go with you,” A’Lei and A’Li said, eager to accompany him to the two planets. Their combat strength now rivaled the third-level Void Realm, an impressive improvement in just over a month.

“A’Lei will come with me. As for A’Li, you will remain here,” Liu Wuxie said. The Heavenly Dao Society could not remain undefended, and even he wasn’t entirely confident that they would return alive. Therefore, he refused to bring too many people, choosing only A’Lei and Luo Hai—the two strongest combatants in the Heavenly Dao Society at present.

“Kill a few more on my behalf,” A’Li said, patting A’Lei’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it,” A’Lei replied, rubbing his fists together. He had grown restless after being cooped up in the stronghold for the past month and longed for battle. He had spent most of his life on the Giant Clan’s home planet and rarely left it. Now that he lived in the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain, he had the chance to meet more people and broaden his experience.

Liu Wuxie used a treasure, similar to a beast pouch he had purchased, to store A’Lei inside, making travel easier. The giant clan wasn’t proficient in flight and could only rely on teleportation arrays, and that method would be far too slow for their current purposes.