Desolate Devouring Art - Chapter 1431 - Internal World
Chapter 1431 – Internal World
Even without Luo Hai’s reminder, Liu Wuxie already knew how dire their situation was; Shen Tian could begin refining them at any moment.
“Fire! So much fire!” A’Lei yelled, springing to his feet as flames erupted from the darkness, surging in from all directions with crushing momentum to engulf them.
“Liu Wuxie, let me show you the power of the True Samadhi Fire! I’ll refine the three of you to death today!” Shen Tian’s voice rolled above them, echoing through the void like thunder.
However, Liu Wuxie felt little fear toward the True Samadhi Fire. His demonic flame was in no way inferior, and he had come into contact with True Samadhi Fire before, though what he had seen in the past had been far too weak.
In terms of purity, the True Samadhi Fire blazing around them was several times stronger than anything he had encountered before. It was powerful enough to refine even an immortal. The realization instantly stirred his curiosity—just what kind of gourd possessed such terrifying might?
“It’s too hot!” A’Lei cried out. He feared fire by nature and could barely endure even a moment of this heat.
Although Luo Hai, with his Earth Immortal Realm cultivation, managed to endure a little longer, even he would not be able to last indefinitely.
The True Samadhi Fire spread like a crimson tide, turning the internal space of the gourd into a gigantic furnace that sought to refine the three of them as if they were pills.
“Shen Tian, you bastard! Fight us head-on if you’ve got any guts!” Luo Hai cursed, but the searing heat scorched his lungs and forced him into a fit of coughing.
Liu Wuxie’s mind spun rapidly. He even activated Ghost Eye, frantically searching for an exit. He did not truly fear the True Samadhi Fire, but if things continued as they were, he would be burned to death sooner or later.
“Hahaha! Keep cursing! Curse all you want! I’ll refine you three into human pills soon enough, especially you, Liu Wuxie! If I can refine you, I’ll definitely be able to make a breakthrough into the Earth Immortal Realm!” Shen Tian laughed wildly, ignoring Luo Hai’s curses. In his eyes, there was no need to bother with those already doomed.
“Refining into pills?” Liu Wuxie frowned, and a thought flashed through his mind—could this gourd be some alchemy cauldron?
He dug through his memories at high speed until one fragment finally surfaced that related to this gourd. In ancient times, a mysterious old man had obtained a single seed of a seven-colored gourd. When he planted it, the seed bore three Treasure Gourds, each holding a different heaven-defying ability.
He clearly remembered that one of those Treasure Gourds had fallen into the hands of the demon god, filled to the brim with demonic water that, once poured out, could drown billions of miles of land in an instant.
The whereabouts of the other two Treasure Gourds had remained unknown, and Liu Wuxie wondered whether the gourd in Shen Tian’s hand could be one of them.
“A’Lei, Senior Luo, relax your minds,” Liu Wuxie muttered. Then, he dragged the two of them into the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, shielding them from the True Samadhi Fire.
When the two entered the cauldron and saw Gong Gong, both of them were stunned. Gong Gong was still in his second slumber, and once he awakened again, his cultivation would soar.
Unfortunately, despite Liu Wuxie’s repeated attempts to rouse him, Gong Gong never responded, leaving Liu Wuxie unable to borrow his power.
Every time Gong Gong awakened, he would recover a portion of his memories, and even Liu Wuxie had no idea when his next awakening would come.
He could forcibly rouse Gong Gong through refinement, but it would be far too brutal, and it would violate the pact they had made.
Even so, Liu Wuxie did not feel overly anxious inside the Treasure Gourd. For now, he cared more about uncovering its origin.
As the True Samadhi Fire closed in, he summoned the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron and drew a portion of the flames into it.
The instant the True Samadhi Fire entered the cauldron, the demonic flame roared to life, and the Avici Hell manifested alongside the Divine Purgatory Palace, both emerging in response to the threat.
Two different flames clashed violently, but the demonic flame, bolstered by the Divine Purgatory Palace, swiftly overwhelmed and devoured the True Samadhi Fire.
While the True Samadhi Fire raged even more fiercely outside, flames already wreathed Liu Wuxie’s body. The Divine Heavenly Feather Robe, however, formed a protective layer around him, preventing the fire from inflicting any harm.
Walking calmly through the sea of fire, Liu Wuxie continued to absorb the True Samadhi Fire while studying his surroundings.
He pushed Ghost Eye to its limits, probing deeper into the Treasure Gourd, and the deeper he looked, the more his shock grew—the interior of the gourd seemed boundless as if it were an independent world.
If it hadn’t been for the Divine Heavenly Feather Robe, the situation would have been far more troublesome. The Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron alone would never be able to handle this.
“Divine Purgatory Palace, crush!” Liu Wuxie shouted, driving the Divine Purgatory Palace to smash against the internal structure of the gourd in an attempt to shatter the crystalline wall and escape.
The Divine Purgatory Palace’s suppression unleashed a deafening rumble that shook the inner world, but the impact failed to leave even a hairline crack.
This Treasure Gourd was likely on par with a Quasi-Immortal Artifact, and Liu Wuxie had no idea where Shen Tian had found it. This alone explained how Shen Tian had managed to hold the position of Tranquil Meteor Star’s planet lord.
“Liu Wuxie, stop struggling. Your resistance is futile. Just let me refine you obediently,” Shen Tian’s sinister laughter echoed, as the flames around Liu Wuxie twisted into countless visages of Shen Tian, each baring its fangs at him.
“You think you can refine me with a single artifact? Aren’t you looking down on me?” Liu Wuxie snorted and thrust his palm forward, blasting apart the surrounding flames and forcing open a path ahead.
After all, Liu Wuxie had absorbed the five elements and comprehended the demonic flame. Burning him to death with True Samadhi Fire would not be so simple.
If not for the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, though, the flames would already have reduced A’Lei and Luo Hai to bare bones, as they simply couldn’t withstand the flames.
“Let’s see how long you can last,” Shen Tian said coldly, pouring more power into the Treasure Gourd as boundless True Samadhi Fire erupted from its depths.
“A world within the gourd; sun and moon within the palm…” Liu Wuxie’s eyes narrowed as he suddenly perceived that everything inside the Treasure Gourd was inverted, with the world and yin-yang constantly shifting.
Liu Wuxie was immediately stunned as the truth dawned on him—this was the Universal Gourd. Yet the legends claimed that the Universal Gourd had long since been destroyed and cast into the depths of the universe.
Thousands of years ago, a bloody battle over the Universal Gourd had erupted in the Fleeting Cloud Celestial Realm. Countless experts had perished, and no one had expected the Universal Gourd to fall into the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain.
“What a waste. If this is really the Universal Gourd, Shen Tian hasn’t even drawn out one-tenth of its true power,” Liu Wuxie murmured, a faint smile tugging at his lips. The inner world of the Universal Gourd was even larger than he had imagined.
More importantly, the Universal Gourd still hid many secrets, but Liu Wuxie’s current cultivation was too low to uncover them. That ancient battle in the Celestial Realm had likely shattered its crystalline wall, causing the Universal Gourd to plummet into the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain.
“The way of yin and yang; the arrangement of Heaven and Earth. Yang drives creation; yin drives destruction,” Liu Wuxie whispered as he circulated the power of yin-yang and comprehended the changes within the Universal Gourd.
This was a perfect opportunity, and he could tell that Shen Tian had only grasped a fraction of the Universal Gourd’s power. If he could seize full control, he could instantly turn the tables and kill Shen Tian instead.
After all, no one understood the dao of yin-yang better than he did.
He began to weave a series of intricate seals and send them into the Universal Gourd. Protected by the Divine Heavenly Feather Robe, he ignored the True Samadhi Fire entirely.
The Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron continued to devour every wisp of True Samadhi Fire that surged in, refining it all through the demonic flame.
A hint of pain flickered across Gong Gong’s face. As the divine avatar of water, fire-attribute energy was his natural nemesis. Liu Wuxie had no choice but to move Gong Gong deeper into the cauldron, preventing him from coming into direct contact with the True Samadhi Fire.
Days passed, and Shen Tian lost count of how many seals he had formed. Even so, he still couldn’t refine Liu Wuxie, and beads of sweat began to roll down his forehead.
“Liu Wuxie, I really want to see how long you can keep this up!” Shen Tian roared. If he were faced with any other cultivator at the high levels of the Earth Immortal Realm, the flames would already have refined them, yet Liu Wuxie remained alive.
“Shen Tian, this Universal Gourd is a treasure, but it’s a waste in your hands,” Liu Wuxie mocked, fully aware that Shen Tian could hear him.
“The Universal Gourd?” Shen Tian repeated in shock. He had never heard that name before and had always called it the Treasure Gourd. Now, he couldn’t help wondering if Liu Wuxie actually knew its true origin.
As Liu Wuxie formed more seals, yin-yang energy spiraled around him and condensed into two streams—one black, one white—that burrowed deep into the Universal Gourd. The instant the two streams entered, it further confirmed his suspicion that this was indeed the Universal Gourd.
The Universal Gourd’s true wonder did not lie in trapping enemies, but in its pill-refining ability. With it, Liu Wuxie could refine tens of thousands of pills in a single day. If he could claim the gourd, he could entrust all pill refinement for the Heavenly Dao Society to it.
Shen Tian had never encountered a true expert since obtaining the gourd. If he had used it against someone at the pinnacle of the Earth Immortal Realm, they would likely have seized it from him instead.
After all, the Universal Gourd was now severely damaged. Once, it had been an Immortal Artifact, but most of its abilities had vanished, leaving only its pill-refining function.
After devouring Liu Wuxie’s group of three, Shen Tian had tried to use the Universal Gourd to refine them like pills. Yet if the gourd had remained intact, it could have contained an entire world; he could have even stored the entire True Martial Star inside it.
With Ghost Eye guiding him and yin-yang energy transforming within the gourd, Liu Wuxie finally felt a faint loosening in its depths.
“Communicate with the Universal Gourd!” Liu Wuxie focused his will and began to connect with it. Its artifact spirit had vanished, but the gourd still held abundant spirituality. If he could form a bond with it, he could erase Shen Tian’s imprint.
“What’s going on? Why is the gourd trembling so violently?” Shen Tian muttered, staring at the quaking gourd before him in shock. This was definitely a bad sign, and he hastily formed even more seals to try to suppress it by force.
“Hmph, you’re a mere Earth Immortal who hasn’t even grasped yin-yang. Let me show you what yin-yang truly looks like,” Liu Wuxie said, the mockery in his eyes growing colder as he poured an even more terrifying surge of yin-yang energy into the depths of the Universal Gourd.
The dormant spiritual arrays suddenly awakened, and Liu Wuxie successfully established a connection with the Universal Gourd. In that instant, his consciousness clashed with Shen Tian’s, each fighting for control.
“This is bad!” Shen Tian screamed. He sensed Liu Wuxie’s divine sense enter the Universal Gourd, and a chill ran through his heart. If Liu Wuxie seized control of the gourd, he couldn’t begin to imagine the consequences.
“I can’t let him refine the Universal Gourd!” Shen Tian made a desperate decision on the spot and prepared to enter the Universal Gourd personally to kill Liu Wuxie.
