Desolate Devouring Art - Chapter 1443 - Flower Faces

Chapter 1443 – Flower Faces

Liu Wuxie said nothing. Ever since they stepped onto this street, his attention had never been on the storefronts but on the structures behind them.

The shopfronts all looked identical from the outside, yet the deeper he probed, the more he realized their interiors were different.

“The shops are linked together, and the internal structure is different,” Liu Wuxie said. With Ghost Eye, he saw far more clearly than anyone relying on ordinary methods.

Qiao Bian and Han Feizi could only rely on their divine senses, and many of the deeper regions lay beyond their reach due to the limited range.

“Are we still going forward?” Qiao Bian asked, stopping and turning to the other two.

A three-way fork stood ahead of them, giving the eerie impression of leading into another world. The Mandala Flowers along the path bloomed even more seductively here; their petals were so red they looked like fresh blood, and they were so black that they reflected the outline of a person’s face. Red and black intertwined across each flower, like two opposing energies tangled together.

“It’s still early. Let’s keep going a little farther,” Han Feizi said. He felt the same invisible tug that Liu Wuxie did, a mysterious force pulling him onward.

Liu Wuxie had no objections, so the three of them picked a street and continued. In the outer regions, the Mandala Flowers only crawled along the buildings’ walls, but once they entered this area, they carpeted the entire street. It was like walking through an ocean of Mandala Flowers.

Suddenly, Liu Wuxie halted and crouched down, closely examining the Mandala Flower by his foot.

“Brother Liu—” Han Feizi started, but Liu Wuxie cut him off with a wave of his hand.

Han Feizi and Qiao Bian followed his lead and crouched with him, studying the flower together.

“This is strange. This flower is clearly bigger than the others,” Qiao Bian said with a frown, feeling something off about the Mandala Flower before him.

Similar oddities had appeared in other streets as well, and the thousands of cultivators who entered the city had long since scattered.

“Quick, we need to retreat now!” Liu Wuxie shot to his feet and turned back the way they had come. When they turned around, a horrifying sight greeted them—one that would haunt them for centuries each time they recalled this day.

A colossal face made of flowers loomed behind them, formed from countless Mandala Flowers fused into a monstrous visage with jagged fangs. The red and black blossoms twisted into a black-and-red mask that looked utterly grotesque.

Even someone as seasoned as Liu Wuxie couldn’t help being shaken by the sight of that flower face. In the other streets, cultivators encountered similar scenes as countless flower faces emerged one after another.

“What the hell is this thing?!” Qiao Bian exclaimed, eyes wide with terror as he drew his longsword and dropped into a battle stance.

Han Feizi reacted the same way, except he gripped a strange compass instead of a conventional weapon.

“You three, fall back immediately!” Elder Jian appeared in a ripple of distorted space and slammed his palm toward the flower face.

In the next breath, a tide of Mandala Flowers surged toward them as more flower faces coalesced, sealing off Liu Wuxie, Qiao Bian, and Han Feizi’s escape route.

Battle erupted in an instant. Liu Wuxie summoned the Heretic Blade and swung it down in a sweeping arc. The flower faces, charging at them, shattered under his strike and dissolved into a miasma that drifted through the air.

Elder Jian’s combat strength was terrifying. With a single palm, he blew apart the largest flower face looming over them.

Seizing the opening, Liu Wuxie’s group of three fled without any hesitation, but more flower faces swarmed Elder Jian and entangled him again.

“Elder Jian!” Liu Wuxie yelled anxiously. If Elder Jian ended up dying facing these monstrosities just to protect him, how would he ever face his master?

“Leave now! Don’t worry about me!” Elder Jian shouted, urging them to go. On top of the flower faces, a web of vines burst from the surroundings and coiled around Elder Jian’s legs, trying to anchor him in place.

“Let’s go!” Liu Wuxie said. He knew that if they stayed, they would only hinder Elder Jian rather than help him. The best way to support him was to leave and not drag him down.

Liu Wuxie didn’t fear Earth Immortals, but these flower faces were another matter entirely. They unsettled him to the core. Just looking at them made him feel as though the sight would drag his soul in and trap it.

Elder Jian fought alone against the flower faces and vines. When Liu Wuxie’s group had finally retreated from that street, they spotted another wave of flower faces surging toward them from afar.

“Our way back is blocked!” The three realized as they recovered from their initial shock and steadied their breathing.

“This way!” Liu Wuxie said, leading them down a different street where no flower faces had appeared yet. For the moment, it was the safest path they could see.

They hadn’t realized that, as soon as their figures vanished, the flower faces behind them let out eerie, chilling laughter. Then, they broke apart and scattered, dissolving into illusions.

Time crept by as shrill screams echoed from the other streets.

By afternoon, the cultivators waiting in the plaza grew anxious. The sky would be dark in at most two hours. If those who had gone exploring didn’t return before then, they would be in grave danger.

“I think we’re lost.”

Liu Wuxie’s group stepped into yet another street, but they realized they could no longer tell where they had come from. When they tried to rise into the air for a better view, they discovered an invisible force field covering the sky above Nightmare City. That barrier was what kept the floating city from drifting away.

Without this forcefield and the Seven-Fiend Netherworld Chains, Nightmare City would have wandered off into the astral void long ago. It also meant that anyone entering the city had to come through the main gate.

The streets spanned a vast, tangled network. Even with Ghost Eye, Liu Wuxie still couldn’t find an exit, and it felt as though they had stumbled into a colossal maze.

The sky darkened at an unnaturally rapid pace, and if they couldn’t escape, they would have to spend the night inside this labyrinth. It was dangerous to remain in Nightmare City after dark. Not only would they face attacks from evil spirits, but they also had to stay on guard against those bizarre flower faces.

At this critical moment, Liu Wuxie forced himself to calm down. Panic would only cloud his judgement, so he focused on finding a way out.

Han Feizi took out his compass and began making calculations.

“We seem to have fallen into a spiritual array,” he said fifteen minutes later, his voice solemn. He was certain that they had stepped into a massive spiritual array.

Liu Wuxie nodded. He had already noticed as much. This spiritual array was strange to the extreme, and not even he could unravel it. It was a formation he had never seen before.

Just because he had been an Immortal Emperor in his previous life didn’t mean he was omnipotent. Many spiritual arrays had vanished over time, and it was only natural that he couldn’t recognize some of them.

The three of them continued down the empty streets, watching as the sun sank and darkness devoured the city. There was no gradual dusk here. Once the sun set, the city would be plunged directly into darkness.

Many disciples had already returned to the central plaza, but many were still missing. This immediately drew the attention of the various sects, and they hastily ordered their disciples not to venture into the depths of Nightmare City anymore.

Elder Jian staggered back into the plaza covered in blood, instantly drawing everyone’s gaze the moment he appeared.

“Elder Jian, what happened?” Zhuge Ming rushed over. He could see at a glance that Elder Jian’s injuries were severe, his body torn as though something had chewed on him. Zhuge Ming quickly pulled out medicine and began treating Elder Jian’s wounds.

“Could it be that the elders of the Grand Unity Sect had joined forces against Elder Jian?” someone speculated. Not long ago, several Grand Unity Sect disciples had gone missing, and a few of their elders had gone out to search. The Heavenly Dragon Sect naturally suspected that there had been a clash.

Seeing Elder Jian so grievously injured, the elders of the Divine Alchemy Sect couldn’t hide the glint of satisfaction in their eyes.

“Have Liu Wuxie and the others returned yet?” Elder Jian asked, utterly unconcerned about his own injuries. As an Earth Immortal, as long as nothing damaged his foundation, he could recover from these wounds within a few days.

“Aren’t they with you?” Zhuge Ming asked, stunned. Only then did he realize that Liu Wuxie hadn’t come back with Elder Jian.

The sky had already turned dark. If the three failed to return in time, the danger they faced would multiply.

“They hadn’t returned?” Elder Jian repeated, his heart sinking. Ignoring the pain all over him, he immediately moved to head back into the depths of the city to search for them.

Zhuge Ming quickly blocked his path. If something could injure Elder Jian so badly, who knew what horrors still lurked deeper within the city?

“I’ll go. You stay here to treat your injuries,” Zhuge Ming said. With that, he vanished, streaking in the direction where Liu Wuxie’s group had disappeared.

Elder Jian returned to the Heavenly Dao Society’s section and sat down cross-legged to tend to his injuries.

Xu Lingxue and the others wanted to rush over to ask about Liu Wuxie, but in the end, they bit their lips and held themselves back.

“Don’t worry about it. Master will be fine,” Bi Gongyu said, doing his best to comfort everyone.

When the Grand Unity Sect’s disciples returned, they carried back two corpses that some unknown creature had horribly gnawed and mutilated. A heavy silence fell over the plaza, and a dark shadow settled in everyone’s hearts.

Time crawled by as the members of the Heavenly Dao Society prayed in silence, hoping Zhuge Ming would find Liu Wuxie’s group and bring them back safely.

Two hours later, Zhuge Ming returned with battle marks all over his clothes and a terrifyingly grim look on his face. The fact that he returned alone meant he hadn’t found the trio.

“Hahaha! Liu Wuxie brought it upon himself by venturing into the depths of Nightmare City! He must’ve died there!” Zhang Li laughed, venting the resentment that had been festering inside him.

Those who envied Liu Wuxie also wore expressions of gloating. They knew that without Liu Wuxie, the Heavenly Dao Society would soon crumble. Not only would they fail to sell pills, but they would also have to pay an enormous sum in compensation.

If they couldn’t afford it, the Heavenly Dragon Sect would have to shoulder the debt. The Heavenly Dragon Sect could pay it, but such a massive amount would severely shake their foundation.

“Don’t worry about it. Though I didn’t find them, I’m certain they are in the depths of Nightmare City, and we’ve probably lost track of them for the time being. I will go search for them again at dawn,” Zhuge Ming said, comforting Xu Lingxue and the others.

If Liu Wuxie had died in there, Zhuge Ming would at least have found his corpse. The fact that he hadn’t seen even a body meant that Liu Wuxie had to be alive somewhere within the city—he just had no idea where. Nightmare City was too vast; even six months would probably not be enough to search every corner.

Everyone understood that Zhuge Ming was trying to reassure them and nodded silently. All they could do was pray for a miracle the next day.

When dawn arrived, however, there was still no news of Liu Wuxie.

……

Meanwhile, Liu Wuxie’s group of three sat, exhausted, on the mysterious street. They had somehow lasted until morning.

“Quick, look ahead!” Qiao Bian exclaimed, pointing toward the white expanse in the distance.

When Liu Wuxie and Han Feizi followed his gaze, they couldn’t hide the shock in their eyes.