Desolate Devouring Art - Chapter 1447 - Primordial Laws

Chapter 1447 – Primordial Laws

Liu Wuxie understood how foolish his question sounded, yet he still voiced it. If no one was supposed to eat Corpse Wraiths, then why had Gong Gong started chewing on them as if they were some rare delicacy?

There had to be a reason behind it, and Liu Wuxie was determined to know it.

His relationship with Gong Gong didn’t qualify as friendship, but enmity didn’t fit either. It barely counted as cooperation. At best, they maintained a simple relationship of supply and demand: he provided Gong Gong with witcher energy, and in return, Gong Gong would act only in true life-and-death crises to keep him alive.

Earlier, he had called out to Gong Gong several times to deal with the flower faces, yet Gong Gong couldn’t be bothered to respond. That alone proved that he had no authority to command him.

Even so, while Gong Gong ignored his summons, he would never allow Liu Wuxie to die; if Liu Wuxie perished, his supply of witcher energy would vanish with him.

“The Corpse Wraiths possess primordial laws, and they’re useful to me,” Gong Gong said. He didn’t actually enjoy eating Corpse Wraiths, nor did he like their taste, but the primordial laws within them made them valuable.

Strictly speaking, the Witcher Clan and the Corpse Wraiths came from the same era, which explained why their bodies shared certain similarities.

“Primordial laws… I see… No wonder they can disregard the spatial restrictions,” Liu Wuxie murmured with a nod. At last, he understood how the Corpse Wraiths had slipped through the Divine Heavenly Feather Robe’s defenses.

No one knew how many years had passed since the primordial era. It could have been hundreds of millions, tens of billions, or even longer; no one could say for sure.

The Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron stirred restlessly while the Divine Purgatory Palace descended from above, crushing one of the Corpse Wraiths. A strand of primordial law emerged from the impact and streaked straight into the desolate world.

The moment that strand of primordial law entered, thunderous rumbling rolled throughout the desolate world, like a colossal mountain crashing down from the heavens. Immediately afterward, the desolate world began to expand.

During Liu Wuxie’s last few breakthroughs, the desolate world had stopped expanding as it once did, and only his true essence continued to purify.

Now, he finally understood the reason behind it. He hadn’t devoured enough worlds, and he lacked sufficiently robust laws to nourish them.

The primordial law within the Corpse Wraiths was faint, and their tiny bodies could only hold so much, but they had still survived for countless years.

The single strand of primordial law gave Liu Wuxie immense profits. He sensed the desolate world growing denser and more robust, and more of his true essence began to turn golden—a perfect sign.

Gong Gong had already devoured several Corpse Wraiths, and the aura he exuded grew even purer. He still hadn’t broken through in cultivation, likely because of the current limitations of the laws or because his memories had yet to fully awaken.

Either way, he clearly needed more nourishment from witcher energy.

For Liu Wuxie to supply that witcher energy, his cultivation needed to advance to the Earth Immortal Realm so the desolate world could transform. Until then, Gong Gong could only wait for Liu Wuxie’s cultivation to rise.

Not long after, Liu Wuxie and Gong Gong actually started competing over the remaining Corpse Wraiths. These terrifying creatures, which even Immortal Emperors feared, suddenly turned into coveted spoils as the two scrambled to claim them.

Gong Gong’s hands blurred as he seized two of the Corpse Fiends in an instant. Liu Wuxie was just as ruthless; he summoned the Gate of Darkness to descend from above, crushing the remaining Corpse Fiends and extracting their primordial laws.

In this way, the two of them divided up all the Corpse Fiends between them, yet neither looked fully satisfied with the harvest.

Liu Wuxie slowly opened his eyes, a sharp glint flashing through them. He glanced at the three skeletons on the ground and let out a quiet sigh now that they had wiped out all the Corpse Wraiths.

He then opened the Universal Gourd and released Han Feizi and Qiao Bian, both of whom emerged with worry written across their faces.

“Brother Liu, are you alright?” The two of them rushed over immediately.

“I’m fine,” Liu Wuxie replied, shaking his head. He had already slain the Corpse Wraiths and extracted their primordial laws, yet his cultivation realm remained unchanged at the second-level Void Realm.

Even so, he clearly felt his true essence become far more potent than before.

“What should we do next?” Qiao Bian asked, at a loss for what to do next. The True Samadhi Fire had already reduced the Blood Radiant Worms to ash, and darkness once again swallowed their surroundings.

“Let’s go examine those three remains,” Liu Wuxie said as he walked over to the corpses. The Corpse Wraiths had already devoured the laws within their bones and flesh, and the skeletons collapsed into ash the moment he brushed them with a light touch.

Only three interspatial rings survived intact, dropping to the ground with a crisp clink.

Han Feizi took out a luminous pearl and sent it floating into the air, casting light over the area. Since the owners of the interspatial rings had long since died, no restrictions remained on them, and each of the trio picked up one ring.

They opened the rings one by one and poured all of their contents onto the ground.

It had been countless years since the corpses were killed, so everything inside the interspatial rings had rotted away to nothing, leaving only astral stones and astral crystals.

After they finished sorting the piles, they counted roughly fifty million astral stones, more than twelve thousand astral crystals, and several small porcelain bottles.

“Mhm? These are Heavenly Scale Copper Coins!” Han Feizi exclaimed when he picked out three copper coins from the heap that had somehow not decayed.

“They’re indeed, Heavenly Scale Copper Coins. They’re forged from Heavenly Scale Bones and soaked in the black tortoise’s blood for a hundred years,” Liu Wuxie said with a nod. Heavenly Scale Copper Coins were extremely valuable and served primarily as tools for divination.

“Brother Liu, Brother Qiao, I don’t want anything else. Can I have the Heavenly Scale Copper Coins?” Han Feizi asked, looking solemnly at Liu Wuxie and Qiao Bian.

His request meant that he would give up his share of anything they found from this point onward in exchange for the Heavenly Scale Copper Coins.

Even in the Heavenly Fleeting Celestial Realm, these three coins would qualify as treasures. However, they were not heaven-defying artifacts and lacked offensive power. Still, they possessed unfathomable abilities.

First came destiny; second, luck; third, feng shui; fourth, building virtue; fifth, education; sixth, one’s name; seventh, one’s physiognomy; eighth, respect for deities; ninth, meeting benefactors; tenth, maintaining health; eleventh, choosing the right work and partner; and twelfth, pursuing the auspicious while avoiding harm.

The Heavenly Scale Copper Coins could help someone evade calamities and even dispel them, but Liu Wuxie was unaware of how exactly they worked, as he had never practiced the art of divination.

Han Feizi, on the other hand, was a completely different case. He possessed the Spirit-Sealing Physique, a body born for divination, and he had also inherited the Han Clan’s legacy.

These Heavenly Scale Copper Coins were practically tailor-made for him.

At that moment, Han Feizi finally understood the strange pull he had felt after entering Nightmare City. He began to suspect that these Heavenly Scale Copper Coins had been calling out to him all along.

“These Heavenly Scale Copper Coins are useless to us. You can have them since they’re useful to you,” Liu Wuxie said. He could clearly see how much the coins meant to Han Feizi.

“We’re all brothers, and there’s no need for us to be so formal with each other. Just take it if you need it,” Qiao Bian added in his usual carefree tone.

Han Feizi had once shared that same carefree temperament, but he had changed ever since returning to the Han Clan and learning about the burdens resting on his shoulders.

As for the exact nature of those burdens, Liu Wuxie chose not to ask. He knew Han Feizi would speak when he was ready, and pressing him now would only put him in an awkward position.

The trio continued sorting through the items, casually tossing the astral stones and astral crystals to one side.

“I found a few porcelain bottles!” Han Feizi called out as he pulled two small porcelain bottles from the pile.

“Me too!” Qiao Bian said, fishing out a few more porcelain bottles of his own.

Liu Wuxie had similar findings, but most of the items had already decayed, including artifacts once comparable to those of the Earth Immortal Realm.

After millions of years without nourishment from the world’s laws, it was no surprise that they had turned to dust.

In the end, they gathered seven porcelain bottles and placed them together. Since Liu Wuxie was deeply versed in alchemy, he naturally took the lead in examining them. When he uncorked the first bottle, a rich medicinal fragrance immediately wafted out.

“These are Eternal Beauty Pills. They’re good stuff, and people can use them to maintain their appearance until their lifespan comes to an end,” Liu Wuxie said after taking a sniff. Ten pills lay neatly inside, and that number was far from small.

“Brother Liu, they’re perfect for you; you’ve got several beautiful wives, after all,” Qiao Bian teased with a grin. By now, they both knew that Liu Wuxie had four stunning wives who left countless people envious.

“Let’s put that aside for now. We can all take one each,” Liu Wuxie said. Ten pills were more than enough, so even after giving a few to Xu Lingxue and the other ladies, he would still have a few left.

The three of them each swallowed one pill, yet none of them felt any immediate change. Eternal Beauty Pills differed from ordinary pills, which usually released a surge of energy the moment they entered the stomach.

Han Feizi and Qiao Bian hadn’t hesitated in the slightest, as men loved beauty just as much as women did. Who wanted to become a hunched, withered old man after a few centuries?

Only those at the Quasi-Immortal Realm could keep their youth forever. Most cultivators still aged slowly over time, and growing old remained inevitable.

Their appearance could remain unchanged for a few centuries, yet after several thousand, or even tens of thousands, of years, age would eventually catch up with them.

Qiao Bian and Han Feizi declined to take any of the remaining Eternal Beauty Pills, as they had yet to meet the women they truly cared about and had no need for such gifts.

With that settled, Liu Wuxie put away the remaining pills without hesitation. The three of them were as close as brothers, and there was no need for excessive courtesy between them. He then reached for the second porcelain bottle.

“These are Heaven Restoration Pills. They’re eighth-grade spiritual pills, and they can bring a person back to life as long as they have one breath left. There are three in total, and we’ll take one each,” Liu Wuxie said, dividing the pills among them.

Injuries were inevitable in battle, and with Heaven Restoration Pills on hand, even a mortal wound would probably not be able to claim their lives.

When he uncapped the third bottle, he found only a single pitch-black pill inside.

“It’s a Nine Nether Pill!” Liu Wuxie said, frowning as he stared at the pill.

“Brother Liu, what’s a Nine Nether Pill?” Han Feizi asked. He could tell from Liu Wuxie’s expression that the pill was not something he liked.

“Above lies the Azure Heavens; below lies the Nine Netherworlds. Alchemists refine these pills from Nine Nether Water, and they can make a person sink into a deep illusion,” Liu Wuxie explained.

The pill created overpowering illusions for whoever consumed it; if an ordinary person swallowed one, they would enter an illusory world where they could do whatever they wished, even things they didn’t dare to imagine in reality.

According to legend, in ancient times, there was a Nine Nether Ancient City, and Nine Nether Water was born within it.

He tossed the Nine Nether Pill aside without a second thought. All three of them possessed strong wills and were not foolish enough to swallow something like that.

When Liu Wuxie opened the fourth porcelain bottle, a violent aura exploded outward, even coalescing into flickering phantoms. He slammed the bottle shut at once, outright shock written across his face.

“This is…?” Han Feizi and Qiao Bian exchanged a glance, seeing the same deep shock mirrored in each other’s eyes.