Desolate Devouring Art - Chapter 1449 - Contract
Chapter 1449 – Contract
Immortal runes carried a fatal temptation for quasi-immortal artifacts. As long as one absorbed enough immortal runes, it could break through and advance into an actual immortal artifact.
The light ball trembled even more violently, straining against its shackles. It suddenly warped into a black shadow and lunged toward the immortal rune, but countless seals flared at once and slammed it back, forcing the artifact spirit into the light sphere again.
At the same time, the entire city shook as if struck by an earthquake, and the Seven-Fiend Netherworld Chains rattled madly.
“What’s going on?” Many people looked around in bewilderment. Nightmare City had remained motionless for a million years, yet today it quaked so intensely. The tremor continued for a full minute before the city finally settled.
“I want to sign a contract with you. Help us leave this place, and I can help you evolve into an immortal artifact,” Liu Wuxie said, sending his divine sense into the artifact spirit to speak directly with it. He knew full well that the artifact spirit could understand him.
The artifact spirit had slumbered under the seal for countless years, only stirring when Liu Wuxie entered Nightmare City. There had to be some special force on Liu Wuxie that resonated with it.
The artifact spirit thrashed inside the shrinking light, unwilling to give in. How could it willingly sign a contract with a human again? Its previous master had long since perished, and once it broke free of all restraints, it would no longer answer to anyone. When it finally evolved into an immortal artifact, it would be able to take human form and change at will, just like the Heavenly Dragon Sect’s Radiant Mirror.
The artifact spirit continued to struggle, but the sphere of light—woven from countless seals—kept contracting around it. Soon, a shrill scream pierced the air from within the glowing mass.
Qiao Bian and Han Feizi’s worry deepened. In their eyes, Liu Wuxie was walking on a blade’s edge; a single misstep could damage the entire sealing structure.
They didn’t realize that, from Liu Wuxie’s perspective, these seals were crude and unsophisticated. What he lacked wasn’t comprehension, but the cultivation to recreate them.
“If you refuse to sign a contract with me, I’ll use this immortal rune to destroy you. You’ve finally awakened after so long, and I believe you don’t want me to destroy you,” Liu Wuxie said, mixing threat with temptation. In the worst case, they would all die here together.
In truth, he was only frightening the artifact spirit. He had no intention of dying in this place. His actual plan was to use faith energy to cleanse the artifact spirit, then suppress it with the immortal rune and see how long it could hold out.
As the seal tightened further around the artifact spirit, waves of distorted screams echoed from the light ball. Even without Liu Wuxie doing anything else, the original seals alone could crush the artifact spirit to death.
……
Far away in the endless universe, a one-armed man suddenly opened his eyes.
“Someone has entered the depths of Nightmare City and has communicated with the artifact spirit,” he murmured, a strange look flashing across his face. He had sensed the activation of the seal the instant it stirred.
……
Within the sealed space, the immortal rune pressed down on the artifact spirit like a towering mountain. Through the light ball, Liu Wuxie could vaguely see its proper form—a ferocious visage like that of an ancient, ominous beast.
The moment Liu Wuxie began his communication, the original seals also reacted, contracting even more fiercely, as if they wanted to obliterate the artifact spirit along with the city.
“This is bad! I didn’t expect the cultivator who suppressed this city to be alive,” Liu Wuxie muttered, his heart tightening.
He had assumed that the one who sealed Nightmare City had died together with its former owner. He hadn’t anticipated that the suppressor would still be alive and manipulating the seal from afar to destroy the artifact spirit.
For over a million years, the suppression of Nightmare City had continuously worn away its evil energy, and much of that corruption had already faded under the endless erosion of time.
The artifact spirit, however, still struggled with all its might. It had no desire to vanish like this.
“I advise you to sign a contract with me. Otherwise, it will be your death once the person who sealed you comes in person,” Liu Wuxie said, changing tactics as he tried to persuade the artifact spirit.
At the same time, he promised that if the artifact spirit signed a contract with him, he would one day restore its freedom and help it ascend to become an immortal artifact. That kind of promise was something a quasi-immortal artifact could hardly resist.
Because Liu Wuxie communicated through divine sense, Han Feizi and Qiao Bian remained entirely in the dark. If they had tried, their divine sense would never have pierced through the layers of seals.
“Humans, are you telling the truth that you will return my freedom one day and help me evolve into an immortal artifact?” the artifact spirit finally asked, pushed to its limit. The artifact spirit was no different from a soul; once it perished, Nightmare City would turn into a dead city.
“Of course. I am a man of my word,” Liu Wuxie answered. He wasn’t exaggerating. At his current pace, he could ascend to the immortal ranks in just a few short years.
“Very well. I’m willing to sign a contract with you. Just make the seal stop,” the artifact spirit said at last. It had no idea who Liu Wuxie really was and assumed that the person who sealed it had returned.
Back then, the cultivator who sealed Nightmare City had battled its former owner for an entire year. Both sides suffered devastating injuries; its master died, and the city had remained sealed here ever since.
The one who sealed it must also have suffered grave wounds, which forced them into long-term recovery. That was likely why he had never appeared in all these years.
If an immortal sustained severe injuries and lacked immortal pills, they would need tens of thousands—even hundreds of thousands—of years to recover under the restrictive laws of the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain. This was why experts at the Heaven Gaze Realm rarely acted; each casual move could destroy worlds.
“Very well. I will inscribe the contract sigils now,” Liu Wuxie said as he began to draw complex runes in the air, slowing the seals’ contraction to a halt.
……
Deep in the distant universe, the one-armed man frowned.
“Could it be an immortal who interfered? Someone who can control my seals?”
“But how is that possible? Even an immortal shouldn’t be able to undo my seal. Once the seal breaks, Nightmare City will lash back. So who is it?” he muttered, confusion flickering in his eyes. The distance was too great, and he could only sense a faint reaction from the seal.
“I only need a few more years to recover my cultivation entirely, and the Nightmare City will be mine then. There’s no point thinking about it now,” said the one-armed man as he shut his eyes again and focused on healing.
From the feedback imprinted in the seals, they had merely stopped contracting—they had not shattered. That proved the seal still existed, and no one had taken Nightmare City away yet.
……
After stabilizing the seal, Liu Wuxie continued to inscribe in mid-air, weaving bizarre runes one after another.
Han Feizi had been studying runes under the Han Clan’s ancestor in recent days, but he couldn’t make sense of a single symbol Liu Wuxie drew. Each rune felt as if it didn’t belong to this world at all.
This was the contract sigil. Once it branded the artifact spirit, Nightmare City would fall firmly under Liu Wuxie’s control. If it ever rebelled, he could annihilate it through the sigil.
At the same time, Liu Wuxie had sworn not to destroy the city as long as it didn’t betray him, and he had promised to one day return its freedom. That promise was why Nightmare City had agreed to sign a contract.
The contract sigil soon wove itself into a dense, shining net that overlapped and twisted together in the air.
“Go.” With a forward push of both hands, Liu Wuxie sent the contract sigil shooting into the artifact spirit, where it clamped down around it like chains. The sigil belonged to a higher level than the sealing runes, which meant that from this moment on, Nightmare City lay under his control.
Although Liu Wuxie had managed to pierce through the seals, he still couldn’t dissolve them, and refining Nightmare City would be a long process. Even so, he felt satisfied. Taking control was already half the battle; conquering the city was now only a matter of time.
For now, the city remained bound not only by the ancient seals but also by the Seven-Fiend Netherworld Chains, which Liu Wuxie couldn’t unlock with his present cultivation. He could only wait until his strength rose high enough to refine Nightmare City into his own artifact.
A quasi-immortal artifact’s power could easily kill a Heaven Gaze Realm cultivator. Just thinking about it sent excitement surging through his blood.
Once the contract took effect, the artifact spirit no longer suffered under the same crushing force, and the seals lost much of their former oppression.
Sweat beaded and rolled down Liu Wuxie’s forehead. He had burned through half his strength to force the sigil through the seals and into the artifact spirit.
After all, those seals were the handiwork of an immortal, and only an immortal should have been able to unravel them. The fact that no immortal had come to claim the city all this time spoke volumes.
First, Nightmare City was too sinister, and no one dared to touch it lightly. Second, someone had sealed the city, and undoing that seal would provoke a ferocious backlash. Third, the Seven-Fiend Netherworld Chains themselves were rare treasures, and they were anything but easy to remove.
To immortals, quasi-immortal artifacts were not particularly rare. What they truly lacked were genuine immortal artifacts.
……
The day of the exhibition finally arrived, yet Liu Wuxie still hadn’t appeared. The various sects had already brought out their products and laid them out in the plaza for all to see.
By dusk, Zhuge Ming dragged his exhausted body back to the plaza, still without any news of Liu Wuxie. For more than ten days straight, he had ventured into the depths of Nightmare City and clashed repeatedly with the flower faces.
In the process, Zhuge Ming had even brushed against the threshold of the Heaven Gaze Realm, and his state of mind underwent a subtle change. Yet he felt no joy at all. What use was a breakthrough if Liu Wuxie never returned?
Over the past few days, the Divine Alchemy Sect had acted with high profile, showcasing their newly developed pills and preparing to push them into the market. Their production costs were low, but their presence would severely impact the sales of seventh-grade spiritual pills produced by the other sects.
Eighth-grade spiritual pills rarely appeared on the market. The ones most commonly traded were sixth- and seventh-grade pills. As for ninth-grade spiritual pills, their rarity matched the Heaven Gaze Realm itself. Above ninth-grade lay immortal pills, and across millions of years in the entire Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain, only a handful had ever surfaced.
The Heavenly Dao Society continued operating as usual, even without Liu Wuxie’s presence, because every single one of them refused to believe he would die so easily.
“Everyone, pull yourselves together. Even if Wuxie isn’t coming back, why are you all mopping like this?” Luo Hai snapped, sweeping his gaze across the group.
“Senior Luo is right. Master isn’t gone forever, and the exhibition will take place tomorrow. We can’t afford to make any mistakes,” Bi Gongyu said after taking a deep breath, addressing everyone with renewed resolve.
The Soul Pills they had produced had already sold out, and they planned to unveil their next batch of new products.
“Elder Feng He, it has been so long, and Liu Wuxie still hasn’t returned. Do you think he really died in the depths of Nightmare City?” Zhang Li and Wang Lai asked. The very thought of Liu Wuxie had become a shadow in their hearts, and they tensed at the idea of him suddenly appearing in front of them again.
The scene of them kneeling and barking like dogs had already spread throughout the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain like wildfire.
“Don’t worry about it. He won’t be coming back,” Feng He said confidently.
“Oh? Who said that we’re not coming back?” A familiar voice echoed from not far away.
