Desolate Devouring Art - Chapter 1462 - Serpent Insect

Chapter 1462 – Serpent Insect

After collecting the stone rune, Liu Wuxie fused it into the desolate world, and the Stone Realm began to take shape as countless massive boulders stacked together.

As more laws of heaven and earth merged into the desolate world, it would continue to expand, and its power would grow stronger along with it.

The palace lord sent Ding Yuan away to purchase the necessary materials, and then he personally led Liu Wuxie to the following herbal field. The problem in each field was almost identical, with the spiritual herbs all affected by distorted magnetic fields.

In one of the herbal fields, they even discovered Spirit-Devouring Worms, which sent the palace lord into a towering rage. The Spirit-Devouring Worms were natural enemies of cultivators, and he could hardly fathom who would be so ruthless as to unleash them here.

“Palace Lord, this is no longer a simple matter of a traitor. I suspect someone intends to destroy the Nine Dragon Palace,” Liu Wuxie said. Even he couldn’t help feeling uneasy about the Nine Dragon Palace’s situation as they inspected more herbal fields.

The Nine Dragon Palace was fortunate that he had come here. If he hadn’t arrived in time and the spiritual herbs had completely died, the consequences for the Nine Dragon Palace would have been catastrophic.

The palace lord’s expression turned terrifyingly grim, and anyone could see that a hidden hand was targeting the Nine Dragon Palace. However, just who had the ability to shake a sect that had been standing for over a million years?

Then again, even a sect with a million-year legacy, seemingly unshakable and deeply rooted, could still be toppled once someone found the right leverage point.

The palace lord’s ear twitched slightly, and he led Liu Wuxie away from the last herbal field, returning to the Nine Dragon Palace.

When Liu Wuxie prepared to leave, the palace lord stopped him, still needing his help with another matter. They passed through several residential areas and finally stopped in front of an independent residence.

“Palace Lord!” A shadow slipped out of nowhere. His elusive presence reminded one of Elder Jian of the Heavenly Dao Society, and he took orders directly from the palace lord.

Every major sect had such a person, someone without an official status, whose existence was unknown to most.

“Speak,” the palace lord said, his expression still dark. It was fortunate that they had resolved the crisis in the herbal fields; otherwise, the outcome would have been unimaginable.

“Chang Wu’s family has all disappeared,” the shadow reported. He had gone quietly to seize Chang Wu’s family as the palace lord had instructed, but by the time he arrived, they were already gone. No one knew who had warned them.

“Damn it!” the palace lord cursed, swinging his arm in fury. As a Quasi-Immortal, he ought to have remained composed even in a crisis, yet his emotions had risen and fallen violently several times today—a rare occurrence.

Liu Wuxie lifted his head and glanced toward the courtyard ahead. Activating Ghost Eye, he pierced through the layers of earth below, and a faint smirk tugged at his lips.

“They haven’t disappeared. They went into hiding,” Liu Wuxie said calmly.

“They went into hiding?” The palace lord and the shadow both turned their gazes on Liu Wuxie. They had examined the courtyard multiple times and still found no one.

“Palace Lord, it’s best if you send someone to bring Chang Wu back first. If you delay, he might choose to take his own life. Chang Wu might not be the mastermind, but he definitely knows something,” Liu Wuxie said.

“Huang, go. Tell Chang Wu to come back obediently if he wants his family to live,” the palace lord ordered.

“Understood,” Huang said, vanishing as he rushed toward the herbal field, hoping he could arrive in time.

Liu Wuxie took the lead and strode into the courtyard, with the palace lord following close behind. The palace lord hadn’t informed anyone about the internal investigation, wary of alerting the traitors.

At first, Liu Wuxie hadn’t planned to meddle in the Nine Dragon Palace’s internal affairs as an outsider. However, the deeper he dug, the clearer it became that the conspiracy against the Nine Dragon Palace was enormous, and it could eventually drag him in as well.

Upon entering the main hall, they saw that the furnishings remained untouched, which suggested the occupants had left in a hurry. They moved through the central chamber and stepped into the inner courtyard, where Chang Wu’s family resided.

Liu Wuxie walked up to a well and extended his divine sense downward, but he found no trace of anyone.

“Everyone down there, come out. If you don’t, I’ll seal the well’s entrance for good,” Liu Wuxie said.

When no response came, the palace lord’s brows knit together. He, too, had searched the well with his divine sense, but some restrictions seemed to be blocking him, and they were restrictions capable of deceiving even a Quasi-Immortal.

That meant the person behind this had to be at least at the Heaven Gaze Realm.

Only an expert at that level could conceal themselves so thoroughly.

“Since you won’t come out, don’t blame me for what happens next,” Liu Wuxie said. He began forming seals and sent them into the well.

Ripples spread across the water as the seals struck, revealing the presence of restrictions that blocked their divine senses.

The palace lord’s eyes flashed with astonishment. Even he needed time and effort to sense such a restriction, yet Liu Wuxie had unraveled it with casual ease.

Ever since Liu Wuxie had broken through to the third-level Void Realm, he could draw upon far greater power. Aside from being unable to cast Immortal Arts, even experts at the Heaven Gaze Realm might not match him in certain aspects.

Once the restriction dissolved, the scene at the bottom of the well became apparent to their divine senses.

“Come out,” the palace lord said. His solemn voice rolled into a shockwave that traveled straight into the underground space.

They hadn’t expected the well to plunge ten thousand meters deep, nor that even a Quasi-Immortal’s divine sense couldn’t penetrate it. Liu Wuxie had only pinpointed it because of Ghost Eye.

Despite that, the depths of the well remained silent, and no one emerged.

“Since you won’t come up, then don’t ever come up. I’ll send Chang Wu down to bury you all soon,” the palace lord said, murderous intent boiling beneath his calm tone.

Just because he had treated Liu Wuxie with courtesy didn’t mean he was mild or easy to deal with. No one could become a sect master by being soft-hearted; any sect master inevitably stained their hands with countless lives.

His threat had an effect. The well’s surface splashed, and the first to emerge was Chang Wu’s wife, a woman in her early thirties with a rather delicate appearance.

“Greetings, Palace Lord,” the woman said, bowing the moment she climbed out.

Chang Wu’s two sons surfaced after her, and by then, Huang had already returned with Chang Wu in tow.

Chang Wu lowered his head, his face drained of all color.

“Chang Wu, why?” the palace lord asked, his gaze locking onto Chang Wu. The man held great status in the Nine Dragon Palace, and the palace lord could not fathom why he would betray his own sect.

“Palace Lord, just kill me. My family knows nothing about it. Please spare their lives,” Chang Wu said as he suddenly dropped to his knees.

“I’m asking you why! Has the Nine Dragon Palace treated you poorly throughout the years? Why did you betray us!” the palace lord roared, his fury plain for all to see.

Chang Wu trembled where he knelt, yet he remained silent.

The palace lord raised his palm, ready to strike Chang Wu down, but Liu Wuxie stepped in to stop him. Chang Wu held considerable authority, but he couldn’t ruin more than a dozen herbal fields by himself.

The palace lord had lashed out in a moment of rage, but he withdrew his hand upon being stopped by Liu Wuxie. Looking at Chang Wu again, he said, “As long as you tell me who’s the mastermind, I can spare your family.”

His tone eased slightly. If they could eliminate the mastermind and all the traitors, the Nine Dragon Palace would still face a second crisis, but at least they would have removed the hidden knife at their throat. After all, Liu Wuxie wouldn’t remain in the Nine Dragon Palace forever.

“Palace Lord, please just kill me. My family will die if I talk,” Chang Wu said through clenched teeth. He closed his eyes and waited for death. With his cultivation sealed by the palace lord, even ending his own life had become a luxury beyond his reach.

From Chang Wu’s tone, it was evident that someone held his family hostage and could kill them with a single thought if he spoke. That instantly made everyone wonder who possessed the ability to kill across such a distance with a mere thought.

“I can get rid of the witchcraft insects in your family’s bodies,” Liu Wuxie said.

Just moments earlier, he had discovered a tiny witchcraft insect clinging to the primordial spirit of Chang Wu’s eldest son. The discovery had shocked him because he recognized it. It was the same kind of witchcraft insect that had afflicted Zhuge Ming’s wife and plunged her into a thousand-year sleep.

The palace lord had previously scanned Chang Wu’s family with his divine sense, finding nothing. He would never have expected the problem to be lodged directly in their primordial spirits.

The primordial spirit resided deep within the soul sea, beyond the reach of divine sense unless one forcibly searched the soul.

A moment earlier, the palace lord had already considered searching Chang Wu’s primordial spirit by force.

“H-How do you know about it?” Chang Wu stared at Liu Wuxie in terror.

Witchcraft insects had enslaved him and his family, but unlike the Heavenly Silk Ant that afflicted Zhuge Ming’s wife, this one was a rare Serpent Insect, slender as a needle and latched directly onto the primordial spirit.

With a single thought from its master, the Serpent Insect could instantly shred its host’s primordial spirit and erase all their memories.

It was fortunate the palace lord hadn’t attempted to pry into Chang Wu’s memories by force. If he had, the Serpent Insect would have destroyed Chang Wu’s primordial spirit along with his memories. This method of control was similar to that used by the Golden Cauldron Pavilion in the past.

“Serpent Insect…” The palace lord frowned. He clearly remembered hearing that name before.

Zhuge Ming’s wife had fallen victim to the Heavenly Silk Ant, and they had sought Hua Feiyu’s help, yet even Hua Feiyu had been helpless. From that alone, one could imagine just how terrifying these witchcraft insects were.

“Palace Lord, I need Bodhi Root,” Liu Wuxie said.

He didn’t have any on hand, but he believed the Nine Dragon Palace should have some in their stores.

The palace lord glanced at Huang, who vanished again in an instant. When Huang returned fifteen minutes later, he carried two stalks of Bodhi Root.

“Give them to Young Master Liu,” the palace lord said.

When Huang handed the roots to him, Liu Wuxie took out a basin of clear water, tossed the Bodhi Roots in, and added several other spiritual herbs, dissolving all of them into the water. As he formed seals, a white mist rose from the surface, giving the water an eerie, bewitching sheen.

“Drink it, and the Serpent Insects will dissolve on their own,” he said. Compared to the Heavenly Silk Ant, the Serpent Insects were easier to remove, but in terms of viciousness, they were even worse.

Hearing that this concoction could break the Serpent Insects’ control, Chang Wu grabbed the basin and drank first without hesitation.

Sure enough, when the bodhi energy in the concoction flowed into his soul sea, the Serpent Insect began to tremble and tried to flee. However, a sealing mark bound it in place, and the bodhi energy crushed it to dust.

Shortly after, Chang Wu’s wife and two sons also drank the concoction and dissolved the Serpent Insects inside them.

With the Heavenly Dragon Sect’s elder’s wife falling victim to the Heavenly Silk Ant and the Serpent Insect controlling a Nine Dragon Sect elder, Liu Wuxie couldn’t shake the feeling that a connection linked the two incidents.

“Chang Wu, you can speak now. Who’s controlling you?” the palace lord asked, his tone much calmer. At this point, it was obvious that Chang Wu had been under someone else’s control.

Beyond him, how many other elders in the Nine Dragon Palace had also fallen under that person’s sway?

The palace lord didn’t dare to contemplate it. If someone had control over more than half of the elders, the Nine Dragon Palace would face a catastrophic crisis.

“It’s…” Chang Wu began, ready to reveal everything he knew.

Before he could finish a single word, an arrow appeared out of nowhere and flew toward his neck. It flew so fast that even the Quasi-Immortals present had no time to react.