Desolate Devouring Art - Chapter 1488 - Confrontation
Chapter 1488 – Confrontation
The surrounding chatter streamed into Liu Wuxie’s ears, yet he showed no urgency to reveal himself and instead stood off to the side like everyone else, watching the spectacle play out.
“Isn’t the Heavenly Dao Society going to give us an explanation? Someone has died consuming your pills. Get someone out and face me!”
The three corpses laid before the Medicinal Hall had darkened lips and faces, a clear mark of poisoning.
Moreover, none of them was weak; all three had reached the high levels of the Void Realm, so ordinary poison ought to be ineffective against them. Under normal circumstances, poison wouldn’t work on them.
The man shouting had cultivated to the fifth-level Earth Immortal Realm. He also didn’t come alone—several companions stood behind him, each wearing the same righteous expression.
“Li Hong, you can’t spew nonsense like that. What evidence do you have to prove that these three died from taking pills from the Heavenly Dao Society? If you don’t have any proof, then you’re slandering us!” A youth stepped out from the Medicinal Hall, and he looked like a deacon Liu Wuxie didn’t recognize.
Aside from those Liu Wuxie had personally brought over, the Heavenly Dao Society had absorbed many new talents during this period, so it made sense that Liu Wuxie didn’t know every face.
“His name is Sun Lei, a junior deacon in the Medicinal Hall, sharp enough,” Mu Tianli said behind Liu Wuxie.
“Since I dare to come, I naturally have the evidence to back up my claim,” Li Hong sneered. He wouldn’t have shown up here if he didn’t feel confident.
Those in the surrounding crowd grew even more curious, all eager to see what evidence Li Hong could produce to prove the pills from the Heavenly Dao Society were poisonous.
“Wuxie, this is Li Hong’s information,” Luo Hai said, appearing out of nowhere. He had already sent someone to investigate Li Hong before coming, and Li Hong hadn’t brought the three corpses here by himself.
When Liu Wuxie swept his gaze over the information, a faint smile tugged at his lips. “This is interesting. They don’t have any direct ties with the Divine Alchemy Sect and the Grand Unity Sect.”
The Divine Alchemy Sect had naturally suffered the heaviest blow from the Heavenly Dao Society’s pills, and it had already become a subsidiary sect of the Grand Unity Sect.
The Grand Unity Sect wouldn’t sit back and watch the Divine Alchemy Sect collapse, so they would inevitably look for ways to save it.
“Wuxie, what does that mean? If they’re related to the Divine Alchemy Sect or the Grand Unity Sect, wouldn’t it be obvious that they’re trying to smear our pills?” Luo Hai asked, puzzled, while Bi Gongyu and Mu Tianli wore confused looks.
“This is what you call a thief shouting ‘thief’ first. If the Divine Alchemy Sect or the Grand Unity Sect sent them, handling this could get more troublesome.
Since they only sent rogue cultivators, they’re clearly showing they don’t take us seriously,” Liu Wuxie replied.
If the Divine Alchemy Sect had sent people openly, the confrontation would have become a direct one. In terms of foundation, the Heavenly Dao Society couldn’t compare to the Divine Alchemy Sect. However, if they used false accusations through outsiders and succeeded, they could achieve far more with far less.
Unfortunately for them, they had underestimated Liu Wuxie. Then again, they were aiming for the least cost and the most significant benefit, and they had naturally learned that from Liu Wuxie.
From the information alone, Liu Wuxie could already tell the Divine Alchemy Sect and the Grand Unity Sect stood behind this. The only part that still didn’t make sense to him was what poison had killed the three corpses.
“Senior Luo, make a trip to the Nine Dragon Palace immediately and look for the palace lord. As fast as possible, and you must be back within two hours,” Liu Wuxie said, quietly transmitting his voice to Luo Hai.
The Nine Dragon Palace sat within the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain, and two hours would be more than enough if Luo Hai used teleportation arrays.
Luo Hai vanished at once, heading for the closest teleportation array.
“Senior Mu, get Sun Lei to stall for time as much as possible,” Liu Wuxie said. As long as the conflict didn’t break out, he didn’t care about the noise.
“Bi Gongyu, go and prepare some materials. I’ll make sure these people won’t go back alive,” Liu Wuxie said, and a sharp glint flashed across his eyes.
Since the Divine Alchemy Sect wanted to play, he had no intention of letting these people walk away.
Without a supply of spiritual herbs, he wanted to see just how long the Divine Alchemy Sect could hold on.
“Yes!” Bi Gongyu answered and immediately left, slipping into the Medicinal Hall to prepare the materials.
After receiving Mu Tianli’s message, Sun Lei steadied himself and showed no fear even as Li Hong pressed him harder.
“Since you claim to have evidence, bring it out and let us see it,” Sun Lei said, deliberately drawing out his words to buy time.
……
Over the past month, the Nine Dragon Palace had clashed repeatedly with the Profound Azure Gate, and both sides had suffered losses.
Luo Hai’s sudden arrival caught Yan Guichou by surprise, and he didn’t waste a single word before explaining everything.
“You came at the perfect time. This is what you need,” Yan Guichou laughed as he took out some spiritual herbs from his interspatial ring, none of which had originated from the Nine Dragon Palace.
“Bring in a few corpses from the Profound Azure Gate’s disciples,” Yan Guichou ordered, and several people carried the bodies in. The Nine Dragon Palace had killed many of the Profound Azure Gate’s disciples over the past month.
“Thank you, Palace Lord Yan,” Luo Hai said, then left with the Profound Azure Gate’s disciples and the spiritual herbs.
“Let’s go watch the show,” Yan Guichou said with a smile. Then, he departed the Nine Dragon Palace with several elders and headed straight for Mount Dragon City.
……
Everyone’s eyes fell on Li Hong, all waiting to see what evidence he could produce.
“To be honest, we were fighting a Golden-Horned Bull, and our true essence was severely exhausted. We took the pills produced by the Heavenly Dao Society, but who could have thought that my brother would start coughing up blood not long after and collapse onto the ground,” Li Hong said, pointing at the man in the center while wiping his tears.
“That’s just your one-sided story. Where is the evidence?” Sun Xiao demanded. Words alone proved nothing—who knew whether the dead man had eaten something else and poisoned himself?
“I knew you’d say that. This is a Memory Talisman. My brothers and I like to record when hunting astral beasts, and we’ve recorded everything,” Li Hong said as he took out a Memory Talisman and let it unfurl in mid-air.
The Memory Talisman matched Li Hong’s explanation. His group battled the Golden-Horned Bull, a man ran out of true essence and swallowed a pill, and everyone present recognized the pill as a product of the Heavenly Dao Society.
“Wuxie, don’t you find that Memory Talisman strange?” Mu Tianli asked after watching it. Something felt off to him, though he couldn’t put it into words.
“No hurry,” Liu Wuxie replied with a faint smile. Mu Tianli’s instincts impressed him; it wasn’t easy to sense something wrong so quickly.
“We don’t have a Memory Talisman, but we have witnesses. They can testify for us, and my two subordinates died after consuming pills bought from the Heavenly Dao Society,” said the two men standing beside Li Hong.
The witnesses soon stepped forward and swore that the corpses on the ground had died after consuming pills produced by the Heavenly Dao Society.
“I really didn’t expect the Heavenly Dao Society’s pills to be poisonous. I’m lucky that I didn’t take many of them, and I won’t buy from them ever again.”
With the Memory Talisman and the witnesses presented as proof, the situation shifted steadily against the Heavenly Dao Society.
“I’m not buying from them anymore.” More people began to turn away from the Heavenly Dao Society’s pills.
If the Heavenly Dao Society were to lose its customers, it’d end up unable to sell even a single pill, and the market it had painstakingly built would collapse overnight.
The Divine Alchemy Sect’s move was vicious. Public opinion was the sharpest weapon, sharp enough to make fabricated lies feel like truth.
With tens of thousands gathered here, word of mouth could spread across Mount Dragon City in the blink of an eye, and then it sweep across the entire Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain.
Liu Wuxie paid them no attention and shifted his gaze toward another area, where he spotted Zhuge Ming.
Zhuge Ming nodded in return.
The two-hour mark crept closer and closer.
“Heavenly Dao Society, how are you going to argue now? The evidence is complete, and we want an explanation!” Li Hong seized the moment to press even harder on Sun Li, determined not to leave without forcing a conclusion.
“Everyone, please calm down. Our upper echelons will be here soon to give everyone a fair answer,” Sun Li replied. He was still too young to handle a crafty old fox like Li Hong, and he had already reached his limit just buying this much time. Worse still, the crowd began joining Li Hong to pile on the pressure.
“A fair answer? People are dead, and what fair answer can you possibly give us?” Li Hong said as he stepped forward, and the aura he released forced Sun Li to take a step back.
The Medicinal Hall’s main lobby sat directly behind Sun Li, and if trouble were to spill inside, the Heavenly Dao Society’s business would plummet.
“Li Hong is right. People are dead, and how is the Heavenly Dao Society going to handle this problem?”
Many voices rose from the crowd, echoing the condemnation.
“Make Liu Wuxie come out here! Or is he going to hide like a turtle forever?” Li Hong provoked.
“That’s right. Make Liu Wuxie come out here and explain in person! This isn’t something a mere deacon could settle,” the people behind Li Hong said as they pushed even more aggressively.
Everyone knew Liu Wuxie had founded the Heavenly Dao Society, so it felt wrong that he remained unseen when something like this had erupted. Not many people knew he had gone to the Outer Astral Spacetime, so they believed he had been cultivating in the Heavenly Dragon Sect the entire time.
Since so much time had passed, they assumed he ought to be here by now if he truly were here.
“Wuxie, I’ve brought everything back,” Luo Hai said as he finally returned.
“You’re so impatient to see me that much?” Liu Wuxie nodded and stepped forward.
Everyone had been too fixated on the chaos that they failed to notice the fact that Liu Wuxie had been standing among them the entire time. The moment Li Hong saw Liu Wuxie, a flicker of panic flashed in his eyes, but he hid it well.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t fool Liu Wuxie.
