Desolate Devouring Art - Chapter 1528 - Sacred Soul Flower

Chapter 1528 – Sacred Soul Flower

They had only just arrived, and Liu Wuxie still chose courtesy instead of force as he calmly asked the three elders what they wanted. Achiel reacted differently, turning wary at once as he summoned a spear and took a fighting stance.

“Did you two kill my disciple?” the elder in the center asked as he summoned a corpse that hovered before Liu Wuxie.

Confusion covered Liu Wuxie’s face when he looked at the corpse. He had only just entered the Spirit Martial Astral Domain, so how could he possibly have killed anyone?

“Seniors, you must be mistaken. We just arrived recently, and we’re not the culprits who killed your disciple,” Liu Wuxie said. He couldn’t see any wounds on the dead man, yet the man’s soul sea had shattered. That meant overwhelming soul energy had killed him, and killing a cultivator at the pinnacle of the Void Realm was not easy.

In the Spirit Martial Astral Domain, a cultivator at the pinnacle of the Void Realm already counted as an expert, which meant these three elders likely belonged to a major force.

“You still dare to argue! It must be you two!” the elder snapped, ready to strike.

A hint of anger flashed in Liu Wuxie’s locked brows and bled into his pupils. The other party demanded no explanation, offered no evidence, and still insisted they had killed their disciple, which was arrogance taken to the extreme.

“Feathered Emperor, they’re from the Nalan Clan. We have to be careful,” Achiel said. He hadn’t expected these three old men to belong to the Nalan Clan.

Who in the Spirit Martial Astral Domain hadn’t heard of the Nalan Clan? They were a superpower here, even more terrifying than the Grand Unity Sect.

In the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain, the major sects’ strength varied only slightly, keeping a fragile balance. The Spirit Martial Astral Domain differed because the Nalan Clan stood above all other sects and looked down on everyone.

Anyone who encountered the Nalan Clan had to treat them with utmost courtesy. The moment the three had appeared, Liu Wuxie had noticed the emblem on their clothes: an orchid embroidered on their left chest that marked their status.

“Is this the Nalan Clan’s style to attack without any evidence?” Liu Wuxie asked, anger tinting his expression as the three old men pressed down with pure overbearing force.

“Since you know that we’re elders of the Nalan Clan, you’d better surrender obediently and follow us to confess your crime,” the elder in the middle said as he released a powerful wave of soul energy that crashed down on Liu Wuxie and Achiel.

Achiel’s cultivation exceeded Liu Wuxie’s, but his soul energy couldn’t match his. With Soul Forge Art as the Spirit Clan’s strongest technique, few techniques in the Spirit Martial Astral Domain could rival it, and with Heavenly Dao Book supporting him, Liu Wuxie’s soul sea stood firm and unmoved.

Achiel fared worse as soul suppression turned his face grim, bulging the veins on his forehead. These were three experts at the pinnacle of the Earth Immortal Realm, and with their soul energy combined, they rivaled even the first-level Heaven Gaze Realm.

Through his battle with the Divine Son, Liu Wuxie had already noticed his soul energy could rival the first-level Heaven Gaze Realm. After dual cultivation with the women, even his physical body had become terrifyingly strong, comparable to the lower-level Heaven Gaze Realm experts.

Heavenly Dao Book opened, releasing a faint radiance that shielded Achiel behind it, easing the crushing pressure.

The three elders’ expressions changed instantly. They couldn’t hide their shock that a mere cultivator at the second-level Earth Immortal Realm could withstand their soul energy.

After all, Liu Wuxie’s name wasn’t particularly famous in the Spirit Martial Astral Domain, and only those who had been to Nightmare City had truly heard of him. Most cultivators believed Liu Wuxie had stumbled into luck and created the Soul Pills, and these three elders had never witnessed his meteoric rise.

The three elders pushed more soul energy forward, and a silent clash erupted between them. Neither side used martial techniques; they fought solely through soul energy.

Liu Wuxie’s thoughts flickered as he wondered who would dare kill a Nalan Clan disciple.

“If you three insist on being stubborn, don’t blame me for being rude,” Liu Wuxie said, his tone becoming heavier. He had delayed striking only to avoid trouble, but if these elders truly provoked him, he would kill them without hesitation, regardless of who they were.

“How dare you speak so arrogantly after killing someone of our Nalan Clan! I’ll show you the power of the Nalan Clan,” the elder in the middle snarled as he formed seals with both hands and conjured a sword of soul energy that stabbed toward Liu Wuxie, aiming to sever his soul energy.

The sword of soul energy shifted shape at will. If it landed, the slightest mistake could crack the soul sea, and unlike a physique, a damaged soul sea rarely recovered.

Liu Wuxie still hadn’t recovered from his injuries, so he didn’t dare to mobilize all his soul energy. Otherwise, these three elders would have already been three corpses, and if he were at his prime, he wouldn’t have even needed soul energy: one punch would’ve killed them.

After the long battle with the Divine Son, his desolate world still hadn’t recovered. He had suppressed his physical injuries, and only a small portion of his soul sea had returned.

“Soul Spear!” Without a moment’s pause, Liu Wuxie retaliated. Waiting any longer would only tilt the battle against him. He needed to strike before he exhausted the little soul energy he could safely use.

The moment Soul Spear appeared, the three elders’ faces changed again. Ordinary eyes couldn’t see Soul Spear, yet they could infer its shape from the trajectory of the soul energy.

“You’re a human, and you know the Spirit Clan’s technique?!” they demanded. They had already recognized Achiel’s identity, but they couldn’t make sense of how Liu Wuxie, who was clearly a human, could use the Spirit Clan’s technique.

The Soul Forge Art, lost for countless years, had finally resurfaced. Even Achiel, despite being a member of the Spirit Clan, didn’t know Soul Forge Art.

Liu Wuxie didn’t feel surprised when they recognized Soul Forge Art as Soul Spear. Soul Spear smashed through the sword of soul energy with ease and shot toward the three elders, and Liu Wuxie didn’t stop there as he summoned Soul Fire as well.

When their soul energy surged over again, Soul Shield blocked most of the suppression, leaving the effects on Liu Wuxie negligible. Moreover, his soul sea held steady around Heavenly Dao Book like an unshakable core.

Facing Soul Spear, the three elders’ expressions shifted sharply as they retreated, not daring to meet it head-on. That reaction startled Liu Wuxie because the three elders clearly held the upper hand overall, yet they still backed away, suggesting they didn’t realize he was injured, or, if they did, they wouldn’t have yielded so quickly.

“Let’s go!” the three elders said, not even bothering to retrieve the corpse, and fled without hesitation. They had to report back to the Nalan Clan that Liu Wuxie knew Soul Forge Art.

The return of Soul Forge Art was earth-shattering news. Anyone who could cultivate Soul Forge Art would grasp the ancestor of all soul arts.

“Do we give chase?” Achiel asked anxiously. Soul Forge Art mattered too much to the Spirit Clan to let the secret leak, and killing all three would be the only way to seal their mouths.

“We can’t catch up to them,” Liu Wuxie said. He understood the disaster that would follow if word of Soul Forge Art spread, but he still hadn’t recovered, and even if he caught up, killing them wouldn’t be easy. He could easily fall into an encirclement, and other members of the Nalan Clan could already be nearby.

“What about this corpse?” Achiel asked, looking at the corpse hovering before them.

“Take it with us. This isn’t the Nalan Clan’s territory, and there must be something fishy about one of their disciples dying here,” Liu Wuxie said.

They still had a long road to the next teleportation array, and several mountain ranges lay between them.

Liu Wuxie slowed down and even gave up flying, because flight would only expose their tracks, especially now that he knew those three Nalan Clan elders would return with reinforcements.

“Achiel, is there only one path to the Spirit Clan?” Liu Wuxie asked after they burrowed deep into the mountain range.

“There are two paths, but the other route is extremely far. We have to make a few extra detours and pass through a dangerous region, which will be extremely risky,” Achiel replied without pausing.

“Since that’s the case, the normal route won’t work for us. The Nalan Clan will definitely try to intercept us halfway through,” Liu Wuxie said.

He still didn’t fully understand how Soul Forge Art would shake the Spirit Martial Astral Domain, but he knew its level stood too high. Otherwise, those three Nalan Clan elders wouldn’t have worn that expression the moment they saw it.

Achiel’s mind couldn’t match Liu Wuxie’s, and cold sweat broke out the instant he understood the implication.

“What should we do now?” Achiel asked, panic creeping into his voice, because he had followed Liu Wuxie’s lead the entire way.

“Take the other route,” Liu Wuxie said, deciding immediately as he ordered Achiel to guide him onto the alternate path.

He understood the Spirit Martial Astral Domain’s layout, but he couldn’t match Achiel on the finer details, especially regarding the Spirit Clan, which he couldn’t locate cleanly on the map.

Achiel nodded and led Liu Wuxie westward. The path turned rugged, and with no shortcuts through teleportation arrays, they could only travel on foot.

Just as Liu Wuxie had predicted, other elders of the Nalan Clan lurked nearby besides the three, and the news of Soul Forge Art had already reached the clan.

The Nalan Clan immediately mobilized experts to guard the main route to the Spirit Clan. The moment Liu Wuxxie and Achiel showed themselves, those experts would capture them alive.

“This is strange. Why are there so many people in this mountain range?” Liu Wuxie asked with a deep frown.

Not long after entering, they ran into another group. These weren’t Nalan Clan cultivators, yet they clearly were searching for something through the mountains, and their cultivation was high, averaging the Void Realm and the Earth Immortal Realm.

“I also find it strange. Logically speaking, this should be an uninhabited mountain range, and there shouldn’t be this many people here,” Achiel replied, confusion etched across his face.

The farther they pushed, the more remote the land should have become, yet they encountered even more people instead. Up ahead, another group rested while talking among themselves.

When Liu Wuxie and Achiel approached, the group didn’t care at all because their cultivation was far higher at the Earth Immortal Realm.

“Brothers, may I ask what happened here in these mountains? Why are there so many people here?” Liu Wuxie asked in an amicable tone.

Men and women sat among the group, and Liu Wuxie directed his question to the middle-aged man who seemed most approachable.

“Don’t tell me that you’re not drawn here by the Sacred Soul Flower?” the middle-aged man asked, staring at Liu Wuxie in confusion. Everyone who entered this mountain range came to search for the Sacred Soul Flower.

“The Sacred Soul Flower?!” Achiel blurted in shock, drawing eye-rolls from the group, because shouting that loudly would only scare the Scared Soul Flower away.

“Thank you for the information,” Liu Wuxie said as he dragged Achiel away, refusing to provoke anyone there. He had recovered only a little over half his strength, and now wasn’t the time to fight.