Desolate Devouring Art - Chapter 1551 - Outskirts Temple

Chapter 1551 – Outskirt’s Temple

There was an inn up ahead where Liu Wuxie planned to stay for the night, but the hawking of Soul Pills drifting through the street instantly caught his attention. Curiosity tugged at him, and he stepped into the alchemy shop without hesitation.

The shop was spacious, and cultivators streamed in and out without pause. By Liu Wuxie’s estimate, the Heavenly Dao Society’s Soul Pills shouldn’t have spread to every corner of the Spirit Martial Astral Domain so quickly. Covering half the astral domain would already be impressive, yet this planet was remote, and the cultivators here didn’t even have high cultivation.

An attendant in a red robe hurried over the moment he saw Liu Wuxie enter. “Young Master, are you also here to buy Soul Pills?”

“Let me take a look at your Soul Pills,” Liu Wuxie replied with a nod.

As his gaze swept the room, he watched the shop sell thirty Soul Pills in just three minutes. He hadn’t expected Soul Pills to be this popular in the Spirit Martial Astral Domain.

“Young Master, please take a look. You can buy five Soul Pills with one astral crystal,” the attendant said, producing a porcelain bottle and presenting a Soul Pill to Liu Wuxie.

Liu Wuxie picked up the Soul Pill and sniffed it, and his brows immediately knitted. The Heavenly Dao Society hadn’t produced this at all, and its color, scent, and composition differed drastically.

Judging by the expressions of the cultivators buying them, none of them knew counterfeit Soul Pills had flooded the Spirit Martial Astral Domain. After all, they had never taken the authentic version, so it was natural that they couldn’t tell the difference.

“May I ask where you sourced the Soul Pills from?” Liu Wuxie asked, setting the pill down.

He didn’t consume it because he sensed something inside that would severely harm a cultivator’s soul sea if taken long-term. In the short term, it would greatly boost soul energy. But if someone took it for years, the drawbacks would surface gradually. Those drawbacks wouldn’t be lethal, but they would leave lasting damage to the soul sea.

“That’s a secret,” the attendant said nervously.

The Soul Pills sold like hotcakes, and many shops had switched to selling them, so everyone had started hunting for a steady supply. In the past few days, many people had come to ask about the source of the Soul Pills too.

“You’ve misunderstood me. I’m only curious, and I didn’t come to steal your customers. Give me one hundred Soul Pills, and the extra astral crystals can be considered my gratitude to you,” Liu Wuxie said, slipping a handful of astral crystals into the attendant’s hands.

A hundred Soul Pills would only cost twenty astral crystals, yet Liu Wuxie handed over fifty.

When the attendant saw the fifty astral crystals in the interspatial pouch, he glanced around, then bent forward as though he were wiping the counter for Liu Wuxie.

“There’s a tattered temple at the western outskirts of the city. Someone wholesales Soul Pills there at midnight every day, and we all go there to restock,” the attendant replied, handing over one hundred Soul Pills before he quickly withdrew.

Once Liu Wuxie got what he needed, he rose and left the alchemy shop. He checked into the inn and waited for midnight, planning to scout the tattered temple and find out who had been distributing counterfeit Soul Pills on this planet.

If counterfeit pills had flooded even a remote planet like this, then they had likely spread throughout the Spirit Martial Astral Domain. The force backing them had clearly accumulated resources far beyond what even the Heavenly Dao Society possessed.

The sky gradually darkened, and the streets emptied little by little. At midnight, Liu Wuxie changed his appearance into that of a merchant. He turned into an azure mist and slipped out of the inn, heading toward the western outskirts.

Along the way, Liu Wuxie noticed several people moving in the same direction. They were likely heading to the western outskirts’ temple as well to buy Soul Pills in bulk.

In just a few short months, Soul Pills had become a craze across the Spirit Martial Astral Domain, and everyone wanted a share. A few minutes later, Liu Wuxie reached the western outskirts. The attendant hadn’t lied. There truly was a tattered temple there.

Dozens of people gathered outside and filed inside. Liu Wuxie blended into the crowd and followed them through the entrance. The moment he stepped in, he narrowed his eyes because the scene was far more spectacular than he had imagined.

Three experts in black robes stood at the center of the temple, their auras heavy and sharp. All three had reached the pinnacle of the Earth Immortal Realm, and they could be considered true experts in the Spirit Martial Astral Domain.

Liu Wuxie arrived late and ended up at the back of the line, while trades continued moving at the front.

A shopkeeper placed a thousand astral crystals on the spot. “I want six thousand Soul Pills.”

The black-clothed man in the center immediately produced six thousand Soul Pills. At wholesale, one astral crystal bought six pills. The shops sold them at five pills per astral crystal. The profit margin looked thin, but Soul Pills sold like hotcakes, so they still made a considerable profit.

“Trading late at night with their identities concealed and selling to whoever came to buy without any concern for their identity. Whoever’s behind the counterfeit pills doesn’t plan to sell them for the long term,” Liu Wuxie murmured.

If anyone wanted to buy the Heavenly Dao Society’s pills, they had to sign multiple agreements. Those agreements bound the merchants and prevented them from mixing fakes or maliciously hiking prices.

Liu Wuxie watched in shock as over ten thousand Soul Pills changed hands in barely ten minutes.

The Heavenly Dao Society had only requested the Skyward Gate to sell one hundred Soul Pills in half a year. Yet, in a remote place like this, the sale of Soul Pills reached ten thousand in a single night, and the Spirit Martial Astral Domain had countless large cities like this.

Ordinary sects wouldn’t be able to keep up if they were to refine Soul Pills in such staggering quantities. Only superpowers could afford production at this level because they had stable resources of spiritual herbs. Secondly, they likely had an alchemy-related treasure, such as the Universal Gourd.

“Tonight’s stock of Soul Pills is finished. We won’t be coming back for the next half a month, and you’ll have to wait for half a month if you want more,” the three black-clad figures said, cutting off the trade before Liu Wuxie even reached the front.

Demand for the pills had far exceeded supply, and production clearly could not keep pace. The shop owners who secured stock looked thrilled, while those who failed to buy any looked utterly dispirited, as though they had lost a great chance to earn astral crystals.

As the crowd began to leave the tattered temple, Liu Wuxie kept his distance and followed along.

“Boss Huang, you got lucky and managed to secure one thousand Soul Pills,” the shop owners said, flattering one another once they left.

“Boss Niu, you’re not bad either. You managed to buy five hundred,” others replied. They bragged and joked as they disappeared into the night, hurrying back to restock their shops.

The three black-clad figures remained inside the tattered temple. Only after everyone had gone far did they finally leave. They didn’t enter the city; instead, they departed overnight.

“This is interesting. They are avoiding using the teleportation array. Are they afraid of being seen?” Liu Wuxie said under his breath as he looped around and tailed them quietly.

The three flew farther and farther until they left the planet behind and ventured into the starry sky. That meant they would have to find another planet before they could land again.

After flying for a few hours, the three black-clad men finally sensed someone tracking them.

“Why are you following us? If you want to buy Soul Pills, come back in half a month, and we will give you priority,” one of them declared. They remained cautious and had already discovered Liu Wuxie.

In the vast starry sky, even a single insect could stir a ripple of airflow, let alone a living person.

Liu Wuxie wasn’t surprised that they had detected him. The three maintained their vigilance and assumed that Liu Wuxie would chase them to buy Soul Pills, because they had already encountered this situation before. In recent days, experts had pursued them and tried to force them to hand over Soul Pills.

“No. I want them now,” Liu Wuxie said calmly, keeping his disguise intact. Nevertheless, even if he revealed his face, these three still wouldn’t recognize him.

“Then you’re deliberately making things difficult for us,” the man in the center replied, his eyes flashing with anger. He had already told Liu Wuxie they had sold out.

“You can interpret it that way if you wish.”

Liu Wuxie didn’t bother hiding his murderous intent because selling counterfeit pills had harmed the Heavenly Dao Society’s interests, and he had no reason to spare them.

He held back from striking only because he wanted to track down the mastermind. Killing these three would be easy, but it wasn’t the result he wanted. The best method was to follow them and uncover who stood behind the counterfeit pills.

“How arrogant,” the three black-clad men said as they shifted into a triangular formation and trapped Liu Wuxie.

Liu Wuxie appeared to be only at the fifth-level Earth Immortal Realm, while all three of them had reached the pinnacle of the Earth Immortal Realm. By cultivation alone, they believed they could crush him.

“Tell me who you work for, and where you ship the counterfeit pills from,” Liu Wuxie demanded.

The moment they heard “counterfeit pill,” they narrowed their eyes. The authentic pills hadn’t reached this remote place yet, so counterfeit pills naturally sold like wildfire. Once the authentic pills spread here, the counterfeit pills would take a hit.

“Who are you?” the man asked, his expression turning grave.

Since Liu Wuxie dared to intercept them alone, he must have some trump card. They couldn’t afford to be careless, so they pressed him for his identity.

“Liu Wuxie of the Heavenly Dao Society,” Liu Wuxie said, revealing his true name without hesitation. After all, everyone in the Spirit Martial Astral Domain knew the Heavenly Dao Society produced Soul Pills, and Liu Wuxie was the one who created them.

The black-clad man in the middle panicked the instant he heard that name. “Y-You’re Liu Wuxie?!”

“Now, can you tell me where the counterfeit pills are from?” Liu Wuxie asked, satisfied by their reaction. Not many people knew him personally in the Spirit Martial Astral Domain, but countless people had heard of his name. The moment anyone mentioned Soul Pills, Liu Wuxie naturally came to mind.

Liu Wuxie knew these three couldn’t refine Soul Pills. They were only minions.

“We don’t know!” the man in the middle blurted out. They truly didn’t know where the counterfeit pills originated.

“What a joke. If you don’t know where they’re from, how did you get them to sell here?” Liu Wuxie sneered because he could tell they were lying.

“Big Brother, why are you fearing him? He’s only at the fifth-level Earth Immortal Realm,” the man on the right said, showing no reverence for Liu Wuxie. He felt their eldest brother was being too cautious.

“The second brother is right. This is a godsent opportunity. As long as we capture Liu Wuxie alive, we’ll be able to grasp the refining method for the Soul Pills,” the man on the left chimed in with an eerie chuckle.