Desolate Devouring Art - Chapter 1559 - Truth Revealed
Chapter 1559 – Truth Revealed
Countless eyes fixed on the black-clad man, desperate to learn who would go to such extremes to refine counterfeit Soul Pills. If Liu Wuxie hadn’t appeared, the darkness buried underground would have stayed buried for eternity.
Liu Wuxie had been the one to shatter that cruel underground workshop. After all, every pill it produced carried the blood of cultivators in the Spirit Martial Astral Domain.
The black-clad man possessed a high cultivation at the second-level Heaven Gaze Realm, and no one with that cultivation could be a nobody in the Spirit Martial Astral Domain. The crowd couldn’t help wondering how Liu Wuxie had managed to control an expert like this.
When they replayed the earlier clash in their minds, they remembered a mysterious group assisting Liu Wuxie from the shadows, and they even sensed a quasi-immortal among them. They immediately assumed those people had captured the black-clad men and handed them to Liu Wuxie.
No one believed Liu Wuxie could capture cultivators at the Heaven Gaze Realm on his own.
With a flick of his hand, Liu Wuxie tore off the black-clad man’s mask and shattered every restriction binding him.
Many from the crowd gasped. “Nalan Shan!” They recognized the man at once.
“Who could have thought that the Nalan Clan is the mastermind behind all of this. They’re the strongest superpower in the Spirit Martial Astral Domain!”
Many people fell silent the moment that realization sank in. Even if they identified the mastermind, who in the Spirit Martial Astral Domain dared to oppose the Nalan Clan?
The wave of condemnation instantly hushed.
Even Liu Wuxie hadn’t expected the Nalan Clan’s status in the Spirit Martial Astral Domain to be so overwhelming that it crushed everyone’s instinct to resist.
“The Nalan Clan is too shameless! How dare they refine such pills! We have to unite to denounce them and demand an explanation!” A righteous voice boomed from the crowd, and it belonged to the same burly man from earlier. His roar rolled through Kaya City like thunder.
“That’s right! The Nalan Clan might be powerful, but that doesn’t mean that they can do whatever they want! Not only did this incident violate the rules of the cultivation world, but many innocent lives were also lost because of it!” Once someone took the lead, more followed, and condemnation surged in waves. Some cultivators even charged into the Nalan Clan’s shop and smashed everything in sight.
Strangely, the Nalan Clan didn’t intervene, simply allowing the cultivators to vent. The Nalan Clan understood that resisting would only ignite the fury further, so they waited for the crowd to exhaust itself before stepping forward to explain.
“From today onward, I’m never taking these counterfeit pills again!” Many cultivators pulled out their counterfeit pills and hurled them to the ground. After all, they could contain their loved one’s blood in them.
“And the Heavenly Saint Guild has colluded with the Nalan Clan to help them distribute these counterfeit pills! I’m never buying anything from them again!” Zhen Yiming’s people immediately fanned the flames, shifting attention away from the Nalan Clan to the Heavenly Saint Guild.
Sure enough, the crowd stirred again and shoved the Heavenly Saint Guild to the forefront, turning it into a public enemy.
Liu Wuxie knew this wouldn’t truly injure the Nalan Clan or the Heavenly Saint Guild and would only sour the people’s attitude toward them at best. After all, the major sects in the Spirit Martial Astral Domain still didn’t dare wage open war against the Nalan Clan, and at most, they would cancel cooperation. A head-on confrontation with a colossus like the Nalan Clan would never work.
In the end, the farce dissolved as people began to leave. This also meant the counterfeit Soul Pills vanished from the market, with no one daring to buy them, as they contained Mystic Spirit Flowers as ingredients. As for whether those pills contained any human blood, most people didn’t dwell on it, because the cultivation world had always been a place where the strong preyed on the weak.
What truly frightened everyone was the Mystic Spirit Flower hidden in the pill—consume enough of it, and it would gnaw at the primordial spirit. That fear became the main reason everyone abandoned the counterfeit Soul Pills.
“Young Master Liu, Kaya City is no longer safe. It’s best if you come with us to Skyward Gate,” Su Ling said as he walked over, admiration clear in his eyes.
Liu Wuxie’s scheme had been flawless, and he had even avoided dragging the Skyward Gate into the mess. The Skyward Gate didn’t fear the Nalan Clan, but it also had no reason to fight it head-on.
Liyu Wuxie nodded. He knew the Nalan Clan wouldn’t let this go after suffering such losses, but just as they prepared to leave, Zhen Yiming suddenly froze in place.
“Master, he’s the person who entered the underground world,” Zhen Yiming said, calling out to Liu Wuxie and pointing at an old man in the crowd.
The old man looked insignificant among the sea of faces, but Zhen Yiming recognized him because he had memorized that silhouette, especially the hunched back.
Perhaps sensing the attention, the old man turned and met Liu Wuxie’s gaze head-on. The instant Liu Wuxie saw him clearly, his eyes narrowed.
“The Grand Unity Sect’s Hunchbacked Elder!” Liu Wuxie murmured grimly. He hadn’t expected the Grand Unity Sect to join forces with the Nalan Clan, which meant the Grand Unity Sect had also helped refine the counterfeit Soul Pills.
Everything suddenly made sense, including why the Skyward Gate couldn’t trace the source of the spiritual herbs used in the counterfeit pills. It turned out the Grand Unity Sect had supported the entire operation from the shadows.
The Grand Unity Sect had shipped the spiritual herbs over from the Laman Astral Domain to aid the Nalan Clan in refining the counterfeit Soul Pills.
In the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain, everyone knew the Hunchbacked Elder. Rumors claimed his hunchback wasn’t natural at all. He practiced a terrifying cultivation technique that stored all his energy in his back, shaping him into what he was. Once he released that stored energy, it would become devastating.
Sparks all but flew as both sides locked eyes. Zhen Yiming had seen the Hunchbacked Elder a month ago, and the elder had returned this month to deliver spiritual herbs to the underground world again. He hadn’t expected Liu Wuxie to topple the Emperor Refinement Cauldron.
The Hunchbacked Elder didn’t leave, and he didn’t act either. With experts from the Skyward Gate nearby, he knew killing Liu Wuxie wouldn’t be easy. Instead, he dragged a hand across his throat in a silent warning, telling Liu Wuxie he wouldn’t live much longer.
Now that the Grand Unity Sect knew Liu Wuxie had come to the Spirit Martial Astral Domain, they would surely dispatch a large force to seal the path back, trapping Liu Wuxie in the Spirit Martial Astral Domain for the rest of his life.
The Skyward Gate only maintained a cooperative relationship with Liu Wuxie and would never exhaust itself to protect him. Everything they had done so far ran on interest, and once interest vanished, they would leave without hesitation.
Liu Wuxie understood that truth well. Aside from the Heavenly Dragon Sect, only those by his side would support him unconditionally. Now that he had offended the Nalan Clan and the Heavenly Saint Guild, he could already foresee an encirclement tightening around him.
With that, the group left Kaya City and took the teleportation array to Skyward Gate. The Skyward Gate was built deep in the mountains, but it had fallen into decline and had few disciples left. No wonder they had been so eager to pursue cooperation with Liu Wuxie.
If the Skyward Gate had still been at its peak, it would never have lowered itself to cooperate with the Heavenly Dao Society.
Zhen Yiming didn’t enter the Skyward Gate because Liu Wuxie left him behind in Kaya City to keep a close watch on the Nalan Clan and relay news.
“Young Master Liu, you can stay here safely,” Su Ling said, assuring Liu Wuxie that he could rest without fear. Even the Nalan Clan wouldn’t dare openly attack the Skyward Gate.
Liu Wuxie gave a small nod, but he knew this couldn’t last. The way the Nalan Clan operated, it wouldn’t take long before they pressured the Skyward Gate to hand him over.
Moreover, the Grand Unity Sect had likely dispatched experts into the Spirit Martial Astral Domain to help the Nalan Clan seal the path back to the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain. That meant he would walk straight into their trap the moment he tried to return.
Many had already guessed that the Skyward Gate had helped Liu Wuxie retreat, but without evidence, everything remained speculation.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and things stayed calm on the surface. The Nalan Clan still didn’t step forward to offer any explanation. Since they dared to do it, they naturally didn’t fear exposure.
The Heavenly Saint Guild, on the other hand, publicly severed all cooperation with the Skyward Gate and declared that the Skyward Gate would no longer be welcome in their sales.
On the fourth day, the Nalan Clan finally stepped forward. They issued an ultimatum that Skyward Gate had three days to hand over Liu Wuxie, or the Nalan Clan would join forces with the Heavenly Saint Guild and the Grand Unity Sect against them.
With three superpowers moving together, the Skyward Gate had no way to resist.
When the news reached the Skyward Gate, gloom settled over everyone. The Skyward Gate had only just begun to recover, and it had no room to fight a war. If war erupted, the Skyward Gate would be the one to bleed first.
Meanwhile, authentic Soul Pills surged in sales after the counterfeit pills vanished from the market. In just a few days, the Skyward Gate sold tens of thousands of Soul Pills, and the price returned to one astral crystal for three pills. It was more expensive than the counterfeit pills, but it had no side effects, allowing everyone to consume with peace of mind. The effects also far exceeded those of the counterfeit pills.
“Young Master Liu, how can I help you?” Su Ling asked when he saw Liu Wuxie enter.
“I have come to bid my farewell,” Liu Wuxie said as he sat down. He had seen the Skyward Gate’s attitude—most supported him, while only a minority wanted to hand him over.
“You don’t have to worry about that. They won’t dare to attack the Skyward Gate,” Su Ling said, already guessing what Liu Wuxie feared.
The Skyward Gate’s upper echelons had received the Nalan Clan’s ultimatum, and Liu Wuxie had naturally heard about it as well.
“I know the Skyward Gate can fend off the pressure from them, but I have other matters to handle, and I won’t stay any longer. The Soul Pills are back on track, and there’s no longer a reason for me to stay behind.”
Liu Wuxie refused to place the Skyward Gate in a difficult position because of him.
They were cooperative partners, and once cracks formed, the cooperation would collapse sooner or later. Moreover, Liu Wuxie never liked troubling others, even the Heavenly Dragon Sect, and he had always avoided dragging them into his own mess.
“Have you decided on where to go?” Su Ling asked. After seeing Liu Wuxie’s resolve, he didn’t insist.
The Grand Unity Sect had already sealed the path back to the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain, so returning now would be unwise.
Liu Wuxie’s original plan had been to stay in the Spirit Martial Astral Domain for a year, yet only two months had passed. He wasn’t in a hurry to return. He planned to use the remaining time to reach the higher levels of the Earth Immortal Realm and gain control of the Heavenly Deity Monument, and only then would he begin his killing spree.
