Desolate Devouring Art - Chapter 1569 - Yin-Yang

Chapter 1569 – Yin-Yang

Liu Wuxie’s blunt line landed without warning, and the atmosphere inside the room turned eerie at once. A heartbeat earlier, the chamber still felt warm like spring, yet it plunged straight to a freezing point.

“How did you find out?” Ruo Shui asked. His voice changed abruptly, neither male nor female, and the strange timbre grated on the ears.

“I guessed it,” Liu Wuxie shrugged. From the moment he first saw Ruo Shui, suspicion had already taken root.

“Do you realize you won’t walk out of this room alive now that you’ve guessed my identity?” Ruo Shui asked. They were both smart people, so neither needed pointless pretense, and there was no reason for him to keep hiding after Liu Wuxie tore the veil away.

“Even if I hadn’t guessed it, I still would have had a hard time walking out of this room alive, wouldn’t I?” Liu Wuxie asked, the smile on his face never wavering.

“You’re smart, but smart people don’t tend to live long,” Ruo Shui said, keeping his eyes locked on Liu Wuxie.

“There are always exceptions,” Liu Wuxie replied, spreading his hands. Smart people died early because they knew too much.

Ruo Shui stared at Liu Wuxie for a full minute before asking, “Who are you?” He couldn’t sense even a trace of fear, and Liu Wuxie’s composure remained so steady it sent a chill down his spine.

Ruo Shui had seen countless people over the years, yet this was the first time he had met someone who stayed this calm under pressure. Nothing seemed able to shake Liu Wuxie’s heart, no matter how hard he pressed.

“Who I am doesn’t matter. What matters is who you are,” Liu Wuxie said. Even if he revealed his identity, the other party still wouldn’t recognize him.

On the contrary, Ruo Shui was an expert at the pinnacle of the Heaven Gaze Realm, and his playing a courtesan here hinted at hidden motives.

Tension snapped tight between them, neither willing to offer a name. Both of them knew that “Ruo Shui” was nothing but a cover.

“You should know that I can crush you with one hand,” Ruo Shui said, then burst into laughter. His voice swung between hoarse and shrill, like two people laughing at once.

“Isn’t it tiring to wear a veil? Having a yin-yang face isn’t something to be ashamed of,” Liu Wuxie said indifferently, as though they were old friends chatting. The moment he spoke the words “yin-yang face,” murderous intent erupted from Ruo Shui like a tidal wave.

“I suddenly don’t want to kill you anymore. Killing someone as interesting as you would be a waste,” Ruo Shui said, lifting the veil away and revealing the “yin-yang face” Liu Wuxie had just mentioned.

The left side held a stunningly beautiful face, while the right side carried a man’s face with a trimmed mustache. Someone had shaped the right brow to mirror the left so that the split wouldn’t look too abrupt.

“How rare for someone to be born with a yin-yang face,” Liu Wuxie said faintly.

“What an interesting brat. I bet your heart will taste wonderful,” Ruo Shui said, licking his crimson lips as his gaze settled on Liu Wuxie’s chest.

“The clash of yin and yang energies on every full moon. When the clash hits, the pain becomes so unbearable that a human’s heart is the best medicine. This is the reason why you came to Peach Blossom Nunnery, right?” Liu Wuxie asked.

A cold bead of sweat slid down Ruo Shui’s forehead. Despite Liu Wuxie’s low cultivation, each sentence he spoke made his heart tremble, and if he had known Liu Wuxie’s real strength, he would have fled this room without hesitation.

“You’re right, but so what? I will still eat your heart soon,” Ruo Shui said, finally losing his composure under Liu Wuxie’s calm.

“Not so sure about that,” Liu Wuxie replied with a shake of his head, then flicked his gaze toward the window as midnight drew close.

“You think I don’t know you’re stalling until midnight for my yin and yang energies to clash before using that opening to escape?” Ruo Shui asked, laying Liu Wuxie’s intent bare.

At midnight, the clash between energies would erupt, but with Ruo Shui’s cultivation at the pinnacle of the Heaven Gaze Realm, he could still crush Liu Wuxie with ease. The tension tightened again, and Liu Wuxie quietly gathered power, fully aware that Ruo Shui would never let him walk away.

If Ruo Shui failed to consume a heart tonight, the clash would drive him mad and turn violent. After that, even eating a heart wouldn’t be enough to suppress it.

Ruo Shui didn’t hesitate. He struck at once, snapping out a claw straight toward Liu Wuxie’s heart. It was fast, precise, and practiced. If that blow landed, he would rip Liu Wuxie’s heart out on the spot.

It was already too late for Ruo Shui to find another target, since most cultivators had already found their beds. If he rushed out, he would cause a massive uproar and expose his identity, and with the reputation of a yin-yang person being what it was, some people valued face more than life. That was why Ruo Shui decided to kill Liu Wuxie before midnight, no matter the cost.

Liu Wuxie vanished in a blur, evading Ruo Shui’s strike, which cut through empty air. He pivoted toward the window at once, only for an invisible barrier to descend from the sky and turn the entire room into a giant cage.

“It’s useless. I set up a spiritual array beforehand, and even an expert at the pinnacle of the Heaven Gaze Realm won’t be able to escape my grasp,” Ruo Shui said, his voice turning sharp.

No matter how hard they fought, the commotion would never spill outside.

Liu Wuxie frowned immediately, because few in the astral domains surpassed him in spiritual arrays. He had already found several flaws in the spiritual array, but each one demanded time to break.

Another palm slammed down at even greater speed, and Ruo Shui unleashed the full might of the pinnacle of the Heaven Gaze Realm on Liu Wuxie. Only fifteen minutes remained until midnight, and Ruo Shui had to finish this quickly.

Liu Wuxie, however, intended to drag it out. If he could last another fifteen minutes, he could break the spiritual array the moment Ruo Shui’s yin and yang energies began to clash.

With a loud explosion, Liu Wuxie slipped away again, evading the strike; the shockwave from Ruo Shui’s attack obliterated the tables and chairs in the room.

“Why hasn’t your true essence dispersed?” Ruo Shui asked, suddenly halting as he stared at Liu Wuxie. By all logic, Liu Wuxie’s true essence should have dispersed by now after drinking the wine.

“The Abyssal Hellweaver’s blood can cause a cultivator’s true essence to disperse, but it’s not invincible,” Liu Wuxie said. He had noticed that the wine was laced the instant it had entered his body, so he had summoned the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron to burn it away and absorb it into himself instead.

“Who the hell are you?! How do you even know the Abyssal Hellweaver?” Ruo Shui demanded, finally unable to hold himself together. The Abyssal Hellweaver was a rare astral beast, and on Peach Blossom Island, there wouldn’t be more than three people who even knew its name.

After all, the Abyssal Hellweaver was supposedly extinct, having never appeared in the past hundreds of thousands of years. Yet Liu Wuxie had recognized it at a glance, and Ruo Shui couldn’t help but feel shaken.

“I’m just a nobody,” Liu Wuxie said, continuing to calculate the time while his feet traced strange footwork around the room.

More importantly, Ruo Shui’s aura at the Heaven Gaze Realm did nothing to him. If it had been anyone else, the suppression of someone at the pinnacle of the Heaven Gaze Realm would have pinned them to the ground in an instant.

Even the suppression of an immortal wouldn’t affect Liu Wuxie, let alone an expert at the pinnacle of the Heaven Gaze Realm. Even so, Liu Wuxie couldn’t kill Ruo Shui unless he drew on the Heavenly Deity Monument’s power, because only the monument could suppress someone at the pinnacle of the Heaven Gaze Realm.

As midnight crept closer, Ruo Shui’s face began to twist as yin and yang energies clashed inside his body.

“I’ll tear you into pieces!” Ruo Shui shrieked. His features warped together, and even his elegant figure vanished, replaced by something demonic.

Liu Wuxie steadied his breath and began forming seals to summon the Heretic Blade. Each time the blade met Ruo Shui’s strikes, Ruo Shui’s expression tightened because the Heretic Blade already rivaled the Heaven Gaze Realm and could tear his attacks apart with ease.

“Thousand Cuts, Myriad Slices!” Ruo Shui roared at last, unleashing attacks as fine as needles toward Liu Wuxie.

“It’s time to leave now,” Liu Wuxie said. He couldn’t risk Ruo Shui having companions nearby, and staying trapped there any longer would only turn things against him, so he had to flee while the yin and yang clash shredded Ruo Shui from within.

He could trade blows with Ruo Shui by relying on the Heretic Blade, but the cramped space crippled the use of mythical arts like the Divine Eternal Fist. If he forced it, he might injure himself instead.

Afterimages flooded the room as Ruo Shui struck from every direction. He had truly reached the pinnacle of the Heaven Gaze Realm, displaying terrifying strength.

“Martial Soul Art!” Liu Wuxie said, left with no choice but to summon a light sphere and hurl it out. He intended to use the martial soul he had forged to blast a hole and tear this pavilion apart.

The instant the martial soul shot forward, Liu Wuxie vanished into the Heavenly Deity Monument.

A deafening explosion ripped through the air, and a violent shockwave swept outward. It caught Ruo Shui off guard. After all, this was the martial soul of an expert at the Heaven Gaze Realm, and the moment it detonated, the spiritual array sealing the pavilion instantly began to fill with holes.

“Brat, I want you dead!” Ruo Shui roared. As long as the pavilion stayed locked down, Liu Wuxie would never escape.

Liu Wuxie hadn’t expected the detonation of a martial soul at the level of Heaven Gaze Realm to punch through the spiritual array so effectively.

Ruo Shui’s hair fell into wild disarray, and he looked even more insane than before.

“Great Darkness Mythical Art!” Liu Wuxie said as he reappeared and drowned the entire room in darkness, seizing the chance to pull out another martial soul.

However, the instant he showed himself, Ruo Shui had already locked onto him.

“Where do you think you’re going?!” Ruo Shui roared, sounding like a wild beast.

“Heart-Sunderer Earthfiend Palm!” Ruo Shui roared as countless palm prints filled the air, sealing off every path of retreat. Even in the darkness, he still tracked Liu Wuxie, which most likely meant he carried some treasure that could detect Liu Wuxie’s Ghost Pupil and ignore the Great Darkness Mythical Art.