Desolate Devouring Art - Chapter 1598 - Sneaking into the Immortal Slaughter Palace

Chapter 1598 – Sneaking into the Immortal Slaughter Palace

The palace lord surveyed the wreckage and released a weary sigh, as though the destruction had stolen years from him. After all, if word spread that he stood helpless against a mere junior, the world would laugh at him.

In reality, no one dared to laugh at the Immortal Slaughter Palace, as Liu Wuxie had already grown too terrifying. His name had spread across the four astral domains, and even the Nalan Clan had chosen to stay silent and let him wreck their assets without open retaliation.

The palace lord swept his gaze over the shattered grounds, and a crimson glow flickered in his eyes.

“From this moment on, spare no cost to find Liu Wuxie’s whereabouts. Anyone who can provide clues to his whereabouts will receive five million astral crystals from the Immortal Slaughter Palace,” the palace lord announced after drawing a deep breath, his voice booming into every corner.

Word spread at once, and cultivators began to hunt for Liu Wuxie. After all, a single clue could fetch five million astral crystals, and everyone couldn’t stop imagining what they might gain if they captured Liu Wuxie alive. Then again, they only dared to imagine it because with Liu Wuxie’s cultivation, only quasi-immortals stood a chance of capturing him.

“It’s time for the second plan,” Liu Wuxie said, stepping down from the mountain peak. He stirred his soul sea, and a figure stepped out before him. He was the white-haired old man he had converted back on the True Martial Continent.

“Greetings, Master.” The old man looked at Liu Wuxie with an unchanged expression, and his cultivation was still at the fourth-level Void Realm.

This old man had failed his mission after returning to the True Martial Continent, and no one had valued him again. The sect had relegated him to miscellaneous duties instead. His name was Meng Hong, someone who had joined the Immortal Slaughter Palace for over a hundred years and maintained strong loyalty to the sect.

Nearly a full year had passed since the conversion, and Liu Wuxie hadn’t contacted him until today. Through the Spring of Faith, Liu Wuxie communicated with him and summoned a strand of the other party’s consciousness.

“I want to enter the Immortal Slaughter Palace. Help me get a believable identity.”

Liu Wuxie had exhausted his martial souls, so he could no longer target the Immortal Slaughter Palace’s other industries the same way. Even if he went, ordinary talismans wouldn’t mean much.

The destructive force of ordinary spiritual talismans couldn’t compare to martial souls. To avoid alerting the enemy, Liu Wuxie didn’t dare to act rashly, and he chose to infiltrate the Immortal Slaughter Palace and tear it apart from within.

“That’s easy. The Immortal Slaughter Palace has just suffered heavy losses. The sect is currently promoting many miscellaneous disciples into official disciples. My nephew was a miscellaneous disciple, but he died not long ago. No one knows about his death, and you can use his identity,” Meng Hong reported.

Every sect kept tens of thousands of miscellaneous disciples to handle mundane tasks such as cleaning, preparing food, feeding astral beasts, and so on.

Now that the Immortal Slaughter Palace had lost so many disciples, recruiting new disciples would take too long. On top of that, the sect’s current state made it unsuitable for recruiting outsiders. Thus, they could only promote miscellaneous disciples, as it was safe, fast, and convenient.

After all, even becoming a miscellaneous disciple required multiple background screenings. The Immortal Slaughter Palace had already sent elders out to hunt Liu Wuxie, and none of them would ever imagine he would stroll straight into their gates.

Meng Hong produced a token and handed it to Liu Wuxie. It had originally belonged to his nephew. With that token, Liu Wuxie could move freely through the sect.

Even Liu Wuxie jolted when he arrived and saw what he had done. More than half of the Immortal Slaughter Palace’s buildings had collapsed, and the sect had hired many cultivators to restore the damage.

The Immortal Slaughter Palace truly lived up to its reputation as a superpower. In only three days, they cleared the rubble and raised new structures.

Liu Wuxie had spent three days rebuilding the Heavenly Dao Society, and the Immortal Slaughter Palace rebuilt itself at the same pace. Under a deacon’s arrangement, Liu Wuxie officially became an outer disciple of the Immortal Slaughter Palace.

To hide his true essence, Liu Wuxie had no choice but to cultivate the Immortal Slaughter Palace’s cultivation technique, which meant he couldn’t use his immortal energy from now on. After all, the moment he used immortal energy, he would expose himself.

“From this day forth, you all have become outer disciples. Cultivate diligently and don’t betray the sect’s trust in you,” the deacon said.

This time, the sect promoted over 8,000 miscellaneous disciples to the rank of outer disciples. After all, entry as a miscellaneous disciple already involved several layers of selection. The sect questioned not their talent, but the chances afforded to them.

Now that the path had opened, many of them trembled with excitement they could barely contain.

Liu Wuxie had a clear plan to learn the layout of the Immortal Slaughter Palace and destroy it from within. He chose the best approach of sowing discord among the upper echelons and driving the Immortal Slaughter Palace into internal strife, exhausting their overall strength.

Inside the room, Liu Wuxie paced in circles, his mind spinning at full speed. If he wanted to sow discord among the upper echelons, he needed their recognition first, and he had already built a plan.

To gain the upper echelons’ acknowledgment, he needed to display monstrous enough talent to force their attention.

Many elite disciples had died in the explosions, so the upper echelons would naturally seek promising disciples to nurture. The more disciples an elder raised, the higher that elder’s status would climb inside the sect.

A massive sect always hid multiple factions inside it, each fighting for its own interests, and the Immortal Slaughter Palace was no exception.

The most common way to expand a faction was to nurture promising disciples and increase its ranks.

Liu Wuxie didn’t rush and spent time familiarizing himself with the Immortal Slaughter Palace’s rules.

He no longer worried about the Heavenly Dao Society’s safety. No one could threaten them now. That freed him to focus entirely on vengeance, and he aimed to fracture the Immortal Slaughter Palace within three months. Even if he failed to fracture it completely, he planned to cripple its foundation and drag it down into a second-tier sect.

At that point, he wouldn’t even need to lift a finger, as the Azure Thunder Sect would swallow the Immortal Slaughter Palace’s territory for him.

He suppressed his cultivation to the fourth-level Transcendent Realm, which still counted as outstanding even among miscellaneous disciples.

Suddenly, gongs and drums rang out, and disciples exited their rooms, eager to learn what had happened. Liu Wuxie followed them out and saw an elder standing amid the crowd.

“Listen carefully! The sect is planning to nurture all of you. I don’t care about your previous status, but as long as you display enough talent, you will receive the sect’s reward. You might even get a chance to become an elder’s disciple,” announced the elder.

The moment they heard they might become an elder’s disciple, everyone rubbed their palms together, eyes blazing with determination.

The Immortal Slaughter Palace had suffered immense losses, with nearly half of its elite disciples dead. Even though they had promoted over 8,000 miscellaneous disciples, their cultivation levels were still too low, and the sect needed to rebuild its strength quickly.

They chose the simplest method to accelerate their cultivation through incentives, and only experts could produce more experts.

Liu Wuxie approved of this broad-selection method. Only the strongest would rise to the top, and those who distinguished themselves under such pressure were bound to be exceptionally talented.

The easiest way to identify talent among so many people was an assessment. After all, the Immortal Slaughter Palace didn’t have the luxury of waiting for everyone to grow. Once a generational gap appeared, salvaging it would become impossible.

That was why the Immortal Slaughter Palace planned an assessment to filter out talented disciples and pour resources into them so they could become elite disciples as soon as possible.

“Elder, when will the assessment take place?” the disciples asked urgently.

Anyone who achieved outstanding results would directly become an elite disciple.

Only by becoming elite disciples could they climb the status ladder, and after spending years as miscellaneous disciples, their excitement burned brightly. After all, they could skip being outer or inner disciples and become elite disciples directly.

“The assessment will take place in three days. All of you prepare yourselves. I will come to notify you then,” the elder informed.

The Immortal Slaughter Palace had too many matters to handle, so they scheduled the assessment after three days.

The disciples gradually returned to their rooms, including Liu Wuxie.

“Tian Can should be able to return in three days. With our coordination from the inside and outside, I can destroy the Immortal Slaughter Palace faster,” Liu Wuxie murmured after he stepped back into the courtyard.

Time flowed on, and news of the Immortal Slaughter Palace explosions spread all the way to the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain.

The moment Hua Feiyu received it, helplessness settled across his face. He didn’t need to worry about Liu Wuxie’s safety now, as a quasi-immortal stood beside him.

The Grand Unity Sect showed no movement at all. Venerable Grand Unity continued tempering the Great Divine Sun Bell, and no one knew what they planned.

Several days passed in a row, and the Grand Unity Sect remained completely still, even though they should have reinforced the Immortal Slaughter Palace.

One day before the assessment, Tian Can returned to the Laman Astral Domain. Liu Wuxie didn’t arrange for him to enter the Immortal Slaughter Palace; instead, he sent him to map out the other Immortal Slaughter Palace assets and confirm the situation.

Through the Spring of Faith, the two could communicate at any time, and distance posed no obstacle. As the saying went, the most dangerous place was also the safest. Who would have imagined that Liu Wuxie had already slipped into the Immortal Slaughter Palace and stayed right beneath their eyes?

The assessment arrived on schedule. Not only did the newly promoted miscellaneous disciples participate, but the surviving outer disciples joined as well. Those with the best results would claim greater resources.

Liu Wuxie blended into the crowd and made himself completely unremarkable. Since he cultivated the Immortal Slaughter Palace’s cultivation technique, the true essence he circulated matched everyone else’s perfectly.

In the past, he couldn’t have done this, but after his physique had achieved unity with heaven and earth, he only needed to carve out a separate region within the desolate world to store the newly cultivated true essence.

Then again, Liu Wuxie didn’t need to use his own true essence in ordinary small fights unless he faced a major battle.

More than twenty thousand disciples gathered on the newly rebuilt martial field, waiting for the elders to arrive. Once the assessment ended, the Immortal Slaughter Palace would schedule this year’s recruitment.

Space buzzed with tremors, and over a dozen experts from the Heaven Gaze Realm appeared, all responsible for this assessment.

Liu Wuxie used the Ancestral Tree to wrap around the desolate world. It prevented divine senses from entering, while he left only an area the size of a dantian exposed.

“I’ll not waste time on speech. I believe you all know the reason why you’re here today. Everyone will enter the assessment ground, and whoever gets the best results will be nurtured by the sect with more resources. You may even be taken in as a disciple by elders at the Heaven Gaze Realm,” the elder in the middle announced.

Liu Wuxie recognized him at once. Meng Hong had organized information on the Immortal Slaughter Palace’s upper echelons for him, and this elder was called Sima An.