Desolate Devouring Art - Chapter 1658 - Spirit Child
Chapter 1658 – Spirit Child
Two years had passed, and for Liu Wuxie, everything had changed beyond recognition.
While everyone remained immersed in cultivation, Liu Wuxie only met briefly with a few old friends before throwing himself back into cultivation once again.
The upper echelons of the Liu Clan and the Heavenly Dao Society had all entered Nightmare City to cultivate.
As for the Heavenly Spirit Celestial Academy, the Dragon Emperor Academy, and the Han Clan, they had all merged into the Heavenly Dragon Sect. The sect even hosted a grand homecoming ceremony and invited experts from every direction to witness it.
The ceremony began with them honoring the ancestors in the Auspicious Cloud Hall, where they had erected a massive platform in the center. Zhen Yi and Mao Renfeng represented the two newly joined institutes as they knelt before the altar.
All the disciples who had entered the Heavenly Dragon Sect alongside them would begin as outer disciples. The sect no longer lacked resources, so the disciples’ cultivation would rise rapidly.
The ceremony continued with Dong Wu acting as sect master, while Liu Wuxie stood among the crowd.
Han Shanzi stood behind Elder Han. Since Han Feizi was still in seclusion, Elder Han couldn’t manage everything in the Spirit Sealing Institute alone. With the addition of True Martial Star’s Han Clan, the progress of the Heavenly Sealing Array had sped up significantly.
“Who would have thought that a continent lost three hundred thousand years ago would evolve into a planet?” the palace lord of the Nine Dragon Palace exclaimed.
He had not yet been born at the time of that ancient battle and knew of it only through stories left behind by the ancestors.
“Have any of you visited True Martial Star yet? I found it incredibly unusual. Whether it’s the geological structure or the overall layout, it has already laid the foundation to advance into a first-tier planet,” said the temple master of the Comet Temple.
Ever since Liu Wuxie had opened True Martial Star to outsiders, the various sects had established branches and trade routes there. In only a few days, the planet’s prosperity had multiplied severalfold.
Many cultivators had already begun migrating there from other planets.
“Liu Wuxie’s birth gave True Martial Star a unique force, and his preaching of Dao advanced it even further. It wouldn’t be surprising if it eventually develops into a super planet,” said the palace lord of the Nine Dragon Palace.
Across the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain, only Indigo Bamboo Star qualified as a super planet.
The crowd continued discussing among themselves as the ceremony went on.
All of a sudden, thick dark clouds swallowed the sky, and a terrifying sound followed, instantly drawing everyone’s attention.
Everyone rose to their feet, including Liu Wuxie, and fixed their eyes on the mass of dark clouds. A dreadful foreboding swept through the Heavenly Dragon Sect. Then the dark clouds exploded, releasing a powerful wave that crashed toward the sect.
“An immortal has descended!” the temple master of the Comet Temple cried out in shock.
A one-armed man emerged while riding the dark clouds and appeared above the Heavenly Dragon Sect.
Liu Wuxie’s eyes narrowed the moment he saw the one-armed man. He knew this person far too well, having destroyed his projection back in Nightmare City.
He had not expected the one-armed man to appear so soon. Liu Wuxie still remembered him saying that the day he returned would be the day he took Liu Wuxie’s life. That immediately made Liu Wuxie wonder whether the one-armed man had never entered the Skyfall Realm and had instead been hiding somewhere and cultivating this entire time.
According to everyone’s earlier speculation, there should still have been half a year left before the Skyfall Realm opened. But the man’s sudden appearance suggested only one possibility.
Over the past few days, Liu Wuxie had observed the changes in heaven and earth and noticed that the passage between the celestial and mortal realms was undergoing violent upheaval.
That could only mean that someone in the celestial realm was trying to open a gate into the mortal realm and send experts down to kill him. If that were truly the case, the situation would become far more troublesome, as the celestial realm would definitely find ways to mask heavenly secrets and allow immortals to descend unnoticed.
However, because of the structural changes in heaven and earth, dense laws had appeared in the sky. As long as the aura released by ordinary immortals was not too overwhelming, they could avoid detection by the celestial realm’s repulsion. If that happened, then matters would become even more dangerous, as immortals would be able to cast immortal arts freely without fear of being dragged back into the celestial realm.
“Liu Wuxie, prepare to die!” The one-armed man had already investigated Liu Wuxie’s identity and confirmed it through others.
The platform in the Auspicious Cloud Hall exploded at once, unable to withstand the aura of an immortal. Everyone standing on it tumbled away, and even quasi-immortals could not endure the pressure he released. They all retreated down the mountain in haste.
“Elder Dong Wu, disperse the crowd at once and get everyone at least one hundred fifty miles away!” Liu Wuxie sent a voice transmission. A battle between immortals could destroy the entire Heavenly Dragon Sect.
“Understood!” Dong Wu replied. Although he still did not fully understand what was happening, the enemy had clearly come for Liu Wuxie, and the Heavenly Dragon Sect naturally would not stand aside and watch.
The upper echelons of the various sects that had come to observe retreated immediately, unwilling to get caught in the aftermath. Even so, they didn’t go too far, lingering out of curiosity to see what would unfold next.
Under Dong Wu’s orders, the disciples and elders of the Heavenly Dragon Sect began evacuating in an orderly fashion.
“Come if you want to kill me,” Liu Wuxie said. He naturally would not allow a battle of this scale to unfold above the Heavenly Dragon Sect, so he vanished from the spot.
The moment the one-armed man appeared, Hua Feiyu was so shocked that he had wanted to break out of seclusion. But Liu Wuxie had already sent him a message telling him to remain where he was. Breaking through to the Immortal Realm was a critical step that could not be interrupted. Besides, even if Hua Feiyu emerged, he would not be able to help.
The Heavenly Dragon Sect activated its defensive spiritual array, and a barrier enveloped the entire sect. As for the disciples, the sect had already prepared to send them away through teleportation arrays if necessary.
The one-armed man’s target had always been Liu Wuxie. The moment he saw Liu Wuxie leave, he pursued him.
Just like that, one fled while the other chased. Liu Wuxie continued flying upward until he reached the depths of the heavens.
Violent astral winds howled in every direction. Ordinary Heaven Gaze Realm cultivators would never have dared to venture so deep for fear of being swept away by those currents.
Liu Wuxie stepped on a meteor and let the astral winds rage around him. If they fought here, he would not need to worry about destroying the Heavenly Dragon Sect.
“Liu Wuxie, let’s see where you plan to run now!” The one-armed man moved with blinding speed and appeared on a meteor only fifty meters away from Liu Wuxie before Liu Wuxie could even steady himself.
Experts from all directions soon followed, though those at the Earth Immortal Realm did not have the qualifications to come this high. The majority of the spectators were at the Heaven Gaze Realm and Quasi-Immortal Realm, and they formed a ring around both men.
After all, three hundred thousand years had passed since the immortals had last battled. Ever since then, immortals had never again made a move in the astral domains.
“Run?” A devilish smile crept across Liu Wuxie’s face. “Why would I run?”
From the very beginning, Liu Wuxie had never intended to flee. His opponent was only at the first-level Heavenly Immortal Realm, and that did not frighten him in the slightest. With Nightmare City and the Nine Absolute Fist combined, killing the one-armed man would not be difficult. Not to mention that he also had the Radiant Mirror beside him.
If he could kill the one-armed man and refine him, he would be able to break through to the eighth-level Heaven Gaze Realm.
“Hand over Nightmare City, and I will consider giving you a more comfortable death. Otherwise, I’ll make you wish you were dead,” the one-armed man said in an eerie tone. Waves surged around him, forming layers of astral clouds that wrapped around Liu Wuxie.
His aura alone shook everyone.
At times, those astral clouds looked as ferocious as roaring thunder, sending chills through the hearts of everyone watching.
“Come and fight!” Liu Wuxie said. He couldn’t be bothered wasting words, so he released a terrifying aura that descended from the sky and shattered the currents in the surrounding space.
The one-armed man’s pupils contracted sharply at the sight of Liu Wuxie directly dissolving the terrifying astral clouds. Only a month ago, Liu Wuxie was still at the third-level Heaven Gaze Realm. How had his cultivation risen so quickly?
Liu Wuxie had used the Indigo Thunderwood to step into the fourth level, Nightmare City’s advancement into an immortal artifact to step into the fifth, and an immortal pill to reach the sixth. He had only recently stepped into the seventh with the help of a planet’s core. The entire process had taken little more than a month.
“H-He’s the Spirit Child!” the manor lord of White Mist Manor exclaimed. His voice swept outward like a wave, instantly causing an uproar among the crowd.
“The Spirit Child?” Many people looked puzzled. They were not familiar with that name. Murmurs broke out as people turned their attention to the White Mist Manor’s manor lord.
“Do any of you still remember the incident of souls devoured by the Spirit Child a hundred thousand years ago?” the White Mist Manor’s manor lord asked, dread filling his face.
“It’s him!” The palace lord of the Nine Dragon Palace narrowed his eyes. He seemed to remember his own master mentioning this man before.
“I am surprised someone still remembers me after a hundred thousand years.” The one-armed man chuckled, indirectly acknowledging his identity.
“Wuxie, be careful! He’s a Soul Devourer!” Dong Wu had arrived by then and sent over a golden ray containing the Spirit Child’s information.
A Soul Devourer was someone who cultivated by devouring others’ soul energy.
After Liu Wuxie digested the information, he could not help but draw a cold breath. He hadn’t expected the one-armed man to possess such a horrifying past.
The Spirit Child had not been born into the world like an ordinary child. He had devoured his mother’s internal organs first, then consumed her primordial spirit. After swallowing her primordial spirit, he had grown into a three-year-old child in an instant. He had then leaped into his father’s arms and devoured his father’s primordial spirit as well.
In a single day, he had devoured the primordial spirits of his entire clan.
That incident had once caused a tremendous uproar in the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain. Many sects had branded him evil and joined forces to destroy him.
But by then, the Spirit Child had already grown into a young teenager, and no one had dared to approach him because the soul energy radiating from him suppressed the primordial spirits of others. He could even suppress people with higher cultivation than him with just his soul energy.
That pursuit had eventually failed, giving him more opportunities to devour hundreds of souls. After that, he had vanished without a trace.
A few thousand years later, when he had reappeared, he was already at the Quasi-Immortal Realm and no longer the child he had once been. He then hunted down those who had pursued him in the past, bathing the entire astral domain in blood. Many powerful experts had died at his hands. Only after the major forces joined hands were they able to defeat him, after which he disappeared once more.
Those events had taken place a hundred thousand years ago, and not many people remembered them anymore.
How could the White Mist Manor’s manor lord not know who the Spirit Child was? One of his ancestors had participated in that great battle and left behind a portrait, warning future descendants that if they ever encountered this man, they were to avoid him at all costs.
Who could have imagined that when the Spirit Child returned, he would already be an immortal? And somehow, he had even become entangled with Liu Wuxie, leaving countless people baffled.
“If I’m not mistaken, an old monster is inside you, isn’t it? It has already taken over your real self,” Liu Wuxie said after taking a deep breath.
The one-armed man swayed subtly in response.
The movement was barely perceptible, yet it did not escape Liu Wuxie’s notice.
