Desolate Devouring Art - Chapter 1728 - Slapping Face
Chapter 1728 – Slapping Face
Right before everyone’s eyes, Liu Wuxie walked up to the Great Thousand-Catties Array. Everyone watched with bated breath, afraid they would disturb him. To a certain extent, they all hoped Liu Wuxie could create a miracle.
They also wanted to know whether altering a single part of a spiritual array could change the entire formation. Such a feat could no longer be considered an ordinary method, but something close to a miracle.
The Great Thousand-Catties Array required several materials, including the Dragon Cry Stone, the bones of an Earth-Armored Dragon, and a few auxiliary materials. None of them was especially precious.
Liu Wuxie picked up a Dragon Cry Stone and shifted it about ten meters away. The entire spiritual array violently shook, but soon stabilized again as though nothing had changed.
After finishing, he left the spiritual array and signaled for Tu Zhengbao to enter.
“That’s it?” The surrounding mentors and students all looked baffled.
Only Zhongsun Wen and several older-generation spiritual array mentors furrowed their brows. They seemed to have discovered something, yet they couldn’t quite grasp it, which gradually frustrated them.
They all felt a strong urge to ask Liu Wuxie, but doing so would lower their status. After all, they were renowned mentors of the Azure Flame Dao Hall.
Liu Wuxie activated the spiritual array, allowing Tu Zhengbao to enter. The moment Tu Zhengbao stepped inside, a faint spiritual rune slipped into the formation, and when the spiritual array activated, the Dragon Cry Stone released a resonant dragon cry.
A series of loud rumbles echoed like thunderclaps. An explosive dragon roar surged from the depths of the spiritual array, transforming into a massive hammer that struck down at Tu Zhengbao.
The hammer descended too quickly, striking Tu Zhengbao before he could react. The impact sent him flying away, and only his Profound Immortal Realm cultivation kept him from suffering serious injuries.
“What?!” Zhongsun Wen and the others’ eyes nearly popped out. Several long-bearded elders even tore out strands of their beards in shock, yet seemed completely oblivious to the pain.
As for the students, they stood completely dazed. They had set up the Great Thousand-Catties Array themselves many times, since it was an entry-level course in spiritual array classes. The spiritual array had long been engraved deep in their bones.
Yet such an ordinary spiritual array had unleashed such overwhelming power. That was simply unbelievable.
Even the spiritual array left Tu Zhengbao dumbfounded, and the earlier hammer strike still disoriented him.
Today, Liu Wuxie was determined to teach him a lesson and make an example of him to warn others. After all, if he wanted to establish a footing in the Azure Flame Dao Hall, he had to display exceptional ability. Only then would others respect him.
The other spiritual array mentors stepped forward to examine the array more closely. “There’s something strange about this spiritual array!”
“Look at the Qian position! It hasn’t moved, yet it has formed an opposition with the Kun position. Logically, those two should correspond with each other, so why are they repelling each other now?” Xia Yuanming asked. He was also a spiritual array mentor in the Dao Hall, and his status was second only to Zhongsun Wen.
“The Kan position is abnormal as well. Because he shifted the Dragon Cry Stone, the Kan position changed into the Li position. The core of the entire spiritual array has changed,” Yu Yong said. He was also a renowned spiritual array mentor in the Dao Hall.
The spiritual array mentors began discussing among themselves and soon concluded that the formation was still the Great Thousand-Catties Array. However, because Liu Wuxie had shifted the Dragon Cry Stone, the layout of the entire spiritual array had changed.
A spiritual array resembled a numerical arrangement. At first, the numbers lined up neatly from one to ten in ascending order, but the moment Liu Wuxie removed one number from the middle, the entire arrangement changed. It looked disorderly, yet remained perfectly organized.
“This is no longer an ordinary Great Thousand-Catties Array. Someone has fused multiple spiritual arrays into it,” Zhongsun Wen remarked. He could already see traces of other spiritual arrays within the formation.
“I can see it too. This spiritual array has formed a perfect cycle that sustains itself through an endless flow of power. If nobody breaks it, the array will continue attacking the victim until its energy runs out.”
The spiritual array mentors continued discussing among themselves. They could tell that the Great Thousand-Catties Array had become far more complicated than they had imagined.
“Mentor Ye, where did you find him?” Guo Anyi asked. Among the spiritual array mentors, only she and Ye Linghan were women.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t reveal anything about him. However, I can assure you that his background is clean,” Ye Linghan said. She had already promised Chen Ping and the others that she wouldn’t reveal Liu Wuxie’s identity.
Guo Anyi was tactful enough to keep quiet after that.
While discussions echoed outside, Tu Zhengbao stood within the spiritual array, eyes wide with rage. Hammers kept striking down on him, and he had endured more than a hundred blows in just a few breaths.
He had only survived by relying on his powerful physique. If someone in the High Immortal Realm had entered, they would already have died inside the spiritual array. Even so, the formation left Tu Zhengbao battered and disheveled, his torn clothes making him look like a beggar.
Wei Wenbin stood by the side with a dark expression. He had an extraordinary relationship with Tu Zhengbao, which was why the latter had been willing to help him. But even Wei Wenbin hadn’t expected the assessment to end this way.
The Dragon Cry Stone’s energy rapidly depleted because ordinary materials had formed this low-rank spiritual array.
“Break!” Tu Zhengbao roared, unleashing his Profound Immortal Realm aura.
The spiritual array instantly became unstable, trembling violently as though it could explode at any moment. Even if Tu Zhengbao could tear through it, he had already lost the bet the moment he resorted to using his true cultivation.
The Great Thousand-Catties Array only targeted Heavenly Immortals and High Immortals. Once someone exceeded that level, it would naturally struggle to keep them trapped.
Nevertheless, Liu Wuxie had made history by using such an ordinary spiritual array to trap a profound immortal for so long. Powerful ripples swept outward and tore open a gap in the spiritual array.
Right then, an even more terrifying hammer appeared, concentrating all the remaining power into one strike.
“This is bad!”
The surrounding mentors and students retreated, unwilling to be caught in the aftermath.
Tu Zhengbao could only watch helplessly as the giant hammer descended on him. The attacks inside this spiritual array had no physical form, and the hammer wasn’t an actual object. This meant he couldn’t attack the hammer to negate the incoming strike.
A loud explosion erupted like the collapse of heaven and earth. Countless rocks flew into the air, and cracks spread across the ground. From the commotion alone, one could imagine the power of the strike. It was already comparable to an attack from a pinnacle spirit immortal.
Tu Zhengbao staggered and coughed up a mouthful of blood. The murderous intent radiating from him reached as far as a thousand meters away.
The spiritual array began to collapse after exhausting all its energy. Tu Zhengbao had failed to break it before it broke down on its own, which meant Liu Wuxie had won.
The sight of Tu Zhengbao covered in injuries, blood dripping from the corner of his lips, drew sharp gasps from the crowd. Everyone stared at him in shock.
This had overturned their understanding of how a heavenly immortal could use the power of a spiritual array to injure a profound immortal. It was something unprecedented in the Azure Flame Dao Hall.
Many nearby students began cheering, fully convinced by Liu Wuxie’s skills. No one mocked Tu Zhengbao because none of them knew whether they could escape unscathed if they had entered the spiritual array themselves.
Ye Linghan’s heart finally settled down, and a stunning smile spread across her lips, leaving many students and mentors in a daze.
“Mentor Tu, it’s time for you to honor your side of the bet,” Liu Wuxie said, looking at Tu Zhengbao with a smile. With his reminder, everyone finally recalled the wager between them.
“Brat, you!” Tu Zhengbao coughed up another mouthful of blood as anger surged into his heart. He took out a pill and swallowed it, and only then did his complexion improve.
“Are you going to go back on your word as a mentor?” Liu Wuxie asked mockingly. If Tu Zhengbao refused to apologize in public, his status in the Azure Flame Dao Hall would plummet.
Everyone turned to look at Tu Zhengbao, who wished he could find a hole and hide himself in it.
“I was wrong. I shouldn’t have targeted you,” Tu Zhengbao said through gritted teeth.
The remaining assessment no longer held any meaning now, as Liu Wuxie had already given everyone a vivid lesson.
“Congratulations. Starting today, you are now an assistant mentor of the Azure Flame Dao Hall,” Zuo Yang said, walking over to welcome Liu Wuxie into the Dao Hall. He also took out a token engraved with the word “Mentor.”
An actual mentor’s token was gold, while the one in Liu Wuxie’s hand was silver. Thus, there was still a slight difference between the two. Nevertheless, any student who saw the token would still have to greet him as a mentor.
“Young Brother Liu, welcome to the Azure Flame Dao Hall. It is rare in a hundred years to see someone as young as you join as an assistant mentor,” Zhongsun Wen said, welcoming Liu Wuxie.
The other mentors also stepped forward to congratulate Liu Wuxie. They would become colleagues in the future, so they naturally had to build a good relationship.
“I have only just arrived, and I apologize if I acted improperly. I hope everyone can be understanding,” Liu Wuxie said, cupping his fists toward the surrounding crowd. He had only come to the Azure Flame Dao Hall to cultivate quietly, not to make enemies.
The reason he had counterattacked Tu Zhengbao was to make an example of him. This meant anyone who wanted to target him in the future would have to think twice.
The most pressing matter now was breaking through cultivation. If his cultivation weren’t strong enough, he wouldn’t be able to go far with spiritual arrays alone.
Following Ye Linghan’s lead, Liu Wuxie greeted all the mentors present before they dispersed and returned to their residences, as it was already evening. Starting today, Liu Wuxie would have to live in the Azure Flame Dao Hall for some time.
“Let us go back,” Ye Linghan said, leading Liu Wuxie back to her residence. As her assistant, Liu Wuxie would naturally stay where she lived to make teaching more convenient.
Every mentor’s residence included classrooms, making it convenient for them to reach their classes quickly.
Only a single wall separated Ye Linghan’s courtyard from her classroom, and a nearby door allowed her to enter directly.
On the other side of the courtyard lay a large empty area where students could practice spiritual arrays.
The courtyard itself wasn’t large and only had several rooms. Ye Linghan usually lived here alone, and there was still enough space even with Liu Wuxie joining her.
“I live in this room. You can pick one of the two remaining rooms,” Ye Linghan said, pointing to her room after entering the courtyard.
“I’ll go with this one then,” Liu Wuxie said, choosing the room closer to the classroom.
The courtyard’s furnishings were simple, with a large tree growing beside the wall. Weeds covered the ground, making it look as though no one had come here in a long time.
“The courtyard is a little crude,” Ye Linghan said, somewhat embarrassed.
“How many students do you have?” Liu Wuxie asked. He didn’t care much about the environment, but he cared about earning a large salary. The more students Ye Linghan had, the higher his salary would be. This was his main purpose for joining the Azure Flame Dao Hall.
