Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 258 - Python King

The pythons were getting closer, and there was no more room for retreat. If they didn’t fight, they would become food for these pythons.

“Calm down, everyone! Let’s band together and carve out a path for escape!” Zhao Chen roared, urging everyone to unite and leave the place alive.

His words had some effect on uniting everyone into forming a battle formation.

However, some individuals chose to act independently, intending to use their agility to seize an opportunity to escape. Among them was Liu Wuxie. His concern was not the pythons but the demon’s head, which he anticipated would return for revenge.

After all, the demon’s head had finally found an opportunity to revive, so it was unlikely to relinquish this chance easily. Most crucially, the mysterious tree had hinted at the presence of a treasure here. Since it wasn’t in the hall, it must have been concealed within the python’s nest. However, its identity remained a mystery for now.

After going through numerous difficulties, Liu Wuxie had finally reached this point, and he wouldn’t give up without retrieving the treasure.

The slaughter began as several mighty pythons charged over and were as thick as barrels. Only small pythons could enter the underground palace, not the larger ones.

These pythons were cultivated for centuries, each possessing formidable strength. Even though they were not in the True Core Realm, they couldn’t be underestimated.

Blood splattered as several giant pythons were severed into two, dyeing the hall with their blood. The blood splashed on the pants of human cultivators, but that didn’t hinder their fight. They forgot where they were and fought with blood on their faces as well.

Everyone used their full strength without holding back. If they made a slight mistake, the pythons would gobble them up.

In a few breaths’ time, the pythons killed some ten-odd people.

The party continued to push forward, leaving the hall and entering deeper into the python’s nest. The exit was still about fifty meters away.

The worms began to converge on the stone wall once more, with the demon’s head appearing. When demonic aura gushed out, the green eyes of the pythons turned red as the pythons dashed forward fearlessly, and the death toll would rise with each charge.

As the death toll increased, the ground was littered with broken limbs and blood.

Everyone could still maintain their formation and teamwork in the beginning. However, as they approached the exit, those at the front quickly executed their movement technique and charged forward.

“Come back!” Zhao Chen roared. If the formation broke up, the death toll would increase.

However, before Zhao Chen could complete his sentence, a massive head emerged at the exit. The head, as large as a water tank, bared its fangs. Those who had charged forward found themselves plunging straight into the python’s mouth before they could react.

Over two hundred people had managed to survive earlier, but a large portion of them were dead now.

Ten-odd pythons slithered over to Liu Wuxie, but he quickly decapitated them after swinging the Heretic Blade, turning them into headless corpses. The Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron also devoured the energies in their bodies.

This brutal massacre naturally sparked the fury of the surrounding pythons. They had their intelligence unlocked. They might not have reached adulthood, but weren’t far from it.

The demon’s head on the wall released a torrential demonic aura into the pythons' bodies, causing them to become fearless as hundreds charged toward Liu Wuxie.

“Quick, run!” Seizing the opportunity while all the pythons charged at Liu Wuxie, Zhao Chen’s group quickly ran towards the exit. But ten-odd meters later, a torrential demonic aura swept out as an even more frightening python appeared.

“Quasi-True Core Realm!” This python was infinitely close to a fifth-grade demonic beast, comparable to the Quasi-True Core Realm for humans. It was way more potent than those in the pinnacle Marrow Cleansing Realm.

Liu Wuxie wasn’t in a hurry and swung down the Heretic Blade, striding the Seven Dipper Steps. There would be another python skin on the ground whenever he stepped forward.

Liu Wuxie released a formidable aura befitting a seventh-level Marrow Cleansing Realm expert as he cut a swath through the pythons. The accumulated python skins had piled up to the height of an average person, creating a terrifying spectacle.

Zhao Chen’s group, who had fled earlier, was quickly driven back by the colossal python. They had no choice but to continue their battle.

The massive python ignored Zhao Chen’s group and headed toward Liu Wuxie. Its goal was Liu Wuxie and not the others.

“Overlord Fist!” Seeing more pythons gathering in the surroundings, Liu Wuxie executed the Overlord Fist. A powerful ripple spread, decimating countless pythons and covering the ground in blood and internal organs.

“He’s Liu Wuxie!” Liu Wuxie’s identity was recognized the moment he performed the Overlord Fist. Not many people knew of his blade technique, but no one could mimic the Overlord Fist. Only he knew of this martial technique in the Great Yan Dynasty.

Zhao Chen narrowed his eyes upon hearing that. He had long heard of Liu Wuxie’s name but didn’t expect the latter to be so ordinary.

“This isn’t his real appearance. He’s using a disguise!” Some people present had seen Liu Wuxie before, and they instantly recognized him. They immediately figured that Liu Wuxie must be wearing a disguise.

Having decimated the surrounding pythons, Liu Wuxie turned his attention to the demon’s head. The large gathering of pythons was undoubtedly linked to the demon’s head, which had released a demonic aura to attract them.

Knowing that he had to eliminate the demon’s head to escape, Liu Wuxie began forming seals. The seal he crafted this time was even more formidable, causing the massive python to keep its distance.

A suffocating energy fluctuation appeared, and all the spiritual energy in the underground palace was devoured.

“Y-You! Why do you know so many spiritual runes?!” The demon’s head exclaimed. He was shocked by Liu Wuxie.

Liu Wuxie was young and in the Marrow Cleansing Realm. So, how could he be proficient in spiritual runes? But no one bothered about him as that wasn’t important.

When a rune appeared before Liu Wuxie, it scared the demon’s head into hiding. But the soul of the demon’s head was sealed in this hall, and it couldn't dodge.

“T-This is a demonic rune! How can a human like you possibly know demonic runes?!” The demon’s head was dumbfounded as this human had surpassed all his understandings.

Zhao Chen and others were baffled when they heard ‘demonic runes’ because Liu Wuxie had too many secrets about him.

“You can die now!” Liu Wuxie said without a hint of emotion, and the demonic rune was like a shackle spreading throughout the hall. When the shackle flew out, it locked onto the demon’s head. No matter how it struggled, the demon’s head couldn’t break free.

Black miasma rose from the demon’s head as it let out a heart-wrenching scream.

Liu Wuxie remained expressionless as he continued to form seals with his hands. He said, “If you were in your prime, you could have easily killed me with a breath. However, it’s a pity that you’re only a remnant soul.”

“I can’t accept the fact that I, the Demon Emperor, am going to die at your hands!” The demon’s head roared, but it could do nothing as the demonic rune Liu Wuxie used had completely countered it.

After all, there was a bane to everything in the world. Spiritual runes represented the world's law, and each stroke bore the engravement of heaven and earth.

As the demon’s head gradually faded and weakened amidst its screams, the surrounding pythons retreated, recognizing the authority of the demon’s head over them.

“Break!” Liu Wuxie swung the Heretic Blade down. The demon’s head stopped struggling, and the walls exploded. The wall was meant to seal the demon’s head, and shattering the walls meant the demon’s head would have nowhere to go.

After the demon’s head disappeared, the walls began to crumble as though they were damaged from the root, with rocks flying around, covering the entire hall in rubble.

Zhao Chen and the others were dumbfounded because they couldn’t comprehend what had happened. The demon’s head was dead just like that?

The hall disappeared with over a hundred people standing in the center of the python’s nest.

A series of earth-shattering roars brought everyone back to reality, including Liu Wuxie.

As the three-sided walls collapsed, another python’s nest appeared, housing a massive python. This python had a width reaching three meters, and it could no longer be called a python but a draco-python.

The head was the size of a house, with emerald eyes emitting an eerie glow.

“T-The python king!” Zhao Chen’s lips became dry, and he couldn’t believe a python king resided there. Its massive body filled the underground world. It was so long that the end of its tail was nowhere in sight.

Beneath the python king was something golden that attracted everyone’s attention.

“What’s that?” The other pythons retreated at the appearance of the python king, not daring to get close. But Zhao Chen’s group wasn’t in a hurry to leave as their attention was caught by the golden object.

“That’s Golden Marrow!” An exclamation was heard.

“Golden Marrow?! I’ve heard that it takes five thousand years to cultivate one!” Everyone became ecstatic.

Liu Wuxie didn’t expect the mysterious tree to guide him to a Golden Marrow. This python king had started to refine it but was disrupted by them.

The python king opened its mouth, unleashing a suffocating power that swept toward Liu Wuxie.

“A fifth-grade demonic beast! This is a fifth-grade demonic beast!” Everyone was stumped to discover that this python king was a fifth-grade demonic beast comparable to the True Core Realm for humans.

Liu Wuxie’s face also turned grave as this place was too narrow for him to fight. He might be capable of killing enemies in the True Core Realm, but fighting there wasn’t a wise decision.

Most importantly, python kings usually came in pairs. So where was the other python king? The other python king was mostly slumbering, or it wasn’t there. However, it would be troublesome if the other python king returned, as facing one True Core Realm Python King at a time was Liu Wuxie’s limit.

His gaze fell onto the Golden Marrow. This was a treasure, and this would bring metal-attributes to the world in his dantian if he could refine it. Furthermore, it could bring his cultivation to the eighth-level Marrow Cleansing Realm.

Having come this far, Liu Wuxie was naturally unwilling to leave without securing the treasure. As his cultivation continued progressing, the pace of his breakthroughs would slow down. Therefore, his current task was to continue accumulating. The more he accumulated, the better his chances of achieving a breakthrough.

The python king saw through Liu Wuxie’s intentions and let out a furious roar as a warning, urging Liu Wuxie to leave. Out of the many humans present, only Liu Wuxie posed a threat to him.

The others were of no consequence, as thousands of pythons were outside, and they were sufficient to handle Zhao Chen’s group. When Liu Wuxie swung down the Heretic Blade, everyone was taken aback. They couldn’t believe that Liu Wuxie dared to confront a fifth-grade demonic beast, leading them to question if he had lost his sanity.

Many people coveted the Golden Marrow but didn’t dare to seize it from a fifth-grade demonic beast.

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