Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 718 - Breathing Flame

Liu Wuxie's tone was stern. It didn't matter if the fruit was really the Fire Spiritual Fruit, but it had become an unclaimed item after those people had perished with the profound beast. These people had suddenly come out of nowhere, claiming the fruit to be theirs, but what proof did they have?

"Big brother, why waste time with him? We can just kill him!" the man on the right said, his patience wearing thin. They were all in the Nascent Transformation Realm, and they did not need to waste time speaking with someone merely in the Astral River Realm.

"That's right. Kill him and drink his blood!" The five had followed the trail of the Fire Spiritual Fruit to this place and were convinced that Liu Wuxie had consumed it. As for Fiery, they dismissed it as a harmless and irrelevant creature.

"Kill him!" The man on the right sprang into action from losing his patience, his sword slicing through the air toward Liu Wuxie. His aura was so powerful that it caused the trees on both sides to sway.

Liu Wuxie readied himself to fight and even poised the Heretic Blade to attack. But Fiery suddenly stood on his shoulder with flames blazing in its eyes. Searing flames gushed from its mouth in the next second, engulfing the man charging over.

Everything happened too quickly, and even Liu Wuxie couldn't react in time. When he came to his senses, the man who had charged over screamed in pain after being engulfed by the flame.

"ARGH! IT HURTS SO MUCH!" the man wailed, writhing in pain. While ordinary flames would struggle to harm someone in the Nascent Transformation Realm, Fiery’s flames were far from ordinary. Even Liu Wuxie was stunned as he stood near them, wondering what kind of flame could bypass the defenses of a Nascent Transformation Realm cultivator so effortlessly.

In the blink of an eye, the man's body slowly withered until he was reduced to a pile of white ash. The fire had completely consumed him.

This scene shocked Liu Wuxie and the other four cultivators. They could only watch helplessly as their companion perished, and they could do nothing about it.

"W-What is that monster?! " the four panicked. When the flames were released, they could feel the tremors coming from their souls.

Fiery looked harmless and adorable on Liu Wuxie's shoulder, but the flame it breathed out was highly destructive. This made Liu Wuxie's eyes sparkle with excitement as if he had stumbled upon a priceless treasure. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

After consuming the Fire Spiritual Fruit, Fiery had advanced to a fourth-grade profound beast. Since it could kill someone in the Nascent Transformation Realm so effortlessly at its current cultivation level, Liu Wuxie couldn't imagine how terrifying it would become if it were to grow into a seventh- or eighth-grade profound beast. Wouldn't that mean Fiery could slay experts in the True Profound Realm?

Then again, there was an element of surprise, as the opponent wouldn't have stood there and allowed the attack to reach them if they knew what to expect. Even so, this was still an astonishing feat, proving Fiery's flames were undeniably pure.

Fiery lifted its head proudly, waving its paws as if it was telling Liu Wuxie not to thank it, but that only deepened the lines of exasperation on Liu Wuxie's forehead.

With the death of one man, the remaining four no longer dared to act. They hesitated for a long time before they came to their senses.

"Big brother, it must be this demonic beast who devoured the Fire Spiritual Fruit!" The flame, which Fiery spat out, contained the Fire Spiritual Fruit's power, which was why it could easily kill their companion.

"Attack together!" The group leader gave the command with resolve flashing in his eyes, not wanting to waste more time. He had already noticed the dimming flames in Fiery's eyes after breathing out that ball of fire, and this meant it couldn't unleash such an attack again anytime soon.

Seeing that the four were ready to strike, Fiery immediately burrowed into Liu Wuxie's robes. It had already reached its limit after breathing out flame once.

The four cultivators unleashed a powerful gale when they attacked, releasing an overwhelming might from their combined aura.

"Come at me!" Liu Wuxie yelled. He wanted to gauge cultivators' strength in the Nascent Transformation Realm in the Central Plains. He wielded the Heretic Blade and delivered a slash. What seemed like a single stroke contained tens of thousands of variations.

The strike didn't seem very powerful, as no massive commotion was created. But that didn't affect the True Strike's variations, which manifested into countless blades that enveloped the four, changing their expressions.

In the later cultivation phase, the cultivation levels were no longer absolute, as the comprehension of dao techniques greatly affected a person's strength.

Liu Wuxie had pushed this blade technique to the limit, containing the blade's domineering power and the sword's sharpness. To him, the distinction between a blade and a sword no longer mattered; they were merely tools to vanquish his enemies.

Only someone of Liu Wuxie's caliber could seal the four of their escape routes immediately. He performed the Seven Dipper Steps as they had chosen to fight on the ground instead of in the air. After all, fighting in the air would only further exhaust their true essence.

Seizing the moment before the four could adapt to his attacks, Liu Wuxie conjured the Soul Spear, which shot into the leader's soul sea. A gate opened in his soul sea, elevating his soul energy to the level of the Nascent Transformation Realm's late phase.

When soul energy pierced into the leader's soul sea, the man screamed and clutched his head as he collapsed, writhing in agony.

As for the remaining three, they were frozen in horror. Their leader was injured before their attacks could reach Liu Wuxie, and this made them realize this was a one-sided massacre.

After the events in the Western Barren, Liu Wuxie's combat prowess had increased onefold. While his cultivation level had remained unchanged after consuming the five Divine Fruits, his strength had increased.

Using his enemies' momentary shock, Liu Wuxie's Heretic Blade split into three, striking all three simultaneously. His attack managed to land on one person and ripped his opponent apart.

In the past, Liu Wuxie would never have been able to kill them so easily. However, the fear instilled by Fiery's flames had made them hesitant in their attacks, creating an opening for Liu Wuxie to counter and eliminate them. When it came to dao techniques, the combined strength of the five men wasn’t even one-tenth of Liu Wuxie’s mastery.

The leader's soul sea lay in ruins, rendering him a cripple even if he survived, permanently unable to fight again.

"Run!" the remaining two men screamed as they retreated in panic. Even their leader wasn't a match for Liu Wuxie, and staying behind would hasten their deaths.

"None of you will be leaving here today," Liu Wuxie declared. How could he allow them to escape at this point? He had to ensure they wouldn't pose any threat to him in the future by killing them.

If news were to spread that he had obtained a Fire Spiritual Fruit, he believed it wouldn't be long before more people came after him. Thus, the best solution was to silence them for eternity.

Two streams of icy energy shot out from his fingertips. This was his trump card, as True Strike was only ideal for a frontal confrontation, but the ice dao technique was perfect for dealing the finishing blow.

The two men froze in mid-step as they transformed into ice sculptures. With a gentle touch, the sculptures shattered into fragments across the ground.

Coincidentally, Fiery had peeked out of Liu Wuxie's robes at this moment, which only terrified it into shrinking back and shivering in fear. It didn't expect Liu Wuxie to be so brutal despite how friendly he had been with it.

Even after killing five opponents, Liu Wuxie's face showed no excitement. Despite their high cultivation, they were ordinary mercenaries, nothing compared to the prodigies in the Central Plains.

Liu Wuxie cleaned up the battlefield and collected their interspatial rings before he resumed his journey. The Genflame Mountain Range was dangerous, and he had to traverse it quickly. He would only be truly safe upon reaching Prosper City.

Increasing his speed, he darted out like a comet. The following days passed peacefully, with no one coming to bother him. Though he occasionally ran into mercenaries on various missions, none paid attention to him, perhaps because of his seemingly low cultivation.

After checking the map, Liu Wuxie realized he had already covered more than half of the distance through the Genflame Mountain Range. At his current pace, he estimated he could reach the other side within three days.

Taking a break, he sat on a large boulder and pulled out a piece of roasted demonic beast meat, placing it before Fiery. The little creature devoured the food eagerly. Liu Wuxie had grown accustomed to Fiery's insatiable appetite, watching it consume staggering amounts of food each time until fully satisfied.

Suddenly, the sound of clashing weapons echoed from behind him. Liu Wuxie immediately extended his divine sense to scan the area. He hadn’t detected anyone nearby earlier, yet now, a battle had erupted behind him.

Unwilling to be drawn into trouble, he grabbed Fiery and quickly darted to the side. During his journey, he had witnessed several fights, whether due to robbery or clashes with demonic beasts. Since none of them concerned him, he preferred to stay uninvolved.

After climbing a giant tree, he could see the fight from a hundred meters away. A group of people had encircled a man and a woman, launching a ferocious assault on them.

"How long do you think you two can keep running?" a one-armed man sneered, his tone icy and cruel. His severed arm had been replaced with an iron hook that gleamed sinisterly, sending a chill through the air. The hook was coated with a deadly poison, potent enough to cause a body to fester and rot with just one touch.

"Big brother, find a way to escape! Don't worry about me!" the woman urged, her voice laced with desperation. She knew neither would survive if they stayed together.

"No! If we go, we go together!" the man replied firmly, unwilling to abandon his younger sister. He clutched the wound on his chest as he struggled to steady his breathing.

"Don't even think about escaping today! I'll be sure to take good care of you both," the one-armed man said with a lecherous smile as his gaze lingered on the woman.

Their conversation reached Liu Wuxie's ears, and he muttered, "It's them!"

Liu Wuxie immediately recognized the pair—they were the siblings who had sat across from him during the teleportation array journey. They, too, had entered the Genflame Mountain Range, though Liu Wuxie had been slightly ahead of them.

After leaving the teleportation array, Liu Wuxie had briefly stopped in the city to purchase a map before venturing into the mountain range without exploring further. Now, he found the siblings embroiled in a conflict with a mercenary group, a feud that appeared deeply rooted. Judging by their demeanor, the siblings didn’t seem like troublemakers.

The one-armed man, likely the leader of the mercenaries, stood menacingly, though the exact nature of their conflict was still unclear to Liu Wuxie.

"Captain, let's kill the man, but make sure we keep the woman for some entertainment," one mercenary jeered, and the others laughed in agreement.

"Chou Ba, you’ve committed countless crimes! I regret not severing your head when I had the chance back then and only taking your arm!" the young man growled, his voice thick with bitterness and regret.

A month earlier, the siblings had passed through Mercenary City and witnessed Chou Ba attempting to assault a woman. Unable to stand by, they intervened, leading to a fierce fight that cost Chou Ba his arm, as he had no reinforcements at the time.

Humiliated, Chou Ba had lingered in the city for the past month, biding his time for revenge. His patience paid off when the siblings returned, and this time, he brought reinforcements to settle the score.

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