Desolate Devouring Art-Chapter 1372 - Mysterious Passage

Chapter 1372 - Mysterious Passage
When Liu Wuxie was in the Heavenly Dragon Sect's lesser realm, he kept his speculation to himself and didn't share it with Hua Feiyu, as he wasn't confident in it yet. From the depths of his memories, he had dredged up some information about the three red suns, something his master, the Heavenly Taoist, had once mentioned.
Legend said that when the universe was still a mass of primal chaos, ten blazing suns hung over the world. As the cosmos gradually evolved and took shape, those ten suns drifted apart and entered different universes.
There was a saying that ten suns shared the sky at the birth of the universe, and ten suns would return at the end of the universe. In other words, when the ten suns reappeared together, it would herald the gradual destruction of the world.
The appearance of the three red suns could mean that one world had vanished, or that some undiscovered world had formed a connection with the Blood Fiend Battlefield. His senior brother and the other humans might have been dragged into that other world by the black holes.
However, Liu Wuxie had no idea what kind of world it was, and that fragment of lore was all he knew.
He shuttled across the Blood Fiend Battlefield, entirely focused on his immediate task of investigating what had happened three days ago. Along the way, he saw scattered remains in many places, left to bleach under the elements.
......
Meanwhile, countless experts had gathered in the Grand Unity Sect's Thousand Divination Hall. The sect had dispatched its own elites the moment they heard that Liu Wuxie had entered the Blood Fiend Battlefield.
What happened at the Myriad Race Ceremony had dealt a devastating blow to the Grand Unity Sect's reputation, and they had even lost thousands of their finest prodigies. As a result, the sect's status had taken a sharp downturn.
......
Liu Wuxie knew nothing about any of that. He stood on the summit of a mountain, gazing around at the vast expanse. Unless the black holes appeared again, he had no way to confirm whether another world had truly emerged.
The blood fiends occupied the eastern region of the Blood Fiend Battlefield, while the western side remained a no-man's land. The south lay closest to the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain, and most clashes between humans and blood fiends broke out in the north.
That northern region was where astral crystals frequently appeared, drawing large numbers of human cultivators to mine them. Since the north directly bordered the east, the blood fiends had long entrenched themselves there, making it extremely difficult for human cultivators to obtain astral crystals.
Besides searching for his senior brother, Liu Wuxie also intended to seize every opportunity to improve his cultivation.
Sensing the warning of approaching danger from the Ancestral Tree, Liu Wuxie understood that this trip to the Blood Fiend Battlefield would be anything but peaceful.
Most cultivators who came to the Blood Fiend Battlefield had already reached the Void Realm, and even the weakest among them stood at the high levels of the Primal Origin Realm. As for cultivators at the Origin Conversion Realm, they did not even qualify to approach this planet.
While Liu Wuxie didn't fear opponents at the Primal Origin Realm or those at the lower levels of the Void Realm, he had no chance if he encountered enemies at the higher levels of the Void Realm. Thus, he had to do everything in his power to raise his cultivation to the high levels of the Primal Origin Realm.
"Astral crystals! If only I could get my hands on a large amount of astral crystals," Liu Wuxie murmured. His desolate world had already reached saturation, and the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron would draw pure yang energy from the atmosphere and refine it into Pure Yang Pills.
Astral stones contained too many impurities to support advancement into the Void Realm and became useless once one reached that stage. Most Void Realm cultivators came here for a simple reason: to mine for astral crystals, as only astral crystals could fuel their breakthrough to the Earth Immortal Realm.
After all, each astral crystal contained a wisp of heaven and earth's law. The more one absorbed, the higher their chances of stepping into the Earth Immortal Realm.
He had relied on treasures obtained during the Myriad Race Ceremony to make rapid breakthroughs, but that very speed meant he would inevitably enter a period of slowdown to consolidate his foundation. In the end, cultivation still depended on comprehending the dao of heaven and earth; plundering was never a path one could walk forever.
In just half a year, Liu Wuxie had covered what would typically take an ordinary cultivator a decade, all thanks to the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron and the Desolate Devouring Art. Most people required more than ten years of tempering to progress from the Origin Conversion Realm to the Primal Origin Realm, yet Liu Wuxie had spent only four months.
Astral crystals were undoubtedly the best tool for him to consolidate his cultivation. By absorbing the laws within them, he could significantly accelerate his comprehension of the dao.
Liu Wuxie activated Ghost Eye, and his gaze pierced deep into the Blood Fiend Battlefield. In the distance, he saw multiple rhombus-shaped veins riddled with astral crystals.
Astral crystals differed entirely from astral stones; they formed irregular rhomboids that truly resembled crystalline gems. Because of the immense energy they contained, a single astral crystal was worth more than a million astral stones, and that alone showed their value. Even so, they rarely circulated on the market, and even Earth Immortal Realm cultivators didn't dare squander them.
"The reserves of astral crystals here are terrifying, but blood fiends have occupied many places. It won't be easy to sneak in," Liu Wuxie said as he withdrew the Ghost Eye.
When his divine sense swept out, he sensed several humans rushing in his direction with a pack of blood fiends close behind them. This ceaseless slaughter was precisely why this planet had earned the name Blood Fiend Battlefield.
Liu Wuxie's figure blurred and vanished from where he stood.
As the slaughter continued, the humans were quickly surrounded and consumed by the blood fiends, devoured until not even their bones remained. It wasn't that Liu Wuxie lacked compassion, but the blood fiends were too powerful; even he would struggle to survive if they treated him as prey.
As more people poured into the Blood Fiend Battlefield, nearly three hundred experts from the Grand Unity Sect arrived as well. Mo Hong was among them, and in just a few days, he had already advanced to the third-level Void Realm.
The humiliation he suffered at the Myriad Race Ceremony hadn't broken him; instead, it had driven him to cultivate even harder, allowing his strength to leap forward.
"Everyone, prepare to use the Thousand Divination Art to search for his whereabouts," ordered the leading elder, whose cultivation stood at the pinnacle of the Void Realm and whose strength was unfathomable.
He intended to use the Thousand Divination Art to track down Liu Wuxie. As long as they had preserved a strand of Liu Wuxie's aura beforehand, they could employ it to pinpoint his location.
Not long after Liu Wuxie left, he received another warning from the Ancestral Tree. This time, the danger did not originate from the Ancestral Tree itself but from an even greater threat.
"The experts of the Grand Unity Sect have come?" Liu Wuxie murmured with a devilish smile, though he didn't feel particularly concerned. With the token his master had given him, he didn't even fear the experts at the Earth Immortal Realm.
However, there was no reason for him to clash head-on with the Grand Unity Sect, and his priority remained to increase his cultivation.
He spent most of his first day wandering across the plains, only changing direction toward the south at dusk when he set his sights on a large city. Although there was no actual distinction between day and night on this planet, everyone could roughly gauge time by the faint reflection of sunlight.
Most people who came to the Blood Fiend Battlefield chose to rest inside the city, as it was the only relatively safe place. Wandering the plains meant facing a high chance of encountering blood fiends.
When Liu Wuxie stepped into the city, he found it bustling with people, though it still fell short of Mount Dragon City's prosperity. Taverns and teahouses lined the streets, along with various other businesses that caught him by surprise. The most lively place of all, however, was the Mercenary Alliance.
Many cultivators visited the Mercenary Alliance to look for teammates, since not everyone here belonged to powerful sects that sent them in groups. Most had come to this planet alone, and traveling solo was dangerous when blood fiends hunted in packs. The best way for humans to face them was to form their own teams.
Liu Wuxie didn't rush to the Mercenary Alliance and instead headed to a tavern. The tavern was crowded and packed with cultivators, making it the ideal place to gather information about the Blood Fiend Battlefield.
The place was so full that not a single table remained empty, forcing Liu Wuxie to share one with others. Two people were already occupying the table he chose: an old man and a young man, who looked like father and son or perhaps grandfather and grandson, given their age difference.
When Liu Wuxie sat down, the two glanced over at him right away. Seeing no hostility in their eyes, he watched them merely shift the items on the table to free up space for him.
That small gesture immediately improved Liu Wuxie's impression of them, and he gave them a slight nod in acknowledgment.
The older man had reached the second-level Void Realm, while the young man stood at the seventh-level Primal Origin Realm. They spoke very little and seemed intent on eating, yet in truth, the food served only as a pretext; their real purpose was to listen to the nearby conversations and gather information.
At their level of cultivation, mortal food was no longer a necessity and had become nothing more than a lingering habit.
"There's no harvest today, and we even lost a teammate," a disgruntled complaint echoed from behind Liu Wuxie.
"Not exactly. Didn't we discover that mysterious passage that leads straight into the underground veins?" another voice replied, much quieter, though many in the tavern still heard him despite his attempt to whisper.
"That's hardly a harvest. That passage is filled with dangers, and a team went in ahead of us, only to get wiped out," said another cultivator at a neighboring table. By now, that mysterious passage was no secret in the Blood Fiend Battlefield.
"Are you talking about the Mountain Wolf Squad?" someone asked, leaning over to join the conversation. Everyone here hailed from different places, strangers brought together under this tavern roof.
"You've heard of that squad?" More people shifted closer, joining in.
"The Mountain Wolf Squad didn't disappear because they entered the mysterious passage, but the black holes swept them away. That passage is filled with mystery that even the blood fiends didn't dare to go in," another person said.
Liu Wuxie began piecing together the fragments of information in his mind. It wasn't difficult to infer that the Mountain Wolf Squad had been swept away by a black hole when they entered the mysterious passage.
"Lately, everyone has been trying to get into the mysterious passage. As long as we can mine astral crystals there, it's worth taking the risk," a person said.
Many of those listening looked visibly tempted. After all, black holes didn't appear every time. As long as they avoided them, they could mine astral crystals and quickly withdraw from the mysterious passage.
Many had come to the Blood Fiend Battlefield hoping to strike it rich—one big job, and they could leave this planet behind.
After that, the conversation drifted toward topics Liu Wuxie found meaningless, mostly crude, vulgar jokes. The female cultivators in the tavern even became targets of teasing.
Liu Wuxie spent about two hours on his meal before leaving the tavern. He planned to rest for the night and visit the Mercenary Alliance the following morning. After all, traveling alone in the Blood Fiend Battlefield was dangerous, and he had noticed that many cultivators at the Primal Origin Realm appeared there, but Void Realm experts almost always accompanied them as their guardians.
He found a simple inn, stepped inside, and rented a room. Sitting cross-legged, he began circulating the Desolate Devouring Art to absorb the surrounding laws.
As his divine sense gradually drifted away from his body, it soared freely into the vast universe. Around the time he settled down to comprehend the laws of heaven and earth, the pair who had shared his table at the tavern also checked in at the same inn, taking the room next door.
Liu Wuxie sensed their arrival the instant they entered, but he paid them no mind and continued to let his divine sense roam through the void.
Time slipped by quietly as Liu Wuxie spent roughly eight hours in cultivation. When he judged that dawn was approaching, his divine sense returned to his body, and he slowly exhaled a long breath.
After cultivating for the entire night, his cultivation felt even more refined. When he opened the door and stepped into the corridor, the pair who had stayed next door had already departed.