Desolate Devouring Art-Chapter 1373 - Blood Fiend Valley

Chapter 1373 - Blood Fiend Valley
After leaving the tavern, Liu Wuxie threaded his way through the busy streets until he finally found the Mercenary Alliance. People crammed into the hall, and countless squads loudly recruited anyone who stepped through the doors.
However, because Liu Wuxie's cultivation appeared low, no one approached him, and not a single person even spared him a second look. Those at the Void Realm, on the other hand, instantly became prime targets as the surrounding squads swarmed to recruit them.
"We're the Wild Leopard Squad, and we're still short of one person! Our leader has reached the high levels of the Void Realm! Anyone want in?"
"Our Great Mountain Squad still needs two more people! Anyone interested?"
The moment Liu Wuxie walked into the building, a wall of noise crashed over him as voices overlapped in an unending clamor. New squads formed in the Mercenary Alliance every day; some boasted over a hundred members, while the smaller ones had just a little more than a dozen.
Notices covered the right wall, each one introducing a different squad to make recruitment easier and help them attract compatible members. Anyone interested in joining only had to seek out the respective squad and gain the leader's approval.
Thanks to this system, most cultivators who joined the Mercenary Alliance could find a squad that suited them. Yet even after all this time, not a single person had extended an invitation to Liu Wuxie, and the crowd continued to treat him as though he were invisible.
"Brat, what are you doing here? Get lost!" A Void Realm cultivator shoved Liu Wuxie aside, barking at him to leave, as the Blood Fiend Battlefield wasn't a place for someone with his level of cultivation.
The push made anger flicker in Liu Wuxie's eyes, but he ultimately forced himself to swallow it down.
It quickly became clear that waiting around for an invitation was pointless, leaving him with only two paths. He could either start a brand new squad from nothing or take the initiative to seek out a squad willing to accept him.
He spent half a day scanning the hall but found no squad that suited him. Every one of them had set their minimum requirement at the pinnacle of the Primal Origin Realm.
"Are you looking for a squad to join?" a voice called out from behind Liu Wuxie.
When Liu Wuxie turned around, he saw a familiar face—the same young man he had shared a table with in the tavern the previous night. The youth smiled at him, his clear eyes bright and open, and he gave off a harmless impression.
Liu Wuxie nodded. He had already read nearly every poster on the wall, but all of them listed strict entry requirements, and his apparent cultivation fell far short. With his current displayed level, no squad here would be willing to take him in.
If he genuinely couldn't find a suitable squad, he would have no choice but to travel alone. Yet roaming the Blood Fiend Battlefield by himself was incredibly dangerous, and if he encountered blood fiends, he would almost certainly die.
"Our squad is still short of one person. Are you interested in joining?" the youth asked, openly extending an invitation to Liu Wuxie.
"Can I join with my cultivation?" Liu Wuxie asked. He had yet to reveal his true combat strength, and on the surface, he appeared to be only at the fourth-level Primal Origin Realm, even though his actual fighting power rivaled that of third-level Void Realm cultivators.
Even so, while the fourth-level Primal Origin Realm wasn't the absolute bottom of the hierarchy in the Blood Fiend Battlefield, it was still near the lower end. After all, cultivators at the Primal Origin Realm accounted for only about one-third of the total population on this planet.
"Our squad's cultivation isn't very high, and most people look down on us. It's getting late, and we only have one spot left. I saw you searching around for a long time, so if you can't find any suitable squad, you can consider joining us," the youth said honestly.
He admitted without pretending otherwise that their squad lacked strength and couldn't recruit any powerful experts, leaving them with no choice but to lower their standards. Since he had already met Liu Wuxie once, that small sense of familiarity had prompted him to offer the invitation.
"Alright," Liu Wuxie replied with a nod. In truth, the main reason he accepted was the clarity and sincerity he saw in the youth's eyes.
Many squads looked strong on the surface, but internal strife ran deep. The moment treasures appeared, arguments over distribution would erupt, and it wasn't uncommon on this planet for teammates to turn their weapons on one another.
The youth's squad wasn't waiting inside the hall. After leaving the Mercenary Alliance, they walked back to the main street. Most of the other squads had already departed, taking advantage of the time when blood fiends rarely appeared.
As they passed along a street, they saw a small group gathered ahead. It was a team of eight cultivators, a mix of men and women. Adding the youth and Liu Wuxie brought their squad's total number to ten.
"Uncle, I brought someone," the youth called out to the old man at the front. It turned out they were neither father and son nor grandfather and grandson.
When everyone turned to look at Liu Wuxie, some of them frowned, and a few openly showed their displeasure. Only the old man's gaze lingered on Liu Wuxie with a hint of curiosity.
"Ye Feng, what do you mean by this? Do you want to drag us down by bringing in someone at the fourth-level Primal Origin Realm?" one man snapped.
The squad's overall strength was far from impressive. Only four of them had reached the Void Realm, while the rest remained at the Primal Origin Realm.
"What's your name?" the old man asked calmly as he approached Liu Wuxie.
"Wu Xie," Liu Wuxie replied, using a homonym of his own name. By now, his actual name had spread through the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain like wildfire, known to almost everyone. However, aside from those who had participated in the Myriad Race Ceremony, very few had actually seen his face, and most only knew of him through rumors.
Ye Feng's uncle had established this squad, and the other members had joined through invitations just like Liu Wuxie. Their combined strength was only average at best, and they would struggle badly if they encountered powerful blood fiends.
The man who had spoken earlier was named Xie Tao, a first-level Void Realm cultivator. Despite his unremarkable strength, he clearly resented Ye Feng for bringing Liu Wuxie into the squad. The strongest member among them was Ye Feng's uncle, whose cultivation had reached the second-level Void Realm.
"My name is Ye Yuwen, and I'm the leader of this squad. Welcome aboard, young lad," the old man said, extending his hand to welcome Liu Wuxie into the group formally.
"Old Ye, what's the meaning of this? Shouldn't you ask the rest of us before bringing in a burden like him?" Xie Tao demanded. Most of them were rogue cultivators in the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain with no backing to speak of. They had come to the Blood Fiend Battlefield purely to try their luck.
"What does everyone think, then?" Ye Yuwen asked. He showed no intention of acting like a tyrant and instead turned to the others, seeking their opinions.
"I have no objection," a young woman said.
Ye Feng had already introduced this woman to Liu Wuxie earlier; she had proactively chosen to join their squad. Her name was Shangguan Xue, and her cultivation stood at the ninth-level Primal Origin Realm.
"I don't mind," added a man in his thirties. His name was Cang Hua, and he was also at the ninth-level Primal Origin Realm.
Both of them had lingered at the ninth-level Primal Origin Realm for a long time, and they had come here after hearing about the events in the Blood Fiend Battlefield.
In the end, only two people remained opposed to Liu Wuxie joining, but with the majority in favor, he officially became a member of the squad.
"Brother Wu, which planet did you come from?"
Once they had settled everything, the squad of ten departed the city and headed toward the Blood Fiend Battlefield to train for five days.
"Blue Origin Star," Liu Wuxie replied, fabricating his origin without hesitation. Blue Origin Star was the world where Xiao Luo had been born.
From Ye Feng, he learned that the youth's parents had died when he was very young, leaving his uncle to raise him. The pair had wandered the astral domain together ever since, and without his uncle, wild wolves would have long since devoured Ye Feng.
The squad left the city limits and stepped onto the Blood Fiend Battlefield.
"The weather seems a little nasty today," someone remarked. The astral wind that swept over them carried an unpleasant chill. On the Blood Fiend Battlefield, the weather could shift without the slightest warning.
"Old Ye, are we heading to the mysterious passage?" Xie Tao asked. Many squads had left the city for the mysterious passage that day, as it was the only route that allowed them to bypass the blood fiends and reach the underground veins.
"That will depend on everyone's opinion. Those who want to go to the mysterious passage, raise your hands," Ye Yuwen said. He refused to make the decision alone and instead turned to gauge the group's will.
"I disagree. More than a hundred squads have gone there in just one day, and we gain no advantage by joining them. I suggest we head to the Blood Fiend Valley instead to harvest Bloodking Bamboo Shoots. Though they aren't worth as much as astral crystals, they're still rare treasures," Shangguan Xue said.
First of all, the mysterious passage was perilous, and there was a high chance the strange black holes could sweep them away. Second, they all understood how weak their squad was, and it would be difficult for them to compete with other squads for any real gains.
The wisest course was to let the other squads test the waters first. In any case, the Blood Fiend Battlefield held an enormous reserve of astral crystals, enough that even mining for hundreds of years wouldn't exhaust them, so missing a day or two meant little.
Shangguan Xue's suggestion immediately won the approval of those around her. With a bit of luck, they might still find astral crystals in the Blood Fiend Valley, even if the odds were slim, and most of them preferred that option for the sake of safety.
Liu Wuxie stayed silent throughout the discussion. He had come to the Blood Fiend Battlefield to investigate his elder senior brother's disappearance. His senior brother had already been missing for days, and there were still no clues. For now, the only thing he could do was join a squad and slowly gather information.
In the end, more than half the squad agreed to head for the Blood Fiend Valley under the combined persuasion of Shangguan Xue and Cang Hua.
"Brother Wu, what about you?" Ye Feng asked when he noticed that Liu Wuxie had not yet expressed his stance.
"I also think that we should go to the Blood Fiend Valley," Liu Wuxie said.
Although Suangguan Xue didn't look very old, he could tell she had plenty of experience, and charging straight into the mysterious passage right now was far from the best choice. If he were alone, he wouldn't have chosen that place either, as barging in would be no different from delivering his head on a platter.
If they went there, the stronger squads would inevitably shove their group to the front as disposable pathfinders.
"Kid, who the fuck do you think you are to have a say here? We've already shown you great kindness by taking you in," Xie Tao snapped. He didn't dare direct his anger at Shangguan Xue and the others, so he could only vent his frustration on Liu Wuxie.
Liu Wuxie's eyes turned icy as boundless murderous intent surged from within him. This man had targeted him again and again, and if he weren't in such a hurry to search for his elder senior brother, he would have slapped Xie Tao to death long ago.
"Brother Wu, forget it. There's no need for you to lower yourself to his level," Ye Feng said quickly, grabbing hold of Liu Wuxie to stop the conflict from escalating.
"That's enough. Let's go," Ye Yuwen said, cutting in. As the squad's leader, he naturally needed everyone to give him face, and if danger struck, he would be the one standing at the very front.
Moreover, Ye Yuwen was also the strongest cultivator among them, and his presence carried an innate authority.
Xie Tao could mock Liu Wuxie, but he didn't dare go against Ye Yuwen directly. He could only shoot Liu Wuxie a venomous glare.
With that, the squad set off toward the Blood Fiend Valley, a journey that would take roughly half a day. Several other squads were also making their way in the same direction.
The Blood Fiend Valley teemed with Bloodking Bamboo Shoots, which contained potent energy capable of strengthening the physique upon consumption. With three to five shoots, one could often achieve an easy breakthrough. On the market, even the most common Bloodking Bamboo Shoot could sell for three to five million astral stones.
"Little brother, why do you look a little familiar?" Shangguan Xue asked as she suddenly walked over.
From their appearances, Shangguan Xue looked a few years older than Liu Wuxie, so it felt natural for her to address him as 'little brother.'
For some reason, she had found Liu Wuxie familiar from the first moment she saw him, yet no matter how she searched her memory, she couldn't recall where she had seen him before.