Desolate Devouring Art-Chapter 1376 - Furious

Chapter 1376 - Furious
Ye Yuwen and the others were curious, and they also wanted to see what a thousand-year-old Bloodking Bamboo Shoot looked like.
They crowded around to stare at the stalk with their hands itching to snatch it straight out of Liu Wuxie's grasp.
Shangguan Xue's eyes gleamed as well. They had been in the Blood Fiend Valley for barely fifteen minutes, and Wu Xie had already dug up a Bloodking Bamboo Shoot—was that really just luck?
Liu Wuxie carefully put away the thousand-year-old Bloodking Bamboo Shoot.
"Wu Xie, sell that thousand-year-old Bloodking Bamboo Shoot to me," Xie Tao said, walking up to Liu Wuxie.
"Not for sale," Liu Wuxie said, rejecting him without the slightest hesitation.
The thousand-year Bloodking Bamboo Shoot was far too important to him, and if he could find one more of the same grade, he would be able to break through to the fifth-level Primal Origin Realm. For another cultivator at the Primal Origin Realm, consuming it alone could easily guarantee a one-level breakthrough.
Liu Wuxie, however, was different. His desolate world was too vast, and the resources he needed were several times those required by ordinary cultivators. Hence, he had to hoard a large number of Bloodking Bamboo Shoots before daring to attempt a breakthrough.
If he were to run out of resources midway through his breakthrough, it would be no different from wasting a thousand-year-old Bloodking Bamboo Shoot.
"Wu Xie, do you think you could harvest that thousand-year-old Bloodking Bamboo Shoot in peace without our protection? I advise you to sell it to me, and I can ensure your safety," Xie Tao said, his tone sharpening as he spoke.
If he managed to obtain that thousand-year-old Bloodking Bamboo Shoot, his chances of reaching the second-level Void Realm would jump to seventy percent.
It was a golden opportunity; how could he possibly bear to let it slip through his fingers?
Aside from their own squad, more cultivators began rushing over from all directions, though most of them were only at the ninth-level Primal Origin Realm or at the first or second levels of the Void Realm. Those at the higher levels of the Void Realm had, for the most part, already gone to the mysterious passage.
Only squads that lacked the strength to compete elsewhere would come here to gamble on their luck with Bloodking Bamboo Shoots.
The newcomers stared with greedy eyes, ready to surge forward and seize the thousand-year-old Bloodking Bamboo Shoot at any moment.
With Ye Yuwen and the others standing guard, however, they dared not make a move. Xie Tao's earlier words couldn't have been clearer—he would offer Liu Wuxie "protection" if the latter sold him the thousand-year-old Bloodking Bamboo Shoot.
"I don't need your protection," Liu Wuxie said coldly. He had already tossed the thousand-year-old Bloodking Bamboo Shoot into the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron and begun refining it.
When the time was right, he could channel all of that energy into the desolate world. For now, however, he stood in the Blood Fiend Battlefield, where danger lurked with every step.
Moreover, Xie Tao couldn't protect him even if he tried to do so. Liu Wuxie would already feel thankful if Xie Tao didn't attempt to stab him in the back instead. Today's battle was the perfect example. He would have died if he hadn't been strong enough.
Being rejected in front of so many people made it impossible for Xie Tao to back down gracefully, and a torrent of murderous intent surged out from him.
"Xie Tao, we have already agreed on the distribution beforehand. The treasure will belong to whoever can claim it," Shangguan Xue said as she rose to her feet and stepped in front of him. Since they had settled the rules in advance, they naturally had to abide by them.
"Shangguan Xue, are you trying to teach me how to do things?" Xie Tao snapped. He had joined this squad for her sake alone, only to end up seething with frustration instead—how could he not be furious?
"I'm only speaking the truth. If you can rely on your ability to find a Bloodking Bamboo Shoot, none of us will envy you," Shangguan Xue replied. It was only a Bloodking Bamboo Shoot, and there were plenty more scattered throughout the valley. Of course, everyone could only depend on their own skill to uncover them.
There was nothing admirable about a man who only knew how to snatch away what others had found.
Although Xie Tao's offer sounded generous on the surface, he hadn't contributed a single resource from the very start. He was trying to obtain the Bloodking Bamboo Shoot for free while hiding behind the excuse of "protecting" Liu Wuxie.
Liu Wuxie hadn't expected Shangguan Xue to step forward on his behalf. Being able to keep her composure in the face of such temptation was no small feat.
The other squads kept silent, and no one spoke up. Humans were selfish by nature. Their mouths stayed shut, but the greed burning in their eyes was plain to Liu Wuxie. Only Ye Yuwen and Ye Feng were slightly better, with far less greed showing in their gazes.
"Alright, that's enough," Ye Yuwen finally said, stepping in to break things up. "Since we've agreed on the distribution rules beforehand, we should naturally follow them."
More and more people were gathering around them, and if a fight broke out now, their squad would lose any advantage it had.
Xie Tao could dare to brush off Shangguan Xue, but he still had to show Ye Yuwen respect, both as the squad's leader and the squad's strongest member.
The group moved on, and the cultivators who had gathered began to trail them from a distance. Liu Wuxie, however, paid them no mind and felt no fear, so long as no experts at the high levels of the Void Realm appeared among them.
If they dared to make a move, he wouldn't mind refining them all. He maintained Ghost Eye to monitor everything around him. Then, he picked up his space and stopped walking less than two minutes later. He drew his dagger to start scraping away at the rock on the boulder before him.
Someone had once sliced this boulder cleanly in two, and it had to have stood nearly ten meters tall back then. Since only half of it remained, everyone couldn't help but wonder whether the remaining portion had a Bloodking Bamboo Shoot inside.
Shangguan Xue and the others halted. Then, they stard at Liu Wuxie with growing curiosity.
"Could it be that he found another Bloodking Bamboo Shoot?" Wu Zhong asked. They had smashed open several massive boulders without finding a single thing.
Liu Wuxie, however, stayed unhurried as he chipped away at the boulder. With a loud crack, the stone split apart on its own, and a massive Bloodking Bamboo Shoot emerged before him.
"A hundred-year-old Bloodking Bamboo Shoot!" everyone exclaimed again.
Those who had been trailing behind Liu Wuxie stepped out of the shadows, shock written across their faces. If finding one could be chalked up to luck, what did it mean when he found a second?
Everyone wore the same baffled expression; they could dismiss the first find as luck, but the second left them truly at a loss.
Xie Tao's gaze grew darker. The more Bloodking Bamboo Shoots Liu Wuxie uncovered, the fouler his mood became. This time, he didn't even bother asking to buy it, and he watched with a stormy face as Liu Wuxie harvested the Bloodking Bamboo Shoot.
"Little Brother Wu, can you sense the Bloodking Bamboo Shoot? Can you teach me and let me find a few? I've been stuck at the ninth-level Primal Origin Realm for a long time now," Shangguan Xue asked, her voice carrying not a trace of jealousy.
If Liu Wuxie truly had a method to locate Bloodking Bamboo Shoots, this trip to the Blood Fiend Valley could become a windfall for all of them.
Everyone else harbored the same thought, but no one else, except for Shangguan Xue, dared to voice it. After all, Shangguan Xue was the only one to speak up for Liu Wuxie earlier when Xie Tao had threatened him.
"It's just luck. I found this boulder looking strange earlier," Liu Wuxie replied. He naturally refused to admit that he could see the Bloodking Bamboo Shoots inside the boulders. He wouldn't admit it, even to Shangguan Xue.
If he told her the truth, the surrounding cultivators would swarm him in an instant. It wasn't that he was unwilling to help her, but the environment here was far too dangerous.
In the blink of an eye, fifty to sixty cultivators clustered around them, waiting for Liu Wuxie's answer. If he admitted he could sense Bloodking Bamboo Shoots, they wouldn't hesitate to capture him alive and force him to search for them.
A flicker of disappointment flashed through Shangguan Xue's eyes the moment she heard Liu Wuxie's answer.
"Lady Shangguan, don't be disappointed. There will always be chances," Liu Wuxie said, offering her a reassuring smile.
At his words, a faint smile curved Shangguan Xue's lips. She naturally picked up the deeper meaning behind Liu Wuxie's reassurance.
The group moved on, and Liu Wuxie stopped several more times, only to come up empty-handed each time. He did it deliberately to confuse the crowd, sending the message that his earlier finds had been mere luck.
After watching him fail several times in a row, Xie Tao let out a cold chuckle.
Two hours later, Ye Feng also managed to unearth a Bloodking Bamboo Shoot of decent quality.
Not long after that, Liu Wuxie discovered yet another Bloodking Bamboo Shoot. Although it hadn't reached a hundred years, it was still at least over fifty.
The sight naturally made Xie Tao furious, and he slammed his palm down on a nearby boulder. The rock split apart and shattered into pieces. The murderous intent in his eyes only grew stronger as he watched Liu Wuxie collect yet another Bloodking Bamboo Shoot.
"Xie Tao, you destroyed the Bloodking Bamboo Shoot," Wu Zhong said as he walked over, staring at the shattered boulder in heartache.
The boulder Xie Tao shattered in that moment of blind rage had actually been concealing a Bloodking Bamboo Shoot, and his strike ruined it along with the stone.
When Xie Tao saw the ruined Bloodking Bamboo Shoot, a stab of pain went through his heart. His expression twisted with frustration; after finally finding a Bloodking Bamboo Shoot four hours in, he had ended up crushing it with his own hand.
Everyone watching struggled to hold back their laughter at the sight.
"Xie Tao, let me handle it if you find another Bloodking Bamboo Shoot. There's no need to take your anger out on it," Shangguan Xue said mockingly. In her eyes, Xie Tao's heart and mind were far too narrow.
Liu Wuxie ignored their exchange. He had known there was a Bloodking Bamboo Shoot inside that boulder.
The squad ventured deeper into the Blood Fiend Valley, and in just half a day, Liu Wuxie found four Bloodking Bamboo Shoots. He could have located more if he wished, but he deliberately held back; the more he found, the more danger he would draw onto himself.
Four was a reasonable number, and he could use them to make a breakthrough into the fifth-level Primal Origin Realm. Besides, most of the Bloodking Bamboo Shoots he saw were only a few decades old and no longer had much effect on him.
"Everyone, let's rest for a while," Ye Yuwen suggested, seeing how exhausted they all were after threading their way through the jagged stones.
Liu Wuxie swept his gaze around, recalling how the Ancestral Tree had stirred earlier with a powerful surge of energy.
When everyone sat down, those who had managed to harvest a Bloodking Bamboo Shoot were visibly excited. Shangguan Xue's luck wasn't bad either, as she had managed to find one of her own.
Out of the squad of ten, only Xie Tao had yet to obtain anything. Even Wu Zhong had managed to find a ten-year-old Bloodking Bamboo Shoot; although the energy it contained was weak and couldn't compare to Liu Wuxie's harvests, it was still better than nothing.
As he watched everyone chatting and laughing in high spirits, a ferocious glint flashed across Xie Tao's eyes.
If it hadn't been for Liu Wuxie, he wouldn't have lost his temper and shattered that boulder. He would have secured a Bloodking Bamboo Shoot as well.
Liu Wuxie ignored the malice aimed his way and suddenly vanished from where he stood, heading toward a nearby pile of rubble.
Everyone's heads snapped up, baffled by Liu Wuxie's sudden movement.
"What's he doing by going to a pile of rubble? There won't be any Bloodking Bamboo Shoots in there," someone muttered. The pile of rubble consisted of shattered boulder fragments. No one had ever found Bloodking Bamboo Shoots inside such debris, so everyone looked at Liu Wuxie in confusion.