Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 687 - Yin-Yang Palace

Ji Qiu’s face lit up with joy when he saw Liu Wuxie. He had thought that Liu Wuxie had died in the Yin-Yang Valley, and their reunion filled him and Tang Hong with happiness.

“Brother Liu, it’s wonderful to see you again!” Ji Qiu said with heartfelt sincerity.

“Brother Ji, how did you two come in?” Liu Wuxie asked, puzzled.

Ji Qiu and Tang Hong were only in the eighth level of the Astral River Realm, and they were lucky to have come this far. After all, Liu Wuxie had seen many cultivators in the pinnacle of the Astral River Realm dead along the way.

“We got lucky. Speaking of which, Brother Liu, did you find the person you’re looking for?” Ji Qiu whispered as Yu Lin was nearby.

“I did!” Liu Wuxie nodded, but he didn’t go into the details.

As potential dangers lay around them, the three moved to a corner, and no one paid any attention to them.

“Brother Liu, there’s something weird about this place. I witnessed so many inexplicable deaths,” Ji Qiu said, his brows locked.

Not even Liu Wuxie was immune to fear. A chill ran down his spine as well—he wasn’t a god, and fear of the unknown was a natural human emotion.

“Brother Ji, do you trust me?” Liu Wuxie’s tone suddenly became serious.

“I do!” Ji Qiu said without any hesitation. Liu Wuxie had saved their lives twice. Who would he trust if he couldn’t put his trust in Liu Wuxie?

“There’s a huge conspiracy hidden here, and there’s a possibility we might die here. There’s only one way if we want to leave this place alive,” Liu Wuxie said, his eyes becoming serious.

“Brother Liu, have you discovered something? Just tell us what needs to be done,” Ji Qiu responded. He knew he was inferior to Liu Wuxie in terms of knowledge, and he didn’t have any idea what was going on even after so long.

“If you believe me, try to gather as many people as you can. We can only hope to survive this ordeal through unity,” Liu Wuxie instructed. He felt that Ji Qiu and Tang Hong might have a better chance of rallying the scattered cultivators.

“We’ll need something to convince people if we want to rally everyone,” Ji Qiu said. He knew no one would listen to him without any proof.

“I suspect this place is deliberately constructed by someone to awaken something. The time has come, so the Yin-Yang Valley released strange gasses, attracting people,” Liu Wuxie said. He didn’t mention the Blood Curse as it was too fantastical for most to believe.

Even if he told everyone about it, no one would believe him. After all, the Blood Curse was only mentioned in legends, and no one had witnessed it before.

Those were merely Liu Wuxie’s deductions, and the person who had orchestrated it had planned everything long ago. To sacrifice countless lives to create Yin Mountain, which also allowed the volcano to form a few thousand years later, as Yin and Yang couldn’t exist alone. But this only brought a bigger question: who could’ve planned everything for so long?

“Perhaps only Yu Lin can rally everyone. The majority of the people here follow him, and I can only do my best,” Ji Qiu said. He was speaking the truth as it was nearly impossible for the three to rally all the cultivators present.

But since Liu Wuxie had given him this task, Ji Qiu would do his best to rally as many people as possible. In times of crisis, everyone should set aside past grievances and unite. But the reality was harsh: Ji Qiu was nearly sent flying with a slap when he approached the first person.

“Get lost! Who do you think you are? A mere cultivator in the eighth level of the Astral River Realm wants to unite us?!” the man sneered. Over three hundred cultivators were present, and they had already divided into multiple factions.

There weren’t many cultivators from the Southern Province; they were mostly from the Northern City and Central Plains. Ji Qiu’s first attempt was met with scorn, and he almost lost his life as a result.

Undeterred, Ji Qiu continued to try, only to face the same rejection with hostile glares following him wherever he went.

Liu Wuxie had already predicted this outcome, but he could only shake his head in disappointment. After hours of effort, Ji Qiu couldn’t convince anyone and returned with his head hanging low.

“Brother Liu, I’m sorry to disappoint you,” Ji Qiu said, his voice tinged with guilt.

“It’s alright,” Liu Wuxie responded. They had already given their best regardless of success or failure. The outcome wasn’t significant.

Ji Qiu’s action caught Yu Lin’s attention. He narrowed his eyes with murderous intent gushing out of him when he saw Liu Wuxie.

The reason why Liu Wuxie hadn’t approached people was because he wanted to avoid a confrontation with Yu Lin at this moment, but their paths were inevitably crossed now. The surroundings had only pillars, and it was unavoidable.

“Well, well. Look who we have here!” Yu Lin approached with over a dozen cultivators.

Just one day ago, one of Yu Lin’s companions had been slain by Liu Wuxie, and they had never forgotten the grudge.

“Yu Lin, I don’t want to fight here. We have to unite if we want to leave this place alive. We can fight again once we’re out,” Liu Wuxie said. He hoped Yu Lin would consider the bigger picture and set their differences aside.

“Brother Yu, what Brother Liu said is right. The danger isn’t over, and we should work together,” Ji Qiu tried to mediate.

“Who do you think you are? Get lost!” Yu Lin waved his hand and sent Ji Qiu flying away. His strength wasn’t what it looked on the surface, and Liu Wuxie even suspected that Yu Lin had sealed his true cultivation. In reality, he likely had already reached the Nascent Transformation Realm.

He had likely masked his true cultivation using some means, allowing him to enter the Heavenly Nether Battlefield.

Ji Qiu’s face turned pale to be humiliated in public, but he could do nothing about his lack of strength.

“Brat, you will die today for killing my brother!” Two men stepped forward from behind Yu Lin. The youth who Liu Wuxie had killed had a close relationship with them, and they were determined to avenge his death.

The surrounding cultivators watched the unfolding drama with amusement, and no one stepped forward to intervene.

This scene made Liu Wuxie feel sorrow for humans, a harsh reminder of human nature’s darker side.

“Are you sure you want to fight?” Liu Wuxie asked, his eyes gleamed with a sharp glint. Since a fight was inevitable, he would welcome it with open arms.

“You only managed to kill my brother because of your ambush, but your luck has run out today!”

It was true that Liu Wuxie had been fortunate to kill someone at the pinnacle of the Astral River Realm with one strike, especially due to his opponent’s carelessness. Otherwise, taking down such a formidable foe would have been far more challenging.

As the tension in the air thickened, a fierce battle seemed inevitable. Cracking sounds echoed from the distance like something had split apart, and everyone instantly turned to look at the source of the sound.

“There’s a gate over there, and it looks like it has opened!” Exclamations came from the crowd as a black-and-white gate slowly opened, and black-and-white mists began to seep from behind.

These were the yin and yang energies. The white mist represented the yang energy, while the black mist represented the yin energy. The black and white mists perfectly mirrored the colors of this palace.

The sudden environmental change drew even Yu Lin’s attention, causing him to set aside his differences with Liu Wuxie for now.

“What terrifying deathly energy!” Among the two mists, the yang energy wasn’t hazardous, but the yin energy instantly made everyone feel uncomfortable. It felt as though countless needles had pierced into their bodies, leaving them restless and uneasy.

“Everyone step back!” a voice echoed, and everyone became cautious as they didn’t know what lay beyond the portal.

As the crack expanded, skeletal fingers emerged from behind the gate.

“Deathguards!” someone screamed. The skeletal fingers belonged to deathguards, and an oppressive aura of heavenly nether energy filled the entire underground palace before the deathguards fully emerged.

Combined with the black-and-white diagrams on the pillars, the atmosphere grew even more unnerving. The entire underground palace seemed to come to life, and chilling laughter echoed through the air, its source impossible to pinpoint.

A shadow loomed over everyone’s hearts, and Liu Wuxie could sense Ji Qiu trembling. As for Tang Hong, she grabbed Ji Qiu’s arm, her face becoming pale.

Only those with a powerful will could maintain their composure, but most people were visibly shaken.

“It’s just a bunch of deathguards! Look how frightened you’ve all become!” scoffed a bold cultivator present.

It wasn’t as though they hadn’t encountered deathguards outside the Yin-Yang Valley. The eerie laughter was likely caused by the wind, a side effect of some ancient spiritual array being activated. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Liu Wuxie partially agreed. While the laughter was indeed produced by a spiritual array, the deathguards were far more terrifying than anyone had anticipated.

When the gate fully opened with a deafening crack, a towering thousand-year-old deathguard, nearly three meters tall, charged forward. The crowd was taken completely by surprise, having assumed it to be an ordinary deathguard since they couldn’t see beyond the gate.

A cultivator closest to the gate was ripped apart before he could respond.

“Why is it a thousand-year deathguard?!” panicked screams erupted from the crowd. Despite their fear, everyone retrieved their weapons and prepared to fight.

“Don’t panic! Thousand-year deathguards aren’t invincible, and they can be killed by shattering their skulls!” a voice called out. The Heavenly Nether Battlefield had existed for countless years, and everyone had long figured out the deathguards’ weakness.

Liu Wuxie had discovered it through Ghost Eye, while the other cultivators had learned of the deathguards’ weaknesses through their predecessors. But they would be lying to say they weren’t afraid.

Though the thousand-year deathguard’s skull was its weakness, shattering it wasn’t an easy feat. Getting close was perilous enough, not to mention the deathguards were incredibly resilient and impervious to ordinary weapons.

Liu Wuxie wasn’t in a hurry to act. He was only in the fifth-level of the Astral River Realm, and he doubted anyone would believe him if he claimed he could defeat a thousand-year deathguard.

Perhaps only Ji Qiu knew that the thousand-year deathguard was no match for Liu Wuxie.

“There’s an exit there. Prepare to retreat!” Liu Wuxie said, his eyes scanning the surroundings and discovering an exit in the underground palace, but the passage was narrow. The passage was revealed when the gate opened, and the two seemed to connect.

The thousand-year deathguard had likely been imprisoned behind the gate, but their arrival had disrupted the delicate balance, triggering the gate to open and unleashing the deathguard.