Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 708 - Killing the Divine Race

As the footsteps approached, Liu Wuxie's palms grew clammy. The divine race had left a mysterious and intimidating impression on him, and his natural fear of the unknown tightened his nerves.

When the footsteps finally entered the storage chamber, a female member of the divine race appeared, carrying a basket in her hand. She bent down to collect several strange beans scattered on the ground. Each bean was the size of an adult’s fist, and Liu Wuxie couldn’t identify its type or origin. Strangely, she didn’t seem to notice him hiding just behind the door.

Upon realizing he had remained undetected, Liu Wuxie refrained from acting rashly, as any movement could alarm her. If he alerted the divine race, it would be tough for him to escape from this place.

After collecting several beans, the female divinekin stood up and began to leave. Right then, the mysterious tree grew increasingly restless, its roots wanting to burrow into the body of the divinekin.

This bizarre phenomenon shocked Liu Wuxie. The thought of the mysterious tree wanting to consume a living being was absolutely absurd, and he began to wonder if it was a carnivorous tree. But that made no sense, as the mysterious tree had only helped him absorb spiritual energy from the surroundings throughout the years.

When the divinekin turned around and was a meter away from Liu Wuxie, he could even see her pores. She still failed to detect Liu Wuxie, so she gently closed the door and walked down the passageway.

Liu Wuxie leaned against the wall with his back covered in sweat. Just an ordinary member of the divine race had already given off such a powerful aura, and he couldn't imagine how strong the warriors of the divine race were. Under similar conditions, humans were inferior to the divine race.

This was why the Murong Clan was helpless against the divine race for the past two decades.

Relief washed over Liu Wuxie to see that he hadn't been discovered, but he knew he couldn't linger there any longer as it would increase the risk of being found. His priority now was to locate where Murong Yi's parents were being held.

As more members of the divine race vacated the valley, empty caves became more abundant, giving Liu Wuxie more opportunities to maneuver.

Thousands of divinekin had vacated the valley in the past month. If the divine race had not vacated, Liu Wuxie's infiltration would have been a suicidal mission.

Just five minutes after Liu Wuxie left the storage chamber, the female divinekin returned with two young warriors with her.

“@!#^@#$!@...” The female divinekin gestured for a long time, seemingly trying to explain that the door was locked from the outside when she had left, but it was now open.

The two divinekin warriors inspected the lock and discovered traces of tampering. Shortly after, a strange melody resonated throughout the valley as more divinekin emerged from their dwellings, wondering what was going on.

Liu Wuxie heard the sound just as he found a vacated cave to rest in, and the first thing that came to his mind was whether he had been discovered.

Though he couldn't understand the divinekin's language, he could determine it was an alarm—a sign of an intruder in the Divine Light Mountain.

The female divinekin had sensed something unusual in the storage chamber, but she was only an ordinary member of the divine race with little combat abilities. Trusting her instincts, she had notified the other warriors of her suspicion. But by the time they had returned, Liu Wuxie had already left.

The entire divine race was mobilized, scouring every corner for any sign of intrusion. But finding someone with so many vacant caves wasn't easy, not to mention Liu Wuxie could avoid detection with precision by relying on Ghost Eye.

Murong Tianze hadn't left and was waiting outside the valley. His expression turned grave at the sound of the alarm.

"Did they find him?" Murong Tianze muttered anxiously. He hesitated about whether he should go in to rescue Liu Wuxie.

However, since he didn’t receive any message via the Communication Talisman, he knew Liu Wuxie was in no danger for the time being, and he had no choice but to continue waiting.

Roughly an hour later, two divinekin finally walked toward the cave Liu Wuxie was hiding in. The valley contained thousands of interconnected caves excavated by the divine race, a network that Liu Wuxie had been using to swiftly change his location.

When Liu Wuxie fled, he used divine energy to disguise his aura.

When the two divinekin entered the cave, they soon frowned after examining the surroundings. While the aura in the cave was similar to them, it also felt weird for some reason. They searched around before advancing and found no clues.

After the two divinekin left, Liu Wuxie emerged from the other passage and returned to the cave. Since they had examined this cave, they wouldn't return anytime soon.

The two divinekin hadn’t gone far. They had walked about six to seven hundred meters before one decided to return to take another look, unable to shake off that uneasy feeling. The peculiar aura in the cave had aroused his suspicion as divine energy released by the divine race was pure. But the weird aura felt lacking and hollow.

After a brief exchange, the two divinekin separated. One turned back while the other continued down a different passage.

Liu Wuxie also hadn't expected one of them to return all of a sudden, and it was too late for him to avoid detection, as another divinekin was heading over from the other passage. He was sandwiched, and he had to make a swift decision, or escape would be impossible if they joined forces.

From the fact the divine race could find this place relying on aura alone, Liu Wuxie realized he had underestimated them. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"There's no turning back!" Liu Wuxie gritted his teeth and lunged toward the returning divinekin.

Three divinekin were coming from the other passage, and it was nearly impossible for him to face them by himself without causing any commotion. However, facing just one of them would give him a better chance. He concealed his aura and crossed the hundred meters in the blink of an eye.

The returning divinekin wasn't on guard, as he was only coming back to confirm a suspicion. But a figure had suddenly appeared before him, and the Heretic Blade sliced through his neck before he could react, his blood gushing out from the severed neck.

Without hesitation, Liu Wuxie collected the corpse and threw it into the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron. He had to study the anatomy of the divine race.

After cleaning up the blood stains on the wall, he quickly left and traversed through several caves. He ensured there were no divinekin within a few kilometers of radius before stopping.

But when his divine sense entered the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, he was shocked that the divinekin wasn't dead even with his head decapitated. The disembodied head hovered above the cauldron, defying the demonic flame.

"How could this be?" Liu Wuxie was dumbfounded. The Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron had never failed him and could devour everything he encountered. But his confidence wavered for the first time, unable to comprehend why the cauldron failed to refine the divinekin.

He wondered if there was a connection between the cauldron and the divine race. Or rather, the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron was a treasure belonging to the divine race, and they were the ones who had forged it. This would explain why the cauldron failed to refine the divinekin.

Countless theories swirled through Liu Wuxie's mind, but he couldn't verify them.

Just when Liu Wuxie was in shock, something even more inexplicable occurred. The mysterious tree extended its roots out from the desolate world and burrowed into the body of the divinekin.

"ARGHH!" The divinekin screamed. Though he was beheaded, he could still sense the energy from his body being devoured. The divinekin’s body began to shrivel rapidly, consumed by the mysterious tree.

Even so, it was shocking for Liu Wuxie that the divinekin hadn't died even after being decapitated. Even for cultivators who reached the Nascent Transformation Realm, their bodies would die if decapitated, and only their primordial spirit would survive.

The divinekin’s body swiftly disintegrated, leaving no trace behind—not even the skin.

What happened next shocked Liu Wuxie, as a small fruit the size of an egg appeared on the mysterious tree.

"It bore fruit?" Liu Wuxie murmured in disbelief, his eyes widening. He hadn’t anticipated that the mysterious tree would bear fruit after absorbing the energy of a divinekin.

"W-who are you? Why do you have the Primal Chaos Cauldron and the Ancestral Tree?" a ghastly voice shrieked. The severed head was still alive, and it had recognized the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron and mysterious tree.

The divine race had a longer lineage than the human race, so it wasn't surprising that they knew some secrets that humanity didn't.

Even Liu Wuxie knew little about the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, but this seemingly insignificant member of the divine race had called out the cauldron's name.

Liu Wuxie pulled his divine sense out of the desolate world and examined the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron. He looked at the head of the divinekin and noted his ability to speak human language.

"What did you just say?" Liu Wuxie asked. He couldn’t understand properly as the divinekin wasn't fluent in the human language. It wasn't surprising for the divinekin to know the human language as they had lived in a world mainly dominated by the human race for many years.

"I must inform my kin that the Ancestral Tree has reappeared!" The divinekin began to chant as his head exploded, transforming into strange runes dispersed through space.

The Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron couldn't constrain those runes, allowing them to travel freely across space. It was too late for Liu Wuxie to stop it, and his face turned grave. He knew the entire Divine Light Mountain would soon be alerted of his intrusion.

He also didn't expect a member of the divine race to die so quickly when he planned to ask about the origin of the Ancestral Tree and Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron.

In mere moments, the entire valley was in chaos. Countless divinekin emerged from their caves upon learning about the Ancestral Tree, and the pass was sealed, ensuring no one could leave.

The actions of the divinekin alarmed Murong Tianze, who had been waiting outside.

"Could it be that Liu Wuxie has been captured?" Murong Tianze muttered with worry etched on his face. Many experts were inside, and Liu Wuxie couldn't escape by himself.

Given the way the situation had developed, Liu Wuxie could no longer retreat. He could only try to find Murong Yi's parents quickly and escape with them.

After refining a member of the divine race, Liu Wuxie discovered that his divine energy had grown stronger. If he harnessed the divine energy, he would be no different from the divine race aside from his appearance, and it would be hard for them to identify him.

Liu Wuxie quickly disappeared using his movement technique as a gathering of divinekin loomed in the distance.

All the divinekin began to search the entire Divine Light Mountain, hunting for trails of Liu Wuxie. Even the altar had ceased as all the divinekin had returned to help in the search.

This further piqued Liu Wuxie's curiosity, wanting to know about the origin of the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron and the mysterious tree to draw such a response from the divine race.

Moreover, it was confirmed that the mysterious tree was likely their nemesis since it could kill one of them so easily; this was the only clue Liu Wuxie had found thus far.