Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 235 - Black Shell Pill

A boundless pressure descended, making Jiang Yue feel uneasy. The four companions in the eighth level of the Marrow Cleansing Realm were on the verge of collapsing, their eyes filled with disbelief.

“Strike!” Jiang Yue could wait no longer. His confidence had already begun to falter, a cardinal sin for cultivators. His sword transformed into sparks, flickering in the darkness and emitting green flames as it lunged towards Liu Wuxie.

“Shatter!” With a swing of the Heretic Blade, the sweeping green flames detonated under the blade aura.

“This is nothing compared to my flame!” Liu Wuxie shattered Jiang Yue’s attack and advanced rather than retreating. The most significant threat was not Jiang Yue, but those dispatched by Prince Yongxian.

They might not be comparable to Jiang Yue in terms of cultivation, but Liu Wuxie felt more threatened by them instead of Jiang Yue.

A surge of blazing energy erupted from all three hundred and sixty-five acupoints of Liu Wuxie, causing the surroundings to crystallize in a freeze. This resulted in a noticeable slowdown in Jiang Yue’s speed, his face reflecting the change.

Some kind of power had frozen space, and this was unbelievable. If one cultivated to a high level, they could control and create space, and also manipulate rules of time.

Shortly after, towering flames descended from the sky, catching Jiang Yue by surprise and enveloping him. Those weren’t ordinary flames but demonic flames from the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron.

“ARGGGHHH!” Jiang Yue screamed out in pain as he was enveloped in the demonic flame that couldn’t be extinguished.

Seeing this, the four experts sent by Prince Yongxian exchanged a look before taking out a black pill and swallowing it.

Liu Wuxie narrowed his eyes when he saw the black pill, and his expression became grave.

“The Black Shell Pill!” The pills they swallowed were the Black Shell Pills. Could it be that they were killing machines nurtured with Black Shell Pills? But they didn’t seem like it because they still had their rationale.

Jiang Yue continued to scream in agony as his body progressively shriveled, its energy being siphoned and consumed by the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron.

A sinister black mist began to rise from the feet of the remaining four, who inhaled deeply, drawing the mist into themselves. A horrifying transformation ensued as their faces contorted and scales, akin to those of fish, surfaced on their bodies, particularly their arms.

Once enveloped in these fish-like scales, they resembled beings clad in a thick, impenetrable armor, impervious to common weaponry. What was even more alarming was the surge in their cultivation levels, reaching the zenith of the Marrow Cleansing Realm.

While Liu Wuxie could handle Jiang Yue, dealing with these four posed a significant challenge.

The four let out a deep, beast-like roar as they lumbered towards Liu Wuxie with heavy steps. Discarding the blades they held, they drew black longspears from their interspatial pouches.

“Abyssal spears!” Liu Wuxie frowned. The spears they were wielding contained a dense abyssal aura, and he wondered how many unorthodox people Prince Yongxian conspired with.

In the True Martial Continent, the abyssal race existed alongside the human race. Their bodies housed a formidable abyssal aura, and they sustained themselves by feasting on human blood.

The demon race was incredibly powerful, standing twice the height of humans, making them formidable opponents even at the same cultivation level. Most notably, the demon race possessed a robust physique, nearly immune to ordinary weapons.

Liu Wuxie chose to strike first, executing the Nine Heavenly Crane Dance. Leaving behind an afterimage, he cleaved down with the Heretic Blade, creating a long vacuum path ahead of him.

The four didn’t choose to dodge and charged toward Liu Wuxie with their abyssal spears.

When both parties clashed, sparks flew from the point of collision, and Liu Wuxie felt his arm going numb from the rebound force.

No trace was left on the abyssal spears, which proved that the spears were not inferior to vajra weapons in terms of toughness.

A powerful shockwave swept out like a strong gale. Liu Wuxie couldn’t even catch his breath as true essence gushed out of his body. He had no path of retreat, and it was tough for him to break free with the four surrounding him.

Liu Wuxie performed the Blood Gleam Blade Art, striking through various tricky trajectories that made it hard for the four opponents to defend.

When the Heretic Blade fell onto them, sparks flew around, and clanging sounds were produced. The Heretic Blade failed to inflict any damage on them.

Liu Wuxie retreated swiftly the moment his attack failed. These four were impervious to weapons after taking the Black Shell Pills.

Seizing the moment, the four lunged their abyssal spears towards Liu Wuxie. Confronted with the imminent attack, Liu Wuxie stomped on the ground and ascended into the sky, causing the four spears to miss their mark and hit the ground.

A massive crater appeared on the ground, and the four spears, accompanied by explosions, struck it. Liu Wuxie was fortunate to have evaded in time, or the consequences could have been severe.

Liu Wuxie could no longer dodge as he was in mid-air, and the four abyssal spears followed him swiftly.

“Damn it!” Liu Wuxie was furious as it was tough dealing with four opponents in the pinnacle of the Marrow Cleansing Realm.

Liu Wuxie raised his hand, intending to execute the Overlord Fist. The Fatality Blade Art was potent and ideal for one-on-one combat, capable of delivering a lethal blow with a single strike.

On the other hand, the Overlord Fist was suitable for group battles due to wide-ranged movements.

Taking a deep breath, Liu Wuxie devoured all the spiritual energy within several kilometers of radius, and his true essence manifested into a ferocious beast charging out of his body.

“Overlord Fist!” A powerful wave swept out, and the four couldn’t take another step forward under the shockwave. Even their abyssal spears emitted a creaking sound.

“Shatter!” Liu Wuxie used one-third of his true essence in this punch. If he couldn’t kill these four with it, the battle would progress in a dangerous direction.

The sky changed with space shattering while the force of Liu Wuxie’s punch was divided into four, assaulting the four experts.

Creaking sounds echoed as the force of Liu Wuxie’s punch struck the four of their chests, forcing them to stagger backward. If it were an ordinary expert in the ninth-level of the Marrow Cleansing Realm, this punch would have been enough to tear them apart.

However, in the face of his punch, the four experts merely retreated, shedding a patch of scales from their chests.

“How can this be?!” Disbelief was etched on Liu Wuxie’s face. He had never faced such resilient adversaries in the past six months who could withstand his attacks. When the Heretic Blade struck them, it failed to breach their defenses, let alone kill them.

After using the Overlord Fist that merely shattered a few scales on their chests, Liu Wuxie realized how terrifying they would become if they were to form an army. Even the Terrabreak Army couldn’t be compared to them.

After stabilizing themselves, the four experts charged forward, throwing their spears at Liu Wuxie.

Liu Wuxie knew that he had to find their weaknesses to kill them. They wouldn’t die even with their limbs severed; they could carry on fighting tirelessly until their opponents were exhausted and killed.

Executing the Seven Dipper Steps, Liu Wuxie disappeared, causing the four spears to embed themselves into the ground.

The four experts continued to charge forward, shrinking the space for Liu Wuxie to maneuver.

When Liu Wuxie executed the Ghost Eye, his divine sense flowed into their bodies like mercury, and he was deeply shocked by what he saw.

Their internal organs and meridians were injected with large amounts of poison, and the poison could harden their bodies to an incredible degree when they circulated their true essence.

This was the most brutal method of puppet refinement Liu Wuxie had seen. This required hollowing someone’s body and injecting a large amount of materials. This ensured that they looked like ordinary people on the outside, and no one could distinguish them.

The Black Shell Pill contained high toxicity. Consuming one per month resulted in a high accumulation of poison in their bodies.

Liu Wuxie’s divine sense flowed like liquid mercury, tracing the path of the poison to uncover their weakness. Every puppet had its vulnerabilities, which, if identified, could be exploited for an easy kill.

He dodged the incoming attacks while searching for their weaknesses. This placed him in a dangerous position, and there were multiple occasions when the abyssal spears nearly stabbed him.

Ultimately, his divine sense halted three inches below the neck of one of the experts. The flow of poison seemed to slow down at this point.

“There’s really a weakness!” Liu Wuxie executed the Seven Dipper Steps to dodge the fifth wave of attack and appeared behind one of the experts, swinging the Heretic Blade down.

His blade struck three inches below the neck like a lightning bolt. A bizarre scene occurred as a fine slit appeared with black poison gushing out of the wound.

“RWARRR!” The expert struck by Liu Wuxie let out a furious howl, which sounded like a desperate cry before death.

Liu Wuxie retreated as poison fell onto the ground, emitting a hissing sound as rocks swiftly corroded. In the blink of an eye, a basin-sized rock vanished.

The poison was too corrosive, and it would be disastrous if it were splashed onto the human body.

The roar lasted for three breaths before the expert collapsed. The remaining three looked like they had lost their rationale and pounced at Liu Wuxie. They even threw away their abyssal spear and resorted to tackling by pouncing at Liu Wuxie’s waist.

“You three are courting death!” Liu Wuxie snorted and soared to the sky like a celestial crane, splitting into three afterimages and pouncing at the three of them.

The three afterimages resembled three shooting stars, colliding with the three adversaries. The blade’s ray hit the same spot, causing black poison to spurt from the back of their necks.

The poison quickly dispersed like a fog, causing all life in the vicinity to wilt. It wasn’t long before the entire canyon transformed into a barren wasteland.

“I’m lucky that only four were sent tonight!” Liu Wuxie couldn’t imagine the consequences if Prince Yongxian had sent a troop of these killing machines after him. If that were the case, he would undoubtedly have met his end that night.

The moment he stabilized himself, the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron flew out of his dantian and appeared above the four corpses. What happened next nearly caused Liu Wuxie’s eyeballs to fall out.