Desolate Devouring Art-Chapter 1087 - Soul Capture

The weaker Yin-Faced Ghosts immediately retreated in terror, while the stronger ones struggled just to remain standing.

"Y-You’ve mastered a dao technique from our ghost clan?" the Ghost King stammered, its distorted face flickering wildly in disbelief.

Liu Wuxie didn’t know if the Ghost Eye originated from the ghost clan, nor if its evolved form truly qualified for a dao technique. However, since the ghost clan believed it did, he decided to go along with it.

"Since you acknowledge that I've cultivated your ghost clan's dao technique, shouldn't you retreat obediently?" Liu Wuxie replied coldly, choosing to use this to his advantage. If they feared the Ghost Eye, he would use that fear to dominate them.

"A mere human dares to practice our sacred dao technique? Unforgivable!" the ghost face snarled, its voice now twisted with fury.

They had hesitated at first due to the strange power radiating from his gaze. But once they confirmed he had truly grasped the Ghost Eye, they could no longer allow him to leave alive.

They now morphed their dread into seething hatred. They sensed a domineering force within Liu Wuxie's eyes. If such a power remained in the hands of the ghost clan, they could sweep across the Eastern Domain or even break through to a higher plane. But in the hands of a human?

It was a blasphemy.

Killing intent filled the atmosphere again, making it heavy.

Moments earlier, Tian Wucang had relaxed slightly when the ghost faces had retreated. Now, hearing their renewed aggression, he tensed and raised his spear again, preparing for battle.

"If it's a fight you want, then come!" Liu Wuxie snapped. He ended the conversation, seeing no need to reason with them anymore.

The ghost faces surged toward them like a black tide, ghostly energy coalescing into massive waves that loomed over them.

Though the ghost clan merely projected the ghost faces using ghostly energy, they packed a terrifying punch. Once they latched onto a target, escaping was nearly impossible. Smaller ghost faces fused themselves into larger ones, increasing their strength.

"Brother Tian, stay close to me!" Liu Wuxie called out. He was determined to force a path through, no matter what.

Taking a powerful stride forward, radiant light laws burst from his body. Since breaking through to the seventh-level Spirit Profound Realm, his true essence had become far more refined. The moment he unleashed the light law, it radiated like a blazing sun behind him.

When the ghost faces collided with the light, they instantly dissolved into vapor. Yet, Liu Wuxie knew this wasn't enough. These ghost faces would re-form and attack again.

"You can't kill us," the ghost faces cackled, their voices shrill and chilling.

Liu Wuxie scowled. He couldn't sustain his light-based dao techniques indefinitely, and with ghosts lurking nearby, he refused to risk exhaustion. More importantly, he couldn't leave Tian Wucang vulnerable.

He slashed with the Heretic Blade, the strike howling through the air, but it passed harmlessly through the ghost faces. Conventional attacks failed to affect enemies who lacked physical form.

He realized now that most dao techniques would be useless against them. Only two methods could truly destroy ghost faces: either annihilate their main bodies or use overwhelming soul energy to erase their souls.

Golden light ignited within his eyes, and they began to shift, forming a swirling vortex in front of him.

"Soul Capture!" he roared.

He had tested the technique on lesser ghost beasts before, but he wasn’t sure it could affect these much stronger Yin-Faced Ghosts, beings with immense strength and potent soul energy.

However, the vortex pulsed with a devouring force, drawing in the ghost faces like a whirlpool. Screams rang out from every direction.

Despite their ethereal forms, the ghost faces housed real soul energy. As the vortex pulled them in, their bodies convulsed violently, and their spiritual forms weakened. Even if the attack didn't kill them outright, they still lost most of their fighting power.

The vortex spun and widened, releasing terrifying suction that swallowed hundreds of ghost faces in moments.

Liu Wuxie held back deliberately, refusing to unleash the Soul Capture technique’s full extent. This was still a test to explore the true limits of the power.

However, even this restrained version rapidly reduced the ghost faces into condensed soul matter, transforming them into mist and droplets of energy, which were then ready to be refined further.

Liu Wuxie drew streams of soul essence from his eyes directly into his upper dantian.

His upper dantian expanded and stretched until it linked with his soul sea, creating a strange scene.

The moment he established the connection, the absorbed soul energy reinforced his soul sea and primordial spirit.

The discovery filled Liu Wuxie with unexpected joy. He had never imagined such a method to enhance his cultivation. While he didn't make a breakthrough to the next realm, his soul energy surged dramatically.

More importantly, the Yin-Faced Ghosts couldn’t resist the Soul Capture technique.

If he used it against humans, they could actively resist, and the technique would result in a clash of primordial spirits. But with ghosts, the effect was entirely different; the Ghost Eye was their natural bane.

Even the powerful ghost, who had spoken earlier, was visibly shaken. Its once-ferocious expression now flickered with uncertainty and hesitation.

As Liu Wuxie continued unleashing Soul Capture, more ghost faces vanished in rapid succession, clearing out a large area in front of them.

"Brother Tian, let's move," Liu Wuxie said, taking the lead as Tian Wucang followed him deeper into the Dark Canyon.

The remaining ghost faces dared not approach them. The vortex would instantly draw them in if they got too close.

"You wretched human, you must die!" one of the stronger ghost faces roared as it stepped forward at last.

The ground trembled under its presence. The ghost clan abandoned the incorporeal ghost faces and prepared to engage him physically.

Ordinarily, the ghost clan's physical bodies were weaker than those of humans, and their small frames limited their combat capabilities.

However, this ghost was different. Its body nearly matched a human in size, and the thick armor encasing it was crafted to protect it in battle.

The armored ghost charged forward with shocking speed, its massive palm aimed directly at Liu Wuxie.

"Perfect timing!" Liu Wuxie said, welcoming the confrontation. He had been looking for a chance to test his combat skills.

While it was difficult for him to defeat a peak Earth Profound Realm human cultivator, this ghost opponent didn't pose a challenge. After all, ghosts typically had inferior physical strength compared to human cultivators at the same level of cultivation.

That didn't mean ghosts were inherently weaker, of course. A peak Earth Profound Realm ghost could still prove more than a match for a human. But the Ghost Eye granted Liu Wuxie a distinct advantage, and it was the perfect counter to their kind, significantly suppressing their battle strength against him.

Liu Wuxie activated the Ghost Eye again but chose not to use Soul Capture this time. He had learned that each use of that technique consumed an immense amount of soul energy.

Even though he had devoured a large quantity of soul essence earlier, he hadn't had the time to refine it fully. Until then, he would need to conserve his soul power and rely on other methods to fight.

Knowing that even greater dangers lay ahead, Liu Wuxie resolved to end the battle swiftly and reach the Barefooted Elder as soon as possible.

"Frost Dao Art!" he bellowed, unleashing his most powerful dao technique.

The surrounding temperature dropped instantly, a chilling wave sweeping outward. However, Liu Wuxie quickly realized his Heretic Blade couldn't penetrate the ghost's thick armor.

As for the Great Five Elemental Palm or the Heavenly Dragon Seal, he suspected they wouldn't be effective either.

Instead of brute force, he opted to restrict the ghost's mobility, and for that, the Frost Dao Art was ideal.

The ambient ghosts couldn't react in time and were flash-frozen into jagged ice statues. Within a single breath, half the canyon was transformed into a frozen wasteland.

Behind him, Tian Wucang shivered violently from the sudden cold.

This devastating cold came from the Frost Bead Liu Wuxie had refined, greatly amplifying his ice laws. An ancient behemoth had once grown that bead on its head, and the primeval laws within it were immensely potent.

There was even a time in history when an ice age blanketed the world, an era ruled by elemental divine beasts. The Azure Nether Crocodile, one such creature, had once reigned supreme during that frozen epoch.

The Frost Dao Art froze the charging Yin-Faced Ghost solid in place. The ghost hadn’t anticipated Liu Wuxie would resort to such a “despicable” method instead of engaging it directly.

With the ghost immobilized, Liu Wuxie didn't waste time. He dashed deeper into the canyon without hesitation.

Along the way, more Yin-Faced Ghosts emerged, charging at him without fear in a desperate bid to stop him.

The endless harassment only wore down Liu Wuxie's patience.

"I didn't come here to kill you," he warned, his voice echoing through the fog. "But if you insist on getting in my way, don't blame me for what happens next!"

He knew continuing would let him inflict catastrophic losses on the ghost clan and destroy their foundation.

Yet, the Yin-Faced Ghosts showed no signs of stopping. They charged forward relentlessly, ignoring the mounting casualties.

Deep within the Dark Canyon stood a weathered stone house, its exterior shrouded in thick ghostly fog. Outside it, two figures loomed—one cloaked entirely in black, emanating a suffocating aura of ghost energy; the other, a barefooted, bald old man clad in a tattered cassock.

Suddenly, the black-robed figure let out a cold snort, his expression twisted with malice. That single sound carried an overwhelming pressure, rippling out like invisible shockwaves. It pierced through the canyon and reached Liu Wuxie in an instant.

"A Ghost Emperor!" Liu Wuxie's heart sank.

Only a Ghost Emperor could unleash such force. He had fought Ji Gu before, and he remembered vividly the pressure that came from a Heaven Profound Realm cultivator. The aura that had just locked onto him felt nearly identical; it was undoubtedly a force of that caliber.

Activating the Ghost Eye with full power, Liu Wuxie watched as the world around him grew translucent.

Everything became transparent before his gaze.

Through the veil of mist and ghostly fog, he saw a soundwave hurtling toward him like a surging tide, tearing through the fabric of space.

"Break!" Liu Wuxie shouted, unleashing the Spatial Dao Art to solidify and bind the surrounding space.

But it was useless.

The soundwave easily shredded his spatial lock, as if it were paper, and continued to barrel toward him. This was the power of a Heaven Profound Realm expert. Resistance was futile.

Even with Liu Wuxie’s lower cultivation, not even peak Earth Profound Realm cultivators could easily kill him, but a single snort from a Heaven Profound expert could erase him. The difference in strength was too vast. Heaven Profound Realm cultivators stood atop the martial world's pyramid, capable of wielding the very laws of heaven and earth as their weapon.

But just then, a calm, gravelly voice echoed from afar, cutting through the shadows:

"He has finally come... I've waited ten thousand years for this day," said the bald old man.

His words cut deeper than sound, shaking the hearts of all who heard them.

They traveled across the canyon as waves of sound, heading directly toward Liu Wuxie.