Desolate Devouring Art-Chapter 1406 - Six Soul Runes

Liu Wuxie's eyes narrowed as he gazed at the mural on the dome. A sudden realization flashed through his mind.

Could that spherical structure be the passage to the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain? he wondered, still caught in the realm of speculation. The memories he had gained from Tianlin's soul rushed back to him.

From those memories, he had seen a scene identical to the one on the mural—members of the loulan race leaving the Blood Fiend Battlefield, loaded with their belongings.

Just then, Fiery stirred awake, and its powerful aura yanked Liu Wuxie's attention back from the mural. After refining Tianlin's soul, Fiery had reached the fifth level of the Void Realm, surpassing Liu Wuxie's own cultivation.

"Fiery, tell me everything you saw," Liu Wuxie asked, hoping to confirm his suspicions. He needed to know if the memory within Tianlin's soul matched what he had witnessed.

Fiery spoke, recounting seeing groups of the loulan race emerging from the gate, the exact opposite of what Liu Wuxie had seen.

Liu Wuxie had seen the loulan race leaving, while Fiery had observed them entering the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain. The two memories intertwined, and Liu Wuxie realized that he had to clarify everything, as a small mistake could render all his efforts meaningless.

The sounds of fighting outside had ceased entirely, a sign that the experts of the loulan race would soon return. When Liu Wuxie descended from the top of the building, they had yet to return, but he knew he had to leave as soon as possible.

Reaching out, he grabbed a soul rune and tossed it into the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron for refinement. The tower had seven levels, but there were only six soul runes, meaning one was missing.

"Could the missing one be the one I took from the fifth level?" Liu Wuxie murmured to himself.

Each soul rune acted as a totem to the Loulan race, and their Martial Soul Art was derived from them. It was no wonder other humans couldn't inscribe these runes. Even the ones Liu Wuxie had taught to Xu Lingxue and the others were fundamentally different, originating from the Fleeting Cloud Celestial Realm.

The moment Liu Wuxie took the first soul rune, the building groaned ominously, its structure trembling on the verge of collapse. The experts of the Loulan race, realizing something was amiss, rushed toward the tower.

They had been focusing so much on hunting down the humans that they failed to notice someone had infiltrated the tower. After all, by logic, anyone would flee immediately, and entering the tower meant trapping oneself inside.

As Liu Wuxie collected the last soul rune into the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, he darted out of the tower and into the air. At the same time, over ten Earth Immortals arrived from the surrounding area.

Liu Wuxie found himself surrounded by experts of the loulan race. In addition to the Earth Immortals, many Void Realm cultivators were present, and the Blackwind Beasts snarled ominously, causing Liu Wuxie to frown.

He prepared to summon Gong Gong to fight.

After several days of recovery, Gong Gong's cultivation had returned, but he seemed reluctant to fight this time, as the last battle had caused his strength to decline.

However, Liu Wuxie knew he couldn't order Gong Gong around. After all, their relationship was one of cooperation, not subordination.

"Gong Gong, if I die here, the Witcher Realm will collapse, and you will fall into deep slumber once more without the nourishment of witch energy. I believe you know your fate better than I do by then," Liu Wuxie said, using a blatant threat.

If Liu Wuxie died here, Gong Gong would lose his supply of witch energy and fall into slumber sooner or later. This energy had been sustaining Gong Gong's waking moments, and Liu Wuxie's words made that reality clear to him.

Though Liu Wuxie spoke in a threatening tone, the logic was undeniable. Gong Gong paused, deep in thought, weighing the pros and cons as the experts of the loulan race closed in. The surrounding space was locked down by Earth Immortals, preventing Liu Wuxie from tearing through their defenses.

"I can only hold them off for three moves at best. It depends on your luck if you can escape," Gong Gong finally said, his speech more fluent now, as his memories were almost fully restored.

Though three moves seemed insufficient against ten Earth Immortals, Liu Wuxie was thankful that Gong Gong was willing to help at all. The token given to him by his master was already in his hand.

Since Earth Immortals couldn't enter the Blood Fiend Battlefield, the token his master had given him was comparable to an Earth Immortal's strike.

It could be invincible on the Blood Fiend Battlefield, but in the Celestial Immortal Star, it was too weak. At best, it could only create an opening in the loulan race's defenses.

Gong Gong struck first, his palm sending the approaching loulan race experts flying. This gave Liu Wuxie an opening, and he swiftly darted forward.

"Where do you think you're going?!" the loulan race experts roared in fury upon seeing the tower collapse. The tower was a symbol of their race, and Liu Wuxie had destroyed it.

Gong Gong followed with a second strike, though defeating the loulan race's experts was nearly impossible given the gap in their cultivation. He could only hope for a draw at best. Only cultivators at the fourth- or fifth-level Earth Immortal Realm had a chance to kill them.

The battle between Earth Immortals was devastating, shaking the very ground.

After the human cultivators had fled, they regrouped at the camp, protected by a massive spiritual array that prevented the loulan race from destroying it for the foreseeable future.

As time passed, the situation grew increasingly unfavorable for Liu Wuxie, as more Earth Immortals arrived from other places.

Gong Gong struck with his third palm strike, sending three Earth Immortals flying away. Liu Wuxie acted swiftly upon seeing that. He took advantage of the opening to devour Gong Gong into the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, nourishing it with witch energy to aid in his recovery.

Afterward, he raised his master's token. The power of this token was comparable to Gong Gong's palm strike, but it was unrealistic to expect it to tear through the defenses of the Earth Immortals.

"Looks like it won't be easy to escape," Liu Wuxie murmured with a wry smile, resigned to his fate. Though he had found the way to leave and gathered the six soul runes, he knew his death was imminent.

The surrounding space sealed, blocking Liu Wuxie from using his divine sense to send a message. That meant he couldn't inform his senior brother about the world teleportation array in the spherical building.

Just as Liu Wuxie prepared for his final stand against the loulan race, a longsword appeared in the sky and descended, splitting the heavens with a deafening roar.

It was the Divine Nine Sun Sword. Its sheer power forced the surrounding loulan race experts to retreat, and those with lower cultivation were crushed to death by the sword aura alone.

"Junior Brother, now!" Sun Xiao's voice rang out. He had returned for Liu Wuxie once everyone had left Loulan City, with Yu Zhuang leading the others.

Before the opening created by the Divine Nine Sun Sword could close, Liu Wuxie vanished on the spot. This allowed him to escape, much to the frustration of the ten Earth Immortals of the loulan race.

Even though Liu Wuxie and Sun Xiao had escaped danger, they dared not stay close for another moment.

None of the loulan race pursued them, distracted by the damage to the seven-storied tower. The humans had perfectly executed their strategy, leading the loulan race to believe they intended to attack the tower. In reality, their primary goal had been to rescue the captives in the Tata Prison.

"Senior brother, the camp is no longer safe. We have to return immediately and evacuate to another safe place. We need to activate the world teleportation array and leave at once!" Liu Wuxie said.

The loulan race would surely retaliate, and it wouldn't take long for their Earth Immortals to find them. They had to leave before the loulan race could react.

"Okay!" Sun Xiao replied, his excitement clear that Liu Wuxie had found their way home.

Liu Wuxie hurriedly resumed refining the six soul runes. These runes were crucial for activating the world teleportation array, and he had to comprehend them fully to use it.

......

Meanwhile, everyone had returned to the campsite, tending to their injuries and chatting amongst themselves. The majority were focused on recovering their soul seas, which had been severely damaged by the loulan race. Full recovery would take time.

The Heavenly Dragon Sect's disciples had gathered, as had the Grand Unity Sect's, surrounding Shi Yuan.

Once Sun Xiao and Liu Wuxie returned, everyone rose to their feet in unison.

"We can't waste time. We have to leave in two hours!" Sun Xiao said, his tone urgent. He knew the forces of the Loulan race would arrive soon.

Everyone turned their grateful eyes toward Sun Xiao. If not for him, those rescued from Tata Prison would never have escaped.

"Elder Shi, why are we cooperating with Liu Wuxie?" The Grand Unity Sect disciples, aware of the feud between Liu Wuxie and their sect, couldn't understand why Elder Shi had chosen to cooperate with him.

"It's only temporary cooperation. The alliance ends the moment we leave this place," Elder Shi explained, stepping forward.

After all, without this agreement to cooperate, they would have remained captives in Tata Prison, and even Elder Shi had to admit that Liu Wuxie's plan had worked.

"Senior brother, gather all the Heavenly Dragon Sect disciples. We will surely face obstruction from the loulan race at the World Teleportation Array, and a battle is inevitable. I'll teach them a combination spiritual array that will help them resist the loulan race's forces," Liu Wuxie said.

He had noticed that everyone had become scattered. The blood fiends rescued from Tata Prison had formed a powerful force around their leader.

The Grand Unity Sect had organized a new squad, and the rogue cultivators had formed their own groups.

Even if Liu Wuxie proposed a reshuffle, the Grand Unity Sect would disagree, and their time was limited. Furthermore, Liu Wuxie had to ensure that the Heavenly Dragon Sect disciples could learn the spiritual array in two hours.

Over forty disciples of the Heavenly Dragon Sect were gathered. However, their soul seas had not fully recovered yet, so their combat strength remained limited.

Liu Wuxie began inscribing soul runes, injecting them into their soul seas. He didn't hold back, knowing that everyone's overall combat strength would surge dramatically once they had recovered.

With over three hundred cultivators rescued from Tata Prison, their numbers now swelled to 4,670—a formidable force.

As Liu Wuxie tapped his hands, he taught the Moon Tribulation Incineration Array to all the Heavenly Dragon Sect disciples present. Sun Xiao would serve as the core of the array, while the others focused on defense.

In the hands of cultivators at the Void Realm, the Moon Tribulation Incineration Array was over a hundred times stronger than when wielded by cultivators at the Primal Origin Realm.

"What an exquisite spiritual array! It can even move!" one of the Heavenly Dragon Sect disciples exclaimed.

During the Myriad Race Ceremony, Liu Wuxie had spent three days teaching everyone the array, mainly because the Heavenly Dragon Sect disciples were unfamiliar with each other.

However, these disciples were different; they had fought alongside Sun Xiao for a long time, and they knew each other well. Their coordination was seamless, and they could read each other's movements with a glance.

It took the Heavenly Dragon Sect disciples just an hour to perfect the Moon Tribulation Incineration Array.

On the Grand Unity Sect's side, Elder Shi was also teaching his disciples the art of spiritual arrays.