Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 286 - Second Level of the True Core Realm

Chapter 286 - Second Level of the True Core Realm

Liu Wuxie’s true core soon settled down, slowly revolving with a faint divine dragon’s image. He tried mobilizing the power of his true core, and an unparalleled energy coursed through his arms and surged to the walls on both sides.

The cave was soon submerged in countless rocks, and Liu Wuxie escaped when it collapsed.

“This is dragon power!” Liu Wuxie was secretly shocked because he had unexpectedly comprehended dragon power. If he infused the dragon power with true essence, his strength would reach a new height.

After all, divine dragons were highly destructive. Liu Wuxie might’ve just reached the second level of the True Core Realm, but his actual strength was comparable to the fifth level or even higher.

“The Overlord Fist’s power has reached the limit, and I need to find a new martial technique as soon as possible.” The Fatality Blade Art still had much room for improvement because each move was stronger than the previous. However, he had reached the limit with Overlord Fist as his cultivation rose.

It would be best if he could find a martial technique that could manipulate divine power. These techniques might be rare in the mundane world, but the cultivation world’s sects shouldn’t lack earth-grade martial techniques.

In the blink of an eye, there wasn’t much time left until the seven-day deadline. As Liu Wuxie raised his head, he saw many dragon auras rising from the ground, accompanied by combined yells.

“Kill!” Roars could be heard nearby, and over thirty strands of dragon auras were in the sky. This instantly attracted a hundred more people to fight for them.

Blood dyed the ground red, and the scene was gruesome. Ultimately, only thirty-odd people obtained the dragon auras, while the others died.

Liu Wuxie didn’t intervene because he couldn’t reach the third level of the True Core Realm even with a hundred strands of dragon auras, so he wasn’t in a hurry.

Performing his movement technique, Liu Wuxie walked towards the Dragon Battlefield's exit to participate in the final ranking.

He exited the Dragon Battlefield six hours later, and three thousand people stood outside. Over six thousand people had entered the battlefield, but only half exited.

Over seventy percent of the people had obtained dragon auras. The few who hadn’t obtained any were naturally disheartened because this meant they had to bid farewell to the cultivation world.

When Liu Wuxie swept his gaze around, he found someone who had obtained over three hundred strands of dragon auras, while most only received one or two strands.

In the plains' center were ten-odd arenas meant for the final ranking. This was a brutal elimination match, and only one hundred people would be left.

When Liu Wuxie returned to the Great Yan Dynasty’s region, Fan Zhen had long waited. In addition to Liu Wuxie, seventeen people had participated in the Battle of the Hundred Nations, but only four had survived.

Fan Zhen was slightly excited when he saw Liu Wuxie. He had learned from Qin Lei that Liu Wuxie had obtained over fifty dragon auras, and he couldn’t help but be shocked even after seeing it himself.

When Liu Wuxie came out, he concealed his cultivation in the first level of the True Core Realm so as not to cause an uproar.

“Liu Wuxie, it’s great as long as you’re fine!” Fan Zhen came up and excitedly patted Liu Wuxie’s shoulder.

Luo Zhaojun was like a little girl, admiring the halos behind Liu Wuxie. The latter had broken all the records in the Great Yan Dynasty.

Liu Wuxie might not have obtained the most, but his achievement was heaven-defying, considering he came from a low-grade nation.

“Only a few of you made it back?” Liu Wuxie frowned as he looked at Qin Lai, Li Nanxiang, and two men. Aside from them, no one else returned.

“Senior Brother Liu, we’re not too sure ourselves. However, in the past two days, Mo Chong and Bai Fan died at the hands of the Black Chu Empire, who declared that they wanted to kill everyone from the Great Yan Dynasty. We were fortunate because we came out early while some students were killed because they were still competing for dragon auras.” Qin Lei answered truthfully, still not knowing that Liu Wuxie had obtained a dragon bone.

A faint murderous intent emanated from Liu Wuxie’s eyes.

“Wuxie, did something happen?” The mortality rate wasn’t bad compared to the previous years because at least five students had survived. To top it off, Qin Lei and a male student had reached the True Core Realm.

“It’s nothing!” Liu Wuxie clenched his fists with the murderous intent in his eyes growing stronger. The Black Chu Empire wanted to target him, and Mo Chong and Bai Fan ended up becoming scapegoats.

Then again, Liu Wuxie wasn’t too affected by it because those two held hostility toward him, and it didn’t matter if they died.

“Liu Wuxie, come out!” A roar alarmed everyone as a group swiftly gathered over, making Fan Zhen go on guard.

Luo Zhaojun also drew her weapon and stood before Liu Wuxie. She was determined not to let anything happen to him.

Qin Lei and the male disciple also stepped forward. Now that they had reached the True Core Realm, it was natural for them to step out.

The parties of the Sky Mansion Dynasty and Heavenly Fragrance Dynasty rushed over. With the two dynasties joining forces, they were much stronger than the Great Yan Dynasty in terms of strength or numbers.

The two headmasters of the Great Yan Dynasty were only in the first level of the True Core Realm. Qin Lei and the other students had just made their breakthrough recently, and their fighting strength wasn’t even comparable to that of Quasi-True Core Realm cultivators.

Liu Wuxie thought that the Black Chu Empire and Azure Lion Empire would come for him, but he didn’t expect it to be the Heavenly Fragrance Dynasty and Sky Mansion Dynasty.

“Zhu Hongye, what are you trying to do here?!” Fan Zhen roared.

The leader of the Sky Mansion Dynasty was Tan Wenxiong, an old acquaintance of Fan Zhen. The Heavenly Fragrance Dynasty was led by Zhu Hongye, with whom Fan Zhen had a conflict a decade ago. Over the years, the Great Yan Dynasty had also suffered greatly.

“Liu Wuxie, how dare you kill the representatives of my Sky Mansion Dynasty. I want you all dead!” Tan Wenxiong roared and glared at Liu Wuxie.

Fan Zhen stepped forward while Liu Wuxie wore a cold smirk.

“Cut the hypocrisy. You all want to kill me for the dragon bone, right?” Liu Wuxie said coldly. It wasn’t hard to guess that these people were instigated by the Black Chu Empire and sent here to probe his strength, wanting to find out if he had refined the dragon bone.

Logically speaking, refining the dragon bone in one day was impossible. But the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron could devour and refine anything. After the cauldron swallowed the dragon bone, it was completely refined in a few breaths.

“Dragon bone!” Fan Zhen and Luo Zhaojun’s faces changed. They didn’t expect Liu Wuxie to obtain a segment of a dragon bone and were still unaware of it.

They had heard many people discussing the dragon bone earlier, but no one had mentioned anyone seizing it. Thus, it was only now that they realized Liu Wuxie had obtained the dragon bone.

“That’s right. Hand over the dragon bone, and I will consider sparing your life!” Tan Wenxiong didn’t conceal his intention.

Before confronting Liu Wuxie, the Sky Mansion Dynasty and Heavenly Fragrance Dynasty had made a deal. The Heavenly Fragrance Dynasty would obtain the dragon bone, while the Sky Mansion Dynasty would take the fifty-odd strands of dragon auras on Liu Wuxie.

“That depends on whether you all can take it from me.” The Heretic Blade appeared in Liu Wuxie’s hand, and he knew that a battle was inevitable.

The Sky Mansion Dynasty still had six students left, all in the True Core Realm, with two reaching the second level. The Heavenly Fragrance Dynasty had five in the True Core Realm, with one in the second level.

With such a lineup, it was no wonder they were so confident. If Liu Wxuie hadn’t participated in the Battle of the Hundred Nations this year, the Great Yan Dynasty would have lost a few more cities.

The borders of each nation would change every decade due to the Battle of the Hundred Nations.

For example, the Great Yan Dynasty had five people left, while the Sky Mansion Dynasty had six. This meant the Great Yan Dynasty would have to give one city to the Sky Mansion Dynasty.

The Heavenly Fragrance Dynasty also had five, which was evenly matched with the Great Yan Dynasty. This meant no one would have to give any city to each other.

The rules were that simple, and it was good enough if the Great Yan Dynasty had two or three people surviving. Likewise, if everyone died, the Sky Mansion Dynasty would have to give five cities to the Great Yan Dynasty.

Many people gathered, curious about what was happening.

“Headmaster, why waste time talking when we can kill them?” The Sky Mansion Dynasty’s students ran out of patience and wanted to kill Liu Wuxie for revenge.

“That’s right. Just kill them!” The Heavenly Fragrance Dynasty’s students echoed along, surrounding everyone from the Great Yan Dynasty to prevent anyone from escaping.

Fan Zhen’s face was ugly, and he exchanged looks with Luo Zhaojun.

“Old Headmaster, you leave with them while I cover for you!” Fan Zhen immediately decided to let Luo Zhaojun leave with everyone and return to the Great Yan Dynasty first.

Luo Zhaojun nodded and realized the seriousness of this situation. Entering the cultivation world was out of the question, and they had to focus on surviving first.

“Kill them! Don’t let anyone escape!” Tan Wenxiong gave the order as everyone launched their attacks.

“Headmasters, you two protect everyone else!” Liu Wuxie roared and dashed out. He no longer hid his strength because he knew he had to make an example out of someone if he wanted to intimidate the rest.

If he killed everyone from the two dynasties, the other dynasties would be intimidated to challenge the Great Yan Dynasty.

“Wuxie!” It was already too late when Fan Zhen wanted to stop because Liu Wuxie had already clashed with the Sky Mansion Dynasty.

The battle broke out instantly, and no one had expected Liu Wuxie to attack first because they thought he would escape.

When Liu Wuxie released his blade aura, a powerful shockwave spread out, enveloping a few hundred meters in radius. It might not have been Liu Wuxie’s strongest attack, but it was enough to kill ordinary cultivators in the True Core Realm.

“Trouble!” The Sky Mansion Dynasty’s cultivators instantly noticed something wasn’t right because the shockwave had far exceeded their imagination. This didn’t look like an attack from someone in the first level of the True Core Realm but someone in the higher levels of the True Core Realm.

“Die!” Liu Wuxie was enraged as thunder flashed in the sky with a violent gust blowing. Not only had Liu Wuxie’s cultivation reached the second level of the True Core Realm during his seclusion, but the Heretic Blade had also advanced to become a mythical artifact.

Heads began to burst one after another with blood splattering around. However, the massacre continued because Liu Wuxie wanted to create a gruesome scene to intimidate everyone else.

Fan Zhen was stumped and forgot to act. Even Luo Zhaojun had a trace of shock in her eyes. As for the four students, their brains had short-circuited with a dumbfounded expression.

The massacre carried on as the Sky Mansion Dynasty’s students began to collapse. In less than half a breath’s time, there were already three students who were killed.

The Heavenly Fragrance Dynasty wasn’t any better because those in the first level of the True Core Realm couldn’t withstand the corrosion of blade aura and collapsed.

“What’s going on? How can he be so powerful?!” Exclamations came from the surroundings because Liu Wuxie’s strength had overturned their understanding. They were also in the first level of the True Core Realm, but they couldn’t be compared to Liu Wuxie.

“He’s too strong!” Envious voices came from the surroundings. Liu Wuxie had suppressed his cultivation at the first level of the True Core Realm and didn’t release his aura at the second level. This was why he seemed no different from everyone.

But there was a drastic difference in their strength.

The Black Chu Empire’s experts stood not far away, quietly watching this scene with a grave expression.