Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 496 - Coerce

The four would die if Liu Wuxie didn't show up soon.

The crowd automatically parted and revealed Liu Wuxie, who wore a ferocious expression with a sinister gaze.

They faced obstruction on the first day of recruiting members for the Heavenly Dao Society. He knew that he had to make a name for the Heavenly Dao Society, or no one would dare join them in the future.

Bai Lin and others heaved a sigh of relief at the sight of Liu Wuxie. They had risked their lives to let Tang Tian deliver the news back to Liu Wuxie, and they were lucky that Liu Wuxie came in time.

The three turned to look at Liu Wuxie after sheathing their swords. The youth in the middle smiled after recognizing Liu Wuxie. He said, "Liu Wuxie, you came at the right time. I'll allow you to join the Lesser Blade Association now and disband your Heavenly Dao Society."

Liu Wuxie's name had long spread throughout the sect after his battle with Jiang Gongming, and it was natural for him to be recognized.

"Go back and tell your master that the Heavenly Dao Society has no interest in power struggles, and he should mind his own business," Liu Wuxie said. He had no intentions of becoming enemies with the Lesser Blade Association for now.

The Lesser Blade Association had been entrenched in the sect for years, boasting countless members and formidable experts. In contrast, the newly founded Heavenly Dao Society was still in its infancy, lacking the numbers and strength to compete with such an established force.

None of the onlookers, including the three members of the Lesser Blade Association, believed what Liu Wuxie said.

"Liu Wuxie, I've already given you a chance. Disband the Heavenly Dao Society immediately and submit to the Lesser Blade Association, or don't blame us for what will happen next!" The three youths pressed on aggressively. They only had one purpose: to force the Heavenly Dao Society to disband and recruit Liu Wuxie.

Everyone who joined the Lesser Blade Association had to swear their loyalty to Qin Dao with their souls, and they would be punished by heavenly dao if they violated the oath.

Tang Tian helped Bai Lin and the other three to their feet, standing by their side as they cleared space in the center for Liu Wuxie and the three members of the Lesser Blade Association.

"I'm curious about what will happen next." Liu Wuxie's face turned cold with surging murderous intent.

The atmosphere became oppressive, and even the three members of the Lesser Blade Association grew nervous. They were well aware of Liu Wuxie's strengths and discussed them privately. They weren't willing to give up like this because they couldn't explain to their superiors.

"Senior Brother Liu, the one in the middle is Wang Ke. He joined the Lesser Blade Association three years ago and now holds the rank of captain. Be cautious," Yun Lan advised softly, having received treatment for his injuries.

Wang Ke and his two companions were inferior to Liu Wuxie in terms of strength because they were only at the second level of the Heavenly Phase Realm.

"Liu Wuxie, you better think this through. You'll become an enemy of our Lesser Blade Association if you refused today, and you will have no spot in the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion in the future," Wang Ke said in a threatening tone.

He knew he was no match for Liu Wuxie, but the Lesser Blade Association had plenty of experts. They could make Liu Wuxie's future days in the sect a nightmare.

"Get lost!" Liu Wuxie couldn't be bothered with these three and waved his hand to send them flying, with a ruthless blade aura tearing into them.

There was no way Liu Wuxie could let them leave unscathed after how they had injured Bai Lin and the other three.

When Wang Ke and his two companions were thrown out, they were covered in blood, with injuries more severe than Bai Lin and the others.

"Liu Wuxie, you’ll regret this! The Lesser Blade Association will have your head for daring to defy us!" The three members quickly got to their feet and fled, fearing further confrontation. They intended to leave immediately and report back to their superiors to dispatch someone to deal with Liu Wuxie.

"You all come with me!" Liu Wuxie brought everyone back to his abode. The four had received treatments, and they were in no danger.

"Tell me, what happened today?"

When everyone stood in line, Tang Tian recounted the events, "We went to the inner sect, planning to recruit members for the Heavenly Dao Society today. Everything went smoothly at first, with about fifty to sixty people willing to join us. But the Lesser Dao Association appeared out of nowhere and forced the disciples to leave, and only these three were willing to stay."

Liu Wuxie nodded and said, "I established the Heavenly Dao Society with the mind of keeping quality over quantity. We can limit our numbers to a few dozen people. Let's stop for now and wait until everything is over."

Liu Wuxie instructed Bai Lin and others to stop recruiting for now. They now had ten people, including Fan Zhen and others, and there was no immediate need for them to expand.

"Senior Brother Liu, what should we do next?" Yun Lan was excited after he recovered from his injuries because he wanted to do something big.

Everyone's eyes fell on Liu Wuxie, awaiting his next instruction.

"I need you all to focus on cultivating and raising your strength. As for the other matters, leave them to Old Fan and Lan Yu," Liu Wuxie said. These people were too inexperienced, and they needed time to be tempered.

With most affairs left to Fan Zhen and Lan Yu, Liu Wuxie took out stalactite essence to help everyone cleanse their bodies, allowing them to reach the Heavenly Phase Realm as soon as possible.

After Liu Wuxie was done making arrangements, everyone returned to their residences, leaving only Fan Zhen and Lan Yu behind. This was because Liu Wuxie still had instructions for them.

"How's the matter that I asked you to handle in the city?" Liu Wuxie asked, looking at the two.

"Everything went well, and four shops agreed to act as our agents for pills. According to what you said, the profit is split 3:7, with us taking seventy percent and leaving thirty percent for them." Fan Zhen bowed slightly. When Liu Wuxie was refining the set of Five Element Talismans, Fan Zhen and Lan Yu had visited the nearby city.

Liu Wuxie turned to look at Lan Yu and awaited his response.

"My side went well, too. Three shops also agreed to act as agents for our talisman sales with a 3:7 split." Lan Yu bowed. The two had handled this matter well during their trip to the city.

"Good! Our Heavenly Dao Society should have income starting tomorrow. This will help us develop faster, or everything will be restricted without resources." Liu Wuxie rubbed his temples because everything would be much easier if they had a source of income. After all, he couldn't support the entire Heavenly Dao Society himself.

"Wuxie, I have promised to provide a thousand seventh-grade pills each month. Where are we supposed to find such a large supply of pills?" Fan Zhen asked with a hint of difficulty.

Pills refined by the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion were highly famous, and people from other major sects often came to purchase them. Even so, the supply in the market still fell short of the demand.

In addition to those sects, the Southern Province had many clans, the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion's biggest customers.

Pills were always in high demand, whether in the mundane or cultivation world. After all, pills were crucial in cultivation.

A thousand seventh-grade pills would only take Liu Wuxie a few days, but he didn't have the time to refine them.

"You don't have to worry about that. I will bring Bi Gongyu to the Treasure Pill Peak to settle that issue in three days at most," Liu Wuxie reassured Fan Zhen. He would see it to the end regardless of the difficulty if it was something he wanted to do.

"What about the talismans? Where are we going to find a supply for them?" Lan Yu felt a headache because pills and talismans were in high demand in the cultivation world.

Talismans were rarely seen in the market because most people capable of refining them would only produce for their own use, and the ones sold in the market were usually defective products.

"Song Ling, when will the talismans be ready?"

Song Ling was snoring and drooling by the side and jumped up upon hearing Liu Wuxie's call.

"I refined these in the past few days. Big brother, help me check their quality." Song Ling handed a stack of talismans to Liu Wuxie for inspection.

"The quality is quite good, even if the inscription seems a bit crude. These talismans are better than the average ones on the market and can even be considered high quality," Liu Wuxie remarked. He had also taught Song Ling about spiritual runes in addition to spiritual arrays, recognizing that they were closely related.

Bi Gongyu had to focus on refining pills, and his perception of spiritual runes was less than Song Ling's.

Lan Yu’s eyes briefly showed a hint of loneliness. Unlike Bi Gongyu, who learned alchemy, and Song Ling, who mastered both spiritual runes and spiritual arrays, Lan Yu had been preoccupied with various tasks and hadn’t had the opportunity to learn anything new since arriving in the cultivation world.

“Lan Yu, is something bothering you?” Liu Wuxie noticed the change in Lan Yu’s expression.

"I dare not!" Lan Yu kneeled quickly.

“You’re quite capable, so don’t undervalue yourself,” Liu Wuxie said reassuringly. “Once you finish these current tasks, I’ll teach you blacksmithing. It’s important for the long-term growth of the Heavenly Dao Society to have a diverse set of skills.”

“Thank you, Master!” Lan Yu bowed deeply, expressing his gratitude with three kowtows before rising. The loneliness in his expression had vanished, replaced by determination. Liu Wuxie’s fair approach in teaching each of them a unique skill had restored his confidence.

It was already late at night when Liu Wuxie made arrangements for everything. Bi Gongyu was still in seclusion to try and refine the Spirit Restoration Pill.

The first batch of talismans was completed the following day, and they were quietly shipped out of the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion. From today onwards, the Heavenly Dao Society will officially start operating.

"Old Fan, accompany me to the Marital Arts Hall!" Liu Wuxie asked Fan Zhen to accompany him to meet Yi Xuan after dressing.

Fan Zhen was like a butler, with Liu Wuxie entrusting his affairs.

The two left the abode and arrived at the Martial Arts Hall half an hour later. This time, they weren't here to practice their martial techniques, so they headed straight to the central control system.

Ordinary individuals couldn’t access the central control system, which was heavily guarded by numerous spiritual arrays. Qing Mu could enter due to his Nascent Transformation Realm cultivation.

However, these arrays were no barrier to Liu Wuxie. It didn’t take long for him and Fan Zhen to arrive at the entrance.

Yi Xuan and the two other elders only realized someone had arrived when they heard a knock on the door. They jumped up in surprise, wondering who could bypass their defenses without alerting them.

They jumped up and wondered who could make it over without alarming them.

"Disciple Liu Wuxie requests to meet Elder Yi Xuan!" The door remained shut, but Liu Wuxie greeted from outside loudly, cupping his fists together. He could have easily passed through the restriction on the door and entered.

"Liu Wuxie? It's him!" Liu Wuxie's name was famous in the sect, and the commotion he caused hadn't subsided yet. Even elders who stayed out of worldly affairs had heard of him.

"Why is he here?" The two elders beside Yi Xuan looked puzzled by Liu Wuxie's arrival.

"Is he here for revenge?" The elder on the right asked. They were the ones who had altered the spiritual arrays in the Martial Arts Hall and nearly killed him. Thus, it was natural for him to seek revenge against them.

"He's only in the Heavenly Phase Realm. What qualification does he have to seek revenge on us?" The elder on the left sneered. If Liu Wuxie dared to come and seek revenge against them, they could kill him with one slap.

"What will come will eventually come. You two stay here; I'll go and meet him," Yi Xuan sighed. His righteousness and integrity had been overshadowed by the incident involving Liu Wuxie, which had caused him considerable guilt and damaged his reputation over the past three months.

Yi Xuan walked towards the door after he had finished speaking. The two elders exchanged a look, but they said nothing. After all, it was perfect for them, with Yi Xuan shouldering all the blame. They had no reason to stop him since he was willing to take the fall.