Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 639 - Three Talismans

Liu Wuxie’s Ghost Eye pierced through the talisman gate, observing every intricate detail hidden within. A faint smile soon appeared on his lips as he murmured, “This is interesting!”

While the talisman gate seemed simple on the outside, it was more complex than it appeared. If he made a mistake, the spiritual talismans in the gate would transform into dead talismans, locking the gate forever.

He estimated that ninety percent of the contestants would fail this challenge. The talisman gate appeared in the Heavenly Dao Book, but Liu Wuxie didn’t have the time to ponder over it. He knew he had to end this quickly to claim the first spot in this trial.

When the Heavenly Dao Book opened, the talismans on the talisman gate began to flow onto the book like water.

Liu Wuxie didn’t dare to be careless; his divine sense closely monitored the changes in the talisman gate. After three intense minutes, a long spiritual rune appeared before him—the key to unlocking the gate. As long as he accurately replicated this rune, the talisman gate would open.

Retracting his divine sense, Liu Wuxie paused, not rushing to draw the rune. Instead, his gaze remained fixed on the talisman gate. Taking a deep breath, he raised his right hand and began drawing in the air with precise, fluid motions.

“What is he doing? Isn’t he going to take a longer look at it?” someone exclaimed. They were in disbelief at how Liu Wuxie found the solution after only three minutes.

“What arrogance!” sneered the Demonic Heart Palace’s elder. He felt that Liu Wuxie was being overconfident to think he could solve the talisman gate in just three minutes.

“If he can unlock the talisman gate, I’ll kneel before him and call him Master!” a young prodigy in spiritual talismans said. Having failed on the third level due to physical limitations and been ejected from the tower, he could only watch the proceedings from outside.

He could see the talisman gate on the eighth level, and even he wasn’t confident in finding a solution within two hours.

“You want to take him as your master? Do you think he’d accept you?” someone joked.

Even the older generations weren’t confident they could match Liu Wuxie’s talent, let alone the younger generation. No one took the young prodigy’s declaration seriously; most dismissed it as a joke born of admiration and disbelief.

A bizarre spiritual rune began to appear in the air, but Liu Wuxie wasn’t in a hurry to inject it into the talisman gate and continued to draw it. The spiritual rune grew in length, soon reaching three meters.

This left everyone dumbfounded, unable to comprehend Liu Wuxie’s actions.

“What is he doing?” murmured a voice in confusion. No one in the audience could figure out why Liu Wuxie drew such a long spiritual rune.

Even the Demonic Heart Palace elder who had mocked Liu Wuxie earlier fell silent, a flicker of shock betraying his otherwise composed expression. Deep down, he wondered if Liu Wuxie was truly drawing the key to unlock the talisman gate.

The mystery was soon unraveled when Liu Wuxie stopped after five minutes. A golden rune resembling a long serpent appeared before Liu Wuxie, giving off a terrifying aura. With a wave of his hand, the spiritual rune began to spiral into a strange diagram.

When the diagram melded seamlessly into the talisman gate, it appeared to become one with it. The entire process was over before anyone could fully comprehend what had happened.

However, the talisman gate remained unresponsive, showing no signs of unlocking even after the spiritual rune had fused with it.

“I knew it! He couldn’t unlock this talisman gate!” laughed a disciple from the Azure Crimson Gate, and they finally found an opportunity to humiliate Liu Wuxie.

“Our chance has come!” The Heavenly Origin Sect’s disciples were also rejoicing inwardly. If Liu Wuxie were truly stuck on the eighth level, Bai Yuan could close the gap and potentially surpass him.

More people joined in mocking Liu Wuxie, all gloating with delight to see him fail. Cracking sounds came from the talisman gate, and this left everyone stunned.

“What just happened?” someone gasped as thousands of eyes turned, fixated on the eighth level, awaiting the outcome with bated breath.

The talisman gate began to change, and a long passage appeared before Liu Wuxie.

“What’s going on?!” The Heavenly Origin Sect disciples looked disappointed.

Meanwhile, the Azure Crimson Gate disciples fell silent, their earlier confidence crumbling. Faces flushed red with embarrassment, and they now looked like clowns for mocking Liu Wuxie. Their ridicule had backfired.

Liu Wuxie stepped through the passage calmly, leaving behind stunned silence as he reached the ninth level. The ninth level’s difficulty wasn’t any less than the eighth level.

The challenge on the ninth level was to repair a spiritual talisman. A shattered talisman appeared before Liu Wuxie, requiring complete restoration. The difficulty of this task was no less than unlocking the talisman gate.

The spiritual talisman was heavily damaged, with only one-third of its structure intact. However, Liu Wuxie didn’t have to worry, as the Heavenly Dao Book was nearby.

When the spiritual rune flowed into the Heavenly Dao Book, the shattered rune looked like insects had chewed on it.

The Heavenly Dao Book unfurled as many laws aligned themselves in the air to repair the spiritual talisman. The process took ten minutes before a complete spiritual talisman appeared in Liu Wuxie’s soul sea.

When Liu Wuxie’s divine sense left his soul sea, a faint smile rose on his lips when he looked at the damaged spiritual talisman.

“It’s a Thousand-Mile Talisman!”

When this spiritual talisman was activated, one could instantaneously escape over vast distances. It was highly valuable, and the Transcendent Plume Gate had spent a great deal of effort on it. It was an extraordinary treasure, especially in life-or-death situations. The Thousand-Mile Talisman also had another name for it: the Escape Talisman.

Liu Wuxie had crafted Thousand-Mile Talismans before, but they were of a much higher grade, capable of escaping ten thousand miles away.

However, the talisman paper couldn’t withstand such potent spiritual runes and had to be repaired. He took a complete talisman paper and began drawing on it after aligning it with the damaged one.

There wasn’t any commotion from the Transcendent Plume Gate as they wanted to know how long it would take for Liu Wuxie to complete this challenge. The thought of stopping Liu Wuxie with their challenge had never crossed their minds.

Ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye, and a complete Thousand-Mile Talisman appeared before everyone.

“He’s a monster!” exclaimed an elder of the Transcendent Plume Gate.

When evaluated, the power of the Thousand-Mile Talisman was at the tenth level.

When Liu Wuxie headed to the last level, Bai Yuan had just reached the seventh level. But judging from this pace, it would be impossible for him to catch up with Liu Wuxie.

The moment Liu Wuxie stepped into the tenth level, a suffocating force swept out, and this was a formidable talisman array. Three spiritual talismans, representing the mountain, water, and fire, were before Liu Wuxie.

Each gate gave off a powerful aura, and the spiritual talismans would grievously harm anyone who made a mistake.

“What is the Heavenly Origin Sect trying to do to set up such a powerful talisman array?” many disciples from other sects protested, condemning the Heavenly Origin Sect for breaking the Ten Grand Ceremony’s rules.

“Go home if you’re not capable of solving it. We naturally have our reason to set up this talisman array,” said the Heavenly Origin Sect disciples.

However, their explanation was futile. No matter how they tried to explain, it couldn’t change the facts about these talisman arrays.

The three spiritual talismans were like three towering obstacles before Liu Wuxie. The first gate symbolized an insurmountable mountain that emanated a terrifying aura, forcing Liu Wuxie to take a few steps back.

To his surprise, the power of these spiritual talismans had reached the ninth level. On the contrary, Liu Wuxie was only in the Astral River Realm, and it was unknown if he could continue to create miracles. After all, even experts in the Nascent Transformation Realm would have to approach it with great caution.

The Mountain Talisman had manifested into a towering mountain. Liu Wuxie couldn’t afford to use brute strength and could only dismantle it through his attainment of spiritual runes.

“Heavenly Origin Sect, do you truly believe this will stop me?” Liu Wuxie’s eyes gleamed with a sharp glint.

The Heavenly Dao Book unfurled, and the Mountain Talisman appeared in his soul sea. The moment the talisman went in, the insurmountable power of a mountain came crashing down on his shoulders, nearly crushing his backbone.

After he adapted to it, the Heavenly Dao Book began to analyze the spiritual talisman. The Mountain Talisman’s grade was decent, barely reaching the ninth level, but that didn’t mean it was without flaws.

Through careful analysis using the Heavenly Dao Book, Liu Wuxie devised four potential solutions to the challenge.

“Sect master, please be rest assured. I’m sure he won’t get through this stage!” declared Qian Chong with unwavering confidence.

However, Wang Ba didn’t dare to say a word this time. This trial was delegated entirely to Qian Chong and Zhang Bei to ensure no mistakes were made this time. He had agreed to it because he didn’t want to be blamed by the sect master again.

Bai Jin nodded in agreement. He had also inspected the three spiritual talismans; even Bai Yuan would fail to solve them if he knew nothing about them.

Liu Wuxie was only in the Astral River Realm. Even if he had heaven-defying talent in the spiritual talismans, his cultivation was his weakness. Thus, it was impossible for him to make it through this level unless he could find the flaw of the spiritual talismans.

Forcing his way through was out of the question because the Mountain Talisman would release immense pressure, crushing him down. Even if Liu Wuxie possessed the True Dragon Physique, he would be instantly crushed by the talisman’s power.

“Sect master, the situation doesn’t look good for Liu Wuxie!” Elder He said with worry etched on his face. He hadn’t expected the Heavenly Origin Sect to set up such a powerful talisman array to deal with Liu Wuxie.

“Calm down,” replied Mu Tianli, exuding unwavering confidence. He was confident in Liu Wuxie’s capabilities.

Liu Wuxie was not worried. Instead, he had a faint smirk as he began to draw spiritual runes. When he started drawing, the Talisman Mountain that obstructed his way gave off a golden brilliance, unleashing an insurmountable pressure that swept toward him.

Liu Wuxie took a few steps under the pressure before he stabilized himself. The moment he began dismantling the spiritual talisman, a confrontation commenced.

He knew he had to dismantle it quickly, or the pressure would increase until his physique succumbed.

In the beginning, the pressure was comparable to the strike of someone in the pinnacle Astral River Realm. But the power would increase over time until it was comparable to the power of an expert in the True Profound Realm.

Liu Wuxie’s hands moved in a blur as a bizarre spiritual rune appeared before him, weaving into an intricate net that slowly descended toward the Mountain Talisman inch by inch.

“What is he trying to do? Is he planning to withstand the full force of the Mountain Talisman?” gasped the onlookers, with their faces pale with disbelief. They were frightened by Liu Wuxie’s audacity. After all, this was no different from courting death.

“He’s insane!” murmured others, unable to find words fitting enough to describe his actions.

Qian Chong and Zhang Bei wore cruel smiles when they saw Liu Wuxie’s actions. Yet, only a handful of people watched intently. They had a feeling that there was more to Liu Wuxie’s action.

The net that descended continued to transform until it manifested into a majestic earth dragon in gold. This sight stunned the crowd, including the upper echelons of the Heavenly Origin Sect.

“T-This is impossible!” Qian Chong stammered, his face pale with disbelief. They were confident that there were no flaws in the three spiritual talismans they had set up, and they couldn’t figure out how Liu Wuxie managed to find the Mountain Talisman’s weakness.

The Earth Dragon burrowed into the Mountain Talisman. After all, the Earth Dragon was a master of burrowing, and it was the perfect counter.