Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 92 - Mistakes

The potency of the Energy Dispersing Liquid was well-known to all. Their past successes with the liquid had emboldened them to lie in wait for Liu Wuxie, confident that he would be at their mercy once he consumed it.

However, Liu Wuxie had consumed an entire jar of wine and all the dishes on the table, effectively ingesting a whole bottle of Energy Dispersing Liquid. A mere droplet would rob an ordinary person of their cultivation, so it was no surprise that everyone was taken aback, staring at Liu Wuxie as if he were a monster.

“So you knew the wine was poisoned?” Bai Yun asked.

From Liu Wuxie’s tone, it wasn’t hard to deduce that he was aware of the poison in the wine. So, could it be that he had consumed the antidote beforehand?

“All I can say is that you need to improve your acting skills. It’s too obvious and lacks finesse,” Liu Wuxie retorted disdainfully.

The remaining six exchanged glances. They were all used to playing their roles, so what had gone wrong?

“Did you figure out our identities the moment you walked in?” the middle-aged man asked.

All eyes, including those of Bai Yun, the two farmers, and the waiter, were fixed on Liu Wuxie, awaiting his response. They had meticulously planned for this day, accounting for every possible error. So, how could there be flaws in their plan?

“You sure want an answer from me?” Liu Wuxie asked in a mocking tone. He wasn’t in a hurry to kill them.

“If we’re going to die, we at least want to know why!” The middle-aged man knew they stood no chance against Liu Wuxie now. They simply wanted to understand where they had slipped up before meeting their end.

“Your first mistake was the waiter’s rag. The oil stain on it was fresh, deliberately added to make it look dirty. In places like this, the rags used for wiping tables are usually a greyish-brown,” Liu Wuxie recalled every detail vividly.

The waiter at the counter held up the rag with a rueful smile. Liu Wuxie was right; the rag was too new, with oil stains smeared to make it appear dirty. It was unlike a rag that had been used for years.

“Secondly, the three farmers. They might have been discussing farming, but they didn’t even consider the current season. It’s winter, and farmers should be resting at this time. How could you overlook such a glaring mistake?”

Upon hearing Liu Wuxie’s words, the two farmers broke out in a cold sweat. They hadn’t considered that detail. They were unaware that farmers didn’t work in winter. Consequently, there was only one explanation: they weren’t real farmers and didn’t know that farmers sow in spring and harvest in autumn. This might seem like a minor detail, but it was enough to expose them when pointed out by Liu Wuxie.

“And you, do you think you can get away with wearing a white robe and look like you’ve traveled for a long time? Look at how clean your soles are. If I’m not wrong, you must have mysophobia, right? You’re the only one seated at your table, and it’s obvious that you don’t want to be around them.” Liu Wuxie turned to look at the white-clothed youth.

If the white-clothed youth had been traveling long distances, his shoes should have been covered with mud, but the soles were too clean.

Bai Yun looked like he had seen a ghost and took a huge step back. He did have mysophobia and didn’t like to sit with others, which Liu Wuxie somehow noticed.

“I could overlook all of that. But the biggest mistake that gave you away comes from the two of you.” Liu Wuxie suddenly turned to the middle-aged couple, wearing an expression of disdain. What he had pointed out so far were minor details that most people wouldn’t consider. Who would care if a farmer was drinking in winter? Or perhaps the waiter’s towel was recently changed. Those details could only arouse suspicion at best.

“Us?” The middle-aged man was baffled.

“That’s right, you two!” Liu Wuxie pointed at the middle-aged couple and continued, “Your clothes don’t fit well, suggesting you two must have snatched them recently.”

The moment Liu Wuxie said that, the middle-aged couple staggered and nearly fell down.

“Most importantly, couldn’t you have chosen a pair of shoes that match your clothes?” Liu Wuxie didn’t want to elaborate further.

The middle-aged couple lowered their heads. They didn’t have time to change their shoes, and only half of them were visible, which Liu Wuxie noticed. The middle-aged man looked dispirited, “We didn’t fail for nothing.”

They had thought their plan was foolproof, only to find it riddled with flaws. Liu Wuxie was merely toying with them because he wanted to know if there were more hidden ambushes.

“How are you unaffected by the Energy Dispersing Liquid?” Bai Yun inquired. He was a master of poisons and had orchestrated the entire plan, with everyone else playing supporting roles.

“Do you want to know?” Liu Wuxie smiled. When the six people nodded, Liu Wuxie replied, “But you guys won’t have the opportunity to know.”

Liu Wuxie’s body was different from others. The moment he ingested the poison, it was absorbed by the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron. Therefore, even the most potent poison couldn’t harm Liu Wuxie, let alone something as trivial as the Energy Dispersing Liquid.

Even without the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, Liu Wuxie could easily force the poison out of his body, and he couldn’t be bothered to tell them about it.

“Run!” the middle-aged man yelled without hesitation as the six bolted out. The white-clothed youth escaped through the window, the two farmers ran towards the door, the waiter ran towards the back of the hall, and the middle-aged couple fled towards another window. They ran in four directions to increase the chance of them escaping. Liu Wuxie was just one person with two legs; he couldn’t split himself into four to chase them all.

“You guys want to escape?” Murderous intent swept out from Liu Wuxie as he drew his blade, filling the entire restaurant with his blade aura. As he fully released his cultivation in the fifth level of the Xiantian Realm, he swung out a blade aura toward the white-clothed youth.

The white-clothed youth was terrified. As he tried to dodge the attack, the blade aura pierced his body, pinning him on a towering tree.

But Liu Wuxie didn’t stop there as he unleashed a terrifying and suffocating blade aura that enveloped a radius of a thousand miles.

When the two farmers had just run a hundred meters from the restaurant, they were locked onto by Liu Wuxie’s blade intent, immobilizing them as a blade aura tore apart their chests.

This frightened the middle-aged couple so badly that they almost wet their pants. They ran towards the distant forest with all their might and even wished they were born with another pair of legs.

“Hmph!” Liu Wuxie raised his blade and swung it down, splitting the ground open as the crack chased after the middle-aged couple.

Just when the middle-aged couple were about to enter the forest, they were severed into two by Liu Wuxie’s blade with their blood flowing on the ground.

Liu Wuxie didn’t stop there as he left behind an afterimage with a tap on the ground, chasing after the waiter. He had to leave one alive as he wanted to know who was behind this assassination attempt. As he passed through the back hall, he noticed two bodies on the ground, bound together with rags stuffed in their mouths. Their bodies still held a trace of warmth, indicating they had been killed recently. This elderly couple owned the restaurant, and their coats were missing.

They should have been alive when Liu Wuxie arrived, and the waiter must have killed them after they were done preparing the food.

“Damn it!” Liu Wuxie’s eyes blazed with a terrifying murderous intent. These people had not spared even an innocent elderly couple just to kill him. As he passed through the back of the hall, the waiter had already darted into the forest like a cunning rabbit.

Pushing his Seven Dipper Steps to the limit, Liu Wuxie was determined to kill them all to vent his fury. After all, innocent people had died because of him, and avenging the old couple by killing their murderers was the least he could do.

The waiter’s cultivation was in the Spirit Cleansing Realm, but he was much slower than Liu Wuxie. In just a few minutes, they were only ten meters apart when the waiter suddenly stopped running and raised the kitchen knife to his neck.

“Liu Wuxie, I know that you want to know who’s the one after your life. If you take another step, I’ll kill myself!” The server, realizing escape was futile, contemplated suicide to prevent Liu Wuxie from finding out who wanted to kill him.

“Suicide is a privilege you don’t have in my presence!” Liu Wuxie’s anger was palpable. He unleashed the Ghost Eye, a soul energy attack that targeted the server’s soul sea, eliciting a scream of agony from him. The kitchen knife slipped from his grasp as he clutched his head, his face contorted in pain.

Once Liu Wuxie crippled the waiter’s cultivation, the latter lay like a dead man on the ground. The pain in his soul sea lasted for ten breaths before it gradually eased, as Liu Wuxie had refrained from directly penetrating his soul.

“Speak up. Who’s plotting against me?” Liu Wuxie threatened, positioning his blade at the server’s head, ready to behead him if he remained silent.

“Kill me!” The waiter showed no fear of death.

“You won’t be granted such an easy escape. What did the elderly couple do to deserve their fate at your hands?” Liu Wuxie pressed a finger into the server’s back, sending waves of excruciating pain through his body. The server writhed on the ground in agony, his body convulsing uncontrollably.

“I’ll speak! I’ll speak! It’s the City Lord that sent us over!” The pain wasn’t something anyone could bear. Back then, Zhou Hu had quickly confessed to this pain. Even a commander of the Terrabreak Army couldn’t bear the pain, not to mention an ordinary cultivator.

Liu Wuxie wasn’t surprised when he heard the news. As he had suspected, Qi Enshi was the mastermind. A cold smile rose on the corner of his lips, and he took the waiter’s life. “Qi Enshi, it’s really you!”

Returning to the town, Liu Wuxie buried the old couple. As for the men sent by the City Lord Mansion, Liu Wuxie let their corpses lay in the wilderness to feed demonic beasts.

It was getting late, and he had to continue his journey. He could foresee that the journey wouldn't be peaceful over the next few days. After all, Qi Enshi and the Xue Clan wanted to kill him.

“Let me see what other tricks you guys have!” Liu Wuxie increased speed and bolted like a meteor, streaking across the ground. Time was of the essence; he needed to reach the Imperial Capital before the Imperial Academy’s recruitment deadline or wait another year for admission.

He had a one-year pact with the Xue Clan and needed to join the Imperial Academy to gain access to more cultivation resources, aiming to reach the Spirit Cleansing Realm or even the Marrow Cleansing Realm.

Shortly after Liu Wuxie’s departure from town, a man in a purple robe emerged from an ordinary house. He retrieved a bamboo tube from his chest and ignited one end, sending a flare into the sky visible from dozens of miles away.