Chapter 1786 - Clearing the Obstacles
The man and beast lay utterly motionless upon the ground. Only then did Liu Wuxie retrieve the array flags and enter the valley.
He swept Ghost Pupil across the surroundings several times, ensuring that neither Jin Ren nor the twin-headed serpent could pose any further threat before approaching them.
Jin Ren remained alive, but only barely. His breathing had weakened to a faint rasp, and blood trickled from his lips as he struggled to speak. His face had turned deathly pale, and he glared at Liu Wuxie with the despair of a dying man.
Liu Wuxie brought the Bloodthirst Blade down and ended the twin-headed serpent's life. Without hesitation, he summoned the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, devoured the corpse, and dissolved it into liquid energy. However, he did not refine the energy immediately, intending to preserve it for his breakthrough to the True Immortal Realm.
After all, breaking through a major realm demanded absolute certainty and an enormous accumulation of resources.
"Save me..." Jin Ren forced the words out. He still refused to accept death and begged Liu Wuxie to rescue him.
Liu Wuxie's face betrayed no emotion as a black hole emerged in the ground and slowly swallowed Jin Ren's body. Only an interspatial ring remained, which Liu Wuxie collected in his palm. When his divine sense entered the ring, a faint smile curved across his lips.
Although Jin Ren had merely been an assistant, he possessed considerable wealth, with hundreds of thousands of immortal stones stored inside the interspatial ring.
After ensuring that he had erased every trace of his presence, Liu Wuxie departed from the valley. Guided by Ghost Pupil, he ventured even deeper into the mountain range.
Danger lurked throughout the depths of the Dragon Burial Mountain Range. For a high immortal to venture so far inside was no different from courting death, especially when the immortal beasts he encountered would only become increasingly terrifying.
Liu Wuxie carefully avoided immortal beasts comparable to the Spirit Immortal Realm while killing those comparable to the True Immortal Realm. As more liquid accumulated within the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, the elements filling the desolate world became increasingly abundant.
Two days passed in the blink of an eye, during which Liu Wuxie traveled five hundred miles into the Dragon Burial Mountain Range, only to find himself a bit lost. An abyssal cliff blocked his path, yet Ghost Pupil indicated that his destination lay beyond it.
Origin Immortals could fly for brief periods, allowing them to cross the cliff. Liu Wuxie, however, was merely a High Immortal and possessed no such ability. Even Profound Immortals had no choice but to take a detour and search for another route.
Countless experts had flooded into the Dragon Burial Mountain Range over the past few days, but immortal beasts had killed most of them before they could venture far into its depths.
Liu Wuxie could not help wondering what kind of mysterious eye could attract so many people. After all, an ordinary treasure could never draw such an enormous crowd.
......
Meanwhile, the Wen Clan's forces withdrew the moment Ye Linghan returned to Fourfold City. By then, the Wen Clan had already dispatched many of its elites into the Dragon Burial Mountain Range.
Ye Linghan immediately realized that she had fallen for the Wen Clan's diversion.
Two days had passed, yet she still had no idea whether Liu Wuxie had managed to survive. Without even bidding her father farewell, she immediately rushed toward the Dragon Burial Mountain Range.
A group had assembled within a dense forest, led by Wen Qi.
"Damn it! Two days have passed, so why are there still no traces of that brat?" a Wen Clan disciple cursed, punching a tree.
Wen Qi bore indirect responsibility for Wen Yi's death, so he had immediately volunteered to lead the clan's experts in pursuing Liu Wuxie.
"We've sealed off every exit. Even if he leaves the Dragon Burial Mountain Range, we will find him," another Wen Clan disciple said, his eyes glowing crimson.
Apart from these people, the Wen Clan had deployed several other teams to guard the entrances to the mountain range and prevent Liu Wuxie from escaping.
The throbbing within Ghost Pupil continued to intensify, signaling that Liu Wuxie was drawing ever closer to the mysterious eyeball.
The mysterious eyeball had constantly shifted locations over the past few days. However, Liu Wuxie could sense that it had remained in the same place since that morning.
Large numbers of students from the Azure Flame Dao Hall had also flooded into the Dragon Burial Mountain Range. Some came in search of the mysterious eyeball, while others came to hunt Liu Wuxie.
"Mentor Wei, we're exhausted. Let's stop here and rest for a while!" Several students traveling with Wei Wenbin could no longer continue walking. They all specialized in alchemy, so their physical strength could not compare to that of students specializing in martial cultivation.
After traveling relentlessly for two days, they were completely exhausted.
"Don't you want to obtain that mysterious alchemy technique as soon as possible?" a much older student asked, urging the others to quicken their pace. If someone reached Liu Wuxie ahead of them, all their efforts would be in vain.
"Since everyone is exhausted, we'll rest for fifteen minutes before continuing our journey," Wei Wenbin said. In any case, they had no reason to rush excessively.
Besides Wei Wenbin, Shen Chao, Nangong Shan, Tu Zhengbao, and Che Yangrong had also led their students into the Dragon Burial Mountain Range. They wanted nothing but to kill Liu Wuxie.
After all, Liu Wuxie's performance during the class assessment had ignited the greed of countless people. If they captured him alive, they could seize his knowledge of martial cultivation, alchemy, blacksmithing, talisman, and spiritual array. With those abilities in their possession, they could have everything their way in the Azure Flame Dao Hall.
Liu Wuxie sat atop a massive boulder. The Heavenly Dao Book had warned him several times over the past few days that danger was approaching. Without the slightest hesitation, he rose and resumed his journey.
He spent an entire day circling the towering cliff before entering a different and even more ancient mountain range. The instant he stepped inside, an intense primeval aura washed over him, making him feel as though he had entered an ancient world.
According to legend, the Dragon Burial Mountain Range had once served as the grave of a true dragon, though no one knew whether the tale was genuine. Yet ever since entering the mountain range, Liu Wuxie had sensed his bloodline stirring awake. The sensation further fueled his suspicion that traces of a divine dragon could truly exist there.
Rustling noises drifted from the distance as Liu Wuxie continued deeper into the mountain range. The farther he ventured, the more likely he became to encounter other people, for large numbers of cultivators had already entered ahead of him.
Liu Wuxie immediately heightened his vigilance and drew the Bloodthirst Blade. Three figures approached from a distance. An elderly man led the way, accompanied by two youths.
The elder appeared old, though Liu Wuxie could not determine his exact age. More importantly, the elder possessed exceptional cultivation at the Divine Immortal Realm. He had restricted himself to prevent others from examining him.
The young man and woman following the elder were only slightly older than Liu Wuxie, yet both had already reached the Profound Immortal Realm.
The three abruptly turned toward Liu Wuxie, vigilance flickering across their faces. However, surprise soon replaced their caution when they noticed his cultivation. Like Liu Wuxie, they had circled the cliff, since no other route was available.
The old man could fly, but the young man and the woman could not.
"Big brother, this man is strange. How did someone at the High Immortal Realm enter the depths of the Dragon Burial Mountain Range?" the woman asked the young man beside her. They did not attempt to conceal their conversation from Liu Wuxie.
"Perhaps his clan's elders escorted him here to gain experience, just like us," the young man replied, casting Liu Wuxie a friendly gaze without the slightest hostility.
Finding the young man's attitude pleasant, Liu Wuxie returned the friendly look.
The three did not linger. They traveled faster than Liu Wuxie, and profound immortals could already be considered experts within this region. In the blink of an eye, they vanished without leaving a trace.
Since it had only been a brief encounter, Liu Wuxie did not take it to heart. He continued in the same direction, following behind them.
He encountered no danger before evening, though the stench of blood lingered along the route. Someone had killed every immortal beast blocking the path with a single strike.
After examining their corpses, Liu Wuxie discovered that a single palm strike had killed each immortal beast. With someone else clearing the path, he no longer needed to trouble himself with the obstacles ahead. Without standing on ceremony, he devoured every corpse into the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron.
Since traveling at night was inadvisable, Liu Wuxie found a large tree, settled upon it, and prepared to wait until dawn. Unbeknownst to him, the three people he had encountered that morning were resting less than a thousand meters away.
They had detected Liu Wuxie, but he remained unaware of their presence. A strange magnetic field surrounded that Divine Immortal, blocking the perception of divine sense.
"If we hadn't cleared every obstacle from the path, how could he possibly have caught up so quickly?" the young woman remarked with a pout.
"Don't be so certain. The fact that he ventured this deep into the mountain range proves that he isn't ordinary," the old man replied.
Others might not have known, but the elder understood perfectly that no experts existed within a radius of tens of thousands of meters. Even if someone else lurked nearby, they would merely be ordinary cultivators. This meant Liu Wuxie had no escort and had traveled this far entirely on his own.
"How is that possible? How could a High Immortal possibly venture into the depths of the Dragon Burial Mountain Range? Immortal beasts should've killed him long ago!" the woman protested. She remained unconvinced and particularly disliked hearing her grandfather praise someone else.
"Young Sister, don't belittle others. This man possesses an extraordinary temperament and doesn't resemble an ordinary person. If an opportunity arises, we can befriend him," the young man advised.
At that moment, several mercenaries reeking of blood approached. There were six in total, led by a pinnacle True Immortal.
"Boss, we can't go any farther. If we continue, we might encounter immortal beasts at the Profound Immortal Realm. Escaping would be almost impossible for the six of us."
Like Liu Wuxie, the mercenaries had entered the Dragon Burial Mountain Range in search of the mysterious eyeball. They had only traveled this far because someone had cleared away the immortal beasts along the route, giving them the confidence to press on.
One of the ordinary mercenaries nervously surveyed the surroundings. They usually accepted missions around the outskirts of the mountain range, and this was the first time they had ever ventured so deep.
An older mercenary patted the young man's head. "Little Six, what are you afraid of? We've come this far without encountering any danger, so this must be an opportunity bestowed upon us by the heavens!" he chuckled, drawing laughter from those around him.
"Boss, there's someone over there!"
Before Liu Wuxie had a chance to conceal himself, they caught sight of his silhouette from afar as he climbed the tree.
This was the only tree in the surrounding area suitable for resting, while remaining on the ground after nightfall was exceedingly dangerous.
As darkness descended, many immortal beasts caught the scent of blood and began approaching. If the mercenaries wished to avoid their attacks, they had no choice but to seek higher ground.
"Brat, get down here. This tree belongs to us now," the mercenary called Little Six demanded, standing beneath the tree.
Liu Wuxie frowned at his words. The tree was spacious enough to accommodate more than a dozen people, leaving ample room even if all six mercenaries climbed onto it. Why, then, should they drive him away?
Ignoring their shouts, Liu Wuxie continued climbing higher into the tree. Although he had devoured the immortal beast corpses scattered along the route, he had not concealed the lingering bloody scent. Before long, that scent would attract vast numbers of immortal beasts.
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