Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 583 - War Begins

“They’ve been spreading rumors, slandering the Heavenly Dao Society as a joke. They said our talisman makers are garbage, and we can’t forge high-level spiritual talismans. Word spread like wildfire, causing the reputation of our talismans to plummet.”

In the past, the Heavenly Dao Society could sell some talismans even if they were placed in a dark corner, but now, they couldn’t even sell a single talisman.

Liu Wuxie’s expression did not change because he already had first-hand experience of how despicable the Lesser Blade Association could be.

“What did the shops say?” Liu Wuxie asked.

“The shops told us that we have five days to resolve this issue, or they will remove our talismans from the shelves and demand a compensation of ten million spirit stones!” Lan Yu replied, his anger boiling. He had never seen such shameless shops.

“I understand. You can all go and rest now. We will head to the city tomorrow!” Liu Wuxie said, waving his hand to dismiss everyone, knowing that they must be exhausted.

Everyone left the room, leaving Liu Wuxie by himself. The temperature in the room suddenly plummeted as intense murderous intent gushed out of Liu Wuxie. He muttered, “Qin Dao, don’t blame me for being ruthless since you’ve crossed the line too many times. You’ll have to face my wrath now.”

Qin Dao was the founder of the Lesser Blade Association. He had risen to the rank of a true disciple of the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion ten years ago. His strength was rumored to be unfathomable, having touched the threshold of the Nascent Transformation Realm. But he wasn’t in the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion and should still be training outside.

Many true disciples ventured out for training, which could last for years, some even decades. Liu Wuxie planned to do the same once he reached the Astral River Realm.

The Southern Province was too small for him, and he would leave the True Martial Continent sooner or later. For now, the matters of the Heavenly Dao Society had to wait.

He took out an interspatial ring and inserted his divine sense inside. This ring belonged to Dan Cheng, and had naturally fallen into Liu Wuxie’s hands after his death.

His mood improved after he examined the contents inside, and a faint smile crept onto his face. He took inventory of all the goods and valued everything at a staggering sum of fifty million spirit stones.

Additionally, there were over a thousand high-grade spirit stones along with a decent amount of mid-grade spirit stones.

“So many spiritual essences!” Liu Wuxie didn’t expect Dan Cheng to have a collection of over thirty spiritual essences in his interspatial ring, which was a vast fortune.

This was also why Liu Wuxie was so eager to kill Dan Cheng. If Dan Cheng’s wealth had fallen into Tian Xing’s hands, he would’ve lost the opportunity to take it for himself.

There were also countless spiritual herbs and pills. As for weapons, there were ten monarch artifacts, and even an origin artifact meant for cultivators in the Nascent Transformation Realm.

It was a pity Liu Wuxie couldn’t use them as the artifact spirit resisted him fiercely. He was left with no choice but to feed them to the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron.

“These spiritual essences should be enough for me to nurture a batch of people, with still plenty left to enhance my spirituality,” Liu Wuxie muttered, pulling his focus back from the interspatial ring.

His recent ventures outside the sect had drained him of his spirit stones. He thought the Heavenly Dao Society could replenish them, but the outcome was unexpected.

He could now make it through this crisis only with Dan Cheng’s wealth, especially the high-grade pills. These pills were all eighth-grade pills, and they came at the right time.

Liu Wuxie planned to sort out the herbs and give them to Bi Gongyu. He could refine them into pills for sale to obtain more resources.

Upon hearing that Liu Wuxie had returned, many disciples came to visit, but Liu Wuxie refused to see any of them. They kicked him while he was at his lowest, so why should he bother with them when he rose in power? He had seen through their hypocrisy right from the start.

When Liu Wuxie’s divine sense reached inside the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, Dan Cheng’s primordial spirit had yet to be thoroughly refined. Demonic flames were constantly burning the primordial spirit to extract the laws of the Nascent Transformation Realm.

Although Liu Wuxie’s cultivation hadn’t risen, his desolate world grew more vibrant. The world became more realistic after infusing with the laws of the Nascent Transformation Realm.

The Golden Spirit Fruit’s tree grew rapidly after being nurtured by the laws, growing to over a meter in height in just a few days. What shocked Liu Wuxie even more was the appearance of an unripe fruit, the size of a quail egg, on one of its branches.

That was an unripe Golden Spirit Fruit that would turn brilliant gold in time. Liu Wuxie could only water the tree with spiritual energy daily, hoping to produce more Golden Spirit Fruits.

The people around him were still too weak, but he could forge a formidable team with the help of Golden Spirit Fruits.

“Liu Wuxie, please let me go! I’ll do anything as long as you spare me!” Dan Cheng’s primordial spirit pleaded. He was stripped of more than half his laws and could only plead for mercy.

“Too late,” Liu Wuxie replied coldly, shaking his head. He naturally wouldn’t do something as foolish as releasing someone like Dan Cheng, who could become a threat to him.

The news of how Liu Wuxie plotted the death of three Azure Crimson Gate’s elders must have reached their sect, and he could foresee that the Azure Crimson Gate wouldn’t let it rest easily.

Such a huge loss was unprecedented for the Azure Crimson Gate. Throughout the years, there was no clear victor in their rivalry with the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion. But the Serene Sea City’s incident humiliated them, making them the laughing stock among the ten major sects.

The night passed quickly, and morning arrived. Lan Yu, Fan Zhen, and others were waiting outside Liu Wuxie’s abode.

As Bi Gongyu had to carry on pill refining, he had to stay behind in the Treasure Pill Peak.

“Old Fan, Lan Yu, and Bai Lin, you three will follow me to the city. The rest of you will stay behind,” Liu Wuxie said. There was no need for too many people to follow them.

“Yes!” the three replied.

Tang Tian and others could only stay behind in the Heavenly Dao Society.

As for Song Ling, he had been tirelessly forging talismans day and night, unaware of their poor sales. No one had the heart to tell him, fearing it might dampen his spirits.

The group of four swiftly left the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion. Liu Wuxie didn’t have to worry about the Azure Crimson Gate for the time being. After losing three elders in the Nascent Transformation Realm, they would be laying low for a while.

Moreover, Liu Wuxie had also confused the Hou Clan, diverting their attention away from him for the time being.

This was the best time to consolidate the Heavenly Dao Society’s position. As for the Lesser Blade Association, it wouldn’t be easy to wipe them out.

The Lesser Blade Association had existed for over ten years and was deeply rooted in the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion. The only way to disband them was to defeat Qin Dao. Only then would the faction fall apart on its own.

As the group entered the city, they instantly noticed the city’s bustling atmosphere, even though it was less prosperous than Serene Sea City. Due to its proximity to the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, business here was naturally booming.

The pills produced by the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion were highly sought after, and most cultivators came to the city to purchase them. This was similar to how cultivators who went to Serene Sea City were mainly to engage in stone betting.

Though this city lacked fame, it was referred to as Treasure City as it nestled at the foot of the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion; a rather fitting name.

Treasure City stretched a thousand miles from east to west. To the east, it extended towards the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion; to the west, it bordered the Scarlet Sun Mountain Range. The north and south served as trading routes, connecting to the other cities. Even though flight was forbidden in the city, traveling here was incredibly convenient.

As soon as anyone stepped inside the city, they were immediately greeted by the rich scent of pill fragrance. If anyone were to ask what Treasure City sold the most, anyone could reply with the same answer—alchemy pills!

In addition to the pills produced by the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, the elders and disciples from other peaks also partnered with some shops to supply them additional pills.

Wealth was ranked first among the essentials in the world of cultivation. Take the Spirit Restoration Pills, for example. The profits could easily be tenfold.

In addition to pills, one could also find spiritual talismans, artifacts, and many more such items as long as they were related to cultivators. Out of every ten shops, there were at least five that thrived on selling pills.

“Where’s the shop representing us?” asked Liu Wuxie. Even though it wasn’t his first visit to Treasure City, he wasn’t as familiar with the city’s layout as Lan Yu.

“Just up ahead, the Old Century Profit,” Lan Yu said, pointing to a street before them. It wasn’t far away from them.

“Wuxie, if worse comes to worst, we can buy a shop to facilitate the sales of our spiritual talismans, along with other pills,” Fan Zhen suggested as he walked alongside Liu Wuxie.

“I also had the same idea. The Heavenly Dao Society is still in its infancy, and our resources are limited. We can only rely on partnerships and find a suitable shop once the talisman situation is resolved. You two can start looking for a suitable shop now. Don’t worry about the prices—I only want the best location,” said Liu Wuxie as he nodded.

The Heavenly Dao Society had just been established and lacked manpower and resources. Therefore, it could only seek partnerships with existing shops.

Things had changed because the pills had generated substantial profits, giving them room to expand.

“Senior Brother Liu, this is the layout of the Lesser Blade Association’s shops,” Bai Lin said as he handed a map to Liu Wuxie. He had stayed up all night to finish gathering all the information, but he didn’t have the chance to present it until now.

Liu Wuxie was surprised when he looked at the map. He didn’t expect the Lesser Blade Association to control hundreds of shops; the sheer amount of profit they raked daily could only be described as staggering.

“It looks like this Lesser Blade Association isn’t simple. There must be someone behind them,” Liu Wuxie muttered as he returned the map to Bai Lin and rubbed his nose. He realized that his enemies weren’t ordinary.

After all, it was tough for Qin Dao to develop the Lesser Blade Association to this scale, and he had to have someone from the upper echelons supporting him, like how Tian Xing supported the Heavenly Dao Society.

“I heard Elder Qing Mu is aligned with the Lesser Blade Association. The pills he refined privately were mostly sold through their channels, and the profits were split between him and the Lesser Blade Association,” Bai Lin shared. He had only learned it through Bi Gongyu, who frequently interacted with the Treasure Pill Peak’s upper echelons in the past few months.

Most alchemists would refine pills in private and sell them through various channels, which was equivalent to embezzlement.

“Qing Mu has targeted me multiple times, so let’s start with the Lesser Blade Association’s shops. We have to occupy the market swiftly and force them out of Treasure City,” Liu Wuxie said with a cold smirk.

The war between the Heavenly Dao Pavilion and the Lesser Blade Association had begun. One was destined to fall because there was no room for them both.

As for the Lan Ling Gang, they rarely got involved in disputes and quietly expanded their influence throughout the years. Considering Lan Ling’s powerful backing, the Lesser Blade Association dared not provoke them.