Chapter 1263 - Danger

Liu Wuxie continued to absorb at a steady pace. He understood the black figure could not let anyone discover that he had brought an outsider into the lesser realm; if word leaked, the consequences would be severe, and he could not be sure Liu Wuxie would leave alive.

After roughly ten minutes of absorption, he stopped. He had funneled a vast amount of pure yang energy into the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, where Pure Yang Pills condensed one by one.

Normally, only Void Realm experts could refine such pills, yet he accomplished it at the Origin Conversion Realm. In quality, his Pure Yang Pills surpassed the Heavenly Dragon Sect's, each containing a wisp of an immortal rune. Taken daily, they could gradually strengthen the spirituality within his body.

Beside the bed, the black figure kept silent watch.

Just then, a soft murmur slipped from the woman's lips.

"Xiu, you're finally awake!" he cried, clutching her hands as tears poured down his face.

"Why are you crying when you're already a grown man?" she chided gently, wiping his tears even as her own eyes grew wet.

Relief loosened the tightness in Liu Wuxie's chest at the sight of her waking up. The night had been perilously close. He rose, ready to leave; dawn was nearly upon them.

"Xiu, you've just regained consciousness. Rest while I handle some matters. I'll be back shortly," the black figure said, stepping out, with Liu Wuxie following from the house.

"I know you didn't help for free. What do you want? As long as it isn't excessive, I'll agree," he asked, gratitude bright in his gaze. Without Liu Wuxie, death would have parted him and his wife.

"I need five elemental treasures—preferably fire and earth," Liu Wuxie said plainly. Treasures were countless; only those that suited him mattered. He had already reached the third-level Origin Conversion Realm and felt no rush to climb higher. Ordinary Primal Origin Realm cultivators no longer threatened him.

What he needed urgently was comprehension of the Great Five Elemental Mythical Art. The Myriad Race Ceremony loomed over Han Feizi's life and death as well as over his family; he had to establish the interstellar teleportation array no matter what.

"I don't have any," the black figure admitted with a frown. "But since you treated my wife, I'll find them and deliver them to you by tomorrow at the latest."

"Send me out," Liu Wuxie said. He wasn't surprised. A cultivator at the Quasi-Heaven Gaze Realm had no use for such things; common treasures could no longer advance his cultivation. Only the profundities of heaven and earth mattered to such experts.

The black figure nodded. Retracing their route and donning the hood again, they returned to the courtyard an hour later.

Old Blindie and He Yingwu finally exhaled when Liu Wuxie stepped through the door.

"It's good that you're fine!" They had been keeping vigil all night on a knife's edge. If he hadn't returned by dawn, they truly would have gone to the eastern city wall to collect his corpse.

𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"Wuxie, he didn't give you any treasures for your help?" He Yingwu asked, noticing the absence of any spoils. By past pattern, Liu Wuxie should already be refining the gains.

"Forget last night and tell no one," Liu Wuxie said with a wave. The man belonged to the upper echelons of the Heavenly Dragon Sect and held an esteemed position.

He had considered asking him to help establish the interstellar teleportation array, but abandoned the idea. The black figure had clearly withdrawn from worldly affairs and wouldn't meddle more than necessary.

Even if he agreed, he would consult the sect master, and the answer could very well simply end up mirroring Elder Long's answer. If Liu Wuxie wanted the Heavenly Dragon Sect to build the array, he needed to show value worthy of the effort. Talent alone wasn't enough; the sect had no shortage of prodigies.

At dawn, Old Blindie cultivated his soul energy, Liu Wuxie delved into the Great Five Elemental Mythical Art, and He Yingwu patrolled the grounds.

As night approached, Liu Wuxie's eyes snapped open. After tonight, he could close the courtyard once he obtained the last two treasures. What followed might spiral beyond his control.

Before full dark, the black figure arrived as he had promised. He did not enter the main hall; he waited in the courtyard until Liu Wuxie came out to meet him.

"Here's what you asked for," he said, tossing an interspatial pouch. Inside lay a strange stone, and laws wrapped a fireball.

"Thank you, senior!" Joy flashed across Liu Wuxie's face. With these, he had finally gathered all five elemental treasures.

"My wife has recovered. I'll spare the thanks. Farewell," the black figure said, vanishing—his way of telling Liu Wuxie to forget what they had shared.

Liu Wuxie watched him go and returned to the main hall, but he didn't rush to refine the two treasures. Night deepened, and cold rolled across the courtyard in waves. He Yingwu shivered at the sudden drop in temperature.

Liu Wuxie narrowed his eyes. An ill omen rose.

"An expert has come," Old Blindie said.

Liu Wuxie nodded. The newcomer's presence eclipsed even last night's mysterious visitor. Blessing or calamity, they could no longer hide.

A cold breeze swept through. A black figure appeared in the courtyard—strange, not quite human.

"An avatar projection," Liu Wuxie murmured. The visitor had not come in person.

The blurred-faced figure took a step and appeared in the main hall. His gaze swept the room and fixed on Old Blindie.

"What do you want, coming so late at night?" Old Blindie asked, drawing a long breath to steady himself. This aura belonged unmistakably to the Heaven Gaze Realm. Even as a projection, he was far stronger than last night's guest.

"What pitiful trickery," the figure sneered, striking with his palm.

The sudden attack left no space for words. A suffocating oppression burst across the courtyard before Liu Wuxie could move to help.

"How dare you!" Old Blindie roared and charged. However, the gulf was absolute. How could someone at the Void Realm match an expert at the Heaven Gaze Realm?

Liu Wuxie refused to wait for death. He summoned the Heretic Blade and unleashed the Heaven-Severing Strike. Blade intent surged like a tidal wave, cleaving toward the intruder. With his cultivation at the third-level Origin Conversion Realm, he wielded the strike without fear of the backlash.

"It's you." The figure's head snapped toward him. The Heaven-Severing Strike exposed Liu Wuxie's identity. The technique had already spread through the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain like wildfire—no mythical art, yet more devastating than many. News leaked daily from the Heavenly Dragon Sect; countless forces knew of the Heaven-Severing Strike.

"You know me?!" Liu Wuxie blurted, startled by the recognition, even more so by the murderous intent that spiked. The intruder abandoned Old Blindie and turned his killing intent on him.

The Heaven-Severing Strike shattered on impact, offering no resistance. For the first time, someone crushed it head-on.

This mysterious courtyard had always been a gamble, but tonight spiraled beyond anything Liu Wuxie expected. He didn't even know why the enemy attacked without a word.

The palm kept falling and inching toward him.

Old Blindie's anxiety spiked. The sealed hall trapped He Yingwu outside in the courtyard, and he couldn't enter. Seals locked the main hall into a closed space.

Liu Wuxie's eyes went flat. He had weighed countless contingencies; even igniting his Immortal Emperor's blood left little chance to flee. Before absolute strength, every option turned futile. He had come this far on the Desolate Devouring Art and an Immortal Emperor's experience, but neither would stop this strike.

As the palm descended, he lowered the Heretic Blade; there was no chance to launch another technique. He had no time to execute the Nine Heavenly Dragon Forms, the Dragon-Grasping Hand, the Heavenly Dragon Seal, or the Earth-Binding Chains.

The figure loomed like a primordial deity with murderous intent surging within them. Spiritual arrays shattered beneath his Heaven Gaze Realm aura, and the disturbance rippled outward. Experts from the Earth Immortal Realm across the city sensed the shift in laws and extended their divine senses.

"Brat, you've danced long enough. You can die now," the figure said, accelerating. The oppression made Liu Wuxie's bones creak; his body neared rupture.

Dragon scales crawled across his skin and wrapped him, but the defense failed to hold. Blood jetted from his pores like fountains, bathing him in red.

Old Blindie's eyes went bloodshot. He struck again and again but couldn't touch even the hem of the figure's robe. Each attempt hurled him away, blood spraying, until he crashed into a corner of the hall.

"I don't care who you are," Liu Wuxie roared. "If I live through tonight, I'll rip your head off and hang it at the highest point of Indigo Bamboo Star for all to see!"

"You won't get the chance," the man said flatly, voice devoid of feeling, as if crushing an ant. In the Astral Domain, the Heaven Gaze Realm stood atop the pyramid; in the absence of Immortal Realm beings, they were invincible. For such an expert to come and kill Liu Wuxie was rare, but here he was.

The colossal palm fell. Dragon scales on Liu Wuxie's arm burst apart, leaving it a mangled ruin.

Just as his body was about to explode, a white palm appeared from nowhere and met the descending strike. Their clash resolved Liu Wuxie's crisis in an instant, and the shockwave blasted outward, leveling the entire hall.