Chapter 1271 - Refining Divine Fruits

Elder Long's anxiety spiked the moment he saw the divine race. If Liu Wuxie had run into any other clan, he wouldn't have worried so much, but the divine race was different. They were humanity's bane; their divine energy could neutralize the true essence of human cultivators, leaving humans at a distinct disadvantage.

The divine race lived on a distant home planet and rarely interacted with humankind. Humans never ventured into their region because dozens of planets surrounding that homeland had already become dead worlds.

Zhuge Ming remained silent, though a flicker of concern crossed his eyes.

"Brat, I didn't expect you to be this clever, but it's too bad—you're about to die by our hands. Do you really think the Ancestral Tree can restrain us?" the leading divinekin said, pointing the Samsara Blade at Liu Wuxie.

In the desolate world, the Ancestral Tree swayed, fear and anger entwined. It raged that the divine race had extracted essence from its main trunk and fused it into the Samsara Blade. Its branches quivered, eager to spear these divinekin and drain their energy.

Liu Wuxie did not fully understand what the divine race was, or why the Ancestral Tree refused to let them exist. Since these divinekin dared to come, they had come prepared and clearly did not fear the Tree. Yet for all their calculations, they had not accounted for his combat strength.

"Come!" Liu Wuxie said. He had no patience for posturing. He would kill them quickly and refine them into Divine Fruit.

The battle erupted. The five divinekin closed in, their divine energy bursting out like a tidal wave and enveloping him. Against other humans, that wave would have neutralized the true essence on contact.

Liu Wuxie, however, remained unaffected and vanished, charging straight at them.

"You must survive," Elder Long prayed in silence. He had never worried so much for anyone. His fists clenched until his nails nearly pierced his palms, yet he felt no pain. If he could, he would have leaped into the fray to help Liu Wuxie kill the five divinekins.

Liu Wuxie moved with blinding speed, so fast the five divinekins could not react in time. He executed three of the Nine Heavenly Dragon Forms at once, knowing these divinekin were not like those he had encountered on the True Martial Continent. Their bloodlines were purer, their status higher; their divine energy roared like a sea while countless dragon fists manifested in midair and locked onto all five.

He activated Ghost Eye and fixed on the weakest divinekin. He would kill one first, refine the Divine Fruit, and use it to bolster his divine force. That way, his mythical art would surge in power.

"How strange. Their divine energy doesn't seem to suppress his true essence!" Zhuge Ming said, eyes brightening. He had expected the divine energy to neutralize Liu Wuxie's true essence, but reality exceeded his hopes.

Elder Long's tension loosened slightly. At the very least, Liu Wuxie could fight at full strength, and divine energy did not affect him.

The five divinekins were equally stunned. They had not expected such terrifying combat strength.

"Die!" Liu Wuxie roared. The dragon fists converged into a giant millstone and descended with brutal force, killing the weakest divinekin with a single blow.

Divine energy flooded into the desolate world, and a new Divine Fruit formed on the Ancestral Tree.

"Absorb and refine!" He did not hesitate. Divine force poured into his body, and the Nine Heavenly Dragon Forms flowed even more smoothly.

The Dragon-Grasping Hand was not ideal against the divine race; they were too cunning. More importantly, the Samsara Blade imposed a degree of suppression on him, weakening his true essence. An ordinary cultivator bearing the Ancestral Tree would lose seventy percent of their essence instantly. Liu Wuxie, however, possessed the desolate world; his true essence was nearly a hundred times that of ordinary cultivators. Even weakened, he remained stronger than most.

Nourished by divine energy, the Ancestral Tree began to grow rapidly and gradually dulled the Samsara Blade's effects on him.

"Why don't you taste the Great Five Elemental Mythical Art I've just cultivated?" Liu Wuxie murmured. With his divine force doubled, he no longer needed to hold back.

He formed seals, and a five-colored divine dragon coiled into existence above his head.

Elder Long staggered at the sight, nearly pitching forward.

"This brat actually cultivated the Great Five Elemental Mythical Art... No wonder!" Zhuge Ming blurted, then clamped his mouth shut. He had provided the last two elemental treasures Liu Wuxie lacked, but the speed of this cultivation was monstrous.

The Great Five Elemental Mythical Art descended, and the commotion drew every eye. The five-colored divine dragon was too conspicuous to ignore. Space trembled violently, and the ground sank. The five elements overlapped, condensed, divided, and reconstructed. Such was the profundity of the five elements, capable of forming an endless cycle that could destroy heaven and earth. Even in the Fleeting Cloud Celestial Realm, the Great Five Elemental Immortal Art ranked among the top five immortal arts.

The faces of the remaining four divinekin changed. They had severely underestimated Liu Wuxie.

With a thunderous rumble, the five-colored divine dragon merged into a five-elemental millstone. It pinned all four divinekin in place. Though they were first-level Primal Origin Realm experts, they could not muster the slightest resistance. Yet the art carried a cost: it instantly drained eighty percent of Liu Wuxie's true essence.

"Use the secret technique!" the leading divinekin shouted.

Strange scripts spilled from his mouth, and a mysterious portal formed in the air. They darted toward it, desperate to flee.

"Where do you think you're going?" Liu Wuxie roared. Divinekin were Divine Fruit—he would not let them escape. If he killed them, the Great Five Elemental Mythical Art would strengthen, and its exhaustion would lessen with each use. He lacked divine force for now and could only compensate with true essence.

He unleashed the Great Frost Mythical Art. Frost sealed the portal in an instant, cutting off their escape. Horror seized the divinekins; he unraveled their secret technique with a gesture.

"Die!" Liu Wuxie cast the Dragon-Grasping Hand. A dragon claw materialized in the blink of an eye and seized a divinekin.

"Refine!" Murderous intent reddened his eyes. The enmity between him and the divine race had grown beyond words. They would not rest until he was dead, even if they mobilized their entire race, and he would never find peace while they existed.

One divinekin failed to dodge, and Liu Wuxie captured and immobilized him. His divine energy proved futile against Liu Wuxie. The Ancestral Tree's branches bored into his body, and in an instant, he became a pile of skin. Essence and divine energy flowed into the Tree, transforming it into a new Divine Fruit.

"H-He refined a divinekin?" Several cultivators who had only just turned their attention to Liu Wuxie recoiled in horror. They did not know who he was, but they could feel his terrifying presence.

Even Elder Long had not expected such ferocity, nor that Liu Wuxie could ignore the divine race's counter to humanity.

The Divine Fruit fell from the Ancestral Tree and converted into divine force, pouring into the desolate world. Nourished thus, the five-colored millstone grew even larger and tightened its hold on the remaining three divinekins.

"Brat, you dare refine our kind? You're courting death!" the three survivors roared. They knew too well that the Ancestral Tree was their nemesis; refined, they would become Divine Fruits that only strengthened Liu Wuxie.

"The divine race? Doesn't look so impressive after all," Liu Wuxie shouted, fighting spirit surging. "Your race was only born earlier than humans. One day, I'll kill my way to your planet and slaughter every last one of you."

If he could harvest enough divine force, he might even wield immortal arts. For now, he lacked the divine force to sustain them, but a trove of Divine Fruit could change that. He might master an immortal art before reaching the celestial realm, and with it in hand, he would be invincible across the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain.

He continued to execute the Dragon-Grasping Hand and reached for the third divinekin. The five-colored millstone had already pinned the remaining divinekin, and the Great Frost Mythical Art sealed their escape. The Ancestral Tree struck again; roots burrowed into the third divinekin, and a new Divine Fruit appeared.

Elder Long's eyelids twitched. He did not know what Liu Wuxie ultimately planned, but he sensed the man's aura rise with every divinekin slain. Though Liu Wuxie had not yet broken through, his combat strength soared at an unbelievable speed. Such were the benefits of divine force. He circulated the Panwu Divine Art to tap his body's potential and channeled the True Dragon Physique to reinforce his frame. Divine force, true essence, physique, the star nodes in his body, and his soul sea—all climbed at a breathtaking pace.

The last two divinekin could not resist. The leader, wielding the Samsara Blade, bared his teeth and hacked wildly, yet could not break free. The Ancestral Tree could not approach him either; the secret clearly lay within the Samsara Blade.

Liu Wuxie's curiosity deepened. He would have to kill that divinekin, strip his memories, and refine the Samsara Blade to uncover its secret.

He executed the Dragon-Grasping Hand again. Two colossal dragon claws seized the final two divinekins. Only then did the five-colored millstone begin to dissipate. One minute—already his limit. If he pushed farther, he might exhaust all his true essence. He had consumed all the Pure Yang Pills he had refined and now could only replenish himself with astral stones. The three rakshasas had yielded nothing helpful; they did not cultivate with astral stones, so their possessions meant little to him.

"I curse that you'll die a wretched death!" the captured divinekin spat, straining against his grip.

Liu Wuxie did not hesitate. He stripped the Samsara Blade from the leader. It hit the ground with a clang, and with a wave, he summoned it to his palm. His divine sense delved into it, searching for answers.

"This is interesting! It contains a thread of samsara power. Don't tell me the divine race has someone who has comprehended the Great Samsara Mythical Art?"

Among the three thousand dao techniques, the Great Samsara Mythical Art ranked at the forefront. Mastered to the limit, it could let one traverse the past and future, and even revive the dead.