Chapter 453 - Attempting A Breakthrough

"There are two corpses here!" The five became alert when they saw two rotten corpses in a corner.

"They're the miners who died," Liu Wuxie said calmly. With a point of his finger, a flicker of flame flew out and ignited the two corpses, reducing them to ashes.

The mining tools they had used to mine the Blood Abyssal Stones were still on the ground.

"Liu Wuxie, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and mine!" The five split into two groups, with Liu Wuxie and Gu Yu standing together while the other three stood together, looking at them with a hint of mockery in their eyes.

"What did Xiao Yanlong promise you three?" Liu Wuxie didn't want to kill them unless necessary. He would only kill them if they didn't know when to give up.

"He promised to restore our freedom and help us escape after killing you," the man in the middle said as the three blocked the exit. A thick stone wall behind Liu Wuxie made it impossible to escape.

"You trust those from the Wild Lion Gate?" Liu Wuxie pitied them. Xiao Yanlong had made promises he had no intention of keeping. Even if they succeeded in killing him, their chances of regaining freedom were slim.

"We have to try, no matter how small the chance!" The trio knew the odds of restoring their freedom were slim, even if they killed Liu Wuxie, but they were willing to try even if the chance was one in ten thousand.

"Since that's the case, make your move!" Liu Wuxie couldn't be bothered to waste more words because killing them would make the next steps easier. He believed he could find a way out by relying on Ghost Eye.

The Heretic Blade appeared in Liu Wuxie's hand, and he passed the ancient sword to Gu Yu. The three weren't weak and had to be cautious. But they had a clear advantage with weapons in such a confined space.

"H-How do you still have your weapons?" The trio was dumbfounded. Everyone’s interspatial rings were confiscated, including Liu Wuxie and Gu Yu. So, how did he sneak a weapon in? Not to mention, the weapons weren't hidden in his clothes.

Everyone was thoroughly searched before coming in, making it impossible for them to hide any interspatial rings on them.

"How can frogs in a well know the vastness of the moon?" Liu Wuxie's voice carried a hint of mockery. These people were just frogs in a well and could only see a tiny piece of the sky, unaware of the world's vastness.

"Let's kill and take their weapons!" The trio would have better chances of escaping if they had weapons on them. The tools left behind on the ground could only be used for mining, while weapons were sharp and could tear through the stone walls to create an escape passage.

The Wild Lion Gate had confiscated their interspatial rings and weapons to prevent them from escaping.

Liu Wuxie and Gu Yu had to end the battle quickly to prevent alerting the Wild Lion Gate. Liu Wuxie swung down the Heretic Blade, performing the first two forms of the Fatality Blade Art, which were suited for a confined space battle.

The three were only in the second level of the Heavenly Phase Realm, and they could easily deal with cultivators in the Heavenly Dipper Realm. But their fate was sealed when they faced Liu Wuxie.

Gu Yu guarded the exit to prevent them from escaping while Liu Wuxie attacked.

"Die!" The Heretic Blade released a chilling aura, and the trio was destined to lose without any weapons to defend themselves. After all, they could only fight bare-handed and couldn't utilize their movement technique in this confined space.

Liu Wuxie easily decapitated one man's head with his blood splashing on the surrounding walls. The other two were terrified and fled towards the exit. They wanted to leave this place and inform the Wild Lion Gate that Liu Wuxie and Gu Yu had sneaked weapons into the mines, hoping to use the Wild Lion Gate to get rid of them.

"Where do you think you're going?" Gu Yu had been waiting for this moment and unleashed his Sky Dragon's bloodline when they retreated, releasing a dragon's roar from the ancient sword.

Liu Wuxie and Gu Yu were lucky to be underground, making it difficult for their two attackers to flee outside. A strong force repelled the two men as they tried to exit the mine, and Gu Yu took advantage of this situation to unleash his attack.

Blood sprayed from their necks as their blood vessels were severed.

After killing the two, Liu Wuxie didn't refine their corpses because they would have to give the Wild Lion Gate an explanation tomorrow when they came, and they couldn't just brush it off by saying that the three escaped.

Liu Wuxie tossed the three corpses aside and utilized Ghost Eye to scan one area. His divine sense moved like mercury and scanned the surroundings.

"So many Blood Abyssal Stones!" Liu Wuxie saw many Blood Abyssal Stones roughly fifty meters away from them.

Most places only had one or two stones, and Liu Wuxie's Ghost Eye continued to penetrate further, and he could see as far as a thousand meters away. But the number of Blood Abyssal Stones was less than everyone imagined.

He only saw about thirty Blood Abyssal Stones, and the situation was the same in the other two areas.

"On our right side, we're only thirty meters from the sea. We can escape through this path if we dig a tunnel from here." Liu Wuxie withdrew the Ghost Eye and shared his findings with Gu Yu.

Thirty meters was a decent distance; they could dig through in half a day if they used their weapons. But Liu Wuxie didn't plan on doing that because the path to the sea didn't have any Blood Abyssal Stones, and they couldn't possibly leave empty-handed after they finally reached the underground mine.

If they could excavate a portion of Blood Abyssal Stones, this would ensure their breakthrough into the Heavenly Phase Realm.

"Big Brother Liu, what should we do next? I'll listen to you!" Gu Yu expressed his support for Liu Wuxie's decisions.

"Our odds of winning are low if we escape into the sea. To make it out alive, we must reach the Heavenly Phase Realm. There are a few Blood Abyssal Stones ahead, and we can use them to make a breakthrough to the Heavenly Phase Realm if we can get to them," Liu Wuxie shared his thoughts after a brief pondering.

The sea was dangerous; they would be hunted down if sea demons discovered them. On the contrary, it was safer to stay in the mine.

Liu Wuxie didn't tell Gu Yu that his combat strength would increase a hundredfold once he reached the Heavenly Phase Realm. He would have a means of escaping even if he faced someone in the low levels of the Astral River Realm. Even if he couldn't win, escaping wouldn’t be a problem.

"Okay!" Gu Yu nodded in excitement. He had been stuck in the pinnacle of the Heavenly Dipper Realm for months now, lacking an opportunity to make a breakthrough.

The Blood Abyssal Stones contained extremely pure energy, and he couldn't bear to absorb the two Liu Wuxie had given him.

After all, they hadn't had a moment of peace since they had stepped onto the Blood Sea Abyssal Island, and they couldn't afford any mistakes when making a breakthrough.

Mining the Blood Absysal Stones using Ghost Eye was relatively easy. They dug for about five meters and unearthed three Blood Abyssal Stones. Liu Wuxie now had seven stones.

"Gu Yu, you watch out for me while I try to reach the Heavenly Phase Realm in one night!" Time was pressing, especially after knowing Xiao Yanlong wouldn't give up such an excellent opportunity to kill him. With the three slaves dead, Xiao Yanlong might send more people over, and they might be in the high level of the Heavenly Phase Realm next time.

"Okay!" Gu Yu agreed without any hesitation.

For safety purposes, Liu Wuxie even set up a spiritual array to prevent a commotion during his breakthrough, isolating him from the outside world.

The Desolate Devouring Art circulated as Liu Wuxie grabbed onto the Blood Abyssal Stones in each hand. Seven Blood Abyssal Stones were equivalent to seven high-grade spirit stones containing terrifying power.

Liu Wuxie had just reached the pinnacle of the Heavenly Dipper Realm five days ago, but he had no choice but to try and force another breakthrough. Then again, he was fortunate that his foundation was deep enough, and this breakthrough would only affect it a little.

The energy in Blood Abyssal Stones was extremely pure, but Liu Wuxie relied on his powerful physique to withstand it.

Even an ordinary expert in the Heavenly Phase Realm didn't dare to absorb the energy from the Blood Abyssal Stones in this manner. However, Gu Yu could also do the same due to his Sky Dragon's bloodline, which gave him a more powerful physique than ordinary people.

As the energy was continuously extracted from the Blood Abyssal Stones, they were consumed by the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron. When the first Blood Abyssal Stone was reduced to ashes, it was transformed into tens of thousands of spiritual liquid droplets.

Liu Wuxie took a deep breath and absorbed all the spiritual liquid into the desolate world within his dantian.

The desolate world began to rumble under the influx of spiritual liquid. The energy contained in a Blood Abyssal Stone was enough to overwhelm a cultivator in the pinnacle Heavenly Dipper Realm and blow them apart, which meant Liu Wuxie was putting his life at risk.

If he succeeded, he would step into the Heavenly Phase Realm, and both would die if he failed. However, Liu Wuxie had no choice but to take the risk to survive.

As the Desolate Devouring Art circulated, the spiritual liquid surged through the desolate world like wild beasts on a rampage. This commotion began to shake Liu Wuxie's bottleneck. The past few days had been intense; confined to the concentration camp, Liu Wuxie had dedicated himself to understanding the Heavenly Phase Realm, which proved invaluable.

If he hadn't spent the past four days comprehending the Heavenly Phase Realm, he couldn't have made a breakthrough even if he refined more Blood Abyssal Stones.

The Heavenly Dao Book unfurled to absorb more heaven and earth laws, which were converted into sequence recorded on it. The mysterious tree in the desolate world also grew rapidly, absorbing some of the Blood Abyssal Stone's energy.

The mysterious tree became lush with roots stretching out and passing through the stone walls to extract energy.

Time passed quickly, and Liu Wuxie only had a little time left. The Wild Lion Gate would send people over tomorrow to collect Blood Abyssal Stones, and they would die if they couldn't submit any. He increased the speed of extracting energy from the Blood Abyssal Stone through the Desolate Devouring Art.

Outside, a bizarre sight unfolded as spiritual energy coalesced into a dense cloud above the mine. The roots of the mysterious tree extended through space, drawing energy from the cloud. This strange phenomenon led to widespread speculation; many wondered if a powerful treasure had surfaced in the mine.

The recent earthquake had drastically reshaped the mine's landscape. New mining tunnels had appeared, while some were buried. With the Wild Lion Gate claiming the area previously held by the Ding Feng Hall, whoever occupied these new tunnels first gained control.

The Ding Feng Hall and the Wolf Fang Regiment had both suffered severe losses, with several mining caves now submerged under seawater and overrun by sea demons. To continue their pursuit of Blood Abyssal Stones, they would have to reclaim territory from the Wild Lion Gate.

A large-scale battle had occurred between the three major forces in just one day. This time, the battle's scale was larger than the previous ones, and even Kuang Shi was involved.

The Wolf Fang Regiment was known for its ferocity. Their commander led the regiment to plunder but was repelled by Kuang Shi.

The Ding Feng Hall remained silent because they were waiting for the right moment.

Liu Wuxie was still stuck in the pinnacle Heavenly Dipper Realm, and it was already late at night. Time would run out if he still didn't make a breakthrough, and the anxiety made cold sweat roll down his forehead.