Chapter 949 - Seventh-Level True Profound Realm

The gate trembled violently when struck, and the second wave of force followed immediately.

As another deafening impact rang out, the gate shook even harder, cracks forming across its surface.

"Again!" Liu Wuxie growled.

His breakthrough was more challenging than that of ordinary cultivators.

The Desolate Devouring Art was one reason, but he had also compressed his true essence, making its density unlike any other. His unique constitution added further challenges to his breakthrough, not to mention that the desolate world could contain thousands of times more true essence than others.

The Autumn Blossom Fruit's energy still lingered in his body, and he had no intention of consuming the remaining two. He could refine them into pills to help those around him.

Waves of true essence crashed against the gate repeatedly. After five attempts, the gate finally shattered.

𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The gate dissolved into countless fragmented laws, merging with the desolate world and allowing it to undergo another transformation. This time, the desolate world's crystalline wall grew stronger than before.

The appearance of the crystalline wall had rendered Liu Wuxie's dantian indestructible, impervious even to cultivators at the Earth Profound Realm.

With the reinforcement of the ancient glyphs, the desolate world was slowly evolving into a self-sustaining world.

Countless spirit stones shattered and were devoured by the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, which converted them into true essence that flowed into his body.

Days passed, and Liu Wuxie still needed time to temper his cultivation after making a breakthrough.

Simultaneously, word of Liu Wuxie obtaining the four treasures spread like wildfire across the world. This gave rise to a peculiar phenomenon in which cultivators formed parties to hunt Liu Wuxie.

After all, whoever succeeded would claim the treasures for themselves.

Liu Wuxie had already refined the heavenly tree's essence, and the Molten Flame Stone was notoriously unstable. But the Autumn Blossom Fruits and Winter Crystal Leaf were still treasures worth fighting for.

Moreover, it was unlikely that Liu Wuxie would consume all five fruits himself, as the effects would weaken with each additional fruit he ate. As a result, he still would have some Autumn Blossom Fruits in his possession.

Words continued to spread as more cultivators learned of the opportunity. That was especially true for disciples from the Heavenly Spirit Celestial Academy, whose resentment grew upon hearing the news.

Now that Liu Wuxie had monopolized the treasures for himself, it was only a matter of time before he surpassed the veteran disciples. No one could be immune to jealousy.

Meanwhile, Fiery continued its mission to misdirect the assassins. After consuming the Autumn Blossom Fruit, its aura increased. It was evolving in the direction of a spiritual beast, moving twice as fast as before.

After ten-odd days of pursuit, doubt and suspicion began to gnaw at the four assassins.

"We've been chasing for over ten days now. Do you think Liu Wuxie can maintain this level of true essence for so long?" one assassin asked. They had already severely depleted their true essence.

And yet, the aura they were chasing after showed no sign of weakening and was growing stronger, if anything, which made no sense to them.

"Don't forget he has the Autumn Blossom Fruits. Although he can't make consecutive breakthroughs with them, he could use them to replenish his true essence," said another assassin.

If Liu Wuxie kept consuming the Autumn Blossom Fruits, it would make sense why he could last so long. He could even potentially maintain his true essence for an entire month.

"Damn it! Why did he get to monopolize the treasures? Let's hurry up! Hopefully, there are still some left, and we can split the treasures evenly among us," said another. They had already agreed on this long ago, one treasure for each.

Even if Liu Wuxie had refined the heavenly tree's essence, they had ways of extracting it from him.

The chase continued, and Fiery unleashed a shockwave and stepped into the ranks of a spiritual beast.

During the previous pursuit with the Scarlet Dragon Cult, Fiery had undergone evolution once to save Liu Wuxie. Although it had appeared to be a spiritual beast, it could only be considered a quasi-spiritual beast due to its lack of spirituality.

This time, the evolution was complete as flames ignited on all four hooves, and Fiery rode the fire into the air.

Fiery had reached the level of a pinnacle first-grade spiritual beast, comparable to the high levels of the Spirit Profound Realm for human cultivators. The cultivators at the low levels of the Spirit Profound Realm were no match for it.

Moreover, only second-grade spiritual beasts possessed the ability to fly, aside from avian demonic beasts by conventional standards. Yet here was Fiery, already able to fly by relying on the flames beneath its hooves.

This was the ability of divine beasts. Under the heat, the surrounding space began to warp, exhibiting the terror of the True Samadhi Fire.

Lightning arcs also flashed on Fiery's horn.

Though Fiery bore a resemblance to a qilin, the solitary horn atop its head hinted at something deeper. It was unlikely to be a mere mutation; rather, it seemed to be a reversion to its ancestral form—how the qilins of ancient times were once depicted.

The universe had undergone significant changes, and all races had to adapt to the new environment. Fiery's current appearance was that of a qilin from ancient times when the human race had not yet existed.

Divine beasts roamed before mankind, and the Qilin Clan was on par with the Dragon Clan.

After the birth of the universe, life had unfolded in a sequence: first the Witcher Clan, then the Divine Race, followed by the Dragon Clan, the Qilin Clan, the Phoenix Clan, and other divine beasts—long before the emergence of the human race.

Liu Wuxie was oblivious to Fiery's transformation because he was still submerged in his world.

Far off in the distance, the four assassins halted, their eyes fixed on the sky.

"Isn't that the divine beast Qilin that follows Liu Wuxie?" ane asked, his brows furrowed before realization dawned upon them.

"We've been duped! Liu Wuxie must have left a strand of his aura on the qilin to misdirect us. We've wasted half a month chasing the wrong target!" The assassins finally came to their senses.

"Damn it! He must've been refining the treasures while we chased the qilin!"

The assassins were no fools, and it didn't take long before they pieced together Liu Wuxie's scheme.

"What now? Should we turn back or continue chasing the qilin?" asked another.

They had chased after the qilin for half a month, and it took the same time to turn back. By then, Liu Wuxie would be done refining the treasures.

"It's too late to go back now. We can capture the qilin first. The value of a qilin is no less than the four treasures," said the group leader after a brief pause, and no one objected.

"After it!"

Fiery had just made a breakthrough, and the four assassins launched themselves after it, rapidly closing the distance.

The aura of a divine beast was like a lamp in the darkness. It could be sensed even from a few hundred miles away. If they could capture it, their mission would already be worthwhile. And if they managed to slay Liu Wuxie as well, it would be the perfect ending to their hunt.

Fiery snarled at the approaching four before dropping from the sky to wait for them.

The distance of ten thousand meters was closed in the blink of an eye, and an outburst of searing flames erupted from Fiery before the assassins could get close.

"What terrifying flames!" The four assassins were shocked. They didn't expect the flames released by Fiery to reach such purity.

After reaching the level of a spiritual beast, Fiery's strength had multiplied more than tenfold.

None of them had hopes of defeating it in a one-on-one combat. They didn't even hesitate and swiftly unleashed coordinated attacks from four directions.

Their teamwork was flawless, like their assault on Liu Wuxie in Heaven-Earth City.

As a spiritual beast, Fiery only knew simple fighting techniques, putting it at a clear disadvantage against dao techniques.

The four assassins' swords were like venomous vipers, appearing behind Fiery and slicing through the flame to create a hole.

When the sword aura tore apart Fiery's defenses, it left behind a wound.

Blood gushed out from the wound as Fiery howled in pain, releasing another outburst of flames. The flames pushed the four assassins back, forcing them to attack with sword aura from a distance.

"Set up a formation and wear it down!" barked the leader as the four assassins moved to encircle Fiery, trapping it within them. After all, an ordinary sword aura couldn't inflict any serious injury to Fiery.

They planned to wear it down before delivering the killing blow.

However, Fiery instantly saw through their scheme with its high intelligence. It didn't hesitate to turn and bolted.

It had taken half a month to get this far, and the return trip to regroup with Liu Wuxie would take another half a month.

That was perfect since Liu Wuxie would likely have refined all the treasures by then. With a boost in his strength, it wouldn't be an issue for him to get rid of the four assassins.

"Don't let it escape!" one of the assassins yelled. Fiery had escaped their encirclement before they could complete their formation.

Though Fiery was no match for the four assassins, they couldn't prevent it from escaping.

Meanwhile, Liu Wuxie had reached the seventh level of True Profound Realm, relying on the second Autumn Blossom Fruit.

"Damn it!" Liu Wuxie received feedback from the imprint he left on Fiery that it was injured.

"Damn it! Damn it!" Liu Wuxie gauged from the imprint that Fiery was half a month away from him, and it was too far for him to help.

"Fiery, you have to hold on!" Liu Wuxie believed in Fiery. Before they had split up, he had reminded it to avoid prolonged fights and keep running.

Aside from the Autumn Blossom Fruit, Fiery had plenty of spiritual fruits to sustain it for an entire month. When it ran, it was nearly impossible for any Spirit Profound Realm cultivator to kill it.

"Let's start refining the Winter Crystal Leaf," Liu Wuxie muttered. Even after reaching the seventh-level True Profound Realm, he still wouldn't stand a chance against the four assassins. His only hope was to keep advancing and reach the pinnacle of the True Profound Realm.

The Winter Crystal Leaf appeared in Liu Wuxie's hand, causing the cave's temperature to plummet and covering the surroundings with ice.

He summoned the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron and threw the Winter Crystal Leaf in it.

If he tried refining the Winter Crystal Leaf's energy by himself, it would take at least a month. This was why he had no choice but to rely on the cauldron to speed up the process.