Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 278 - First Strand of Dragon Aura

Liu Wuxie nodded and vanished into the Dragon Battlefield. The moment he stepped in, an ancient and desolate aura swept toward him, and it felt like he had returned to the ancient battlefield.

“Let’s hope that this year won’t be a disappointment!” Song Junbao smiled and closed his eyes.

The ten envoys sat on the monuments to wait for seven days to pass.

Fan Zhen and others weren’t idle either, as they had seven days to build an arena to determine the top hundred ranks.

After entering the Dragon Battlefield, Liu Wuxie wasn’t in a hurry because he had seven days. He spent some time to familiarize himself with the surroundings. Everyone had the map to the Dragon Battlefield, and the appearance of the dragon aura was random. No one knew when the dragon aura would appear because it was by luck.

The five thousand participants had disappeared, some forming groups while some moved alone. The few women chose to form a group with Mo Chong and others.

After walking for roughly a few hundred meters, demonic flame gushed out from the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, wanting to break free.

Liu Wuxie had no choice but to suppress the cauldron forcibly because he knew it would be unfavorable for him to expose the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron’s secret in the presence of the ten envoys.

After all, it would become troublesome if they disregarded their status and wanted to seize the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron. Based on his current strength, he couldn\'t face cultivators in the Heavenly Dipper Realm, and it was better to be cautious.

The demonic flame wouldn’t surge for no reason. It must’ve detected something, but it was up to him to verify whether it was dragon aura.

The Dragon Battlefield was a plain with some mountains decorating this place, and forests were rare. Whenever a dragon aura appeared, it would be visible from tens of thousands of meters away.

Following the indication of the demonic flame, Liu Wuxie performed the Seven Dipper Steps, moving towards the southwest.

A small hill appeared before him, covered with rocks. A battle must have occurred there a decade ago, which is why the traces of the battle still existed even after so many years.

A thousand meters away from Liu Wuxie, several groups of people were searching for something. Dragon auras would appear once every decade, and dragon auras would appear daily from that day onwards.

On the seventh day, the dragon auras would erupt massively before disappearing completely on the eighth day. After the eighth day, the subsequent appearance of the dragon auras would be a decade away.

There weren’t many dragon auras a few days ago, and there would only be over a hundred strands at most.

“It should be here!” Liu Wuxie stopped after the demonic flame became increasingly restless. This meant that there was something hidden beneath.

After executing Ghost Eye, Liu Wuxie’s vision pierced through the ground and saw a dense aura beneath the earth.

“There’s dragon aura!” Others might have been uncertain, but Liu Wuxie had many interactions with the divine dragon clan. Thus, he was familiar with dragon aura. But the dragon aura he saw underground was feeble and almost undetectable.

After all, the divine dragon was dead for so long, and the dragon aura was running out.

As time passed, a strand of golden aura flew out from the ground roughly an hour later. The moment the golden aura appeared, it hovered about ten meters off the ground and was visible even from far away.

“Dragon aura!” An exclamation sounded as people quickly gathered over it, wanting to seize it.

Liu Wuxie stood beneath the dragon aura and didn’t retrieve it. Instead, he frowned, “What weak dragon aura.”

The dragon aura hovering in the air was too faint, and Liu Wuxie wasn’t hurrying to collect it. But it was better than nothing. He could only go for quantity since he couldn’t hope for quality. If one strand wouldn’t do, then ten, hundred, or even a thousand strands could compensate for the quality.

Liu Wuxie’s true essence manifested in a hand that reached for the dragon aura. When he tried to collect it, the dragon aura struggled mid-air, unwilling to be restricted. Even after the divine dragon had been dead for so many years, the dragon aura still contained a strand of the divine dragon’s will.

“Come!” Liu Wuxie grabbed the dragon aura and absorbed it into his body. Shortly after, a golden halo appeared behind him, signifying that he obtained one strand of dragon aura.

Back then, Fan Zhen had obtained two strands of dragon aura, but others had seized one before he could refine them both.

As flames blazed on the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, the dragon aura began to dissolve into a liquid droplet the size of a sesame seed, leaving Liu Wuxie speechless. Refining a strand of dragon aura in less than a breath\'s time was a feat achievable only by Liu Wuxie.

The golden halo was still behind him and didn’t disappear. This was because it would take half a month to fuse the dragon aura into the body completely.

As Liu Wuxie refined the dragon aura, ten-odd people arrived and surrounded him.

“Brat, hand over the dragon aura!” There were thirteen people, with the strongest one being the Quasi-True Core Realm expert. These people were all representatives of low-grade nations.

The experts had long entered the depths of the Dragon Battlefield, where the probability of encountering dragon aura was higher.

Liu Wuxie was stunned by their audacity. Let’s not mention that he had already refined the dragon aura, but he wouldn’t hand it over even if he hadn’t refined it. The more dragon auras he collected, the more benefits there would be. He could reach the True Core Realm if he collected enough dragon auras.

The ten envoys opened their eyes and looked in Liu Wuxie’s direction. It was weird that the dragon aura had appeared in the outer region so quickly.

“This is weird. This brat waited here for an hour as though he had expected it. Did he know that the dragon aura would appear there?” The Indigo Cloud Gate’s Song Junbao was surprised. Everyone relied on luck to find dragon aura, and not many people waited in one place.

Unless it was someone with heaven-defying luck, the odds of dragon aura appearing were too low.

“This is interesting!” The Transcendent Plume Gate’s Xi Jian praised.

Among everyone in the Dragon Battlefield, Liu Wuxie was certainly one of the youngest.

“He’s just lucky!” The Azure Crimson Gate’s Guo Hanfei mocked, thinking that Liu Wuxie had gotten lucky with that strand of dragon aura. They were all in the Heavenly Dipper Realm, and they could see what was going on in the Dragon Battlefield.

“So what if he managed to obtain a strand of dragon aura? He will soon be killed and have his dragon aura robbed due to his low cultivation,” Dugu Yang said coldly.

Faced with thirteen people, Liu Wuxie had only one choice: to hand over the dragon aura. This was the prevailing thought among the ten envoys at the moment.

“Don’t be so sure about that. I’m optimistic about this kid!” The Heavenly Treasure Pavilion’s Fan Lin said with a greasy chicken drumstick in his hand. He had a fat belly. The flying swords used by others were slim, but the one used by Fan Lin was a sword with the width of an average palm. After all, the flying sword couldn’t support his weight if it was too slim.

“Fan Lin, I’ve heard your Heavenly Treasure Pavilion has declined over the years. Have you all become so desperate that you’re unwilling to let go of trash like him?” Song Junbao said, causing laughter among the other envoys except for the Misty Sect’s Ruan Bingzhi, who remained quiet.

All along, the ten major sects only chose cultivators in the True Core Realm, while those in the Marrow Cleansing Realm were just there to participate for fun. As a result, they wouldn’t be picked by the ten major sects even if they made it into the top hundred.

Liu Wuxie was only in the Marrow Cleansing Realm, and it was no wonder they mocked him.

Fan Lin didn’t bother explaining and continued to gnaw on the drumstick. The young lady had sent him a long-distance message to invite Liu Wuxie into the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion regardless of his ranking.

As the thirteen people closed in, Liu Wuxie found himself with no path of retreat, prompting the appearance of the Heretic Blade in his hand.

“Are you all sure you want to snatch my dragon aura?” Liu Wuxie verified again. He didn’t want to start a massacre, but he would be left with no choice if these people didn’t back down.

“Kid, stop wasting our time and hand over the dragon aura. Otherwise, don’t blame us for what we will do next!” The only Quasi-True Core Realm expert among the thirteen roared.

“There are so many of you, but only one dragon aura. Who should I give it to?” Liu Wuxie smiled devilishly because he could tell these thirteen people weren’t on the same side. They were divided into four factions, posing a dilemma as to whom to give it, even if he were willing.

The question stumped the thirteen because what Liu Wuxie said was a problem.

“Isn’t it obvious? Of course, our Fire Rock Dynasty!” The one who spoke was the Quasi-True Core Realm cultivator. He came from the Fire Rock Dynasty, an intermediate-grade nation. In terms of their national strength, they were stronger than the Great Yan Dynasty.

“Bullshit. It should go to our Martial Heritance Dynasty! We were the first to arrive!” An argument broke out among the thirteen. Everyone coveted the dragon aura, and the Martial Heritance Dynasty held the numerical advantage with four individuals.

However, the Fire Rock Dynasty had a cultivator in the Quasi-True Core Realm.

On the other hand, Liu Wuxie wasn’t in a hurry and merely stood there, waiting for them to finish their argument.

“Senior Brother Mo, don’t waste time with them. Just kill them all!” The other participants of the Fire Rock Dynasty ran out of patience and didn’t want to waste time arguing, preferring to settle the conflict with strength.

“Let’s go!” The man known as Senior Brother Mo gave the order and swung his sword at the representatives of the Martial Heritance Dynasty.

As for the other two nations, they retreated to the side and didn’t get involved in the conflict.

The Fire Rock Dynasty’s objective was simple. The Martial Heritance Dynasty had the most people, and only they could pose some threat to the Fire Rock Dynasty. As long as they wiped out the Martial Heritance Dynasty’s participants, the other two nations wouldn’t be able to pose a threat.

The battle became intense as Senior Brother Mo performed a Meteorite Sword. This sword technique was powerful, and it was no wonder he had such confidence.

Relying on his cultivation in the Quasi-True Core Realm, he easily suppressed three people while his companions ganged up on the last person from the Martial Heritance Dynasty.

Someone from the Martial Heritance Dynasty had his arm severed a hundred moves later.

Losing one person, the attacks from Fire Rock Dynasty’s representatives became even more intense, forcing the Martial Heritance Dynasty to retreat, backing off to ten-odd meters away.

The Fire Rock Dynasty didn’t pursue their advantage and turned around to surround Liu Wuxie.

“Brat, you can hand over the dragon aura now!” The other three nations didn’t leave and waited in the surroundings for an opportunity.

“I was expecting you all to fight among yourselves. This way, I wouldn’t have to make a move, but I didn’t expect you to be so weak.” A playful smile rose on Liu Wudxie’s lips. He initially wanted to see them fight among themselves while he reaped the benefits. However, it turned out that they weren’t foolish enough to fight to the death.

“What arrogance! I’ll give you a slow death!” The three representatives from the Fire Rock Dynasty had a fiery temper, and Liu Wuxie’s contemptuous words enraged them.

“Kill him!” Senior Brother Mo didn’t dare to be careless and ordered them to attack together.