Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 122 - Tie Ying

He could put up with that. But what happened today was a resounding slap to his face. After all, even Profound Grade students would cooperate obediently if he demanded.

“Young Master, why don’t we break the courtyard and teach him a lesson?” The two lackeys behind Yu Yifan were furious. They were loyal to Manifest City as the city lord nurtured them. Upon seeing the young master humiliated, they naturally felt obliged to step forward.

“No need. Let’s go!” Yu Yifan took a deep breath to suppress his anger. He would’ve acted already if violence could resolve the problem.

“Are we just going to let this slide, Young Master?” The student on the right asked, unable to accept the situation.

“Let it slide?” Chill flashed across Yu Yifan’s eyes. He naturally wouldn’t let this go so easily, but only he knew what he was planning. The group of three left, and Liu Wuxie’s courtyard returned to calm.

As a new year approached in ten-odd days, students started returning to the Imperial Academy to join the celebrations. Within a few days, the academy was bustling with activity and adorned with decorations.

Liu Wuxie sat in his room, knowing it wouldn’t be peaceful today.

Right then, the door to the courtyard burst open, scattering wooden debris everywhere. This unexpected event piqued the curiosity of the nearby courtyards, with some even daring to trespass into someone else’s courtyard.

Liu Wuxie opened his eyes. He was terrifyingly calm and composed. His golden soul sea formed into a golden vortex before him, absorbing the surrounding spiritual energy.

“They’re here!” Liu Wuxie exited the bed and opened the door to see five fierce-looking individuals in the courtyard. There were four men and a woman, all in their mid-twenties. They all donned blue robes, meaning they were Earth Grade students. They appeared travel-weary, suggesting that they had just returned to the academy and had rushed over immediately upon their return.

“You’re Liu Wuxie?!” The man in the middle had a pair of hawk-like eyes, and his gaze locked onto Liu Wuxie the moment the latter appeared. The woman and the other three men were strong, all in the Xiantian Realm\'s ninth level.

“Yes, I am,” Liu Wuxie responded, his face devoid of emotion. His icy gaze swept over the five individuals before settling on the man who had spoken. Although a crowd had gathered outside the courtyard, none dared to enter. The destruction of his courtyard door had made the unfolding drama visible to all.

“My name is Tie Ying. I returned this morning and learned that you killed Jiang Hua. Kneel and apologize. If you do, we might consider giving you a painless death,” Tie Ying declared without hesitation. This group of five appeared to be students from the Advanced Class Three. While they claimed to seek vengeance for Jiang Hua, it was clear they were acting under the instigation of Gao Yingzhang to eliminate Liu Wuxie. With the academy’s higher-ups not responding to Gao Yingzhang, he had decided to take matters into his own hands.

“Gao Yingzhang sent you?” Liu Wuxie asked without any changes on his face.

“How dare you call a teacher by his name?! Today, we will teach you a lesson for Teacher Gao!” Tie Ying didn’t make a move. Instead, a man standing beside him, known for his flat forehead—a sign of misfortune—spoke up.

That was the truth as well. This man’s name was Yuan Shao. He lost his parents when he was four, and his neighbor raised him. His neighbor had a daughter two years younger than him, and they grew up together with a close relationship.

But on one occasion, his younger sister got acquainted with a talented young man in the same city, forming a close relationship with him. Right from the beginning, his younger sister only regarded Yuan Shao as a brother with no romantic feelings involved.

The young man proposed not long after, to which his foster parents agreed. But the day before the wedding, Yuan Shao committed a heinous crime against his younger sister after knocking his foster parents unconscious.

By right, a scumbag like him shouldn’t have been accepted into the academy for what he had done. When his foster parents regained consciousness and saw what had happened, they gave Yuan Shao a beating. But things have already happened, and they could only conceal it as they would be humiliated if it was spread out. With no choice, they could only cancel the marriage and betrothed their daughter to Yuan Shao, and this incident gradually spread out after Yuan Shao joined the academy.

Yuan Shao was like a cheetah as he leaped forth, throwing punches at Liu Wuxie’s face. He was true to his cruel nature, planning to take Liu Wuxie’s life away with a lethal strike. The sheer force of his punches created a ripple spreading to the surroundings with resounding sonic booms.

As the punches approached, Liu Wuxie remained calm and unmoving, with no intentions of counterattacking. Yuan Shao’s cultivation was in the ninth-level Xiantian Realm, and there was no way Yuan Shao could threaten him.

He locked onto Yuan Shao with the Ghost Eye and raised his right foot when the latter was about a foot away from him. Liu Wuxie’s sudden move caused a commotion among Tie Ying and the other three. Yuan Shao instantly sensed something amiss, but it was too late.

A perfectly timed kick landed on his lower abdomen, sending him flying backward like a meteor, crashing into the spot where the three scorpion brothers had previously landed. A cracking sound, akin to an egg breaking, emanated from Yuan Shao’s dantian, signaling the leakage of his true essence.

Liu Wuxie didn’t kill Yuan Shao, but he had crippled the latter’s cultivation. From that day onwards, Yuan Shao could only become trash, suffering mockery and enduring endless regret for the rest of his life.

“My dantian!” Yuan Shao let out a scream. In the past year at the Imperial Academy, he had done many despicable things, offending many people. Thus, losing his cultivation meant that those he bullied in the past would take their turns to torment him, making him live a life worse than death.

Tie Ying’s eyes flashed with a hint of chill. He was well aware of Yuan Shao’s strength, and there was no way Yuan Shao could be so easily reduced to a cripple with one kick.

“Liu Wuxie, you have some nerve. How dare you cripple a student of Advanced Class Three! I will deal with you on behalf of the academy!” Tie Yuan bellowed, charging at Liu Wuxie along with his three companions. Their objective was clear and needed no further words: to kill Liu Wuxie and restore the honor of Advanced Class Three.

Liu Wuxie also had no interest in explaining, as the best method was to scare them thoroughly so they would never dare to provoke him again.

The four surrounded him with an overwhelming momentum sweeping over, blowing the leaves on the ground into a storm. The leaves blocked the spectators’ gazes, and everything happened in the blink of an eye.

Liu Wuxie stood at the eye of the storm, seemingly on the verge of being swallowed by it any moment.

A pair of hooks appeared in Tie Ying’s hands, emitting a chilling luster. This sort of weapon was generally used by those who were ruthless, as this hook tended to tear chunks of flesh off the opponent. The other two men held longswords, blocking Liu Wuxie’s path of retreat. As they worked together often, they had built a great rapport over the years, and they could even deal with ordinary opponents in the first level of the Spirit Cleansing Realm.

Tie Ying attributed Yuan Shao’s defeat to his carelessness, which allowed Liu Wuxie to seize the opportunity to cripple him. The only woman in the group brandished two slender blades, executing the Swallow Rain Blade technique.

A stifling aura enveloped Liu Wuxie, threatening to tear him apart if he wasn’t careful. “This guy is in serious trouble. Being surrounded by Tie Ying’s group of four spells certain death,” the onlooking students murmured among themselves.

The three scorpion brothers might be strong, but they were pale compared to Tie Ying’s group. This was because Tie Ying’s group had a set of formations that went along with their tactic, allowing them to unleash greater power.

“It’s unbelievable! This kid has only been in the academy for two days, and he’s already in so much trouble. This is unprecedented!”

Liu Wuxie had just joined the Imperial Academy and hadn’t yet availed any resources or facilities, but he was already embroiled in a significant mess.

As the four attacks were about to hit Liu Wuxie, a peculiar scene unfolded. Liu Wuxie’s figure gradually faded, vanishing from his original position without any warning. This sudden disappearance startled Tie Ying’s group, as Liu Wuxie’s speed was so swift that even cultivators of the Spirit Cleansing Realm would struggle to keep up with him.

“Go into formation!” Tie Ying commanded as the four swiftly took their positions, forming an array to trap Liu Wuxie.

“The Four Symbols Array!” Liu Wuxie grinned devilishly. He found it amusing that these inexperienced individuals were attempting to use such an insignificant array against him.

“You know the Four Symbols Array?!” Tie Ying exclaimed in surprise. They had stumbled upon the Four Symbols Array in an ancient tomb. The array they discovered was incomplete, but after years of research, they managed to develop a version that could just about be called the Four Symbols Array.

The authentic Four Symbols Array could mimic various phenomena, and these four had barely grasped fragments of it. Strictly speaking, what they had couldn’t even be called the Four Symbols Array. Nevertheless, it was sufficient to deal with ordinary people, demonstrating the power of a spiritual array.

“Big Brother Tie, there’s no need to waste time talking with him. There’s something strange about him; let’s finish him and take his rewards from the assessment!” The woman spoke, her ruthlessness surpassing that of the men.

“Xiao Yan is right. Let’s kill him first!” Our priority should be to kill him!” The two other men concurred, eager to dispatch Liu Wuxie and then divide the loot.

As the array activated, a mysterious vortex appeared and enveloped them. This was the power of array, using the profundity of heaven and earth to empower the array and unleash powerful attacks to deal a lethal blow to the enemy.

“A bunch of garbage like you want to kill me with this array?” Liu Wuxie’s eyes flashed with a hint of mockery as he left behind an afterimage, leaving the array.