Chapter 495
If the black-clad figures knew Liu Wuxie had fled into the Shadowwoods, they'd be seething with rage.
The Shadowwoods were a forbidden realm across three worlds, where neither demon nor mortal dared tread.
No one could have predicted Liu Wuxie would choose this path of no return.
"We enter at dawn." Liu Wuxie paused at the forest's edge, addressing Bai Ling.
She nodded. Her mother's memories told her the Shadowwoods were marginally safer by daylight.
Both seized these final moments to recuperate.
Liu Wuxie sat cross-legged, his consciousness sinking into the Devouring Divine Cauldron.
The Yin-Yang Stele floated within.
Throughout their journey, he'd been tempering the artifact with demonic flames.
The searing process had made its dualistic patterns increasingly distinct.
"Guard me."
Before Bai Ling could respond, he vanished into the cauldron.
The stele's intricate carvings stole his breath. Their profundity dwarfed his understanding of the Grand Yin-Yang Art by a thousandfold.
Bai Ling maintained vigilant watch.
"Mastering this artifact with the Grand Yin-Yang Art would make me invincible."
Madness flickered in Liu Wuxie's eyes.
Hands weaving seals, he channeled streams of yin-yang laws into the stele.
Time flowed slower within the cauldron—six hours inside equaling sixty without.
With this artifact in the perilous Shadowwoods, he'd gain unstoppable power.
"It resists penetration?"
Despite prolonged effort, the stele's core remained impenetrable.
"Truly a treasure of heaven and earth."
Rather than frustration, exhilaration surged through him.
"Heavenly Dao Tome, assist me!"
Golden light erupted as the sacred text materialized above the stele.
Under its celestial pressure, the artifact's resistance waned.
This unclaimed relic would only answer to masters of the Grand Yin-Yang Art.
Liu Wuxie sought not ownership, but communion.
As energy continued flowing, a subtle resonance formed—not the bond of a blood-bound artifact, but a covenant with the cosmos.
Night deepened.
Eerie luminescent specks drifted above the Shadowwoods like shattered constellations.
Bestial howls echoed through the trees, raising hairs on necks.
Bai Ling tensed. Never before had she faced such danger alone.
A rustling came from the forest's edge.
Leaping onto a branch, she glimpsed hundreds of demonkin shuffling forward under faint light.
"Why would demons come here?"
Alarm bells rang in her mind.
Human cultivators soon appeared from other directions.
Transforming into her nine-tailed fox form, Bai Ling melted into the canopy.
"Ever heard of the Shadowwoods?" someone whispered below.
"A forbidden zone of the mortal realm," answered an immortal lord.
"With demons massing here, something's amiss."
"The Oracle Guild prophesied a supreme treasure's emergence."
"The Oracle Guild? Weren't they extinct?"
"Now they serve the Celestial Sovereign Alliance..."
The voices faded.
Bai Ling dropped down, brow furrowed.
If true, finding her mother's celestial soul would become far harder.
Dawn approached.
Within the cauldron, Liu Wuxie's eyes snapped open.
"Rise!"
The Yin-Yang Stele obeyed, its terrifying aura shaking the divine vessel.
"Such devastating power."
Liu Wuxie marveled. This artifact could suppress realms and slaughter enemies alike.
"With this, even immortal kings could fall."
At his thought, the stele settled beside the Heavenly God Stele in his Primordial World.
Nourished by primordial energies, their connection strengthened.
"Visitors last night?"
Emerging, Liu Wuxie noticed countless footprints.
Bai Ling recounted her observations.
"The Oracle Guild..." Liu Wuxie's pupils contracted. "The Celestial Sovereign Alliance too?"
This spelled trouble.
"Shall we proceed?" Bai Ling asked.
Unconsciously, she'd grown reliant on Liu Wuxie.
"Forward!"
His decision was instant.
Following earlier tracks, they ventured deeper.
Daylight revealed the Shadowwoods' gnarled trees and tangled vines.
A croaking sound came from the left.
A pitch-black frog perched on a vine.
"Dark Abyss Toad!" Liu Wuxie's expression darkened. "Trouble has arrived."