Desolate Devouring Art-Chapter 1089 - Curse Dao Art

A heavy silence gripped the air. Liu Wuxie sat in deep thought while the Barefooted Elder waited silently, offering no interruption. Stillness enveloped the two as they sat motionless.

After a full minute of contemplation, Liu Wuxie finally spoke. "Very well. I'll accept your task."

"Then go," the Barefooted Elder said, motioning with his hand for Liu Wuxie to depart.

Liu Wuxie stood, cupping his hands respectfully in farewell. He briefly considered forcing the elder to reveal the method for entering the Astral Domain, but the risks outweighed the gain.

Liu Wuxie couldn't fathom the Barefooted Elder's cultivation, and with the Ghost Emperor nearby, any rash move would mean certain death. If he were to attempt anything rash, the Ghost Emperor would certainly intervene.

Since force wasn't an option, he had no choice but to comply.

"I trust you'll honor your word. I'll be taking my leave now," Liu Wuxie said, turning to walk away without even finishing the tea.

"Drink the tea and bring him with you," the Barefooted Elder said calmly, nodding toward Tian Wucang.

Liu Wuxie paused briefly. He picked up the teacup and downed its contents in one gulp.

Though steam curled from the cup, the tea slid down like silk, soothing, yet unnervingly foreign. The sensation was hard to describe, strangely soothing yet somehow unsettling.

As the tea entered his body, a chill spread rapidly through his meridians.

"You—!" Liu Wuxie's eyes narrowed in alarm. The elder had infused the tea with an intense concentration of cursed energy.

He once bore only traces of cursed energy, but now, the sheer density of cursed energy within him rattled even his iron will.

"You'll understand once you get there," said the Barefooted Elder, offering no further explanation. He turned and slowly disappeared into the stone hut, closing the door behind him.

Cursed energy surged through Liu Wuxie like tidal waves, battering his meridians with corrosive force. Nausea rose as something foul tried to merge with him, seeping into his essence like poison.

He had no idea why the elder had done this. He had no idea why he had forcibly infused him with such a terrifying amount of cursed energy.

Closing his eyes, Liu Wuxie sent his divine sense inward. What he saw left him shocked. Intricate patterns had begun forming within him, resembling the blueprint of a meridian diagram. It resembled the structure of a dao technique.

"Could this be...?" Liu Wuxie didn't dare finish the thought. He turned toward the now tightly shut stone hut.

No aura emanated from within anymore. Liu Wuxie knew the Barefooted Elder wouldn't meet him again until he completed the task.

Time was running short.

Without delay, Liu Wuxie departed the stone hut.

When Tian Wucang saw Liu Wuxie walking toward him, he quickly rose to his feet.

"Brother Liu, did you get the answer you were looking for?" he asked, hopeful.

He hadn't been able to hear any part of Liu Wuxie's earlier conversation. A mysterious force sealed the area, preventing even the faintest sound from escaping to the outside.

"We're heading there," Liu Wuxie said, shaking his head. He pointed to a distant mountain, one shrouded in an ominous, suffocating aura of cursed energy.

Tian Wucang staggered, fear flashing across his pale face. "W-What did you say?"

"There's no need to guess. It's exactly what you're thinking," Liu Wuxie said, placing a hand on his shoulder. He wouldn't force Tian Wucang to come with him. The Barefooted Elder had asked him to bring the youth along, but Liu Wuxie had no desire to drag him into further danger.

Tian Wucang had already risked his life guiding him here. Liu Wuxie owed him more than words could repay.

"You can't! That's the Cursed Mountain! If you go there, you won't come back alive!" Tian Wucang protested, shaking his head in dismay.

"I know the odds are against me," Liu Wuxie replied solemnly. "Brother Tian, return the way we came. I'm truly grateful for everything you've done these past few days."

When Liu Wuxie's eyes suffered an injury, Tian Wucang supported him throughout the ordeal.

"Forget it. I'm coming," Tian Wucang said, sighing. "The outer regions of Ghosthead Mountain are probably swarming with cultivators by now. If I were to leave on my own, I'd just be killed. I'd rather take my chances at your side."

He didn't even know what Liu Wuxie intended to do next, but his trust in Liu had grown to surpass his trust in himself.

And he wasn't wrong. Cultivators had already covered the mountain outside the canyon. No one dared to venture inside as they waited, lying in ambush. If Liu Wuxie tried to leave, they would unleash everything they had on him.

"Alright. If we survive this, we're brothers for life," Liu Wuxie said, gripping Tian Wucang's shoulder. He didn't care whether the youth was human or abyssal devil; he already considered Tian Wucang a brother.

The two laughed and set off toward the Cursed Mountain, leaving the Dark Canyon behind.

Strangely, no one resisted them along the way. Not a single Yin-Faced Ghost rose to stop them.

The Cursed Mountain wasn't far, and they ought to have run into ghost beasts by now, but the beasts scattered the moment they caught sight of Liu Wuxie.

Over the next three days, they crossed ridges and valleys before finally arriving at the foot of the Cursed Mountain. Cursed energy surged toward them in waves, carrying with it tremendous pressure that swept across them like a flood.

Liu Wuxie sensed the cursed energy leeching his luck away at a terrifying speed.

The ghost beasts had avoided them, but he had tripped over himself three separate times. He even stepped directly into a pile of beast dung, just as Tian Wucang had warned.

Meeting the Barefooted Elder had indeed plunged his luck off a cliff.

And now, the series of misfortune had just begun.

Over the past three days, the cursed energy continued to form clearer patterns within Liu Wuxie. With the aid of the Heavenly Dao Book, he finally deciphered their nature.

"Cursed Dao Art..." he murmured.

Only by mastering this art could he resist the cursed aura and weaponize it. The tea that the Barefooted Elder had given to him wasn't ordinary; it contained the essence and mysteries of the Cursed Dao Art itself.

"Brother Tian, what do you know about the Cursed Stone's origin?" Liu Wuxie asked as they stood at the foot of the mountain.

"I know a bit," Tian Wucang replied.

They decided to rest for the night before beginning the climb at dawn. They sat openly on a rock and felt no danger. The surroundings were eerily quiet, devoid of any signs of life. Not even Yin-Faced Ghosts had appeared on the way.

"Then tell me what you know," Liu Wuxie said, adjusting his robes and glancing up at the ominous peak. Before he got here, he hadn't even known that there was a so-called Cursed Mountain.

"The Eastern Domain wasn't always like this," Tian Wucang said. "They say tens of thousands of years ago, the stars suddenly shattered; the sun and moon reversed; and a rift split the sky. From that rift, a crimson shadow descended."

He had read many ancient books, including a few containing fragmented records of the Cursed Mountain.

"So the Cursed Stone fell on the Eastern Domain?" Liu Wuxie asked.

"That's right," Tian Wucang nodded. "Its arrival created the Cursed Mountain. As cursed laws spread, the entire Eastern Domain changed. The air itself turned deadly. Countless cultivators and profound beasts perished."

Tian Wucang paused before continuing, "Eventually, the cursed energy weakened, and people slowly adapted to it. But from that day forward, no one could ever leave this region. The cursed energy would drain the life out of anyone who tried to leave."

Liu Wuxie finally understood why the Eastern Domain had been isolated for tens of thousands of years. No cultivator could enter or leave the Eastern Domain freely. No wonder cultivators in the Central Plains knew almost nothing about this region.

"I see," Liu Wuxie said, nodding thoughtfully.

"Brother Liu, do you know what kind of thing the Cursed Stone truly is?" Tian Wucang asked.

After spending the past month with him, Tian Wucang had come to admire Liu Wuxie's profound knowledge, as it was far beyond what most cultivators possessed. He often offered insights that no one else could have offered.

"There are countless strange and ancient materials in this world," Liu Wuxie replied after a pause. "Cursed Stone, Three-Lives Stone, Five Elemental Stone, Origin of Evil, Crystal of Filth, War Sands... relics born from chaos itself."

Tian Wucang turned pale. The Cursed Stone alone was terrifying. What kind of disaster would the Origin of Evil or the Crystal of Filth bring if they ever descended?

"Brother Liu... are you confident about moving the Cursed Stone?" he asked, his voice filled with concern.

The Cursed Stone was the purest condensation of cursed energy. One careless touch could mean instant death by being torn apart by cursed laws.

"I wasn't before," Liu Wuxie admitted with a faint smile, "Now... I am."

Before he comprehended the Cursed Dao Art, the cursed energy would corrode him the moment he approached it. Upon grasping its foundational framework, the Cursed Stone could no longer harm him. It could even accelerate his mastery of the art.

"What do you mean?" Tian Wucang asked, still puzzled.

"Brother Tian, you possess the Cursed Physique. I'll teach you a dao technique," Liu Wuxie said, his tone grave.

With his constitution, Tian Wucang had a natural affinity for the cursed laws. His ancestor Tian Hengshuang had failed to master the Cursed Dao Art and died despite reaching the Heaven Profound Realm. That was the curse of this unique physique; the curse would cut one's life short unless one mastered the art.

"You're not saying that you've actually... mastered the Cursed Dao Art?" Tian Wucang asked, leaping up in disbelief.

Other than the Cursed Dao Art, he couldn't imagine what else Liu Wuxie could offer to teach him.

"That's right," Liu Wuxie confirmed. He reached out and tapped lightly with one finger, sending a beam of light into Tian Wucang's soul sea, directly transmitting the cultivation method.

Tian Wucang froze, standing in place as the information surged into his mind. It took him a full five minutes before he recovered.

"Brother Liu... this debt... I'll carry it to my grave," Tian Wucang said with deep gratitude, bowing low. He understood what this meant for him.

Even the Abyssal Emperor wouldn't dare to kill him casually now. Once he truly mastered the Cursed Dao Art, he would be capable of placing curses on anything, even emperors. Not even the Abyssal Emperor could escape such a curse unscathed.

On that same night, they sat beneath the cursed moon, trading insights and deepening their grasp of the Cursed Dao Art. Whenever they circulated the art, a surge of cursed energy would surround them.

The difference between them was clear. The seed of cursed energy had already taken root and sprouted inside Liu Wuxie. Meanwhile, Tian Wucang had just planted its seed.

When dawn came, the two began their climb. The mountaintop emanated endless waves of cursed energy that rumbled downward.

As they ascended, they actively refined the cursed energy. Even without the Cursed Dao Art, Tian Wucang's Cursed Physique allowed him to endure the cursed energy without harm. It was a constitution that could only appear in cursed lands like this one.

As for Liu Wuxie, he summoned the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, using it to absorb the cursed energy. Within his Desolate World, a cursed realm was forming; an ominous dominion was taking root inside his Desolate World.