Chapter 120: The Devouring Fiend’s Dark Art

The two sides were locked in fierce combat!

The notorious Xiliang soldiers, feared throughout the land, failed to gain even the slightest advantage against the private armies of Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan.

The great army was blocked outside the Weiyang Palace, unable to advance further.

However, Cao, Liu, and Sun were equally entangled, leaving them no time to divert their attention to rescuing the emperor within the palace.

“Heh heh heh, they’ve reached a stalemate—an even match,” said Fan Li, his eyesight limited and unable to clearly discern the distant battlefield.

Princess Changle served as commentator, keeping Fan Li informed of the shifting situation inside and outside Weiyang Palace.

“Do you believe it?” the princess asked with a half-smile. “They’re actually evenly matched?”

“You asking me? I only have Qi Refining cultivation,” Fan Li shrugged, wearing an expression that clearly said, “You’ve got the wrong person.”

In truth, he had an inkling—the efforts of Cao, Liu, and Sun were far from their full strength.

But Fan Li was their ally, not reinforcements for Emperor Liu Xie.

No matter how Cao, Liu, and Sun performed today, Fan Li would support them.

“Could Lü Bu also be holding back?” A strange thought suddenly arose in Fan Li’s mind.

The martial powerhouse of the Three Kingdoms, Lü Bu, was performing almost on par with Hua Xiong?

Fan Li distinctly recalled Lü Bu once leading a squad of Golden Core Black Cavalry, fiercely battling the Cold Moon Sovereign without yielding.

Within Weiyang Palace—

Emperor Liu Xie gripped the Qin Emperor Sword silently.

Dong Zhuo’s hands formed claw shapes, his fingernails extending several inches like demonic talons.

“Ha ha ha ha!” Dong Zhuo burst into a harsh, mocking laugh. “Liu Xie, the loyal ministers you rely on—so this is their loyalty?”

Liu Xie furrowed his brow.

He looked toward the battlefield outside the palace gates, disappointment filling his eyes.

Those three had ultimately betrayed him.

Summoning his resolve, Liu Xie retorted bitterly, “Likewise. Li Jue, Guo Si, and Hua Xiong are one thing, but Lü Bu, with his cultivation, still hasn’t set foot inside Weiyang Palace. You truly have a fine son!”

“Hmph... I will make him regret it sooner or later!” Dong Zhuo seethed.

This battle was far less smooth than he had anticipated.

Despite his strength, nearly at the third rank of the Great Ascension stage, he could only wound Emperor Liu Xie but could not kill him.

“Could it be that I am still not strong enough?!” a thought flashed through Dong Zhuo’s mind.

He cultivated the Devouring Fiend Art, a technique that consumed cultivators to absorb their power.

Today’s “main course” was Emperor Liu Xie—did he need some appetizers before the feast?

As he hesitated, Liu Xie took the initiative.

“Dong Zhuo! If this is the limit of your skill today, then accept your death!”

Liu Xie raised the Qin Emperor Sword.

Behind him in the palace, twelve towering golden figures resembling stone statues materialized faintly.

The Twelve Golden Guardians of the Qin Mausoleum!

Each golden figure possessed the power equivalent to the Consolidation stage.

Though lacking consciousness and somewhat clumsy, they were extraordinarily resilient.

“Such beings exist?!” Dong Zhuo roared in fury.

Within the palace’s battlefield, he only held a slight advantage.

After all, he was facing Liu Xie, the aged ministers of the Han court, and the elite Imperial Guards alone.

The arrival of the twelve golden guardians was enough to even the score.

“I refuse to believe it!”

“Puppets and toys—how can they stand against my Devouring Fiend Art?”

He clasped his hands, forming two black whirlpools that sucked the golden figures approaching the battlefield toward him.

Yet the twelve golden guardians stood firm as mountains.

Before receiving an attack order, they only guarded silently beside the emperor.

Seeing Dong Zhuo’s magic fail, the Han ministers were overjoyed.

“Traitor, your death day has come!” Zhang Wen, the highest-ranking cultivator among the ministers, shouted, attempting to exploit Dong Zhuo’s focus on the golden figures to launch a surprise attack.

In the next moment, an unexpected change occurred!

Dong Zhuo’s black whirlpools, initially weak, suddenly merged into a single vortex, its power surging wildly!

The target of the whirlpool’s consumption was no longer the twelve golden figures, but Zhang Wen himself, who had advanced proactively.

“Lord Zhang, be careful!” a fellow minister shouted from afar, but it was too late.

Zhang Wen, who had intended to strike Dong Zhuo, found his body uncontrollably drawn toward Dong Zhuo’s palms.

“Ha ha ha ha ha!!” Dong Zhuo placed his hands atop Zhang Wen’s crown, performing a strange, caressing motion.

“Villain! I will die with you!” Zhang Wen realized he’d been trapped and made a desperate last effort.

Suddenly, a green light flashed!

Centered on Zhang Wen, a ball of righteous Qi expanded rapidly, seemingly about to engulf both Dong Zhuo and Zhang Wen.

“Ah! Lord Zhang is about to self-detonate his Nascent Soul! Everyone, fall back!” someone cried.

Liu Xie and the ministers swiftly retreated.

But the anticipated massive explosion never came.

The expanding sphere suddenly deflated as if losing air, then was easily torn apart, revealing the two men it had enclosed.

“Traitor… treacherous minister…” Zhang Wen’s voice faintly echoed as Liu Xie mournfully called out, “Minister Zhang!?”

As the dust settled, all saw clearly.

The robust-looking Zhang Wen now resembled a desiccated corpse, drained of all essence and vitality.

Dong Zhuo, however, glared with burning eyes, vitality brimming.

The few wounds on his body were swiftly healing.

“Delicious~~!” Dong Zhuo moaned with pleasure.

“The Devouring Fiend Art is truly the supreme cultivation technique of our age!”

But in the next instant, his gaze toward the gathered crowd was filled with voracious hunger.

“You are all my food.”

…

…

At a distance, inside the Honglu Temple—

“If I taught you the Devouring Fiend Art, would you cultivate it?” Princess Changle murmured as if to herself.

Fan Li shook his head without hesitation.

A cannibalistic cultivation technique?

Too perverse; he wouldn’t practice it.

Yet after a moment’s silence, he couldn’t help but ask, “What? Does the Pure Sound Sanctum really possess such a secret technique?”

“Possess?” Princess Changle chuckled lightly, her laughter laced with scorn and disdain.

“Was I mistaken?” Fan Li asked, surprised.

The princess’s cultivation derived entirely from the Pure Sound Sanctum.

“You weren’t wrong, but you weren’t right either.”

Fan Li was speechless.

After a long pause, he finally said, “Speak human words?”

Seeing his frustration, the princess laughed again softly.

“Don’t be angry. I’ll tell you the truth about the Devouring Fiend Art.”

“In fact, there is no such thing as the Devouring Fiend Art.”

“The secret technique Dong Zhuo practices is merely a truncated version of another secret art from the Sanctum.”

“Apparently, the Sanctum only used this so-called demonic art as a tool for Dong Zhuo, disregarding the risks of cultivating an incomplete secret technique.”

Fan Li was stunned for several seconds before grabbing the princess’s shoulders sharply.

“What do you mean!?”

“The Sanctum colluded with Dong Zhuo?”

“Why didn’t you say so earlier!?”

Suddenly, Fan Li understood where the Cold Moon Sovereign’s escape route truly lay.

Dong Zhuo?

The Grand Preceptor’s Mansion!?

He squeezed the princess’s shoulders so hard she winced.

“Easy, enemy,” she said plaintively, not resisting as Fan Li vented his emotions on her.

“This is my first time seeing Dong Zhuo use the Devouring Fiend Art. Only now do I realize that the Sovereign is actually in Chang’an.”

“Who?”

“The Sovereign of Fate, the Pure Sound Sanctum’s most mysterious Sovereign. She’s rarely in the Sanctum; I’ve never met her or known her true identity.”

(One more chapter to go. Minor illness is wearing me down, so updates will be delayed these days.)

(The End of this chapter)