Essence Devouring Art

Chapter 22: Chapter 21: Melee

”Get lost!”

”You’re courting death!”

”Bastard!”

CLINK, CLANK, CLANG—

A blur of motion, a storm of whistles and curses!

In the span of a few breaths, the wasteland before Chunxiang Garden had become a slaughterhouse.

It was Wu Dao’s first time witnessing a gang war in this Otherworld with his own eyes.

Every move aimed for a vital point. Opponents were flayed alive and dismembered, flesh and blood scattering everywhere. The scene was vicious and brutal to the extreme.

In their eyes, killing a man was no different from slaughtering a pig!

But Wu Dao felt no terror.

On the contrary, he was eager to join in, his blood boiling. This raw, brutal, natural Poisonous Insect Fighting Arena filled him with an unprecedented excitement.

SPLAT!

A spray of warm blood showered him.

Wu Dao neither dodged nor evaded, letting it drench his face. His eyes, tinged with red like those of a wild beast, glinted. He ran his tongue over his lips, tasting the coppery tang, and couldn’t help but grin. ”I’m liking this world more and more...”

”A complete madman!”

Not far away, Cloud Heaven Flow, who had been watching the scene unfold, narrowed his eyes upon seeing the morbid, unhinged smile on Wu Dao’s face.

He knew that Body Refiners of the Martial Dao, with their abundant qi and blood, were typically full of yang energy, tyrannical, and exceptionally brutish; most of them weren’t exactly ’normal’.

But those like Wu Dao, who reveled in bloodshed and slaughter, were a rarity. One could even say he had descended into demonic cultivation.

Such people would stop at nothing to achieve their goals, cared only for themselves, and were absolutely not someone to befriend!

And if you made an enemy of them!

It would be a fight to the death!

He shot Wu Dao a deep look.

Cloud Heaven Flow withdrew his gaze, a stern glint in his eyes, and finally stepped forward to join the chaotic fray.

”Daoist, I am here to help you!”

WHOOSH!

His green robes whipped about him, swift as a raging wind!

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

A series of strikes, resonant and powerful yet strangely gentle, rang out. A gust of wind howled, and a path was instantly carved through the crowd!

No sword was even drawn!

Relying solely on his scabbard, he crossed ten meters in a flash of green. With a series of strikes—a chop, a slap, a poke, a block—eight figures were sent flying under the moonlight. Whether they were experts in Firmness and Flexibility or at the level of Inner Strength, all of them collapsed on contact!

Fast, precise, ruthless!

He disabled them without killing them!

This display of strength instantly stunned everyone present.

”Cloud Heaven Flow!”

”The Divine Power Realm!”

Gasps of shock erupted from the figures sent sprawling on the ground!

The faces of the remaining fifty or sixty Jianghu Travelers blanched in horror. For a split second, their movements froze, a bone-chilling cold gripping them as if they had been plunged into an ice cellar!

THOOM!

But before the cries of alarm died down, a heavy boom resounded from the distance, like the stomp of a giant beast—a sound like thunder, a presence as fierce as a gale!

Like a great roc spreading its wings, a goshawk hunting its prey!

The nine-foot-tall, beast-like body blotted out the moonlight. A ferocious Beast King aura crashed into the battlefield like a tidal wave, scattering the chill and replacing it with an unbearable heat!

The moment Cloud Heaven Flow made his move.

Wu Dao, who could no longer restrain himself, also exploded into action!

”I forfeit, don’t—”

RRRIP!

The plea for mercy was never fully uttered.

Wu Dao cracked a terrifying smile. His tiger-like palm descended, and five hooked claws with the cold, black glint of metal tore the Inner Strength Martial Artist’s head in half like a watermelon!

He had no interest in ”playing house” like Cloud Heaven Flow.

’A tiger uses its full strength even to hunt a rabbit!’

’Either don’t hunt at all, or devour the flesh and gnaw the bones!’

CLANG!

A scabbard swept through the air, batting away a flying chunk of flesh.

Cloud Heaven Flow watched Wu Dao, who was acting like a human meat grinder not far away, and a cold light flashed in his eyes.

He was a disciple of Yang Wufeng, a Sword Hero of his generation from Guangqing Prefecture. From a young age, he had been steeped in the chivalric code of benevolence and righteousness, of slaying Evil Demons, and of loyalty to the nation and its people.

Under this influence,

although he had not become some naive do-gooder, indiscriminately kind and unable to distinguish right from wrong, he still had a clear sense of who should be killed and who should be saved, drawing a clear line between grudges and favors.

He had long cultivated an unyielding, chivalrous character and was noble and upright. Even when facing the most wicked of villains, he rarely resorted to cruel methods, believing in always leaving a way out.

He had previously considered Wu Dao a great enemy.

But his goal had been to defeat him, not to annihilate him.

Now, Wu Dao’s bloody, wanton slaughter made him no different from a Demon, and a look of disgust instantly appeared on Cloud Heaven Flow’s face.

Wu Dao, who was reveling in the slaughter, had no idea Cloud Heaven Flow had already categorized him with the Evil Demons and Outsiders.

Of course,

even if he knew, he wouldn’t care.

’The strong trampling the weak is simply the natural order, the law of the jungle!’

’What does right or wrong have to do with it!’

In the Red Fire Ore mine,

he had tasted endless hardship and humiliation, but he never blamed heaven or others, cursed the world for its injustice, or prayed for a savior. He attributed his suffering to his own weakness, resolved to become strong, and in the end, slew his enemies with his own hands.

In his view, since these people had entered this arena of natural competition,

they should be prepared to be humiliated and devoured by stronger Hunters. Either fight back, or die!

And this was a realization

that he had always lived by!

BOOM!

He twisted his waist, his right leg kicking out with explosive force!

Wu Dao’s muscles, as if cast from bronze and iron, bulged. He delivered a kick of immense power, like a colossal whale from the Wilderness leaping from the sea to strike the moon with its tail!

The irresistible force of the blow instantly obliterated a Martial Artist’s upper body. Bone fragments shot out like bullets in a fan-shaped spray, causing blossoms of blood to erupt on the other fighters.

”Life and death are ruled by fate, wealth and honor by the heavens! You think you can just leave when you feel like it? Are we playing house? There’s no such thing!”

Bathed in blood, Wu Dao roared like thunder. The stone tiles beneath his feet continuously shattered as his churning arms whipped the air into a frenzy.

As he rampaged back and forth, he kicked up showers of mangled flesh and shattered bone, carving a path toward the Red Gourd being contested in the center of the crowd!

”Long Whale Kicking the Moon, the Whale Splitting Technique... This is...”

「From a distant, dark street corner.」

A gasp of astonishment rang out as a seven-foot-tall, middle-aged man stepped out. He had a dark face, a bushy beard, and prominently bulging temples, and he wore a white martial arts uniform with a white-striped giant whale embroidered on the chest.

His tiger-like eyes watched Wu Dao, who was stirring up a storm of blood and gore in the crowd like a tiger descending a mountain or an Overlord of the sea. His expression was unreadable, a mixture of affinity and wariness.

Behind him were three more Boxers in the same white martial arts uniforms. They were burly and powerfully built, and judging by their full and vigorous Essence, Qi, and Spirit, and their long, deep breaths, they were all experts at the Peak of Internal Strength!

”Hall Master, judging by the form and intent of his Overlord Whale Fist, this man has reached the level of a Grandmaster. But his face is completely unfamiliar. Could he be an expert secretly trained by the Four Seas Gang?”

The three men stared intently at Wu Dao, who looked like an Evil God in the midst of the crowd, their eyes filled with suspicion and killing intent.

”Whether he is or not, we’ll know after a test.”

The black-faced, bushy-bearded man’s gaze sharpened; he seemed to harbor a deep-seated hatred for the Four Seas Gang.

With a push from his foot,

a loud BOOM was heard as his foot struck the ground like a cannonball, creating a spiderweb of cracks. His massive frame moved like a great whale cruising through the water as he charged with a thunderous rumble, heading straight for Wu Dao!

”Clear the area first! All these desperadoes are courting death. No need to hold back!”

The remaining three Boxers followed close behind, their killing intent palpable.

’Hm?’

Wu Dao’s senses were incredibly sharp; even in the midst of the chaos, he instantly detected a malicious chill assaulting him from behind like a tempest!

’Courting death!’

His face, like that of an Asura Blood Ghost, twisted into a cruel sneer.

Wu Dao spun on the spot, his muscles undulating like waves. He swung his bear-like torso and trembled his right arm, generating immense force from a standstill as power from his entire body surged upwards and converged into his massive, whale-headed fist!

Without dodging or evading, he struck back with his full power, using the most lethal move in the Overlord Whale Fist, Whale Shark Island, to return the attack like a cannon blast!

THOOM!

It was as if two giant whales had collided head-on!

The dull, thunderous impact compressed the surrounding air, causing it to howl and billow. The blood on Wu Dao’s fist and arm vaporized into a crimson mist.

CRACKLE...

In that instant of struggle,

the bluestone ground within a twenty-foot radius of Wu Dao and the black-faced, bushy-bearded man collapsed and shattered, cracks spreading out like a spiderweb, a testament to the immense force of their collision.

*Hnngh...*

A muffled grunt escaped him.

The black-faced, bushy-bearded man’s face flushed red, a flicker of shock flashing through his eyes. He glanced down to see that the calluses on his knuckles were shredded, while Wu Dao’s skin was merely broken. He was utterly horrified.

’We’re both Grandmasters of the Overlord Whale Fist.’

His forty-five years of bitter cultivation, plus the boost from the Overlord Whale Sect’s secret Body Refining Technique, the Giant Whale Skill, meant his strength should have long since crushed that of a typical Divine Power Realm expert.

But now, in a contest of pure strength, he had actually lost to Wu Dao, who looked no older than thirty. The shock in his heart was immense.

Little did he know

that, setting aside Wu Dao’s fifty years of Body Refinement through the Overlord Whale Fist, the Human Potential Release brought by the Essence Devouring Art alone had placed Wu Dao’s Physique at the very apex of the natural world’s Hunters.

With the two combined,

let alone the Overlord Whale Fist that merely imitated a great whale, Wu Dao would dare to dive into the water to wrestle and kill a real, ferocious great whale!