Essence Devouring Art

Chapter 39: Chapter 38: Steel Body

The realm of the Blood and Flesh Spirit.

The human body could now perform all sorts of incredible feats.

With a single thought.

Shifting organs, halting or enhancing bodily functions, altering the growth of bone, flesh, and hair, redirecting the flow of nutrients and Energy, controlling the very direction of muscular force...

A whole series of bodily micro-manipulations impossible for an ordinary person were now child’s play for Wu Dao.

Take, for example, the so-called Harmonizing Force of the Cocoon-Breaking Realm.

At its core, it was simply this: after the Physique transformed and the physical foundation was solidified, one used powerful Spiritual Thoughts to command every muscle, tendon, and bone, both inside and out. The Power would remain constantly ”taut,” condensed into a single, unified stream that never dissipated.

This level of Power application...

Wu Dao could now perform it even better than the original!

This was because he could mobilize and command the ”motive force” generated by every muscle, organ, and even the microscopic tissues within his body.

A convergence of countless streams!

Once these individually insignificant sources of Power were integrated, the result was terrifying. He could snap solid metal with a flick of his little finger!

Beyond that,

He now also possessed the ”Introspection” often mentioned in martial arts novels.

With these two abilities combined,

Wu Dao could even perform ”surgery” on himself. If a problem arose internally, a single sweep of his spirit would allow him to ”see” it, and he could then command his microscopic tissues to repair the damage and eliminate the source of the affliction.

It was utterly monstrous!

This was also why, in his past life, a Heaven Stealer who had achieved Human Potential Release up to the Heroic Domain was assessed by bioscientists to have a lifespan of five hundred years!

They had begun to shatter the limits of their genetic inheritance.

Truly free of all sickness and pain!

If they underwent another genetic transformation and their Human Potential Release reached the Overlord Domain...

...they would possess a lifespan of one thousand years!

And the final, 100% liberation... that would truly verge on the level of Immortals and Buddhas.

In his past life, Wu Dao had assessed his own Physique and determined that, barring external factors, he could have lived for five thousand years!

Five thousand years!!

How long was the entire recorded history of human civilization in his past life?

It would be no exaggeration to call that true longevity.

Of course,

longevity alone was not what Wu Dao sought.

A tortoise may live long, but it is still weak.

Only a longevity that was truly eternal, indestructible, and fearless in the face of all things could be called true immortality!

In other words, the true endpoint of biological evolution!

That was what Wu Dao truly desired!

’If I run into any Deceitful Species from now on, I won’t have to hold back.’

Wu Dao’s Spiritual Thoughts roamed through his body before returning to the world outside. His powerful spirit circulated over his skin, forming an invisible, one-centimeter-thick ”shell” that covered his body.

With this Spirit Armor Shell,

he could now physically touch those vicious and bizarre entities that were spiritual or soul-based in nature—incorporeal and intangible.

And once combat began,

his violent, murderous intent would flood the Spirit Armor Shell.

Propelled by his immense brute strength, the spiritual and physical aspects would merge to inflict a hybrid form of damage, resulting in exceptionally brutal lethality.

As for this world’s Path of Transcendence,

only those who had achieved Mastery of Martial Arts, or whose spirits had become strong enough to influence the external world after a Second Rebirth, could form a ”Spirit Armor”—and its strength was far inferior to Wu Dao’s.

Of course,

the Immortal Dao was an exception; after all, they specialized in the spirit. To each their own area of expertise.

After assessing the transformation of his spirit,

Wu Dao finally turned his attention to the changes in his physical body.

Strong!

Incredibly strong!

If the Beast King Domain was Flesh and Blood Mortal Power, then the Heroic Domain was a rampaging tyrannosaur of steel!

Under Introspection,

...he could clearly see:

His entire skeleton, the load-bearing frame for the body’s Power, had evolved beyond its previous iron-like texture.

The cellular structure had changed, growing far more compact and taking on a faint, dark metallic sheen. In terms of mass, density, and hardness, his bones were now comparable to refined steel, possessing both immense durability and resilience!

Neither blade nor axe, nor even a crushing blunt impact, could hope to damage them in the slightest!

The marrow within...

...was like crystallized frost, ceaselessly producing a surging torrent of blood so dark red it was almost black.

This blood was as thick and viscous as magma.

Scorching, scalding hot, it contained immense heat. A single drop on a piece of paper would instantly cause it to burst into flames!

The Energy contained within every single drop of blood was also astonishing!

It could be said that if an ordinary person were to obtain a mouthful of Wu Dao’s blood, brew it, and consume it, they wouldn’t feel hunger or thirst for three days, even without food or water!

His muscle tissue was even more terrifying.

If one were to dissect Wu Dao, they would discover...

...that every single muscle in his body, down to his heart, organs, and tendons, was composed of countless thousands of black fibers. Each was finer than a strand of hair, yet possessed the hardness and toughness of iron wire!

Even the outermost layer of his skin...

...was brutally resilient!

In the Beast King Domain, it had been a layer of topaz-like keratin.

Upon entering the Heroic Domain,

...it had transformed into a nearly one-centimeter-thick, crystal-clear ”iron hide.”

If an ordinary person were to slash at him with a blade,

...sparks would fly, the blade’s edge would shatter, and the force of the impact would split the webbing of their hand.

In short,

Wu Dao had completely shed his mortal flesh. It would be no exaggeration to call him a man of steel.

Unrivaled on the field of battle!

An army of thousands, no match for a single hero’s might!

This saying from his past life...

...vividly described the power of a Heaven Stealer in the Heroic Domain. They had completely transcended the limits of biology!

Superhuman strength, superhuman endurance, superhuman recovery, near-sonic speed, a Steel Body, and a precognitive sense of danger—born from a transformed Spiritual Perception—that surpassed that of any animal!

As the creator of the Essence Devouring Art,

Wu Dao knew exactly how terrifying the Heroic Domain was. The Beast King Domain was utterly insignificant in comparison!

And upon reaching Great Success and pushing to the Limit,

one’s overall Physique and abilities would more than double. Supersonic movement would become effortless, and one could easily obliterate someone from the previous stage.

A monster of this caliber,

if placed in a world without obvious Extraordinary powers and with primitive technology,

could topple an entire nation just by playing games, assuming they were bent on destruction and avoided direct confrontation.

This was also why the ”old humans” of his past life had hated Heaven Stealers with a vengeance, to the point of launching a global war against them.

The gap was simply too vast.

They were on completely different planes of existence.

The Killing Artifacts of the old era, the culmination of the wisdom of countless people who had sacrificed themselves one after another, were nothing more than toys before a powerful Heaven Stealer.

How could they not be terrified?

The founder of the Heaven Stealers, Wu Dao, was a ”madman” who disregarded all morality, and those who followed his path would naturally become madmen as well.

’What if, one day, this pack of madmen decides to eliminate all old humans and rule the world?’

Be prepared for danger in times of peace.

No one can coexist peacefully with beings who could crush them as easily as an ant at any given moment.

But Wu Dao felt they were overthinking things.

’Why would a soaring dragon care about ants?’

’Would eliminating old humans make me any stronger?’

’There was no sense of accomplishment in such an act.’

’I wouldn’t even deign to do it.’

However,

at that time, he had been trapped, unable to advance beyond the 100% Potential Liberation Domain.

In order to find a way out,

he had restrained the high-level Heaven Stealers and allowed the old humans to grow powerful, all so they would forge a ”key” for him.

Unfortunately...

In the end, the key was forged.

But he had failed to take it.

But even having ”died” once,

Wu Dao felt not a shred of regret. To him, the meaning of life was to constantly break through his Limits and seek the ultimate endpoint of evolution.

If he were to stagnate, unable to advance, living a life of mediocrity...

...he would rather die!

’If I faced another Flesh and Blood Tai Sui right now, I could crush it to death in under a minute in my normal state. As for the likes of Meng Qingshuang... a hundred of her would be nothing more than ants!’

Wu Dao clenched his fists, sparks flying as they ground against each other like metal on metal. He now had a clear understanding of his current strength.

He could easily crush any Extraordinary Creature that had undergone a single Rebirth.

As for those who had undergone a Second Rebirth...

...a Cocoon Breaker in the Dark Force stage...

...he had never fought one, so he couldn’t be sure.

However, he suspected there wouldn’t be a qualitative difference. In a life-or-death struggle, he was fully confident of victory.

Because,

after entering the Heroic Domain,

he could now perfectly adapt to Divine Ghost Heaven, the first of the Three Secret Techniques of Essence Devouring.

Without endangering his own life,

Wu Dao could now maintain the Divine, Ghostly, Celestial Release for at least thirty minutes, relying solely on his own Life Force.

A two-hundred-percent release of his body’s functions!

The boost to his current strength was more than just brutal—it was savagery itself!