Essence Devouring Art

What do you mean, ”just blow it away”?

The ruins of Lin Village were situated in a valley, surrounded by mountains on all sides. After years of neglect, the surrounding woods had grown dense and thick. It barely saw any sunlight, let alone a gentle breeze.

Otherwise,

the Yin Fog wouldn’t still be lingering inside even when it was broad daylight outside.

’Does this Wu Dao have the power to command the wind?’

Commanding the wind.

Wu Dao couldn’t do that.

But he could create a hurricane himself!

INHALE!

A long breath of air surged into his lungs.

The speed of the qi and blood coursing through Wu Dao’s body kicked up another notch, and his already furnace-hot Physique began to glow with a blinding radiance.

He truly began to radiate light and heat like a small sun, scorching the air until it warped and setting the roof beams on fire. Not far away, even Ding Bai found the intense heat unbearable.

CLANG! CLANG!

With the sound of grinding steel machinery, Wu Dao’s crimson body visibly shot up in height. Majestic as a mountain, he transformed from a man into a five-meter-tall, awe-inspiring giant whale in the blink of an eye.

His muscles coiled around his body like the gnarled roots of ancient trees. His limbs were as thick as a whale’s waist, his fists shaped like a whale’s head, all exuding a brutal, tyrannical beauty. He radiated a raging Blood Flame, casting a vast, terrifying shadow.

Six-layered Giant Whale Dominating Body!

On the foundation of his Heroic Great Success Physique, he now wielded the power of six giant whales!

A potent, searing, explosive power coursed ceaselessly through his body.

Wu Dao felt as if his body had become a volcano on the verge of eruption, capable of pulverizing the entire Lin Village with a single punch.

Of course,

this was just an illusion brought on by the massive surge in his Power.

But even so, he was utterly terrifying in this state!

FWOOSH—

With a single exhalation,

a ten-foot torrent of crimson Blood Flame erupted from Wu Dao’s terrifying, volcano-like mouth. The surrounding area for dozens of meters became a roiling sea of blood and fire, burning away much of the Yin Fog. He truly looked like the lord of a fiery Purgatory descending upon the mortal world.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH—

Waves of scorching Yang Qi crashed outwards.

Ding Bai’s eyelids twitched uncontrollably as he instinctively dragged his creaking Soul Shield backward.

He had no idea what Wu Dao was planning.

But he knew one thing for sure: if he stayed with this monster any longer, he’d be burned to a crisp long before they found the ”big hedgehog.”

CLANG! CLANG!

After unleashing his Giant Whale Dominating Body,

Wu Dao shook his head, which was the size of a water tank, and glanced at the retreating Ding Bai. Without a word, he stomped his foot, shattering the earth, and his terrifying figure instantly vanished from sight.

’What in the world is he trying to...?’

Ding Bai was completely bewildered.

But before he could finish the thought, a violent, deafening sonic boom ripped through the air beside him.

BOOM!!

RUMBLE—

The next instant,

the entire valley containing Lin Village began to shake violently, as if it had been dropped into a Thunder Pool.

The sound of thunderous explosions echoed relentlessly, a constant bombardment that cracked the village’s adobe houses and flattened its thatched huts. Countless pebbles and stones trembled and rolled across the ground.

HSSS...

The continuous sonic bombardment made Ding Bai’s eardrums ache and his clothes whip about wildly in the wind.

At the same time,

he could clearly feel a violently swirling airflow forming within Lin Village, sweeping countless bits of thatch up into the sky.

’Is he really creating wind by himself?’

Ding Bai’s face twitched.

A Martial Artist who had undergone their Third Rebirth could also break the sound barrier and generate a gale-force wind by running.

But only for a short period.

Their body’s strength and mass simply couldn’t withstand the immense air pressure for long. The moment their Power faltered, they would lose their footing and be sent flying helplessly.

’Is the body of someone who has passed the second gate of Horizontal Training this terrifying?’

Ding Bai began to question his entire understanding of the world.

RUMBLE—

The continuous thunder of sonic booms reverberated through the valley. The swirling airflow in the village grew more and more terrifying, gradually forming a raging gale.

From the edge of the valley,

looking down from above, one could clearly see a crimson meteor running in supersonic circles, pushing against a visible shockwave. He was moving so fast that it created an optical illusion, making it look as though a fiery dragon were encircling the entire valley.

A normal Physique,

even one running at supersonic speeds, could not have generated such a horrifying gale and shockwave.

But the majestic, heavy, steel-like form of the Giant Whale Dominating Body was different.

Its massive surface area, combined with its supersonic circular sprint, caused the swirling air to quickly form a powerful tornado that tore through the entirety of Lin Village with a deafening roar.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The moment the tornado formed,

one by one, the simple thatched huts were ripped into the sky. The adobe-and-tile houses, already cracked by the sonic bombardment, shattered as countless tiles went flying. The sky-blotting dust and debris, mixed with the Yin Fog, were all swept up into the heavens.

When in doubt, level the map!

Wu Dao had no interest in playing some puzzle game with that ”big hedgehog.” He would just destroy the entire area and see how it could possibly hide then!

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH—

Sonic booms shuddered and air currents swirled.

In a matter of moments, the ruins of Lin Village had been turned into a war-torn wasteland. The Yin Fog that had shrouded the valley was completely swept away by the tornado, leaving nothing behind.

Ding Bai felt as if a cool breeze had swept through his mind, leaving it crystal clear. The pervasive Spiritual Contamination was gone. He looked up to see the warm light of the sun shining down, illuminating a clear sky and a bright landscape.

’He really did blow it away.’

’In a way like this...’

For a moment, Ding Bai was completely stunned.

”Found you!”

A thunderous roar echoed through the valley, instantly snapping Ding Bai back to his senses.

It felt as if a meteor had crashed into the earth. The ground shook violently, and another layer of the surrounding ruins came crashing down with a great RUMBLE.

At the edge of his vision, a terrifying, crimson-flamed demonic figure tore through the Gangfeng curtain, plummeting from the sky and crashing into the dry, cracked pond at the center of the village with the force of a collapsing mountain.

BOOM!!

Innumerable shards of earth and stone burst into the sky, blotting out the sun. The pond, fifty or sixty meters across, was blasted into a deep crater. A terrifying, ring-shaped shockwave kicked up roiling clouds of dust that swept across all of Lin Village.

”Sigh...”

Amidst the flying debris and billowing gray smoke, a sigh echoed faintly:

”The living do not know the value of life, while the dead still pray for pity.

Isn’t it good to be alive?”

CLATTER CLATTER~

The debris rained down.

In the downpour, a ’person’ stood at the edge of the crater, seeming both real and illusory. Their moon-white robes fluttered in the wind, and from the back, they looked like a well-read scholar.

In the center of the crater, Wu Dao, who looked like a tyrant of red flames, slowly raised his massive, ferocious head. Eyes like small lanterns shot out jets of Blood Flame as he stared greedily at the strange ’man’ on the crater’s edge.

The strangeness lay in the fact that

the figure seemed neither human nor gu. It lacked any sinister or bizarre aura, appearing more like a piece of Spiritual Jade born from a stone, full of Spirituality and divinity.

Its entire body was translucent, glowing with a jade-like luster. It stood with its hands clasped behind its back, its face constantly shifting—man and woman, old and young, a hundred different human faces, all exceptionally bizarre.

The one constant

was that regardless of the face, a Three-Layered Black Lotus bloomed between its brows. And every face stared at the flame-demon-like Wu Dao with a look of profound compassion, like that of a Buddha or a Saint.

The contrast was jarring.

For a moment,

it was impossible to tell which one was the hero vanquishing the demon.

”Life is indeed precious.”

Wu Dao slowly straightened his massive frame, his Blood Flame-spewing eyes shining with pure, violent greed. ”But the living are mediocre, muddled, and weak. What use is their life?

Therefore...

That which makes me mediocre must not live!

By devouring the saintly, all can be...

DEVOURED!!!”

BOOM!!

Amidst his frenzied roar, the crater disintegrated and collapsed once more.

In the span of a heartbeat,

the colossal, crimson-flamed demon crushed the Gangfeng Qi Flow. A terrifying, fiery fist, shaped like a whale’s head and carrying the power to shatter mountains and split seas—a single, tyrannical strike of the Whale Shark Island—slammed viciously into the Stone God’s chest.

BAM!

A sea of Power exploded outwards.

The Stone God instantly shattered into innumerable jade fragments that shot out in all directions like a spray of bullets, piercing through the air.

’An instant kill?’

’No!’

Wu Dao slowly retracted his fist, his expression turning grim. His Perception Power, enhanced by Thunder Listening to the Micro Level, instantly locked onto each of the surrounding jade fragments as they began to emit a faint glow.

GURGLE...

The next moment, the fragments took root where they landed and began to grow, gradually taking on humanoid shapes.

In the blink of an eye,

an army of majestic stone men had grown from the ground. They wielded weapons and wore armor, looking just like Celestial Soldiers and Generals. They formed an iron ring around Wu Dao, their eyes wide with fury.

””Those who disrespect a god shall be executed!””

The thunderous rebuke rumbled through the valley, as if the heavens themselves were enraged and had sent down Celestial Soldiers and Generals to slay a Demon.

”What a ’big hedgehog.’ It’s really become a major threat!”

From a distance, Ding Bai watched as Wu Dao was surrounded by a sea of stone soldiers, his expression full of worry.

A Fierce Gu with a Three-Layered Black Lotus

was equivalent to a Martial Artist at their Third Rebirth. But in terms of overall strength, even an Innate Martial Artist would find it a thorny problem. Only those who practiced Immortal Dao Qi Refining could handle it with ease.

Although Wu Dao’s Physique was tyrannical and he had crossed the threshold of the second gate of Horizontal Training, he was still not an Innate Martial Artist.

Relying on his own power alone,

it would be impossible for him to defeat this Three-Layered Black Lotus Fierce Gu!

”Sigh, if only I were stronger...”

Ding Bai sighed in self-mockery.

He wanted to help, but he was powerless to do so.

Earlier this morning, he and his colleague had been trapped in the Yin Fog. By the time Wu Dao arrived, their Divine Souls had already endured prolonged torment.

If not for the Soul-Controlling Talisman Jade issued by the Jingzhe Bureau, which protected their Divine Souls from corrosion, the two of them would have perished long ago.

But even with the Soul-Controlling Talisman Jade,

his condition was still terrible.

The slightest mental exertion made him break out in a cold sweat, his head throbbing as if it were about to explode. Joining the fray was out of the question.

However,

there was one thing Ding Bai couldn’t understand.

Wu Dao couldn’t possibly have missed the Three-Layered Black Lotus on the Stone God’s brow. So why, knowing the fight was unwinnable, did he continue to act so recklessly and provoke it?

Was he just ignorant and fearless?

Or did he have another ace up his sleeve?

BAM! BAM! BAM!

While Ding Bai was lost in thought, the distant ”Celestial Soldiers and Generals” were already displaying a myriad of Martial Arts as they began to besiege the Red Flame Demon King, Wu Dao. The clang of stone against his steel-like body sent sparks flying everywhere.

He had no idea where these stone men could have learned so many different Martial Arts; Ding Bai even saw hints of the Overlord Whale Fist, famous throughout Guangqing Prefecture, in one of the stone men’s movements.

However...

it was less a siege of Wu Dao by the Celestial Soldiers and Generals and more a one-sided slaughter.

Wreathed in Blood Flame and radiating a tyrannical, primeval aura, Wu Dao’s terrifying Giant Whale Dominating Body was like a giant rampaging through a slum.

His strength was unparalleled, shaking the very earth with every move.

Every punch and kick of his Micro Level Overlord Whale Fist carried immense momentum, blowing apart one stone man after another and sending showers of shattered rock flying through the air.

But strangely,

after the stone men were shattered into pieces,

the fragments would take root and grow into new, slightly smaller Celestial Soldiers and Generals. They were truly impossible to kill.

”Enough! I’m done with these little tricks!”

At a certain point,

Wu Dao finally grew annoyed. He came to an abrupt halt, his roar like rolling thunder. The crimson flames spewing from his eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and every pore of his skin suddenly flared to a new intensity.

FWOOSH—

His Qi and Blood Burning Prison enveloped an area dozens of meters wide.

The terrifying heat within the prison warped the air and shattered the very ground. The stone men turned black, then red-hot, their movements becoming sluggish. Before any could take more than two steps, they all melted into pools of molten lava.