Essence Devouring Art

Jin Hai County lay south of Guangqing Prefecture, situated on the Luoyang Plateau, whose elevation steadily climbed. Although the county land was flat, it was a place of yellow earth and wind-blown sand, marked by drastic temperature swings between day and night. Rain fell almost exclusively in autumn.

As a result of this harsh environment,

The people here truly lived a life of toil on the land, most of them surviving by planting a superior strain of wheat, one resistant to both drought and cold.

Every early autumn,

When the wheat was on the cusp of ripening, standing tall and robust,

Viewed from the vast sky above, the endless tracts of golden wheat fields resembled ocean waves—a magnificent sight that gave Jin Hai County its name.

RUMBLE—

A sea of thunder roiled as the sky turned black as ink.

Across the yellow earth, a gale howled, carrying clouds of sand. As far as the eye could see, the world was dim and hazy.

This autumn was far too strange.

Thunderstorms in Jin Hai County were far more frequent than in past years, and the accompanying gales created immense difficulties for both work and daily life.

”With all these days of thunderstorms and gales, there’s no escaping a major drop in the wheat yield this year.”

On the main road winding through the fields,

Aboard a tall horse, Chen Hong, his skin slightly tanned, glanced at the vast swathes of flattened wheat in the distance and sighed in pity.

”What does it matter to us?”

A lean man on another horse grinned callously.

”As long as the Overlord Whale Alliance stands, we won’t starve. And isn’t meat better than grain anyway?”

”Meat’s nothing.”

The last man, a portly fellow with his chest and belly exposed, smacked his lips.

”If this is real, we’re talking ten thousand taels. Feasting on the finest fish and meat every day would be nothing.”

”Heh, you’ve got a point.”

Hearing this, Chen Hong and the lean man both straightened up, a glint of greed in their eyes.

「A few days ago.」

An order had come down from the northern headquarters.

A notice was posted offering a bounty for information on Alien Species. If proven true, the reward was ten thousand taels of silver. It caused a sensation throughout Guangqing Prefecture.

As the saying goes: great rewards bring forth brave men.

The Jianghu was suddenly flooded with a new wave of ”Bounty Hunters.”

Whether acting alone or in groups, they scoured the land for bizarre rumors and strange tales, or delved deep into ancient forests, each hoping to be the lucky one.

Risk was nothing.

Ten thousand taels!

In this day and age, who knew how many people would trample each other to death for a chance at that kind of money!

Chen Hong and his two companions from the Luoshan County hall were among these thousands of Bounty Hunters.

The three of them weren’t particularly strong.

The strongest of them, Chen Hong, had only just reached Nourishing Power Great Success. His influence was limited, and he was usually the one getting pushed around.

「A few days prior.」

The three had gathered and drunkenly boasted of their grand ambitions, but once sober, they went back to their old routines, with no clue how to even begin.

Luckily, perhaps because their luck was finally turning, the three of them happened to overhear a strange tale from a traveler last night.

The traveler spoke of a place in the county called Harvest Village. Despite days of violent storms, its wheat fields remained standing. The story was so miraculous that locals claimed it was the blessing of a grain deity.

Such superstitious talk of Gods and Ghosts.

The three of them didn’t buy it.

Few Martial Refiners believed in any so-called Divine Buddhas. To them, the truly powerful were akin to gods themselves.

Their suspicions piqued, the three made hasty preparations. Without notifying their Hall Master and hoping to keep the score for themselves, they grabbed their weapons and galloped toward Harvest Village at the crack of dawn.

The reason they still hadn’t arrived by evening...

Was because...

”Wait, are you sure this place even exists?”

After riding for dozens more miles and straying far from the main road, the three halted once more. The lean Zhuo Jun stared at the map in his hand, his brow furrowed in frustration.

He looked up at their surroundings.

The altitude was now so high it felt like they were brushing against the black clouds overhead. The wind moaned and howled. All they could see was a desolate, vast expanse of dark red gullies and desert. Forget people—there wasn’t even a single bird in sight.

’A village in a place like this?’

’Growing wheat, no less?’

’What a load of crap!’

Zhuo Jun felt like they’d been had.

”We’re not there yet, what’s the hurry?”

Yang Long, his chest and belly exposed, snatched the map. He squinted, comparing the terrain around them to the map, and finally pointed to a high, dark red slope ahead.

”I heard him loud and clear. He said we’d see Harvest Village as soon as we cross this Red Mountain. We’ve come all this way; we have to at least take a look, right?”

RUMBLE—

Just then, the sound of thunder exploding across the sky grew louder. The rolling peals sounded like dragons of lightning racing right overhead, making all three of them tremble.

The gale began to carry larger raindrops, which pelted their bodies and added to the chill.

A downpour was imminent!

”Forget whether it’s real or not! We need to find shelter from the rain, now!”

Chen Hong urged, his brow furrowed.

The sky was dark, the cold rain relentless. He felt a chill not just in his body, but also a growing, inexplicable unease in his heart.

”HYAH!”

The three spurred their horses on again.

「A few minutes later.」

The three men and their horses crested Red Mountain. They immediately scanned their surroundings.

”This...”

The next moment,

The three of them froze.

There, in a basin below the desolate Red Mountain,

Vast fields of golden wheat undulated in the gale but did not break. At the far end of the fields stood a grove of lush green trees, and nestled within, the faint outline of a village of about a hundred households. A straight, dark red path led out from the village, bisecting the vast fields.

At the entrance to the dark red dirt path,

stood an archway, upon which were the two blurry words: Harvest Village.

At a glance,

It was like an oasis, a veritable paradise in the middle of the arid desert.

It was jarringly out of place.

There was an indescribable feeling of strangeness about it.

”This village...”

Chen Hong gazed down at Harvest Village, the bizarre feeling in his heart intensifying.

Harvest Village wasn’t large. It was rectangular in shape, roughly two or three miles wide and five miles long, qualifying it as little more than a small hamlet.

The strange thing was,

It was too perfect.

Every plot of wheat looked as if it had been measured with a ruler—perfectly uniform, not an inch too wide or too long.

The village at the far end...

The houses in the village at the far end all looked as if they’d been stamped from the same mold, with virtually no variation.

And then there were the trees...

He couldn’t identify the species, but it was already autumn on an arid plateau with no visible water source. How were they still so lush and verdant?

And finally, the wheat.

So dense and tall!

As the wind swept through, the countless stalks—each taller than a man—moved as one, so densely packed that not a speck of soil could be seen between them as they swayed.

The entire village...

Was like...

It was like a colored ink-wash painting.

Vibrant with life, yet dissonant and jarring. It lacked the sense of reality that came from blending with its surroundings.

CRACKLE!

WHOOSH—

Just as Chen Hong hesitated,

A dragon of lightning lit up the sky, striking a nearby peak and sending dirt and rock flying. The heavens opened up as if the Celestial River had burst its dams, flooding the world. Their vision blurred in an instant.

”What are you spacing out for? You want to get struck by lightning?!”

Zhuo Jun and Yang Long, terrified by the lightning strike, hurriedly soothed their horses and yelled at the dazed Chen Hong.

Then, braving the stinging downpour, they dragged their horses and bolted toward Harvest Village below.

”Hey, be careful—”

Chen Hong called out instinctively, his heart filled with a growing sense of foreboding.

But the two men and their horses were already far ahead. He could only grit his teeth and drag his own mount after them.

By the time the three of them had stumbled and scrambled their way into the boundaries of Harvest Village,

their clothes were soaked through, their bodies were caked in mud, and they were cold, exhausted, and utterly miserable.

”Don’t go into the village!!”

Chen Hong remained wary. Wiping the rain from his face, he grabbed the other two as they were about to enter the village. He pointed to the dense wheat field beside them. ”We can take shelter in there.”

But...

”We’re starving. If you’re too scared to go, then stay here by yourself. Leave us out of it.”

Zhuo Jun and Yang Long shot back impatiently. They turned and disappeared down the dark red path into the gloom, not once looking back.

Faintly,

he could still hear the rumbling of their empty stomachs.

’Those two bastards. It’d be better if they dropped dead!’

Unable to stop them, Chen Hong could only curse them inwardly. He tied his horse to a large rock at the village entrance and slipped alone into the dense wheat.

The wall of wheat was dense.

Practically impenetrable.

After quickly carving out a small hollow for himself, the rain no longer beat down on him. Chen Hong wrung out his sopping clothes and finally let out a sigh of relief.

RUMBLE~

The rumbling of his stomach was sharp and clear in the small hollow.

He had been on the move all day.

He hadn’t brought much food.

And now, soaked by the cold rain.

What little food he had for Energy was long since gone.

Fortunately, Chen Hong had known starvation in his youth, and his willpower was decent. He steadied himself, took a swig from his waterskin, and managed to suppress the pangs of hunger.

But...

RUMBLE~

A moment later,

The hunger he had just suppressed came roaring back without warning, ten, even a hundred times stronger.

Chen Hong’s throat convulsed. His eyes glazed over as visions of exquisite food filled his mind. He was so hungry he felt he could eat a pile of dog dung.

WHOOSH~

Just then, a cold wind swept through.

The air filled with a sweet aroma. It seemed to come from all directions at once, rich and all-pervasive.

The source of the fragrance—

The wheat!

Plump grains.

Each one the size of a peanut.

RUSTLE!

Dizzy with hunger, Chen Hong’s caution flew to the Nine heavens. He reached out and tore off several heavy stalks. With his eyes a strange, feverish red, he shoved the raw wheat into his mouth.

CRUNCH!

A flash of lightning illuminated the world.

In the fleeting flash of lightning,

As Chen Hong chewed, the grains burst open, their ’skin’ splitting to reveal kernels as red as fresh blood. As he crushed them, the juice quickly stained his teeth crimson.

CRUNCH CRUNCH—

The sound of chewing rose and fell.

Handful after handful.

Like a man possessed by a hungry ghost, Chen Hong stuffed one handful of raw wheat after another into his mouth. The red liquid dribbling from the corners of his lips soon turned him into a living Blood Gourd.

It wasn’t just him.

The horse tied to the rock outside his hollow...

...had also gone mad.

Its eyes glowed red as it tore at the wheat by the roadside—a truly horrifying sight.

WHOOSH~

The rain had subsided, leaving only a cold wind sweeping across the fields.

Except for the rustling of wind through the wheat, the whole of Harvest Village was deathly still.

”AH!!”

At a certain moment,

A blood-curdling scream of terror rang out from the village, shattering the silence and carrying far into the distance.

Gah—

Hearing the scream, the frenzied Chen Hong shuddered and snapped back to his senses.

He looked down.

In his hand, the blood-red kernels, which seemed to possess a life of their own, writhed like maggots.

He threw them down instantly, his face pale as death.

”What the hell is this?!”

THUMP THUMP THUMP—

But before he could react,

frantic footsteps sounded on the path outside, accompanied by the splashing of water.

Chen Hong peered out from his hiding place.

It was Yang Long, covered in blood, scrambling and stumbling in a desperate flight, looking as though he’d just escaped from Hell.

THUD!

Yang Long collapsed just in front of the hollow. He looked up at Chen Hong, his eyes wide with terror. ”Run... run... AHH!!”

Before he could finish, veins bulged all over his body, and his eyes nearly popped from their sockets, as if he were suffering the agony of a thousand cuts, of ten thousand ants burrowing into his heart.

From Chen Hong’s perspective,

He could clearly see something under Yang Long’s skin—countless insect-like things gnawing, writhing, and swelling, filling his body to the bursting point, about to break free.

RRRRIP—

The sound of tearing cloth rang out.

And then...

”AHH!!!”

Reflected in Chen Hong’s shrinking pupils was a monster so terrifying it made his very soul tremble. He let out an uncontrollable, hysterical scream that pierced the night sky.

...

「The next day, at dusk.」

RUMBLE—

In the distant, dark sky over Luoshan County, a series of thunderous explosions suddenly erupted.

Mortals along the road looked up in shock.

But all they could see was a cone-shaped vapor trail in the distant, dark sky, a shockwave moving at incredible speed. It streaked across the sky and fell like a meteor into the county seat.

The Overlord Whale Alliance hall in Luoshan County.

CLATTER—

A fierce gust of wind swept through, rattling thousands of roof tiles.

After the gust passed,

Wu Dao, who had been streaking through the sky at supersonic speed, landed in the hall’s spacious Martial Arts Arena.

With a flicker of his Spiritual Thoughts,

a cold and tyrannical voice echoed in the mind of every Martial Artist in the hall:

”Where is the Luoshan Hall Master? Present yourself to me at once!”

A moment later,

Shi Xiuyi, the Luoshan Hall Master, rushed to the Martial Arts Arena, wiping cold sweat from his brow and leading a group of the hall’s senior members. They cupped their fists and knelt on one knee before Wu Dao.

”Luoshan Hall Master Shi Xiuyi greets the Alliance Leader! May the Alliance Leader live for ten thousand years, ruling for a thousand...”