Essence Devouring Art

A Fighting General!

Yang Wufeng and Nangong Hao’s expressions changed drastically.

In the wars of the Extraordinary World, soldiers fought soldiers, and generals fought generals.

This was an unwritten rule.

If anyone broke this rule, their opponent would be justified in using their superior strength to slaughter armies, massacre civilians, and even send a Great Power to bully the weak—obliterating them with a single palm strike.

Thus, the tradition of the Fighting General had flourished since ancient times.

A general was the core of an army’s morale.

This was especially true in the Extraordinary World, where a single person’s Martial Power could overcome thousands, even tens of thousands, of soldiers. A general was the very Essence, Qi, and Spirit of an army, their Stabilizing Needle.

Given these circumstances, the pros and cons of a Fighting General were obvious.

The two armies would each send out a great general to face off.

It was fair and just.

The victor’s army would have their morale soar, their momentum becoming unstoppable.

If a side didn’t dare to accept the challenge, or if they lost, their army’s morale and Battle Intent would plummet. They wouldn’t be able to exert even half their strength and might even lose the will to resist entirely!

”A Fighting General could tie down the experts from the other seven fronts, preventing them from providing support, but there’s a problem with that...”

Nangong Hao said, fanning himself with his feather fan, his eyes glinting.

”Experts at the Land Immortal and Heavenly Human Realm no longer care for worldly wealth. The Overlord Whale Alliance’s resources shouldn’t be enough to hire someone like that.

So... who in Pingliang City will be the Fighting General?”

BOOM!!

The moment Nangong Hao finished speaking, a tremendous, deafening crash echoed out, as if a Celestial Divine Mountain had fallen just outside the city. The shockwave spread through Pingliang, rattling the roof tiles of every home.

Ringing out at the same time was a wild, tyrannical voice, like a thunderclap from the Nine Heavens, brimming with boundless arrogance—

”Wu Dao of the Overlord Whale Alliance challenges Pingliang to a Fighting General! Who will fight me?!”

——

High in the vast expanse of the sky, astral winds howled, and a brilliant light formed a protective shroud.

Two figures rode a White Jade Treasure Ship, cutting through the wind and waves. They had just caught sight of Pingliang City’s silhouette

when a wild, tyrannical voice that pierced the Nine Heavens echoed in their ears—

”Wu Dao of the Overlord Whale Alliance challenges Pingliang to a Fighting General! Who will fight me?!”

WHOOSH~

The White Jade Treasure Ship came to an abrupt halt.

”He actually dares...”

Zhou Zhiyin’s beautiful eyes gazed down at the land below. She took a deep breath as she stared at the sky-propping figure standing with a flag on his shoulder above a crater at the city gates.

”What fierce Fist Intent!”

A deep voice, like the tolling of a great bell, rang out.

Beside Zhou Zhiyin, a man with his arms crossed looked on with utter admiration. He was dressed like a farmer, with swarthy skin and muscles that towered like mountains.

”With that Fist Intent alone, this boy could dominate anyone in his generation on Martial King Mountain.”

Prince Nanyang was confident, but not arrogant.

Although he had great faith in Wu Dao for certain reasons, he still took precautions.

Today, he had sent Gu Qianhuang, a Heavenly Human expert from Martial King Mountain, to Pingliang County to back up the Overlord Whale Alliance.

As for Zhou Zhiyin, she had come along purely out of curiosity, throwing a small tantrum to get her way.

However, judging by the admiring tone of Gu Qianhuang, an expert at the Second Floor of Fist Intent, Zhou Zhiyin felt that the Nanyang Prince’s Mansion might not need to intervene today after all.

...

「Within Pingliang County City.」

”Wu Dao of the Overlord Whale Alliance challenges Pingliang to a Fighting General! Who will fight me?!”

”Wu Dao of the Overlord Whale Alliance challenges Pingliang to a Fighting General! Who will fight me?!”

The wild, tyrannical voice echoed for a long time.

The sound waves it carried roared like dragons and tigers, clanging and ringing throughout the city like a sharp blow to the head, making people’s ears ring and their vision blur. Their minds fell into Chaos, and many were on the verge of fainting.

WOOOOO—

The moment the voice faded, the horns of the military camps in Pingliang City began to sound.

”Enemy attack!”

”All troops, form up! Quickly move out of the city to engage!”

”The East Gate! It’s at the East City Gate!”

The calls were high-pitched and urgent. A tide of soldiers, carrying a soaring, murderous aura, quickly assembled and rushed toward the East City Gate.

”You insolent bandit! This is too much!!”

Sikong Lie stood high in the sky, his gaze fixed on Wu Dao, who was challenging the city all by himself. The fury in his eyes was almost tangible.

’Who the hell do you think you are?!!’

’A one-man Fighting General to attack the city?’

’Not even someone at the Celestial Human Second Floor would dare!’

’But you, Wu Dao, you dare!’

’Fine!’

’Just fine!’

CLANG—

The sound of metal tearing through the air rang out.

A great crimson Red Flame Spear, wreathed in fiery patterns, shot out from the Governor’s Mansion armory toward the sky, where it was caught in Sikong Lie’s hand.

Then, he shot out from the city like a tumbling ball of fire, trailing a rumbling sonic boom.

Behind him were Yang Wufeng and Sikong Hao, their expressions equally grim.

One man challenging an entire city!

Whether it was madness or arrogance, he was stomping the face of the Pingliang Royalist Faction into the dust.

This humiliation was more than enough to infuriate them.

...

「On the walls of Pingliang City’s East Gate.」

Guo Chao, a Captain of the Divine Crossbow Camp, his eyes like a falcon’s, stared fixedly at Wu Dao standing in the sky outside the city, holding the Dragon Whale flag. He gritted his teeth and roared at the heavens:

”Wu the bandit, you treacherous, wicked fiend!

You’re nothing but a backwoods ruffian who only got where he is today by using dirty tricks! Do you really think you’re somebody now? You think you’re worthy of challenging Pingliang?

Where is the Divine Crossbow Camp?

Shoot him! Shoot him down!!”

TWANG! TWANG! TWANG!

On the city wall, the sound of the Breaking Gang Crossbows—which could only be drawn by those in the Cocoon-Breaking Realm—filled the air as their strings were pulled taut. The screech of Spirit Iron was enough to set one’s teeth on edge.

High in the sky, Wu Dao glanced at the crossbow formation on the wall, where hundreds of men were drawing their bows in unison. He looked at the white jade bolts, as thick as a baby’s arm, and could sense the Spirit Gathering Arrays carved into them.

Once fired, the bolts, empowered by the Array, would devour and concentrate nature’s spiritual energy to form a deadly point. Their power was enough to threaten even a Grandmaster. ’This must be the work of that Nangong Hao and his Artifact Refining,’ he thought.

But to the current Wu Dao, they were nothing more than toys.

”Don’t fire!!”

Just as the Breaking Gang Crossbow bolts were nocked and ready, a sharp rebuke rang out, approaching from the distance and halting the crossbowmen’s actions.

’Tch!’

Wu Dao’s eyes narrowed, and he let out a cold sneer.

The next moment...

BOOM!

An explosive sonic boom ripped through the air.

Empowered by a Magnetic Field, the fine steel flagpole transformed into a black bolt of lightning, shooting through the sky like a railgun blast aimed straight at Guo Chao on the city wall!

’Filthy mouth!’

’Then you don’t need it anymore!’

In less than the blink of an eye, the black lightning had pierced Guo Chao from head to toe before his expression could even shift to terror. The Power it carried instantly tore him into countless bloody fragments.

BOOM!

An explosion erupted!

After piercing Guo Chao, the flagpole’s momentum didn’t diminish in the slightest as it slammed viciously into the thick city wall.

A majestic Power exploded outward, instantly shattering the massive wall and blowing open a huge gap several hundred meters wide. One by one, crossbowmen and soldiers were violently thrown aside by the shockwave like rag dolls.

VMMMM!

The Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi surged like a tumultuous sea.

It gathered into the shape of a bowl, cupping the exploding section of the wall. The rampaging Power within this ’bowl’ was instantly suppressed.

The flying earth and stone, along with the scattered soldiers, were all frozen in place by the restraint of the Primordial Qi before being gently set down, preventing a greater disaster.

Wu Dao was not surprised by this at all. His abyss-black eyes locked onto Sikong Lie’s group of three as they sped toward him, as if they were his prey.

Finally, his gaze settled on the leader, Sikong Lie, who was clad in fiery red robes and wielding the Red Flame Spear.

’That move just now... that must have been the work of this Heavenly Martial Artist.’

’Only he would have the ability to control the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi from two or three li away, gathering it into a shield and micromanaging it to save several hundred people.’

The Heavenly Human Realm for a Martial Artist is divided into Three Realms.

The first is the Divine Sea Realm.

In this realm, not only does the Dantian’s capacity expand, causing the Primordial Liquid to turn from a river into a sea, but one can also absorb Heaven and Earth Attribute Energy like Gold, Wood, Water, and Fire, integrating it into the sea of Primordial Liquid. The Power one wields is on a completely different level from a Land Immortal.

More importantly, the Divine Sea is called the Divine Sea because not only does the Dantian Primordial Qi transform into a sea, but one can also freely control an external sea of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi of an equivalent scale. This is what it truly means to command the Power of Heaven and Earth.

It’s unlike the Innate Realm, where one must first absorb high-energy gas into the body before it can be converted into one’s own Power, then compressed and refined in the Dantian to be unleashed with Mighty Power.

”Since you called for a Fighting General, why did you still attack them?”

Sikong Lie hovered in the air opposite Wu Dao. After glancing down at the collapsed section of the wall and the heavily wounded soldiers, he snapped his head up, his eyes blazing. Raging crimson flames practically shot out of his pupils.

”Because he answered the challenge,” Wu Dao said, watching the furious Sikong Lie with his dark eyes. He grinned, revealing a set of inhumanly ferocious, shark-like teeth, as if stating the most normal thing in the world.

”Oh, right.”

Wu Dao rolled his neck, producing a series of cracking sounds like Divine Iron striking Divine Iron. He looked past Sikong Lie at Yang Wufeng and Nangong Hao, the curve of his lips growing even more vicious.

”If the two of you don’t answer my challenge and try to go reinforce the front lines, then the Battle General Platform will be the entire city of Pingliang!”

”You animal! Do you have any idea how many people are in Pingliang City?”

Yang Wufeng took a step forward, his Treasure Sword ringing. An unparalleled, sharp intent violently sliced through the void. He was furious to the extreme.

”I think you’ve misunderstood something.”

Wu Dao gave Yang Wufeng a strange look. ”The choice isn’t mine, it’s yours.

Fight, and all will be well.

With nothing to gain and no grudges between us, I have no interest in bullying the weak.

Don’t fight... Tsk, and that would make you the cold-blooded and heartless ones.

How could you possibly blame that on me?”

”Do you really think you have us cornered?!”

Sikong Lie’s eyes narrowed. The surrounding Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi began to boil and scorch, burning the very void until it glowed red.

He could feel a dangerous Power stirring within Wu Dao.

It was for this very reason that he hadn’t attacked immediately.

He couldn’t afford to gamble on whether Wu Dao would start the fight right then and there, dragging all of Pingliang into it.

”Don’t misunderstand. I have no intention of ’cornering’ you.”

Sparks of Crimson Gold electricity began to erupt from every pore on Wu Dao’s body. His aura climbed higher and higher, and his grin stretched to his ears. Bearing his teeth, he looked like a devil from Purgatory.

”I just want to beat you to death.

Or...

Hm, on second thought, I’ll just beat you to death!!”