Essence Devouring Art

Hundred Victories Mountain.

The Heroic Ancestral Hall.

After hearing Yan Chongsheng’s report, the Celestial King strode out of the ancestral hall. He gazed at the heavens, where clouds gathered and scattered, and suddenly sneered, ”What a character, that Wu Dao!”

”Celestial King?”

Yan Chongsheng looked perplexed.

”He wants to gamble his life against mine!”

The Celestial King stood with his hands behind his back, his physique imposing. He said in a cold voice, ”The Bai Ze Bureau has known for a long time that I was resurrected from the Soul-Nurturing Wilds.

Since that Wu Dao is the man holding down two prefectures for Prince Nanyang’s faction, how could the Bai Ze Bureau not warn and protect him?

He knows he’s no match for me.

And yet, he’s stubbornly waiting for me all by himself in Lancang, waiting for me to kill him. I can hear his little scheme loud and clear all the way from here on Hundred Victories Mountain.”

He was a man of both brutal power and subtle intellect. The Celestial King had never been a brainless fool. If he had only relied on brute courage, he would never have become a Celestial King seven hundred years ago.

He also knew.

Wu Dao’s move was an open plot.

’If you have the guts, come kill me.’

’If you don’t, then just wait for me to come kill you!’

Unless he gave up on his feud with Wu Dao, he had to walk into this trap, even knowing full well what it was.

He couldn’t afford to bet.

He couldn’t afford to bet on whether Wu Dao would one day surpass the Celestial Human Level and then hunt him down like a rat.

”Celestial King, you mean...”

Yan Chongsheng’s expression was one of shock. ”That Wu Dao wants to hold you back all by himself? But what gives him the right?”

’What gives him the right?’

’Yes!’

’I’m also very curious what gives him the right!’

’What gives him the right to disregard me like this!’

All powerful experts have their pride.

It’s a pride bone-deep.

This was especially true for a figure like the Celestial King, who had stirred up the world seven hundred years ago. No matter how he tried to hide it, he harbored a condescending attitude toward the younger generation.

But now, a junior from seven hundred years later was treating him, the great Celestial King, like a plaything to be kneaded and shaped at will!

’Hah...’

’I’d like to see just how capable you are, whether you can live up to such arrogance!’

A sea of blood churned in the Celestial King’s golden pupils. He looked to the distant sky and gave a savage smile, then asked, ”How is the refinement of the Hundred Victories King Banner coming along?”

”Reporting to the Celestial King.”

Yan Chongsheng looked slightly proud, as if to say he had not failed his mission. He reported:

”Starting seven hundred years ago, this subordinate and a few old brothers searched the world for rare treasures. The Hundred Victories King Banner was successfully refined a hundred years ago, and it has been promoted to a Royal Artifact.”

”The ’Blood Sea Forest’ Divine Power Seed within the Royal Artifact has transformed into a Dao Embryo. Although it’s only a Lower-Grade Dragon Elephant Dao Embryo, at full power, it can block any opponent below the Two Transformations Dao Embryo level.”

A Royal Artifact.

It was a Big Killing Artifact in the Extraordinary Cultivation Realm.

Its status in the cultivation world was no different from a nuclear bomb.

When fully activated, the Mighty Power it unleashed was no less than an attack from a Dao Embryo Martial Artist above the Celestial Human Level.

If a faction possessed a Royal Artifact, it was fully qualified to rank among the Holy Lands.

Hundred Victories Mountain had no Dao Embryo masters.

But because of its large number of Celestial Beings, it had barely managed to rank at the bottom of the Five Peaks back then.

In truth, they weren’t truly qualified, because the standard for a Holy Land was to have a Divine Ability User above the Celestial Human Level in command.

But now...

Yan Chongsheng dared to stand tall and declare that Hundred Victories Mountain’s status as a Holy Land was completely genuine.

With the Celestial King, a master at the Twelfth Floor Peak, plus the Hundred Victories King Banner, they were no different from a faction with a Taoist Divine Ability User.

”Two Transformations. That’s enough.”

The Celestial King’s expression was satisfied upon hearing this.

Hundred Victories Mountain was his most deeply hidden trump card, one he hadn’t revealed even when facing life and death.

This was his greatest advantage.

He knew perfectly well how many Dao Embryo level masters there were in the Southern Border Land—aside from the up-and-coming Prince Nanyang—and what their strengths were.

With the Hundred Victories King Banner and Hundred Victories Mountain, and the few Celestial Human Tenth Floor masters from the Corpse God Palace, even if masters from Martial King Mountain and Zige Mountain rushed to Lancang to help, they would be held up for a short time.

And that time would be enough for him to kill Wu Dao a hundred times over.

Unless that unworthy descendant of Zhou Yuan, Prince Nanyang, dared to ignore the front lines and recall his Dao Embryo masters, otherwise, no one could save Wu Dao!

Thinking of the Demon Suppression Emperor, Zhou Yuan, the Celestial King touched his Golden Jade-like neck. The image of that domineering and majestic sword strike from seven hundred years ago surfaced in his mind. He took a deep breath, suppressed the boiling rage in his heart, and asked:

”In these past seven hundred years, has Zhou Yuan truly never appeared?”

The reason he was so certain the Demon Suppression Emperor was still alive was because of the uninterrupted spiritual and physical torture inflicted upon him by that sword strike for the past seven hundred years.

The Demon Vibration and God Slaying Sword!

This was a Divine Technique Zhou Yuan had used to dominate the world seven hundred years ago.

A Divine Technique was a Dao Foundation grown from a seed, formed when a Cultivator absorbed Heavenly Spirit and Earthly Fiend Qi, condensed their Essence, Qi, and Spirit, and merged their entire Cultivation.

As the saying goes:

Mighty Divine Power, boundless Magical Power.

Only by refining a Great Divine Technique and forging a foundation of the Great Dao could an individual life truly possess the incredible abilities of Immortal Gods, such as reshaping heaven and earth or controlling life, death, and Creation.

’As long as the person lives, the Divine Technique persists.’

If the Demon Suppression Emperor were truly dead, the Mighty Power of the Demon Vibration and God Slaying Sword could not have possibly lasted for seven hundred years!

The Demon Suppression Emperor...

Yan Chongsheng ground his teeth in hatred upon hearing this name, but he still shook his head with regret and said:

”To answer the Celestial King, Zhou Yuan passed away six hundred years ago. The official reason given was a relapse of old injuries from years of campaigning, coupled with his failure to break through to the next realm, which exhausted his life force.”

During these six hundred years, the Dali Dynasty has been in constant decline, and a few decades ago, its sun completely set.

But even so, Zhou Yuan never appeared. If not for the Celestial King’s keen insight, this subordinate would also have believed that Zhou Yuan was truly dead. It’s just...”

At this point, an irresolvable doubt clouded Yan Chongsheng’s brow. He asked, ”Back then, after Zhou Yuan stabilized the world, his Cultivation reached its peak. He had already stepped into the Dao Embryo Nine Transformations.

It would be no exaggeration to say he was invincible. This subordinate truly cannot understand why he would fake his death.”

”Why?”

At the mention of this topic, a grave worry flashed deep in the Celestial King’s eyes, but it vanished in an instant. He gave an unrelated answer, ”Do you know why, starting a thousand years ago, the limit for Cultivators in this world has been stuck at the Dao Embryo Nine Transformations, with no one able to advance further?”

”Because of the arrival of the Dharma Decline Era?”

Yan Chongsheng replied tentatively.

The concept of a Dharma Decline Era had been raised in the cultivation world long ago.

Because the changes in heaven and earth were simply too rapid.

Leaving aside the distant past, just two thousand years ago, the Extraordinary Factors between heaven and earth were still abundant, and rare treasures were everywhere. You could say that Celestial Beings walked the earth and the Innate were more common than dogs. The limit for cultivators wasn’t the Dao Embryo Nine Transformations, either.

But ever since the beginning of the Warring States period, the End of the Dharma began.

It didn’t just refer to the daily decline of Heaven and Earth Energy.

Most importantly, fewer and fewer people were qualified to become Cultivators. Those born with the Three Major Dantians went from being one in a hundred to one in a thousand today.

In another few hundred years, it would probably be one in ten thousand.

In addition to that, the upper limit for Cultivators also changed. From once being above the Dao Embryo, it became stuck at the Dao Embryo Nine Transformations, and fewer and fewer people could even step into the Dao Embryo realm.

In the entire Southern Border Land, for hundreds of years, the only newly advanced Dao Embryo on record was Prince Nanyang.

That ratio was beyond what even the ”Dharma Decline Era” could describe.

”’Dharma Decline Era’ is not entirely accurate.”

The Celestial King sighed, a hint of unwillingness appearing in his eyes.

After his resurrection, his cultivation had entered the Celestial Human Twelfth Floor. Only after reaching this realm did he truly understand what it meant for one’s path to be cut off by the heavens.

It wasn’t a matter of it being as difficult as ascending to the heavens.

The path was completely sealed off!

It was like an uncrossable Abyss, or an Ancient Divine Mountain blocking the way. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t take a single step forward, couldn’t budge it in the slightest!

In a sense, the Celestial King was quite envious of Prince Nanyang, that lucky bastard who had caught the tail end of an era.

Because he knew.

From now on, the Dao Embryo realm would gradually become a legend. No one would ever be able to set foot in this realm again!

Perhaps in a few hundred years, the Celestial Human Level would suffer the same fate?

HUU...

He slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.

The Celestial King suppressed his unwillingness, turning the topic back to the Demon Suppression Emperor. He sneered, ”Zhou Yuan faked his death for no more than two reasons.”

First, he wanted to break the shackles of the Dao Embryo Nine Transformations.

Second, and based on the first, he wanted to break the tribulation!”

”Break the tribulation?”

Yan Chongsheng was horrified. With Zhou Yuan’s power at the Dao Embryo Nine Transformations, he dominated the world, unstoppable. What kind of existence could possibly be his tribulation?

’A human tribulation, or...?’

”That’s right, break the tribulation. And it isn’t just his own tribulation.”

The Celestial King’s expression grew solemn. For once, his tone was devoid of the vengeful killing intent he held for the Demon Suppression Emperor. He asked a question he already knew the answer to, ”Do you know the lifespan of a Dao Embryo?”

”Within the Human Race, the lowest First Transformation level can live for a thousand years if there are no accidents. A Ninth Transformation can live for nine thousand years.”

Yan Chongsheng answered quickly.

”And what about above the Dao Embryo?”

The Celestial King continued to ask.

”Above the Dao Embryo, they should...”

Yan Chongsheng thought about the historical records and was about to answer when his expression suddenly froze. An inexplicable chill ran down his spine.

”So, you understand now.”

Seeing Yan Chongsheng’s body tremble slightly, the Celestial King spoke in a tone tinged with the sorrow of a fox mourning a dead rabbit. ”A Ninth Transformation Dao Embryo can live for nine thousand years, let alone someone above the Dao Embryo realm.

Two thousand years ago, the world was also in great chaos, far worse than during the Warring States period. The Extraordinary Realm was ravaged by constant warfare, with heavy casualties.

But what kind of conflict could cause every single being above the Dao Embryo realm to be wiped out, without a single clever one managing to escape their doom?

And if you go back even further, every thousand to several thousand years, at irregular intervals, there was a so-called ’great chaos in the world,’ the same annihilation of top-tier Extraordinary Life, and the End of the Dharma of heaven and earth grew more severe with each era.

This is the tribulation!

There is an existence that does not want this world to prosper. Whenever the world’s fortune reaches a peak, it will strike, strangling the chosen ones of that era who are blessed by the luck and Creation of heaven and earth.

After killing them all, it then brings down the so-called End of the Dharma, sealing the path forward for generation after generation, until the Path of Transcendence is completely blocked!”

At this point, the Celestial King mocked himself internally, but his words were laced with sarcasm. ”Speaking of which, the Celestial Beings of this era are quite lucky, because the reckoning won’t fall on our heads.

As for that dog Zhou Yuan... heh, he actually wants to break the tribulation.

Countless heroes and geniuses over so many eras have failed. No matter how cunning his schemes, he is nothing but an overreaching clown!”

’A clown...’

Yan Chongsheng’s emotions surged. Looking at the Celestial King’s somewhat desolate and lonely back, he also sighed in his heart.

The Celestial King’s ambitions had always been higher than the heavens, and he had never considered himself inferior to anyone.

But now, faced with the grand tide of the world, he could only be a bystander, making comments from the sidelines. He was powerless to even kill his own enemy, so his heart was naturally filled with unwillingness and frustration.

The ”clown” he spoke of... was that not also a form of self-mockery?

HUU...

The autumn wind was bleak, and fallen leaves drifted down.

After a moment of silence, the desolation surrounding the Celestial King dissipated, replaced by the majestic and wild aura of one who once dominated the world.

”One shouldn’t meddle in affairs that aren’t one’s own. What happens to the world has nothing to do with me! All I know is that vengeance must be taken, and anger must be quelled!

Zhou Yuan wants to break his tribulation in peace? I refuse to let him have his way! Don’t think for a second I don’t know what he’s planning.

After I deal with that little bastard Wu Dao, I’m going to smash his chessboard to pieces, one bit at a time!”

His tone was crazed and unrestrained.

The violent, savage light in his golden pupils grew ever stronger.

Only now did the Celestial King reveal a hint of the towering rage he had suppressed for seven hundred years.

What did the life or death of the world have to do with him?

He dared to call himself the Celestial King precisely because his entire life he had submitted to neither heaven, nor earth, nor man. He sought only to follow his heart and live without regrets, to hell with Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind!

”Pass down my order!”

The savage light in his eyes retracted.

The Celestial King said coldly, ”Bring the Hundred Battles King Banner. We move tomorrow. I’d like to see what right that little bastard has to be even more arrogant than me!”

”This subordinate swears to follow the Celestial King to the death!”

Yan Chongsheng’s face was also flushed. He knelt on one knee to accept the order, feeling as if he had suddenly become several hundred years younger.

His long-dormant blood surged.

In a daze, he was transported back seven hundred years to the unbridled passion of following the Celestial King on his campaigns across the land.