Essence Devouring Art

He faced no obstruction from the army.

His journey was completely unimpeded.

Upon arriving in Xuzhou Prefecture, several confidants from the Prince’s Mansion were there to greet him. They secretly led him into the temporary Nanyang Prince’s Mansion located within the prefecture city.

Deep within the Prince’s Mansion.

At the arched entrance to a quiet courtyard.

”The Prince is inside attending to important matters. I won’t accompany you further.”

Zhuo Xianyi, the Elder Sword Cultivator from Zige Mountain who had met Wu Dao several times before, gave Wu Dao a complicated look and hurried away.

’Was it just my imagination?’

Wu Dao noticed that Zhuo Xianyi hadn’t dared to meet his gaze the entire way, and the old man’s face occasionally flushed with shame and embarrassment.

Then, the reason occurred to him.

The last time Zhuo Xianyi was protecting Zhou Zhiyin on her visit to the Overlord Whale Alliance, he had suggested they spar a little.

Back then, Zhuo Xianyi’s Sword Intent was at the peak of the Third Floor.

Wu Dao only had the strength of the Second Floor.

But now...

’It had probably become an embarrassing memory for him.’

SIGH...

He shook his head and smiled.

Wu Dao paid these old matters no mind. He exhaled softly, his expression serene, and stepped into the courtyard.

’Did he feel any pressure about finally meeting Prince Nanyang, the top-ranked expert on the Southern Border martial list? Not at all.’

He had lived two lives and reached the Absolute Peak in one of them.

Combined with the countless life-and-death trials that had tempered him, his willpower and spirit were a match for anyone in this world. He could even face the Demon Suppression Emperor himself with complete composure.

For this meeting with Prince Nanyang, he felt more anticipation for the unknown and questions about his supposed destiny.

But he was confident.

His questions would be answered today.

The courtyard was deep and secluded, the corridors winding.

It couldn’t be called luxurious or extravagant, but it had all the essentials.

Guided by a servant, Wu Dao soon arrived deep within the courtyard before an artificial lake that had frozen over from the recent blizzards.

A covered bridge led straight to the heart of the lake.

At its end was a white pavilion draped in gauze curtains. Inside, a middle-aged man and an old man were burning incense and warming wine, smiling faintly as they watched Wu Dao approach from the other end of the bridge.

’Prince Nanyang...’

Wu Dao’s expression remained serene as his gaze fell upon the middle-aged man in the green robe.

There was no arrogance, no domineering aura, and certainly no air of lofty nobility.

This Prince Nanyang, rather than an Overlord who ruled a vast territory, seemed more like a scholar from the Mortal World, dedicated to teaching and nurturing others.

His calm and peaceful disposition made him seem approachable, like a neighborhood elder. His features weren’t striking; one might even call them plain.

But his eyes, as deep as a Star Sea, lent him an ethereal, transcendent air, as if they could perceive and embrace all of existence.

More importantly, at such close range, Wu Dao felt not a single trace of danger or pressure.

This could only mean one thing.

The gap between them was simply too vast.

So vast that if Prince Nanyang wished to kill him, he would be dead in an instant, without even a flicker of premonition.

’Although... this isn’t my true strength.’

’But in the face of such an immense disparity, the difference between my disguised strength and my true power is meaningless.’

A cold gust of wind blew past.

The gauze curtains fluttered.

Wu Dao suppressed the tumult of emotions within him, strode confidently into the pavilion, and stopped before the table. He cupped his fist in salute to the two men:

”Wu Dao, Alliance Leader of the Overlord Whale Alliance. My respects, Prince. Greetings, Senior.”

’Although the Overlord Whale Alliance was technically just a partner to the Nanyang Prince’s Mansion, I am, in essence, a pawn in Prince Nanyang’s game.’

’Hmm... a pawn who provides capital, not labor.’

However, at the end of the day, they still had a superior-subordinate relationship.

The proper etiquette had to be observed.

’I’m not some arrogant fool who doesn’t know his place.’

”Alliance Leader Wu, there’s no need for such formality. We can consider ourselves peers. Please, sit.”

Prince Nanyang looked at Wu Dao with a gentle smile, a flash of admiration passing through his eyes.

’Peers...’

Wu Dao’s gaze flickered. He dropped the ”formalities” and, with an attitude neither servile nor overbearing, sat down gracefully in the empty seat.

”Tsk, it hasn’t been that long, and you’ve already achieved something remarkable with the Immortal Black Tortoise Divine Skill, kid.”

After Wu Dao was seated, Jiang Yuansheng, who sat beside him, clicked his tongue in amazement as he sized Wu Dao up and down. He nodded in admiration and said:

”It has major flaws, but to have accomplished this much by the Eighth Daoist Sect... even the founder of my Martial King Mountain couldn’t compare to you.”

”You flatter me, Senior.”

Wu Dao took the compliment in stride. He understood the old man’s underlying meaning but paid it no mind. He simply cupped his fist and asked, ”And might I ask for your name, Senior?”

’This white-haired elder... he feels no less powerful than Prince Nanyang.’

’He’s likely another expert in the Great Divine Power Domain, and from Martial King Mountain...’

”Jiang Yuansheng, the former Martial King of Martial King Mountain.”

Jiang Yuansheng was concise, not one for hiding his identity or playing games. He stated his name directly.

’Jiang Yuansheng of the Star Battle Divine Fist!’

’No wonder!’

’No wonder he has the aura of the Fist Dao, as heavy as the stars and utterly unshakable!’

Rumor had it that a hundred years ago, when the previous Martial King went into seclusion, his mastery of the Fist Dao had already reached the Sixth Transformation of the Power Realm.

’So a hundred years later...’

”My apologies, Senior. I failed to recognize you earlier.”

Wu Dao bowed respectfully once more. He also cultivated the Fist Dao, and he couldn’t act arrogantly before a senior on the same path.

”You kid... the guts of a tiger, the flesh of a dragon, and the heart of a fox...”

Jiang Yuansheng, seeing how different Wu Dao was from the impression he’d formed, couldn’t help but shake his head and laugh. Then he rose and said:

”Alright, seeing you today has satisfied my curiosity.”

”Chen the Kid will tell you what you want to know. I’ll get out of your hair.”

With that, without waiting for the other two to see him off, he casually vanished from the end of the covered bridge with his hands clasped behind his back.

WHOOSH~

After Jiang Yuansheng left, the cold rain and biting wind seemed to pick up, making the gauze curtains flutter wildly. Yet, an invisible force blocked the elements, keeping the pavilion as warm as a spring day.

Prince Nanyang poured Wu Dao a cup of warm wine. Then, tucking his hands into his sleeves, he gazed at the gloomy sky and let out a white puff of breath. His eyes were dark and unreadable.

”It’s been thirty thousand years... since the Initial Tribulation.”

...

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH~

「At dusk, outside Xuzhou Prefecture.」

Large snowflakes began to fall from the sky once more, quickly blanketing the entire landscape in a vast sheet of white.

CRUNCH~

CRUNCH~

Amidst the snowy plains, Wu Dao walked slowly, crunching through the deep snow as he processed the information he had received from Prince Nanyang.

At a certain point, he suddenly stopped, tilted his head back to face the sky, and broke into a sharp, toothy grin.

”I’ll be waiting for you all to come and kill me!”

BOOM!

The snow beneath him erupted outwards.

Wu Dao’s figure vanished from the snowy plain, streaking toward Lancang County City with the sound of a thunderclap.

The information he’d received from Prince Nanyang was incredibly weighty, even causing him to frown in shock at one point.

He had wanted to understand the future.

Why he and Prince Nanyang would end up on the same path.

But to speak of the future, one first had to start with the past that would lead to the coming Great Tribulation.

Thirty thousand years ago, a madman known as the Slaughter Emperor appeared in the Divine Wilderness World!

That madman walked the path of absolute, inhuman slaughter.

The madman wanted to achieve his Dao.

To do so, he slaughtered countless beings across several worlds outside the Divine Wilderness World, extinguishing an untold number of Daoist Lineages.

What was even crazier was that at the time, ninety percent of the entire cultivation world in the Divine Wilderness World were that madman’s lackeys!

After that madman failed and was killed, the Divine Wilderness World naturally faced a reckoning.

To be more precise, it was a repayment of debt!

Starting from thirty thousand years ago, the heavens of the Divine Wilderness World were sealed and its Dao locked away. It became a land of karmic debt, utterly expelled from the Hongyuan Great World.

For thirty thousand years, across Nine Tribulations, at intervals of one to several thousand years, the Divine Wilderness World had to repay a blood debt.

The karmic fortune of the entire world would be harvested and divided among the other worlds outside the Divine Wilderness.

Furthermore! When each tribulation arrived, the top cultivators of the era would also face a deadly reckoning!

One tribulation after another!

This would continue until the Divine Wilderness World was utterly ruined, no longer suitable for cultivation, and incapable of producing any valuable karmic fortune.

Only then would the debt from thirty thousand years ago be considered paid in full!

And now... is the time of the Tenth Tribulation!

The final tribulation of this ”blood debt”!

In this tribulation, every single living being will be a Tribulation Experiencer.

There is no road to the heavens and no gate into the earth. There is no escape!