Essence Devouring Art

The southern reaches of the Southern Border.

The Ends of the Earth.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH~

Waves in the Black Sea surged ten thousand feet high.

Fengqian Gold slashed down with his sword.

The ocean of Eleventh Floor True Intent of the Fist Dao that ’Wu Dao’ had unleashed was torn apart like paper-mâché, and he himself was obliterated into ash by the single strike.

But no one present felt happy about it.

Because it had been too easy.

So easy that they felt not a single shred of the joy of victory.

It wasn’t that Fengqian Gold was weak.

In fact, his strength was among the top tier in the current era.

Peak of the Divine Power Third Transformation.

Grand Sword Dao Momentum, Third Transformation.

With both of his Daos at the Third Transformation, he was confident he could even fight a Divine Ability User who had reached the Fourth Transformation in a single Dao.

Let alone someone at the Celestial Human Level.

But this person, Wu Dao...

He couldn’t be measured by common sense. He was the number one person below the Dao Embryo stage, a Body Treasure Master with an endless stream of trump cards. To this day, no one had seen his upper limit.

For such a formidable figure...

to have been killed by a single sword strike just like that.

There had been no struggle, no surprises.

It was simply...

...too bizarre and absurd.

”Hooo... Incredible.”

Fengqian Gold, the one who had struck the blow, fell silent for a moment. He sighed, sheathed his longsword, and said, ”Let’s go back. There’s trouble ahead.”

”Elder Feng?”

Nangong Li asked, confused.

His perspective was limited.

Although he too felt it had been too easy, Fengqian Gold was, after all, an expert in the Divine Power Domain. It wasn’t entirely unreasonable for him to have killed Wu Dao in a single strike.

His only regret was that he hadn’t been able to kill his enemy with his own hands.

But Fengqian Gold’s surprised and solemn expression made his heart skip a beat, filling him with a bad premonition.

”If this old man is not mistaken...”

Fengqian Gold said with grudging admiration, ”Wu Dao has already stepped into the Divine Power Domain. What I just cut down was merely one of his Incarnations.”

When that sword strike had landed, Fengqian Gold had clearly sensed it.

’Wu Dao’ had already been dead before the sword fell. His soul and consciousness were gone; it was just an empty shell of an Incarnation.

In the Extraordinary Realm, there are numerous Soul Splitting Incarnation Techniques.

But only those in the Divine Power Domain have the ability to use them.

Cultivators below the level of Divine Techniques, unless they possess a special Magical Treasure, simply lack the soul consciousness required to split it and create an Incarnation that can roam the world.

The fact that Wu Dao could have an Incarnation roam the ends of the earth—and an Incarnation with the combat power of the Eleventh Floor no less—was self-evident in its implications.

The Divine Power Domain?

An Incarnation?

Everyone present was horrified by his words.

They all had intelligence that Wu Dao was a Celestial Treasure Master.

But wasn’t this a bit too fast?

The last time he fought the Celestial King, Wu Dao was at the Eleventh Floor, at most.

In less than a month, he had entered the Divine Power Domain, one of the top tiers of power in the world?

Haaa~

Nangong Li took a deep breath, finally understanding why Wu Dao had been so abnormally calm and composed when facing their ambush.

But he still had a burning question in his heart that he had to ask:

”Wu Dao doesn’t have a Dantian, so how did he condense a Divine Technique? A Celestial Treasure’s power is terrifying, but it also has great limitations. This junior truly cannot understand.”

”The Main Path isn’t the only way to cultivate Divine Techniques in this world,” Fengqian Gold explained. ”The path of Transverse Cultivation of the physical body also has its share of Physical Divine Techniques that can rival the Cultivation Divine Techniques. For example, there’s one on Martial King Mountain...”

At this point, Fengqian Gold shook his head again, feeling it was impossible.

The Immortal Black Tortoise Divine Skill of Martial King Mountain was no secret.

But to obtain this Cultivation Technique, one had to reach the summit of Wuliang Mountain.

Furthermore, one had to break through trials on par with the Great Divine Power Domain and reach the summit, all while possessing strength below that level, in order to gain the approval of the Martial King Mountain patriarchs.

This was inherently contradictory.

One could say it was harder than a mortal ascending to the heavens.

He would rather believe that Wu Dao, with his world-class talent, had entered the Horizontal Refining Eighth Gate than believe he was cultivating the Immortal Black Tortoise Divine Skill.

But none of that mattered anymore.

No matter how deeply they investigated, it wouldn’t change the fact that Wu Dao had stepped into the Divine Power Domain.

And they had taken the initiative to provoke him.

So, what came next...

BZZZT—

As Fengqian Gold was worrying, the Communication Jade Talisman in his robes suddenly began to vibrate.

A bad feeling flashed through his mind.

He immediately took out the Communication Jade Talisman.

The moment his consciousness probed it, Luo Ding Army’s solemn voice rang out:

”You’ve been tricked! The one you intercepted was just Wu Dao’s Incarnation. His true body has already entered the Divine Power Domain and is rushing to the front lines in a rage. All the scouts in the prefectures along his path are dead!”

The reason Luo Ding Army could also confirm that Wu Dao had entered the Divine Power Domain was mainly because the scouts stationed in the Southern Border had died too miserably.

From a hundred miles away, they were precisely targeted by Wu Dao. Celestial Punishment Thunder manifested from the void without warning, and before they even saw him, they were struck into nothing but ash.

Killing from a hundred miles away, unseen.

This level of ability and strength was beyond what someone at the Celestial Human Level could achieve. Only a Divine Ability User above the Celestial Human Level could do it with such ease.

”Not good! Run!!”

When Fengqian Gold heard that Wu Dao was rushing to the front lines, he suddenly thought of something, and a chill ran down his spine.

Since they had killed Wu Dao’s Incarnation, his true body must have notified Prince Nanyang’s side.

Which meant...

BOOM!!

The sky above the distant sea suddenly shattered.

A terrifying scene of a Star River collapsing from the heavens appeared!

”Truly shameless!”

A broad-framed, gray-robed, white-haired old man appeared without warning like a lord of stars, his cold snort echoing like Celestial Thunder across the eight directions.

RUMBLE—

The next instant!

The old man clenched his fist, which shone like a brilliant star cluster!

The torrent of his Grand Fist Dao Momentum was like the Milky Way of the Nine Heavens bursting its banks, rolling forth to crush the endless void and illuminate the sea for a thousand miles.

From six or seven hundred miles away!

The surging, galactic river became a world-crushing, heaven-shattering punch that hurtled fiercely toward Fengqian Gold and his group!

’Star Battle Divine Fist... Jiang Yuansheng!’

The moment Fengqian Gold saw the old man, all the color drained from his face, and his heart was filled with utter terror.

The name Jiang Yuansheng.

It had resounded throughout the world back in his youth. He was a heroic Celestial Pride who had defined an entire era.

His Star Battle Divine Fist...

...had the momentum of a galaxy and the weight of a star cluster!

In his youth, he had been undefeated among his peers in the Southern Border, and he ranked among the top five of all the Martial Kings in the history of Martial King Mountain.

Before the Hundred Battles.

Before Jiang Yuansheng went into seclusion and abdicated his position...

...he had once challenged the Central Plains’ Martial Arts Sacred Land, the True Martial Hall, which was also recognized by Dali as the leader of the Martial Dao.

At that time, Jiang Yuansheng was at the Sixth Transformation of Dao Embryo Divine Power and the Sixth Transformation of Grand Fist Dao Momentum, a truly formidable figure even among Great Divine Power Users.

A hundred years later...

Who needed to wait a hundred years!

Even if he had faced him a hundred years ago, Fengqian Gold wouldn’t have had the slightest bit of confidence to face him directly!

RUMBLE—

In less than the span of a thought, Jiang Yuansheng’s furious punch had already blasted apart six or seven hundred miles of sky and void. The Grand Fist Dao Momentum of his star cluster crushed everything in its path, evaporating the sea below and leaving a void. It was truly a terrifying sight, like the wrath of a god or demon.

BZZZ~

At the critical moment between life and death, a mottled bronze gate—a road when laid flat, a door when stood upright—manifested from within the body of Nangong Li, who was scared out of his wits.

CREEEAK~

The moment the bronze gate manifested, its two dark doors, carved with all the scenes of the human world—life and death, suffering, and countless perils—swung open rapidly, releasing an endless light of dawning hope.

It seemed that just by stepping through this gate, one could transcend all the suffering and obstacles of the human world, all the mountains and rivers, in a single step.

A Celestial Treasure—

The Profound Gate of Heaven and Earth!

As the common saying goes:

”No road to heaven, no door into the earth.”

This phrase describes a situation of being trapped, of ultimate despair.

But the Celestial Treasure held by Nangong Li, the Profound Gate of Heaven and Earth, was the exact opposite of this saying.

A road to heaven, a door into the earth!

No matter the desperate peril or how great the distance, the Profound Gate of Heaven and Earth could deliver a living being to a safe place, allowing them to cross all hardships and obstacles, saving both oneself and others.

Of course, to say it could transcend *all* suffering was an exaggeration.

After all, the strength of a Celestial Treasure’s abilities was linked to the strength of its Treasure Master.

At his current stage, for the most part, Nangong Li simply used the Profound Gate of Heaven and Earth as a transportation treasure, an escape tool.

BZZZ~

The instant the Profound Gate of Heaven and Earth swung open, a vast and powerful force of passage was released, sucking in Nangong Li, Fengqian Gold, and the blood-robed youth beside him like a black hole.

As for the other two True Monarchs of the Vast Qi Dao Alliance who were ’a bit far away,’ he was truly powerless to help them.

”Nangong— AHHH!!”

”No!”

KABOOM!!

All of this took a long time to describe, but it all happened in the span of a thought.

After that thought, Jiang Yuansheng’s galactic, star-cluster-like punch descended with a roar, and the two True Monarchs who were too slow to escape were instantly annihilated into nothingness.

Inside the Profound Gate of Heaven and Earth, Nangong Li, Fengqian Gold, and the blood-robed youth were also struck by the aftershock.

Fengqian Gold coughed up blood on the spot.

His brilliantly golden natal Flying Sword shattered into a thousand fragments. As for Nangong Li and the blood-robed youth, who didn’t even have a Dao Embryo, their fate was even worse.

Although Fengqian Gold had blocked the main force of the Fist Momentum’s aftershock, even the slightest remaining trace instantly shattered their flesh and bones. Their souls felt as if they’d been struck by a star cluster, and they immediately fell unconscious.

After all, Nangong Li was only at the Celestial Human Sixth Floor.

Although a treasure like a Celestial Treasure was of a very high essence—a product of the Great Dao, an Innate Spiritual Treasure—he hadn’t developed its potential enough.

Just carrying him away from the life-or-death crisis created by a Great Divine Power User was its absolute limit.

It was impossible for it to also keep him completely unscathed.

RUMBLE!

After Jiang Yuansheng’s punch!

The sky, the void, and the vast, surging sea for six or seven hundred miles around had been blasted apart and sunk, leaving behind nothing but a pitch-black vacuum Abyss.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH~

Jiang Yuansheng crossed hundreds of miles of void in a single step to stand above the Abyss. Below his feet, the thundering tides of the sea rushed in to fill the void, and all around him, hurricane-force winds howled and surged.

Standing amidst the hurricane, Jiang Yuansheng’s perception enveloped the heavens and the earth in all eight directions. Finding nothing, he flicked his sleeve and snorted coldly. ”A Celestial Treasure? What dogshit luck.”

Prince Nanyang himself was a Celestial Treasure Master.

Jiang Yuansheng had, of course, witnessed long ago the kind of aura and presence a Celestial Treasure revealed when it displayed its might.

Therefore, he recognized at a glance that the strange Profound Yellow Gate that Fengqian Gold and the others had relied on to escape was a Celestial Treasure.

”Hah. The monk can run, but the temple can’t. You’ve provoked that brat. You’ll get what’s coming to you!”

His senses perceived no trace of them in the surrounding world.

Jiang Yuansheng didn’t linger. He cast a complicated gaze toward the edge of the world—at the cage-like wall of roiling gale-force winds and thunderbolts—sighed, and returned the way he came.

Although he hadn’t managed to eliminate Fengqian Gold and the others this time, the deaths of two Daoist Embryo True Monarchs was enough to make the Southern Alliance bleed profusely.

Not to mention...

...the Southern Alliance had the damn bad luck to provoke that monster, Wu Dao.

Jiang Yuansheng had a premonition.

The Southern Border’s upcoming campaign against the Central Plains might very well break the stalemate soon.

As for him, a senior, bullying juniors, the Southern Alliance had been the ones to break the rules first. He doubted they would dare make an issue of it.