Essence Devouring Art

”As a reward for hurting me...”

Clad in his flesh-and-blood battle armor, Wu Dao cracked his neck, his voice like the whisper of a Purgatory Demon God.

His body was surrounded by writhing, twisting masses of flesh and souls. Occasionally, faces would manifest within the gore, screaming miserably.

”I will reward you with a taste of what a true expert’s Array is all about!”

CRACKLE—

The moment his voice fell, serpentine, azure streams of Primordial Magnetism current erupted from his body. They plunged into his flesh armor, ravenously devouring the Magnetic Field’s Energy like straws.

”AHHH!!”

”It hurts!”

”Kill me, please, kill me!!”

The ultimate pain of being sacrificed alive and drained dry surpassed the endless torture of the Eighteen Layers of Purgatory, transforming into desperate wails and screams too gruesome to bear.

”Silence! A bunch of worthless trash!”

Hearing the wails and screams, Wu Dao reprimanded them with a chilling voice:

”My Power cannot be cowardly or fearful! Pain is an aphrodisiac for the strong. Get excited for me, dammit!!”

RUMBLE—

The Primordial Magnetism current went completely berserk!

It twisted and warped the Magnetic Field!

And even their very souls and consciousness!

The armor of flesh and soul covering Wu Dao’s body suddenly shriveled, a huge amount of Magnetic Field Energy having been squeezed dry by him!

At the same time—

”Hahaha, kill, kill!”

”Yeah, this feels so good, I’m about to gush!”

”Make it feel even better!”

The once-desperate wails and screams transformed into cries of ecstatic, blissful excitement, like a species in heat.

”Hahaha, wonderful, just wonderful!”

Wu Dao roared insanely. Accompanied by a chorus of bizarre, excited cries, his Demon God body charged toward Mo Tai and the others, who were on the verge of mental collapse.

”The big one’s coming! Give me everything you’ve got!!!”

RUMBLE—

The sonic booms and shockwaves that filled the sky shattered!

Wu Dao’s large hand tore through the shriveled flesh. He clenched his five fingers into a fist that could shatter the heavens. The abyssal, ocean-like Power transformed into the sky-blotting Fist Momentum of a scarlet, lightning-wreathed Divine Fist, which he brought down with crushing force.

”Ugh—ah!”

”Oh~!!”

”Hiss—haa!!”

Cries of sublimated, frenzied ecstasy accompanied the descent of the Thunder Punishment Dominating Whale Divine Fist, its mad howl thundering across the world.

The writhing, twisting flesh and souls!

They violently spewed out, squeezed dry of their last shred of Magnetic Field Energy!

’It feels so good I could die!’

At the same time, the momentum of Wu Dao’s Thunder Punishment Dominating Whale Fist grew—explosively, mightily, and wildly!

He had reached the Third Transformation, second only to Shen Wutian!

After draining ten Second Transformation Divine Ability Users dry!

His power surged wildly once again!

Third Transformation Great Success, Limit, and then Perfection!

KRAK—

Faintly, the sound of something shattering could be heard!

It seemed he had torn through a sliver of the barrier to the Great Fist Dao Momentum of the Fourth Transformation, his Mighty Power exploding to a whole new level!

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE—

The spectacle was clearly visible even hundreds of miles away!

Outside Mingquan Pass City!

A crimson sea of lightning appeared, blanketing the sky and earth for nearly four hundred li!

At the center of the Thunder Sea, a Celestial Punishment Demon—part man, part whale, and wearing a crown—was formed from countless crimson lightning bolts. It roared within the Thunder Sea, clenching its fist and punching downward, shattering the void in the Ten Directions and toppling the very heavens!

”Demon! You’re a demon! I’ll blast you to pieces, blast you to pieces!!”

Under the pressure of a Great Fist Dao Momentum that was infinitely close to the Fourth Transformation, Mo Tai and the other four felt an endless threat of death. Their name for Wu Dao had changed from ’monster’ to ’demon’!

Fear turned into madness!

Madness turned into a do-or-die gamble!

They roared themselves hoarse, their Dantians cracking as they unleashed Power that transcended their limits, infusing it into their Divine Techniques to meet the Thunderous Divine Fist!

Meanwhile, a thousand li away from the Mingquan Pass City battlefield, a group of six people tore through the sky at extreme speed, covering a hundred li in the blink of an eye as they rapidly approached the battlefield.

The six of them included the old and the young, men and women. They were dressed differently. There was a worldly, rich gentleman; a beggar in rags; and even a scantily clad courtesan. They seemed to represent all walks of life.

Their identities? They were none other than the Divine Ability Users of the Chaotic Clothing Guard, sent from Dali as reinforcements for the Southern Alliance.

Six Divine Ability Users! Five at the Peak of the Third Transformation! And one at the Fourth Transformation!

It was an undeniably formidable lineup.

But...

’A Fist Momentum pushing the very limits of the Fourth Transformation... This is bad!’

Six hundred li from the battlefield, the leader, Chaotic Clothing Guard Palm Seal Wan Qianliang, paled instantly. He was draped in jewels and had a wealthy appearance, but the moment he sensed the Celestial Punishment Fist Intent from five or six hundred li away, his expression changed drastically.

Their mission this time was to reinforce the Southern Alliance and intercept and kill Wu Dao, the Alliance Leader of the Overlord Whale Alliance who had recently shaken the world.

They had already memorized all sorts of intelligence reports before they came.

They hadn’t underestimated Wu Dao.

On the contrary, they had made the most generous assumption that Wu Dao possessed Divine Power Battle Power at the level of the Third Transformation.

Therefore, to leave nothing to chance, even Wan Qianliang, the Palm Seal of the Chaotic Clothing Guard, his adjutant, and several Commanders-in-Chief had been deployed.

However, once they actually arrived at the battlefield and faced Wu Dao, they realized that their previous, most generous estimations had still been far too conservative!

This wasn’t a Third Transformation! He clearly possessed the battle power of a Pseudo-Fourth Transformation!

Anyone below the Fourth Transformation would be slaughtered, no matter how many came!

Those Divine Ability Users from the Southern Alliance who had been trying to ambush Wu Dao...

”Dammit!!!”

At the thought of a certain possibility, Wan Qianliang’s eyes nearly burst from their sockets. His black hair whipped about as he roared madly toward the distant, collapsing battlefield under the crimson Thunder Sea, ”Wu the bandit, how dare you...”

BOOM!!

But before his voice could even travel the six hundred li, at the core of the battlefield, the punch from the crimson Celestial Punishment Demon had completely descended. It transformed into a dazzling miniature sun, woven from the myriad colors of the Divine Wilderness, and expanded with blinding speed!

”No!!”

Wan Qianliang raced toward the battlefield, stretching out a hand and roaring himself hoarse.

But their voices were utterly pale and insignificant amid the sound of the world-shattering collision.

KABOOM—

In the next instant, as Wan Qianliang and the others watched with vacant, despairing eyes, the miniature sun of divine light at the center of the battlefield—wreathed in countless violent, dragon-like crimson thunderbolts—exploded completely.

Five tiny figures were clearly visible. In an instant, they were torn to shreds by the furious crimson thunderbolts and annihilated into dust, unable to even let out a scream.

Then, the atmosphere compressed and expanded wildly. A shockwave that swept away everything repelled and annihilated all Primordial Qi, Spiritual Qi, and Soldier Qi in its path. Like a supernova, it formed a pillar of destruction that connected heaven and earth, obliterating all that existed.

With the battlefield as its epicenter, the pillar of destruction expanded madly, annihilating everything in its way. Where it passed, the land—already a giant crater—was blasted and obliterated even further downward.

After this one strike, the sky and earth in a radius of nearly four hundred li were transformed into a pitch-black, vacuous abyss.

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE—

The aftershocks spread. Beyond the four-hundred-li radius, mountains, rivers, and forests instantly shattered and were razed to the ground. A sky-blotting tsunami-curtain of turbid earth, stone, gravel, and dust surged forth, battering and submerging the world, ravaging everything in all directions!

WHOOSH!!

The violent, transparent shockwave arrived first. Six hundred li away, Wan Qianliang and his group felt as if they’d been hit by a force-ten hurricane and were forced to erect shields of divine light to protect themselves.

But at the same time, they had also drawn near the edge of the battlefield.

”Beast! Die for me!!”

With five of Dali’s core pillars dead before his eyes, Wan Qianliang went completely insane, the corners of his eyes splitting and bleeding.

After this battle, regardless of whether Wu Dao lived or died, the Southern Alliance was finished! With dozens of Divine Ability Users dead, even Dali would suffer a grievous blow to its vitality!

The impact on the battlefronts in the other three regions would be immeasurable!

How could he not be furious? How could he not be driven mad?!

VMMMM!!

In his extreme rage, Wan Qianliang’s first move was a killing blow!

From four hundred li across the void, he summoned the resplendent Golden Lotus Ruyi. It swelled in the wind, growing to the size of a Divine Peak in less than the blink of an eye. It shook the world, scattering thousands of lotuses constructed from golden Copper Coins.

HISS HISS HISS—

As the thousands of money-lotuses rained down, they seemed capable of corroding everything. Like a meteor shower, they filled the sky for hundreds of li, piercing black, vacuum-like trails through the void.

The Golden Lotus Ruyi! This was a Three Transformations Peak Royal Artifact that Wan Qianliang had spent nearly a thousand years refining!

The ’Money Falling’ Divine Technique within the Royal Artifact was also the primary Divine Technique that Wan Qianliang cultivated.

With the two combined, once someone was touched by the falling divine money, it would take root.

Even the Physical Divine Techniques of a Four Transformations Domain Divine Ability User would be corrupted and debased by the ’Copper Smell.’ It was an exceptionally vicious and domineering technique!

VMMMM VMMMM VMMMM—

At the same moment, the five other Peak of Three Transformations higher-ups from the Chaotic Clothing Guard also attacked.

Immortal, Martial, Soldier. Divine Lights of all colors erupted like volcanoes, resembling countless Star Rivers pouring into the sun.

They poured their power into the Golden Lotus Ruyi, instantly causing its Mighty Power to skyrocket. The raining, shooting money-lotuses completely enveloped the battlefield, leaving no path for survival!

Clearly, they had realized how terrifying Wu Dao was. They gave him no chances and left nothing to luck. Their first move was their ultimate killing blow! They intended to annihilate Wu Dao in a single strike!

”Hahaha, a pile of scrap metal dares to corrupt me? Scram!!”

As the meteor shower of thousands of money-lotuses fell, even though he sensed the lethal danger they contained, Shen Wu Dao showed no fear. Standing at the Sky Dome Peak, his physical body suddenly exploded into a cloud of blood mist. Amid his wild laughter, he summoned the Thunderbolt of the Nine Heavens!

He had already considered the possibility of an unplanned-for Four Transformations Domain Divine Ability User appearing when he decided to make a move against the Southern Alliance.

Dali had seven hundred years of history. Even if it was on its last legs, the trump cards it held were beyond what an ordinary person could imagine.

But no matter what trump cards they had, as long as it wasn’t a Great Divine Power User descending upon him, they were all just worthless trash to Wu Dao!

Back when he was at the Celestial Human Tenth Floor, he could, at his absolute limit, command Celestial Thunder capable of threatening a Divine Power Two Transformations user!

After stepping into the realm of Divine Power Battle Power, he was even more...

”I am the Celestial Emperor!!”

RUMBLE—

The Celestial Emperor’s rage toppled the heavens!

The gray-and-red Celestial Thunder Gang Wind from the absolute peak of 17,000 meters was mobilized!

Amidst the endless, brilliant flashes of lightning, the restored Wu Dao was like the sovereign of the heavens descending. He stood at the Sky Dome Peak and spread his arms.

Countless dense thunderbolts—like dragons and snakes, colored gold, red, and a mix of gray-red—bowed in submission, descending upon the mortal world at his command!

BOOM—KRA-KRAK-KOW!!

In the next instant, before the horrified eyes of Wan Qianliang and his men, the sky-full of violent thunderbolts burst forth like a breach in the Celestial River, forming a three-colored torrent of lightning that spanned the heavens!

He didn’t dodge or evade! He met the endless Star River of golden lotuses fired from the Golden Lotus Ruyi head-on, crashing into it with absolute, savage dominance!

Viewed from the distant sky, the world seemed to have been split in two by two great torrents.

One side glittered with golden light, an endless treasure glow. The other was the fury of heaven, a divine punishment of surging thunder.

An instant later, the two torrents collided with a deafening roar!

VMMMM—

The loudest sound is silence! For a moment, time and space seemed to stand still.

In the stagnant, slow-moving spacetime, one could only see countless money-lotuses shattering, the three-colored thunderbolts exploding and being annihilated. A Chaos Color spread rapidly from the point of impact, dyeing the sky in all directions and grinding everything in its path to dust.

RUMBLE—

An instant later, sound returned to the world. A massive sonic boom, like a star shattering, accompanied the struggle between the two torrents, its continuous thunderous roar echoing for a thousand li.

BANG BANG BANG—

The two torrents seemed evenly matched. As they collided, even the tiniest fragments of money and remnants of thunder that splashed out were like nuclear bombs landing five or six hundred li away, blasting apart mountains and plains as if it were the apocalypse.

’How is this possible?!!’

Even with the Golden Lotus Ruyi, Wan Qianliang was utterly horrified!

He was a Fourth Transformation! With five at the Peak of the Third Transformation! They had joined forces to power a Royal Artifact!

The Mighty Power they unleashed was terrifying!

Yet Wu Dao had blocked it all by himself, and it was an even match!

’Has this monster become a Great Divine Power User?!’

But what horrified him even more was yet to come—

”Celestial Essence Magnetic Burst Fist, kill!!”

As the two torrents struggled for dominance, a crazed roar from the Purgatory Abyss suddenly exploded in the ears of Wan Qianliang and his men!

From the source of the thunderous torrent, a large, withered and shriveled hand, constantly shattering and reforming, reached out from within the blurry, distorted blood mist!

It commanded the Magnetic Field Energy of all creation!

And formed a blazing miniature sun constructed from countless colorful lines!

The moment the fist struck, the miniature sun shot across hundreds of li of sky and then burst apart!

Violent, chaotic, colorful lines from the Magnetic Field, carrying an all-destroying Energy, submerged the heavens and the earth, and also submerged the pale-faced Wan Qianliang and his men!

While locked in an even struggle, he had clearly been reduced by the backlash into particles of blood mist, unable to reform! Wu Dao, who should have been hanging by a thread, actually had enough strength left to launch another attack on them!

’This kind of enemy... how could we possibly defeat him?!’