Essence Devouring Art

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH~

「Southern Border Territory.」

The heavens collapsed and the earth crumbled; mountains and rivers shattered.

Thousands of miles of land and sky were pulverized into a vacuum, a chaotic blur. Violent Divine Light, Primordial Qi, and blood qi saturated every inch of space, annihilating all in their path.

High in the firmament.

Fourteen golden suns flickered into brilliance, their light casting a wide glow over the chaotic realm. A sea of Extreme Yang blood qi surged, shaking the very foundations of the cosmos.

”MROOOH—”

At the center of the chaotic realm.

An old man in golden armor punched toward the heavens, then brought his fist crashing down.

Behind him, an ocean of golden blood qi coalesced into a Golden Holy Elephant. Its limbs were like Celestial Pillars holding up the sky as its coiling trunk crushed a thousand miles of the void.

It was truly like a Divine Peak toppling over.

It carried the rumble of a thunderstorm that shook the Nine Heavens and the earthly realm, unleashing the endless might of Primordial Chaos as it smashed down upon the magnificent Divine Being who shouldered the sun and moon.

SHIMMER—

The void roiled, and holy light shone brilliantly.

As the Golden Jade trunk, massive as a Divine Peak, smashed down, the Divine Being who shouldered the sun and moon stood unperturbed, his spine propping up the very heavens. He calmly reached out, clenched his fist, and conjured a torrent of worldly peace and prosperity to meet the blow head-on!

An ocean to swallow rivers, a void to claim all!

There was no earth-shattering collision.

The magnificent Divine Being merely met the blow with his fist, and it was as if a painted scroll of a Great Era, one that contained all of existence, had unfurled. Its boundless, holy light of peace ground away all traces of violent savagery.

The Golden Holy Elephant, with its heaven-propping, mountainous might, suddenly felt as if it had struck cotton, or perhaps a celestial wall. It possessed the power to move mountains and fill seas, yet it was completely unable to bring that strength to bear.

”Zhou Chen, you whelp! Get the hell out of my way!”

The Saint Elephant Ancestor’s golden blood qi burned through the firmament. He was like an old War God enraged, his hair whipping about wildly as his roar shattered a thousand miles of the void.

After a long and fruitless assault, he finally noticed something was amiss.

Prince Nanyang’s only goal in this fight was to stall him. He was only defending, not attacking; this wasn’t a battle to the death.

And it wasn’t just happening between him and Prince Nanyang.

In the midst of the great war.

Messages flooded his Communication Jade Talisman.

All the Great Divine Power Users of the Southern Alliance at the Fourth Transformation or higher were experiencing the same thing.

Their opponents were only blocking, not attacking.

They were effectively pinning down all the top experts of the Southern Alliance in the Southern Border Territory.

As for the reason, the Saint Elephant Ancestor already knew.

It was all to buy time for that madman, Wu Dao.

At first, he hadn’t paid it much mind.

He’d even found it somewhat absurd.

The Southern Alliance had gathered the Two Peaks of the Southern Border, a host of experts from the Royalist Faction, and even had the support of numerous sects from the Cultivation Sacred Lands of the Central Plains.

In the Southern Border warzone alone, they had more than thirty Divine Ability Users below the Fourth Transformation.

This fiend, Wu Dao, certainly defied common sense, but there had to be a limit to his absurdity.

A month ago, Wu Dao was at the tenth floor, at best.

For him to reach the Divine Power First Transformation a month later would already be heaven-defying.

Even by the most outrageous estimates, he couldn’t possibly have surpassed the Third Transformation.

The idea of a single person taking on dozens of Divine Ability Users was pure fantasy.

But not long after the battle began, the Saint Elephant Ancestor’s sense of absurdity gave way to shock, terror, and finally, uncontrollable rage!

Twenty First Transformation Divine Ability Users!

Annihilated in a single move!

Killed while thirty Divine Ability Users were launching a combined attack!

Twenty Divine Ability Users!

With the path to Divine Techniques now severed, each one was the cherished core of their faction, a pillar of strength, an irreplaceable part of their ultimate foundation.

But today... twenty of them had died at once!

It was like taking a knife and carving flesh directly from Dali’s heart!

But before the Saint Elephant Ancestor could even process his shock and fury...

Immediately after...

...came news that chilled him to the bone—

Ten at the Divine Power Second Transformation!

Five at the Divine Power Third Transformation!

All of them, dead!

It was over!

It was all over!

In that instant, the Saint Elephant Ancestor’s millennium of mental fortitude threatened to collapse. He was plunged into utter despair.

The only reason Dali could hold its own against four other territories was its control of the Central Plains, a land where fortune converged. This allowed it to accumulate a foundation of Divine Ability Users whose numbers far surpassed any other single territory, enough to keep the allied kings in check.

But after today, regardless of this battle’s outcome, the fall of over thirty Divine Ability Users would be the final straw that broke Dali’s back.

Dali would not only lose the Southern Border completely, but in order to plug the gap here, the warfronts in the other three territories would have to be pulled back again and again, until they lost what little control they had left!

Until—

They were reduced to a desperate, final struggle—the last fight of a cornered beast!

RUMBLE—

The chaotic, blurry realm constantly exploded and shook under the Golden Holy Elephant’s assault. The fourteen Extreme Yang Great Suns blazed with ultimate intensity, transforming into a boundless might that crashed against the magnificent Divine Being who blocked its path like a celestial wall.

But no matter how frenzied the Saint Elephant Ancestor became, Prince Nanyang remained perfectly calm, meeting his attacks with simple fists and palms, not moving so much as an inch.

”The Great Tribulation is almost upon us! With all this slaughter, Zhou Chen, you whelp, are you trying to extinguish the last flicker of hope for the Divine Wilderness?!”

Unable to break through, the Saint Elephant Ancestor roared in fury, attempting to cow Prince Nanyang with appeals to the greater good.

”You should know this, Senior.”

Prince Nanyang stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his eyes as deep as a Star Sea, his expression placid.

”When that day truly comes, those below the Ninth Transformation will have no chance at all. In fact, they will become sustenance for ’them’.”

”You...”

The Saint Elephant Ancestor’s expression froze. He wanted to argue but could find no grounds for rebuttal, for Prince Nanyang had spoken the truth.

Besides, his last outburst had been rather childish, born of frustration.

’On the battlefield, there is only victory and defeat. What does good versus evil or the greater good have to do with it? Being weaker than your opponent is just that—being weaker. The world is a crucible, and all living beings are but meat on the block. Who doesn’t want to struggle for their own survival? Who doesn’t want to seize that sliver of a chance to live? How many are truly willing to sacrifice themselves for the sake of others? Or, to put it another way, are your abilities even worth my sacrifice? Am I necessarily weaker than you? All this talk of the greater good often just boils down to self-interest.’

”And another thing...”

As the Saint Elephant Ancestor’s expression shifted uncertainly, Prince Nanyang spoke again, his tone carrying a rare and profound weight.

”If I were to truly disregard everything and fight to the death, Senior, what do you think your chances of survival would be?”

CLANG CLANG CLANG—

The Heart Lake Alarm Bell rang with frantic intensity.

The Saint Elephant Ancestor gazed at the green-robed, middle-aged man who was the source of that endless light of worldly peace. He felt an unprecedented sense of unfamiliarity and inscrutability, as if facing a lofty god from the Nine Heavens. The hair on his arms stood on end, and his very soul trembled.

’I don’t know if Prince Nanyang is being arrogant. I only know that since our fight began, I have been going all out from the very start. I’ve unreservedly unleashed my full power at the Great Success of the Horizontal Refining Ninth Gate and the Peak of Divine Technique Eight Transformations. But Prince Nanyang has only used his Nine Transformations Fist Stance from start to finish. He hasn’t even begun to use his Great Divine Techniques! According to rumor, the Great Divine Technique that Prince Nanyang practices is called ’Fate Return’. It wasn’t inherited; it’s his own Creation Technique! When he uses it, all fates are his to command! He commands the destinies of all living things, deciding life and death, fortune and calamity, with a single thought. Perhaps that’s an exaggeration, but even if only a hundredth, or a thousandth of it is true, it’s enough to prove just how unbelievably powerful this Great Divine Technique is! I originally thought that having reached the Great Success of the Horizontal Refining Ninth Gate and with my Great Divine Technique at the Peak of Eight Transformations, I could take on any opponent below the Ninth Transformation. But now that I’m truly facing a modern-day hegemon like Prince Nanyang, I see how laughable that idea was. Prince Nanyang has only used his Fist Momentum, just simple fist and palm strikes, and it’s already forcing me to use my full strength. If he truly wanted to kill me, I’d likely be dead within two moves. The gap between us is just too vast... In the world today, I suspect only the Rebel Kings of the three other territories and the one in Wenyuan Building truly have the strength to contend with Prince Nanyang. And that’s not even mentioning that the reason the kings of the four territories haven’t launched an all-out assault has never been their fear of the few Ninth Transformation experts Dali has stationed at the front.’

BZZZT~

As his thoughts churned, the Communication Jade Talisman inside the Saint Elephant Ancestor’s body vibrated. After a quick mental scan, the color drained further from his face.

’Chaotic Clothing Guard...’

Prince Nanyang, meanwhile, looked up toward Mingquan Pass City. His profound gaze seemed to cross thousands of mountains and rivers, reflecting all the scenes of the mortal world as he spoke in a slightly complicated tone, ”Father Emperor...”

...

「Southern Border Front.」

「Yu Yuan Prefecture, Mingquan Pass City.」

”Weak! Weak! You’re all too weak!!”

BOOM—CRASH!

The Abyssal Demon God roared as the Nine Heavens Thunder Sea churned and exploded!

At the pinnacle of the heavens.

Wu Dao, now reduced to a mere mist of blood particles, was utterly ferocious. He continuously marshaled the Three-Colored Thunder Gang Wind, forming a world-ending torrent that slammed into Wan Qianliang and the others, pinning them down so they couldn’t move an inch.

Within the three-colored torrent, the most dangerous element was the sparse, grey-and-red-streaked Celestial Thunder!

This Celestial Thunder, though sparse, contained enough Celestial Punishment Power to threaten even a Four-Change Divine Ability User.

Every bolt made Wan Qianliang’s hair stand on end, forcing him to use every ounce of his strength to defend against it!

Because!

It came from 17,999 meters up in the sky!

Just one meter higher was the domain of the gray Celestial Thunder Gang Wind, which could annihilate those at the Peak of Four Transformations and even threaten a Great Divine Power User!

CRACKLE—

”Ah! My lord, we can’t hold on much longer!”

Another three-colored torrent crashed down.

The endless power of Celestial Might assaulted their Essence, Qi, and Spirit, their bodies and souls, from all directions. Beneath the protection of the Money Ruyi, a Divine Ability User at the Peak of Three Transformations let out a bloodcurdling scream, his body already charred black.

He wasn’t the only one.

Among the six people present, aside from Wan Qianliang of the Fourth Transformation, the other five had all reached their limits. No matter how desperately they devoured the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, they couldn’t keep up with the immense expenditure of energy.

The Money Ruyi, which had initially been evenly matched with the Three-Colored Celestial Punishment Torrent, had long since switched from offense to defense. It now projected a Golden Light Protective Shield, barely resisting Wu Dao’s torrential bombardment.

’He’s a complete madman!’

Inside the Treasure Light Protective Shield formed by the Money Ruyi, Wan Qianliang, who was leading the defense, already looked haggard. His bloodshot eyes stared at the cloud of blood mist at the far end of the Celestial Punishment torrent as he gritted his teeth.

’I’m sure of it. Wu Dao’s condition can’t be any better than ours right now. Because from the very beginning, Wu Dao was reduced to a cloud of blood mist by the backlash from the Celestial Might. And as he keeps mobilizing the Gangfeng Thunderbolt and unleashing his Divine Techniques, that blood mist is still shrinking. It looks like it could dissipate into nothingness at any second. Originally, my plan was to wear Wu Dao down in a battle of attrition and see who would last longer! But to my despair, the scene of Wu Dao finally dissipating into ash never came. He’s like a black hole. Using some method I can’t even comprehend, he’s forcibly devouring all the Energy in the world to replenish himself, constantly hovering on the brink of life and death. One moment, it looks like he’s about to be annihilated, and the next, he somehow claws his way back from the abyss of death, screaming for more blood. What kind of willpower is this?’

Wan Qianliang couldn’t even begin to imagine.

But he was certain of one thing.

If this continued, if they couldn’t find a way to break the stalemate, it wouldn’t be long before Wu Dao sacrificed them all!

Because...

...under the suppression of the Celestial Thunder Gang Wind torrent, they could only take the beating passively!

Enduring Wu Dao’s relentless bombardment of Celestial Essence Magnetic Burst Fists, they were now experiencing the same helpless frustration and despair that the Celestial King once had.

...