Essence Devouring Art

Qilin...

Tsk~

’Another Holy Spirit Technique.’

’When will it be delivered to my doorstep?’

However, after two humiliating defeats, the Saint King seems to have grown more cautious.

He didn’t even dare to come and mess with the Overlord Whale Alliance to collect some interest while I was away.

He’s probably been psychologically scarred.

Until his power and confidence swell up again, he probably won’t dare to come seeking revenge.

He really is...

’What a useless piece of trash!’

After the matter of the Saint King, there was basically nothing else worth mentioning.

Wu Dao listened to a few more trivialities.

Then, he lost interest.

Under Zhao Jianji’s reluctant gaze, Wu Dao left the Overlord Whale Alliance headquarters and headed for the Bai Ze Bureau’s main office.

According to Zhao Jianji,

the Bai Ze Bureau’s granary had stored up a considerable number of ”fish” during this time.

He hadn’t tasted meat in who knows how many years.

He was indeed getting a little ’hungry’.

...

「Nanyang Prefecture.」

Deep within the Bai Ze Bureau’s main office.

The entrance to the Great Demon Suppression Prison.

It was dark and deep, filled with a gloomy, chilling air.

From time to time, inhuman, terrifying roars and howls echoed from the depths of the prison.

WHOOSH~

With a grave expression, he let out a heavy breath.

Xu Fan, a guard of the Demon Suppression Prison, squeezed the Protective Token at his waist and stepped into the darkness with a few colleagues to begin their routine daily patrol.

Inside the Demon Suppression Prison,

a Grand Array established by an Immortal Path Strong Person was used to imprison all sorts of Alien Species.

But to prevent any mishaps,

it still required guards to patrol the various prison levels daily and to inspect and maintain the Grand Array’s operation.

Xu Fan, who had joined the Bai Ze Bureau not long ago,

was one of the Prison Guards assigned to the Demon Suppression Prison.

The work was quite relaxed.

But it also came with a certain degree of danger.

To ensure the ’ingredients’ remained fresh,

the Demon Suppression Prison merely confined the Alien Species, not rendered them completely immobile.

Deceitful whispers.

Bewitching words.

The Spiritual Contamination emanating from Fierce Monsters.

These were all significant challenges for the Prison Guards. Those with a weak will were simply not cut out for the job.

A few days ago,

one of Xu Fan’s colleagues had been seduced by the beauty of a female specter and had nearly made a terrible mistake.

Fortunately...

Unlike the other grim-faced Prison Guards,

Xu Fan had voluntarily requested a transfer to the Great Demon Suppression Prison.

Because he had his own little secret.

”What do you guys think the higher-ups are thinking? With these Alien Species, they should just kill who needs to be killed and refine who needs to be refined. Why bother keeping them around?”

One of the other Prison Guards grumbled, clearly unaware of the true purpose behind the Demon Suppression Prison’s creation.

”You only just joined the Bai Ze Bureau, so it’s normal that you don’t know.”

Another, older Prison Guard whispered:

”I’ve heard... this Great Demon Suppression Prison, on the surface, is for imprisoning Alien Species, but it’s actually the personal granary of *that* great lord.”

A granary...

Xu Fan frowned.

He subconsciously squeezed the miniature Black Jade Gourd pendant at his waist.

”*That* great lord? Which one?”

The first Prison Guard was confused, but then he seemed to realize something. With a look of reverence and fear, he shrank back and stopped complaining.

Although that person had been gone for four months,

his thunderous reputation...

still circulated daily within the Bai Ze Bureau. He was nothing short of a living legend.

Moreover,

even after being gone for so long,

his status remained unshaken. One could only imagine how significant his position was in the Southern Border.

He didn’t dare to speak ill of him.

After they entered the dungeons,

the gloomy and oppressive atmosphere intensified,

making it feel as if they were submerged in the deep sea.

The pressure was suffocating.

The three men fell silent.

Their tasks were clearly divided.

Each man was responsible for one section.

They began to patrol their different assigned areas.

Among them,

Xu Fan was responsible for the demon section.

After stepping into the area where the demons were imprisoned,

Xu Fan’s perpetually stern and silent face finally showed a change in expression: the joyous smile of a mouse in a granary.

The reason he had voluntarily transferred to the Demon Suppression Prison...

...was because this prison, which seemed ominous and sinister to outsiders, was also a personal granary for him.

Because...

POP~

The Black Jade Gourd at his waist opened.

A hazy black light spilled out.

Like a miniature black hole,

its gravitational pull bypassed the Array’s restrictions, devouring the Demon Qi from the various demons in the surrounding cells.

The Demon Refining Gourd!

It was a great, life-altering Creation that Xu Fan had obtained.

This Gourd was miraculously potent.

It could absorb the life essence of demons and refine it into Body Refining Treasure Liquid, which was of great use to one’s physical body.

He had only been guarding the Demon Suppression Prison for half a month,

but Xu Fan had already reaped the rewards.

His Transverse Cultivation had progressed significantly, and he was on the verge of breaking through the shackles of the Third Daoist Sect to enter the Fourth Daoist Sect.

In the face of such enormous benefits,

even though he had just learned who the master behind the Demon Suppression Prison was,

he clung to a sliver of hope.

’Out of countless people, the Demon Refining Gourd chose me. This proves I’m destined for greatness, blessed by fortune.’

’I’m just taking a little sip of the soup.’

’It’ll definitely be fine.’

WHIRL~ WHIRL~ WHIRL~

The Demon Refining Gourd pulsed with black light,

seeping into each of the cells.

It seemed to have a hypnotic effect;

one by one, the demons became drowsy and unresponsive, their bodies gradually withering away.

However,

as he passed by a cell in the center,

Xu Fan stoppered the Gourd. A look of lovesick longing appeared in his eyes as he whispered:

”Senior? Senior?”

Inside the cell before him,

through a translucent, net-like Array covered in golden runes,

one could see a graceful and noble woman. Her beauty was enchanting, enough to topple cities. Dressed in a simple skirt, she rested her head on her delicate hand, napping lazily on a stone bed.

GULP~

Gazing at the sleeping, Goddess-like face of his senior,

and then letting his gaze drift down to the rising and falling curves barely concealed by light gauze—a beautiful, snowy landscape—

Xu Fan couldn’t help but swallow. A fire ignited in his heart, burning hotter the more he thought about it. He desperately wanted to indulge himself.

Having suffered since childhood

and grown accustomed to the world’s fickleness and humanity’s wickedness,

Xu Fan never believed that humans and demons had to walk separate paths.

Because compared to humans,

Senior White Fox had been so much better to him.

When he was on the verge of starvation, she had given him food and warmth.

Not only that,

she had also guided his Cultivation, setting him on the path of Body Refinement and helping him achieve considerable success.

Living together day and night,

he had developed a forbidden love for Senior White Fox.

But...

those wonderful days had ended not long ago.

After Senior White Fox went out for a trip one day, she never returned.

After asking around,

Xu Fan finally learned

that Senior White Fox had been captured by the Bai Ze Bureau.

To rescue the White Fox,

Xu Fan could only suppress his anger and join the Bai Ze Bureau, voluntarily requesting a transfer to the Demon Suppression Prison to plot his next move.

Not long ago,

his application was finally approved, and he once again saw the Senior White Fox he had longed for day and night.

The White Fox

was very moved by Xu Fan’s arrival.

She told Xu Fan that the Demon Refining Gourd was about to appear, instructing him to find it, endure and grow stronger, and not to act rashly.

And so,

after overcoming all sorts of difficulties and dangers, Xu Fan officially obtained the Demon Refining Gourd—the Creation that would change his destiny.

Inside the cell,

the enchanting beauty in the light gauze dress heard Xu Fan’s call. Her feathery eyelashes fluttered, revealing a pair of peach-blossom eyes that could steal one’s very soul. They were both captivating and pitiable, glistening as if veiled in mist.

The light gauze slipped slightly, revealing fragrant shoulders whiter than snow.

”Fan’er...”

She murmured, biting her ruby lip, her voice a soft, gentle whisper.

Her sweet, melodious voice, enough to make one’s bones melt, was laced with threads of deep longing.

It was enough to make Xu Fan’s eyes turn bloodshot as blood rushed to his head. He wished for nothing more than to die in her arms, a blissful end, and he nearly smashed open the wretched cell right then and there.

But just as Xu Fan was overwhelmed with emotion,

”Tsk, not bad at all.”

A detached, teasing voice

rang out without warning, cold and spectral, from within the cell.

”AHH!!”

The beautiful Fox Demon shrieked, her face draining of all color.

As if she had seen something utterly terrifying, her eyes instantly went vacant. She fell back stiffly, revealing a large, indecent patch of snow-white.

An indescribably heavy pressure

descended upon him, like falling into the deepest ocean trench and coming face-to-face with a Demon God opening its eyes at the bottom of the Black Abyss.

Instantly, every hair on Xu Fan’s body stood on end. His muscles seized, his teeth chattered, and he froze like a puppet, unable to move a single inch.

WHOOSH~

A figure like a Demon God stepped out of the darkness.

He stood calmly beside Xu Fan.

His eyes, deeper than darkness itself, glanced at the ripe, juicy peach in the cell who had lost her wits. He raised an eyebrow. ”With a soul-devouring, life-draining juicer like that, it’s no wonder you’re so infatuated.”

SWISH~

A sound cut through the air.

Before Xu Fan’s horrified eyes,

the once-arrogant

and imperious Demon Refining Gourd trembled like a mouse before a cat, powerless to resist as it fell into the ”Demon God’s” large hand.

”A Royal Artifact, and a Demon Dao Royal Artifact at that... Interesting.”

Wu Dao twirled the pendant-like Black Jade Gourd between his fingers, discerning its nature and purpose in a single glance.

A damaged Demon Dao Royal Artifact.

The Divine Technique within the Artifact:

”Demonic Fusion and Spirit Transformation.”

It was once a Three-Change Royal Artifact.

It had suffered some unknown, grievous damage,

and its very essence had degraded.

All that remained was an Artifact Spirit at the Celestial Human First Floor level, possessing only a sliver of its Divine Technique’s Mighty Power.

Had nothing unexpected occurred,

it might have slowly recovered over time.

However...

’A Demon Dao Artifact Spirit is still a demon, right?’

After toying with it for a moment,

in the periphery of Xu Fan’s despairing, trembling gaze,

Wu Dao casually tossed the Demon Refining Gourd into his abyssal maw—which revealed two rows of demonic, shark-like teeth—as if popping a fava bean into his mouth.

”NO—!”

An inhuman, shrill scream rang out.

CRUNCH!

And was gone in an instant!

VMMMM—BOOM!!

It was like he had swallowed a high-explosive bomb.

But the Energy, enough to annihilate everything in a two-mile radius, was snuffed out before it could even escape Wu Dao’s mouth.

GULP~

His throat bobbed.

The fragments of the Royal Artifact,

along with its Artifact Spirit, were swallowed whole by Wu Dao.

’Teleportation Points +5,000.’

HFF~

He exhaled a wisp of black smoke, a remnant of the explosion.

Wu Dao savored the aftertaste for a moment, but found it bland. The Demon Dao Artifact Spirit was like boiled water—completely tasteless.

But it didn’t matter.

He’d just consider it an appetizer.

HUFF... HUFF... HUFF...

The sound of heavy, horrified panting reached his ears.

Wu Dao glanced coolly at Xu Fan, whose eyes were bloodshot with terror and rage, and smiled faintly.

”Judging by how you’re drooling, you’ve probably only ever gotten a sniff, never a taste of the real thing, have you? Don’t worry. In a moment, I’ll tell you exactly what it’s like.”

!!!

Xu Fan’s eyes nearly split from their sockets.

But the pressure, like a Divine Peak submerged in the deep sea,

rendered him utterly immobile.

He could only watch, helpless,

as Wu Dao stepped into the cell unimpeded.

He savagely grabbed a handful of the White Fox’s long, dark hair and delivered a vicious slap across her devastatingly beautiful, god-like face.

”Have you no professional decency? What’s the fun in tasting a corpse? Scream!”

”Eeep, n-no... Don’t!!”

RRRIP!

The light gauze skirt was torn to shreds.

Revealing a fragrant, satin-like expanse of snow-white...

...fox fur.

VMM!

A miniature Magnetic Field cage materialized.

Compress!

Compress!

And compress again.

Amidst bloodcurdling, tragic screams,

the enchanting, devastatingly beautiful White Fox Demon was soon reduced to a small, crystalline Sun in Wu Dao’s palm—snow-white, fragrant, and emitting wisps of frosty air.

GULP~

Down the hatch, swallowed alive.

’Teleportation Points +2,500.’

After savoring the taste for a moment,

Wu Dao walked out of the cell, gave a thumbs-up to Xu Fan, whose eyes had lost all their light, and grinned.

”First impression, it had the scent of a snow lotus on an iceberg. To the touch, soft, supple, and springy. The taste was an explosion of milky fragrance, and the mingling... passionate as fire. Indeed... not bad at all.”

With that said,

he didn’t wait for Xu Fan’s reaction.

With a flick of his finger,

a thread of Primordial Magnetism current shot out.

CRACKLE!

A faint spark flashed.

WHOOSH~

A cold wind blew past, and Xu Fan was turned to ash.

”I’m getting a bit soft-hearted,”

Wu Dao mused, stepping over the scattered ashes as he walked toward the next delicacy.

’Daring to sneak into my granary to steal food...’

’The correct course of action...’

’...should have been to instantly grind his bones to dust.’

’But sometimes, I just can’t control my soft heart.’

’Since you were so desperately hungry...’

’...if I didn’t tell you exactly what she tasted like and let you die without regrets...’

’...wouldn’t that have been too cruel?’

’In a moment of weakness,’

’after letting the thief know the taste of the meat so he could die without regrets,’

’I didn’t even continue to torture him.’

’Instead, I immediately let his soul scatter and his body turn to ash, granting him release without a shred of pain.’

Hmm~

’This way of handling things...’

’...is really a bit too merciful, like a Holy Mother.’

’I’ll have to be more careful in the future.’