Essence Devouring Art

WHOOSH—

The frigid wind cut like a knife, chilling to the bone.

It is often said that the north wind brings wild geese and flurries of snow.

But in the Divine Wilderness, the situation was now one of a howling south wind that brought freezing rain and frost.

An unnatural, extreme cold had descended upon the entire Southern Border.

Its influence spread far and wide. Even the heartland of the Central Plains felt the chill of the cold wave from the south.

The sky was as gloomy as ink.

For thousands of miles, not a single ray of sunlight penetrated the gloom. A continuous, dreary rain fell upon a scene of desolate ruin and deathly silence.

Occasionally, looking down from the heavens, one could see cities in ruin, mountains toppled, and great rifts stretching to the horizon across the vast land—a truly apocalyptic sight.

This was no work of man.

The Great Tribulation was nigh, and calamities plagued every land.

The Central Plains suffered from frequent, widespread earthquakes—a disaster colloquially known as the ”earth dragon turning over.” Compared to the ”milder” calamities in the other four regions, the destructive power of these quakes was far more terrifying and direct.

To this day, one massive earthquake after another had struck without warning, destroying countless cities and claiming an untold number of lives.

PITTER-PATTER...

The front lines of Changyuan Prefecture.

Jade Dragon Garrison City.

Dark clouds gathered overhead as a cold, fine rain fell.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

At that moment, the urgent clang of an alarm bell suddenly echoed through the Garrison City.

At the same time, a Divine Ability User took to the sky.

His expression was grave as his voice boomed across the entire city:

”Urgent report from the scouts! The Southern Border rebel army is advancing at full speed! All of them are Celestial Beings! They are less than three hundred miles from Jade Dragon Garrison City! All forces, prepare for battle!”

CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!

As his voice faded, brilliant flashes of light erupted throughout the Garrison City. One by one, the Celestial Being experts guarding Jade Dragon Garrison City—all fully armed—shot into the sky and out beyond the walls, forming up in strict battle formation.

The reason the force consisted entirely of Celestial Beings was not because the Southern Border possessed such a deep well of talent or an overwhelmingly powerful army.

The true reason was that, following the ”black snow” calamity in the Southern Border, different calamities had also emerged in all the other lands. Accompanying these was a disaster of the Dao itself: the severing of the Celestial Human Path.

To this day, any cultivator in the Divine Wilderness below the Celestial Being realm—regardless of their path—was essentially crippled.

Forget about going to war; they had to exhaust all their power just to keep their cultivation from regressing.

Their Dantian reserves were nowhere near as vast as those of Celestial Beings who wielded Divine Techniques.

Their methods for absorbing Heaven and Earth Energy also paled in comparison to those of Celestial Beings.

If they were to engage in combat, their reserves would be quickly depleted as they couldn’t replenish their Energy from the outside world. This would likely drain them completely, putting immense strain on their Dantian and causing permanent damage. Even a victory would be a Pyrrhic one, causing as much harm to themselves as to the enemy. There was no benefit to be had.

For all these reasons, in this decisive, final war where the four outer regions were attacking the Central Plains, the forces deployed by both the attackers and defenders were all composed of cultivators at the Celestial Being realm and higher.

This final war was different in one other aspect.

Because Dali was fighting with its back to the wall and had no room left for retreat, the battlefield would not be in some remote, neutral territory. The war would be fought directly within the Central Plains.

To minimize the collateral damage from the war, over the past half-month, the four kings of the outer regions had joined forces to clear out and relocate all the common people within a radius of several thousand li of the Three Prefectures. They had forcibly created a depopulated zone stretching for hundreds of miles.

From this alone, it was easy to see just how seriously the kings were taking this final battle.

They were all resolved not to rest until Dali was utterly broken.

BUZZ... BUZZ... BUZZ...

Outside Jade Dragon Garrison City.

Black clouds churned in the sky, and the atmosphere was silent and oppressive.

Clad in pitch-black battle armor, Nie Wu Gou stood tall in the sky, facing the wind. His physique was majestic, and he was bare-fisted. His heavy gaze was fixed on the horizon, while his consciousness was immersed in the constantly vibrating Communication Jade Talisman in his possession.

The flood of information in the Jade Talisman proved that the enemy was not only approaching Jade Dragon Pass.

At that very moment, every Garrison City along the front lines of Changyuan Prefecture had received similar reports from their scouts.

Squads of Celestial Beings from the Southern Border, varying in number and led by Divine Ability Users, were rapidly advancing on each Garrison City.

The four outer regions were launching their final offensive against Dali’s last Three Prefectures.

Due to their different geographical locations, they naturally faced different enemies.

Changyuan Prefecture generally faced south. Therefore, it had to defend against the invaders from the Southern Border.

In contrast, Guangdao Prefecture was responsible for holding back the forces from the Northern Lands.

As for the remaining two forces, from the East Sea and the Western Desert, they were to be met by Wandeng Prefecture. As Dali’s capital and situated between the other two prefectures, it faced the greatest pressure of all.

Of course, the tides of war are ever-changing. Once the fighting began, such neat divisions would cease to matter.

There was no guarantee the enemy would deploy their forces as expected.

’Sigh... I hope the Ancestors can handle their opponents.’

He let out a slow, heavy breath.

Nie Wu Gou gazed at the dark, oppressive horizon, a hint of worry clouding his rugged features.

The lands of Changyuan Prefecture had a flourishing martial culture since ancient times.

Thus, the recognized leader of the Changyuan Extraordinary Realm had always been the True Martial Hall, hailed throughout the world as the Martial Arts Leader. Second only to them was Nie Wu Gou’s own sect, Holy Elephant Mountain.

Within these two great Martial Arts Sacred Lands, in addition to the publicly known rising stars—the Saint Elephant Ancestor and the True Martial Hall Master—the True Martial Hall also harbored two reclusive Nine Transformations Supremes.

In the last great war, the exact outcome was unknown to lower-level cultivators, but after it ended, all four of Changyuan’s Ninth Transformation experts had returned wounded. As of yesterday, they were still in seclusion, recuperating from their injuries.

Old wounds had yet to heal, and a new war was already upon them.

Even if he tried to suppress his pessimistic thoughts, and even if the Ninth Transformation experts of the Southern Border might also not be fully recovered, Nie Wu Gou couldn’t quell the anxiety rising in his heart.

There was a reason for his unease.

It was all because of one person.

Or, to be more precise, it was because of that inhuman monster from the Southern Border who, in a single battle over four months ago, had shattered a quarter of the Central Plains’ foundation of Divine Ability Users—

Wu Dao!

During the battle of Mingquan Pass, Wu Dao had single-handedly slaughtered dozens of Divine Ability Users—and he had done so while crossing cultivation realms to kill them. The feat had shaken the entire world and completely shattered the worldview of countless Extraordinaries.

Ever since then, cultivators from every land, not just the Central Plains, all referred to Wu Dao by the same name: that monster from the Southern Border.

His combat prowess was so monstrous it made one’s skin crawl. No one could bring themselves to calmly regard him as a fellow member of the Human Race.