Essence Devouring Art

「Four months ago.」

Wu Dao had suddenly vanished without a trace, his fate unknown.

Upon learning this,

the cultivators of the Central Plains all felt as if an invisible mountain weighing them down had vanished, and they let out a collective sigh of relief.

But their joy was short-lived.

「Four months later.」

Wu Dao appeared once more, even more terrifying than before. Even the spies hidden in the Southern Border could not fathom the depths of his power.

Speculation ran rampant.

It was believed that even if the current Wu Dao hadn’t reached the Ninth Transformation, he certainly possessed the battle power of one who had.

Not long ago, he had just entered the realm of Divine Techniques.

And he was already killing experts of the Third and Fourth Transformations as if they were dogs.

If he truly possessed Nine Transformations Battle Power now, how could anyone possibly stand against him?

Once that monster truly joined the battlefield...

how was the Long Abyss line supposed to hold?

Could their Ancestors truly suppress him?

’With the suppression of the Great Dao, even a monster like him can’t ascend to the heavens in a single step. He can’t possibly match the centuries, or even millennia, of our Ancestors’ cultivation!’

Nie Wu Gou clenched his jaw, forcing the anxiety from his heart. He focused his mind and calmed his breath as his Essence, Qi, and Spirit began to climb, preparing himself completely for the enemy to come.

Eight hundred li...

Six hundred li...

Five hundred li...

From within the Communication Jade Talisman,

the voices of the scouts reported ceaselessly as the Celestial Army attacking Jade Dragon Pass rapidly approached.

But just as they reached the five-hundred-li mark,

a scout’s shocked voice suddenly rang out. ”They’ve stopped! Elder, they’ve halted their advance and are frantically retreat—”

The voice cut off abruptly.

The scout’s spiritual imprint, like a smudge wiped away by a great hand, vanished without the slightest struggle, leaving no trace behind.

It wasn’t just that one scout.

In the direction of Jade Dragon Pass, the spiritual imprints of every scout within a thousand li vanished completely. In an instant, Jade Spring Pass was rendered blind.

This...

This sudden, drastic change...

...sent a chill down Nie Wu Gou’s spine as a horrifying realization dawned on him.

’Scouts spread out over a thousand li of land!’

’All at once!’

’Dead in the very same moment!’

’That could only mean one thing!’

’A Nine Transformations Great Divine Power User from the Southern Border is initiating a Fighting General duel outside Jade Dragon Pass!’

”This is bad! Flee!!”

Upon this realization,

a glacial chill washed over Nie Wu Gou. He let out a thundering roar, unleashing his Divine Techniques to envelop his subordinates and flee frantically. At the same time, he sent a message through his Communication Jade Talisman to notify the Saint Elephant Ancestor.

Two-fifths of the Long Abyss frontline, including Jade Dragon Pass, were primarily defended by the forces of Holy Elephant Mountain.

With a Nine Transformations Great Divine Power User from the Southern Border attacking,

only the Saint Elephant Ancestor could possibly respond.

Other Great Divine Power Users were engaged in battles elsewhere; it was impossible to pull reinforcements from one front to support Holy Elephant Mountain.

’Beneath the Ninth Transformation, all are ants!’

’Once Jade Dragon Pass becomes their arena...’

’...little ants like them...’

’...would be instantly torn to shreds by the shockwaves alone!’

VMMMM—

But in the instant Nie Wu Gou sent the intelligence,

the entire world—heaven, earth, and the eight directions—trembled in unison. The churning, inky clouds in the sky froze in place, and the very air seemed to solidify.

It was as if they had been plunged into the depths of a crushing abyss.

An indescribably immense pressure bore down from all directions, causing their qi and blood to stagnate and their minds to go blank. They couldn’t move an inch.

RUMBLE—CRACKLE!

The stillness of the world...

...lasted for but a moment.

It was shattered by a vast and continuous roar of thunder, like the very heavens erupting in fury.

Across a thousand li of sky!

As if the end of the World had come, the inky clouds surged and roiled. Countless bolts of gray-white Celestial Punishment Thunder spewed forth in a mad torrent, bathing the entire World in a ghastly pallor.

RUUUMBLE—

In the depths of the terrifying, world-creating Thunder Sea, the black clouds imploded. The void itself trembled and wailed as if a God and Demon from above the Nine Heavens, a wielder of Celestial Punishment, was about to descend and annihilate the entire World.

VMM!

The boundless black clouds were utterly annihilated.

In their place, a black-and-white Thunder Sea completely submerged the sky.

And...

...the pair of eyes that filled the entire canopy of the heavens.

The Sen Leng eyes of a God and Demon, gazing down upon the mortal world.

”AHHHHH!!!!”

The instant his gaze met the twin pupils of the God and Demon in the sky,

Nie Wu Gou felt his very soul plunge into the Purgatory Abyss, into an endless Sea of Suffering. An indescribable terror seized him, causing him to let out the most horrified scream of his life.

A dignified Martial Artist of the Divine Power Four Transformations,

yet his soul shattered in an instant. His eyes went vacant, and his body, now a soulless husk, plummeted from the sky.

If this was the fate of the commander,

what chance did the common soldiers have?

BANG! BANG! BANG—

A series of explosions, like nuclear detonations, erupted one after another.

The nearly one hundred Celestial Being experts stationed at Jade Dragon Pass, under the gaze of the God and Demon’s eyes that filled the sky,

were annihilated with but a single glance.

The immense, all-encompassing pressure crushed them into clouds of blood mist. Their souls scattered, and without so much as a whimper, they were utterly obliterated.

———

BOOM!!

In the same instant that the souls of the soldiers garrisoned at Jade Dragon Pass scattered,

in the sky behind the pass,

fourteen golden suns suddenly blazed into existence, like fourteen Immortal Furnaces firing in unison.

Immeasurable light and heat blazed across the thousand-li sky, vaporizing the falling rain. An aura of supreme, majestic yang instantly filled the world.

Instantly,

the world was split in two, with Jade Dragon Pass as the stark, absolute dividing line.

Behind Jade Dragon Pass, majestic suns shone, bathing the world in golden light, creating a sacred paradise on earth.

Before Jade Dragon Pass, the Thunder Sea roiled—a black-and-white apocalypse, an Abyss of Hell.

RUMBLE!!

Where the golden light and the Thunder Sea converged,

their energies, as incompatible as fire and water, reacted violently. They ground against each other in a frenzy of collisions, unleashing crackling lightning, brilliant golden light, and roaring explosions.

In a mere instant,

Jade Dragon Garrison City was annihilated, turned to dust and smoke!

Along the thousand-li boundary where their energies collided, mountains crumbled and the earth split open into abysses, forming a celestial curtain of Chaos that sliced through the world, connecting the heavens above to the chasms below.

THUD! THUD! THUD!!

Heavy footfalls, like the steps of a Holy Elephant, resounded through the world, shaking it to its core.

Beneath the fourteen golden suns,

the Saint Elephant Ancestor appeared. The phantom of a heaven-propping, hell-suppressing Ancient Golden Holy Elephant loomed behind him. His expression was impossibly grim as he walked, step by step, toward Jade Dragon Pass.