Essence Devouring Art

But in the next moment, that guilt was crushed by the heavy burden on his shoulders. He hardened his heart, resolutely turning and stepping into the depths of the Grand Ancestral Temple.

Zhou Heng knew very well.

Given Dali’s current situation,

even if the Saint of Strategy were alive today,

he too would only sigh in despair, willing but ultimately powerless to save them.

The fundamental reason...

...was the loss of a massive amount of Nine Transformations Battle Power.

Of the four at the Absolute Peak,

aside from himself, the others could barely hold back the Three Kings. They had no strength left to defend the breaches in Dali’s borders and could only watch as the various kings devoured Dali’s last remaining territory.

Now, they were at the end of their rope,

having retreated to their final stronghold, Celestial Fate County City.

If Dali couldn’t find new power, it would just be a slow death.

Because...

...the power of the top-tier Extraordinaries on both sides was completely unequal.

Perhaps the three Great Li Peak experts could join forces.

They might be able to completely stop two of the Rebel Kings, intercepting them outside the final Celestial Fate Prefecture.

But what about the other two?

Although Zhou Heng was considered the most powerful person in the world today,

two fists are no match for four hands.

If two kings joined forces to besiege him, even he wouldn’t be able to withstand it.

To break this stalemate,

or more accurately, to defend Dali’s core, Celestial Fate County,

there was only one way—

Dali had to produce an Absolute Peak expert who could suppress one of the kings in a one-on-one fight!

Did Dali have such a person?

Yes!

And the identity of that Absolute Peak expert was...

「Inside the Grand Ancestral Temple.」

”I, your unworthy descendant Zhou Heng, have disturbed you ancestors today. Great Ancestor, I swear that one day I will restore Dali’s lands and atone for my transgression with great deeds!”

After respectfully performing three kowtows and nine prostrations to the successive generations of Dali’s ancestors, Zhou Heng’s expression hardened. He reached out a large hand, spraying his Emperor’s blood essence onto the ancient, mottled Incense Burner before the spirit tablets.

VMMMM—

In that instant,

the entire Imperial Palace, and even the vast Celestial Fate County,

seemed to tremble in unison.

With the Grand Ancestral Temple as its core, thousands of brilliant golden threads branched out, radiating across Celestial Fate County’s crisscrossing roads, its countless households, its main avenues, and its small paths.

For a moment,

the entire Celestial Fate County glowed and shuddered.

A dazzling, majestic golden light, like a curtain or a waterfall, shot up into the sky, clearly visible even from thousands of miles away from Celestial Fate County.

”What is this...?”

「A thousand miles from Celestial Fate County.」

Wu Dao, who was traveling by Sword Flight, came to an abrupt halt.

He gazed at the brilliant golden light that covered the entire county. It shone upon the world like a volcanic eruption, manifesting scenes of all living beings in their myriad forms, all offering up pious prayers. His eyes narrowed unconsciously.

’The Power of Faith!’

The fluctuations of the Magnetic Field were identical to those from the Demon Suppression Emperor’s Temple.

This allowed him to instantly recognize the essence of the golden light: it was the devout Power of Faith from all the living beings in Celestial Fate County, directed toward Dali.

”Such a grand design. What a man, that Demon Suppression Emperor!”

After studying it for a few moments,

the divine light in Wu Dao’s eyes faded, and he let out a heartfelt sigh of admiration.

From his perspective,

Celestial Fate County, now blooming with the golden light of faith, was a gigantic convergence point for a Magnetic Field. In other words, it was a Grand Array!

A Grand Array that covered the entire Celestial Fate County!

For such a massive amount of the Power of Faith to manifest in the world,

it was obvious...

...that the array’s purpose was to collect and store the Wish Power from the people of Celestial Fate County, born from their daily pious prayers for Dali.

This kind of Array...

...was somewhat similar to the Magnetic Field layout of the Demon Suppression Emperor’s Temples scattered throughout Dali’s lands.

The difference was that...

...the Demon Suppression Emperor’s Temples were on a much larger scale, absorbing the faith of all people in the world toward the Demon Suppression Emperor and radiating across the entire Great Li World.

The Magnetic Field Grand Array in Celestial Fate County, however,

only collected the faith of the common people of Celestial Fate County for Dali.

What they had in common was that...

...both were the work of a single person—

the Demon Suppression Emperor!

’To accomplish this without world-class, top-tier mastery of Arrays would be absolutely impossible.’

Wu Dao carefully sensed the layout of Celestial Fate County and discovered that the County City’s Magnetic Field was exceptionally special. It faintly gave off the feeling of being the center of heaven and earth, a place where a hundred rivers converge.

It wasn’t an Innate formation.

It was a layout artificially constructed later.

He swept his spiritual sense over the Demon Suppression Emperor’s Temples scattered throughout the land and, as expected, found that those temples were all located at the core intersections of local Magnetic Fields.

After occupying these Magnetic Field cores,

no matter what Grand Array one set up, it would be as if aided by the heavens, completely invincible.

From this point, it wasn’t hard to see that...

...back then, besides his raw power reaching the pinnacle, the Demon Suppression Emperor’s attainments in the way of Arrays were also enough to be called the best.

He reached this conclusion...

...because no matter which historical record one looked at,

the countless Demon Suppression Emperor’s Temples scattered across the world, new or old, were all built on sites personally designated by the Demon Suppression Emperor ’before his death.’

’The scheme with the Demon Suppression Emperor’s Temples was for his own deification. Then this backup plan in Celestial Fate County...’

Wu Dao’s thoughts churned as his gaze fell upon Celestial Fate County, where a new change was occurring.

After shining upon the world for a moment,

the majestic golden light of Faith and Willpower once again converged like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea. Like a great, surging river, it all rushed toward the Imperial City at the heart of Celestial Fate County.

Such a majestic Power of Faith...

...could not possibly have been accumulated in a short time. It was highly likely that it had been stored since the founding of Dali.

An accumulation of over six hundred years!

Unleashed all at once.

No wonder it created such a magnificent spectacle, so vast and powerful that it illuminated the heavens and the earth.

”It is said among the Nine Transformations that the Demon Suppression Emperor allowed Dali’s fortune to dissipate to make way for those who came after, an act of supreme selflessness. But now it seems...”

Wu Dao withdrew his gaze and muttered to himself, ”Humans are not plants; who can be without emotion? No matter how selfless one is, it’s impossible to truly let the empire you personally founded, and your own descendants, fend for themselves.”

He understood in his heart.

The layout of Celestial Fate County...

...was a manifestation of the Demon Suppression Emperor’s human sentimentality. It was a blessing he left behind ’before his death’ for his descendants, and it was also Dali’s strongest hidden trump card.

As for...

...what this trump card actually was...

...it was definitely related to the Demon Suppression Emperor!

Thinking of this,

Wu Dao’s eyes narrowed. He glanced down at the ’Flying Sword’ beneath his feet, then changed his plan. He once again manifested a clone and had it carry the ’Flying Sword’ far away.

Then,

he let out a slow breath.

His expression showing neither shock nor fear, he continued flying toward Celestial Fate County.

...

The change in Celestial Fate County...

...was immense, illuminating the heavens and the earth.

A commotion of this magnitude...

...was not only noticed by Wu Dao. The four kings and the Divine Ability Users pursuing the Nine Transformations of Da Li all stopped outside Celestial Fate County, their expressions filled with shock and uncertainty.

”Great Ancestor...”

「To the south of Celestial Fate County.」

Prince Nanyang met with a group of Ninth Transformation experts from the Southern Border. His profound gaze was fixed on the Imperial City as he sighed in lament. ”I thought you would never play this card. I never expected... In the end, you still learned the ruthlessness of an Emperor.”

As one of the former Crown Princes,

although he was not favored,

Prince Nanyang still knew some of Dali’s secrets,

though his understanding was like seeing flowers in a fog.

When the Demon Suppression Emperor was on the throne,

he did indeed leave a trump card for Dali.

What this trump card was, how to use it, and under what circumstances it could be used were secrets known only to the successive Celestial Emperors.

After mastering his Great Divine Techniques...

...and developing rebellious intentions,

Prince Nanyang had gazed toward the Central Plains more than once, trying to speculate and pry into the ultimate legacy the Demon Suppression Emperor had left for Dali’s future generations.

After Dali was reduced to only Three Prefectures,

and its destiny had fallen to its lowest point,

Prince Nanyang had finally managed to glimpse what that trump card hidden beneath the Imperial Palace’s Grand Ancestral Temple truly was.

And...

...to use this trump card...

...would be an act of utter ruthlessness and bloodshed!

BOOM—!!

As Prince Nanyang’s thoughts were reeling,

at the core of Celestial Fate County,

beneath the Grand Ancestral Temple in the Dali Imperial City, having just devoured six hundred years of Celestial Fate County’s Faith and Willpower, pillars of ominous black light suddenly erupted. They pierced the heavens and shook the world in all directions.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH—

The instant the pillars of black light appeared,

it was as if the floodgates of an ancient, abyssal graveyard had been opened. An endless, gray, decaying aura of death was released, spreading madly like volcanic ash and turning the once majestic, golden Celestial Fate County into a gray-white Hell.