Essence Devouring Art

”HISS!!”

”An absolute madman!”

”That beast!”

Gasps of cold shock.

Murmurs of stunned disbelief.

Cries of angry grief.

All these sounds rose up simultaneously, both inside and outside Celestial Fate County.

”Wu Dao!!!”

Zhou Heng’s eyes were practically splitting with rage. He ground his teeth, barely able to suppress the murderous intent that made him want to obliterate Wu Dao on the spot.

The reason for everyone’s loss of composure was simple. In the distance, hurtling toward them through the sky, they saw another Wu Dao... but not the seven Nine Transformations experts.

To be more precise, they were there.

But they were completely unrecognizable as human.

It was unclear what horrific suppression Da Li’s seven great Nine Transformations had endured, but their flesh and bone had been compressed and fused together, stacked one on top of the other to form a single, grotesque, human-shaped flying sword.

As Wu Dao rode this ”sword” through the air, it continuously emitted a series of terrifying, inhuman screams.

What kind of hell on earth was this?

Hm?

Wu Dao met the devil-like stares from all sides with a strange expression. ”Is there a problem? It’s just a minor flesh wound. You can’t even call it mistreating prisoners.”

’They’re Nine Transformations Great Divine Power Users, after all.’

’What’s a little physical damage to them?’

’At most, I used their Dantian Dao Embryos as a bit of fuel. It’s not like it’s a fatal wound. Such a fuss over nothing.’

”Enough!”

Blood seeped from Zhou Heng’s eyes. He had no desire to waste another word on a deranged lunatic like Wu Dao.

He touched a finger to the spot between his eyebrows.

Innumerable blood-red, malevolent characters flew out from his Purple Mansion Dantian. They coalesced into a Blood-Dripping Jade Stele, upon which one could vaguely discern the blurry silhouette of a Sacred Spirit wreathed in the endless fires of slaughter and war.

The Nine Gates Holy Spirit Technique!

When the various Nine Transformations experts saw the Blood-Dripping Jade Stele in Zhou Heng’s hand, they were all shaken, but their shock quickly gave way to regretful sighs.

At their level, they all knew exactly what a Holy Spirit Technique signified.

Unfortunately...

This path was simply too difficult to walk.

Aside from a monster like Wu Dao,

anyone else, even if they managed to collect all the Holy Spirit Techniques, would be like someone standing before a mountain of treasure, unable to enter.

”The Immortal Black Tortoise, Qiongqi’s Karmic Fire, the Holy Elephant Sky, and now this one...”

Prince Nanyang murmured to himself, his expression a complex mix of emotions.

「Half a month ago.」

He had advised Wu Dao not to waste his time and energy on this path.

Who would have thought...

「Half a month later.」

Not only had Wu Dao already integrated the Karma Fire Qiongqi Scripture he obtained from King Bao Tong, but he was also about to possess two brand-new Holy Spirit Techniques.

Only one last technique remained.

If he managed to gather and fuse them all...

Then perhaps...

Wu Dao could truly achieve the Horizontal Refining Tenth Dao Gate, a feat unheard of for countless tribulations, and step into the Human World Yang God Realm!

Even though a complete Great Dao was on a level that utterly suppressed all Divine Techniques,

even as a mere Half-step Yang God, Wu Dao’s physical body alone would be enough for him to look down upon all the world’s heroes.

’It’s the real deal!’

Wu Dao instantly confirmed that Zhou Heng hadn’t tried any tricks; the Holy Spirit Technique in his hand was authentic.

The reason was simple.

The moment the Holy Spirit Technique appeared, the embryonic Holy Spirit Blood within him began to stir, intensely craving the addition of this new member.

Suppressing the restlessness within, Wu Dao wasted no words. Under the astonished and uncertain gazes of all present, he had his clone pilot the flying sword directly into Celestial Fate County.

He was sending the hostages over before he’d even received the goods?

「Atop the Imperial City.」

Zhou Heng’s eyes narrowed instantly.

But before he could make a move, Wu Dao’s light, airy voice sounded again:

”Oh, I almost forgot. I’ve grown quite fond of this flying sword. You could say we’ve become inseparably fused.”

”So, Your Majesty, I’d advise you not to try anything funny. If something were to happen, I certainly wouldn’t be responsible for it.”

WHOOSH—

Hearing this, Zhou Heng quickly used his spiritual sense to perceive Wu Dao’s clone, which was piloting the flying sword into Celestial Fate County.

In his perception, Wu Dao’s clone was indeed linked to the ”flying sword” by a thousand threads, temporarily fused into a single entity.

If he dared to make a move, Wu Dao would undoubtedly have the clone self-destruct, taking the seven Nine Transformations experts with it.

He had turned the hostages into a suicide bomb.

The question was, were you scared? Did you dare to make a move?

In any case, Zhou Heng certainly didn’t dare.

WHOOSH—

The clone moved quickly. Riding the flying sword, it streaked through the sky and soon arrived before the peak of the Imperial City.

”Payment, please. One Holy Spirit Technique.”

Wu Dao grasped the flying sword, completely unaffected by the pressure of one of the Da Li Dual Emperors—hailed as the greatest of all time—and flashed a mercenary smile as he extended his hand toward Zhou Heng.

”I hope you’ll be the one laughing in the end!”

Zhou Heng took a deep breath, spat out the cold words, and sent the blood-red jade stele flying through the air.

The distance between them was no more than ten li.

For a Nine-Transformed expert, such a distance was practically nonexistent.

The blood-red jade stele shot forward like a meteor. In the span of a single thought, it crossed the distance and landed in Wu Dao’s hand.

With a touch of his spirit, the blood-red jade stele instantly dissolved into countless crimson characters that flowed into Wu Dao’s mind—

The *Vermilion Annoyance World Burning Scripture*.

’The Vermilion Annoyance...’

’No wonder it carries such an overwhelming aura of slaughter and the calamity of war.’

In an instant, Wu Dao suppressed the chaotic visions of war and disaster flooding his mind. He confirmed that the *Vermilion Annoyance World Burning Scripture* was complete, a full and intact inheritance.

He scanned it with his own magnetic field perception. He found no foreign energetic signatures attempting to invade his soul.

It seemed Zhou Heng was well aware that at the Nine Transformations level, without a truly qualitative gap in power, any petty tricks he tried would be useless against Wu Dao.

Once he confirmed the cultivation technique was clean, Wu Dao’s consciousness withdrew from the clone, taking the technique with it and leaving behind an empty shell.

Zhou Heng also sensed the change in Wu Dao’s clone. A terrible premonition bloomed in his heart, and he roared sharply:

”You bastard, you dare!”

BOOM!!

Before the words even faded, Zhou Heng and the Demon Suppression Emperor struck simultaneously.

A blazing divine radiance lit up the heavens and the earth, then abruptly converged, enveloping Wu Dao’s clone.

But it was too late.

”Hahaha! What a joke! We’re already in a fight to the death. What wouldn’t I dare to do?”

Amidst the endless, shining divine light, outside Celestial Fate County, Wu Dao’s main body wore a savage expression. His smile was like that of a Purgatory evil ghost as a single thought from him detonated the clone. He then calmly retreated.

Since they were fighting to the death, of course he would be ruthless. Why not blow them up for fun? It was just a clone. What was the big deal?

VMMMM—

BANG!!

Before Zhou Heng’s bloodshot, hate-filled eyes, Wu Dao’s clone exploded. In a chain reaction, it detonated along with the seven Nine Transformations experts from Da Li, unleashing a terrifying, blinding divine light thousands of times more brilliant than the sun.

Although the seven Nine Transformations experts had been squeezed dry, left with only ten or twenty percent of their original power, the force of their self-detonation combined with Wu Dao’s clone was still enough to force even a Peak Master to contend with it with their full strength.

Unless Zhou Heng was willing to let Celestial Fate County be razed to the ground,

he had no choice but to watch helplessly as Wu Dao made his clean getaway.

”WU DAO! I SWEAR I WILL KILL YOU!!”

From the core of the endless divine light, Zhou Heng’s venomous, hate-filled roar echoed.

But it was nothing more than a howl of impotent rage.

Frustrated beyond measure, he chose to join forces with the remains of the Demon Suppression Emperor to suppress the explosive energy from Wu Dao’s clone and the seven Nine Transformations experts.

From the very beginning of this transaction, the choice was never his to make.

Even knowing Wu Dao would resort to treachery, he still had to play along.

One could only imagine the sheer, suffocating frustration and fury that had been building in Zhou Heng’s heart throughout the entire process.

Anyone with a weaker will would have likely gone berserk on the spot, letting the world burn just for a moment of catharsis.

”Hahaha! How satisfying! How satisfying!”

To the north of Celestial Fate County, the King of the Living Prison heard Zhou Heng’s impotent roar echoing across the land and clapped his hands in delight.

If he weren’t wary of Zhou Heng going berserk and fighting to the death, he would have absolutely struck with lightning speed to take advantage of the crisis.

”That fiend is a true demon incarnate!”

In the west, the King of Ten Thousand Victories frowned as he watched Wu Dao’s departing figure. He sent a voice transmission to Prince Nanyang, snorting coldly.

”An ally? I’d call him a world-destroyer.”

The vast Celestial Fate County. Nearly ten million souls.

Wu Dao had been ready to blow it all up without a second thought.

All just to inconvenience his opponent, without a single thought for the consequences if Zhou Heng hadn’t managed to contain the blast.

With such a violent and lawless temperament... saving the world? We should be burning incense and thanking the heavens if he doesn’t destroy it first!

「Elsewhere.」

Prince Nanyang’s gaze was downcast. Before his very eyes, his own father had died at the hands of his so-called ’ally’.

Even if he felt no attachment, his heart was still filled with a few complicated emotions.

Not to mention... Wu Dao’s recent actions had truly been too ruthless, too demonic.

He let out a soft breath.

With a hint of relief he himself didn’t even notice, Prince Nanyang replied to the King of Ten Thousand Victories:

”You need not worry about that. Destroying the world offers him no benefit. His path is different from that of the Slaughter Emperor.”

As the first among the kings to have contact with Wu Dao, and the one who understood him best, Prince Nanyang knew one thing very clearly.

In Wu Dao’s heart, everything in the world was divided into two categories: beneficial and not beneficial. There was no other meaning attached.

A person like that clearly knew their own goals, and could not be swayed by any external matters.

He would never do anything that didn’t serve his goals, and he disdained slaughtering the weak without cause just to display his own strength.

Such extreme egoism was, indeed, terrifying.

But as long as the direction of his extremism was different from the Slaughter Emperor’s path of pure carnage,

he would only ever be formidable and frightening, not a source of world-ending calamity like some fierce god of destruction.

”Hmph. Let’s hope so.”

The King of Ten Thousand Victories gave a noncommittal reply, retracted his gaze, and led his subordinates in retreat from the outskirts of Celestial Fate Prefecture.

With the remains of the Demon Suppression Emperor in Da Li’s possession, Celestial Fate County was as impenetrable as a fortress—at least, until the remains went out of control.

Even if all the kings joined forces, it would only result in mutual destruction. There was no point in staying any longer.

In today’s battle, the Three Prefectures had essentially been conquered. That was a large enough prize for them to digest for a long time.

After the King of Ten Thousand Victories left, the relatively mild-tempered King Bao Tong from the east glanced at the exploding sun of energy now compressed into a single point at the heart of Celestial Fate County. He breathed a sigh of relief and also departed with his subordinates.

「In the north.」

”You son of a bitch, if you ever fall into my hands, I’ll make you beg for a death you’ll never receive!”

With the show now over, the King of the Living Prison recalled how Wu Dao had berated him in front of all the world’s heroes. He licked his scarlet lips, gave a demented grin, and transformed into a river of blood that vanished into the sky.

「In the south.」

Prince Nanyang took one last look at the brilliantly glowing Imperial City, suppressed the sorrowful stirring in his bloodline, and departed with a sigh, leading his troops from the Southern Border away.

However, after traveling several dozen li, something seemed to occur to him, and Prince Nanyang suddenly stopped.

He took out a Communication Jade Talisman and sent Wu Dao a reminder:

”The natural and Dao-related calamities are intensifying at an abnormal rate. The coming tribulation will likely arrive sooner than expected.”

”At most, we have four months. The Dragon Mud Grotto Heaven will open then. Alliance Leader Wu, you mustn’t miss this final, and greatest, opportunity of Creation in this era of the Ten Tribulations of the Divine Wilderness.”

’The Dragon Mud Grotto Heaven...’

A thousand li away from Celestial Fate County, Wu Dao halted his flight. His consciousness withdrew from the Communication Jade Talisman, and a flicker appeared in his eyes.

The Dragon Mud Grotto Heaven was a strange minor world used by the powers of the All Heavens beyond the Divine Wilderness to harvest its karmic destiny.

Over the course of a single tribulation—a period lasting several thousand years—ninety-nine percent of the world’s karmic destiny would be harvested and gathered there, giving birth to all sorts of generational treasures and opportunities for Creation.

When the tribulation arrived, the Grotto Heaven would open, connecting the world beyond the heavens to the Divine Wilderness.

Not only the Outer Heaven Cultivators within the Grotto Heaven, but also the cultivators of the Divine Wilderness could enter to seek their own opportunities.

Or perhaps, they were fighting for a sliver of hope that didn’t even exist.

’Four months...’

He exhaled slowly.

After noting the time, Wu Dao delayed no longer. He vanished into the sky, speeding toward the Divine Wilderness Outer Domain.

With two new Holy Spirit Techniques in hand, he would have to race against time if he wanted to fully digest them before the Dragon Mud Grotto Heaven opened.