Essence Devouring Art

”Heave-ho, heave-ho...”

Not long after encountering the Hongyuan Cultivator.

Wu Dao and Zhou Chen arrived at a shady spot at the foot of a mountain, where they happened upon a thin, dark-skinned woodcutter carrying two bundles of firewood, panting as he descended the mountain path.

Wu Dao merely gave him a casual glance.

Then he paid the man no further mind.

Zhou Chen, however, trembled slightly, his gaze fixed on the peeling gourd flask hanging from the old woodcutter’s waist.

’My luck is this good?’

Slightly surprised, Wu Dao also grew a little interested.

Unfortunately, no matter how he looked at it with his naked eye, he couldn’t see anything special about the worn-out, yellow-skinned gourd.

”Old sir, please wait...”

Zhou Chen let out a soft breath and stopped the old woodcutter with a pleasant expression, even helping him set down the two heavy bundles of firewood.

”You’re... a surprisingly nice fellow.”

The woodcutter wiped the sweat from his dark, flushed forehead. He grinned, revealing sparse, old teeth, and once he’d caught his breath, asked curiously:

”Young Master, did you stop this old man to ask for directions?”

He observed that Zhou Chen’s aura and attire were extraordinary.

He wasn’t the kind of person raised in a poor backwater like this.

Yet he had no attendants with him.

So he guessed he was a young nobleman from afar who had gotten lost.

As for Wu Dao...

The old woodcutter didn’t dare look too closely, his heart filled with dread.

’Good heavens.’

’The man must be at least nine feet tall.’

’His fingers are as thick as radishes.’

’Even the old bears in the forest aren’t this intimidating. I wonder how he got so big.’

”My apologies for the trouble, old sir. I wasn’t asking for directions, but rather...”

Prince Nanyang was extremely polite, his expression one of a hunter who has spotted his prize. He pointed to the peeling yellow gourd at the woodcutter’s waist and said:

”I have a fondness for gourds. Seeing the yellow gourd at your waist today, I’ve taken quite a liking to it. I wonder if you would be willing to part with it? The price is negotiable.”

”You want to buy this old man’s gourd?”

Upon hearing this, the old woodcutter glanced at Zhou Chen warily. He clutched the gourd at his waist with one hand, stepped back, and shook his head.

”That won’t do. This gourd was passed down from my ancestors. It may look worn, but it’s been used for a hundred years without breaking. How could I sell a family heirloom?”

His tense expression, as if guarding against a thief, was clearly not a mercenary attempt to haggle.

Evidently, the gourd held a very special place in the old woodcutter’s heart.

”In that case, I have overstepped.”

Zhou Chen looked slightly regretful, but he simply clasped his fists in apology and didn’t press the matter.

”It’s alright. This old man will be on his way, then.”

Seemingly afraid that Wu Dao would take it by force, the old woodcutter gave up on resting, shouldered his firewood, and quickly walked away from the foot of the mountain without looking back.

”Not going to fight for it?”

With his arms crossed, Wu Dao watched the old woodcutter’s retreating back, then turned to the regretful-looking Zhou Chen at his side.

He could tell that Zhou Chen truly wanted that gourd.

It was probably an incredible treasure.

”We were fated to meet, but not to be.”

Zhou Chen sighed. ”Forcing it would be useless.”

Wu Dao nodded in understanding.

Fate is fate.

When fate arrives, we gather; when it leaves, we part.

Not all fated encounters in the world are meant to come to fruition.

Zhou Chen’s fated connection with that gourd was merely a single, fleeting encounter.

After the old woodcutter, the two of them didn’t run into any more ’fated opportunities’ on their way, but they did see plenty of interesting things.

By a riverside bridge,

a young woman with an ethereal beauty bought a Golden Carp from a fisherman, a smile gracing her features after they settled on a price.

Beneath a withered old tree,

a chubby young boy wiggled his large bottom as he excitedly climbed the trunk, his hand trembling as he reached for the single, verdant leaf at the very top.

On a patch of grass by the road,

a young Daoist in a moon-white Daoist Robe shamelessly pestered a cowherd boy, trying to buy the mottled bell from around his cow’s neck.

In a filthy mire,

an ice-cold Fairy pushed aside layers of muck. Her dress was completely stained, yet she remained calm and composed, seemingly searching for something.

...

Everything they saw and heard was its own fateful opportunity, its own stroke of Creation.

It also proved the saying that the Dragon Mud Cave Heaven was filled with treasures, available to those with the right fate.

For thirty thousand years of the Nine Tribulations,

the Divine Wilderness World, where stars once fell like dust, had shrunk to its current state—a square land under a round sky, a mere corner of what it was.

Just how much fortune had been lost during that time?

It was simply impossible to measure.

With so much fortune settling and converging within the Dragon Mud Cave Heaven, to say it was filled with treasures was no exaggeration at all.

Over those thirty thousand years, just how many treasures had been scattered throughout the Dragon Mud Cave Heaven, never finding their fated owners?

No one knew.

Some might ask,

since the Dragon Mud Cave Heaven is a land of unparalleled treasures, why don’t the Hongyuan Heavenly Realms just conquer it by force and take everything?

That line of thinking is somewhat naive.

The rules of the Dragon Mud Cave Heaven were forged by the Great Dao itself.

Even the calamity of the Divine Wilderness stemmed from the backlash of the Great Dao after the Slaughter Emperor failed in his Attainment Dao.

Therefore, unless one could rival the Great Dao, one had to obediently follow the rules, no matter how powerful.

If not...

The Divine Wilderness, which went mad along with the Slaughter Emperor back then, is a perfect cautionary tale.

Traveling at a leisurely pace, when the scorching sun was high at noon, Wu Dao and Zhou Chen finally arrived at the core point where the fortune of the Dragon Mud Cave Heaven converged—

Dragon Gate Town!

The gray-black city walls were of an immeasurable, ancient age.

Faintly visible on the bricks were densely packed, fly-head-sized talismans. They were dim and lackluster, yet they gave off a profoundly mysterious feeling.

And it wasn’t just the city walls.

After focusing one’s vision, one could see that amidst the town’s lively, mundane atmosphere, the methodically arranged buildings also bore similar talismans.

Among them...

the ancient, upturned-eave gatehouse, carved with images of carp leaping the Dragon Gate, was the most extreme. The talismans on it were so dense they were dazzling, enough to make one dizzy after staring for too long.

”Kid, are you going in or not? Hurry up and get out of the way!”

A coarse shout rang out, pulling Wu Dao’s gaze back from the gatehouse.

A long line had already formed before the only entrance archway into Dragon Gate Town.

It was filled with men and women of extraordinary bearing.

The legendary beauties who could make fish sink and geese fall, the jade-like young masters of worldly tales—one could find them by the handful at the entrance of this seemingly ordinary town.

In front of the gatehouse stood five tall, burly guards.

They were thuggish and slovenly.

Calling them guards was a stretch; they were more like mountain bandits collecting a toll, their attitudes appalling. From time to time, they would even wink lewdly at the women in the line.

The one who had shouted was apparently the leader of the guards. He was a thug with a buzz cut, a face full of brutish flesh, and a wide-open shirt that exposed his chest and belly. He picked his nose and spat on the ground, the very picture of an unbearable, vulgar lout.

The young man in white who had been berated was sweating profusely in front of the gatehouse. His eyes were red as he grit his teeth, yet he simply could not take that One Step to enter the archway.

His strange behavior drew cheers and jeers from the town’s residents spectating on the street behind the gatehouse, creating a clamorous uproar.

The crowd of young men and women before the gatehouse all had different expressions.

Some bit their lips nervously, some sneered with contempt, and others shook their heads and sighed.

At the back of the line,

Zhou Chen leaned closer to Wu Dao and explained:

”When a carp leaps the Dragon Gate, it transforms into a dragon. But not every fish is qualified to become one.”

’The Dragon Gate...’

’No wonder.’

Wu Dao glanced again at the dazzlingly talisman-covered gatehouse of Dragon Gate Town, understanding dawning on him.

Dragon Gate Town was the core of the Dragon Mud Cave Heaven’s fortune, the greatest of the Creation Lands. It would be strange if just any random person could get in.

”Still being stubborn? Scram.”

Just then,

the buzz-cutted, open-shirted guard grew impatient. The brutish flesh on his face trembled as he yanked out the flushed-faced young man who was blocking the archway.

”You... Hmph!”

The young man in white seemed to have an impressive background. He was about to flare up in anger, but then he seemed to think of something, let out a cold snort, and stormed off with a flick of his sleeve, his retreating figure looking utterly dejected.

”Pah! In this place, even a dragon has to coil up for me, and a tiger has to lie down. Even if your ancestor showed up, it wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference!”

The buzz-cutted man spat contemptuously at the young man’s back, then lazily leaned back in his bamboo chair and waved a hand. ”Next.”

”Isn’t the Dragon Mud Cave Heaven ownerless? Why is someone collecting an ’entrance fee’?”

Wu Dao asked, his curiosity piqued when he noticed the next person, a young woman, reach a slender hand into her sleeve and pull out several copper coins where there had been nothing before.

There are no Extraordinary beings in the Dragon Mud Cave Heaven.

The copper coins the young woman produced were clearly items created by the rules, most likely the price of entry—or, in other words, the entrance fee?

”The Dragon Mud Cave Heaven is indeed ownerless, but there are special privileges,” Prince Nanyang said with a sigh.

”Back then, the slaughter instigated by the Slaughter Emperor had far-reaching consequences. The endless living beings of several worlds were nearly wiped out. It could be considered a Hongyuan Dao Tribulation.”

”The Great Dao may be merciless, but its main purpose is to maintain the normal operation of the World’s systems, and it restrains all living beings with a system of merits and demerits, rewards and punishments.”

”Those who disrupt the World and throw the Great Dao into turmoil are punished.”

”Those who protect the World and mend the Great Dao are rewarded.”

”Back then, Daluo Heaven joined forces with three other worlds to suppress and execute the Slaughter Emperor. Their merits were immeasurable, so it’s not impossible that they were granted some special privileges in the Dragon Mud Cave Heaven.”

”As for... the entrance... entrance fee.”

At this point, Zhou Chen speculated, ”On the path of Cultivation, the further one goes, the more important fortune becomes. Great Powers are almost all contending for fortune.”

”Furthermore, judging from information revealed in some ancient Classics, it seems that fortune can be artificially transferred and grafted.”

”The entrance fee collected by those few worlds... is most likely the fortune from these Hongyuan Celestial Prides.”

’Transfer, graft...’

Wu Dao thought of the tragic memories of his predecessor he had seen in his dreams, and his gaze deepened slightly.

’I wonder...’

’how those little bastards who plundered my predecessor’s Creation Qi and fortune are doing now.’

’If we meet again and they recognize me... that will certainly be an interesting event.’

”A minor family, not worth mentioning? Now this is interesting... Oh, so it’s a bastard whelp!!”

While Wu Dao and Zhou Chen were talking, a slight commotion broke out up ahead, accompanied by a cold snort from the thuggish man.

A thick wave of hatred could be felt rising from the crowd, all eyes fixed deadly on the person before the gatehouse.

’The Saint King?’

Wu Dao looked up, a brow slightly raised.

Zhou Chen, however, frowned. He had never dealt with the Saint King and merely assumed a cultivator from the Divine Wilderness had been exposed.

Before the gatehouse, Lu Hongye’s face stiffened as he saw pair after pair of angry, hateful eyes locked onto him, but he remained composed. ”What? This king is following the rules. Are you trying to break them?”

”’This king’? Heh...”

Hearing this, the thuggish man patted Lu Hongye on the shoulder and said gently,

”Not bad. Not bad at all. I’ll remember you. I look forward to the next time we meet.”

After speaking, he didn’t stop Lu Hongye, but simply extended a hand in a ’please’ gesture.

His gaze, however, was like he was looking at a corpse.

Lu Hongye kept his head down, his expression hidden, but a scarlet glint could be seen in his eyes.

Then, he took a deep breath, his expression returning to calm. Under the gazes of cold sneers and disgust, he stepped through the Dragon Gate and into the town.

As for Lu Hongye being able to cross the Dragon Gate, none of the Hongyuan Celestial Prides present were surprised.

No matter how good his fortune was, he was just a grasshopper after autumn—his days were numbered.

Why would anyone envy a dead man?