Essence Devouring Art

Half a month after the Dragon Mud Cave Heaven opened.

The quiet Southern Border erupted into a brief commotion.

”The Overlord Whale Alliance disbanded?”

”That’s right. They say all the high-ranking members of the Overlord Whale Alliance vanished without a trace in a single day, half a month ago. It’s suspected to be the work of the Overlord Whale King.”

”The Great Tribulation is coming. Is the Overlord Whale King trying to evade disaster and preserve a spark for the Overlord Whale Alliance?”

”Nonsense. After this tribulation, if we lose, a spark... heh.”

Discussions raged On the Mountain and below.

The Overlord Whale Alliance had attracted the attention of major powers because of Wu Dao’s existence, and its status as a ”Country within a Country” was not to be underestimated.

But then, one day...

This behemoth, which had stood firm from the chaotic era until now and dominated the territory of two prefectures, silently disbanded. It was truly astonishing.

Within the Da Xu Realm.

Prince Nanyang (Chenjing Emperor) stood atop the Observatory Platform. His gaze was profound as he looked toward the fissure between the two worlds in the sky, which had already shrunk by a sixth. He let out a deep sigh.

Two and a half months left...

When the fissure between the two worlds closes completely.

That will be when the Divine Wilderness is truly annihilated.

Yes!

Annihilation!

Zhou Chen’s Cultivation was in the Life Returning Great Divine Techniques, and he was further augmented by the Celestial Treasure ’Zhi Gui’. Now at the absolute Limit of the Divine Power Peak, he could perceive some hints and omens about the fate of the world and all its living beings.

Thirty thousand years ago.

The Slaughter Emperor had massacred several worlds in Hongyuan, seeking to prove the way of slaughter.

He was just one step away from success.

But he faced a crazed counterattack from those worlds. Even with one foot already across the threshold into the Great Dao, he was still defeated.

His attempt to ascend to the Great Dao failed. Thus, his actions were judged a calamitous tribulation.

This triggered a backlash from the Great Dao that maintained the operation of the worlds. Not only did he himself ’completely’ perish in body and soul...

The Divine Wilderness, which had gone mad alongside him...

...also received the Great Dao’s punishment. The entire world was exiled into the turbulent spacetime outside of Hongyuan to suffer the punishment of Ten Tribulations.

During the Initial Tribulation.

The Divine Wilderness was not so barren and narrow.

It is said that in that era...

...the powerful could perform feats like Grasping Stars and Moon and refining the universe in their palms.

The fall of a great sun upon the Divine Wilderness was nothing more than a minor celestial meteor shower. One can only imagine how vast and bountiful the Divine Wilderness must have been back then.

But now, after Nine Tribulations...

Any Divine Ability User, or even a Celestial Being, could walk to The Ends of the Earth with just a bit of time. The sky itself is only twenty thousand zhang high!

Compared to what it once was...

...it would not be an exaggeration to call it a drop in the ocean.

The Divine Wilderness World is continuously disappearing with each Great Tribulation!

This cruel reality.

Someone had already realized it during the eighth tribulation, and the knowledge was passed down to later generations.

They also prophesied...

...that after the Ten Tribulations, the Divine Wilderness will, in the truest sense, gradually return to nothingness!

’How can we save ourselves?’

’And how do we escape this cage?’

*Huuuu...*

Zhou Chen took a deep breath, his brow furrowed with an irresolvable sorrow.

’Win or lose, the world is doomed either way. In such a hopeless situation...’

No matter how steady his temperament, he was left with nothing but aimless uncertainty.

”Seek life in the midst of death. A sliver of a chance.”

In his moment of confusion...

...an ethereal and distant voice echoed in Prince Nanyang’s Sea of Consciousness.

”Primordial Ancestor!”

Prince Nanyang spun around abruptly and looked toward the Grand Ancestral Temple. At its highest point, a flash of divine golden light vanished as quickly as it appeared.

’A sliver of a chance?’

Zhou Chen respectfully averted his gaze, guessing that the Primordial Ancestor must have learned some secret. His turbulent emotions began to settle.

’Even if it’s just a sliver of a chance...’

’...it’s still better than certain death.’

*Huuu...*

Letting out a slow breath, Zhou Chen began sending messages to the cabinet, the armies, and the Bai Ze Bureau. ”Increase the investment and widen the search. At all costs, conduct a great search across the world to find the people and things I require.”

’The Dragon Mud Cave Heaven has harvested the Divine Wilderness’s fortune.’

’Not even a tenth of the nation’s fortune remains.’

’It’s useless now.’

’If I want to truly take that half-step before the Great Tribulation, I can only rely on Celestial Treasures. I’ll have to use quantity to make up for quality and forcibly complete this stage of the ceremony!’

”Wu Dao...”

After sending out the series of commands...

Zhou Chen once again thought of Wu Dao, who had recently vanished from the face of the earth again along with the Overlord Whale Alliance. A hint of hope appeared in his deep eyes.

Ever since they last parted...

...he had been completely unable to peer into even a sliver of Wu Dao’s trajectory of fate.

He was not disappointed or surprised.

On the contrary.

The more he was unable to predict Wu Dao’s destiny, the more it proved how strong Wu Dao was, and the greater the role he could play in the future.

In less than two short years...

...he had gone from a complete unknown to his current standing.

Without a doubt.

Wu Dao was definitely the anomaly of this tribulation!

Half a month ago.

Wu Dao had caused a huge scene in the Northern Lands.

He’d given Zhou Prison a resounding slap in the face.

According to rumors from onlookers...

...although the Demon Suppression Emperor had later intervened to stop their conflict, Wu Dao’s strength was definitely not inferior to Zhou Prison’s!

Too many miracles...

...had actually happened around Wu Dao.

’This time he vanished from the world... ’

’The next time he appears...’

’Perhaps he will be the second person of this era to take the Fourth Step.’

...

While Zhou Chen conducted his great search across the world...

...all across the Divine Wilderness Central Earth...

...All the Emperors were also burning their bridges to face the impending doom. In order to complete their Celestial Treasure Ceremonies, they stirred up varying degrees of turmoil throughout the world.

In the East Sea Dafeng Country.

The Eastern Emperor, Qian Kuiyun, frantically collected all the world’s rare and exotic treasures. He even imposed exorbitant taxes, forcibly amassing the world’s wealth, earning the fury of heaven and the resentment of the people.

In the Western Desert Daqian Country.

The Western Emperor, Long Qian, ignited a new round of war, conquering the giant tribes of the Western Desert and the realms beyond its borders. The flames of war lit up the sky.

In the Northern Lands Yellow Springs Country.

The Northern Emperor, Zhou Prison, had gone completely mad. He captured hundreds of millions of living beings to fill the Life Hell, turning the Northern Lands into a Purgatory.

In Celestial Fate County Dali.

The world’s former number one expert, Zhou Heng, was the calmest of all. He spent his days immersed in a mountain of books and a sea of texts, forgetting to eat or sleep, bordering on demonic obsession.

In an unknown part of the wilderness.

Within a thatched hut in a sea of bamboo.

An old man trembled as he chopped firewood and started a fire. He seemed like a candle flickering in the wind, yet from the cracks in his body, streaks of sacred golden light flashed.

On the border of the Southern Border Great Xu Country.

”ROAR!”

The Nine-Layered Beast Tower shattered.

Yaya, bathed in fresh blood and tearing flesh from bone with her mouth, crawled out of the Abyss. Her crimson pupils, which had grown even more inhuman and morbid, flashed with red light. She gave the tall figure an innocent smile, revealing scarlet, shark-like teeth that had lost all their childishness.

But what awaited her...

...was not a wide, warm embrace.

It was a brand new parenting lesson—

”Lesson three: Never entrust your life to any stroke of luck outside of yourself.”

CRACKLE! POP!

Thunderbolt erupted into a sea.

The small, blood-red figure’s skin was instantly torn open, her body charred nearly black. Her soul and flesh endured endless torment.

CLANG!

The Primordial Magnetic Celestial Prison Cage sealed off heaven and earth.

It cut off all external Energy supply.

Within the Thunder Sea Purgatory...

...the only thing Yaya could rely on was the power hidden within her bloodline.

Either she would further awaken her bloodline...

...or she would be annihilated, body and soul.

There was no third option.

”Ahhh~ I can feel the pain again.”

Deep within the sea of thunder, the charred body of Yaya trembled. Pain and excitement intertwined, twisting her face into an exceptionally distorted and horrifying expression.

”Giggle... Dad is so good to Yaya. Yaya’s love is about to overflow.

I really want...

I really want to hide Dad away.

To savor him slowly, chewing carefully.

Flesh and bone connected, blood flowing together, completely merging into one, becoming utterly inseparable, to be with Yaya forever and ever!”

She trembled like a mad demon, muttering deliriously...

Love in this world...

...is not just the harmony of Yin and Yang, or the carnal love between man and woman.

The most intense love...

...is always the love born of obsessive desire.

When this unobtainable obsession...

...becomes so intense that it’s pathological and twisted...

...going mad is merely the norm.

Once the object of desire is truly within reach...

...the afflicted will often satisfy their most intense desires in the most extreme ways, venting their ’love’.

What has been Yaya’s strongest desire since she was born with innate knowledge?

And what is her current, unobtainable obsession?

The answer...

...has existed ever since they met and she developed her dependence and attachment.

It has existed since the first time she fell into the Abyss, feeling a bone-chilling cold, a dead silence, an utter void.

”Not bad. The child is teachable.”

Outside the sea of thunder.

Wu Dao listened to Yaya’s crazed ramblings and clapped his hands in praise. The affection he felt for Yaya in his heart rose to a new level.

Yaya’s ability to adapt and grow was monstrous. It was just as expected of someone with the Holy Spirit Ancestor’s bloodline.

In just half a month.

Under his tutelage, her bloodline potential was rapidly awakening. Her pure, bestial strength was in no way inferior to the Horizontal Refining Third Gate.

If not for the suppression of the Great Dao...

...her progress would have likely been explosive.

But it didn’t matter.

As long as this fledgling eagle fully adapted to the laws of natural survival, it was only a matter of time before she spread her wings and soared.

In comparison...

...the progress of the Primordial Demons was somewhat unsatisfactory.

In the Divine Wilderness Outer Domain, over the Boundless Sea.

High in the sky.

Several seas of thunder of varying intensity rumbled and churned.

Within them, Thunderbolt exploded and roars shook the heavens.

It was like an Ancient Refining Pool.

It continuously tore apart the bodies of the Primordial Demons, struck their souls, and tempered them thousands upon thousands of times.

Wu Dao was indeed refining weapons.

Weapons, as in armaments.

He didn’t treat the nearly one hundred Primordial Demons as people at all.

He treated them completely as metal embryos on a blacksmith’s anvil, swinging a great hammer, heating the forge, and ignoring their agonized wails as he tempered them again and again.

Protected by the Magnetic Field...

...it was difficult for them even to die.

So naturally, Wu Dao refined them however he pleased, giving them not a single moment of respite. He continuously tore them apart, reassembled them, and hammered them, with no regard for whether he might break them in the process.

Unfortunately...

...the suppression of the Great Dao was simply too terrifying.

And the Primordial Demons didn’t have divine or immortal bodies.

Even with the help of the Primordial Magnetic Demon Embryo and the Magnetic Field, after half a month of tempering, not a single one had broken through their current level.

But Wu Dao wasn’t worried.

In the time remaining...

...he was confident he could forge iron into steel, allowing the Primordial Demons to undergo a complete transformation from the inside out.

The increase in strength was secondary.

The most important things were their adaptability to harsh and dangerous environments after this demonic, hellish training, and an unshakeable, steel-like will.

That was what was truly precious.

Because of this...

...while Wu Dao had the Primordial Demons endure the thunderbolts from the heavens...

...he simultaneously suppressed the Mighty Power of his Three-Phase Divine Punishment Fist to envelop the sea of thunder, letting the Primordial Demons experience a weakened version of the Mud Hell Sea to temper their willpower.

If Yaya weren’t still so young and tender...

...Wu Dao would have wanted to use the Three-Phase Divine Punishment on her as well, to let her experience the three punishments of heaven, earth, and man, and properly polish her will.

Unfortunately.

This fatherly love...

...was something Yaya would most likely never get to experience.

’Hmm.’

’Perhaps there will be a chance to make up for it in the future.’

*Huuu...*

He gathered his thoughts and brought his focus back to the present.

「Somewhere in the Divine Wilderness Outer Domain.」

Nineteen thousand three hundred zhang up in the sky.

Within the Pure White Punishment Sea.

A deep and ancient starry sky shone across thousands of miles of the firmament, continuously shedding the glazed luster of old blood.

At the end of a flowing stream of mercury-like light...

...hundreds of millions of cells shone brightly. The internal structure of each cell resembled a condensed cosmic sea, flickering unstably yet tenaciously amidst the gales of Thunderbolt.

Within this Star Sea...

...a dormant consciousness stirred slightly.

The body’s various stats flowed like a waterfall into his Sea of Consciousness—

[Physique: Peak of Human Extremes]

[Extraordinary: Essence Devouring Art (99% Potential Release) +

Three-Phase Divine Punishment Fist 28,500 years (Nine Transformations of Boxing Mastery) +

Holy Spirit Transformation (85%) 28,500 years (Horizontal Refining Ninth Gate, Eighteen Extreme Yang Heavens, Limit) +]

[Great Divine Techniques:

Primordial Magnetic Celestial Saber, Ten Directions Divine Slaughter, Primordial Magnetic Tribulation Finger, Celestial Essence Magnetic Burst Fist, Primordial Magnetic Celestial Prison Cage, Primordial Magnetic Demon Embryo, Black Tortoise Incarnation, Qiongqi’s Karmic Fire, Juntian Sacred Armor, Chaos Heart Monkey, Wind and Thunder Roar (Pseudo)]

[Great All Heavens Divine Techniques: Immune to All Laws (Nine Transformations Great Success) +]

[Celestial Treasure: Bitter Dust Robe (Dharma Artifact 60%)

Celestial Treasure Advancement Ceremony: Suffering Dust Mortal Transformation.

Celestial Treasure Law: Concealing Celestial Secret, Cause and Effect Immunity.]

[Teleportation Points: 932,150]