Essence Devouring Art

Utterly powerless to resist.

Under the black hole-like pull at the center of the vortex, his body and soul were pulled apart into countless purple threads. Like a tangled ball of yarn being violently unraveled, the strands frantically plunged into the vortex.

”Prince!!”

Lv Shengxin’s eyes looked ready to split from their sockets. He unleashed his power with all his might, but could only barely withstand the terrifying, controlling pull.

’This is the Dao... the aura of Dao Attainment!!’

Among the crowd,

the most shocked of all was Cyan Yu Celestial Venerable.

He was the one closest to Dao Attainment.

And he had felt the aura of a Daoist before.

Even though his strength was limited at this moment,

he could still clearly sense that at the center of the vortex, a supreme aura of the Great Dao—one that ruled over all living things—was brewing!

Dao Attainment?

No, it was still far from it!

To be precise!

That Demon had forged a completely independent path to Dao Attainment!

It wasn’t like the Creation Divine Techniques.

That was just plagiarism.

A Divine Technique that only offered a chance at Dao Attainment.

Instead, it was...

A Taoist Scripture that guaranteed Dao Attainment, so long as one continued down its path!

He hadn’t even reached the Dharma Aspect realm!

And he had created his own path to Dao Attainment?!!

”Ha... Hahaha!!”

Cyan Yu Celestial Venerable suddenly burst into crazed, manic laughter.

He didn’t know why.

But he just had to laugh.

A laugh of mockery, of absurdity, of scorn!

Who was he laughing at?

Only he himself knew.

At the fool who chased the Dao his entire life but never attained it.

The fool who, when the Dao was right before his eyes,

still acted with such condescension!

How utterly laughable!

’Why is the Celestial Venerable laughing?’

The various Great Powers and Celestial Prides, struggling to resist the magnetic field’s pull, heard Cyan Yu Celestial Venerable’s crazed laughter, but they didn’t understand it.

RUMBLE—BZZZ!

Just then,

the vast magnetic field vortex that had churned the very heavens and earth finally fell still, resembling the chrysalis of a gestating God and Demon.

And when the God and Demon finally emerged,

the chrysalis shattered and dissipated.

WHOOSH~

An exhalation, like a gentle breeze.

But the instant it left the body,

it triggered a chain reaction.

One breath stirred, and ten thousand breaths converged.

Without being summoned, all the magnetic field auras between heaven and earth surged toward that single exhalation.

RUMBLE—

In an instant,

what was once a breath like a gentle breeze,

empowered by the myriad magnetic fields, transformed into a World-Ending Level hurricane. It buffeted the Venerable monsters, making their flesh ripple like waves and nearly knocking them into the void.

As they looked up against the hurricane,

their pupils contracted violently once more.

There,

at the center of heaven and earth,

stood a bizarre, abstract, and colossal monster, its head touching the heavens and its feet planted on the earth.

That monster,

although it had a human form,

its body was not built of flesh and bone.

It seemed to be a human shape formed from countless radiant, multicolored threads of magnetic flux, compressed, condensed, and wound together layer upon layer.

The moment one’s gaze and perception touched it,

all sorts of bizarre and fantastical images would appear in the mind, as if the information of all things in existence was compressed within that abstract body.

Even more terrifying,

they could clearly feel that,

the abstract humanoid figure was a completely out-of-control machine of destruction, insatiably and madly pulling at the distance.

Countless bizarre energies from even farther away transformed into lines, merging into its body and intensifying its dangerous, world-destroying aura!

”This is bad, get out of here!!”

One of the Great Powers let out a sudden roar, erupting with all their strength in an attempt to break free from the terrifying gravitational pull.

But just then!

The abstract, grotesque magnetic field monster faintly lowered its gaze to look at that Great Power.

BZZZT!!

Space-time seemed to tremble.

The Sword Abyss Gatekeeper from the Daluo World disintegrated into a scattered ball of colorful thread, the ends uncontrollably shooting toward the monster at the center of the universe—a Great Attractor of magnetic fields.

One glance!

Just one glance!

The Sword Abyss Gatekeeper couldn’t even struggle. Silently, soundlessly, he died before everyone’s eyes!

BZZZ~

As it pulled in more and more of the world’s magnetic fields, the ’monster’s’ body gradually became more deformed, its aura of destruction growing ever stronger.

But the ’monster’ showed no emotional fluctuations. It was a completely lifeless object. A pure weapon of destruction.

The concept of Wu Dao within its body,

was also in a superposition of life and death.

The third technique of the Three Secret Techniques of Essence Devouring—

Divine Image Heaven!

No-Self, No-Form; My Divine Self, My Divine Aspect!

I am All Forms, and All Forms Return to the Origin!

In his previous life, this third technique,

existed only in theory.

Because Wu Dao never dared to try it!

This technique didn’t liberate the will of the mind and soul, but the fundamental Primordial Magnetic Immortal Cells!

In the instant the cells were completely shattered,

the cellular protection mechanisms were unlocked.

In other words, it broke the 100% limit of the battery!

Endlessly absorbing magnetic fields to charge up!

Endlessly growing stronger!

Until!

Complete self-destruction!

When he had stepped into the realm of Divine Techniques,

Wu Dao had already perfected the third technique, but he never dared to try it.

Until...

he had walked through the Mud Hell Sea.

And forged his True Self Undying Will.

And...

after attaining that divinity which treated his own macro and micro existence as a program to be run, ignoring all protective mechanisms.

He finally had a sliver of confidence!

Besieged by sixty-six Pseudo Dharma Aspects,

with the upper limits of heaven and earth locked down,

he truly couldn’t turn the tables.

Only by waiting for all the Hongyuan Tribulation Descenders to gather,

and unleashing the third technique to crush them all,

could he find a chance of survival in death!

At this moment, within the body of ’Divine Image Heaven’,

only a thread of his obsession remained—the obsession to annihilate all enemies before self-destructing!

”Mutual destruction? Hahaha, to serve as a funeral offering for a figure like you, it’s worth it!”

Cyan Yu Celestial Venerable looked at the constantly twisting, deforming monster. With a look of admiration and acknowledgment of his own inferiority, he actually gave up resisting and transformed into countless colorful threads that flew toward the monster.

”National Preceptor, save me!!”

”Palace Master!”

”I have a Saint Grade Dharma Aspect, a Saintly Form! How can I die in a desolate Wilderness like this!!”

Cyan Yu Celestial Venerable was nonchalant.

But the Venerables and Celestial Prides of the All Heavens were utterly terrified and panicked!

They!

Aside from a select few,

were all here in their true bodies!

When faced with true death!

Nonchalant?

To hell with that!

”Sigh...”

The Great Powers of the All Heavens could only lower their eyes and sigh. The strongest among them, the Celestial Venerable, had calmly accepted defeat. What could they possibly do?

It was just this group of Celestial Prides...

Their hearts were bleeding!

But as their hearts bled, they also felt a sense of relief.

The deaths of a few Celestial Prides,

in exchange for the death of a Demon who was very likely to bring a Great Tribulation upon Hongyuan—it was worth it!

Perhaps,

that was what Cyan Yu Celestial Venerable meant by his final ”worth it”?

As various emotions—despair, guilt, regret, and unwillingness—surged,

the thread of obsession within the ’monster’s’ body,

finally regained momentary control over its actions.

And so.

The slaughter began!

BZZZ—

An invisible wave of magnetic vibration expanded in a ring from the monster’s body. Wherever it passed, all things, tangible and intangible, disintegrated into colorful threads that were absorbed into the monster.

”No!!”

”Spare me!”

”My father, the emperor, is...”

Watching one peerless prodigy after another—famous throughout the All Heavens of Hongyuan—be annihilated on the spot, the Celestial Prides awaiting their deaths completely lost their nerve. Hysterical pleas for mercy and threats rang out, their shameful behavior on full display.

But it was useless!

The machine of destruction only executed its cold programming.

The Infinite Magnetic Shock Ring swept past.

All sounds fell silent.

Only countless threads surging toward the monster’s body remained.

”Sigh, what a pity he wasn’t born in our Hongyuan.”

The vibrating Primordial Magnetic Ring expanded at extreme speed.

The old monster from the Supporting Light Ten Thousand Solutions Emperor Sect was the first to be caught. Scenes from his previous battle with Wu Dao flashed before his eyes. With a sigh full of complex regret, he too chose to calmly accept death.

The Profound Yellow World, the Daluo World...

The three old monsters, with feelings of acceptance, relief, and other different thoughts, also turned into threads of the Primordial Magnetic Field.

”Heh, serves him right!”

The Goddess from the Thunder Emperor Palace, the one who had been most deeply and miserably humiliated by Wu Dao, let out a long sigh as if a shadow had lifted, a look of vindication on her face.

BZZZ—POP! POP! POP!

After the Infinite Magnetic Ring annihilated the Great Powers one by one, its speed suddenly increased dramatically. Wherever it passed, everything disintegrated like sand in the wind, meeting no resistance whatsoever.

And so!

The Hongyuan Tribulation Descenders!

Were all dead!

For the first time in thirty thousand years!

The Divine Wilderness had successfully counter-killed Hongyuan!

To be more precise,

one person had counter-killed five worlds!

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK—

But,

just after annihilating all his enemies,

the monster’s body entered the final stage of self-destruction. Countless large cracks appeared, and from within every thread, world-destroying energy began to pour out and erupt.

In its final moments,

within the eyes formed by the monster’s innumerable threads, countless pieces of information flashed—

”Great Silence of All Heavens, Inference Celestial Emperor Scripture, Thunder Emperor Scripture, Five Thunders Celestial Heart Technique, Heaven-Slaying Sword Drawing Technique, Cease-War Doff-Armor, Ten Thousand Solutions Emperor Scripture, Returning Abyss Sword Scripture...”

BZZZ~

The countless pieces of information surged for a moment.

Then, like the sliver of white light when a black-and-white television is turned off, they vanished into endless darkness.

BOOM!!

The ’monster’, whose body had nearly filled a ten-thousand-li expanse of spacetime, finally broke past its critical point and self-destructed into oblivion.

An incomparably brilliant, colorful light,

in an instant,

illuminated nearly the entire Divine Desolate World.

”No... AHHH!”

RUMBLE!

Tens of thousands of li away,

a mass of flesh and blood, which had been rushing toward the battlefield with all its might, let out a hysterical roar before it was swept up by the subsequent destructive shockwave and blown to some unknown location.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH~

The lingering winds of the aftershock raged.

The clamorous world finally fell silent.

Above the pitch-black Abyss that spanned tens of thousands of li,

countless motes of light drifted down into the Abyss.

Radiant and colorful, they fell like a brilliant meteor shower.

It was fleeting, momentary.

But the light it released illuminated the entire mortal world.

...

[Volume Two, Churning the Rivers and Seas, End.]