Essence Devouring Art

”I’ll risk it all!”

But the arrow was already on the bowstring and had to be fired. The White Bone Old Demon could only grit his teeth and fork over more of his resources to bolster the Grand Array.

Celestial Tribulations are irreversible.

And they only target the Tribulation Crosser.

No matter how strong a Guardian is, they can only weaken it.

They cannot block it completely.

Otherwise, as a Creation Realm Golden Immortal, the White Bone Old Demon wouldn’t have given this Celestial Tribulation a second thought.

But what happened next...

...made the White Bone Old Demon and his disciples who were Crossing the Tribulation question their entire worldview.

The Celestial Thunder Sea, said to be irreversible...

...which should have furiously torn the heavens and earth asunder...

...instead, the very moment it erupted, it was as if pulled by a Great Attractor. A ”thread” was drawn from the galactic swirl, and it rapidly spun apart, vanishing into the depths of Nirvana Valley.

Within the depths of the endlessly churning Three-Colored Divine Fire...

...a bottomless Abyss seemed to appear. It opened its great Taotie maw and swallowed the Celestial Thunder Sea whole!

Bizarre!

Unutterably bizarre!

They had only ever heard of forbidden zones that could interfere with the intensity of a Celestial Tribulation. They had never heard of one that could swallow it!

But what was happening before their very eyes...

...proved they weren’t dreaming. The Celestial Tribulation had truly been swallowed by Nirvana Valley!

No life auras could be detected at all.

This ruled out the possibility of human intervention.

Besides, no human could reverse a Celestial Tribulation.

Otherwise,

throughout history, so many Celestial Prides would not have perished under their tribulations.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—

While the White Bone Old Demon was still reeling from shock...

...newly formed Mixed Caves shook the Ten Directions.

With the obstacle of the Celestial Tribulation gone, all the disciples on the deck had completed their breakthroughs, safely stepping into the ranks of the Grotto Heaven realm.

”I must be seeing things.”

The White Bone Old Demon looked at the completely dissipated Celestial Tribulation in the Nine Heavens, then at his overjoyed disciples. He could rack his brains all day and still not understand what had just happened.

Nirvana Valley, whose secrets had once been transparent,

was now once again shrouded in a veil of mystery. Some unknown change seemed to have occurred in its deep, churning expanse of multi-colored thunderfire.

But the White Bone Old Demon didn’t dare explore its depths.

The Nirvana Thunder Fire of a Great Saint Realm Phoenix...

...could annihilate even a Saint with a single careless misstep. Not to mention him, even the Overlord of the Burial Realm, the Heaven-Burying Alliance, dared not rashly venture into the deeper regions.

”Master, we’ve struck gold!”

While the White Bone Old Demon was still feeling a mix of shock and awe, one of his disciples’ eyes darted around as he said excitedly:

”A Holy Land like this, where one can undergo a harmless tribulation... If we sell this information, we could make a huge fortune!”

Throughout history,

Celestial Tribulations have always been an insurmountable hurdle for the Demon Cultivators of the Burial Realm. At best, they would end in failure on the verge of success; at worst, their bodies would perish and their Daos dissipate.

Although tempering oneself through a Celestial Tribulation...

...would make one’s strength greater than that of cultivators from other Celestial Domains, no one would be willing to risk their lives Crossing the Tribulation if they had a choice.

If there was a way to have a harmless tribulation...

...then over ninety percent of cultivators would be willing to pay a hefty price for it!

As for announcing it for free...

They were Demon Cultivators. Profit came first for them. They weren’t a charity!

”Not so fast. We still need to see if this was a coincidence.”

The White Bone Old Demon naturally knew the immense benefits of being the first to ”eat the crab,” but he hadn’t lost his head. If it turned out to be a coincidence, wouldn’t he have made a host of enemies for no reason?

At this thought,

the White Bone Old Demon immediately sent a message to the other disciples in his sect who were stuck at the Tribulation Crossing Stage, ordering them to rush to Nirvana Valley at full speed, no matter the cost.

「Three-colored Thunderfire Area.」

”Now *this* is more like it.”

Wu Dao’s consciousness swept over the compressed Celestial Tribulation Thunder Pools inside his body. Sensing the faint wisps of Dao Source Magnetic Field aura within them, he smiled in satisfaction.

The Primordial Magnetic Dao Body’s dominion over Magnetic Fields...

...depended only on relative size.

If he could observe it, and its mass was smaller than his...

...then no matter how profound its essence, it was just a piece of meat for Wu Dao to devour.

Originally, in the Primordial Star Mother’s prediction,

he would have needed half a year, at the fastest, to break through the limit of the second stage, step into the third stage, and steal out his higher-essence potential.

But now that he had obtained the Celestial Tribulation Energy,

the Star Mother reassessed.

With sufficient Dao Source Magnetic Energy, he would only need two months to enter the third stage—and a flawless third stage at that.

This was because his ’food’ was Dao Source itself!

’Not bad. And I’ve even got free advertising.’

As his thoughts churned,

Wu Dao overheard the White Bone Temple’s plan to start charging an entrance fee. He couldn’t help but clap his hands in admiration. With someone advertising for him for free, he was more than happy to reap the benefits without lifting a finger.

With his Incarnation’s current strength,

it could silently devour any Celestial Tribulation below the Saint realm. Once word got out, Nirvana Valley would likely become a Tribulation Crossing Holy Land.

He didn’t need to worry about being exposed either.

The Heaven-Stealing Alliance’s main camp was near the core region of Nirvana Valley, a place where even Great Powers had to halt their steps. Even if someone wanted to get to the bottom of this, he could use the Bitter Dust Robe to hide himself.

「Several days later.」

Another batch of Dharma Perfection disciples from the White Bone Temple, who had traveled at full speed, finally arrived outside Nirvana Valley.

With hearts full of nervousness and excitement,

the White Bone Old Demon gave the disciples no time to react, directly ordering them to begin Crossing their Tribulations in different areas at once.

The results made the White Bone Old Demon ecstatic!

The disciples who were not in the Nirvana Valley area...

...were instantly tortured by the Tribulation Thunder. Some died, some were injured, and only a tenacious few managed to pass their Celestial Tribulation.

But as for the disciples at the old spot in Nirvana Valley...

...without exception...

...all of them passed their Celestial Tribulations safely.

The moment the Celestial Tribulation appeared, it was drawn in by ’Nirvana Valley’ and then devoured without a single scrap remaining!

”Hahaha! I’ve struck it rich! To think that I, this old man, would encounter such a great Creation in my lifetime!”

The White Bone Old Demon was in high spirits, as if he could already see a Treasure Mountain and Treasure Sea beckoning to him.

Immediately,

he took control of all the disciples,

to ensure the information wouldn’t leak.

Then,

he took out a Communication Token and contacted the leaders of various Demon Dao influences, preparing to sell the information for a good price.

The news couldn’t be contained forever.

Therefore, it could only be a one-time deal.

”A place that swallows Celestial Tribulations? White Bone Old Demon, have you gone mad from cultivation deviation? No, wait, you’re already a demon. A stupid demon!”

”You old bastard, you must be desperate for money to have gone this crazy. Get lost.”

”I’m in the middle of killing someone, and you send me several messages just to spout this nonsense? Do you have a death wish?!”

...

As expected,

all the messages the White Bone Old Demon sent out were dismissed as the ravings of a madman. No one believed him, and some even threatened to come and kill him.

Such a thing was indeed outrageous.

If one hadn’t seen it with their own eyes,

who would dare believe that a Celestial Tribulation sent down by the Great Dao could be swallowed by a forbidden zone?

He had no choice.

The White Bone Old Demon could only resort to sending a Heart Demon Vow, swearing on his life in various ways, which finally made the other Demons suspicious but willing to consider it.

Afterward,

after a round of haggling and scheming, the seller and buyers finally reached a formal agreement.

The Land of Harmless Tribulation.

It would allow the major factions to quickly cultivate a large number of minions without their efforts going to waste.

In the Burial Realm, the weak were prey for the strong.

Whoever had more underlings...

...and whose fists were hard enough, got to eat more. The temptation was simply too great.

’It’s a pity my strength is insufficient. Otherwise, if I could monopolize this, it would be a complete Treasure Basin!’

The White Bone Old Demon put away the Sound Transmission Jade Token.

His sunken eyes stared at Nirvana Valley as he clicked his tongue in regret.

After the White Bone Temple sold the news,

just two days later,

the second batch of ”crab eaters” arrived.

Same old place.

Same old method.

The crowd of Demon Cultivators ascended to a higher realm without injury, while Wu Dao harvested even more Celestial Tribulation Thunder Pools, his mouth practically dripping with oil. It was a win-win for both sides.

Things developed much more quickly after that.

The second batch brought the third.

And after the third,

the news that Nirvana Valley could swallow Celestial Tribulations...

...had thoroughly spread throughout the surrounding Demon Dao circles.

”Have you heard? Nirvana Valley, one of the eight great forbidden zones of the Burial Realm, has mutated! It can actually swallow Celestial Tribulations!”

”You must be dreaming. How could something so bizarre happen?”

”Heh, it’s not a dream. A disciple of my late master’s master just went through his Dharma Aspect Tribulation in Nirvana Valley yesterday and didn’t lose a single hair.”

”My realm is low. You’d better not be fooling me.”

”It’s not far, anyway. You won’t lose anything by going to take a look.”

...

In the various Demon Dao gathering places...

...and among the established Demon Dao Sects and influences,

the initial reaction to the news about Nirvana Valley was disbelief. But as the rumors grew more numerous and more credible,

the Demon Realms surrounding Nirvana Valley...

...erupted completely.

Every day, hordes of Demon Cultivators rushed to Nirvana Valley. In the Nine Heavens above, massive fleets of ships streamed by in an endless procession.

The forbidden zone, where no living person should have dared approach,

in less than five days,

had completely turned into a bustling marketplace.

Of course,

this was limited to the outer perimeter.

And only to one specific area.

Nirvana Valley was immense.

If just anyone could pick a random spot to undergo their tribulation and expect Wu Dao to play the good samaritan, then sending out all his Incarnations would still be a drop in the ocean.

Not to mention,

he also had to leave enough Incarnations behind to share the workload of his cultivation project. He could only choose one specific location—the area where the White Bone Temple, the first ”crab eaters,” had crossed their tribulation.

With the Bitter Dust Robe concealing everything...

...and the fact that his Incarnations only manipulated Nirvana Valley’s own Magnetic Field when they acted, half a month passed without anyone discovering anything unusual.

Some curious Creation Realm experts...

...had originally thought some incredible Exotic Treasure had been born in Nirvana Valley and had braved great risks to search its depths.

Unfortunately,

aside from getting their faces blackened by thunderfire,

they found nothing.

After half a month of development,

the reputation of Nirvana Valley as a Tribulation Crossing Holy Land was thoroughly established.

In the area of harmless tribulation crossing,

Demon Dao gathering places were built one after another, rapidly drawing in Demon Cultivators from all Ten Directions of the Burial Realm.

Nirvana City was born!

Some Demon Dao Sects...

...even moved their entire sect headquarters into Nirvana City, making the place extraordinarily lively for a time.

Rarely,

on the matter of the Holy Land’s ownership,

all the Demon Dao Sects in Nirvana City reached a consensus, sharing a common enemy. They believed the Tribulation Crossing Holy Land was a gift from the Great Dao to the sinful land of the Burial Realm.

Anyone had the right to enjoy it.

And to ensure the structure of the Tribulation Crossing Holy Land wouldn’t be affected and lose its function, Nirvana City even became a Forbidden Weapon Area, with everyone mutually supervising and maintaining order.

Anyone who dared to monopolize it,

or start a fight in Nirvana City,

would be making an enemy of the entire Demon Dao of the Burial Realm and would be attacked by all.

Of course,

”the entire Burial Realm” was a bit of an exaggeration.

In fact,

the area influenced by the Nirvana Valley Tribulation Crossing Holy Land was still just a drop in the ocean compared to the vast Burial Realm.

However,

as time went on,

information about this incredible place would most likely spread rapidly throughout the entire Burial Realm.

’An unintentional act has brought unexpected rewards.’

Deep within Nirvana Valley,

as Wu Dao used his great Taotie maw to devour the pure Celestial Tribulation Dao Source, his consciousness was also watching the vast Nirvana City outside the valley, bustling with demons coming and going.

Thinking of his nearly depleted Primordial Dao Wheel energy reserves, another plan formed in his mind.

’Just fishing for them...’

’...is too low-level.’

’It’s just a one-time deal.’

’So, is there a way...’

’...to make others continuously and proactively deliver the ”fish” right into my treasury?’

Yes!

It might be impossible in other places.

But this was the Burial Realm!

The main stronghold of the Demon Dao in the Daluo Celestial Domain. As long as there was a profit to be made, Demon Cultivators would dare to do anything!

Having finalized his plan,

Wu Dao didn’t hesitate and decided to implement it at once.

His third-stage transformation had reached a critical point.

His cultivation ”industrial chain”...

...could not afford a single broken link. The Primordial Dao Wheel, the most crucial component of all, absolutely could not be allowed to face an energy crisis.