Essence Devouring Art

Wu Dao was not omniscient.

Naturally, he was unaware that the mysterious being Jiang Han had encountered had taken a great interest in him.

However, even if he did know, he wouldn’t have cared.

When you have too many lice, you stop feeling the itch.

As long as he didn’t want to be exposed, even a being on the level of the Slaughter Emperor couldn’t dream of reversing causality to track him down.

「Another month passed.」

「Outside the Red Dust Realm.」

Wu Dao’s two Incarnations met up. They exchanged a look, both grinning as they shook the Space Gourds in their hands before heading back to their lair.

In the span of two months.

He had traded with Liang Chen and Jia Baocai several more times, exchanging five pieces of the Heaven-Burying Stele each time.

In return.

Liang Chen and Jia Baocai had ’charitably’ provided him with vast quantities of Grand Thousand World Mother Liquid.

It was obvious.

As the trades became more frequent, Liang Chen and Jia Baocai were torn between heartache and excitement.

Grand Thousand World Mother Liquid.

As its name implied.

It was an extremely precious substance, formed only when the World Dragon Vein of a Great Thousand World devoured an astronomical amount of Innate Mother Qi and spent ages compressing it into liquid form.

For an ordinary Saint Level faction.

It would be considered an ultimate treasure, part of their foundational reserves.

A strategic resource.

Only Saint Master Level factions could afford to be extravagant with it, as a Saint Master could produce Grand Thousand World Mother Liquid with relative ease.

Although Liang Chen and Jia Baocai were esteemed Realm Masters with numerous subordinate worlds and access to immense Extraordinary Resources.

They didn’t have much of a rare resource like Grand Thousand World Mother Liquid. What they had was their own personal, life-saving supply of Great Medicine.

To have it all cleaned out at once...

One could imagine the excruciating pain they felt.

But in their minds, it was all worth it.

The number of Heaven-Burying Stele fragments they controlled was approaching half the total. Soon, they would be able to call upon the Ten Great Demon Saints, suppress all who defied them, and ascend to the throne of the Alliance Leader!

Once they opened the Emperor’s Tomb...

What would Grand Thousand World Mother Liquid matter then?

They could take as much Emperor Level Chaos Mother Liquid as they wanted!

It was also worth mentioning.

During their latest trade, the duo had also subtly brought up another deal—one related to the Soul Coin industry that was causing a huge stir throughout the Burial Realm.

Their goal was simple.

They wanted Wu Dao, in his capacity as the Nirvana True Lord, to manipulate the Soul Coin market.

As for the profits from the ”harvest.”

They would only take a twenty percent cut.

The Nirvana True Lord would get eighty percent.

You couldn’t blame them for their greed.

The profits at stake in the Soul Coin market were simply too immense.

Countless Demonic Cultivators were tied up at the bottom, all sorts of Demon Path Influences, large and small, comprised the middle, and the top was occupied by the various Overlords of the Burial Realm.

The titans at the very peak...

It even involved a host of renowned Saint Realm Great Powers from across the Burial Realm.

It was easy to imagine.

Just how massive the pie was.

Almost all of the Heaven-Burying Alliance’s ninety-nine Realm Masters—aside from Su Xiuqi, who was hiding gods-know-where—had bought in, staking varying portions of their fortunes.

The profits were enormous.

And the consortiums vying for a piece of it were a tangled web, involving all the top-tier powers of the Burial Realm.

The market had grown so large that the Heaven-Burying Alliance could no longer control it on its own.

Oftentimes.

Jia Baocai and Liang Chen would even back the wrong horse and get fleeced by other major players.

That was why...

They wanted to leverage their unique, backdoor connection to the Nirvana True Lord—the only one of its kind in the Burial Realm—to manipulate the market from its very source. It was a surefire way to make a killing.

In response to this,

Wu Dao had simply shot them a look like they were a pair of idiots.

’I can take one hundred percent of the profits just by lying here.’

’And you want me to partner with you to take eighty percent?’

’Are you the fools, or have I gone mad?’

Naturally, the matter was dropped.

Afterward, when Liang Chen and Jia Baocai came to their senses, freed from the fog of avarice, their faces flushed with shame. They cursed themselves for being blinded by greed.

The Soul Body System.

The only one who ever got to eat the meat was the Nirvana True Lord.

To put it bluntly, all the other major players were just drinking the soup left in his wake.

Without the Nirvana True Lord.

All their hard work would be for naught, and the Soul Coin System itself would instantly collapse.

Under these circumstances,

asking the one eating the meat to come share the soup with them was indeed a case of being so money-crazed they couldn’t tell who was really in charge.

Over the course of the month,

aside from the steady increase in his collection of Emperor Scriptures,

there was another noteworthy event: Jiang Han, who had been off gallivanting and had since gone missing, still hadn’t returned to Nirvana City.

Wu Dao figured...

The kid had most likely stumbled upon some incredible Creation and now looked down on a small place like Nirvana City.

But in this, Wu Dao had misunderstood Jiang Han.

After his narrow escape from death,

Jiang Han had, of course, heard that Nirvana City was growing by the day and had become a veritable gold rush town for the entire Burial Realm.

His cultivation...

Was rooted in the Exquisite Method.

Each stage of his growth required him to plunder the essence of numerous Celestial Prides.

Nirvana City.

A place where you could get anything, as long as you had Soul Coins.

He wouldn’t even have to worry about other factions getting too powerful.

It was, without a doubt, the best place for him to grow.

Unfortunately...

He didn’t dare return to Nirvana City.

Because a lawless, uncontrollable Little Ancestor was living inside his body.

Innocent and naive, yet utterly without scruples.

If this being took an interest in Nirvana Valley, it would be a case of ”when Immortals fight, mortals suffer.” He would be caught in the crossfire.

However,

through their subsequent time together,

Jiang Han had found a way to deal with the white-robed child.

It was to coddle him like a child.

As long as the child was happy, everything was fine.

But every curse has its blessing.

The white-robed child’s origins were mysterious. Suspected to be an ancient being from the era of the Three Tribulations, he was a living, breathing encyclopedia.

Sometimes, when Jiang Han managed to please him,

the child would casually offer a pointer or two.

For Jiang Han, each piece of advice was a heaven-sent stroke of Creation, clearing away countless obstacles on his path to the Great Dao.

But,

he was a child, after all.

And sometimes, he was capricious.

Whenever the child was displeased, he would often torment Jiang Han to within an inch of his life. And yet, Jiang Han couldn’t get rid of him no matter what he did, leaving him in a state of both torment and enlightenment.

Every day, he racked his brain, rushing all over the place,

just to find novelties to keep the little one happy.

The once great Heaven-Stealing Demon Monarch,

a ruthless and vicious figure whose very name made others turn pale,

had been reduced to a ”nanny,” wandering the Burial Realm to the point of losing all contact.

...

The booming Soul Coin industry...

also had an indirect impact on the structure of the Burial Realm. The law of the jungle, once an unspoken rule, became an absolute truth.

Cultivators at the Dharma Aspect, Grotto Heaven, and even Creation realms...

all hunted one another.

There were even professional hunting parties, dispatched by various Soul Coin consortiums, that roamed every corner of the realm to harvest souls. War and death spread like wildfire across the entire Burial Realm.

Beneath the gold of Nirvana City...

lay mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

And it became common knowledge among the Demon Cultivators of the Burial Realm that at the source of this carnage, a Heaven-devouring Demon God lay dormant.

Some had tried to resist.

They orchestrated numerous plans to attack the city.

But alas,

in the face of absolute power, all their plots and schemes were nothing but a joke.

Wu Dao didn’t even need to lift a finger.

For the sake of their own profits, the members of the Nirvana Alliance within the city would snuff them out before they even reached the gates, preventing them from making the slightest ripple.

Fueled by a massive supply of resources,

Wu Dao’s cultivation went into overdrive. Every day he burned through vast amounts of Celestial Tribulation Dao Source and Soul Coins, rapidly converting the Emperor Scriptures he obtained into new branches of his power. His strength skyrocketed.

However,

these peaceful days,

did not last long.

Because,

someone was about to flip the table.

「Another month later.」

Wu Dao received an urgent message from Jia Baocai and Liang Chen—

Su Xiuqi was returning!

He had a major announcement to make, and all ninety-nine Realm Masters of the Heaven-Burying Alliance were required to attend!

Upon receiving this message,

Wu Dao was caught slightly off guard. ’What on earth is Su Xiuqi going to announce?’ he wondered.

Over the past few months,

aside from a few of Liang Chen and Jia Baocai’s trusted followers, Wu Dao had secretly converted almost all the other Heaven-Burying Alliance Realm Masters into his believers. The organization was practically full of his moles.

The Heaven-Burying Stele fragments in his possession...

had now reached a total of ninety!

From the mouths of those converted believers,

Wu Dao had also learned the truth behind Su Xiuqi’s sudden decision to relinquish his millennia of power and retreat behind the scenes.

Half a year ago,

Su Xiuqi had secretly entered the Emperor’s Tomb, hoping to open it through other means, claim the treasures within, and alter his destiny to enhance his potential.

The end result,

was, predictably, failure.

Not only did he fail,

but Su Xiuqi was also gravely injured. His power, once at the Great Saint Realm, plummeted to the level of a nascent Saint.

That was why...

he had been forced to relinquish his power and retreat behind the scenes.

For the past half-year,

Su Xiuqi hadn’t been in the Red Dust Realm at all. Instead, he had left the Burial Realm to search for a means of recovery, maintaining control over the Heaven-Burying Alliance from afar.

His sudden announcement of his return now,

done with such fanfare at this critical juncture of the Alliance Leader’s rotation and with a precise time given, clearly indicated he had regained the confidence to control the situation.

’Has his power been restored?’

Wu Dao considered the possibility, but then dismissed it as unrealistic.

The injury Su Xiuqi had sustained...

was no ordinary Dao injury.

His realm had fallen outright; it was most likely connected to a hidden trap left by the Heaven-Burying Emperor.

Back in the era of the Five Tribulations,

the Heaven-Burying Emperor had been a notoriously fierce figure.

He created his own Emperor’s Ultimate Skill, the ’Realm-Slaying Blade,’ which he used to dominate the All Heavens. It could sever the Dragon Vein of a being’s Essence, Qi, and Spirit, causing their cultivation to plummet.

In other words,

Su Xiuqi was suffering from an Emperor Level Dao injury!

In such a short period of time,

only a Great Medicine of Creation on par with something from an All Heavens Great Emperor could possibly restore his realm.

Su Xiuqi had come from humble beginnings, with no profound background to speak of.

Where would he possibly get a Great Medicine of that caliber?

And if he had the kind of heaven-defying luck needed to stumble upon such an opportunity, his potential wouldn’t have stalled out at the Great Saint realm in the first place.

’So what’s the source of his confidence?’

’Outside help?’

A thought occurred to Wu Dao.

Different realms, different circles.

A Great Saint like Su Xiuqi was hardly a loner. Even a madman like the Sinner of Ages, the Slaughter Emperor, had his comrades.

But,

birds of a feather flock together.

Su Xiuqi was a Great Demon, so his ’friends’ were likely cut from the same cloth. There wouldn’t be any true camaraderie between them, only the lure of profit.

If Su Xiuqi had somehow learned the secret of the Heaven-Burying Stele and really had called for reinforcements,

the only lure he could offer...

would be to bargain with a tiger for its own hide—sharing the Creation within the Emperor’s Tomb.

’Is that even possible?’

A Creation of that caliber...

wasn’t some simple Heavenly and Earthly Treasure. It involved a Primordial Emperor Weapon!

Everyone would want to monopolize it for themselves.

Who would ever share it with others?

’So what exactly is Su Xiuqi trying to pull by suddenly reappearing like this?’

As these thoughts churned in his mind,

Wu Dao’s consciousness swept over the Qiankun Bell Key in his treasury. It was only missing the final ten fragments. He couldn’t help but let out a cold smile.

’No matter what Su Xiuqi is planning,’

’I have ninety percent of the key in my hands. The initiative is mine. When the Emperor’s Tomb opens is up to me!’

He wasn’t afraid of the Heaven-Burying Alliance flying into a rage.

Nirvana City was no longer the small-fry operation it once was. The profits from Soul Coins had ensnared a whole host of old monsters from across the Burial Realm.

Even in the worst-case scenario,

if Su Xiuqi had managed to find outside help,

the now fabulously wealthy Wu Dao, with Nirvana Valley to back him up, had nothing to fear!

With this in mind,

Wu Dao sent a cold reply:

”Solve this yourselves. It has nothing to do with Nirvana Valley. The True Lord has no interest in your internal squabbles.”