Essence Devouring Art

What was happening?

Su Xiuqi was both in pain and utterly baffled!

The Saints of the Heaven-Burying Alliance also wore expressions of disbelief, feeling as if they were trapped in a dream.

They had collected all ninety-nine Heaven-Burying Steles and placed them in the keyhole. There shouldn’t have been any problem activating the Emperor’s Temple’s array!

Could it be that the blood sacrifice was insufficient?

Hm?

The Black Mountain Demon Saint was also somewhat taken aback.

The instant he had struck, he had been filled with immense regret!

He had felt as if the All Heavens Burying Blade, floating at the far end of the Emperor’s Temple, had come to life, its terrifying killing power faintly locking onto him.

He had expected to be killed, his Dao obliterated.

But in the end, nothing happened at all.

”Excellent! With the Celestial Dao’s favor, do you mongrels think you’re worthy of plotting against me?!”

After his initial surprise, the Black Mountain Demon Saint concluded that the Celestial Dao was favoring him. He roared wildly and charged forward like a speeding Divine Mountain, slapping the dazed Su Xiuqi so hard that a mouthful of teeth went flying.

A mighty phoenix brought low is no better than a chicken.

Although Su Xiuqi had once been a Great Saint, his cultivation had been severed by the Realm-Slaying Blade. Now, without pushing himself, he was only at the level of a First or Second-Layer cultivator.

If he hadn’t prepared a vast number of treasures for this journey, that single slap from the Fourth-Layer Black Mountain Demon Saint, catching him off guard, could have killed him!

”Don’t get cocky, you old bastard!”

The Bixia Demon Saint, the strongest among the Heaven-Burying Alliance’s members, was the first to react. With a sharp cry, he summoned a great Poison Cauldron billowing with toxic mist to block the Black Mountain Great Saint Weapon. His large, claw-like hand cast out layer after layer of a World Poison Net, intending to poison the Black Mountain Demon Saint to death.

”Kill him!!”

The other three Demon Saints of the Heaven-Burying Alliance also exploded into action. Their roars shook the cosmic Star River on the temple’s dome as they began to besiege the frenzied Black Mountain Demon Saint!

”What in the world went wrong?!”

Jia Baocai and the others, their faces grim, studied the Heaven-Burying Steles. The keys had all been assembled, and they even had the blood of a Heaven-Burying Emperor descendant to act as a catalyst.

Why was there no reaction at all?

”Black Mountain, how dare you humiliate me like this!”

Su Xiuqi roared, his eyes practically splitting with fury, as he charged the besieged Black Mountain Demon Saint. He was a Great Saint, yet he’d just been slapped across the face by a Demon Saint. It was enough to push his anger to its absolute limit!

As expected, although the Black Mountain Demon Saint was at the Fourth Layer of the Saint Realm and possessed a Great Saint Weapon as a trump card, he was outnumbered and outmatched—not to mention he was already injured.

The Bixia Demon Saint alone was enough to force him into an all-out defense, leaving no room for distraction. Add to that the former Great Saint, Su Xiuqi, and three Third-Level Demon Saints!

The battle lasted little more than a dozen rounds.

His Demon Mountain was sent flying by the Poison Cauldron. The Black Mountain Demon Saint bled out in the Emperor’s Temple. Under the combined assault, his World Dragon Vein was torn to shreds. With a final, unwilling roar, his momentous life came to an end.

His end wouldn’t have been so miserable.

With the combined might of the Burial Realm’s Demon Saints, resisting the Saints of the Heaven-Burying Alliance would have been no problem at all.

Unfortunately...

He had killed those very Demon Saints with his own hands.

His mind had also been polluted by the Emperor’s Temple’s bizarre Magnetic Field, filling him with a violent, murderous rage that prevented him from thinking clearly, ultimately leading to his demise.

”Have you found the problem yet?”

After the Black Mountain Demon Saint’s essence and blood were absorbed by the Emperor’s Temple, a slightly disheveled Su Xiuqi walked over, his expression grim.

The Heaven-Burying Steles still showed no reaction.

This filled him with a sense of foreboding.

”None of the steps were wrong.”

As a descendant of the Heaven-Burying Emperor, Liang Chen had the most authority to speak on the matter. ”I suspect...” he said, his face dark, ”the Heaven-Burying Steles might be fakes.”

”Fakes?!”

Su Xiuqi and the others were stunned.

The Heaven-Burying Alliance had possessed the ninety-nine Heaven-Burying Steles for ten thousand years; they should be able to tell real from fake at a single glance.

What’s more, Liang Chen and the other descendants of the Heaven-Burying Emperor had repeatedly confirmed there were no issues. How could things fall apart at such a critical moment?

Just then, a voice spoke up. ”Liang Chen is right. Most of the Heaven-Burying Steles we have are probably fakes.”

The silent Jia Baocai suddenly looked at Liang Chen and said, ”The Heaven-Burying Steles you possess were also obtained through a trade with the Nirvana True Lord, weren’t they?”

”...”

Hearing this, even an idiot would have realized they’d been set up. Liang Chen gritted his teeth. ”That’s right. One gourd of Grand Thousand Mother Liquid and one Emperor Scripture. The Heaven-Burying Steles I received came from...”

”Mine came from different Realm Masters than yours. Some were from Realm Masters who chose a side but never handed over their steles... Dammit, I should have seen this coming!”

Jia Baocai clenched his fists, his eyes practically splitting with rage.

Ninety percent of the Heaven-Burying Alliance’s Realm Masters who possessed Heaven-Burying Steles had been silently turned into the Nirvana True Lord’s Polluted Body minions before they even entered the Emperor’s Tomb.

Naturally, they had all put on a grand performance, a classic bait and switch, to make everyone believe the Heaven-Burying Steles they held were genuine.

Originally, they had thought the Nirvana True Lord was unaware that the Heaven-Burying Steles were the key to the Emperor’s Tomb. They had even secretly mocked his ignorance.

Looking at it now, it seemed they were the real clowns!

Who could have imagined that the Nirvana True Lord could actually forge Heaven-Burying Steles!

And they were such perfect forgeries that not even the descendants of the Heaven-Burying Emperor could tell them apart!

”Hah. Most of them? More like ninety percent!”

Tao Chuan sneered.

”Don’t forget, during our power struggle, we only controlled a dozen or so Heaven-Burying Steles. The rest were all in the hands of those polluted Realm Masters!”

”From the looks of it now, this so-called Great Saint is probably a fake!”

The Bixia Demon Saint’s old face was grim as he said,

”If that Nirvana True Lord truly possessed the power of a Great Saint, even if he couldn’t leave Nirvana Valley, he would have had countless ways to seize the last dozen genuine Heaven-Burying Steles from you and claim the Emperor’s Tomb for himself. He wouldn’t have just switched the ones held by Realm Masters who weren’t even Saints.”

”The fact that he forged fakes for us just proves he isn’t strong enough. He needed us to blindly pave the way for him!”

Once one piece fell into place, everything made sense. Su Xiuqi’s expression darkened as he realized they had been played for fools from the very beginning!

Back in Nirvana Valley, he had been completely bluffed.

But looking at it now, this ’Great Saint’ was bullshit. He had likely used some underhanded trick to pose as something far more powerful than he was!

The so-called Divine Envoy!

He *was* the Nirvana True Lord!

Aside from a few bizarre tricks, he was nothing impressive!

A group of Saints!

And they were being led around by the nose by an Alien Species who wasn’t even a Saint.

If word of this got out, they’d become the laughingstock of All Heavens!

”You bastard, get the hell out here! I know you’re here!”

The more Tao Chuan thought about it, the more furious he became. His eyes turned crimson as his roars shook the Emperor’s Temple. It was hard to tell if his emotions were being influenced by the bizarre Magnetic Field.

The endless, suppressed rage and frustration in his heart felt like it was about to make him explode. Killing intent boiled over, and he wished for nothing more than to tear the Nirvana True Lord apart with his bare hands that very instant!

”What, scared to show your face? Planning to wait until we’re all dead to pick up the scraps? In your dreams!”

Liang Chen’s eyes darted as he joined in the furious roaring. He possessed the bloodline of the Heaven-Burying Emperor, so he was unaffected by the temple’s Magnetic Field.

’It’s best if the Nirvana True Lord doesn’t show himself.’

’Let Su Xiuqi and the others tear each other apart. Then, even if I can’t open the Emperor’s Tomb, I can have all the Creation within this Emperor’s Temple for myself.’

Although Su Xiuqi and the others knew about the temple’s bizarre Magnetic Field and had protective talismans to mitigate the pollution to some degree, the flames of rage in their hearts had already been ignited, and they simply couldn’t stamp them out.

However, they didn’t descend into madness like Tao Chuan. They silently guarded their Dao hearts, unwilling to let Liang Chen’s scheme succeed.

”Hahaha, you spineless coward...”

Tao Chuan grew increasingly unhinged, spewing a torrent of profanity and taunts.

”You have a foul mouth.”

Following another one of Tao Chuan’s roars, a deep and indifferent voice rang out from the entrance of the Emperor’s Temple, its vibrations shaking time and space.

Wu Dao’s majestic, heaven-supporting physique strode into the temple, completely unconcealed. His abyssal eyes gazed down indifferently at Tao Chuan.

”I’m here. So what?”

’Creation Realm?’

Su Xiuqi and the others wore expressions of utter disbelief.

Even the frenzied Tao Chuan froze for a second.

Now that Wu Dao was no longer concealing his power, they could clearly feel the magnetic field of the Creation Realm’s laws emanating from him.

”Creation Realm? Hahaha, a mere Creation Realm!!!”

BOOM!!

Tao Chuan laughed, his fury turning to mirth, and then he suddenly erupted!

As his crimson hair whipped about, his body was like a slumbering primordial dragon awakening. It let out a roar like a billion claps of thunder, and the golden Holy Blood erupting from his pores seemed to burn away the Star River on the temple’s dome!

A Half-Step Sacred Body!

He already possessed the aura of a true Sacred Body!

His boundless, volcanic golden blood and qi were so incandescent and vast that they instantly filled the starry expanse, manifesting the prototype of a small golden world—a Small Thousand World that was Supreme Yang and indestructible through countless tribulations!

Within the Small Thousand World!

Three thousand Saint Suns blazed, illuminating the Star River!

Tendrils of golden sunlight exploded outward. The light, heat, and Energy they released surpassed the Mighty Power of a billion exploding suns!

This was the terror of the Sacred Body from the Thirteenth Daoist Sect of Transverse Cultivation. It required no Daoist Skill Dantian; the body itself was an amalgamation of Supreme Yang Dragon Veins. Once its blood and qi were fully unleashed, it could incinerate Three Thousand Worlds!

THUD!

The Star Sea trembled as the Saint Suns converged!

Having unleashed his Half-Step Sacred Body to its peak, Tao Chuan’s entire form blazed with a golden light too brilliant to look at directly. Within him, countless Supreme Yang World Dragon Veins roared as his Divine Fist compressed the light and heat of three thousand worlds, hurtling toward the impassive Wu Dao.

BANG BANG BANG—

It was as if an eternal Saint Sun was on the march!

In Wu Dao’s perception, the spatiotemporal Magnetic Field before him was being shattered and annihilated layer by layer, like sheets of glass.

The extreme light and heat of the Divine Fist vaporized everything in its path, its force collapsing the very order of the laws, surpassing the combined weight of the Three Thousand Worlds!

A Half-Step Sacred Body, capable of battling a Saint!

This was no exaggeration!

If that punch landed squarely, even a peak First-Layer Saint would likely be blasted into sacrificial ash on the spot. A billion Star Rivers would be incinerated into a vacuum!

However...

CLANG—

In a ten-millionth of an instant!

A colossal, heavenly sound rocked the Emperor’s Temple!

It was as if Three Thousand Worlds had simultaneously shattered like eggs against a stone, letting out a thunderous boom that surpassed the limits of all worldly perception!

’How is that possible?!’

The sneers on the faces of Su Xiuqi and the other Saints instantly froze. Reflected in their pupils, which had contracted to pinpricks, were the disintegrating Three Thousand Saint Suns and Tao Chuan’s right fist exploding against a Divine Wall!

He took a full-power blow from a Sacred Body!

And he didn’t budge an inch!

The rebound force even blasted the flesh and bone of Tao Chuan’s nigh-indestructible Sacred Body into dust?

’What the hell kind of Creation Realm cultivator is this?’

”Aaargh! You son of a bitch, just die!!”

The first strike failed! Worse, his own fist had been destroyed by the recoil!

The violent, murderous intent in Tao Chuan’s heart completely exploded. With a mere thought, his right fist reformed, and he let out a frenzied roar that shattered spacetime.

”Yangtian Torrent, kill!!”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!—

It was like a meteor shower of a billion suns!

Having lost all reason, Tao Chuan unleashed a Fist Dao Killing Great Divine Technique!

In less than the span of a single thought, he threw a billion punches!

It formed a world-ending torrent of Saint Suns!

Each fist contained the explosive power of three thousand Extreme Yang Worlds. The incandescent shockwaves from the impacts shook and annihilated the starry sky, shattered the order of the laws, and illuminated the entire Emperor’s Temple!

But!

It was useless!

Completely useless!!

Zero damage to the enemy, and a thousand to himself!

Wu Dao stood like a Heaven-Supporting Divine Pillar, a Chaos Dam—unbreakable and indestructible!

No matter how relentlessly Tao Chuan bombarded him, he remained utterly unscathed. Not even a single wrinkle appeared on his Daoist Robe!

In stark contrast, Tao Chuan was blasted by the recoil from striking Divine Iron. His Half-Saint Body exploded into a bloody mist, and he barely avoided killing himself on the spot!

”Why... Why can’t I hurt you? You’re only in the Creation Realm! On what grounds?!”

Tao Chuan’s Sacred Body regenerated—tenacious and seemingly indestructible. He roared his question with maddened eyes, completely unable to accept such a disparity!

He possessed a Half-Step Sacred Body!

His flesh was so tough and powerful that he could tear a Half-Saint Weapon apart with his bare hands!

But when he struck Wu Dao, it was truly like an egg hitting a stone, like rotten wood striking steel. The hardness was simply outrageous!

He was certain.

Wu Dao had absolutely not achieved a Sacred Body!

So why was his physical body so unbelievably tough?

”Hsss... Why?”

Wu Dao let out a comfortable sigh, as if he had just received a pleasant massage. His body hummed like an immortal diamond Divine Weapon. He rolled his neck, looked down at the incredulous Tao Chuan, and said teasingly,

”Holy Soldier Armament, kid!”