Essence Devouring Art

「It began three years ago.」

Every day, news of escalating battles at the frontline, Shanhai Pass, reached Hongyuan.

The All Heavens were constantly conscripting soldiers.

From the older Great Powers to the young Celestial Prides, everyone across the All Heavens was sent to the front lines to resist the Mountain and Sea Realm’s surging military strength and relentless attacks.

”The Mountain and Sea Realm is full of ravenous ambition. Ever since the Four Tribulations, they’ve been scheming to counterattack Hongyuan and pull the Human Race from its divine altar. They’re dreaming!”

At the mention of Mountain and Sea, the eyes of the giants of the All Heavens filled with killing intent.

The conflict between their civilizations was a struggle for the Dao, and it was irreconcilable.

During the Four Tribulations, the Mountain and Sea Realm initiated a calamity, attempting to usurp the Primordial Path. They sought to replace the coexistence of the Ten Thousand Races with the sole supremacy of one, their ambition laid bare.

If they were to compromise or retreat, the only path awaiting Hongyuan was the annihilation of its civilization!

For this very reason, after the Four Tribulations, the status of Shanhai Pass transcended that of the All Heavens.

All karmic ties and grudges were to stop at Buzhou Mountain!

The Overlord Forces of the All Heavens were absolutely forbidden from interfering with the military decisions within the Pass. Everything was decided by military merit.

When the survival of their race and civilization was at stake, no one dared to object.

All grudges from outside the Pass, if brought inside, would be met with suppression and purges by the Hongyuan Alliance’s military.

Back when the Slaughter Emperor initiated his calamity and wreaked havoc, bathing Hongyuan in blood, the military of Shanhai Pass did not mobilize, remaining steadfast in their defense of the border between Hongyuan and the Mountain and Sea Realm.

The Hongyuan Alliance knew that no matter how much infighting or chaos occurred within Hongyuan, once a victor was decided, everything would calm down. The Dao Fruit would still fall to someone within the Hongyuan Civilization.

But if the front lines were to fall back, the consequences would be entirely different.

The entire Hongyuan Civilization could be overturned!

Now, the Mountain and Sea Realm had returned with a vengeance, mobilizing a massive army to attack Shanhai Pass.

Under the immense pressure on the front lines, the All Heavens had no choice but to temporarily shift their conflicts from internal to external.

However, this did not mean that the powers led by the Celestial Court would let Wu Dao and the Dragon Hunting Tower off the hook.

The Slaughter Emperor, Great Zizai Heaven, Outer Path Creatures, Daoists, the disaster of the Burial Realm, the great Emperor Star affair, the Celestial Prides hunted throughout history... With these two anomalies implicated in such grave matters and burdened with countless sins, their enemies could not rest easy for a single day until they were eliminated.

If they dared to show their faces, no matter the cost, they would eradicate them, root and stem!

...

Three years.

Normally, three years was but the blink of an eye in the long, ancient history of Hongyuan.

But these three years had felt exceptionally slow and turbulent to the living beings of the All Heavens.

The return of two Tribulation Masters, the great battle in the Chaos of All Heavens, the massive explosion in the Burial Realm, the waning fortune of the Daluo Celestial Domain...

All sorts of major events that would change Hongyuan had occurred.

They endowed this brief period with immense, heavy significance.

The Mountain and Sea Realm’s massive invasion of Hongyuan, in an attempt to overthrow the Hongyuan Civilization, had an even greater impact, affecting All Heavens and Myriad Realms. It was inextricably linked to the fate of countless Primordial Creatures; no one could remain aloof.

Martial Arts Buzhou Heaven.

On a Super Star Hub plaza bound for the front lines at Shanhai Pass.

Young Celestial Prides from All Heavens and Myriad Realms had gathered, a sea of people brimming with fighting spirit, waiting to go into battle, kill enemies, earn merits, and make a name for themselves throughout the All Heavens.

Surrounding the Star Hub plaza, squads of veteran soldiers, clad in armor and bearing sharp weapons, maintained order. Their qi and blood pulsed with a savage, iron-willed ferocity.

’The ignorant know no fear!’

Hearing the bold and heroic declarations of the various Celestial Prides in the plaza, the veterans couldn’t help but sneer inwardly.

Once, they too had been just like these Celestial Prides.

They had seen Shanhai Pass as a gilded stage for fame and fortune, imagining themselves maneuvering masterfully, leaving their mark on history, and being celebrated and revered by the world.

But once they actually set foot on the battlefield, they finally understood.

Fame and fortune were indeed there for the taking, but every bit of it had to be earned with one’s life!

One battlefield after another was nothing but a Purgatory meat grinder!

Celestial Prides, Daoist Children—a single moment of carelessness and they too would be ground into paste!

Often, after a major battle, the sea of blood from the fallen soldiers on both sides could drown an entire universe. Many were annihilated completely, leaving not even a wisp of memory behind!

An inch of territory, a Wanshan of bones!

Did they really think that was just an exaggeration?

”The force assigned to receive our unit is the Liaoyuan Army, under the command of Fen Yu Marquis of Heaven-Burning Fire. ’A wildfire across the plains, endless and unceasing.’ They have quite a reputation in many of the war zones!”

In the advancing column, a Celestial Pride from Heaven-Burning Fire saw the Jade Fire Banner of the Burning Land standing tall behind the surrounding veterans and couldn’t help but feel a sense of shared glory, his back straightening.

”I heard that Fen Yu Marquis entered the battlefield to train when he was only in the Cave Heavens Realm. He was made a Sealed Marquis at one hundred years old, has now entered the Great Saint Realm, and is expected to become a King on the Venerable Battlefield before he turns three hundred.”

”Sigh, he’ll be a King by three hundred, and here we are, not even knowing what we’ll be doing at that age. Comparisons are the thief of joy.”

”Becoming a King by three hundred isn’t that rare. Some of the top Celestial Prides from the great powers of the All Heavens enter the battlefield to temper themselves as early as the Dharma Realm. They don’t even bother competing with their peers in the Celestial Domains for empty titles.”

”That’s right. Since the Four Tribulations, there have been plenty of people in Shanhai Pass who reached the Quasi-Emperor realm and were made a Military Lord before the age of three hundred.

”Some have even attained their Dao as an Emperor by two hundred, becoming a Mountain Sea Territory Master, presiding over a territory and commanding numerous Military Lords.”

...

The surrounding Celestial Prides also began discussing the many legendary deeds of Shanhai Pass, their longing and admiration plain to see.

”Hey, do you guys think that if the Burial Realm Demon King entered Shanhai Pass, he’d be made a King straight away?”

Suddenly, someone mentioned the taboo name that hung like a shadow over the hearts of everyone in the All Heavens.

For a moment, the fiery atmosphere fell deathly silent.

”Ahem, I was just saying. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

The person who had spoken noticed the scrutinizing and suspicious gazes of those around him. Frightened, he quickly waved his hands in denial.

He didn’t dare have the slightest connection to that taboo figure, not even through speculation.

Because the crimes committed by the Burial Realm Demon King and the karma he was entangled in were simply too immense. He had thoroughly and completely offended every major Overlord in the All Heavens.

To this day, he was still being relentlessly hunted and pursued by the All Heavens. Anyone who got even slightly involved with him wouldn’t even know how they died.

”A King? Heh!”

Amidst the silence, a Celestial Pride from the Daluo Celestial Domain sneered, his eyes filled with hatred:

”The condition for becoming a King is to slay a Mountain and Sea Venerable without relying on external power and receive the recognition of the Dao Stele. It can’t be faked!

That Demon only has a Great Saint’s Battle Power. It’s impossible for him to have become a Venerable in just three years. Without the Extreme Dao Bell, what is he?”

’And what are you?’

Although the surrounding Celestial Prides agreed in their hearts, they still despised the Daluo Heaven Celestial Pride for his lack of self-awareness.

All the Primordial Giants of the Daluo Celestial Domain had suffered at that Demon King’s hands, and he had crippled the Daluo Celestial Domain itself.

’You’re just in the Creation Realm, yet you’re spouting such shameless boasts. You truly don’t know your place.’

’The Burial Realm Demon King...’

At the back of the crowd, Jiang Han listened to the quiet discussion up ahead.

The unprecedented fireworks display over the Daluo Celestial Domain from three years ago couldn’t help but surface in his mind.

In his entire life, he had rarely admired anyone from the bottom of his heart.

But what his mysterious master had done had left an eternal, brilliant mark on his heart.

Every time he recalled it, his heart would surge with emotion, and he wished he could shout aloud, ’This is what a true man should be!’

Of course, he could only think it to himself.

For three years, under the training of the white-robed child, he had roamed the All Heavens, entering and exiting all sorts of deadly forbidden zones, tempering himself through countless near-death experiences.

To this day, he had already reached the Saint Realm.

Furthermore, he was a Saint cultivating three Daos simultaneously. The uniqueness of his Innate Divine Body allowed him to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with a Son of Revival from a Common Lord Power.

But even so, Jiang Han didn’t dare reveal the slightest hint of his master-disciple relationship with the ’Burial Realm Demon King’. He also dared not rashly use the Innate Divine Body technique the white-robed child had taught him, and had always kept a low profile.

Moreover, to this day, Jiang Han still did not know the white-robed child’s identity, only holding unconfirmed suspicions in his heart.

Back then, before the fireworks blossomed, he had been taken out of the Daluo Celestial Domain by the white-robed child. With his cultivation level, he was unable to observe what had happened in the Chaos.

Over the past three years, the white-robed child would often toss him into a forbidden zone and then disappear, seemingly treating him as some kind of Divine Soul Artifact to be refined.

This was because most of the forbidden zones were designed to target a living being’s will.

It wasn’t that Jiang Han hadn’t tried to resist and escape the white-robed child, but no matter what schemes or methods he employed, it was all useless.

Because after the battle in the Burial Realm, the white-robed child seemed to have grown even stronger, its methods even more incredible.

However, the white-robed child had given Jiang Han a chance.

It had promised, in a playful tone, that if Jiang Han could swim upstream against the River of Obsessive Hindrances, it would not appear again until Jiang Han attained his Dao as an Emperor.

In other words, during this period of freedom from surveillance, Jiang Han had a sliver of a chance to completely break free from the white-robed child.

To fight for that sliver of a chance, Jiang Han had frantically ’run dungeons’ to temper his will. Not long ago, at the same time he advanced to the Saint Realm, he finally succeeded in swimming upstream against the River of Obsessive Hindrances.

The white-robed child did not go back on its word. It said, with mock sadness:

”Xiaohanz has finally grown up.”

And with that, it vanished without a trace.

Jiang Han had also regained his freedom, however brief.

In this regard, Jiang Han felt little sense of accomplishment.

Because his achievement was nothing compared to his mysterious master, who completely ignored and even controlled the River of Obsessive Hindrances!

The white-robed child was scheming against him. But wasn’t his master doing the same?

Admiration did not mean acceptance!

In the future, no matter how, he would eventually have to face his master and completely sever the karmic bond between them.

Right now, it was no exaggeration to say his confidence was zero!

As the mastermind behind the world-shaking incident three years ago, the heights his master stood at were suffocatingly despair-inducing!

To try and catch up with his current growth rate was nearly impossible!

So...

After breaking free from the white-robed child, Jiang Han came to Buzhou Heaven without hesitation, preparing to head to the Shanhai Pass battlefield to temper himself in blood and fire and force his own growth!

Hongyuan was too ’peaceful’.

Although there were many forbidden zones for training, they ultimately couldn’t compare to a battlefield where flesh and blood flew and life hung by a thread for forcing out one’s potential.

Now, the Mountain and Sea Realm was invading Hongyuan in force. The top Celestial Prides of the All Heavens were clashing with the young Little Ancestors of the Mountain and Sea, and the iron-blooded torrents of the two realms’ armies were washing over everything!

If he could dominate the Mountain and Sea battlefield, both his temperament and his cultivation would surely advance by leaps and bounds.

But the most important reason was—

Great Tribulations birth great fortune!

A Great Tribulation battlefield like Shanhai Pass, where two civilizations vied for supremacy, was a place where boundless Dao Essence gathered. The Primordial Path itself had manifested as the Merit Stele, tangible and within reach!

Anyone who became a Sealed Marquis or a King on the battlefield would receive the grace of the Great Dao.

They would surely obtain the blessing of a massive amount of Dao fortune!

The benefits were innumerable.

Throughout history, Shanhai Pass was also known as the Primordial Emperor Path, precisely because becoming an Emperor was fastest on the Shanhai Pass battlefield!

The progress was practically visible to the naked eye!

As long as one continuously killed enemies and earned merit, the Great Dao would bestow Dao Source and great fortune.

Sealed Marquis, King, Sealing Army Master...

A Military Lord is a Crown Prince!

If one continued to earn merit, becoming a Domain Master and attaining their Dao as an Emperor was practically a certainty!

BUZZ—

The Star Hub activated, and space and time warped.

Inside the Space-Time Channel, Jiang Han took one last look back at his homeland of Hongyuan.

As an indescribable emotion welled up in his heart, he couldn’t help but think of his mysterious master, who had been silent for three years and seemed to have evaporated from Hongyuan. He muttered to himself:

”A clash of civilizations, the manifestation of the Great Dao... in such a golden, prosperous era, will you really remain silent and absent?”